Born on Tuesday, 17th June – Famous Birthdays

17/06/2003

Rizki Juniansyah, Indonesian weightlifter

Rizki Juniansyah is an Indonesian weightlifter who currently specializes in the men’s 79 kg lightweight class and holds various world records at the youth, junior, and senior IWF competition levels. He is the current Olympic champion, having won gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, making him Indonesia’s youngest Olympic gold medalist in history and its first in weightlifting.

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17/06/2000

Odessa A'zion, American actress

Odessa Zion Segall Adlon, known professionally as Odessa A'zion, is an American actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the CBS series Fam (2019), the Netflix series Grand Army (2020) and the HBO series I Love LA (2025). For her performance in the film Marty Supreme (2025), she was nominated for an Actor Award and a British Academy Film Award. Her other films include Hellraiser (2022), The Inhabitant (2022), Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023), Fresh Kills (2024) and Until Dawn (2025).

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17/06/1999

Henri Jokiharju, Finnish ice hockey player

Henri Jokiharju is a Finnish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Jokiharju was selected 29th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2017 NHL entry draft.

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Elena Rybakina, Kazakhstani tennis player

Elena Andreyevna Rybakina is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is currently ranked world No. 2 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Rybakina has won 12 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including two majors at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships and the 2026 Australian Open, as well as the 2025 WTA Finals and two WTA 1000 events. Rybakina is the first Kazakhstani player to win a major and to be ranked inside the world's top 10.

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17/06/1997

KJ Apa, New Zealand actor

Keneti James Fitzgerald "KJ" Apa is a New Zealand actor and singer. He gained recognition for playing Kane Jenkins in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street (2013–2015) and Archie Andrews in the CW teen drama series Riverdale (2017–2023). He has also starred in the adventure drama film A Dog's Purpose (2017), the teen drama film The Hate U Give (2018), and the romantic drama film I Still Believe (2020). Apa released his debut solo album in 2021, the indie folk-rock album Clocks, and since 2025 has adopted the musical alter ego Mr. Fantasy.

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Raluca Șerban, Romanian-Cypriot tennis player

Raluca Georgiana Șerban is a Romanian-born Cypriot professional tennis player, who since 2019 has represented Cyprus. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 152, achieved on 24 July 2023, becoming the only Cypriot player to have been ranked inside the Top 300.

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17/06/1995

Clément Lenglet, French footballer

Clément Nicolas Laurent Lenglet is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the France national team.

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Aoi Morikawa, Japanese actress and model

Aoi Morikawa is a Japanese actress and model who is affiliated with Stardust Promotion.

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Michel-Friedrich Schiefler, German politician

Michel-Friedrich Schiefler is a German politician serving as a member of the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 2021. He has served as deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Vorpommern-Rügen since 2019.

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17/06/1994

Amari Cooper, American football player

Amari Cooper is an American former professional football wide receiver who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver and earning unanimous All-American honors in 2014. Cooper was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft.

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17/06/1993

Nikita Kucherov, Russian ice hockey player

Nikita Igorevich Kucherov is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a right winger and alternate captain for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Regarded as one of the best players in the world, Kucherov won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player, Art Ross Trophy as the league's leading scorer, and the Ted Lindsay Award as the best player voted by fellow NHL players in 2019. He won his second Art Ross Trophy in 2024 and his third in 2025 while also being a finalist for the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award for the second time in both years, winning the Ted Lindsay Award in 2025, and was the runner-up for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's goal-scoring leader in 2017.

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17/06/1991

Daniel Tupou, Australian-Tongan rugby league player

Daniel Tupou is a professional rugby league footballer who plays on the wing for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for Tonga and Australia at international level.

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17/06/1990

Jordan Henderson, English footballer

Jordan Brian Henderson is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Brentford and the England national team. He is known for his leadership, versatility, and physicality.

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Josh Mansour, Australian rugby league player

Joshua Mansour is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a winger. He represented Lebanon and Australia at international level.

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17/06/1989

Georgios Tofas, Cypriot footballer

Georgios Tofas is a Cypriot footballer who played for Enosis Neon Paralimni as a striker.

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Simone Battle, American singer and actress (died 2014)

Simone Sherise Battle was an American singer, dancer and actress. Beginning her career after appearing in the American series Zoey 101 and Everybody Hates Chris, she also starred in several music videos and in the film We the Party (2012) alongside Snoop Dogg. Battle garnered attention after auditioning for the American version of The X Factor in 2011, and was eliminated at the first live show.

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17/06/1988

Andrew Ogilvy, Australian basketball player

Andrew James "A.J." Ogilvy is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played three seasons of college basketball for Vanderbilt before playing in Europe for the first three years of his professional career. After a season in his hometown with the Sydney Kings, he returned to Spain for a second stint. In 2015, he joined the Illawarra Hawks and helped lead them to a grand final appearance in 2017. After seven seasons with the Hawks, he retired from the National Basketball League (NBL) in 2022.

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Shaun MacDonald, Welsh footballer

Shaun Benjamin MacDonald is a Welsh footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cymru South club Trefelin.

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Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer

Stephanie Louise Rice, is an Australian former competitive swimmer. She won three gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2009.

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17/06/1987

Kendrick Lamar, American rapper

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, Lamar's music features conscious, introspective lyrics, with political criticism and social commentary concerning African-American culture. Journalists have referred to Lamar as one of the greatest rappers of all time. In 2018, he became the first musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

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Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer and actress

Nozomi Sugiura , known professionally by her birth name Nozomi Tsuji is a Japanese media personality, singer, and blogger. In 2000, she began her career as a singer for Japanese girl band Morning Musume. Tsuji later found success with related groups Mini Moni and W. She has participated in the shuffle groups 10-nin Matsuri, Odoru 11, and 11Water, H.P. All Stars, as well as being a member of the Morning Musume splinter group Morning Musume Otomegumi

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17/06/1986

Apoula Edel, Armenian footballer

Apoula Edima Bete Edel is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Cameroon, he played for the Armenia national team.

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Helen Glover, English rower

Helen Rachel Mary Backshall is a British professional rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team. Ranked the number 1 female rower in the world in 2015–16, she is a two-time Olympic champion, triple World champion, quintuple World Cup champion and quintuple European champion. She and her partner Heather Stanning were the World, Olympic, World Cup and European record holders, plus the Olympic, World and European champions in the women's coxless pairs. She has also been a British champion in both women's fours and quadruple sculls.

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17/06/1985

Özge Akın, Turkish sprinter

Özge Akın is a Turkish sprinter competing in the 400 m events. She is the current Turkish record holder of the 400 m hurdles events. Following her marriage to her coach, her surname changed to Akın, although she was also subsequently known by the surname Akın-Gürler.

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Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player

Marcos Baghdatis is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships, and reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 8 in August 2006. In the latter part of his career, Baghdatis endured a series of injuries that impacted his play.

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Rafael Sóbis, Brazilian footballer

Rafael Augusto Sóbis is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

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17/06/1984

Michael Mathieu, Bahamian sprinter

Michael Walter Mathieu is a retired Bahamian sprinter hailing from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, running second leg and recording a 44.0 split, and the gold medal-winning team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was also a part of second place relay team at the 2007 World Championships. He won the bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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Si Tianfeng, Chinese race walker

Si Tianfeng is a Chinese race walker. He represented China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing 17th. He also competed in the 50 km walk at the 2009 Chinese National Games and won the bronze medal. Si set a Games record to take the gold medal in the 50 km walk at the 2010 Asian Games. He was fourth at the World Race Walking Cup that year.

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17/06/1983

Lee Ryan, English singer/actor

Lee Ryan is an English singer, songwriter, actor and voice actor. He is the lead singer of the boy band Blue. During his time with Blue, they sold over 15 million records worldwide, and performed with and released records with Elton John and Stevie Wonder.

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Vlasis Kazakis, Greek footballer

Vlasis Kazakis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a forward.

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17/06/1982

Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, Brazilian footballer

Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, known as Alex, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He was known for his physical strength and the power of his shot, which has gained him the nicknames of "The Tank" and Canhão da Vila.

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Marek Svatoš, Slovak ice hockey player (died 2016)

Marek Svatoš was a Slovak professional ice hockey winger. He last played during the 2013–14 season in the Slovak Extraliga with Košice, the same club with which he began his career in 1999. Svatoš played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for several seasons, mostly with the Colorado Avalanche; his last stint in the NHL was in the 2010–11 season, during which he played with the Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators after beginning the season in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with Avangard Omsk.

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Stanislava Hrozenská, Slovak tennis player

Stanislava Hrozenská is a retired Slovak tennis player. She was a semifinalist at the 1999 US Open – Girls' doubles tournament.

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Stefan Hodgetts, English racing driver

Stefan Hodgetts is a British auto racing driver, best known for driving a part season in the British Touring Car Championship. His father Chris was twice champion of the BTCC.

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Arthur Darvill, English actor

Thomas Arthur Darvill is an English actor, composer and musician. He is known for portraying Rory Williams, a companion of the Eleventh Doctor in the television series Doctor Who (2010–2012), as well as Rip Hunter in Legends of Tomorrow and Rev. Paul Coates in Broadchurch (2013–2017). From 2013 to 2014, he appeared in the lead role in the theatre musical Once in the West End and on Broadway. He played Curly in the West End revival of Oklahoma!, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

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Jodie Whittaker, English actress

Jodie Auckland Whittaker is an English actress. She is best known for her roles on television as Beth Latimer in Broadchurch (2013–2017) and the Thirteenth Doctor in Doctor Who.

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17/06/1981

Kyle Boller, American football player

Kyle Bryan Boller is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the California Golden Bears, he was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the first round of the 2003 NFL draft. He was a member of the Ravens from 2003 to 2008, the St. Louis Rams in 2009, and the Oakland Raiders from 2010 to 2011.

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Shane Watson, Australian cricketer

Shane Robert Watson is an Australian cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who played for and occasionally captained the Australian national cricket team between 2002 and 2016. He was an all-rounder who played as a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-medium bowler. He was ranked as the world's No. 1 all-rounder in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) for 150 weeks, including an all-time record of 120 consecutive weeks from 13 October 2011 to 30 January 2014. He began playing during the Australian team's golden era in the early 2000s, and was the last player from this era to retire. In his time playing for Australia, Watson was part of their winning squad in the Cricket World Cup two times in 2007, and 2015 along with the ICC Champions Trophy twice in 2006 and 2009, with Watson named as the player of the match in the final on both occasions, as he scored the winning run in the 2006 tournament, with the winning six in the 2009 tournament.

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17/06/1980

Elisa Rigaudo, Italian race walker

Elisa Rigaudo is an Italian race walker from Cuneo.

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Jeph Jacques, American author and illustrator

Jeffrey Paul "Jeph" Jacques is an American-Canadian cartoonist who writes and draws the webcomic Questionable Content. Jacques has formerly created the webcomics indietits from 2005 to 2007, Derelict Orbital Reflector Devices and Alice Grove.

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Venus Williams, American tennis player

Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in both women's singles and doubles by the Women's Tennis Association. Williams has won 49 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including seven majors, as well as a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2008 WTA Tour Championships. She has also won 22 doubles titles, including 14 majors and three Olympic gold medals.

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17/06/1979

Nick Rimando, American soccer player

Nicholas Paul Rimando is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. Having spent his entire career in Major League Soccer, he holds the records for career wins, clean sheets, saves, and overall appearances. He also played for the United States national team.

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Tyson Apostol, American television personality

Tyson Apostol is an American reality television personality, best known for his appearances on four seasons of the CBS reality television show Survivor.

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Young Maylay, American rapper, producer, and voice actor

Christopher Bellard, known professionally as Young Maylay, is an American rapper, record producer, and voice actor based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his portrayal of Carl "CJ" Johnson, the main character of the action-adventure game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).

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17/06/1978

Isabelle Delobel, French ice dancer

Isabelle Delobel is a French former competitive ice dancer. With partner Olivier Schoenfelder, she is the 2008 World champion, the 2007 European champion, and the 2008 Grand Prix Final champion.

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Travis Roche, Canadian ice hockey player

Travis Roche is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenseman who last played for EHC Black Wings Linz of the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL).

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17/06/1977

Bartosz Brożek, Polish philosopher and jurist

Bartosz Paweł Brożek is a Polish philosopher and jurist whose main research interests are in philosophy of law, philosophy of science, logic and cognitive science. He is currently professor of jurisprudence at the Jagiellonian University and vice rector of the Jagiellonian University, as well as a former director of the Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Kraków. Author or co-author of more than 20 book monographs and more than 70 scientific papers. He holds PhDs in both law (2003) and philosophy (2007), habilitation in law (2008) and the title of full professor (2013).

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Tjaša Jezernik, Slovenian tennis player

Tjaša Jezernik is a Slovenian retired tennis player.

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Mark Tauscher, American football player and sportscaster

Mark Tauscher is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 11-year career as an offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers. Tauscher was selected by the Packers in the seventh round of the 2000 NFL draft. He won Super Bowl XLV with them over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He now provides studio commentary for NFL coverage on Sky Sports in Britain.

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17/06/1976

Scott Adkins, English actor and martial artist

Scott Edward Adkins is an English actor and martial artist. He gained prominence with his portrayal of the Russian prison fighter Yuri Boyka in the American film Undisputed II: Last Man Standing (2006), a role he reprised in its sequels Undisputed III: Redemption (2010), which won him an Action on Film Award for Breakout Action Star, and Boyka: Undisputed (2017), which won him a Jackie Chan Action Movie Award for Best Action Movie Actor.

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Sven Nys, Belgian cyclist

Sven Nys is a Belgian former professional cyclist competing in cyclo-cross and mountain bike. With two world championships, seven world cups, and over 140 competitive victories, he is considered one of the best cyclo-cross racers of his generation, and remains a prominent figure in cyclo-cross. Apart from cyclo-cross, Nys is also fivefold national mountainbike champion, and has competed in that discipline in two Olympic games.

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17/06/1975

Joshua Leonard, American actor, director, and screenwriter

Joshua Granville Leonard is an American actor, producer, writer, and director, known for his role in The Blair Witch Project (1999). He has since starred in films such as Madhouse (2004), The Shaggy Dog (2006), Higher Ground (2011), The Motel Life (2012), Snake and Mongoose (2013), If I Stay (2014), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014), 6 Years (2015), and Unsane (2018).

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Juan Carlos Valerón, Spanish footballer

Juan Carlos Valerón Santana is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

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Phiyada Akkraseranee, Thai actress and model

Phiyada Akkaraseranee, later Phiyada Jutharattanakul, nickname Aom, , is a Thai actress, model, and host. She is the second daughter of Pisarn Akarasenee, a well-known actor in and producer of various popular Thai TV series.

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17/06/1974

Evangelia Psarra, Greek archer

Evangelia Psarra is a Greek archer who has competed at the Summer Olympics six times from 2000 to 2020.

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17/06/1973

Leander Paes, Indian tennis player

Leander Adrian Paes is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players of all-time and holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's doubles and ten mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. He holds a career Grand Slam in men's doubles and mixed doubles making him one of only three men in the Open era to achieve this distinction and won the rare men's/mixed double at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships. Paes, together with Mahesh Bhupathi, were the first pair in Open era history to reach the men's doubles finals of all 4 Grand Slams in the same calendar year (1999). He is currently the brand ambassador of GS Delhi Aces, a team owned by Guru Samruddhi House of Investments in the Tennis Premier League.

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17/06/1971

Paulina Rubio, Mexican pop singer

Paulina Susana Rubio Dosamantes is a Mexican singer, songwriter and television personality. Referred to as "The Golden Girl", she first achieved recognition as a member of the successful pop group Timbiriche from 1982 through 1991. After leaving Timbiriche, she embarked on a solo career. Rubio has sold over 15 million records, making her one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time.

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Mildred Fox, Irish politician

Mildred Fox is an Irish former independent politician. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wicklow constituency from 1995 to 2007.

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17/06/1970

Stéphane Fiset, Canadian ice hockey player

Stéphane Fiset is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League.

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Will Forte, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter

Orville Willis Forte IV is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a cast member and writer on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons from 2002 to 2010. His most famous recurring character was a parody of Macgyver named MacGruber; he reprised that role in the film adaptation, MacGruber (2010); and the limited series of the same name in 2021.

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Jason Hanson, American football player

Jason Douglas Hanson is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons. After playing college football with the Washington State Cougars, he was selected by the Lions in the second round of the 1992 NFL draft with the 56th overall pick. Hanson holds the NFL record for the most seasons played with one team and also holds multiple kicking and scoring records. Due to his longevity and statistical success, even on many non-playoff teams, Hanson is often cited as one of the most-loved players in Detroit Lions franchise history.

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Popeye Jones, American basketball player and coach

Ronald Jerome "Popeye" Jones is an American professional basketball coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

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Michael Showalter, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Michael Showalter is an American director, writer, and producer. He first achieved recognition as a cast member on MTV's The State, which aired from 1993 to 1995. Along with David Wain, Showalter created the Wet Hot American Summer franchise, with Showalter co-writing and starring in Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and the Netflix series. Showalter wrote and directed The Baxter (2005), in which he starred with Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux, and Elizabeth Banks. Both films featured many of his co-stars from The State, and so do several of his other projects. Showalter is also a co-creator, co-producer, actor, and writer for the TV series Search Party. He directed the 2017 film The Big Sick and the 2021 film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, both of which were critically acclaimed.

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Alan Dowson, English football manager and former professional player

Alan Dowson is an English football coach and former professional player who is manager at Hampton & Richmond Borough.

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17/06/1969

Paul Tergat, Kenyan runner

Paul Kibii Tergat is a Kenyan former professional long-distance runner. He became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time. Runnerworld called him the "Most comprehensive runner of all time".

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Geoff Toovey, Australian rugby league player and coach

Geoffrey Toovey, also known by the nickname of "Toovs" or "Tooves", is the former head coach of the Bradford Bulls and former professional rugby league footballer. Toovey played halfback and Five-Eighth for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, then played as a hooker later in his career at the Northern Eagles. He played 286 first-grade matches in all, and captained Manly to the 1996 ARL premiership and the 1995 and 1997 grand finals. He played in 13 international matches for Australia between 1991 and 1998. Toovey is the former head coach of Manly-Warringah.

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Ilya Tsymbalar, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (died 2013)

Ilya Vladimirovich Tsymbalar was a Ukrainian-Russian professional football player and coach. A midfielder, he represented both Ukraine and Russia on the international level. He primarily played as an attacking midfielder and was known for set-piece ability and technique.

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17/06/1968

Steve Georgallis, Australian rugby league player and coach

Steve Georgallis is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of Greece, an assistant coach for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL), Head Coach of the Parramatta Eels Women's team (NRLW), and former professional rugby league footballer.

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Minoru Suzuki, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist

Minoru Suzuki is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Despite being a freelancer for most of his career, he has worked for the largest promotions in Japan: New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Noah. He also made appearances for promotions outside Japan, like Major League Wrestling (MLW), Revolution Pro Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and All Elite Wrestling/Ring of Honor.

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17/06/1967

Dorothea Röschmann, German soprano and actress

Dorothea Röschmann is a German soprano. She is famous for her performances in operas by Mozart as well as Lieder.

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Eric Stefani, American keyboard player and composer

Eric Matthew Stefani is an American musician and animator best known as the founder and former member of the ska punk band No Doubt. He is the elder brother of former bandmate Gwen Stefani. He is also a former animator on the television series The Simpsons.

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17/06/1966

Mohammed Ghazy Al-Akhras, Iraqi journalist and author

Mohammed Gahzy Al-Akhras is an Iraqi Arabic writer and journalist. He is known for his moderate political and social opinions, mainly through his daily column in Al Sabaah and his program on the al-Hurra TV channel, Abwab. He has authored several books dealing with the cultural environment in the Arab – particularly the Iraqi – world. The most prominent of his works is Khareef al-Muthaqqaf al-Iraqi. This book was controversial upon publication, and received praise as well as criticism from reviewers.

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Tory Burch, American fashion designer and philanthropist

Tory Burch is an American fashion designer and businesswoman. She is the executive chairman and chief creative officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2020.

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Ken Clark, American football player (died 2013)

Kenneth R. Clark was an American professional football player from Evergreen, Alabama who played running back for three seasons for the Indianapolis Colts.

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Diane Modahl, English runner

Diane Dolores Modahl is an English former middle-distance runner who specialised in the 800 metres. She won a gold medal in the 800 m at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, silver at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, and bronze at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

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Jason Patric, American actor

John Anthony Miller III, better known by his stage name Jason Patric is an American film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as The Lost Boys (1987), Rush (1991), Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Sleepers (1996), Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997), Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), Narc (2002), The Alamo (2004), My Sister's Keeper (2009), and The Losers (2010). His father was actor/playwright Jason Miller, and his maternal grandfather was actor Jackie Gleason.

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17/06/1965

Dermontti Dawson, American football player and coach

Dermontti Farra Dawson is an American former professional football player who was a center and long snapper in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football with the Kentucky Wildcats. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second round of the 1988 NFL draft and spent his entire pro career with the team and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

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Dan Jansen, American speed skater and sportscaster

Daniel Erwin Jansen is a retired American speed skater. A multiple world champion in sprint and perennial favorite at the Winter Olympics, he broke a ten-year Olympic jinx when he won a gold medal in his final race, which was the 1,000 meters in the 1994 Winter Games.

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Dara O'Kearney, Irish runner and poker player

Dara O'Kearney, born 17 June 1965 in Ennis, County Clare, is an Irish international ultra runner and professional poker player. He is the son of Irish language activist and writer Sean Ua Cearnaigh, and nephew of Irish politician Chris Flood.

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17/06/1964

Rinaldo Capello, Italian race car driver

Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello is an Italian professional racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Bentley in 2003 and Audi in 2004 and 2008. Capello is a two-time American Le Mans Series champion, a five-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner, and the record holder for most wins at Petit Le Mans, having won five times. Capello has also raced in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, the FIA World Endurance Championship, DTM and the Italian GT Championship.

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Michael Gross, German swimmer

Michael Groß, usually spelled Michael Gross in English, is a former competitive swimmer from Germany. He is 201 centimetres tall, and received the nickname "The Albatross" for his especially long arms that gave him a total span of 2.13 meters. Gross, competing for West Germany, won three Olympic gold medals, two in 1984 and one in 1988 in the freestyle and butterfly events, in addition to two World Championship titles in 1982, two in 1986 and one in 1991.

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Steve Rhodes, English cricketer and coach

Steven John Rhodes is an English cricket coach and former cricketer. He was the former coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team. He was best known as a wicket-keeper, but was also a useful number six or seven batsman, making twelve first-class centuries.

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17/06/1963

Greg Kinnear, American actor, television presenter, and producer

Gregory Buck Kinnear is an American actor and former talk show host. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in As Good as It Gets (1997).

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17/06/1962

Michael Monroe, Finnish singer-songwriter and saxophonist

Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm, known professionally as Michael Monroe, is a Finnish rock musician who rose to fame as the vocalist and saxophonist for the glam punk band Hanoi Rocks and has served as the frontman for all-star side projects, such as Demolition 23 and Jerusalem Slim.

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17/06/1961

Kōichi Yamadera, Japanese actor and singer

Koichi Yamadera is a Japanese actor, narrator and singer from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. He graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University's economics school and is currently affiliated with Across Entertainment. Before that, he was affiliated with the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society.

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17/06/1960

Adrián Campos, Spanish race car driver (died 2021)

Adrián Campos Suñer was a Spanish Formula One driver. He participated in 21 Grands Prix for Minardi between 1987 and 1988, without scoring a championship point. He later moved into team management, with more success. He was the founder of the Campos Meta Formula One team, which competed in Formula One from 2010 to 2012. He founded Campos Racing in 1998.

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Thomas Haden Church, American actor

Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings and playing the lead for two seasons in Ned & Stacey (1995–1997), Church became known for his film work, including his role of Lyle van de Groot in George of the Jungle (1997), his Academy Award–nominated performance in Sideways (2004), his role as the Marvel Comics villain Sandman in the superhero films Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), as well as his starring roles in Over the Hedge (2006), Smart People (2008), Easy A (2010), We Bought a Zoo (2011), Max (2015), and Hellboy (2019). He also made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas (2003). In 2023, he starred as antagonist Agent Stone in the post-apocalyptic action comedy series Twisted Metal.

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17/06/1959

Carol Anderson, American author and historian

Carol Elaine Anderson is an American academic. She is the Charles Howard Candler professor of African American Studies at Emory University. Her research focuses on public policy with regard to race, justice, and equality. In 2023, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

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Lawrence Haddad, South African-English economist and academic

Lawrence James Haddad, is a British economist whose main research focuses on how to make food systems work better to advance the nutrition status of people globally.

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Nikos Stavropoulos, Greek basketball player and coach

Nikolaos "Nikos" Stavropoulos, a.k.a. Professor Nicholas "Magic" Stavropoulos, is a former Greek professional basketball player and coach. During his club playing career, at a height of 1.96 m tall, Stavropoulos played at the point guard and shooting guard positions. During his playing career, Stavropoulos was known for his dazzling passing skills, and his spectacular play-making ability, which garnered him the nickname "Magic", or "Greek Magic", after NBA player Magic Johnson, who played during the same era, and was also known for his dazzling passes and play-making ability.

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17/06/1958

Pierre Berbizier, French rugby player and coach

Pierre Berbizier is a French former rugby union footballer and a current coach. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played 56 times for France.

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Jello Biafra, American singer-songwriter and producer

Eric Reed Boucher, known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys.

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Bobby Farrelly, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Robert Thomas Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is one of the Farrelly brothers, alongside his brother Peter, who together are known for directing and producing successful box-office comedy films, including Dumb and Dumber (1994), There's Something About Mary (1998), Me, Myself and Irene (2000), Shallow Hal (2001), and the 2007 remake of The Heartbreak Kid. He made his solo directorial debut in 2023 with Champions.

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Sam Hamad, Syrian-Canadian academic and politician

Sam Hamad is a Canadian politician. He is the former member of National Assembly (MNA) for the riding of Louis-Hebert in the Quebec City region. A member of the Quebec Liberal Party, he has held various cabinet posts during his 14 years in the National Assembly. He was the Minister of Natural Resources, Minister for Transports and he was also the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity, Minister of Labour and Minister responsible for the Capitale-Nationale region.

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Jon Leibowitz, American lawyer and politician

Jonathan David Leibowitz is an American attorney who served as the 53rd chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a commissioner of the FTC from 2004 to 2013.

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Daniel McVicar, American actor

Daniel McVicar is an American actor, director and writer known for his work in European films and American television.

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17/06/1957

Philip Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)

Philip Ryan, professionally known as Philip Chevron, was an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist and record producer. He was best known as the lead guitarist for the Celtic punk band the Pogues and as the frontman for the 1970s punk rock band The Radiators from Space. Upon his death in 2013, Chevron was regarded as one of the most influential figures in Irish punk music.

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Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (died 2005)

Martin Dillon was an American musician, operatic tenor, and professor of music at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey.

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Uģis Prauliņš, Latvian composer

Uģis Prauliņš is a Latvian composer whose choral work Missa Rigensis was recorded by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, the Riga Cathedral Boys Choir, Youth Choir BALSIS and has been performed in several locations around the world, amongst those Canada, France, England.

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17/06/1956

Iain Milne, Scottish rugby player

Iain Gordon Milne is a former Scotland international rugby union player and British & Irish Lion.

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17/06/1955

Mati Laur, Estonian historian, author, and academic

Mati Laur is an Estonian historian. He has written and coauthored textbooks about early modern Estonia. He has published scholarly articles about eighteenth-century Estonia, which also was the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Despite this narrow specialisation, he is a professor of general history at the University of Tartu.

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Bob Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Robert F. Sauvé is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender.

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Cem Hakko, Turkish fashion designer and businessman

Cem Hakko is a Turkish fashion designer and businessman. He is the son of Vitali Hakko (1913–2007).

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17/06/1954

Mark Linn-Baker, American actor and director

Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director who played Benjy Stone in the film My Favorite Year and Larry Appleton in the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.

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17/06/1953

Vernon Coaker, English educator and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence

Vernon Rodney Coaker, Baron Coaker is a British politician and life peer serving as Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gedling from 1997 to 2019.

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Juan Muñoz, Spanish sculptor and storyteller (died 2001)

Juan Muñoz was a Spanish sculptor, working primarily in paper maché, resin and bronze. He was also interested in the auditory arts and created compositions for the radio. He was a self-described "storyteller". In 2000, Muñoz was awarded Spain's major Premio Nacional de Bellas Artes in recognition of his work; he died shortly after, in 2001.

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17/06/1952

Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach, and manager

Michael James Milbury is an American former professional ice hockey player and current sports announcer. He played for twelve seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), all for the Boston Bruins. He helped the Bruins reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1977 and 1978. He was inducted into the U.S hockey hall of fame in 2006.

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Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, English educator and politician, Secretary of State for Education

Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley,, is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley from 1992 to 2005.

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17/06/1951

Starhawk, American author and activist

Starhawk is an American feminist and writer. She is known as a theorist of feminist neopaganism and ecofeminism. In 2013, she was listed in Watkins' Mind Body Spirit magazine as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People.

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John Garrett, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster

John Murdoch Garrett is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender and television sports commentator. He played in the World Hockey Association from 1973 to 1979 and then in the National Hockey League from 1979 to 1985. After retiring from playing he turned to broadcasting.

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Joe Piscopo, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter

Joseph Charles John Piscopo is an American actor, comedian, and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His film roles include Danny Vermin in Johnny Dangerously (1984), Moe Dickstein in Wise Guys (1986), Doug Bigelow in Dead Heat (1988) and Kelly Stone in Sidekicks (1992).

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17/06/1949

Snakefinger, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1987)

Philip Charles Lithman, who performed under the stage name Snakefinger, was an English musician, singer and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, he was best known for his guitar and violin work and his collaborations with the Residents.

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John Craven, English economist and academic

John Anthony George Craven is a British economist, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Portsmouth. In 2006, he founded the University Alliance, and served as its first chair until 2009.

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Russell Smith, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2019)

Howard Russell Smith was an American singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the groups The Amazing Rhythm Aces and Run C&W. As a solo artist, he released four studio albums and charted five singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart between 1984 and 1989.

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17/06/1948

Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player and manager

David Ismael Concepción Benitez is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won four National League pennants and two World Series championships between 1970 and 1976.

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Jacqueline Jones, American historian and academic

Jacqueline Jones is an American social historian and winner of the Pulitzer Prize in history. She held the Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History and Ideas from 2008 to 2017, is the Ellen C. Temple Professor of Women’s History Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin, and is the past president of the American Historical Association. Her expertise is in American social history in addition to writing on economics, race, slavery, and class. She is a Macarthur Fellow, Bancroft Prize Winner, and Pulitzer Prize winner in 2024 after twice being a finalist.

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Aurelio López, Mexican baseball player and politician (died 1992)

Aurelio Alejandro López Rios was a Mexican professional baseball player. After pitching for several years in the Mexican League, he spent eleven seasons with four teams in Major League Baseball — a majority of it spent with the Detroit Tigers. He acquired the nickname "Señor Smoke" in Detroit, while he was known as "El Buitre de Tecamachalco" in Mexico. López was discovered in his hometown by Mexican League scouts and converted from a starting pitcher to a relief pitcher.

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Karol Sikora, English physician and academic

Karol Sikora is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading authority on cancer. He was a founder and medical director of Rutherford Health, a company that provided proton therapy services, and is Director of Medical Oncology at the Bahamas Cancer Centre.

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17/06/1947

Christopher Allport, American actor (died 2008)

Christopher Allport was an American actor.

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Timothy Wright, American gospel singer, pastor (died 2009)

Timothy Wright, generally credited as Rev. Timothy Wright or Reverend Timothy Wright on recordings, was an American gospel singer and pastor.

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Linda Chavez, American journalist and author

Linda Lou Chavez is an American author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, has a syndicated column that appears in newspapers nationwide each week, and sits on the board of directors of two Fortune 500 companies: Pilgrim's Pride and ABM Industries. Chavez was the highest-ranking woman in President Ronald Reagan's White House, and was the first Latina ever nominated to the United States Cabinet, when President George W. Bush nominated her Secretary of Labor. She withdrew from consideration for the position when the media published allegations that she had employed an illegal immigrant a decade earlier. In 2000, Chavez was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.

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George S. Clinton, American composer and songwriter

George Stanley Clinton Jr. is an American composer, songwriter, arranger, and session musician.

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Gregg Rolie, American rock singer-songwriter and keyboard player

Gregg Alan Rolie is an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Rolie served as lead singer of the bands Santana and Journey – both of which he co-founded. He also helmed rock group the Storm, performed in Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band until 2021, and since 2001 with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie is a two-time inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, having been inducted both as a member of Santana in 1998 and as a member of Journey in 2017.

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Paul Young, English singer-songwriter (died 2000)

Paul Young was a British singer and songwriter. He achieved success in the bands Sad Café and Mike + the Mechanics.

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17/06/1946

Peter Rosei, Austrian author, poet, and playwright

Peter Rosei is an Austrian literary writer.

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17/06/1945

Tommy Franks, American general

Tommy Ray Franks is a retired United States Army general. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States military operations in a 25-country region, including the Middle East. Franks succeeded General Anthony Zinni to this position on 6 July 2000 and served until his retirement on 7 July 2003. Franks was the United States general leading the attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. He also oversaw the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

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Ken Livingstone, English politician, 1st Mayor of London

Kenneth Robert Livingstone is an English politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was abolished in 1986, and as the first mayor of London from the creation of the office in 2000 until 2008. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent East from 1987 to 2001. He is a former member of the Labour Party, ideologically identifying as a socialist.

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Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist and sportscaster

Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx, is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an unequalled eleven Grand Tours, all five Monuments, setting the hour record, three World Championships, every major one-day race other than Paris–Tours, and extensive victories on the track.

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Art Bell, American broadcaster and author (died 2018)

Arthur William Bell III was an American broadcaster and author. He was the founder and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM, which is syndicated on hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada. He also created and hosted its companion show Dreamland. Coast to Coast still airs nightly, now hosted weeknights by George Noory. Bell's past shows from 1994 to 2002 are repeated on Premiere Networks on Saturday evenings. They are retitled Somewhere in Time with Art Bell.

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17/06/1944

Randy Johnson, American football player (died 2009)

Randolph Klaus Johnson was an American professional football player. He was the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons in their inaugural season of 1966. He also had brief stints with the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and Green Bay Packers. In 1974, he played with The Hawaiians of the World Football League (WFL).

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Chris Spedding, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Christopher John Spedding is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of the most sought-after session guitarists in England. Spedding has played on and produced many albums and singles. He has also been a member of eleven rock bands: the Battered Ornaments, Frank Ricotti Quartet, King Mob, Mike Batt and Friends, Necessaries, Nucleus, Ricky Norton, Sharks, Trigger, and the Wombles. In May 1976, Spedding also produced the first Sex Pistols recordings.

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17/06/1943

Newt Gingrich, American historian and politician, 58th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

Newton Leroy Gingrich is an American politician who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for Georgia's 6th congressional district serving north Atlanta and nearby areas from 1979 until his resignation in 1999. In 2012, Gingrich unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for president of the United States.

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Barry Manilow, American singer-songwriter and producer

Barry Manilow is an American singer and songwriter with a career spanning over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Mandy", "I Write the Songs", "Ready to Take a Chance Again", "Can't Smile Without You", "Weekend in New England", and "Copacabana ".

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Chantal Mouffe, Belgian theorist and author

Chantal Mouffe is a Belgian political theorist, teaching at University of Westminster. She is best known for her and Ernesto Laclau's contribution to the development of the so-called Essex School of discourse analysis. She is a strong critic of deliberative democracy and advocates a conflict-oriented model of radical democracy.

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Burt Rutan, American engineer and pilot

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is an American retired aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. He also designed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which in 2006 set the world record for the fastest and longest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan's sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period.

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17/06/1942

Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian politician, Vice President of Egypt, Nobel Prize laureate

Mohamed Mostafa ElBaradei is an Egyptian lawyer and diplomat who served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 to 2009, then as vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July to 14 August 2013.

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Doğu Perinçek, Turkish lawyer and politician

Doğu Perinçek is a Turkish politician, doctor of law and former communist revolutionary who has been chairman of the left-wing nationalist Patriotic Party since 2015. He was also a member of the Talat Pasha Committee, an organization that denies the Armenian genocide. Politically, he is a Eurasianist who favors closer relations with China and Russia, and is one of the most anti-American politicians in Turkey.

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Roger Steffens, American actor and producer

Roger Steffens is an American actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, and producer. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house reggae archives, which include the world's largest collection of Bob Marley material. Based on these archives Steffens lectures internationally with a multi-media presentation called The Life of Bob Marley. His radio career began in New York City in 1961, and he co-hosted Reggae Beat on KCRW in Los Angeles and was syndicated on 130 stations worldwide in the 1980s.

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17/06/1941

Nicholas C. Handy, English chemist and academic (died 2012)

Nicholas Charles Handy was a British theoretical chemist. He retired as Professor of quantum chemistry at the University of Cambridge in September 2004.

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17/06/1940

George Akerlof, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

George Arthur Akerlof is an American economist and a university professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and Koshland Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Akerlof was awarded the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, jointly with Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, "for their analyses of markets with asymmetric information." He is the husband of former United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.

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Bobby Bell, American football player

Bobby Lee Bell Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker and defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Bell is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, College Football Hall of Fame, NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, and played on the Chiefs' team that won Super Bowl IV. Paul Zimmerman described him as the first, and prototype, size and speed linebacker.

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Chuck Rainey, American bassist

Charles Walter Rainey III is an American bass guitarist who has performed and recorded with many well-known acts, including Aretha Franklin, Steely Dan, and Quincy Jones. Rainey is credited for playing bass on more than 1,000 albums, and is one of the most recorded bass players in the history of recorded music.

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17/06/1937

Peter Fitzgerald, Irish footballer and manager (died 2013)

Peter Joseph Fitzgerald was an Irish professional footballer who played as a forward.

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Ted Nelson, American sociologist and philosopher

Theodor Holm Nelson is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher of computer science, and sociologist. He coined the terms hypertext and hypermedia in 1963 and published them in 1965. According to his profile published in Forbes in 1997, Nelson "sees himself as a literary romantic, like a Cyrano de Bergerac, or 'the Orson Welles of software'."

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Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian fashion designer, television presenter and politician (died 2009)

Clodovil Hernandes was a Brazilian fashion designer, television presenter, and politician.

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17/06/1936

Vern Harper, Canadian tribal leader and activist (died 2018)

Vern Harper Vernon Harper born on June 17, 1936 in Regent Park Toronto, Ontario – May 12, 2018) was a Canadian First Nations Cree Elder, medicine man, and Aboriginal rights activist.

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Ken Loach, English director, producer, and screenwriter

Kenneth Charles Loach is a retired English filmmaker. His socially critical directing style and socialist views are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty, homelessness, and labour rights.

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17/06/1933

Harry Browne, American soldier and politician (died 2006)

Harry Edson Browne was an American writer, libertarian political activist, and investment advisor. He was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in the U.S. elections of 1996 and 2000 running on a platform that advocated abolishing the federal income tax, privatizing Social Security, ending the war on drugs, and drastically reducing the size and scope of government. A leading figure in the modern libertarian movement, Browne was a passionate advocate for personal freedom, limited government, and voluntary cooperation. He authored 12 books that in total have sold more than 2 million copies including his influential work How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World (1973), which provided a blueprint for achieving individual liberation by rejecting societal constraints and embracing self-reliance. Through his presidential campaigns, writings, and public appearances, Browne articulated a vision of a society free from coercion, inspiring generations of libertarians to challenge political and cultural orthodoxy.

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Christian Ferras, French violinist (died 1982)

Christian Ferras was a French violinist.

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Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (died 1970)

Maurice Stokes was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Cincinnati/Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1955 to 1958. Stokes was a three-time NBA All-Star, a three-time All-NBA Second Team member and the 1956 NBA Rookie of the Year. His career – and later his life – was cut short by a debilitating brain injury and paralysis.

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17/06/1932

Derek Ibbotson, English runner (died 2017)

George Derek Ibbotson was an English runner who excelled in athletics in the 1950s. His most famous achievement was setting a new world record in the mile in 1957.

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John Murtha, American colonel and politician (died 2010)

John Patrick Murtha Jr. was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1974 until his death in 2010. He is the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives ever elected from Pennsylvania.

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17/06/1931

John Baldessari, American painter and illustrator (died 2020)

John Anthony Baldessari was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California.

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17/06/1930

Cliff Gallup, American guitarist (died 1988)

Clifton E. Gallup was an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps in the 1950s. Gallup's recording career was brief, recording 35 songs with Vincent in 1956 plus a 1960s solo album, but he performed occasionally until the end of his life as a part-time hobby.

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Brian Statham, English cricketer (died 2000)

John Brian Statham, was an English professional cricketer from Gorton, in Manchester, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1968 and for England from 1951 to 1965. As an England player, he took part in nine overseas tours from 1950–51 to 1962–63. He was a right arm fast bowler and was noted for the consistent accuracy of his length and direction.

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17/06/1929

Bud Collins, American journalist and sportscaster (died 2016)

Arthur Worth "Bud" Collins Jr. was an American journalist and television sportscaster, best known for his tennis commentary. Collins was married to photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen.

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Tigran Petrosian, Armenian chess player (died 1984)

Tigran Vardani Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster. The ninth World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969, he was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, which emphasized safety above all else. Petrosian is often credited with popularizing chess in Armenia.

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17/06/1928

Juan María Bordaberry, President of Uruguay (died 2011)

Juan María Bordaberry Arocena, was an Uruguayan politician and cattle rancher who served as the 34th President of Uruguay from 1972 until his ouster in 1976. For the last three years of his tenure, he was the first President of the Civic-Military Dictatorship. Previously, he was the Minister of Agriculture from 1969 to 1972. He came to office following the Presidential elections of late 1971. In 1973, Bordaberry engineered a self-coup where he dissolved the General Assembly and transferred its powers to a military-influenced Council of State. He then ruled by decree as a military-sponsored dictator until disagreements with the military led to his being overthrown before his original term of office had expired.

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17/06/1927

Martin Böttcher, German composer and conductor (died 2019)

Martin Böttcher was a German composer, arranger and conductor.

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Wally Wood, American author, illustrator, and publisher (died 1981)

Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and MAD Magazine from its inception in 1952 until 1964, as well as for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and work for Warren Publishing's Creepy. He drew a few early issues of Marvel's Daredevil and established the title character's distinctive red costume. Wood created and owned the long-running characters Sally Forth and Cannon.

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17/06/1925

Alexander Shulgin, American pharmacologist and chemist (died 2014)

Alexander Theodore "Sasha" Shulgin was an American biochemist, broad researcher of synthetic psychoactive compounds, and author of works regarding these, who independently explored the organic chemistry and pharmacology of such agents—in his mid-life and later, many through preparation in his home laboratory, and testing on himself. He is acknowledged to have introduced to broader use, in the late 1970s, the previously-synthesized compound MDMA ("ecstasy"), in research psychopharmacology and in combination with conventional therapy, the latter through presentations and academic publications, including to psychologists; and for the rediscovery, occasional discovery, and regular synthesis and personal use and distribution, of possibly hundreds of psychoactive compounds. As such, Shulgin is seen both as a pioneering and a controversial participant in the emergence of the broad use of psychedelics.

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17/06/1923

Elroy Hirsch, American football player (died 2004)

Elroy Leon "Crazylegs" Hirsch was an American professional football player, sport executive, and actor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974. He was a first-team All-Pro in 1951 and 1953, was named to the National Football League (NFL) 1950s All-Decade Team and also was selected as a member of the NFL 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1969 and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019.

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Arnold S. Relman, American physician and academic (died 2014)

Arnold Seymour Relman — known as Bud Relman to intimates — was an American internist and professor of medicine and social medicine. He was editor of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) from 1977 to 1991, where he instituted two important policies: one asking the popular press not to report on articles before publication and another requiring authors to disclose conflicts of interest. He wrote extensively on medical publishing and reform of the U.S. health care system, advocating non-profit delivery of single-payer health care. Relman ended his career as professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian and academic (died 1999)

Dale Cairns Thomson was a professor and departmental director at the Université de Montréal, professor and Vice-Principal of McGill University and a professor of international relations and Director of the Center of Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and the author of several important historical works.

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17/06/1922

John Amis, English journalist and critic (died 2013)

John Preston Amis was a British broadcaster, classical music critic, music administrator, and writer. He was a frequent contributor for The Guardian and to BBC radio and television music programming.

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17/06/1920

Jacob H. Gilbert, American lawyer and politician (died 1981)

Jacob H. Gilbert was an American lawyer and politician who served six terms as a United States representative from New York between 1960 and 1971.

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Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress (died 2015)

Setsuko Hara was a Japanese actress. She is best known for her performances in Yasujirō Ozu's films Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953) and Tokyo Twilight (1957), amongst many others, and for working extensively with director Mikio Naruse. She is widely considered to be the one of the greatest Japanese film actresses of all time.

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François Jacob, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)

François Jacob was a French biologist. He shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Jacques Monod and André Lwoff "for their discoveries concerning genetic control of enzyme and virus synthesis." He and Monod originated the idea that control of enzyme levels in all cells occurs through regulation of transcription. For his work in the French Resistance, he received the Cross of Liberation, the Légion d'honneur and Croix de guerre.

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Peter Le Cheminant, English air marshal and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (died 2018)

Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter de Lacy Le Cheminant, was a senior commander of the Royal Air Force (RAF), who served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff from 1974 to 1976 and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Central Europe from 1976 until his retirement in 1979.

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17/06/1919

William Kaye Estes, American psychologist and academic (died 2011)

William Kaye Estes was an American psychologist. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Estes as the 77th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. In order to develop a statistical explanation for the learning phenomena, William Kaye Estes developed the Stimulus Sampling Theory in 1950 which suggested that a stimulus-response association is learned by a single trial; however, the learning process is continuous and consists of the accumulation of distinct stimulus-response pairings.

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John Moffat, Scottish lieutenant and pilot (died 2016)

John William Charlton Moffat was a Scottish Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilot, widely credited as the pilot whose torpedo crippled the German battleship Bismarck and author of the biographical I sank the Bismarck. Moffat took part in the courageous strike on the German battleship Bismarck during its Atlantic sortie, codenamed Operation Rheinübung, on 26 May 1941 whilst flying a Fairey Swordfish biplane.

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Beryl Reid, English actress (died 1996)

Beryl Elizabeth Reid was a British actress. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Killing of Sister George, the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens, and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Smiley's People. Her film appearances included The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), and No Sex Please, We're British (1973).

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17/06/1918

Ajahn Chah, Thai monk and educator (died 1992)

Ajahn Chah was a Thai Buddhist monk. He was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition.

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17/06/1917

Dufferin Roblin, Canadian politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (died 2010)

Dufferin "Duff" Roblin was a Canadian businessman and politician. He served as the 14th premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Senate of Canada on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as government leader in the Senate. He was the grandson of Sir Rodmond Roblin, who also served as Manitoba Premier. His ancestor John Roblin served in the Upper Canada assembly.

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17/06/1916

Terry Gilkyson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999)

Terry Gilkyson was an American folk singer and songwriter.

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17/06/1915

David "Stringbean" Akeman, American singer and banjo player (died 1973)

David Akeman, better known as Stringbean, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, comedian, and semiprofessional baseball player best known for his role as a main cast member on the hit television show Hee Haw and as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Akeman was well known for his "old-fashioned" banjo-picking style, careful mix of comedy and music, and his memorable stage wardrobe. Akeman and his wife were shot and murdered by burglars in their rural Tennessee home near Ridgetop, Tennessee, in 1973.

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Marcel Cadieux, Canadian civil servant and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States (died 1981)

Marcel Cadieux, was a Canadian civil servant and diplomat.

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17/06/1914

John Hersey, American journalist and author (died 1993)

John Richard Hersey was an American writer and journalist. He is considered one of the earliest practitioners of the so-called New Journalism, in which storytelling techniques of fiction are adapted to non-fiction reportage. In 1999, Hiroshima, Hersey's account of the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, was adjudged the finest work of American journalism of the 20th century by a 36-member panel associated with New York University's journalism department.

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17/06/1910

Red Foley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1968)

Clyde Julian "Red" Foley was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II. For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the genre, selling more than 25 million records. His 1951 hit, "Peace in the Valley", was among the first million-selling gospel records. A Grand Ole Opry veteran until his death, Foley also hosted the first popular country music series on network television, Ozark Jubilee, from 1955 to 1960.

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George Hees, Canadian football player and politician (died 1996)

George Harris Hees was a Canadian politician and businessman.

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17/06/1909

Elmer L. Andersen, American businessman and politician, 30th Governor of Minnesota (died 2004)

Elmer Lee Andersen was an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who built a successful business career with the H. B. Fuller Company. Andersen was most notably the 30th governor of Minnesota. A self-described progressive Republican, he was a well-regarded politician who passed many social and environmental regulations during his time as governor.

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Ralph E. Winters, Canadian-American film editor (died 2004)

Ralph Ethan Winters was a Canadian-born film editor who became one of the leading figures of this field in the American industry.

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17/06/1907

Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1990)

Maurice Cloche was a French film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. Best known for his Oscar-winning film Monsieur Vincent (1947) he won a 1948 Special Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

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17/06/1904

Ralph Bellamy, American actor (died 1991)

Ralph Rexford Bellamy was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and awards, including a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Sunrise at Campobello as well as Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination for The Awful Truth (1937). In 1986, Bellamy was awarded with an Academy Honorary Award.

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J. Vernon McGee, American pastor and theologian (died 1988)

John Vernon McGee was an American ordained Presbyterian minister, pastor, Bible teacher, theologian, and radio minister.

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Patrice Tardif, Canadian farmer and politician (died 1989)

Patrice Tardif was a politician Quebec, Canada and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec (MLA).

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17/06/1903

Ruth Graves Wakefield, American chef, created the chocolate chip cookie (died 1977)

Ruth Graves Wakefield was an American chef, known for her innovations in the baking field. She pioneered the first chocolate chip cookie recipe, an invention many people incorrectly assume was a mistake. Her new dessert, supposedly conceived of as she returned from a vacation in Egypt, is the inspiration behind the massively popular Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie. Throughout her life, Wakefield found occupation as a dietitian, educator, business owner, and published author. She wrote a cookbook titled Ruth Wakefield’s, Toll House: Tried and True Recipes.

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17/06/1902

Sammy Fain, American pianist and composer (died 1989)

Sammy Fain was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatre.

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Alec Hurwood, Australian cricketer (died 1982)

Alexander Hurwood, was an Australian cricketer who played in two Tests in the 1930–31 season.

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17/06/1900

Martin Bormann, German politician (died 1945)

Martin Ludwig Bormann was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, and a war criminal. Bormann gained immense power by using his position as Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information and access to Hitler. He used his position to create an extensive bureaucracy and involve himself as much as possible in the decision-making.

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Evelyn Irons, Scottish journalist and war correspondent (died 2000)

Evelyn Graham Irons was a Scottish journalist, the first female war correspondent to be decorated with the French Croix de Guerre.

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17/06/1898

M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (died 1972)

Maurits Cornelis Escher was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular interest, for most of his life Escher was neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the late twentieth century, he became more widely appreciated, and in the twenty-first century he has been celebrated in exhibitions around the world.

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Carl Hermann, German physicist and academic (died 1961)

Carl Heinrich Hermann, also spelled Karl Hermann, was a German physicist, crystallographer, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany. He is known for his research in crystallographic symmetry, nomenclature, and mathematical crystallography in N-dimensional spaces.

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Joe McKelvey, Executed Irish republican (died 1922)

Joseph McKelvey was an Irish Republican Army officer who was executed during the Irish Civil War without trial or court martial. He participated in the Anti-Treaty IRA's repudiation of the authority of the Dáil Éireann, the civil government of the Irish Republic declared in 1919 in March 1922, and was elected to the IRA Army Council as Deputy Chief of Staff. In April 1922, he helped command the occupation of the Four Courts in defiance of the new Irish Free State. This action helped to spark the civil war, between pro- and anti-treaty factions. McKelvey was among the most hardline of the republican side and, briefly in June 1922, became IRA Chief of Staff.

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Harry Patch, English soldier and firefighter (died 2009)

Henry John Patch, dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the world's last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War. Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada. At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Patch was the fourth-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning, Horacio Celi Mendoza, and Jiroemon Kimura.

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17/06/1897

Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro, Brazilian girl, popular saint (died 1911)

Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro, popularly known as Menina Izildinha, Angel of the Lord or Saint Izildinha, is an unofficial popular child saint to whom Brazilian Catholics have attributed inexplicable miracles, cures and healings.

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17/06/1888

Heinz Guderian, German general (died 1954)

Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general in the Heer Army controlled by Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht and chief of staff in the OKH during World War II who later became a successful memoirist. A pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of the panzer division concept.

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17/06/1882

Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (died 1918)

Adolphus Frederick VI was the last reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

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Igor Stravinsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1971)

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer and conductor with French and American citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in modernist music.

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17/06/1881

Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer and promoter (died 1955)

Tommy Burns was a Canadian professional boxer. He remains the only Canadian-born fighter to win the World Heavyweight Championship and is the shortest champion in the division's history. The first to travel the globe in defending his title, Burns made 13 title defences against 11 different boxers, despite often being the underdog due to his size.

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17/06/1880

Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (died 1964)

Carl Van Vechten was an American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame as a writer, and notoriety as well, for his 1926 novel Nigger Heaven. In his later years, he took up photography and took many portraits of notable people. Although he was married to women for most of his adult years, Van Vechten engaged in numerous affairs with other men during his lifetime.

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17/06/1876

William Carr, American rower (died 1942)

William John Carr was an American rower who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was part of the American boat Vesper Boat Club, which won the gold medal in the eights.

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Edward Anthony Spitzka, American anatomist and author (died 1922)

Edward Anthony Spitzka was an American anatomist who autopsied the brain of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of president William McKinley.

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17/06/1871

James Weldon Johnson, American author, journalist, and activist (died 1938)

James Weldon Johnson was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he started working in 1917. In 1920, he was chosen as executive secretary of the organization, effectively the operating officer. He served in that position from 1920 to 1930. Johnson established his reputation as a writer, and was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems, novel and anthologies collecting both poems and spirituals of Black culture. He wrote the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which later became known as the Black National Anthem, the music being written by his younger brother, composer J. Rosamond Johnson.

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17/06/1867

Flora Finch, English-American actress (died 1940)

Flora Finch was an English-born vaudevillian, stage and film actress who starred in over 300 silent films, including over 200 for the Vitagraph Studios film company. The vast majority of her films from the silent era are currently classified as lost.

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John Robert Gregg, Irish-born American educator, publisher, and humanitarian (died 1948)

John Robert Gregg was an Irish-born American educator, publisher, and inventor, best known as the creator of the eponymous shorthand writing system, Gregg shorthand. Developed in the late 19th century and refined over several decades, Gregg shorthand became one of the most widely used systems of shorthand in the English-speaking world, particularly in business and educational settings during the 20th century.

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Henry Lawson, Australian poet and author (died 1922)

Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest short story writer".

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17/06/1865

Susan La Flesche Picotte, Native American physician (died 1915)

Susan La Flesche Picotte was a Native American medical doctor and reformer and member of the Omaha tribe. She is widely acknowledged as one of the first Indigenous people, and the first Indigenous woman, to earn a medical degree. She campaigned for public health and for the formal, legal allotment of land to members of the Omaha tribe.

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17/06/1863

Charles Michael, duke of Mecklenburg (died 1934)

Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg was an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, heir presumptive to the throne of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and from 1918 head of the Grand Ducal House.

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17/06/1861

Pete Browning, American baseball player (died 1905)

Louis Rogers "Pete" Browning, nicknamed "Gladiator" and "the Louisville Slugger", was an American professional baseball center fielder and left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1882 to 1894. He played primarily for the Louisville Eclipse/Colonels, becoming one of the sport's most accomplished batters of the 1880s.

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Omar Bundy, American general (died 1940)

Major General Omar Bundy was a career United States Army officer who was a veteran of the American Indian Wars, Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, Pancho Villa Expedition, and World War I.

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17/06/1858

Eben Sumner Draper, American businessman and politician, 44th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1914)

Eben Sumner Draper was an American businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He was for many years a leading figure in what later became the Draper Corporation, the dominant manufacturer of cotton textile process machinery in the world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He served as the 44th governor of Massachusetts from 1909 to 1911.

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17/06/1833

Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and president (died 1893)

José Manuel del Refugio González Flores was a Mexican general and liberal politician who served as the 35th President of Mexico from 1880 to 1884.

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17/06/1832

William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (died 1919)

Sir William Crookes was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube, which was made in 1875. Observing cathode rays generated in these tubes, Crookes posited that "radiant matter" was a unique fourth state of matter, a foundational contribution to plasma physics.

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17/06/1821

E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (died 1888)

Ephraim George Squier, usually cited as E. G. Squier, was an American archaeologist, history writer, painter and newspaper editor.

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17/06/1818

Charles Gounod, French composer and academic (died 1893)

Charles-François Gounod was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been Faust (1859); his Roméo et Juliette (1867) also remains in the international repertoire. He composed a large amount of church music, many songs, and popular short pieces including his "Ave Maria" and "Funeral March of a Marionette".

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Sophie of Württemberg, queen of the Netherlands (died 1877)

Sophie of Württemberg was Queen of the Netherlands as the first wife of King William III. Sophie separated from William in 1855 but continued to perform her duties as queen in public. She was known for her progressive and liberal views and corresponded with several famous intellectuals.

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17/06/1811

Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic scholar and politician (died 1879)

Jón Sigurðsson was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.

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17/06/1810

Ferdinand Freiligrath, German poet and translator (died 1876)

Ferdinand Freiligrath was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement.

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17/06/1808

Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian poet, playwright, and linguist (died 1845)

Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the development of a distinctly Norwegian literary heritage and of modern Norwegian culture.

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17/06/1800

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, English-Irish astronomer and politician (died 1867)

William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, was an English engineer and astronomer. He built several giant telescopes. His 72-inch telescope, built in 1845 and colloquially known as the "Leviathan of Parsonstown", was the world's largest telescope, in terms of aperture size, until the early 20th century. From April 1807 until February 1841, he was styled as Baron Oxmantown.

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17/06/1778

Gregory Blaxland, English-Australian explorer (died 1853)

Gregory Blaxland was an English pioneer farmer and explorer.

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17/06/1718

George Howard, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Minorca (died 1796)

Field Marshal Sir George Howard KB PC was a British Army officer and politician. After commanding the 3rd Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Fontenoy in May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession and after commanding that regiment again at the Battle of Falkirk Muir and the Battle of Culloden during the Jacobite Rebellion, he returned to the continent and fought at the Battle of Lauffeld. He went on to command a brigade at the Battle of Warburg during the Seven Years' War. He subsequently became the Governor of Minorca.

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17/06/1714

César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer and cartographer (died 1784)

César-François Cassini de Thury, also called Cassini III or Cassini de Thury, was a French astronomer and cartographer.

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17/06/1704

John Kay, English engineer, invented the Flying shuttle (died 1780)

John Kay was an English inventor whose most important creation was the flying shuttle, which was a key contribution to the Industrial Revolution. He is often confused with his namesake, who built the first "spinning frame".

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17/06/1693

Johann Georg Walch, German theologian and author (died 1775)

Johann Georg Walch was a German Lutheran theologian.

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17/06/1691

Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter and architect (died 1765)

Giovanni Paolo, also known as Gian Paolo Panini or Pannini, was an Italian Baroque painter and architect who worked in Rome and is primarily known as one of the vedutisti. As a painter, Panini is best known for his vistas of Rome, in which he took a particular interest in the city's antiquities. Among his most famous works are his view of the interior of the Pantheon, and his vedute—paintings of picture galleries containing views of Rome. Most of his works, especially those of ruins, have a fanciful and unreal embellishment characteristic of capriccio themes. In this they resemble the capricci of Marco Ricci. Panini also painted portraits, including one of Pope Benedict XIV.

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17/06/1682

Charles XII, Swedish king (died 1718)

Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII or Carolus Rex, was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of Wittelsbach. Charles was the only surviving son of Charles XI and Ulrika Eleonora the Elder. He assumed power, after a seven-month caretaker government, at the age of fifteen.

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17/06/1631

Gauharara Begum, Mughal princess (died 1706)

Gauhar Ara Begum was a Mughal princess and the 14th and youngest child of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

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17/06/1610

Birgitte Thott, Danish scholar, writer and translator (born 1662)

Birgitte (Bridget) Thott was a Danish writer, scholar and feminist, known for her learning. She was fluent and literate in Latin along with many other languages. She translated many published works into Danish, including a 1,000-page translation of Latin moral philosopher Seneca.

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17/06/1604

John Maurice, Dutch nobleman (died 1679)

John Maurice of Nassau, called "the Brazilian" for his fruitful period as governor of Dutch Brazil, was Count and Prince of Nassau-Siegen. He served as Herrenmeister of the Order of Saint John from 1652 until his death in 1679.

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17/06/1603

Joseph of Cupertino, Italian mystic and saint (died 1663)

Joseph of Cupertino (Copertino), OFM Conv. (Italian: Giuseppe da Copertino; 17 June 1603 – 18 September 1663) was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who is honored as a Christian mystic and saint. According to traditional Franciscan accounts, he was "remarkably unclever", but experienced miraculous levitation and ecstatic visions throughout his life which made him the object of scorn.

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17/06/1571

Thomas Mun, English writer on economics (died 1641)

Sir Thomas Mun was an English writer on economics and is often referred to as the last of the early mercantilists. Most notably, he is known for serving as the director of the East India Company. Due to his strong belief in the state and his prior experience as a merchant, Mun took on a prominent role during the economic depression which began in 1620. To defend the East India Company and to regain England's economic stability, Mun published A Discourse of Trade from England unto the East-Indies.

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17/06/1530

François de Montmorency, French nobleman (died 1579)

François de Montmorency, 2nd Duke of Montmorency was a French noble, governor, diplomat and soldier during the latter Italian Wars and the early French Wars of Religion. The son of Anne de Montmorency, favourite of the king and Madeleine of Savoy, Montmorency began his political career during the coronation of Henri II in 1547. With the resumption of the Italian Wars in 1551 he fought at the capture of Chieri, the famous defence of Metz and the defence of Thérouanne. In the latter engagement he was captured by Imperial forces, and put up for ransom. He would spend the next three years in captivity before returning to France in 1556. Returning to the conflict immediately he participated in the disastrous Saint-Quentin campaign in which the French army was destroyed and his father captured. After serving as a lieutenant in Picardie he found himself gaining advantage on the death of Henri II, the new Guise regime compensating the Montmorency family for their seizure of the grand maître title with the provision of a Marshal baton to Montmorency.

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17/06/1239

Edward I, English king (died 1307)

Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 to 1306 ruled Gascony as Duke of Aquitaine in his capacity as a vassal of the French king. Before his accession to the throne, he was commonly referred to as the Lord Edward.

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17/06/0801

Drogo of Metz, Frankish bishop (died 855)

Drogo, also known as Dreux or Drogon, was an illegitimate son of Frankish emperor Charlemagne by the concubine Regina.

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