Born on Tuesday, 17th March – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 211 notable people were born on 17th March — spanning from 763 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
Tuesday, 17th March 2026 marks the birth anniversary of several notable figures across entertainment, sport and politics. Among those born on this date is John Boyega, the British actor and producer who gained prominence through his leading role in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. His career represents the modern trajectory of British performers establishing themselves in major Hollywood productions. Another significant figure born on this day is Hozier, the Irish musician whose introspective folk-influenced compositions have achieved considerable commercial success since his debut in 2014.
The historical record for 17th March extends considerably further back, encompassing figures whose contributions shaped their respective fields. In 1939, Robin Knox-Johnston was born, the English sailor who would later become the first person to complete a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, a feat he accomplished in 1969. This achievement marked a watershed moment in maritime history, demonstrating the possibilities of sustained solo navigation across the world’s oceans. Similarly, on this date in 1920, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was born, the Bangladeshi politician who would become the nation’s first president and play a crucial role in Bangladesh’s independence movement.
On 17th March 2026, the weather conditions across the Northern Hemisphere will reflect early spring patterns, with temperatures gradually warming as the season progresses. The date falls under the zodiac sign of Pisces, characterising those born on this day within the water sign classification. The lunar phase at this point in the month typically approaches the waxing gibbous stage, representing a period of increasing lunar illumination.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information about notable births, deaths and historical events for any specified date and location, allowing users to explore the significance of specific calendar days throughout history.
Discover who was born today 2nd April.
17/03/2001
Pietro Pellegri, Italian footballer
Pietro Pellegri is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie B club Empoli on loan from Torino. He has been capped once by the Italy national team.
17/03/1998
Brandon Aiyuk, American football player
Brandon Aiyuk is an American professional football wide receiver who most recently played for the San Francisco 49ers. He played college football for the Sierra College Wolverines and Arizona State Sun Devils and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft.
17/03/1997
Katie Ledecky, American swimmer
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She is the most decorated female swimmer in history and the most decorated American woman in Olympic history, with a total of 14 Olympic medals, including nine golds. She is regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time.
Daniel Sprong, Dutch ice hockey player
Daniel Sprong is a Dutch professional ice hockey right winger for Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Sprong was originally selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2015 NHL entry draft after playing two seasons with the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), and made the Penguins immediately after being drafted, though he would return to the QMJHL and play two more seasons with the Islanders. He played parts of four seasons with Pittsburgh and their American Hockey League affiliate before being traded to the Anaheim Ducks in 2018, where he spent two seasons before being traded to the Washington Capitals in 2020. After his initial stint with the Kraken, he had tenures with the Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks before returning to Seattle. Following the 2024-25 NHL season, Sprong moved to Russia, playing with CSKA Moscow before being traded midseason to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.
17/03/1995
Claressa Shields, American boxer and mixed martial artist
Claressa Maria Shields is an American professional boxer and former professional mixed martial artist. She has held 18 major world championships spanning five weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title in March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title twice between 2019 and 2024; the World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) female super middleweight titles from 2017 to 2018; the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female light heavyweight title from 2024 to 2025 and the undisputed female heavyweight title since February 2025. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two, three, four and five division world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of August 12, 2025, she is ranked the world's best active female light heavyweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.
17/03/1994
DeForest Buckner, American football player
DeForest George Buckner is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oregon Ducks, and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft. With the 49ers, Buckner made a Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro selection in 2019. With the Colts, he was selected to the first-team All Pro in 2020 and made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2023.
Terry Rozier, American basketball player
Terry William Rozier III, nicknamed "Scary Terry", is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets.
Ivan Provedel, Italian footballer
Ivan Provedel is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Lazio.
Marcel Sabitzer, Austrian footballer
Marcel Sabitzer is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and the Austria national team. Predominantly a central midfielder, Sabitzer can play in a multitude of roles, including attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, winger and second striker.
17/03/1993
Matteo Bianchetti, Italian footballer
Matteo Bianchetti is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Cremonese.
Rhys Hoskins, American baseball player
Rhys Dean Hoskins is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers.
Yao Yuanjun, Chinese Border police officer (died 2011)
Yao Yuanjun was a border police officer with the rank of Private who served in the People's Armed Police Border Defense Corps. Yao drowned in the Shweli river while attempting to arrest a drug trafficker on the China-Myanmar Border.
17/03/1992
John Boyega, British actor and producer
John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega, known professionally as John Boyega, is an English actor and producer. He first gained recognition in Britain for his role as a teenage gang leader in the comedy horror film Attack the Block (2011) before he had his international breakthrough playing Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). During his time as a cast member of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Boyega received the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016, and the Trophée Chopard at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Patrick Cantlay, American golfer
Patrick Stephen Cantlay is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour, where he has won eight tournaments.
Yeltsin Tejeda, Costa Rican footballer
Yeltsin Ignacio Tejeda Valverde is a Costa Rican professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Liga FPD club Herediano, which he captains, and the Costa Rica national team.
17/03/1991
Sergey Kalinin, Russian ice hockey player
Sergey Pavlovich Kalinin is a Russian professional ice hockey forward who plays for CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He formerly played for the New Jersey Devils in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Cordarrelle Patterson, American football player
Cordarrelle Patterson, nicknamed "Flash", is an American professional football running back. As a versatile utility player, he is also a kickoff returner and occasionally at wide receiver. Patterson played college football for the Hutchinson Blue Dragons before transferring to the Tennessee Volunteers, where he earned first-team All-SEC honors.
Thomas Robinson, American-Lebanese basketball player
Thomas Earl Robinson is an American-born naturalised Lebanese professional basketball player for the Capitanes de Arecibo of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). A consensus All-American at the University of Kansas, Robinson was drafted fifth overall in the 2012 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings.
17/03/1990
Hozier, Irish musician
Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, known professionally as Hozier, is an Irish singer and musician. His music primarily draws from folk, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes and taking political or social justice stances.
Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton player
Saina Nehwal is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 that she was able to attain the world no. 1 ranking, thereby becoming the only female player from India and thereafter the second Indian player – after Prakash Padukone – to achieve this feat. She has represented India three times in the Olympics, winning a bronze medal in her second appearance at London 2012.
Jean Segura, Dominican baseball player
Jean Carlos Enrique Segura is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Milwaukee Brewers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, and Miami Marlins. Segura was an All-Star in 2013 and 2018, and led the National League in hits in 2016. He played for the Dominican Republic national baseball team at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
17/03/1989
Mikael Backlund, Swedish ice hockey player
Mikael Backlund is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a centre and captain of the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
Shinji Kagawa is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Cerezo Osaka. He is widely regarded as one of the best Japanese players of all time.
Juan Lagares, Dominican baseball player
Juan Osvaldo Lagares is a Dominican former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, and in the KBO League for the SSG Landers. Known for his defensive prowess, he won the National League Gold Glove Award in 2014.
Harry Melling, English actor
Harry Edward Melling is an English actor who first came to international attention for playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films (2001–2010). Since then, he has come to prominence for his well-received performances in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), The Pale Blue Eye (2022), and Pillion (2025).
17/03/1988
Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
Rasmus Christoffer Elm is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the assistant coach of Kalmar FF. During his career, he played for Kalmar FF in Sweden, for AZ in the Netherlands and the Russian side CSKA Moscow. Elm earned 39 caps for Sweden between 2009 and 2013 and competed at UEFA Euro 2012. He is the younger brother of Viktor and David Elm.
Fraser Forster, English footballer
Fraser Gerard Forster is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Bournemouth.
Grimes, Canadian musician, singer-songwriter, producer, and visual artist
Claire Elise Boucher, known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her work often invokes themes of science fiction, feminism, and fantasy. She has released five studio albums.
Brent Meuleman, Belgian politician
Brent C. M. Meuleman is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, he has represented East Flanders since June 2024.
Ryan White, Canadian ice hockey player
Ryan White is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He was selected in the third round, 66th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. White also played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes and Minnesota Wild.
17/03/1987
Federico Fazio, Argentine footballer
Federico Julián Fazio is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a central defender.
Rob Kardashian, American television personality
Robert Arthur Kardashian is an American television personality. He is known for appearing on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, a reality television series that centers on his family, as well as its spin-offs. In 2011, Kardashian also competed in the thirteenth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, during which he placed second. He is the fourth and youngest child and the only son of Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner.
Carlos Lampe, Bolivian footballer
Carlos Emilio Lampe Porras is a Bolivian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for División Profesional club Bolívar and the Bolivia national team.
Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
Ryan Parent is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is currently head coach with the Utica Comets.
Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
Robert Shane Ryan is an American former professional ice hockey winger. He played for the Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted second overall by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 2005 NHL entry draft.
Emmanuel Sanders, American football player
Emmanuel Niamiah Sanders is an American former professional football wide receiver who played for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the SMU Mustangs, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft. Sanders won Super Bowl 50 with the Denver Broncos, and also played for the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, and Buffalo Bills.
17/03/1986
Chris Davis, American baseball player
Christopher Lyn Davis, nicknamed "Crush Davis", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. While primarily a first baseman throughout his career, Davis also spent time at designated hitter, third baseman, and outfielder.
Edin Džeko, Bosnian footballer
Edin Džeko is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a striker for 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04 and captains the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, he is the all-time top goalscorer and most capped player of the Bosnian national team. Having scored over 400 senior career goals for club and country, Džeko was named Bosnian Footballer of the Year for three years in a row. He has been nicknamed "the Bosnian Diamond" or simply "Diamond" by football fans and journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Miles Kane, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
Miles Peter Kane is an English singer and musician, best known as a solo artist and the co-frontman of the Last Shadow Puppets. He was also the former frontman of the Rascals, before the band announced their break-up in August 2009.
Jeremy Pargo, American basketball player
Jeremy Raymon Pargo is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. In 2011 he reached the EuroLeague Final with Maccabi Tel Aviv, earning an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection in the process. He was the 2015 Israeli Basketball Premier League Assists Leader, and the 2016 Chinese Basketball Association assists leader. He is the younger brother of former NBA player Jannero Pargo.
Silke Spiegelburg, German pole vaulter
Silke Spiegelburg is a former German pole vaulter. She is the younger sister of Richard Spiegelburg. She represented Germany at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012, as well as having competed at the World Championships in Athletics. She is a European silver medallist in the event both indoors and outdoors.
17/03/1985
Tuğba Karademir, Turkish-Canadian figure skater
Tuğba Karademir is a Turkish former competitive figure skater. She won silver medals at the 2008 International Challenge Cup and 2008 Ondrej Nepela Memorial. She qualified to the free skate at two Winter Olympics, two World Championships, and seven European Championships (2004–2010). She served as the flag-bearer for Turkey at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
César Valdez, Dominican baseball player
César Miguel Valdez is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher for the Leones de Yucatán of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, and Los Angeles Angels, and in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Lamigo Monkeys.
17/03/1984
Chris Copeland, American basketball player and coach
Christopher Stephen Copeland, nicknamed "the X-Factor", is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Ryan Rottman, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
Ryan Rottman is an American actor.
17/03/1983
James Heath, English golfer
James Joseph Heath is an English professional golfer.
Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
Raul José Trindade Meireles is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Attila Vajda, Hungarian sprint canoeist
Attila Vajda is a Hungarian sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics he has won two medals in the C-1 1000 m event with a gold in 2008 and a bronze in 2004.
17/03/1982
Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
Steven Jerome Pienaar is a South African former professional footballer and current coach of the U14 team of Sharjah FC in the United Arab Emirates.
17/03/1981
Aaron Baddeley, American-Australian golfer
Aaron John Baddeley is an Australian professional golfer.
Servet Çetin, Turkish footballer
Servet Çetin is a Turkish football manager and former player who's currently coaching Sarıyer. Çetin began his football journey in 1990 when he joined Kartalspor after a chance encounter. Initially an amateur, he progressed to professional terms with Göztepe and later Denizlispor.
Nicky Jam, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter
Nick Rivera Caminero, known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer. He is best known for hits such as "X", "Travesuras", "El Perdón", "Hasta el Amanecer", and "El Amante"; the latter three are from his 2017 album Fénix. He has frequently collaborated with other Latin artists such as Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Ozuna, Plan B and Anuel AA. While his early music exemplified traditional fast-paced reggaeton, his newer compositions place more emphasis on sung vocals and romantic lyrics.
Kyle Korver, American basketball player
Kyle Elliot Korver is an American professional basketball executive and former player who is the assistant general manager for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Creighton Bluejays. He is regarded as one of the best three-point shooters of all-time.
17/03/1980
Danny Califf, American soccer player
Daniel Benjamin Califf is an American retired professional soccer player who played as a defender.
17/03/1979
Stormy Daniels, American adult film actress
Stephanie A. Gregory Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, is an American pornographic film actress, director and former stripper. She has won many industry awards and is a member of the NightMoves Hall of Fame, AVN Hall of Fame, XRCO Hall of Fame, and Vanity Fair Hall of Fame. In 2009, a recruitment effort led her to consider challenging incumbent David Vitter in the 2010 Senate election in her native Louisiana.
Andrew Ference, Canadian ice hockey player
Andrew James Stewart Ference is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played as a defenceman for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers. In 2011, Ference helped the Bruins to their sixth Stanley Cup championship. Ference was born in Edmonton, but grew up in nearby Sherwood Park, Alberta.
Stephen Kramer Glickman, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and fashion designer
Stephen Kramer Glickman is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Gustavo Rocque on the Nickelodeon sitcom Big Time Rush (2009–2013), and for co-hosting the podcast The Night Time Show.
Mineko Nomachi, Japanese essayist
Mineko Nomachi is a Japanese essayist, columnist, illustrator, and radio and television personality. She is best known for her blog I'm Queer but I'm an Office Lady , which was published as a book by Bungeishunjū in 2006, and for multiple radio and television programs co-hosted with writer Mitsurou Kubo. Her name is a pen name derived from a combination of the names of her paternal and maternal grandmothers.
Samoa Joe, American professional wrestler
Nuufolau Joel Seanoa, better known by the ring name Samoa Joe, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Opps. He is a former two-time AEW World Champion and one-time AEW World Trios Champion. He is also known for his work with Ring of Honor (ROH), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), and WWE.
17/03/1978
Zachery Kouwe, American journalist
Zachery "Zach" Kouwe is a communications strategist and former financial journalist. He is known for serving as a media and strategic communications advisor to corporations and financial firms including activist shareholders and institutional investors and has worked as an advisor for the corporate whistleblower attorney Jordan A. Thomas.
17/03/1977
Tamar Braxton, American singer and television personality
Tamar Estine Braxton is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality.
17/03/1976
Scott Downs, American baseball player
Scott Jeremy Downs is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Atlanta Braves, and Chicago White Sox. He has been a starter, reliever and closer during his baseball career.
Stephen Gately, Irish singer-songwriter and actor (died 2009)
Stephen Patrick David Gately was an Irish singer who, with Ronan Keating, was co-lead singer of the pop group Boyzone. All of Boyzone's studio albums during Gately's lifetime hit number one in the United Kingdom, their third being their most successful internationally. With Boyzone, Gately had a record-breaking sixteen-consecutive singles enter the top five of the UK Singles Chart. He released a solo album in 2000, after the group's initial break-up, which charted in the UK top ten and yielded three UK hit singles, including the top three hit "New Beginning". Gately went on to appear in stage productions and on television programmes as well as contributing songs to various projects. In 2008, he rejoined his colleagues as Boyzone reformed for a series of concerts and recordings.
Álvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
Álvaro Alexánder Recoba Rivero is an Uruguayan professional football coach and former player, who played as a forward or midfielder. He is the current manager of Venezuelan club Deportivo Táchira. He is considered one of the greatest Uruguayan players of all time.
17/03/1975
Justin Hawkins, English singer-songwriter
Justin David Hawkins is an English musician, Internet personality, singer, and songwriter best known as the founder, lead singer, and lead guitarist of The Darkness, of which his younger brother Dan is also a member. He is also the lead singer and guitarist for the band Hot Leg, formed in 2008 and now on hiatus. In 2021, Hawkins launched a YouTube channel entitled Justin Hawkins Rides Again, where he does comedic analysis on songs or artists in addition to covering news in the musical community. Hawkins has been widely praised for his musical abilities, particularly his voice which spans five octaves.
Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer, and producer (died 2021)
Puneeth Rajkumar, affectionately known as Appu, was an Indian actor, playback singer, film producer, television presenter and philanthropist who worked in Kannada cinema. He was the youngest son of legendary actor and matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar. He was one of the most popular actors in Kannada cinema. He appeared as a lead in 32 films. As a child, he appeared in many films. His performances as a child actor in Vasantha Geetha (1980), Bhagyavantha (1981), Chalisuva Modagalu (1982), Eradu Nakshatragalu (1983), Bhakta Prahaladha (1983), Yarivanu (1984) and Bettada Hoovu (1985) were praised. He won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his role of Ramu in Bettada Hoovu. He also won Karnataka State Award Best Child artist for Chalisuva Modagalu and Eradu Nakshatragalu. Puneeth's first lead role was in 2002's Appu. In a career spanning three decades, he has won one National Film Award, four Karnataka State Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards South and five SIIMA awards. He was conferred with the Doctorate by Mysuru University. The Karnataka Government conferred the state's highest civilian award, Karnataka Ratna, to Puneeth Rajkumar on 1 November 2022, posthumously.
Test, Canadian-American wrestler (died 2009)
Andrew James Robert Patrick Martin was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. He was best known for his tenures with World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE) where he competed under the ring name Test.
17/03/1974
Mark Dolan, English comedian and television host
Mark Dolan is an English presenter and comedian. He has hosted various shows on UK television, including Balls of Steel for Channel 4 2005 until 2008 and the self titled Mark Dolan Tonight and Friday Night Live with Mark Dolan for GB News between 2021 and 2024. In 2025, he joined TalkTV.
17/03/1973
Rico Blanco, Filipino singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
Rico Rene Granados Blanco is a Filipino singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, endorser and entrepreneur. He began his career as one of the founding members, and served as the chief songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist of the Filipino rock band Rivermaya from 1994 until 2007, and has been a solo artist since 2008.
Vance Wilson, American baseball player and manager
Vance Allen Wilson is an American former professional baseball catcher and current coach. He is the third base coach for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played all or parts of eight seasons in MLB. Listed at 5'11" tall and 215 pounds, he batted and threw right-handed during his career.
17/03/1972
Torquil Campbell, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
Torquil Campbell is the co-lead singer and a songwriter for the Montreal-based indie rock band Stars. In addition to singing, he also plays the melodica, trumpet, synthesizer, and tambourine. Campbell is also an actor and playwright, most recently co-creating and starring in the play True Crime, produced by Crow's Theatre in Toronto.
17/03/1971
Bill Mueller, American baseball player and coach
William Richard Mueller is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Mueller's MLB playing career was spent with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs (2001–2002), Boston Red Sox (2003–2005), and Los Angeles Dodgers (2006).
17/03/1970
Patrick Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player
Patrick Mikael Lebeau is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He represented Canada at the 1992 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal. He has played professionally in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He is the younger brother of Stéphan Lebeau.
Gene Ween, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Aaron Freeman, better known by his stage name Gene Ween, is an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the experimental alternative rock group Ween. Freeman, along with childhood friend Mickey Melchiondo, started the group in the mid-1980s. Ween would expand to five members and perform together until May 2012 when Freeman abruptly quit the band due to his desire to move forward with a solo career, as well as his intention to remain sober. Over the next few years, Freeman would briefly abandon the Gene Ween name and lead a new five-piece band called Freeman. Shortly after reviving the Gene Ween name as a solo act, to perform a series of Billy Joel tribute performances, Ween reunited in February 2016 for three concerts in Broomfield, Colorado. The band continued to perform and tour until going on an indefinite hiatus in August 2024.
17/03/1969
Edgar Grospiron, French skier
Edgar Grospiron is a French freestyle skier and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville. He received a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. At the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics he was Chef de mission for the French Team. He was in charge of the Annecy bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. This bid secured seven votes, behind Munich with 25 and the winner Pyeongchang with 63 votes. Grospiron serves as the president of the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps. The organising committee has been plagued with infighting, with the Games' director general, chief operating officer, communications director, and chief of the remuneration committee resigning between 2025 and 2026.
Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founded eponymous brand (died 2010)
Lee Alexander McQueen was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion earned him four British Designer of the Year awards, as well as the Council of Fashion Designers of America International Designer of the Year award in 2003. McQueen died by suicide in 2010 at the age of 40, at his home in Mayfair, London, shortly after the death of his mother.
17/03/1968
Eri Nitta, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
Eri Nitta is a Japanese singer, actress, lyricist, and tarento. She made her professional debut as the fourth member of the all-female singing group Onyanko Club in 1985. She made her solo debut with the hit song Winter Opera Glasses on January 1, 1986. Nitta performed the opening and ending theme songs for the first 14 episodes of the Little Women anime television series from Nippon Animation.
17/03/1967
Barry Minkow, American pastor and businessman
Barry Jay Minkow is a former American businessman, pastor, and a repeat convicted felon. While still in high school, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best, which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and restoration company. However, it was actually a front to attract investment for a massive Ponzi scheme. ZZZZ Best collapsed in 1987, costing investors and lenders $100 million in one of the largest investment frauds ever perpetrated by a single person, as well as one of the largest accounting frauds in history. The scheme is often used as a case study of accounting fraud.
17/03/1966
Andrew Rosindell, English journalist and politician
Andrew Richard Rosindell is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Romford since 2001. He was elected as a Conservative MP before his defection to Reform UK on 18 January 2026.
17/03/1965
Andrew Hudson, South African cricketer
Andrew Charles Hudson is a former South African Test and ODI cricketer. The right-handed batsman played 35 Tests and 89 One Day Internationals for South Africa in the 1990s.
17/03/1964
Stefano Borgonovo, Italian footballer (died 2013)
Stefano Borgonovo was an Italian footballer and manager, who played as a striker. An opportunistic striker, Borgonovo played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, and came to prominence while playing alongside Roberto Baggio with Fiorentina during the 1988–89 season, on loan from Milan. His prolific performances with Fiorentina earned him a permanent move to Milan, where he contributed to the club's European Cup victory in 1990, despite struggling with injuries.
Lee Dixon, English footballer and journalist
Lee Michael Dixon is an English pundit and retired professional footballer who played as a right-back. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England.
Rob Lowe, American actor
Robert Hepler Lowe is an American actor, filmmaker, and entertainment host. Following numerous television roles in the early 1980s, he came to prominence as a teen idol and member of the Brat Pack with starring roles in The Outsiders (1983), Class (1983), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), Oxford Blues (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), About Last Night... (1986), and Masquerade (1988). Lowe was involved in a sex tape scandal in 1988, which stymied his career for many years afterward. His notable credits during this time were supporting roles in comedy films such as Wayne's World (1992), Tommy Boy (1995), and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).
Jacques Songo'o, Cameroonian footballer and coach
Jacques Celestin Songo'o is a Cameroonian former professional football goalkeeper who is the current goalkeeping coach of the Cameroon national team.
17/03/1963
Roger Harper, Guyanese cricketer and coach
Roger Andrew Harper is a Guyanese former cricketer turned coach, who played both Test and One Day International cricket for the West Indies cricket team. His international career lasted 13 years, from 1983 to 1996, and he was later described as a "fabulous" fielder.
17/03/1962
Carsten Almqvist, Swedish business executive
Casten Åke Loritz Almqvist is a Swedish executive. He was the Swedish CEO for TV4 Media 2011–2022. December 2019–2022 he was also part of Telia Company's group executive management team leading the business area TV/Media.
Ank Bijleveld, Dutch politician
Anna Theodora Bernardina "Ank" Bijleveld-Schouten is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). She served as Minister of Defence in the third cabinet of Prime Minister Mark Rutte from 26 October 2017 to 17 September 2021.
Janet Gardner, American singer and guitarist
Janet Patricia Gardner is an American rock singer. She is best known as the former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the all-female glam metal band Vixen joining in 1983. She was the band's longest serving vocalist having performed on three of the band's four studio albums. When Vixen broke up in 1992 she took a hiatus from singing to pursue personal endeavors. She briefly unofficially reformed Vixen in 1997 with drummer Roxy Petrucci. She returned to Vixen in 2001, later studying to become a dental hygienist. In 2004 she took part in a Vixen reunion for a one-night-only gig as part of VH1's Bands Reunited TV show. She returned to Vixen full-time in 2012.
Clare Grogan, Scottish singer and actress
Claire Patricia Grogan, known professionally as Clare Grogan or sometimes as C. P. Grogan, is a Scottish singer and actress. She is best known as the lead singer of the 1980s new wave music group Altered Images, as well as for supporting roles in the 1981 film Gregory's Girl and the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf as the first incarnation of Kristine Kochanski.
Rob Sitch, Australian actor, director, and producer
Robert Ian Sitch is an Australian filmmaker, actor and comedian. He directed and co-wrote the comedy films The Castle (1997) and The Dish (2000); the former of which is often considered one of the greatest Australian films ever made. On television, he is known for the 1990s comedy series Frontline and the long-running comedy series Utopia (2014–present).
17/03/1961
Sam Bowie, American basketball player
Samuel Paul Bowie is an American former professional basketball player. A national sensation in high school and outstanding collegian and Olympic team member, Bowie's professional promise was undermined by repeated injuries to his legs and feet. In spite of the setbacks, the 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) and 235 lb (107 kg) center played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Dana Reeve, American actress, singer, and activist (died 2006)
Dana Charles Reeve was an American actress and singer. She was the wife of actor Christopher Reeve and mother of television reporter and anchor Will Reeve.
17/03/1959
Danny Ainge, American baseball and basketball player
Daniel Ray Ainge is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and professional baseball player who serves as the chief executive officer for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his 18-year career as general manager for the Boston Celtics, Ainge was known for making bold moves to help the team rebuild, and clearing cap space. He served as the Celtics' president of basketball operations from 2003 until his retirement in 2021.
Paul Black, American singer-songwriter and drummer
Paul Mars Black is an American singer and drummer. He is most notable for his time as lead vocalist in L.A. Guns, with whom he wrote most of their self-titled debut album.
17/03/1957
Michael Kelly, American journalist and author (died 2003)
Michael Thomas Kelly was an American journalist for The New York Times, a columnist for The Washington Post and The New Yorker, and a magazine editor for The New Republic, National Journal, and The Atlantic. He came to prominence through his reporting on the 1990–1991 Gulf War, and was well known for his political profiles and commentary. He suffered professional embarrassment for his role as senior editor in the Stephen Glass scandal at The New Republic. Kelly was killed in 2003 while covering the invasion of Iraq; he was the first United States journalist to die during the war.
17/03/1956
Patrick McDonnell, American author and illustrator
Patrick McDonnell is a cartoonist, author, and playwright. He is the creator of the daily comic strip Mutts, which follows the adventures of a dog and a cat, that has been syndicated since 1994. Prior to creating Mutts, he was a prolific magazine illustrator, and would frequently include a dog in the backgrounds of his drawings.
Rory McGrath, British comedian, television personality, and writer
Patrick Rory McGrath is a British comedian, television personality, and writer. He came to prominence in the comedy show Who Dares Wins and was a regular panellist on the game show They Think It's All Over for many years. He acted in the sitcom Chelmsford 123 and appeared in the ITV reality show Sugar Free Farm.
17/03/1955
Cynthia McKinney, American activist and politician
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former American politician. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first African American woman elected to represent Georgia in the House. She left the Democratic Party and ran in 2008 as the presidential nominee of the Green Party. She ran for vice president in 2020 after the Green Party of Alaska formally nominated her and draft-nominated Jesse Ventura for president.
17/03/1953
Filemon Lagman, Filipino activist (died 2001)
Filemon Castelar Lagman, also known by the aliases Ka Popoy and Carlos Forte, was a Filipino revolutionary socialist and labor leader who supported Marxism-Leninism. He split with the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1991 due to ideological disagreements to form the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) and Sanlakas. He was assassinated in 2001 at the University of the Philippines Diliman in Quezon City while working for the launch of the electoral party Partido ng Manggagawa.
Chuck Muncie, American football player (died 2013)
Harry Vance "Chuck" Muncie was an American professional football player who was a running back for the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers in the National Football League (NFL) from 1976 to 1984. He was selected to the Pro Bowl three times, and tied the then-NFL season record for rushing touchdowns in 1981.
17/03/1952
Barry Horne, English activist (died 2001)
Barry Horne was an English animal rights activist. He became known around the world in December 1998 when he engaged in a 68-day hunger strike in an effort to persuade the government to hold a public inquiry into animal testing, something the Labour Party had said it would do before it came to power in 1997. The hunger strike took place while Horne was serving an 18-year sentence for planting incendiary devices in stores that sold fur coats and leather products, the longest sentence handed down to any animal rights activist by a British court.
17/03/1951
Scott Gorham, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
William Scott Gorham is an American guitarist and songwriter who is one of the "twin lead guitarists" for the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. Although not a founding member of Thin Lizzy, he served a continuous membership after passing an audition in 1974, joining the band at a time when the band's future was in doubt after the departures of original guitarist Eric Bell and his brief replacement Gary Moore. Gorham remained with Thin Lizzy until the band's breakup in 1983. He and guitarist Brian Robertson, both hired at the same time, marked the beginning of the band's most critically successful period, and together developed Thin Lizzy's twin lead guitar style while contributing dual backing vocals as well. Gorham is the band member with the longest membership after founders Brian Downey (drummer) and frontman and bass guitarist, Phil Lynott.
Craig Ramsay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Craig Edward Ramsay is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He played in the NHL from 1971 to 1985 for the Buffalo Sabres, notably featuring in the 1975 Stanley Cup Final with the Sabres. After his playing career, he became a coach with the Sabres and later served as the final head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers. From 2017 to 2025, he was the head coach of the Slovakia men's national ice hockey team.
17/03/1949
Pat Rice, Irish footballer and coach
Patrick James Rice, MBE is a Northern Irish former football player and coach. As a player, he made nearly 400 appearances for Arsenal, winning the Double, and later made a hundred more appearances for Watford. He also won 49 caps for Northern Ireland. After retirement from playing professionally he was at the helm of Arsenal's academy teams, before serving as caretaker manager and then assistant manager, a position he held since the appointment of Arsène Wenger in 1996. Rice helped the club to two more Doubles, amongst other silverware, in that time. He announced his retirement from the post on 10 May 2012.
Stuart Rose, English businessman
Stuart Alan Ransom Rose, Baron Rose of Monewden, is a British businessman and life peer, who was the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer until 2010, remaining as chairman until early 2011. He was knighted in 2008 for his services to the retail industry and created a Conservative life peer on 17 September 2014, taking the title Baron Rose of Monewden, of Monewden in the County of Suffolk.
17/03/1948
William Gibson, American-Canadian author and screenwriter
William Ford Gibson is a speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk, a category from which he has repeatedly distanced himself. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his early works were noir, near-future stories that explored the effects of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on humans, a "combination of lowlife and high tech"—and helped to create an iconography for the Information Age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" for "widespread, interconnected digital technology" in his short story "Burning Chrome" (1982), and later popularized the concept, along with his usage of the matrix, in his acclaimed debut novel Neuromancer (1984). These early works of Gibson's have been credited with "renovating" science fiction literature in the 1980s.
Alex MacDonald, Scottish footballer and manager
Alexander MacDonald is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. MacDonald played for St Johnstone, Rangers and Hearts. He also played in one full international match for Scotland, in 1976. Towards the end of his playing career, MacDonald became player/manager of Hearts. He led the team as they won promotion in 1983, then narrowly missed out on winning the Scottish league championship in 1986. MacDonald then managed Airdrieonians for most of the 1990s, leading the team to Scottish Cup finals in 1992 and 1995.
17/03/1947
Dennis Bond, English footballer (died 2025)
Dennis Joseph Thomas Bond was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Watford, Tottenham Hotspur, Charlton Athletic and represented England at School and Youth level.
Yury Chernavsky, Russian-American songwriter and producer (died 2025)
Yury Alexandrovich Chernavsky was a Russian producer, composer and songwriter. Chernavsky was a member of performance rights organisations such as GEMA, BMI, and RAO, and had also been recognized as an Honored Artist of the RSFSR.
17/03/1945
Michael Hayden, American general, 20th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Michael Vincent Hayden is a retired United States Air Force four-star general and former director of the National Security Agency, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He currently works as a visiting professor at the George Mason University – Schar School of Policy and Government and co-chairs the Bipartisan Policy Center's Electric Grid Cyber Security Initiative.
17/03/1944
Pattie Boyd, English model, author, and photographer
Patricia Anne Boyd is an English model and photographer. She was one of the leading international models during the 1960s and, with Jean Shrimpton, epitomised the British female look of the era. Boyd married George Harrison in 1966, experiencing the height of the Beatles' popularity and sharing their embrace of Indian spirituality. She divorced Harrison in 1977 and married mutual friend Eric Clapton in 1979; they divorced in 1989. Boyd inspired Harrison's songs "I Need You", "If I Needed Someone", "Something", and "For You Blue", and Clapton's songs "Layla", "Bell Bottom Blues", and "Wonderful Tonight".
Cito Gaston, American baseball player and manager
Clarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder, coach and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967 to 1978, most notably with the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves. He spent his entire managerial career with the Toronto Blue Jays, becoming the first African-American manager in Major League Baseball history to win a World Series title.
17/03/1943
Jeff Banks, Welsh fashion designer
Jeff Banks PPCSD is a Welsh fashion designer of men's and women's clothing, jewellery, and home furnishings. Born in Ebbw Vale, Wales, Banks co-founded the fashion chain Warehouse in the late 1970s. He later created and presented the television programme The Clothes Show, broadcast on BBC One from 1986 to 2000.
Andrew Brook, Canadian philosopher, author, and academic
Andrew Brook is a Canadian philosopher, author and academic particularly known for his writings on Immanuel Kant and the interplay between philosophy and cognitive science. Brook is Chancellor's Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Carleton University, former President of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society, and former President of the Canadian Philosophical Association.
17/03/1942
John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer and rapist (died 1994)
John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer and sex offender who raped, tortured and murdered at least thirty-three young men and boys between 1972 and 1978 in Norwood Park Township, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. He became known as the "Killer Clown" due to his public performances as a clown prior to the discovery of his crimes.
Yoko Yamamoto, Japanese actress (died 2024)
Yoko Yamamoto was a Japanese actress represented by Kabushikigaisha Sanyō Kikaku. Yamamoto was born on March 17, 1942, and died on February 20, 2024, at the age of 81.
17/03/1941
Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese soldier and politician
Wang Jin-pyng is a Taiwanese politician. He served as President of the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2016, which makes him Taiwan's longest-serving legislative speaker. Once a leading figure of the Kuomintang (KMT), Wang brokered deals between the KMT and opposition DPP. He was replaced by Democratic Progressive Party's Su Jia-chyuan as president of the Legislative Yuan after a decisive victory for the DPP in the 2016 election.
Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2016)
Paul Lorin Kantner was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He continued these roles as a member of Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane's successor band.
Max Stafford-Clark, English director and academic
Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark is a British theatre director.
17/03/1940
Mark White, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Texas (died 2017)
Mark Wells White Jr. was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 43rd governor of Texas from 1983 to 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 74th secretary of state of Texas from 1973 to 1977 and as the 46th attorney general of Texas from 1979 to 1983.
17/03/1939
Jim Gary, American sculptor (died 2006)
Jim Gary was an American sculptor popularly known for his large, colorful creations of dinosaurs made from discarded automobile parts. These sculptures were typically finished with automobile paint although some were left to develop a natural patina during display outdoors.
Bill Graham, Canadian academic and politician, 4th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2022)
William Carvel Graham was a Canadian lawyer, academic and politician. Graham served as the minister of foreign affairs, minister of national defence, leader of the opposition and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. After leaving politics, he was the chancellor of Trinity College at the University of Toronto.
Robin Knox-Johnston, English sailor and first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe
Sir William Robert Patrick Knox-Johnston CBE RD* is a British sailor. In 1969, he became the first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe. Along with Sir Peter Blake, he won in 1994 the second Jules Verne Trophy, for which they were also given the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Awards. In 2007, at the age of 67, he set a record as the oldest yachtsman to complete a round the world solo voyage in the Velux 5 Oceans Race.
Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
Giovanni Trapattoni, popularly nicknamed "Trap", is an Italian former football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a player he spent almost his entire club career with AC Milan, where he won two Serie A league titles, and two European Cups, in 1962–63 and 1968–69. Internationally, he played for Italy, earning 17 caps and being part of the squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.
17/03/1938
Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (died 1993)
Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is widely regarded as the preeminent male ballet dancer of the 20th century, as well as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all time.
Keith O'Brien, Northern Ireland-born Scottish cleric, theologian, and cardinal (died 2018)
Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien was a senior-ranking Catholic prelate in Scotland. He was the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh from 1985 to 2013.
Zola Taylor, American singer (died 2007)
Zoletta Lynn Taylor was an American singer and musician. Beginning her career in the early 1950s, Taylor was the original female member of the American vocal group The Platters from 1954 until 1962, when the group produced most of their popular singles.
17/03/1937
Galina Samsova, Russian ballerina (died 2021)
Galina Samsova was a Russian ballet dancer and company director.
17/03/1936
Ida Kleijnen, Dutch chef (died 2019)
Ida Kleijnen was a Dutch Michelin-starred chef.
Ladislav Kupkovič, Slovak composer and conductor (died 2016)
Ladislav Kupkovič was a Slovak composer and conductor.
Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (died 2023)
Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, rear admiral in the United States Navy, and astronaut who orbited the Moon on Apollo 16 and flew on the STS-4 and STS-51-C missions.
17/03/1935
Fred T. Mackenzie, American biologist and academic (died 2024)
Frederick T. Mackenzie was an American sedimentary and global biogeochemist. Mackenzie applied experimental and field data coupled to a sound theoretical framework to the solution of geological, geochemical, and oceanographic problems at various time and space scales.
Adam Wade, American singer, drummer, and actor (died 2022)
Patrick Henry "Adam" Wade was an American singer, musician, and actor.
17/03/1933
Myrlie Evers-Williams, American journalist and activist
Myrlie Louise Evers-Williams is an American civil rights activist and journalist who worked for over three decades to seek justice for the 1963 murder of her husband Medgar Evers, another civil rights activist. She also served as chairwoman of the NAACP, and has published several books on topics related to civil rights and her husband's legacy. On January 21, 2013, she delivered the invocation at the second inauguration of Barack Obama.
Penelope Lively, English author
Dame Penelope Margaret Lively is a British writer of fiction for both children and adults. Lively has won both the Booker Prize and the Carnegie Medal for British children's books.
17/03/1932
Dick Curless, American country music singer (died 1995)
Dick Curless was an American-Canadian country music singer and guitarist known for his extensive vocal range, trademark eye patch, and songs about life on the road. Rising to fame with the 1965 hit "A Tombstone Every Mile," Curless built a loyal following with his blend of truck-driving country, folk ballads, and gospel music.
17/03/1931
Patricia Breslin, American actress (died 2011)
Patricia Rose Breslin was an American actress and philanthropist. She had a prominent career in television, which included recurring roles as Amanda Miller on The People's Choice (1955–58), and as Laura Harrington Brooks on Peyton Place (1964–65). She also appeared in Go, Man, Go! (1954), and the William Castle horror films Homicidal (1961) and I Saw What You Did (1965).
David Peakall, English-American chemist and toxicologist (died 2001)
David Beaumont Peakall was an internationally recognised toxicologist. His research into the effects of DDE and DDT on eggshells contributed to the ban on DDT in the United States. He proved that the chemicals caused thinning of eggshells, leading to a reduction in the population of various bird species. He also pioneered research on the effects of PCBs on birds.
17/03/1930
Paul Horn, American-Canadian flute player and saxophonist (died 2014)
Paul Horn was an American flautist, saxophonist, composer and producer. He became a pioneer of world and new age music with his 1969 album Inside. He received five Grammy nominations between 1965 and 1999, including three nominations in 1965.
James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut, eighth astronaut to walk on the moon (died 1991)
James Benson Irwin was an American astronaut, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and a United States Air Force pilot. He served as Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing. He was the eighth person to walk on the Moon.
17/03/1928
William John McKeag, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (died 2007)
William John McKeag, was a Manitoba politician and office-holder. He served as the province's 17th Lieutenant Governor between 1970 and 1976.
17/03/1927
Betty Allen, American soprano and educator (died 2009)
Betty Allen was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international singing career during the 1950s through the 1970s. In the latter part of her career her voice acquired a contralto-like darkening, which can be heard on her recording of Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. She was known for her collaborations with American composers, such as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, David Diamond, Ned Rorem, and Virgil Thomson among others.
17/03/1926
Siegfried Lenz, Polish-German author and playwright (died 2014)
Siegfried Lenz was a German writer of novels, short stories and essays, as well as dramas for radio and the theatre. In 2000 he received the Goethe Prize on the 250th Anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's birth. He won the 2010 International Nonino Prize in Italy.
17/03/1925
Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (died 2015)
Gabriele Ferzetti was an Italian actor with more than 160 credits across film, television and stage. His career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s.
17/03/1924
Stephen Dodgson, English composer and educator (died 2013)
Stephen Cuthbert Vivian Dodgson was a British composer and broadcaster. Dodgson's prolific musical output covered most genres, ranging from opera and large-scale orchestral music to chamber and instrumental music, as well as choral works and song. Three instruments to which he dedicated particular attention were the guitar, harpsichord and recorder. He wrote in a mainly tonal, although sometimes unconventional, idiom. Some of his works use unusual combinations of instruments.
17/03/1922
Patrick Suppes, American psychologist and philosopher (died 2014)
Patrick Colonel Suppes was an American philosopher who made significant contributions to philosophy of science, the theory of measurement, the foundations of quantum mechanics, decision theory, psychology and educational technology. He was the Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University and until January 2010 was the Director of the Education Program for Gifted Youth also at Stanford.
17/03/1921
Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician, 12th Israeli Minister of Communications (died 2009)
Meir Amit was an Israeli politician and cabinet minister. He served as the Chief Director and the head of global operations for Mossad from 1963 to 1968, before entering into politics and holding two ministerial positions.
17/03/1920
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh (died 1975)
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangladesh, he led the country as its president and prime minister from 1972 until his assassination in a coup d'état in 1975.
17/03/1919
Nat King Cole, American singer, pianist, and television host (died 1965)
Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts.
Mad Mike Hoare, British-Irish military officer and mercenary (died 2020)
Thomas Michael "Mad Mike" Hoare was a British-Irish military officer and mercenary who fought during the Simba rebellion and was involved in carrying out the 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt.
17/03/1917
Hank Sauer, American baseball player (died 2001)
Henry John “Hank” Sauer was an American professional baseball player, coach and scout. He appeared in 1,399 games, primarily as a left fielder, in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs (1949–1955), St. Louis Cardinals (1956), and New York / San Francisco Giants (1957–1959). A popular player with the Cubs where he had his peak seasons, he was known as "the Mayor of Wrigley Field".
17/03/1916
Ray Ellington, English drummer and bandleader (died 1985)
Henry Pitts Brown, better known by his stage name Ray Ellington, was an English jazz musician and bandleader. He is best known for his appearances on The Goon Show from 1951 to 1960. The Ray Ellington Quartet had a regular musical segment on the show, and Ellington also had a small speaking role in many episodes, often as a parodic African, Native American or Arab chieftain.
17/03/1915
Robert S. Arbib Jr., American ornithologist, writer and conservationist (died 1987)
Robert Simeon Arbib Jr. was an American ornithologist, writer and conservationist. From 1970 to 1984 he was editor of American Birds, the magazine of the National Audubon Society, and was the author of several books on birds and nature, including The Lord's Woods: The Passing of an American Woodland, which was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for the best American nature book of 1972.
Bill Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider (died 2011)
James William George Roycroft, OBE was an Australian Olympic equestrian champion. He grew up on a dairy farm and learnt to ride horses there. After serving in the army in World War II, he moved with his family to a soldier's block in western Victoria near Camperdown, where he raised his three sons, all of whom went on to compete alongside their father in the Olympics. At his first Olympics, the 1960 Rome Games, he played a key role on the final day of the team three-day event, despite being thrown off his horse the day before, allowing Australia to win the gold medal in the competition. He went on to compete in four more Olympics from 1964 to 1976, winning bronze medals in team eventing at the 1968 Mexico City and 1976 Montreal Games. He later served as coach of the Australian eventing team.
17/03/1914
Sammy Baugh, American football player and coach (died 2008)
Samuel Adrian Baugh was an American professional football quarterback who played 16 seasons with the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). Baugh also played safety on defense and was the team's punter. He played college football for the TCU Horned Frogs, where he was a two time All-American prior to being selected by the Redskins in the first round of the 1937 NFL draft. With the Redskins, Baugh won NFL Championships in 1937 and 1942 and led the NFL in completion percentage eight times, passing yards four times, and passing touchdowns twice. In addition to being an outstanding quarterback, he led the NFL in punting average five times and in defensive interceptions with 11 in 1943.
17/03/1912
Bayard Rustin, American activist (died 1987)
Bayard Rustin was an American political activist and prominent leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. Rustin was the principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
17/03/1910
Sonny Werblin, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1991)
David Abraham "Sonny" Werblin was a prominent entertainment industry executive and sports impresario who was an owner of the New York Jets and served as chairman of Madison Square Garden, and who built and managed the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
17/03/1908
Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (died 1996)
Brigitte Helm was a German actress, best remembered for her dual role as Maria and her double, the Maschinenmensch, in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent film Metropolis.
17/03/1907
Takeo Miki, Japanese politician, 41st Prime Minister of Japan (died 1988)
Takeo Miki was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1974 to 1976.
Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (died 1991)
Jean Marie Joseph "Jan", Baron Van Houtte was a Belgian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 1952 to 1954.
17/03/1905
Lillian Yarbo, American comedienne, dancer, and singer (died 1996)
Lillian "Billie" Yarbo was an American stage and screen actress, dancer, and singer.
17/03/1904
Chaim Gross, Austrian-American sculptor and educator (died 1991)
Chaim Gross was an American sculptor and educator of Hungarian Jewish origin. Gross studied and taught at the Educational Alliance Art School in New York City’s Lower Manhattan.
17/03/1903
Elli Stenberg, Finnish politician (died 1987)
Ellen Aleksandra Stenberg was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) and the Finnish People's Democratic League (SKDL), she represented Häme Province North between April 1945 and April 1966. Prior to being elected, she was imprisoned for twelve years for political reasons.
17/03/1902
Bobby Jones, American golfer and lawyer (died 1971)
Robert Tyre Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport; he was also a lawyer by profession. Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founded the Masters Tournament. The innovations that he introduced at the Masters have been copied by virtually every professional golf tournament in the world.
17/03/1900
Alfred Newman, American composer and conductor (died 1970)
Alfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of film music. From his start as a music prodigy, he came to be regarded as a respected figure in the history of film music. He won nine Academy Awards and was nominated 45 times, contributing to the extended Newman family being the most Academy Award-nominated family with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories.
17/03/1895
Lloyd Rees, Australian painter (died 1988)
Lloyd Frederic Rees was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings.
17/03/1894
Paul Green, American playwright and academic (died 1981)
Paul Eliot Green was an American playwright whose work includes historical dramas of life in North Carolina during the first decades of the twentieth century. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his 1927 play, In Abraham's Bosom, which was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1926-1927.
17/03/1892
Floyd B. Barnum, American college football coach (died 1965)
Floyd Bates Barnum was American football coach He was the fourth head football coach at Jamestown College—now known as the University of Jamestown—in Jamestown, North Dakota, serving for one season, in 1921, and compiling a record of 1–3–1.
Sayed Darwish, Egyptian singer-songwriter and producer (died 1923)
Sayed Darwish was an Egyptian singer and composer who was considered the father of Egyptian popular music and one of Egypt's greatest musicians and seen by some as its single greatest composer.
17/03/1891
Ross McLarty, Australian politician, 17th Premier of Western Australia (died 1962)
Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, was an Australian politician and the 17th Premier of Western Australia.
17/03/1889
Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator (died 1931)
Henry Patrick Clarke was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts movement.
17/03/1888
Paul Ramadier, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1961)
Paul Ramadier was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France in 1947.
17/03/1886
Princess Patricia of Connaught (died 1974)
Princess Patricia of Connaught was member of the British royal family and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was the third and youngest child and the second daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. She was also the only one of her father's children to outlive him: her siblings, Margaret and Arthur, both died before their father. Upon her marriage to Alexander Ramsay, she relinquished her title of a British princess and the style of Royal Highness and assumed the style Lady Patricia Ramsay.
17/03/1885
Ralph Rose, American track and field athlete (died 1913)
Ralph Waldo Rose was an American track and field athlete. He was born in Healdsburg, California. With six Olympic medals, Rose is one of the most successful track and field Olympians of all time.
17/03/1884
Alcide Nunez, American clarinet player (died 1934)
Alcide Patrick Nunez, also known as Yellow Nunez and Al Nunez, was an American jazz clarinetist. He was one of the first musicians of New Orleans to make audio recordings.
17/03/1881
Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973)
Walter Rudolf Hess was a Swiss physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949 for mapping the areas of the brain involved in the control of internal organs. He shared the prize with Egas Moniz.
17/03/1880
Patrick Hastings, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (died 1952)
Sir Patrick Gardiner Hastings was an English barrister and politician noted for his long and highly successful career as a barrister and his short stint as Attorney General. He was educated at Charterhouse School until 1896, when his family moved to continental Europe. There he learnt to shoot and ride horses, allowing him to join the Suffolk Imperial Yeomanry during the Second Boer War. After demobilisation he worked briefly as an apprentice to an engineer in Wales before moving to London to become a barrister. Hastings joined the Middle Temple as a student on 4 November 1901, and after two years of saving money for the call to the bar he qualified as a barrister on 15 June 1904.
Lawrence Oates, English lieutenant and explorer (died 1912)
Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates was a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who died from hypothermia during the Terra Nova Expedition when he walked from his tent into a freezing blizzard. His death, which occurred on his 32nd birthday, is seen as an act of self-sacrifice when, aware that the gangrene and frostbite from which he was suffering was compromising his three companions' chances of survival, he chose certain death for himself to relieve them of the burden of caring for him.
17/03/1877
Edith New, English militant suffragette (died 1951)
Edith Bessie New was an English suffragette who was one of the first two suffragettes to use vandalism as a tactic. She and Mary Leigh were surprised to find their destruction was celebrated, and they were pulled triumphantly by lines of suffragettes on their release from prison in 1908.
Otto Gross, Austrian-German psychoanalyst and philosopher (died 1920)
Otto Hans Adolf Gross was an Austrian psychoanalyst. A maverick early disciple of Sigmund Freud, he later became an anarchist and joined the utopian Ascona community.
Ville Kiviniemi, Finnish politician (died 1951)
Vilhelm Kiviniemi was a Finnish farmer, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Lapland between November 1917 and September 1918. He was amongst dozens of social democrat MPs who were persecuted for political reasons by the victorious Whites following end of the Finnish Civil War in 1918. Kiviniemi was sentenced to death for treason but this was later commuted to life imprisonment. He received a presidential pardon in 1922.
17/03/1867
Patrice Contamine de Latour, Spanish poet (died 1926)
Patrice Contamine de Latour, born in Tarragona as José Maria Vicente Ferrer Francisco de Paola Patricio Manuel Contamine and published as J. P. Contamine de Latour, was a Spanish poet who lived in Paris.
17/03/1866
Pierce Butler, American lawyer and jurist (died 1939)
Pierce Butler was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1923 until his death in 1939. He is notable for being the first Supreme Court justice from Minnesota, and for being a Democrat appointed by a Republican president. He was a staunch conservative and was regarded as a part of the Four Horsemen, the conservative bloc that dominated the Supreme Court during the 1930s. A devout Catholic, he was also the sole dissenter in the case Buck v. Bell, though he did not write an opinion.
17/03/1864
Joseph Baptista, Indian engineer, lawyer, and politician (died 1930)
Joseph Baptista was an Indian politician and activist from Bombay, closely associated with the Lokmanya Tilak and the Home Rule Movement. He was the first president of the Indian Home Rule League established in 1916. He was elected as the mayor of Bombay in 1925. He was given the title Kaka that means "uncle".
17/03/1862
Martha P. Falconer, American social reformer (died 1941)
Martha Platt Falconer was a pioneer social reformer.
Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (died 1930)
Johann Silvio Gesell was a German-Argentine economist, entrepreneur, and social reformer. He was the founder of Freiwirtschaft, an economic model for market socialism. In 1900, he founded the magazine Money and Land Reform, but it soon closed for financial reasons. During his time in Oranienburg, Gesell started the magazine Der Physiokrat together with George Heinrich Blumenthal. In 1914, it closed due to censorship. In 1916, he published his most famous work, The Natural Economic Order.
17/03/1856
Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (died 1910)
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various media such as painting, drawing, decorative sculpture, and theatrical art, Vrubel is generally characterized as one of the most important artists in Russian symbolist tradition and a pioneering figure of Modernist art.
17/03/1849
Charles F. Brush, American businessman and philanthropist, co-invented the Arc lamp (died 1929)
Charles Francis Brush was an American engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Cornelia Clapp, American marine biologist (died 1934)
Cornelia Maria Clapp was an American educator and zoologist, specializing in marine biology. She earned the first Ph.D. in biology awarded to a woman in the United States from Syracuse University in 1889, and she would earn a second doctoral degree from the University of Chicago in 1896. Clapp was the first female researcher employed at the Marine Biological Laboratory, as well as its only female trustee during the first half of the 20th century. She was rated one of the top 150 zoologists in the United States in 1903, and her name was starred in the first five editions of American Men of Science.
17/03/1848
Ernesta Forti, Italian anarchist and dairy worker
Ernesta Forti,, was an Italian and French dairy worker and anarchist. She is best known for the Parisian dairy shop she ran with her partner, Constant Martin, in the 1880s and 1890s. This shop served as a gathering place for a number of anarchists in France during that period.
17/03/1846
Kate Greenaway, English author and illustrator (died 1901)
Catherine Greenaway was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School of Art, the South Kensington School of Art, the Heatherley School of Art, and the Slade School of Fine Art. She began her career designing for the burgeoning greetings card market, producing Christmas and Valentine's cards. In 1879 wood-block engraver and printer Edmund Evans printed Under the Window, an instant best-seller, which established her reputation. Her collaboration with Evans continued throughout the 1880s and 1890s.
17/03/1842
Rosina Heikel, Finnish physician (died 1929)
Emma Rosina Heikel was a Finnish medical doctor and feminist. In 1878, she became the first female physician in Finland, and specialised in gynaecology and paediatrics.
17/03/1839
Josef Rheinberger, Liechtensteiner-German organist and composer (died 1901)
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was an composer and organist from Liechtenstein, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. As court conductor in Munich, he was responsible for the music in the royal chapel. He is known for sacred music, works for organ and vocal works, such as masses, a Christmas cantata and the motet Abendlied; he also composed two operas and three singspiele, incidental music, secular choral music, two symphonies and other instrumental works, chamber music, and works for organ.
17/03/1834
Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (died 1900)
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development. He invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fueled engine.
17/03/1820
Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (died 1897)
Jean Ingelow was an English poet and novelist, who gained sudden fame in 1863. She also wrote several stories for children.
17/03/1806
Norbert Rillieux, African American inventor and chemical engineer (died 1894)
Norbert Rillieux was a Louisiana Creole inventor who was widely considered one of the earliest chemical engineers and noted for his pioneering invention of the multiple-effect evaporator. This invention was an important development in the growth of the sugar industry. Rillieux, a French-speaking Creole, was a cousin of the painter Edgar Degas.
17/03/1804
Jim Bridger, American fur trader and explorer (died 1881)
James Felix Bridger was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old Gabe in his later years. He was from the Bridger family of Virginia, English settlers who had arrived in North America in the early colonial period.
17/03/1781
Ebenezer Elliott, English poet and educator (died 1849)
Ebenezer Elliott was an English poet, known as the Corn Law rhymer for his leading the fight to repeal the Corn Laws, which were causing hardship and starvation among the poor. Though a factory owner himself, his single-minded devotion to the welfare of the labouring classes won him a sympathetic reputation long after his poetry ceased to be read.
17/03/1780
Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister, economist, and educator (died 1847)
Thomas Chalmers, was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nineteenth-century churchman".
17/03/1777
Patrick Brontë, Irish-English priest and author (died 1861)
Patrick Brontë was an Irish Anglican clergyman and author who spent most of his adult life in England. One of ten children from a very poor family, he managed to secure a scholarship to study theology at St John's College, Cambridge, and went on to take holy orders. In 1811 he published a collection of poetry, Cottage Poems. He continued to write and publish throughout his life. In 1812 he married Maria Branwell, and they had six children, including the writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, and Branwell Brontë, their only son.
Roger B. Taney, American politician and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of the United States (died 1864)
Roger Brooke Taney was an American lawyer and politician who served as the fifth chief justice of the United States from 1836 until his death in 1864. Taney delivered the majority opinion in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), ruling that African Americans could not be considered U.S. citizens and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the U.S. territories. Prior to joining the U.S. Supreme Court, Taney served as the U.S. attorney general and U.S. secretary of the treasury under President Andrew Jackson. He was the first Catholic to serve on the Supreme Court.
17/03/1725
Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (died 1806)
Lachlan McIntosh was a Scottish American military and political leader during the American Revolution and the early United States. In a 1777 duel, he fatally shot Button Gwinnett, who had signed the Declaration of Independence ten months earlier.
17/03/1686
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter and engraver (died 1755)
Jean-Baptiste Oudry was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Charles Oudry, was also a painter.
17/03/1676
Thomas Boston, Scottish philosopher and theologian (died 1732)
Thomas Boston was a Scottish Presbyterian church leader, theologian and philosopher. Boston was successively schoolmaster at Glencairn, and minister of Simprin in Berwickshire, and Ettrick in Selkirkshire. In addition to his best-known work, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, one of the religious classics of Scotland, he wrote an original little book, The Crook in the Lot, and a learned treatise on the Hebrew points. He also took a leading part in the Courts of the Church in what was known as the "Marrow Controversy," regarding the merits of an English work, The Marrow of Modern Divinity, which he defended against the attacks of the "Moderate" party in the Church. Boston, if unduly introspective, was a man of singular piety and amiability. His autobiography is an interesting record of Scottish life, full of sincerity and tenderness, and not devoid of humorous touches, intentional and otherwise.
17/03/1665
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichord player and composer (died 1729)
Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre was a French musician, harpsichordist and composer.
17/03/1611
Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, Swedish field marshal (died 1662)
Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, Baron of Skalby, was a Scottish cavalry general during the Thirty Years' War who rose to the rank of field marshal (1657–1662) in the Swedish-Polish wars that followed. He founded the Swedish branch of Clan Douglas.
17/03/1537
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō (died 1598)
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō and Hashiba Hideyoshi , was a Japanese samurai and daimyō of the late Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan. Although he came from a peasant background, he rose to become the most powerful man in Japan, earning the rank and title of Kampaku and Daijō-daijin , the highest official position and title in the nobility class. He was the first person in history to become a Kampaku who was not born a noble. He then passed the position and title of Kampaku to his nephew, Toyotomi Hidetsugu. He remained in power as Taikō (太閤), the title of a retired Kampaku, until his death.
17/03/1523
Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Catholic cardinal (died 1584)
Giovanni Francesco Commendone was an Italian cardinal and papal nuncio.
17/03/1473
James IV of Scotland (died 1513)
James IV was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchieburn, following a rebellion in which the younger James was the figurehead of the rebels. James IV is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland. He was responsible for a major expansion of the Scottish royal navy, which included the founding of two royal dockyards and the acquisition or construction of 38 ships, including the Great Michael, the largest warship of its time.
17/03/1231
Emperor Shijō of Japan (died 1242)
Emperor Shijō was the 87th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. This reign spanned the years 1232 through 1242.
17/03/0763
Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (died 809)
Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rashīd, or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī, famously known as Hārūn al-Rashīd, was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 until his death in March 809. His reign is traditionally regarded to be the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age. His epithet al-Rashid translates to "the Just", "the Upright", or "the Rightly-Guided".