Born on Friday, 20th March – Famous Birthdays

20/03/2003

Cooper Hoffman, American actor

Cooper Alexander Hoffman is an American actor. The son of late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, he made his acting debut with a leading role in Paul Thomas Anderson's coming-of-age film Licorice Pizza (2021) for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He has since portrayed Dick Ebersol in the comedy-drama Saturday Night (2024) and played the lead role in The Long Walk (2025), adapted from Stephen King's novel. He made his stage debut in an Off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's tragedy play Curse of the Starving Class (2025).

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20/03/2002

Jahmyr Gibbs, American football player

Jahmyr Gibbs, nicknamed "Sonic", is an American professional football running back for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Alabama Crimson Tide. Gibbs was selected with the 12th overall pick by the Lions in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, becoming part of a rushing tandem with David Montgomery to start his career. In 2024, Gibbs set a Detroit franchise record for the most touchdowns scored in a single season (20), which also led the league. He was selected to the Pro Bowl three times in his first three NFL seasons, from 2023 to 2025.

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20/03/2001

Trevor Zegras, American ice hockey player

Trevor John Zegras is an American professional ice hockey player who is a center for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected ninth overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2019 NHL entry draft.

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20/03/2000

Hyunjin, South Korean rapper

Hwang Hyun-jin, known mononymously as Hyunjin, is a South Korean rapper and singer. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Stray Kids, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2017.

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20/03/1995

Kei, South Korean singer

Kim Ji-yeon , known professionally as Kei (케이), is a South Korean singer and musical actress. She rose to fame as a member of South Korean girl group Lovelyz in November 2014. Kei officially made her solo debut with the EP, Over and Over on October 8, 2019. On November 16, 2021, she left Woollim Entertainment, although she remains as a member of Lovelyz. She joined Palm Tree Island in January 2022 to focus on her musical career, before moving to A2Z Entertainment later that year. In 2023, Kei participated in Mnet reality competition show Queendom Puzzle, debuting with the resulting project supergroup El7z Up in September of that year.

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Nick Paul, Canadian ice hockey player

Nicholas Paul is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round, 101st overall, of the 2013 NHL entry draft. He has also played for the Ottawa Senators.

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20/03/1993

Fabian Fahl, German politician

Fabian Fahl is a German politician and member of the Bundestag. A member of The Left, he has represented North Rhine-Westphalia since 2025.

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JaKarr Sampson, American basketball player

JaKarr Jordan Sampson is an American professional basketball player for Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the St. John's Red Storm. He is a frequent rebounder and shot-blocker, and is noted for his speed and a near 7'0" wingspan. He won a national championship with Brewster Academy in 2012 after achieving star status with his high school team.

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20/03/1992

Justin Faulk, American ice hockey player

Justin Michael Faulk is an American professional ice hockey player who is a defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Carolina Hurricanes for the first eight years of his career, then playing seven seasons for the St. Louis Blues. He was selected by the Hurricanes in the second round of the 2010 NHL entry draft.

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20/03/1991

Mattia Destro, Italian footballer

Mattia Destro is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker. He has also featured at international level, holding eight caps for Italy.

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Michał Kucharczyk, Polish footballer

Michał Kucharczyk is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a winger or a striker for III liga club Świt Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. In 2025, he joined Canal+ as a pundit, becoming a part of their Ekstraklasa coverage team.

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Nick Leddy, American ice hockey player

Nicholas Michael Leddy is an American professional ice hockey player who is a defenseman for the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in the first round, 16th overall, by the Minnesota Wild in the 2009 NHL entry draft. He previously played for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. He won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013.

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20/03/1990

Blake Ferguson, Australian rugby league player

Blake Ferguson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer.

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Brad Hand, American baseball player

Bradley Richard Hand is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Between 2011 and 2023, he played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida/Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, and Atlanta Braves.

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Marcos Rojo, Argentine footballer

Faustino Marcos Alberto Rojo is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defender for Argentine Primera División club Racing Club. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a left-back.

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20/03/1989

Xavier Dolan, Canadian actor and director

Xavier Dolan-Tadros is a Canadian filmmaker and actor. He began his career as a child actor in commercials before directing several arthouse feature films. He first received international acclaim in 2009 for his feature film directorial debut, I Killed My Mother, which he also starred in, wrote, and produced, and which premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section and won three awards from the program.

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Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi cricketer

Tamim Iqbal Khan, commonly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi former international cricketer as well as a commentator from Chittagong who was captain of the national team in ODI matches from 2020 to 2023. He is the first Bangladeshi cricketer to score a century in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the 2016 edition, scoring 103*, the highest score made by a Bangladeshi at any T20 World Cup tournament.

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20/03/1987

Daniel Maa Boumsong, Cameroonian footballer

Daniel Maa Boumsong is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

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Jon Brockman, American basketball player

Jonathan Rodney Brockman is an American former professional basketball player. He was the starting power forward and team captain for the University of Washington men's basketball team. He is the University of Washington's all-time leading rebounder and second-all-time leading scorer in University of Washington history. He grabbed the 1,000th rebound of his career on December 30, 2008, in a win over Morgan State, and became Washington's all-time leading rebounder on January 15, 2009, in a win over Oregon, breaking Doug Smart's school record of 1,051.

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Jô, Brazilian footballer

João Alves de Assis Silva, known as Jô or João Alves, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

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Pedro Ken, Brazilian footballer

Pedro Ken Morimoto Moreira, known as Pedro Ken, is a Brazilian former footballer. He is of Japanese descent.

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Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player

Sergei Olegovich Kostitsyn is a Belarusian professional ice hockey winger for Metallurg Zhlobin of the Belarusian Extraleague (BHL). He was selected in the seventh round, 200th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2005 NHL entry draft. He has also played for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL) alongside his older brother Andrei.

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20/03/1986

Dean Geyer, South African-Australian singer-songwriter and actor

Dean Stanley Geyer is a South African Australian singer-songwriter, actor and martial artist who finished third in the 2006 season of the talent show television series Australian Idol, and has had a notable role in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Ty Harper. He joined the cast of the US show Glee in the 4th season as NYADA Junior Brody Weston and appeared in Terra Nova as Mark Reynolds.

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Julián Magallanes, Argentinian footballer

Julián David Magallanes is an Argentine footballer who played professionally for a number of clubs in the Italian leagues.

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Román Torres, Panamanian footballer

Román Aureliano Torres Morcillo is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Tacoma Stars.

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20/03/1985

Morgan Amalfitano, French footballer

Morgan Henri René Amalfitano is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

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Ronnie Brewer, American basketball player

Ronnie Brewer is an American former professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach. Brewer played collegiately at the University of Arkansas, where his father Ron Brewer was a star in the late 1970s. Brewer is known for having an unorthodox shooting technique, the result of a childhood water slide injury.

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Nicolas Lombaerts, Belgian footballer

Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts is a Belgian professional football coach and a former centre-back.

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20/03/1984

Vikram Banerjee, English cricketer

Vikram Banerjee is an English former cricketer and cricket executive. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he played first-class and limited-overs cricket primarily for Gloucestershire between 2006 and 2011, having previously represented Cambridge University. After retiring from professional cricket, Banerjee joined the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2017, where he has held several senior roles including Head of Strategy and Director of Business Operations. He led initiatives to increase diversity and private investment in English cricket. In 2025, he was appointed Managing Director of The Hundred, overseeing the competition's commercial development and long-term strategy.

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Valtteri Filppula, Finnish ice hockey player

Valtteri Filppula is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward.

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IJustine, American YouTuber

Justine Ezarik is an American YouTuber. She is best known as iJustine, with over one billion views on her YouTube channel. She gained attention as a lifecaster who communicated directly with her millions of viewers on her Justin.tv channel, ijustine.tv. She acquired notability in roles variously described as a "lifecasting star," a "new media star," or one of the Internet's most popular lifecasters. She posts videos on her main channel iJustine.

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Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer

Fernando José Torres Sanz is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Atlético Madrid B. Due to his consistent goalscoring as a young player, Torres came to be nicknamed El Niño, which stuck with him throughout his career. In his prime, he was regarded as one of the best strikers in the world and was known for his pace, prolific goalscoring, and technical abilities.

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20/03/1983

Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist

Carolina Desireé José Padrón Ríos is a Venezuelan-Mexican sportscaster, journalist and television host currently working for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Mexico. Padrón is the co-anchor of ESPN's Spanish version of SportsCenter and also has covered sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics.

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Jenni Vartiainen, Finnish singer

Jenni Mari Vartiainen is a Finnish pop singer. Before her professional musical endeavours, she was a figure skater in her teenage years and attended the Kuopio Senior High of Music and Dance. Vartiainen rose to publicity by winning the Finnish talent show Popstars in October 2002 with Susanna Korvala, Ushma Karnani and Jonna Pirinen. The four formed the band Gimmel that released three studio albums, sold over 160,000 records and received three Emma Awards, accolades for outstanding achievements in music, awarded by the Finnish music industry federation, Musiikkituottajat. The band broke up in October 2004.

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20/03/1982

Terrence Duffin, Zimbabwean cricketer

Terrence Duffin is a former Zimbabwean international cricketer, who played Test matches and One Day Internationals, captaining the side in ODIs.

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Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer

Tomasz Mirosław Kuszczak is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was most recently the goalkeeping coach of the Poland national team.

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José Moreira, Portuguese footballer

José Filipe da Silva Moreira is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

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20/03/1981

Ian Murray, Scottish footballer

Ian William Murray is a Scottish football player and coach, who is the manager of Scottish Championship club Greenock Morton.

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Carl Webb, Australian rugby league player (died 2023)

Carl Webb was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played as a prop, second-row and lock in the 2000s and 2010s.

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20/03/1980

Jamal Crawford, American basketball player

Aaron Jamal Crawford is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2000 to 2020. Nicknamed "J-Crossover", he is regarded as one of the best ball handlers in NBA history. Also regarded as one of the best sixth men in league's history, Crawford was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year three times, a record he shares with Lou Williams.

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Robertas Javtokas, Lithuanian basketball player

Robertas Javtokas is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player. He most recently served as sports director of Žalgiris Kaunas. Standing at 2.11 m, he played the center position. He has been a member of the senior men's Lithuanian national team since 2004. In the 2001 NBA draft, he was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 55th overall pick.

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Michelle Snow, American basketball player

Donnette Jé-Michelle Snow is an American former professional basketball player who played most recently in the Turkish Women's Basketball League.

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20/03/1979

Shinnosuke Abe, Japanese baseball player

Shinnosuke Abe is a Japanese former professional baseball player and current manager. He spent his entire 19-year career with Nippon Professional Baseball's Yomiuri Giants, serving as the team's captain from 2007 to 2014. He has twice been named the MVP of the Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series, in 2007 and 2010. Currently, he serves as the manager for the Giants.

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Daniel Cormier, American mixed martial artist

Daniel Ryan Cormier is an American former professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler, and current color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion, Cormier is the second fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously and is the first fighter to have title defenses in two divisions. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time.

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Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player

Keven Filipo Mealamu is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at hooker for the Blues in Super Rugby, Auckland in the National Provincial Championship, and the New Zealand national team. He was part of the Blues team that won the 2003 Super 12 title, the third for the franchise. He was a key member of 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only 21 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions.

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20/03/1978

Kevin Betsy, English-Seychelles footballer and manager

Kevin Eddie Lewis Betsy is a football coach and a former professional footballer having played at the Championship level, briefly in the Premier League, and for the Seychelles national team. Betsy is currently the first team development coach at championship club Queens Park Rangers.

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Brent Sherwin, Australian rugby league player

Brent Sherwin is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. Bearing the iconic nickname "Shifty", Sherwin plays in the Illawarra Carlton League which is an indirect feeder league to the St George Illawarra Dragons. He plays as a half-back. Sherwin previously played for the Catalans Dragons, Castleford Tigers, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and has also been represented for City Origin.

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20/03/1975

Ramin Bahrani, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Ramin Bahrani is an American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert ranked Bahrani's Chop Shop (2007) as the sixth-best film of the 2000s, calling him "the new director of the decade". Bahrani was the recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship. Bahrani is a professor of film directing at his alma mater, the Columbia University School of the Arts.

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Isolde Kostner, Italian skier

Isolde Kostner is an Italian former Alpine skier who won two bronze medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. She was the Italian flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Olympics.

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20/03/1974

Carsten Ramelow, German footballer

Carsten Ramelow is a German former professional footballer who played as either a central defender or a defensive midfielder.

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20/03/1973

Nicky Boje, South African cricketer

Nico Boje is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy.

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Natalya Khrushcheleva, Russian runner

Natalya Khrushcheleva is a retired Russian middle-distance runner who won a bronze medal in 800 metres at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. She has also been a member of the Russian 4 × 400 metres relay team.

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Talal Khalifa Aljeri, Kuwaiti businessman

Talal Khalifa Al Jeri is a Kuwaiti businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of Al Jeri Holding Group, chosen by Forbes in 2018 as a leading educational company.

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20/03/1972

Chilly Gonzales, Canadian-German singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer

Jason Charles Beck, professionally known as Chilly Gonzales or just Gonzales, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris and Berlin. Gonzales' career spans numerous genres. He is known for his rap albums, his collaborations with singer and musician Feist and rapper Drake, his albums of classical piano compositions, and for his collaborations with electronic musicians Daft Punk and Boys Noize, the latter of whom he also produces under the moniker Octave Minds. In 2022, he and Plastikman released a piano rework of the latter's 1998 minimal techno classic album Consumed in collaboration with Canadian musician Tiga, titled "Consumed in Key".

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Alex Kapranos, English-Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Alexander Paul Kapranos is a Scottish musician. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the supergroups FFS and BNQT.

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Greg Searle, English rower

Gregory Mark Pascoe Searle is a British Olympic rower educated at Hampton School and London South Bank University.

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Marco Sejna, German footballer

Marco Sejna is a German former professional footballer as a goalkeeper.

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Cristel Vahtra, Estonian skier

Cristel Vahtra is an Estonian cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2001. Her best World Cup finish was 22nd in a 10 km event in Russia in 1996.

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20/03/1971

Manny Alexander, Dominican baseball player

Manuel De Jesús Alexander is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He has played for the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets (1997), Chicago Cubs (1997–1999), Boston Red Sox (2000), Texas Rangers (2004) and San Diego Padres (2005–2006). He bats and throws right-handed.

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Touré, American journalist and author

Touré is an American writer, music journalist, cultural critic, podcaster, and television personality. He was a co-host of the TV show The Cycle on MSNBC. He was also a contributor to MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show, and the host of Fuse's Hiphop Shop and On the Record. He serves on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. He taught a course on the history of hip-hop at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, part of the Tisch School of the Arts in New York.

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20/03/1970

Edoardo Ballerini, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Edoardo Ballerini is an American actor, narrator, writer, and film director. On screen he is best known for his work as junkie Corky Caporale in The Sopranos and the hotheaded chef in the indie film Dinner Rush (2001). Ballerini is a two-time winner of the Audio Publishers Association's Best Male Narrator Audie Award (2013), Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter; 2019 Watchers by Dean Koontz) and is the co-author of the story "The Angel Of Rome" in the 2021 collection of stories The Angel of Rome, by Jess Walter. His directorial debut, Good Night Valentino, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

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Josephine Medina, Filipino Paralympic table tennis player (died 2021)

Josephine Rebeta Medina was a Filipino table tennis player. Medina represented the Philippines at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics.

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20/03/1969

Yvette Cooper, English economist and politician, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Yvette Cooper is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since September 2025, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2024 to 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, previously Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, since 1997.

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Fabien Galthié, French rugby player

Fabien Galthié is a French rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of the France national team.

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20/03/1968

A. J. Jacobs, American journalist and author

Arnold Stephen Jacobs Jr., commonly called A.J. Jacobs, is an American journalist, author, and lecturer best known for writing about his lifestyle experiments. He is an editor at large for Esquire and has worked for the Antioch Daily Ledger and Entertainment Weekly.

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Paul Merson, English footballer and manager

Paul Charles Merson is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports.

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Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter

Ultra Naté is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free", "If You Could Read My Mind", and "Automatic".

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Ken Ono, Japanese-American mathematician

Ken Ono is an American mathematician with fields of study in number theory. Formerly the STEM Advisor to the Provost and the Marvin Rosenblum Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, he now works in artificial intelligence at Axiom Math in Palo Alto, California.

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20/03/1967

Xavier Beauvois, French actor, director, and screenwriter

Xavier Beauvois is a French actor, film director and screenwriter.

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Mookie Blaylock, American basketball player

Daron Oshay "Mookie" Blaylock is an American former professional basketball player. He spent 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Golden State Warriors.

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20/03/1965

William Dalrymple, Scottish historian and author

William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple is a Scottish historian, art historian, curator, broadcaster, critic and author.

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20/03/1964

Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer-songwriter

Natacha Atlas is an Egyptian-Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western music, particularly hip-hop. She once termed her music "cha'abi moderne". Her music has been influenced by many styles including Maghrebain, hip hop, drum and bass and reggae.

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20/03/1963

Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach

Paul Annacone is an American former touring professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the former coach of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens. Annacone is currently a coach at ProTennisCoach.com, a commentator at Tennis Channel, and works with Taylor Fritz.

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Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (died 2007)

Yelena Nikolaevna Romanova was a Russian distance runner. She won an Olympic gold medal in women's 3000 metres in 1992.

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20/03/1962

Stephen Sommers, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Stephen Sommers is an American film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for big-budget action films, such as The Mummy (1999), its sequel, The Mummy Returns (2001), Van Helsing (2004), and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). He also directed The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Disney's first live action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994) and the action horror film Deep Rising (1998).

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20/03/1961

Ingrid Arndt-Brauer, German politician

Ingrid Arndt-Brauer is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as a member of the Bundestag from 1999 until 2021.

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Jesper Olsen, Danish footballer and manager

Jesper Olsen is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He is best remembered for representing Ajax of the Netherlands and Manchester United of England. He was a regular player for the Danish national team, scoring five goals in 43 matches. He represented Denmark at the Euro 1984 and 1986 World Cup tournaments.

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Sara Wheeler, English author and journalist

Sara Diane Wheeler is an English travel author and biographer, noted for her accounts of polar regions.

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20/03/1960

Norm Magnusson, American painter and sculptor

Norm Magnusson is a New York-based artist and political activist and founder, in 1991, of the art movement funism; he began his career creating allegorical animal paintings with pointed social commentaries. Eventually became more and more interested in political art and its potential for persuasion.

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Norbert Pohlmann, German computer scientist and academic

Norbert Pohlmann is a computer scientist and a professor at the Westfälische Hochschule. He is also chairman of the board of the IT security association TeleTrusT.

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Yuri Shargin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut

Yuri Georgiyevich Shargin is a retired cosmonaut of the Russian Space Forces.

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20/03/1959

Dave Beasant, English footballer and coach

David John Beasant is an English football coach and former goalkeeper.

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Mary Roach, American author

Mary Roach is an American author specializing in popular science and humor. She has published eight New York Times bestsellers: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005), Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008), Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010), Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (2013), Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War (2016), Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (2021), and Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy (2025).

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Sting, American wrestler

Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), with which he continues to make sporadic appearances since his retirement. Borden is best known for his lengthy runs in two major American professional wrestling promotions: World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2001 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2003 to 2014, as well as his retirement run in AEW from 2020 to 2024. Although the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in 2001, Borden did not sign with them at the time; he would later work in WWE from 2014 to 2020. Prior to WCW, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Borden wore face-paint throughout his career, and in 1996, changed from the multi-colored paint of his "Surfer" persona to the monochromatic paint of the "Crow" gimmick.

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Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott, British Labour Party politician and peer

Peter Derek Truscott, Baron Truscott is a British petroleum and mining consultant, independent member of the House of Lords and writer. He was a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 1999 and was elevated to the peerage in 2004. He has written on Russia, defence and energy, and works with a variety of companies in the field of non-renewable resource extraction.

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20/03/1958

Rickey Jackson, American football player

Rickey Anderson Jackson is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints (1981–1993) and the San Francisco 49ers (1994–1995). He led the team's Dome Patrol linebacker corps while playing with the Saints. In 1997, Jackson was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame. Jackson won a Super Bowl ring with the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX one year before retiring. On February 7, 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the same day his New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV.

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20/03/1957

David Foster, Australian woodchopper

David George Foster OAM is an Australian world champion woodchopper, and Tasmanian community figure. He has held the World Woodchopping Championship title for 21 consecutive years, and is Australia's most successful athlete and first and possibly the only athlete in any sport in the world to win over 1,000 titles.

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Spike Lee, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American filmmaker and actor. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee received numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award.

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Chris Wedge, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor

John Christian Wedge is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for being the lead animator of the sci-fi action film Tron (1982), co-founding the now-defunct animation studio Blue Sky Studios, and directing the short film Bunny (1998) and the feature films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005) and Epic (2013). He also directed the live-action film Monster Trucks (2016). Wedge has received two Academy Awards nominations: one for Bunny, for which he won Best Animated Short; and Ice Age, nominated for Best Animated Feature. He also created and voiced the character Scrat in the Ice Age franchise (2002–present).

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20/03/1956

Catherine Ashton, English politician, Vice-President of the European Commission

Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland is a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014.

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Anne Donahue, American lawyer and politician

Anne de la Blanchetai Donahue is an American politician from the state of Vermont. She has served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives since 2003, representing the Washington-1 district, which includes the Washington County towns of Berlin and Northfield. Donahue represented Washington-2 until 2013, when she was redistricted. She was also editor of Counterpoint, a quarterly mental health publication distributed for free throughout Vermont, until retiring in 2023.

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Naoto Takenaka, Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director

Naoto Takenaka is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. Jackson in the dubbed version of the Avengers film series as Nick Fury.

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20/03/1955

Nina Kiriki Hoffman, American author

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.

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Ian Moss, Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter

Ian Richard Moss is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded on all five studio albums, three of which reached number one on the national Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In August 1989 he released his debut solo album, Matchbook, which peaked at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was preceded by his debut single, "Tucker's Daughter", which reached number two on the related ARIA Singles Chart in March. The track was co-written by Moss with Don Walker, also from Cold Chisel. Moss had another top ten hit with "Telephone Booth" in June 1989.

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Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as the "Queen of City Pop", Takeuchi is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan with over 16 million records sold. Internationally, her 1985 song "Plastic Love" became a sleeper hit and the catalyst of the 21st century revival of city pop.

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20/03/1954

Mike Francesa, American radio talk show host and television commentator

Michael Patrick Francesa is an American sports-radio talk-show host. Together with Chris Russo, he launched Mike and the Mad Dog in 1989 on WFAN in New York City, which ran until 2008 and is one of the most successful sports-talk radio programs in American history.

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Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician

Garyfallia "Liana" Kanelli is a Greek journalist and Member of the Greek Parliament for the Communist Party of Greece since 2000.

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Paul Mirabella, American baseball player

Paul Thomas Mirabella is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Mirabella, who threw left-handed, played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees (1979), Toronto Blue Jays (1980–81), Baltimore Orioles (1983), Seattle Mariners (1984–86) and Milwaukee Brewers (1987–90).

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20/03/1953

Phil Judd, New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter

Philip Raymond Judd is a New Zealand singer-songwriter known for being one of the founders of the bands Split Enz and The Swingers.

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20/03/1952

Geoff Brabham, Australian race car driver

Geoffrey John Brabham is an Australian racing driver. Brabham spent the majority of his racing career in the United States.

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David Greenaway, English economist and academic

Sir David Greenaway DL is a British economist. He is Emeritus Professor of Economics and was previously the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, having succeeded Sir Colin Campbell on 1 October 2008.

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20/03/1949

Richard Dowden, English journalist and educator

Richard Dowden is an English journalist who has specialised in African issues. Since 1975, he has worked for several British media and was formerly Executive Director of the Royal African Society (2002–2017). He is the author of the book Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, which has a foreword by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. Dowden lives and works in London.

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20/03/1948

John de Lancie, American actor

John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. is an American actor.

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Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (died 2011)

Nikolaos "Nikos" Papazoglou was a Greek singer-songwriter, musician, and producer from Thessaloniki.

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20/03/1947

John Boswell, American historian, philologist, and academic (died 1994)

John Eastburn Boswell was an American historian and a full professor at Yale University. Many of Boswell's studies focused on the issue of religion and homosexuality, specifically Christianity and homosexuality. Much of his work addressed the history of marginalized groups, particularly in the context of religion and sexuality.

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20/03/1946

Douglas B. Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Douglas Bruce Green, better known by his stage name Ranger Doug, is an American musician, arranger, award-winning Western music songwriter, and Grand Ole Opry member best known for his work with Western music and the group Riders in the Sky in which he plays guitar and sings lead and baritone vocals. He is also a yodeler. With the Riders, he is billed as "Ranger Doug — The Idol of American Youth" and "Governor of the Great State of Rhythm". He is also a member of The Time Jumpers.

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Malcolm Simmons, English motorcycle racer (died 2014)

Malcolm Simmons was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned 73 international caps for the England national speedway team and five caps for the Great Britain team.

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20/03/1945

Henry Bartholomay, American soldier and pilot (died 2015)

Flight leader Lieutenant Henry Adams "Black Bart" Bartholomay was a United States Naval Aviator. He was a recipient of the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

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Jay Ingram, Canadian television host and author

Jay Ingram CM is a Canadian author, broadcaster and science communicator. He was host of the television show Daily Planet, which aired on Discovery Channel Canada, since the channel's inception in 1995. Ingram's last episode of Daily Planet aired on June 5, 2011. Ingram announced his retirement but stated he will make guest appearances on Daily Planet. He was succeeded by Dan Riskin. His book The End of Memory: A Natural History of Aging and Alzheimer's was published by St. Martin's Press in 2015.

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Pat Riley, American basketball player, coach and executive

Patrick James Riley is an American professional basketball executive, former coach, and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also served as the team's head coach from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2008.

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Tim Yeo, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Health

Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk between the 1983 United Kingdom general election and that of 2015, when he was deselected by his constituency party.

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20/03/1944

John Cameron, English composer and conductor

John Cameron is a British composer, arranger, conductor and musician. He is well known for his many film, TV and stage credits, and for his contributions to pop recordings, notably those by Donovan, Cilla Black and the group Hot Chocolate. Cameron's instrumental version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", became a hit for his group CCS and, for many years, a version of Cameron's arrangement was used as the theme music for the BBC TV show Top of the Pops.

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Camille Cosby, American author, producer, and philanthropist

Camille Olivia Cosby is an American television producer, philanthropist, and the wife of comedian Bill Cosby. The character of Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show was based on her. Cosby has avoided public life, but has been active in her husband's businesses as a manager, as well as involving herself in academia and writing. In 1990, Cosby earned a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, followed by a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in 1992.

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Alan Harper, English-Irish archbishop

Alan Edwin Thomas Harper, is a retired Anglican bishop. He served in the Church of Ireland as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 2007 to 2012.

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20/03/1943

Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer

Gerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, actor, curator, and archivist.

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Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (died 2015)

Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environmental groups, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation.

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Paul Junger Witt, American director and producer (died 2018)

Paul Junger Witt was an American film and television producer. He, with his partners Tony Thomas and Susan Harris, produced such television shows as Here Come the Brides, The Partridge Family, The Golden Girls, Soap, Benson, It's a Living, Empty Nest, and Blossom. The majority of their shows have been produced by their company, Witt/Thomas Productions, founded in 1975. Witt also produced the films Dead Poets Society, Three Kings, Insomnia, and the made-for-TV movie Brian's Song. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia.

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20/03/1942

Robin Luke, American singer-songwriter

Robin Luke is an American rock and roll singer who is best known for his 1958 song, "Susie Darlin'". He later worked as a University professor in Marketing. Luke has been enshrined in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

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20/03/1941

Pat Corrales, American baseball player and manager (died 2023)

Patrick Corrales was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1964 to 1973, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds as well as the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Diego Padres. He was the first major league manager of Mexican American descent.

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Kenji Kimihara, Japanese runner

Kenji Kimihara is a retired Japanese long-distance runner. He competed in the marathon at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and finished in eighth, second and fifth place, respectively. He won two gold medals in the marathon at the Asian Games in 1966 and 1970, and won the Boston Marathon in 1966.

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20/03/1940

Stathis Chaitas, Greek footballer and manager

Stathis Chaitas is a retired Greek footballer who played as a midfielder during the 1960s and '70s. He was named the 1969 Greek Athlete of the Year.

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Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer and journalist (died 2015)

Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer known for her photojournalism, documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes".

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Giampiero Moretti, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded the Momo company (died 2012)

Gianpiero Moretti was an Italian racing driver and the founder of the MOMO company in the 1960s. He was born in Milan.

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20/03/1939

Gerald Curran, American lawyer and politician (died 2013)

Gerald Curran was an American politician and lawyer.

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Don Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2022)

Don Edwards was an American cowboy singer, guitarist, and recording artist who specialized in Western music. Two of his albums, Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy, are included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress.

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Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss biologist and academic (died 2014)

Walter Jakob Gehring was a Swiss developmental biologist who was a professor at the Biozentrum Basel of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He obtained his PhD at the University of Zurich in 1965 and after two years as a research assistant of Ernst Hadorn he joined Alan Garen's group at Yale University in New Haven as a postdoctoral fellow.

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Brian Mulroney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (died 2024)

Martin Brian Mulroney was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1983 to 1993.

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20/03/1938

Sergei Novikov, Russian mathematician and academic, winner of the Fields Medal (died 2024)

Sergei Petrovich Novikov was a Soviet and Russian mathematician, noted for work in both algebraic topology and soliton theory. He became the first Soviet mathematician to receive the Fields Medal in 1970.

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20/03/1937

Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2008)

Jerry Reed Hubbard, known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included "Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", "A Thing Called Love", "Alabama Wild Man", "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot", "Ko-Ko Joe", "Lord, Mr. Ford", "East Bound and Down", "The Bird", and "She Got the Goldmine ".

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20/03/1936

Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican singer, songwriter, music producer, and inventor (died 2021)

Lee "Scratch" Perry was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks. He worked with and produced for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin, the Congos, Max Romeo, the Heptones, Adrian Sherwood, the Beastie Boys, Ari Up, the Clash, the Orb, and many others.

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Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge

Mark Oliver Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, is a British judge and former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

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20/03/1935

Ted Bessell, American actor and director (died 1996)

Howard Weston "Ted" Bessell Jr. was an American television actor and director widely known for his role as Donald Hollinger, the boyfriend and eventual fiancé of Marlo Thomas's character in the TV series That Girl (1966–1971).

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Bettye Washington Greene, American chemist (died 1995)

Bettye Washington Greene was an American industrial research chemist. She was one of the first few African American women to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry and she was the first African American female Ph.D. chemist to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company. At Dow, she researched latex and polymers. Greene is considered an early African American pioneer in science.

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20/03/1934

Willie Brown, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Mayor of San Francisco

Willie Lewis Brown Jr. is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, the first African American to hold the office.

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David Malouf, Australian author and playwright

David George Joseph Malouf is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. He also delivered the 1998 Boyer Lectures.

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20/03/1933

Lateef Adegbite, Nigerian lawyer and politician (died 2012)

Lateef Adegbite was a lawyer who became Attorney General of the Western Region of Nigeria, and who later became Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

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George Altman, American baseball player

George Lee Altman was an American professional baseball outfielder who had a lengthy career in both Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball. A three-time National League (NL) All-Star, he appeared in 991 games over nine full seasons in the major leagues. Then, at age 35, he began an eight-year tenure in Japanese baseball, where he would hit 205 home runs and bat .309 with 985 hits.

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20/03/1931

Dinos Christianopoulos, Greek poet (died 2020)

Konstantinos Dimitriadis, better known by his pen name Dinos Christianopoulos, was a Greek contemporary and post-war poet, novelist, folklorist, and scholar. He was also a music scholar who wrote about rebetiko.

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Rein Raamat, Estonian director and screenwriter

Rein Raamat is an Estonian animation film director, artist and screenwriter. He is the first internationally successful Estonian animator and along with Elbert Tuganov is regarded as the "Father of Estonian Animation". He has directed many short animated films since the early 1970s and also produced over 20 documentary films.

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20/03/1930

S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (died 1998)

Sinnappah Arasaratnam was a Sri Lankan academic, historian and author, born during British colonial rule. Known as 'Arasa', he was a lecturer at the University of Ceylon, University of Malaya and University of New England (Australia).

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20/03/1929

William Andrew MacKay, Canadian lawyer and judge (died 2013)

William Andrew MacKay was a Canadian lawyer and former judge, civil servant, legal academic, and university president.

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Germán Robles, Spanish-Mexican actor and director (died 2015)

Germán Horacio Robles San Agustín was a Spanish actor who came to Mexico when he was 17, after the Spanish civil war.

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20/03/1928

Jerome Biffle, American long jumper and coach (died 2002)

Jerome Cousins Biffle was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump, where he was the Gold Medalist at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games.

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James P. Gordon, American physicist and engineer (died 2013)

James Power Gordon was an American physicist known for his work in the fields of optics and quantum electronics. His contributions include the design, analysis and construction of the first maser in 1954 as a doctoral student at Columbia University under the supervision of C. H. Townes, development of the quantal equivalent of Shannon's information capacity formula in 1962, development of the theory for the diffusion of atoms in an optical trap in 1980, and the discovery of what is now known as the Gordon-Haus effect in soliton transmission, together with H. A. Haus in 1986. Gordon was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences.

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20/03/1927

John Joubert, South African-English composer and academic (died 2019)

John Pierre Herman Joubert was a British composer of South African birth, particularly of choral works. He lived in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, for over 50 years. A music academic in the universities of Hull and Birmingham for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on composing and remained active into his eighties. Though perhaps best known for his choral music, particularly the carols Torches and There is No Rose of Such Virtue and the anthem O Lorde, the Maker of Al Thing, Joubert composed over 160 works including three symphonies, four concertos and seven operas.

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20/03/1925

John Ehrlichman, American lawyer, 12th White House Counsel (died 1999)

John Daniel Ehrlichman was an American political aide who served as White House Counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. Ehrlichman was an important influence on Nixon's domestic policy, coaching him on issues and enlisting his support for environmental initiatives.

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20/03/1923

Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (died 2013)

Cornelius Joseph Martin was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among others, Drumcondra, Glentoran, Leeds United and Aston Villa.

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Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani journalist, author, and activist (died 2006)

Shaukat Siddiqi was a Pakistani writer of fiction who wrote in Urdu language. He is best known for his novels Khuda Ki Basti and Jangloos, the former of which won the Adamjee Literary Award in 1960.

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20/03/1922

Larry Elgart, American saxophonist and bandleader (died 2017)

Lawrence Joseph Elgart was an American jazz bandleader. With his brother Les, he recorded "Bandstand Boogie", the theme to the long-running dance show American Bandstand.

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Ray Goulding, American actor and screenwriter (died 1990)

Raymond Walter Goulding was an American comedian, who, together with Bob Elliott formed the comedy duo of Bob and Ray.

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20/03/1921

Usmar Ismail, Indonesian filmmaker (died 1971)

Usmar Ismail was an Indonesian film director, author, journalist and revolutionary of Minangkabau descent. He is widely regarded as the native Indonesian pioneer of the cinema of Indonesia.

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Dušan Pirjevec, Slovenian historian and philosopher (died 1977)

Dušan Pirjevec, known by his nom de guerre Ahac, was a Slovenian Partisan, literary historian and philosopher. He was one of the most influential public intellectuals in post–World War II Slovenia.

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Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and theorist (died 1970)

Alfréd Rényi was a Hungarian mathematician known for his work in probability theory, though he also made contributions in combinatorics, graph theory, and number theory.

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20/03/1920

Rosemary Timperley, English author and screenwriter (died 1988)

Rosemary Timperley was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. She wrote a wide range of fiction, publishing 66 novels in 33 years, and several hundred short stories, but is best remembered for her ghost stories which appear in many anthologies. She also edited several volumes of ghost stories.

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20/03/1919

Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter ace (died 1983)

Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn was a German military aviator who was a renowned wing commander in the Luftwaffe during World War II. As a fighter ace, he was the second most successful fighter pilot of all time after fellow German Erich Hartmann. Other than Hartmann, Barkhorn is the only fighter ace to ever exceed 300 claimed victories. Following World War II, he became a high-ranking officer in the German Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany.

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20/03/1918

Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (died 1984)

Jack Barry was an American game show host, television personality and executive who made a name for himself in the game show field. Barry served as host of several game shows in his career, many of which he developed along with Dan Enright as part of their joint operation Barry & Enright Productions.

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Donald Featherstone, English soldier and author (died 2013)

Donald F. Featherstone was a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history.

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Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (died 2013)

Margaret Marian McPartland OBE, was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011.

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Bernd Alois Zimmermann, German composer (died 1970)

Bernd Alois Zimmermann was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera Die Soldaten, which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. His eclectic music, which employs a wide range of techniques including dodecaphony and musical quotation, encompasses the styles of the avant-garde, serial, and postmodern.

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20/03/1917

Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (died 1984)

Yigael Yadin was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981.

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20/03/1916

Pierre Messmer, French lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 2007)

Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under Louis XV – and then as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974. A member of the French Foreign Legion, he was considered one of the historical Gaullists, and died aged 91 in the military hospital of the Val-de-Grâce in August 2007. He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1999; his seat was taken over by Simone Veil.

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20/03/1915

Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (died 2000)

Rudolf Kirchschläger was an Austrian diplomat, politician and judge. From 1974 to 1986, he served as the president of Austria.

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Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist and composer (died 1997)

Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist. He is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, and has been praised for the "depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire".

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1973)

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her Gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was rooted in a pentecostal church and became the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to Rhythm and blues and Rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians, including Tina Turner, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

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20/03/1914

Wendell Corey, American actor and politician (died 1968)

Wendell Reid Corey was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a board member of the Screen Actors Guild, and also served on the Santa Monica City Council.

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20/03/1913

Nikolai Stepulov, Russian-Estonian boxer (died 1968)

Nikolai Stepulov was an Estonian lightweight boxer, military officer and criminal. As a boxer he won silver medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and 1937 European Championships, and fought professionally in 1938–39. During World War II, after the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1940, Stepulov, an ethnic Russian, became a collaborant in the so-called people's self-defence (RO). Later after returning to Soviet-controlled Estonia he was arrested a few times for burglary and died in a Soviet prison hospital.

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20/03/1912

Ralph Hauenstein, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2016)

Ralph Hauenstein was an American philanthropist, army officer and business leader, best known as a newspaper editor. His leadership has produced institutions such as the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University, the Hauenstein Parkinsons and Neuroscience Centers at Saint Mary's Hospital and the Grace Hauenstein Library at Aquinas College.

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20/03/1911

Alfonso García Robles, Mexican lawyer and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991)

Alfonso García Robles was a Mexican diplomat and politician who, in conjunction with Sweden's Alva Myrdal, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982.

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20/03/1910

Erwin Blask, German hammer thrower (died 1999)

Erwin Blask was a German athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw event. He won the silver medal for Germany at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

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20/03/1909

Elisabeth Geleerd, Dutch-American psychoanalyst (died 1969)

Elisabeth Rozetta Geleerd Loewenstein was a Dutch-American psychoanalyst. Born to an upper-middle-class family in Rotterdam, Geleerd studied psychoanalysis in Vienna, then London, under Anna Freud. Building a career in the United States, she became one of the nation's major practitioners in child and adolescent psychoanalysis throughout the mid-20th century. Geleerd specialized in the psychoanalysis of psychosis, including schizophrenia, and was an influential writer on psychoanalysis in childhood schizophrenia. She was one of the first writers to consider the concept of borderline personality disorder in childhood.

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20/03/1907

Hugh MacLennan, Canadian author and educator (died 1990)

John Hugh MacLennan was a Canadian writer and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award.

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20/03/1906

Abraham Beame, American accountant and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (died 2001)

Abraham David Beame was an English-born American accountant, investor, and Democratic Party politician who served from 1974 to 1977 as the 105th mayor of New York City. Beame presided over the city during the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis, when the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy.

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Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (died 1975)

Oswald George Nelson was an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and bandleader. He originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a radio and television series with his wife Harriet and two sons David and Ricky Nelson.

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20/03/1905

Jean Galia, French rugby player and boxer (died 1949)

Jean Galia was a French rugby union and rugby league footballer and champion boxer. He is credited with establishing the sport of rugby league in France in 1934, where it is known as rugby à treize.

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20/03/1904

B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and author (died 1990)

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in 1974.

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20/03/1903

Edgar Buchanan, American actor (died 1979)

William Edgar Buchanan II was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s.

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20/03/1900

Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia's first female physician (died 1942)

María Amelia Chopitea Villa was Bolivia's first female physician and writer. She was born in a time when the Bolivian society was very patriarchal.

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20/03/1899

Vladimír Mandl, Czechoslovak lawyer (died 1941)

Vladimír Mandl was a Czech lawyer and university lecturer. He published works on a variety of topics in Czech, German, French and English, focusing especially on private and transportation law issues.

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20/03/1898

Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (died 1954)

Eduard Wiiralt was an Estonian graphic artist. In art history, Wiiralt is considered as the most remarkable master of Estonian graphic art in the first half of his century. The best-known of his works include "Inferno", "Hell", "Cabaret", "Heads of Negroes", "Sleeping Tiger", and "Head of a Camel".

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20/03/1897

Frank Sheed, Australian-British Catholic writer and apologist (died 1981)

Francis Joseph Sheed was an Australian-born lawyer, Catholic writer, publisher, speaker, and lay theologian. He and his wife Maisie Ward were the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as forceful public lecturers in the Catholic Evidence Guild.

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20/03/1895

Fredric Wertham, German-American psychologist and author (died 1981)

Fredric Wertham was a German–American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue Clinic at a time of heightened discrimination in urban mental health practice. Wertham also authored a definitive textbook on the brain, and his institutional stressor findings were cited when courts overturned multiple segregation statutes, most notably in Brown v. Board of Education.

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20/03/1894

Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (died 1974)

Amalie Sara Colquhoun was an Australian landscape and portrait painter who is represented in national and state galleries. In addition to painting landscapes, portraits and still lifes, Colquhoun designed and supervised the construction of stained glass windows for three of Ballarat's churches, St Andrew's Kirk, Lydiard Street Uniting Church and Mount Pleasant Methodist Church. She studied in both Melbourne and Sydney, exhibited in England and Australia and taught in the school she started with her husband in Melbourne.

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20/03/1890

Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor and actor (died 1973)

Lauritz Melchior was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian heldentenor of the 1920s through the 1940s and has come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Melchior appeared in movie musicals and on radio and television. He also made numerous recordings.

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20/03/1888

Amanda Clement, American baseball player, umpire, and educator (died 1971)

Amanda E. Clement was an American baseball umpire who was the first woman paid to referee a game, and may have also been the first woman to referee a high school basketball game. Clement served as an umpire on a regular basis for six years, and served occasionally for several decades afterwards. An accomplished athlete in multiple disciplines, Clement competed in baseball, basketball, track, gymnastics, and tennis, and has been attributed world records in shot put, sprinting, hurdling, and baseball.

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20/03/1885

Vernon Ransford, Australian cricketer (died 1958)

Vernon Seymour Ransford OBE was an Australian cricketer who played in 20 Test matches between 1907 and 1912.

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20/03/1884

Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (died 1966)

Philipp Frank was an Austrian-American physicist, mathematician and philosopher of the early-to-mid 20th century. He was a logical positivist, and a member of the Vienna Circle. He was influenced by Mach and was one of the Machists criticised by Lenin in Materialism and Empirio-criticism.

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John Jensen, Australian public servant (died 1970)

Sir John Klunder Jensen was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Munitions between 1942 and 1948.

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20/03/1882

René Coty, French lawyer and politician, 17th President of France (died 1962)

Gustave Jules René Coty was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic.

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Harold Weber, American golfer (died 1933)

Harold Weber was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

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20/03/1879

Maud Menten, Canadian physician and biochemist (died 1960)

Maud Leonora Menten was a Canadian physician and chemist. As a bio-medical and medical researcher, she made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry, and invented a procedure that remains in use. She is primarily known for her work with Leonor Michaelis on enzyme kinetics in 1913. The paper has been translated from its written language of German into English.

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20/03/1876

Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1927)

William Payne Whitney was an American businessman and member of the influential Whitney family. He inherited a fortune and enlarged it through business dealings, then devoted much of his money and efforts to a wide variety of philanthropic purposes. His will included funds to expand the New York Hospital, now called NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic was established.

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20/03/1874

Börries von Münchhausen, German poet and activist (died 1945)

Börries Albrecht Conon August Heinrich Freiherr von Münchhausen was a German poet and Nazi activist.

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20/03/1870

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (died 1964)

Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (popularly known as the Lion of Africa, was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force of about 14,000, he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Indian, Belgian, and Portuguese troops. He is known for never being defeated or captured in battle.

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20/03/1856

John Lavery, Irish painter (died 1941)

Sir John Lavery was an Irish painter best known for his portraits and wartime depictions.

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Frederick Winslow Taylor, American tennis player and engineer (died 1915)

Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up his efficiency techniques in his book The Principles of Scientific Management which, in 2001, Fellows of the Academy of Management voted the most influential management book of the twentieth century. His pioneering work in applying engineering principles to the work done on the factory floor was instrumental in the creation and development of the branch of engineering that is now known as industrial engineering. Taylor made his name, and was most proud of his work, in scientific management; as a result, scientific management is sometimes referred to as Taylorism. His main source of income came from patenting improvements to steelmaking.

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20/03/1851

Ismail Gasprinski, Crimean Tatar educator, publisher, and politician (died 1914)

Ismail bey Gasprinsky was a Crimean Tatar intellectual, educator, publisher and Pan-Turkist politician who inspired the Jadidist movement in Central Asia. He was one of the first Muslim intellectuals in the Russian Empire, who realized the need for education and cultural reform and modernization of the Turkic and Islamic communities. His last name comes from the town of Gaspra in Crimea.

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20/03/1843

Ambrosio Flores, Filipino politician (died 1912)

Ambrosio Flores y Flores was a Filipino general in the Philippine Revolution and the first governor of the province of Rizal.

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20/03/1840

Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (died 1894)

Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov was a Russian painter, one of the founders of the Peredvizhniki artistic cooperative, which broke away from the rigors of their time and became one of the most important Russian art schools of the late 19th century.

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20/03/1836

Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American general, lawyer, and politician (died 1886)

Ferris Jacobs Jr. was an American military officer, politician, and lawyer. He served in the Union Army in several roles during the American Civil War, and afterwards spent one term as United States representative from New York.

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Edward Poynter, English painter, illustrator, and curator (died 1919)

Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy.

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20/03/1834

Charles William Eliot, American mathematician and academic (died 1926)

Charles William Eliot was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909, the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family of Boston, he transformed Harvard from a respected provincial college into America's preeminent research university. Theodore Roosevelt called him "the only man in the world I envy."

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20/03/1831

Patrick Jennings, Northern Irish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of New South Wales (died 1897)

Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings, was an Irish-Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales.

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Solomon L. Spink, American lawyer and politician (died 1881)

Solomon Lewis Spink was an American lawyer who served as a delegate for the Dakota Territory in the United States House of Representatives.

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20/03/1828

Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (died 1906)

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama". He pioneered theatrical realism but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. In 2014 Ibsen was considered the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Store norske leksikon describes him as "the center of the Norwegian literary canon".

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20/03/1824

Theodor von Heuglin, German explorer and ornithologist (died 1876)

Martin Theodor von Heuglin, was a German explorer and ornithologist.

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20/03/1821

Ned Buntline, American journalist, author, and publisher (died 1886)

Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr., known by his pen name Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, and writer.

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20/03/1811

Napoleon II, French emperor (died 1832)

Napoleon II was the disputed Emperor of the French for 2 days in 1815. He was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria.

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George Caleb Bingham, American painter and politician, State Treasurer of Missouri (died 1879)

George Caleb Bingham is recognized as one of the most important American artists of the 19th century. Known in his lifetime as “the Missouri artist,” he is distinguished among the first generation of painters of the early American West for classic narrative scenes drawn from his observation and experience.

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20/03/1805

Thomas Cooper, British poet (died 1892)

Thomas Cooper was an English poet and a leading Chartist. His prison rhyme the Purgatory of Suicides (1845) runs to 944 stanzas. He also wrote novels and in later life religious texts. He was self-educated and worked as a shoemaker, then a preacher, a schoolmaster and a journalist, before taking up Chartism in 1840. He was seen as a passionate, determined and fiery man.

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20/03/1800

Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, President of Costa Rica (died 1845)

Braulio Evaristo Carrillo Colina was the Head of State of Costa Rica during two periods: the first between 1835 and 1837, and the de facto between 1838 and 1842.

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20/03/1799

Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet and author (died 1839)

Karl August Nicander was a Swedish lyric poet.

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20/03/1796

Edward Gibbon Wakefield, English politician (died 1862)

Edward Gibbon Wakefield was an English politician in colonial Canada and New Zealand. He is considered a key figure in the establishment in the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s of British colonies in Australia and New Zealand. He also played a role in the history of Canada, being involved in the drafting of Lord Durham's Report and serving as a member of the Parliament of the Province of Canada for a short time.

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20/03/1771

Heinrich Clauren, German author (died 1854)

Carl Gottlieb Samuel Heun, better known by his pen name Heinrich Clauren, was a German author.

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20/03/1737

Rama I, Thai king (died 1809)

Phutthayotfa Chulalok, posthumously honoured as King Phutthayotfa Chulalok the Great, also known by his regnal name Rama I, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first King of Siam from the reigning Chakri dynasty. He ascended the throne in 1782, following the deposition of King Taksin of Thonburi. He was also celebrated as the founder of Rattanakosin as the new capital of the reunited kingdom.

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20/03/1725

Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (died 1789)

Abdülhamid I or Abdul Hamid I was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1774 to 1789. A devout and pacifist sultan, he inherited a bankrupt empire and sought military reforms, including overhauling the Janissaries and navy. Despite internal efforts and quelling revolts in Syria, Egypt, and Greece, his reign saw the critical loss of Crimea and defeat by Russia and Austria. The 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca granted Russia territorial and religious influence. He died soon after the fall of Ochakov in 1788.

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20/03/1680

Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer (died 1736)

Emanuele Gioacchino Cesare Rincon, baron of Astorga was an Italian composer known mainly for his Stabat Mater.

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20/03/1639

Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat, Hetman of Ukraine (died 1709)

Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa was a Ukrainian military, political, and civic leader who served as hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1687–1709. His long and stable rule was marked by economical and political recovery from the the Ruin. A loyal subject of Russia during most of his rule, Mazepa's close relationship with Tsar Peter I deteriorated as a result of the latter's administrative reforms, which increasingly deprived Mazepa and the Hetmanate of their autonomy. In 1708, Mazepa abandoned his alliance with Peter I and sided with Charles XII of Sweden after the Tsar refused to protect the Hetmanate against the advancing Swedes, instead ordering that much of Ukraine be burned to prevent the Swedes from gaining access to supplies and winter quarters.

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20/03/1615

Dara Shikoh, Indian prince (died 1659)

Dara Shikoh, also transliterated as Dara Shukoh, was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba and was favoured as a successor by his father and his elder sister, Princess Jahanara Begum. He had been given the title of 'Shah-e-Buland Iqbal' by Shah Jahan. In the war of succession which ensued after Shah Jahan's illness in 1657, Dara was defeated by his younger brother Prince Muhiuddin. He was executed in 1659 on Aurangzeb's orders after a bitter struggle for the imperial throne.

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20/03/1612

Anne Bradstreet, Puritan American poet (died 1672)

Anne Bradstreet was among the most prominent of early English poets of North America and the first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in American literature and notable for her large corpus of poetry, as well as personal writings published posthumously.

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20/03/1532

Juan de Ribera, Roman Catholic archbishop (died 1611)

Juan de Ribera was an influential figure during the reign of Philip III of Spain. He urged harsh measures against so-called New Christians, resulting in the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609. Ribera held appointments as Archbishop and Viceroy of Valencia, Latin Patriarchate of Antioch, Commander in Chief, president of the Audiencia, and Chancellor of the University of Valencia. He was beatified in 1796 and canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1960.

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20/03/1502

Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (died 1575)

Pierino Belli was an soldier and jurist.

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20/03/1479

Ippolito d'Este, Italian cardinal (died 1520)

Ippolito (I) d'Este was an Italian cardinal, and Archbishop of Esztergom. He was a member of the ducal House of Este of Ferrara, and was usually referred to as the Cardinal of Ferrara. Though a bishop of five separate dioceses, he was never consecrated a bishop. He spent much of his time supporting the ducal house of Ferrara and negotiating on their behalf with the Pope.

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20/03/1477

Jerome Emser, German theologian and scholar (died 1527)

Jerome Emser, was a German theologian and antagonist of Martin Luther, was born of a good family at Ulm.

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20/03/1469

Cecily of York (died 1507)

Cecily of York, also known as Cecelia, was the third daughter of King Edward IV of England and his queen consort Elizabeth Woodville.

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20/03/1319

Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (died 1348)

Laurence de Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke was an English nobleman and held the titles 1st Earl of Pembroke, Baron Abergavenny and Baron Hastings under Edward II of England and Edward III of England.

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20/03/1253

Magadu, renamed Wareru, founder of Ramanya Kingdom, renamed Hanthawady Kingdom of Pegu (died 1307)

Wareru, personal name Magadu, was the founder of the Martaban Kingdom, located in present-day Myanmar (Burma). By using both diplomatic and military skills, he successfully carved out a Mon-speaking polity in Lower Burma, during the collapse of the Pagan Empire in the 1280s. Wareru was assassinated in 1307 but his line ruled the kingdom until its fall in the mid-16th century.

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01/01/1970

Ovid, Roman poet (died 17)

Publius Ovidius Naso, known in English as Ovid, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a carmen et error, but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.

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