Born on Sunday, 22nd March – Famous Birthdays

22/03/2001

Artūrs Šilovs, Latvian ice hockey player

Artūrs Šilovs is a Latvian professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Šilovs was drafted in the sixth round, 156th overall, by the Vancouver Canucks at the 2019 NHL entry draft, with whom he made his NHL debut in 2023. Playing with the Latvian national team, Šilovs played a central role in the country's first-ever medal at the World Championships in 2023.

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22/03/2000

Dimitrios Meliopoulos, Greek footballer

Dimitrios Meliopoulos is a Greek footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Veria.

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22/03/1997

Alex Meret, Italian footballer

Alex Meret is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Napoli and the Italy national team.

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Chimezie Metu, Nigerian-American basketball player

Chimezie Chukwudum Metu is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for Gran Canaria of the Liga ACB. He played college basketball for the USC Trojans.

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22/03/1994

Edwin Díaz, Puerto Rican baseball player

Edwin Orlando Díaz Laboy is a Puerto Rican professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Seattle Mariners and New York Mets. Díaz was selected by the Mariners in the third round of the 2012 MLB draft and made his MLB debut with them in 2016.

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Taurean Prince, American basketball player

Taurean Waller-Prince is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Baylor Bears. He was drafted by the Utah Jazz with the 12th pick in the 2016 NBA draft but was traded to the Atlanta Hawks where he played for three seasons before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019 off-season. In January 2021, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and was then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in August of the same year. He has also played for the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Belarusian tennis player

Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She achieved her best singles ranking of world No. 29 on 19 September 2022, and peaked at No. 39 in the WTA doubles rankings on 23 August 2021. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has reached a major semifinal in doubles, at the 2019 US Open, together with Viktória Hrunčáková.

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Ha Sung-woon, South Korean singer

Ha Sung-woon, also known mononymously as Sungwoon, is a South Korean singer and songwriter. He is best known as a member of South Korean boy group Wanna One, as a member of boy group Hotshot, and currently as a solo artist. In 2019, he began his solo music career with his first extended play My Moment.

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22/03/1992

Roston Chase, Barbadian cricketer

Roston Lamar Chase is a Barbadian cricketer who plays for the West Indies and Barbados. An all-rounder, he is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off spin bowler. In July 2017, he was named Cricketer of the Year and Test Cricketer of the Year by the West Indies Players' Association.

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Edy Tavares, Cape Verdean basketball player

Walter Samuel "Edy" Tavares da Veiga is a Cape Verdean professional basketball player for Real Madrid of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. He was selected with the 43rd overall pick in 2014 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks and has played internationally for the Cape Verde national basketball team. Tavares receives praise as a physical phenomenon, standing 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) tall and possessing a 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m) wingspan.

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22/03/1989

Ruben Popa, Romanian footballer

Ruben Popa is a Romanian footballer who plays for FSV Pfaffenhofen.

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J. J. Watt, American football player

Justin James Watt is an American former professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Houston Texans. He played college football for the Central Michigan Chippewas and Wisconsin Badgers and was selected by the Texans in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft.

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22/03/1988

Chris Ivory, American football player

Christopher Lee Ivory is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington State Cougars and Tiffin Dragons and was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2010. In 2013, Ivory was traded to the New York Jets, where he saw an expanded role, eventually becoming the team's primary running back by 2014 and being named to the Pro Bowl in 2015. He then spent the next three seasons as a backup with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills.

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22/03/1987

Ike Davis, American baseball player

Isaac Benjamin Davis is an American former professional baseball first baseman. From 2010 through 2016, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, and New York Yankees.

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Liam Doran, British rallycross driver

Liam Doran is a British professional rallycross driver competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, Global RallyCross Championship, X Games, and European Rallycross Championship. He is the son of British rallycross driver and Lydden Hill Race Circuit owner Pat Doran. In his early life he attended Fulston Manor School in Sittingbourne.

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Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican environmentalist (died 2013)

Jairo Mora Sandoval was a Costa Rican environmentalist who was murdered while attempting to protect leatherback turtle nests. Just before midnight on May 30, 2013, Mora and four female volunteers were abducted by a group of masked men. The women eventually escaped and informed the police. Mora's bound and beaten body was found on the beach the next morning. An autopsy determined he died by asphyxiation after suffering a blow to the head.

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22/03/1986

Dexter Fowler, American baseball player

William Dexter Fowler is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Angels. He participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics as a member of the United States national baseball team and won the World Series with the Cubs in 2016. He led all MLB players with 72 triples during the 2010s.

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22/03/1985

Mayola Biboko, Belgian footballer

Mayola Biboko is a Congolese-Belgian footballer. He was born in N'dalatando, Cuanza Norte.

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Jakob Fuglsang, Danish cyclist

Jakob Diemer Fuglsang is a Danish former professional road racing cyclist. Before turning professional for Team Saxo Bank, he was a mountain biker racing for Team Cannondale–Vredestein, winning the Under-23 World Cup and Under-23 World Championships. He retired in June 2025 at the end of the Giro d'Italia.

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Justin Masterson, American baseball player

Justin Daniel Masterson is a Jamaican-American former professional baseball starting pitcher. Drafted by the Red Sox in the second round of the 2006 MLB draft from San Diego State University, he made his MLB debut two years later. Masterson also played in MLB for the Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals. Known for primarily throwing a sinking fastball, the right-hander stands 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) tall, and weighs 250 lb (110 kg).

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Kelli Waite, Australian swimmer

Kelli Waite is an Australian swimmer.

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22/03/1984

Piotr Trochowski, German footballer

Piotr Artur Trochowski is a German former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. According to his 2010 FIFA World Cup profile he is a playmaker known for "his speed, agility, tricky dribbling and refined technique."

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22/03/1983

Thomas Davis Sr., American football player

Thomas Antonio Davis Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Georgia in the early 2000s, where he was recognized as a consensus All-American.

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22/03/1982

Deng Gai, South Sudanese basketball player

Deng Nathaniel Magany Gai is a South Sudanese former professional basketball player. A power forward, he briefly played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and in several other leagues. Gai was the 2005 NCAA blocks leader.

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Enrico Gasparotto, Italian cyclist

Enrico Gasparotto is an Italian-born Swiss former professional road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2020, for seven different teams. After retiring, he worked as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team EF Education–Nippo Development Team in 2021 before joining Bora–Hansgrohe in a similar role the following year.

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Michael Janyk, Canadian skier

Michael Janyk is a Canadian retired alpine skier. Janyk appeared for the Canadian team in the slalom event at the 2006 Winter Olympics, where he finished in 17th place. Janyk has yet to win a World Cup race in his professional career, but has finished second on one occasion, December 3, 2006, in a slalom race in Beaver Creek.

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Michael Morse, American baseball player

Michael John Morse is an American former professional baseball outfielder, first baseman and shortstop. Morse was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants between 2005 and 2017. In 2018, he began a second career as a baseball broadcaster.

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Piá, Brazilian footballer

João Batista Inácio, commonly known as Piá, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a forward.

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Mike Smith, Canadian ice hockey player

Mike Smith is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Smith played 16 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, and the Edmonton Oilers. Smith is the 11th goaltender in NHL history to score a goal, which he did in the 2013–14 season against the Detroit Red Wings. A two-time NHL All-Star, he was named to the Canada national team for the 2014 Winter Olympics where he won a gold medal.

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Constance Wu, American actress

Constance Wu is an American actress. Wu's breakthrough role came with the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020), which earned her four nominations at the Critics' Choice Television Awards. For leading the romantic comedy-drama film Crazy Rich Asians (2018), she became the fourth Asian woman to be nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

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22/03/1981

Arne Gabius, German runner

Arne Gabius is a German long distance runner. From 2015 until 2023, he was the men's German national record holder in the marathon with his time of 2 hours 08 minutes and 33 seconds.

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Mims, American rapper

Shawn Maurice Mims, known mononymously as Mims, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 2006 debut single "This Is Why I'm Hot", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100. Its success led him to sign with Capitol Records, and preceded his debut studio album, Music Is My Savior (2007). His second album, Guilt (2009), was preceded by the single "Move ", his third and final Billboard Hot 100 entry.

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22/03/1979

Michalis Kouinelis, Greek hip hop singer

Michalis Kouinelis, also known as Stavento, Mike or METH is a Greek rapper, songwriter and the lead singer of the hip hop group Stavento.

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Aaron North, American guitarist

Aaron Wright North is an American musician. He was the co-founder and guitarist of punk band The Icarus Line, a touring lead guitarist of industrial rock group Nine Inch Nails, and vocalist/guitarist for Jubilee. North is noted for his chaotic and unconventional guitar approach, his use and command of feedback, and the flailing of his guitar wildly while on stage.

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Juan Uribe, Dominican baseball player

Juan Cespedes Uribe Tena is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and Cleveland Indians. He bats and throws right-handed.

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22/03/1978

Josh Heupel, American football player and coach

Joshua Kenneth Heupel is an American college football coach and former player who is the head football coach at the University of Tennessee. Previously he was head coach at the University of Central Florida, where he compiled a 28–8 record.

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22/03/1977

Joey Porter, American football player and coach

Joseph Eugene Porter Sr. is an American professional football coach and former player. He played as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Colorado State Rams and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1999 NFL draft. A four-time Pro Bowl selection, Porter won Super Bowl XL with the Steelers and was also a member of the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers drafted his son, Joey Porter Jr., with the thirty-second overall selection of the 2023 NFL draft.

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Dave Portnoy, American businessman and social media personality

David Scott Portnoy is an American businessman and social media personality. He is the founder and owner of sports and popular culture company Barstool Sports.

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Tom Poti, American ice hockey player

Thomas Emilio Poti is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL).

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Anabel Rodríguez Ríos, Venezuelan film director and screenwriter

Anabel Rodríguez Ríos is a Venezuelan film director and screenwriter. Her feature-length debut and documentary film, Once Upon a Time in Venezuela, was Venezuela's submission for the 93rd Academy Awards.

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22/03/1976

Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player

Teun Floris de Nooijer is a field hockey player from the Netherlands, who twice became Olympic champion with the Dutch national squad, in 1996 and in 2000, and was on the team in 2012. He currently plays for Dutch side HC Bloemendaal and in Hockey India League for Uttar Pradesh Wizards.

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Asako Toki, Japanese singer-songwriter

Asako Toki is a Japanese singer-songwriter and lyricist. Born to jazz saxophonist Hidefumi Toki, she was the lead vocalist for the rock band Cymbals between 1997 and 2003. Following Cymbals' breakup, Toki began her solo career with the release of Standards in 2004 and made her major label debut under Avex's Rhythm Zone with Talkin in 2007. To date, she has released nine original albums and eight cover albums, many of which are performed in both Japanese and English.

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22/03/1975

Jiří Novák, Czech-Monegasque tennis player

Jiří Novák is a Czech tennis coach and a former professional player. He was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

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22/03/1974

Marcus Camby, American basketball player

Marcus Dion Camby is an American former professional basketball player who played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named Defensive Player of the Year during the 2006–07 NBA season, leading the league in blocked shots per game. Camby is also a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team and is 12th on the NBA's all-time career blocks list.

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Philippe Clement, Belgian footballer

Philippe Clement is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of EFL Championship club Norwich City.

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Grigoria Golia, Greek handball player

Grigoria Golia is a Greek handball player who competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

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Tuomas Grönman, Finnish ice hockey player

Tuomas Oskar Grönman is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League and SM-liiga.

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Geo Meneses, Mexican producer and singer

Georgina "Geo" Meneses is a Mexican producer and singer of traditional music and world music genre.

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22/03/1973

Beverley Knight, English singer-songwriter and producer

Beverley Knight is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, The B-Funk, in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released nine studio albums. Widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest soul singers, she is best known for her hit singles "Greatest Day", "Get Up!", "Shoulda Woulda Coulda", "Come as You Are" and "Keep This Fire Burning".

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22/03/1972

Shawn Bradley, German-American basketball player, coach, and actor

Shawn Paul Bradley is a German-American former professional basketball player. A center, he was drafted with the second pick in the 1993 NBA draft and played for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, and Dallas Mavericks between 1993 and 2005. He is one of the tallest players in NBA history at 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m).

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Cory Lidle, American baseball player (died 2006)

Cory Fulton Lidle was an American professional baseball player. A right-handed pitcher, Lidle played in Major League Baseball with the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees from 1997 to 2006. Lidle was killed when the small aircraft he owned was blown by a strong gust of wind and slammed nose first into a residential building in New York City.

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22/03/1970

Andreas Johnson, Swedish singer-songwriter

Jon Erik Andreas Johnson is a Swedish pop/rock singer-songwriter and musician.

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Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist

Leontien Martha Henrica Petronella Zijlaard-van Moorsel is a Dutch retired racing cyclist. She was a dominant cyclist in the 1990s and early 2000s, winning four gold medals at the Olympic Games and holding the hour record for women from 2003 until 2015.

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Hwang Young-cho, South Korean runner

Hwang Young-cho is a former South Korean athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1994 Asian Games.

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22/03/1969

Russell Maryland, American football player

Russell James Maryland is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 10 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders, and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes. Maryland was selected by the Cowboys with the first overall pick in the 1991 NFL draft.

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22/03/1967

Mario Cipollini, Italian cyclist

Mario Cipollini, often abbreviated to Cipo, is a retired Italian professional road cyclist most noted for his sprinting ability, the longevity of his dominance, and his colourful personality. His nicknames include Il Re Leone and Super Mario. He is regarded as having been the best sprinter of his generation.

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Bernie Gallacher, Scottish-English footballer (died 2011)

Bernard Gallacher was a Scottish professional footballer who made 113 appearances in the English Football League, playing predominantly at left-back.

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22/03/1966

Todd Ewen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2015)

Todd Gordon Ewen was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for several teams in the National Hockey League (NHL). A right wing, Ewen was primarily known as an enforcer. He played for the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks. Ewen retired with 1,914 penalty minutes, putting him 61st for all-time career penalty minutes. He was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and raised in St. Albert, Alberta. Ewen won the Stanley Cup in 1993 with the Canadiens.

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Artis Pabriks, Latvian academic and politician, 11th Minister for Defence of Latvia

Artis Pabriks is a Latvian politician. Since January 2019 he has been the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister of Latvia. From 2014 to 2018, he was a Member of the European Parliament.

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António Pinto, Portuguese runner

António Coelho Pinto is a retired Portuguese long-distance runner. He was born in Vila Garcia, Amarante.

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Brian Shaw, American basketball player and coach

Brian Keith Shaw is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played both guard positions, but was used primarily at point guard in his 14 seasons in the NBA. He won three NBA championships playing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

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22/03/1965

Ice MC, British rapper

Ian Colin Campbell, better known as Ice MC, is a British rapper who started his professional music career in Italy, when he got a record deal signing to record producer and singer Savage and released his debut single "Easy" in 1989. He's best known for the Eurodance 1990s hit singles "Take Away the Colour", "Think About the Way" and "It's a Rainy Day". Ice MC singles are most notable for being the first Eurodance songs to blend raggamuffin rapping style with female singing choruses. Zanetti's music team produced Ice MC hits while also producing songs for other major Italian artists of the same decade, like Double You, Alexia, and Corona.

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22/03/1963

Deborah Bull, English ballerina

Deborah Clare Bull, Baroness Bull,, is an English dancer, writer, and broadcaster, and former creative director of the Royal Opera House. She joined King's College London as Director, Cultural Partnerships in 2012. In 2015 she was appointed as the university's Assistant Principal (London), in 2018 was named Vice President & Vice-Principal (London) and in 2021 named Vice Principal until her departure in July 2022.

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Pelle Eklund, Swedish ice hockey player

Per-Erik "Pelle" Eklund is a Swedish former professional ice hockey winger. He played nine seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars from 1985 to 1994 and nine seasons in the Swedish Elitserien (SEL) with AIK and Leksands IF from 1981 to 1985 and 1994 to 1999. Internationally Eklund played for the Swedish national team at several World Championships, winning gold in 1991 and silver in both 1990 and 1995, and the 1984 Winter Olympics, winning a bronze medal.

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Susan Ann Sulley, English pop singer

Susan Ann Sulley, formerly known as Susanne Sulley and Susan Ann Gayle, is an English singer. She is one of the two female vocalists in the synth-pop band the Human League, contributing co-lead vocals on the conflicting duet "Don't You Want Me" with the band's founding member and lead singer Philip Oakey.

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Hannu Virta, Finnish ice hockey player and coach

Hannu Markus Virta is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman. He was named the best defenceman in the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga) four times, and was a five-time all-star. He also won the Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy as rookie of the year in 1981–82.

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Martín Vizcarra, Peruvian engineer and politician, 67th President of Peru

Martín Alberto Vizcarra Cornejo is a Peruvian engineer and politician who served as President of Peru from 2018 to 2020. Vizcarra previously served as Governor of the Department of Moquegua (2011–2014), First Vice President of Peru (2016–2018), Minister of Transport and Communications of Peru (2016–2017), and Ambassador of Peru to Canada (2017–2018), with the latter three during the presidency of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

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22/03/1962

Nikos Kourbanas, Greek footballer

Nikos Kourbanas is a Greek football manager and former player. He played as a defender.

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22/03/1961

Simon Furman, British comic book writer

Simon Christopher Francis Furman is a British comic book writer who is best known for his work on Hasbro's Transformers franchise, starting with writing Marvel Comics's initial comic book to promote the toyline worldwide, as well as foundations for both Dreamwave Production's and IDW Publishing's takes on the Generation 1 minifranchise.

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22/03/1960

Jim Covert, American football player

James Paul "Jimbo" Covert is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers, earning consensus All-American honors. He was selected in the first round of the 1983 NFL draft.

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22/03/1957

Jürgen Bucher, German footballer

Jürgen Bucher is a retired German footballer.

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22/03/1956

Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

Maria Teresa is a member of the grand ducal family of Luxembourg. She was Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Henri from 2000 until her husband's abdication in 2025.

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22/03/1955

Valdis Zatlers, Latvian physician and politician, 7th President of Latvia

Valdis Zatlers is a Latvian politician and former physician who served as the seventh president of Latvia from 2007 to 2011. He won the Latvian presidential election of 31 May 2007. He became President of Latvia on 8 July 2007 and left office on 7 July 2011 after failing to win reelection for a second term.

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22/03/1953

Kenneth Rogoff, American economist and chess grandmaster

Kenneth Saul Rogoff is an American economist and chess Grandmaster.

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22/03/1952

Des Browne, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland

Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton, is a Scottish politician who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Defence 2006 to 2008 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2007 to 2008. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010.

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Bob Costas, American sportscaster

Robert Quinlan Costas is an American sportscaster for MLB Network and NBC Sports. He is well known for his time with NBC Sports, where he worked from 1980 through 2019, and again since 2026. He has received 29 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 1988 until 2016. He is also currently employed by Warner Bros. Discovery, where he is a political commentator for CNN.

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22/03/1949

Brian Hanrahan, English journalist (died 2010)

Brian Hanrahan was a British television journalist who was the Diplomatic News Editor for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

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22/03/1948

Wolf Blitzer, American journalist

Wolf Isaac Blitzer is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network. He has been a host of The Situation Room, now formally known as The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown, since 2005. Since March 2025, Blitzer co-hosts the show with Pamela Brown; previously he served as the network's lead political anchor until 2021 and as the sole host of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer during the show's early evening run between 2005 and 2025.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer and director

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass.

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22/03/1947

George Ferguson, English architect and politician, 1st Mayor of Bristol

George Robin Paget Ferguson CBE, PPRIBA, RWA is a British politician, former architect, and entrepreneur who served as the first elected mayor of Bristol from 2012 to 2016.

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Maarten van Gent, Dutch basketball player and coach

Maarten Herman van Gent was a Dutch basketball coach, manager, scout and businessman.

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22/03/1946

Don Chaney, American basketball player and coach

Donald Ray Chaney is an American former professional basketball player and coach, most notable for winning two championships as a player on the Boston Celtics, and winning NBA Coach of the Year while leading the Houston Rockets.

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Rivka Golani, Israeli viola player and composer

Rivka Golani is an Israeli-born viola player. She has performed as soloist with many orchestras throughout the world including the Boston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan, Montreal Symphony and the Toronto Symphony.

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Rudy Rucker, American mathematician, computer scientist, and author

Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of both fiction and non-fiction, he is best known for the novels in the Ware Tetralogy, the first two of which both won Philip K. Dick Awards. He edited the science fiction webzine Flurb until its closure in 2014.

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Harry Vanda, Dutch-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg, better known as Harry Vanda, is a Dutch-Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is the last surviving member of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easybeats who with fellow member George Young formed the 1970s and 1980s songwriting and record production duo Vanda & Young.

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22/03/1945

Eric Roth, American screenwriter and producer

Eric R. Roth is an American screenwriter. He has been nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay: Forrest Gump (1994), The Insider (1999), Munich (2005), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), A Star Is Born (2018), and Dune (2021) — winning for Forrest Gump; he also earned a Best Picture nomination for producing Mank (2020). Roth also worked on the screenplays for the Oscar-nominated films Ali (2001), Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), and Killers of the Flower Moon (2023).

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22/03/1943

George Benson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

George Washington Benson is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.

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Nazem Ganjapour, Iranian footballer and manager (died 2013)

Nazem Ganjapour was an Iranian football player. In the last match of Shahin against Tehranjavan, he scored a hat trick. After this he joined Persepolis. Later, he was a scout and coached youth clubs.

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Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 1976)

William Keith Relf was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, the Yardbirds ex-drummer Jim McCarty and ex–The Nashville Teens keyboardist John Hawken.

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22/03/1942

Jorge Ben Jor, Brazilian singer-songwriter

Jorge Duílio Lima Menezes is a Brazilian popular musician, performing under the stage name Jorge Ben Jor since the 1980s, though commonly known by his former stage name Jorge Ben. Performing in a samba style that also explored soul, funk, rock and bossa nova sounds, Ben has recorded such well-known songs as "Chove Chuva", "Mas Que Nada", "Ive Brussel" and "Balança Pema". His music has been covered by artists such as Caetano Veloso, Sérgio Mendes, Miriam Makeba, Soulfly and Marisa Monte.

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Dick Pound, Canadian lawyer and academic

Richard William Duncan Pound, better known as Dick Pound, is a Canadian swimming champion, lawyer, and spokesman for ethics in sport. He was the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee. He is currently the longest-serving member of the IOC.

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22/03/1941

Billy Collins, American poet

William James Collins is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He was a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, retiring in 2016. Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004 through 2006. In 2016, Collins was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. As of 2020, he is a teacher in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.

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Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (died 2019)

Bruno Ganz was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Francis Ford Coppola, Theo Angelopoulos and Wim Wenders, earning widespread recognition with his roles as Jonathan Zimmerman in The American Friend (1977), Jonathan Harker in Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) and Damiel the Angel in Wings of Desire (1987).

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Cassam Uteem, Mauritian politician, 2nd President of Mauritius

Cassam Uteem is a Mauritian political figure who served as the second president of Mauritius from 30 June 1992 to 15 February 2002. He is the longest serving president of Mauritius.

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22/03/1940

George Edward Alcorn, Jr., American physicist and inventor

George Edward Alcorn Jr. was an American physicist, engineer, inventor, and professor. He taught at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia, and worked primarily for IBM and NASA. Alcorn is credited with over 30 inventions and 8 patents resulting in his induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2015.

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Dave Keon, Canadian ice hockey player

David Michael Keon is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. He played professionally from 1960 to 1982, including his first 15 seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he won the Calder Memorial Trophy and four Stanley Cup Championships, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986. Keon was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. On October 16, 2016, as part of the Toronto Maple Leafs centennial celebrations, Keon was named the greatest player in the team's history. In 2017, Keon was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in NHL history. In 2018, Keon was awarded the Order of Sport, marking his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

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Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian-American physician and author (died 1996)

Haing Somnang Ngor was a Cambodian and American actor, physician, and activist. He made his acting debut in the biographical drama film The Killing Fields (1984) as journalist Dith Pran, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first actor of Asian descent to win the award and one of the only two amateur actors to win an Academy Award, following Harold Russell.

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22/03/1938

Rein Etruk, Estonian chess player (died 2012)

Rein-Toomas Etruk was an Estonian chess player who three times won the Estonian Chess Championship.

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22/03/1937

Angelo Badalamenti, American pianist and composer (died 2022)

Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was an American composer and arranger best known for his film music, notably the scores for his collaborations with director David Lynch, Blue Velvet (1986), Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001).

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Armin Hary, German sprinter

Armin Hary (German pronunciation: [ˈaʁmiːn ˈhaːʁi] ; is a retired German sprinter who won the 1960 Olympic 100 meters dash. He was the first non-American to win the event since Percy Williams of Canada took the gold medal in 1928, the only German to ever win the event in the history of the Olympics, the first man to run 100 meters in 10.0 seconds and the last White man to establish a world record in 100 meters dash.

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Jon Hassell, American trumpet player and composer (died 2021)

Jon Hassell was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various world ethnic traditions with modern electronic techniques. The concept was first articulated on Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics, his 1980 collaboration with Brian Eno.

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Foo Foo Lammar, British drag queen (died 2003)

Francis Joseph Pearson was a British drag queen and nightclub owner known professionally as Foo Foo Lammar. The Times called him "One of the North of England's most popular female impersonators", whilst the BBC described his drag act as "legendary". Lammar, who was based in his native Manchester, worked in entertainment for over 30 years, and amassed a fortune of over £5m. He became an established name in Manchester from the 1970s onwards, and was well known in the city until his death in 2003.

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22/03/1936

Erol Büyükburç, Turkish singer-songwriter, pop music composer, and actor (died 2015)

Erol Büyükburç was a Turkish singer-songwriter, pop music composer, and actor.

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Ron Carey, American trade union leader (died 2008)

Ronald Robert Carey was an American labor leader who served as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1991 to 1997. He was the first Teamster General President elected by a direct vote of the membership. He ran for re-election in 1996 and won, but in 1997 federal investigators discovered that the Carey campaign had engaged in an illegal donation kickback scheme to raise more than $700,000 for the 1996 re-election effort. His re-election was overturned, Carey was disqualified from running for Teamsters president again, and he was subsequently expelled from the union for life. Although a federal jury ultimately cleared him of all wrongdoing in the scandal, the lifetime ban remained in place until his death.

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Roger Whittaker, Kenyan-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2023)

Roger Henry Brough Whittaker was a Kenyan/British singer-songwriter and musician. His music is an eclectic mixture of folk music and popular songs, the latter variously in a crooning or in a schlager style. He was best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability as well as his guitar skills.

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22/03/1935

Galina Gavrilovna Korchuganova, Russian-born Soviet test pilot and aerobatics champion (died 2004)

Galina Gavrilovna Korchuganova was a Soviet test pilot and aerobatics champion. After graduating from studies in aviation technology in 1959, Korchuganova made a name for herself as a pilot in aerobatics competitions, becoming the first women's world aerobatics champion in 1966. She subsequently trained as a test pilot, going on to set 42 world flight records and flying more than 20 types of aircraft. By the end of her flight career in 1984, she had accumulated more than 4,000 hours of flight time, including 1,500 hours as a test pilot.

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Lea Pericoli, Italian tennis player and journalist (died 2024)

Lea Pericoli was an Italian tennis player and later television presenter and journalist from Milan. She reached the last sixteen of the French Open twice and the Wimbledon Championships three times, and is also famous for her choice of clothing.

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Frank Pulli, American baseball player and umpire (died 2013)

Frank Victor Pulli was an American professional baseball umpire, working in the National League from 1972 until 1999. He umpired many postseason games, including four World Series. Pulli wore uniform number 14 during his career.

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22/03/1934

May Britt, Swedish actress (died 2025)

Maj-Britt Wilkens, known as May Britt, was a Swedish–American actress who had a brief career in the 1950s in Italy and later in the United States. She was married to American entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. from 1960 to 1968.

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Sheila Cameron, English lawyer and judge (died 2025)

Sheila Morag Clark Cameron was a British lawyer. She was Dean of the Arches and Official Principal of the Arches Court of Canterbury from 2000 to 2009, and was therefore the senior ecclesiastical judge of the Church of England in that period. From 1983 until 2005 she was Vicar-General of Canterbury.

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22/03/1933

Abolhassan Banisadr, Iranian economist and politician, 1st President of Iran (died 2021)

Abolhassan Banisadr was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolished the monarchy, serving from February 1980 until his impeachment by parliament in June 1981. Before his presidency, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Interim Government of Iran.

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22/03/1932

Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 2014)

Else "Els" Borst-Eilers was a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and physician. She was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 21 December 2012.

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Larry Evans, American chess player and journalist (died 2010)

Larry Melvyn Evans was an American chess player, author, and journalist who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in 1957. He won or shared the U.S. Chess Championship five times and the U.S. Open Chess Championship four times. He wrote a long-running syndicated chess column and wrote or co-wrote more than twenty books on chess.

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22/03/1931

Burton Richter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018)

Burton Richter was an American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) team led by Samuel Ting for which they won Nobel Prize for Physics in 1976. This discovery was part of the November Revolution of particle physics. He was the SLAC director from 1984 to 1999.

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William Shatner, Canadian actor

William Shatner is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship Enterprise in the second pilot of the first Star Trek television series to his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the seventh Star Trek feature film, Star Trek Generations (1994).

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Ann Shulgin, psychedelic researcher and author (died 2022)

Laura Ann Shulgin was an American author and the wife of chemist Alexander Shulgin, with whom she wrote the books PiHKAL and TiHKAL.

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Leslie Thomas, Welsh journalist and author (died 2014)

Leslie Thomas, OBE was a Welsh author best known for his comic novel The Virgin Soldiers.

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22/03/1930

Derek Bok, American lawyer and academic

Derek Curtis Bok is an American lawyer and educator who served as the 25th president of Harvard University from 1971 to 1991 and acted temporarily in the position from 2006 to 2007. He previously served as the 7th Dean of Harvard Law School from 1968 to 1971.

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22/03/1929

P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor, director, singer, songwriter, composer, and producer (died 1973)

Teuku Zakaria bin Teuku Nyak Puteh, better known by his stage name P. Ramlee, was a Malaysian actor, filmmaker, musician, and composer. Born in Penang, Malaya, he is regarded as a prominent icon in Southeast Asia.

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22/03/1928

Carrie Donovan, American journalist (died 2001)

Carrie Donovan was an American fashion editor for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and The New York Times Magazine. In the 1990s she became known for her work in Old Navy commercials where she wore her trademark large eyeglasses and black clothing, often declaring the merchandise "Fabulous!". In almost all of the commercials, she appeared alongside Magic the dog and various other stars from TV and fashion. She was often mistaken for Natalie Schafer in the commercials because of the presence of multiple sitcom characters from the 1970s.

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E. D. Hirsch, American author, critic, and academic

Eric Donald Hirsch Jr. is an American educator, literary critic, and theorist. He is professor emeritus of humanities at the University of Virginia.

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Ed Macauley, American basketball player, coach, and priest (died 2011)

Charles Edward Macauley was a professional basketball player and coach. His playing nickname was "Easy Ed". Macauley played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1949 to 1959 for the St. Louis Bombers, Boston Celtics, and St. Louis Hawks. During his career, Macauley earned seven All-Star selections and won a championship with the Hawks in 1958. He played college basketball for Saint Louis.

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22/03/1927

Marty Blake, American basketball player and manager (died 2013)

Marty Blake was a general manager of the Atlanta Hawks franchise, and the NBA's longtime Director of Scouting. He was a recipient of the Basketball Hall of Fame's John Bunn Award.

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Nicolas Tikhomiroff, Russian photographer (died 2016)

Nicolas Tikhomiroff was a French photographer, of Russian origin. He started working for Magnum in 1959. Famous for his work on World Cinema, he also had a large portfolio of war photography. Tikohomiroff retired and lived in France.

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22/03/1924

Yevgeny Ostashev, Russian test pilot, participant in the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite (died 1960)

Yevgeny Ilyich Ostashev was a combat engineer, test pilot of rocket and space technology, participant in the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, head of the 1st control polygon NIIP-5 (Baikonur), Lenin Prize winner, candidate of Technical Sciences, and engineer-podpolkovnik.

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Osman F. Seden, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1998)

Osman Fahir Seden, usually credited as Osman F. Seden, was a Turkish film director, screenwriter and film producer.

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Bill Wendell, American television announcer (died 1999)

William Joseph Wenzel Jr., known as Bill Wendell, was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career.

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22/03/1922

John J. Gilligan, American politician, 62nd Governor of Ohio (died 2013)

John Joyce “Jack” Gilligan was an American World War II veteran, educator and Democratic politician from the state of Ohio who served as a U.S. representative and as the 62nd governor of Ohio from 1971 to 1975. He was the father of Kathleen Sebelius, who later served as governor of Kansas and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.

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Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (died 2015)

Stewart Henry Stern was an American screenwriter. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the film Rebel Without a Cause (1955), starring James Dean.

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22/03/1921

Nino Manfredi, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2004)

Saturnino "Nino" Manfredi was an Italian actor, voice actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, comedian, singer, author, radio personality and television presenter.

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22/03/1920

James Brown, American actor (died 1992)

James Edward Brown was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Lt. Ripley Masters in the American western television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.

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Werner Klemperer, German-American actor (died 2000)

Werner Klemperer was an American actor. He was best known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968 and 1969.

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Lloyd MacPhail, Canadian businessman and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island (died 1995)

Robert Lloyd George MacPhail, was a Canadian politician and the 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island.

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Ross Martin, American actor (died 1981)

Ross Martin was an American radio, voice, stage, film, and television actor. Martin was best known for portraying Artemus Gordon on the CBS Western series The Wild Wild West, which aired from 1965 to 1969. He was the voice of Doctor Paul Williams in 1972's Sealab 2020, additional characters in 1973's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and additional character voices in 1978's Jana of the Jungle.

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Katsuko Saruhashi, Japanese geochemist (died 2007)

Katsuko Saruhashi (猿橋 勝子, Saruhashi Katsuko; March 22, 1920 – September 29, 2007) was a Japanese geochemist who created tools that let her take some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in seawater. She later showed evidence of the dangers of radioactive fallout and how far it can travel. Along with this focus on safety, she also researched peaceful uses of nuclear power.

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Fanny Waterman, English pianist and educator, founded the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition (died 2020)

Dame Fanny Waterman was a British pianist and academic piano teacher, who is particularly known as the founder, chair and artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was also president of the Harrogate International Music Festival.

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22/03/1919

Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (died 1990)

Bernard Krigstein was an American illustrator and gallery artist who received acclaim for his innovative and influential approach to comic book art, notably in EC Comics. His artwork usually displayed the signature B. Krigstein. His best-known work in comic books is the eight-page story "Master Race", originally published in the debut issue of EC Comics' Impact.

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22/03/1918

Cheddi Jagan, Guyanese politician, 4th President of Guyana (died 1997)

Cheddi Berret Jagan was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to his death in 1997. In 1953, he became the first Hindu and person of Indian descent to be a head of government outside of the Indian subcontinent.

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22/03/1917

Virginia Grey, American actress (died 2004)

Virginia Grey was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and several radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s. She was romantically involved with Clark Gable for several years, after his wife, Carole Lombard's, untimely death.

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Irving Kaplansky, Canadian-American mathematician and academic (died 2006)

Irving Kaplansky was a mathematician, college professor, author, and amateur musician.

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Paul Rogers, English actor (died 2013)

Paul Rogers was an English actor of film, stage and television. He was the first winner of the BAFTA TV Award Best Actor in 1955 and won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for The Homecoming in 1967.

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22/03/1914

John Stanley, American author and illustrator (died 1993)

John Stanley was an American cartoonist and comic book writer, best known for writing Little Lulu comic book stories from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also drew many of his stories, including the earliest issues of Little Lulu and its Tubby spinoff series. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed characters and those of his own creation. His writing style has been described as employing "colorful, S. J. Perelman-ish language and a decidedly bizarre, macabre wit ", with storylines that "were cohesive and tightly constructed, with nary a loose thread in the plot". He has been compared to Carl Barks, and cartoonist Fred Hembeck has dubbed him "the most consistently funny cartoonist to work in the comic book medium". Captain Marvel co-creator C. C. Beck remarked, "The only comic books I ever read and enjoyed were Little Lulu and Donald Duck".

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Donald Stokes, Baron Stokes, English businessman (died 2008)

Donald Gresham Stokes, Baron Stokes was an English industrialist. He was the head of British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC) from 1968 to 1975.

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22/03/1913

Tom McCall, American journalist and politician, 30th Governor of Oregon (died 1983)

Thomas Lawson McCall was an American, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon, serving as the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A progressive Republican, he was known as a staunch environmentalist and an advocate of sustainable development.

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Lew Wasserman, American businessman and talent agent (died 2002)

Lewis Robert Wasserman was an American businessman and talent agent, described as "the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades after World War II". His career spanned nearly eight decades from the 1920s to the 2000s; he started working as a cinema usher before dropping out of high school, rose to become the president of MCA Inc. and led its takeover of Universal Pictures, during which time Wasserman "brought about changes in virtually every aspect of show business". In 1995, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. Several years later, he spoke of his ongoing work at Universal to Variety, saying, "I am under contract here for the rest of my life, and I don't think they would throw me out of my office—my name is on the building."

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James Westerfield, American actor (died 1971)

James A. Westerfield was an American character actor of stage, film, and television.

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22/03/1912

Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor and performer (died 1985)

Henry Wilfrid Brambell was an Irish actor. He was best known for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom Steptoe and Son. He achieved international recognition in 1964 for his appearance alongside the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night, playing the fictional grandfather of Paul McCartney.

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Leslie Johnson, English race car driver (died 1959)

Leslie George Johnson was a British racing driver who competed in rallies, hill climbs, sports car races and Grand Prix races.

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Agnes Martin, Canadian-American painter and educator (died 2004)

Agnes Bernice Martin was a Canadian-American abstract painter known for her minimalist style and abstract expressionism. Born in Saskatchewan, she moved to the United States in 1931, where she pursued higher education and became a U.S. citizen in 1950. Martin's artistic journey began in New York City, where she immersed herself in modern art and developed a deep interest in abstraction. Despite often being labeled a minimalist, she identified more with abstract expressionism. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion, inwardness and silence."

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22/03/1910

Nicholas Monsarrat, English sailor and author (died 1979)

Lieutenant Commander Nicholas John Turney Monsarrat FRSL RNVR was a British novelist known for his sea stories, particularly The Cruel Sea (1951) and Three Corvettes (1942–1945), but perhaps known best internationally for his novels, The Tribe That Lost Its Head and its sequel, Richer Than All His Tribe.

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22/03/1909

Gabrielle Roy, Canadian author and educator (died 1983)

Gabrielle Roy was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba. She became one of the major voices in French-language literature in Canada, known for her portrayals of working-class life in Manitoba and Quebec and for her clear, straightforward prose. Her first novel, Bonheur d’occasion, brought her national and international recognition, including major literary awards in both Canada and France. She went on to publish fiction, memoir, and children’s literature, and her work remains central to the development of modern Canadian writing in French. She was designated a National Historic Person by the Government of Canada in 2009.

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22/03/1908

Jack Crawford, Australian tennis player (died 1991)

John Herbert Crawford, was an Australian tennis player during the 1930s. He was the World No. 1 amateur for 1933, during which year he won the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon, and was runner-up at the U.S. Open in five sets, thus missing the Grand Slam by one set that year. He also won the Australian Open in 1931, 1932, and 1935. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979.

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22/03/1907

James M. Gavin, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (died 1990)

James Maurice Gavin, sometimes called "Jumpin' Jim" and "the jumping general", was a senior United States Army officer, with the rank of lieutenant general, who was the third Commanding General (CG) of the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. During the war, he was often referred to as "The Jumping General" because of his practice of taking part in combat jumps with the paratroopers under his command; he was the only American general officer to make four combat jumps in the war.

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22/03/1903

Bill Holman, American cartoonist (died 1987)

Bill Holman was an American cartoonist who drew the classic comic strip Smokey Stover from 1935 until he retired in 1973. Distributed through the Chicago Tribune syndicate, it had the longest run of any strip in the screwball genre. Holman signed some strips with the pseudonym Scat H. He once described himself as "always inclined to humor and acting silly."

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22/03/1902

Johannes Brinkman, Dutch architect, designed the Van Nelle Factory (died 1949)

Johannes Andreas Brinkman, also known as Jan Brinkman, was a Dutch architect and exponent of Nieuwe Bouwen, modern architecture in the Netherlands.

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Madeleine Milhaud, French actress and composer (died 2008)

Madeleine Milhaud Milhaud was a French actress and librettist. She was both cousin to and wife of composer Darius Milhaud.

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22/03/1901

Greta Kempton, Austrian-American painter (died 1991)

Martha Greta Kempton was an Austrian-American painter who was the White House artist during the Truman administration.

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22/03/1899

Ruth Page, American ballerina and choreographer (died 1991)

Ruth Page was an American ballerina and choreographer, who created innovative works on American themes.

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22/03/1896

He Long, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (died 1969)

He Long was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. He was from a poor rural family in Hunan, and his family was not able to provide him with any formal education. He began his revolutionary career after avenging the death of his uncle, when he fled to become an outlaw and attracted a small personal army around him. Later his forces joined the Kuomintang, and he participated in the Northern Expedition.

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Joseph Schildkraut, Austrian-American actor (died 1964)

Joseph Schildkraut was an Austrian-American actor. He won an Oscar for his performance as Captain Alfred Dreyfus in the film The Life of Emile Zola (1937). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as Otto Frank in the film The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and a Primetime Emmy for his performance as Rabbi Gottlieb in a 1962 episode of the television series Sam Benedict.

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22/03/1892

Charlie Poole, American country banjo player (died 1931)

Charles Cleveland Poole was an American old-time musician and string band leader. His group, the North Carolina Ramblers, recorded many highly popular renditions of traditional songs from 1925 through 1930.

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Johannes Semper, Estonian poet and scholar (died 1970)

Johannes Semper was an Estonian poet, writer, translator and politician.

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22/03/1890

George Clark, American race car driver (died 1978)

George H. Clark was an American racing driver.

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22/03/1887

Chico Marx, American actor (died 1961)

Leonard "Chico" Marx was an American comedian, actor, and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Arthur ("Harpo"), Julius ("Groucho"), Milton ("Gummo"), and Herbert ("Zeppo"). His persona in the act was that of a charming, uneducated but crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. On screen, Chico is often in alliance with Harpo, usually as partners in crime, and is also frequently seen trying to con or outfox Groucho. Leonard was the oldest of the Marx Brothers to live past early childhood, the first-born being Manfred Marx who died in infancy. In addition to his work as a performer, he played an important role in the management and development of the act in its early years.

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22/03/1886

August Rei, Estonian lawyer and politician, Head of State of Estonia (died 1963)

August Rei was an Estonian politician. He served as State Elder of Estonia from 1928 to 1929, and as Prime Minister in duties of the President of the Estonian government-in-exile from 1945 to 1963.

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22/03/1885

Aryeh Levin, Polish-Lithuanian rabbi and educator (died 1969)

Aryeh Levin was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate. He was also known as the "Tzadik ("saint") of Jerusalem" for his work on behalf of the poor and the sick.

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22/03/1884

Arthur H. Vandenberg, American journalist and politician (died 1951)

Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg Sr. was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1928 to 1951. A member of the Republican Party, he participated in the creation of the United Nations. He is best known for leading the Republican Party from a foreign policy of isolationism to one of internationalism, and supporting the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO. He served as president pro tempore of the United States Senate from 1947 to 1949.

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Lyda Borelli, Italian actress (died 1959)

Lyda Cini, Countess of Monselice was an Italian actress of cinema and theatre. Her career in theatre started when she was a child, acting on stage with Paola Pezzaglia in the French drama I due derelitti.

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22/03/1880

Ernest C. Quigley, Canadian-American football player and coach (died 1960)

Ernest Cosmos Quigley was a Canadian-born American sports official who became notable both as a basketball referee and as an umpire in Major League Baseball. He also worked as an American football coach and official.

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22/03/1873

Ernest Lawson, Canadian-American painter (died 1939)

Ernest Lawson was a Canadian-American painter and exhibited his work at the Canadian Art Club and as a member of the American group The Eight, artists who formed a loose association in 1908 to protest the narrowness of taste and restrictive exhibition policies of the conservative, powerful National Academy of Design. Though Lawson was primarily a landscape painter, he also painted a small number of realistic urban scenes. His painting style is heavily influenced by the art of John Henry Twachtman, J. Alden Weir, and Alfred Sisley. Though considered a Canadian-American Impressionist, Lawson falls stylistically between Impressionism and realism.

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22/03/1869

Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (died 1964)

Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino revolutionary, statesman, and military leader who was the first president of the Philippines from 1899 to 1901, and the first president of an Asian constitutional republic. He led the Philippine forces first against Spain in the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898), then in the Spanish–American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the Philippine–American War (1899–1901). He is regarded in the Philippines as having been the country's first president during the period of the First Philippine Republic, though he was not recognized as such outside of the revolutionary Philippines.

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Tom McInnes, Scottish-English footballer (died 1939)

Thomas McInnes was a Scottish professional footballer. McInnes was capped once for Scotland, against Ireland in 1889.

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22/03/1868

Robert Andrews Millikan, American colonel and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1953)

Robert Andrews Millikan was an American experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923 "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect."

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22/03/1866

Jack Boyle, American baseball player and umpire (died 1913)

John Anthony Boyle, nicknamed "Honest Jack", was an American catcher and first baseman in Major League Baseball. His younger brother, Eddie Boyle, played in 1896.

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22/03/1857

Paul Doumer, French mathematician, journalist, and politician, 14th President of France (died 1932)

Joseph Athanase Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer, was a French politician who served as the President of France from June 1931 until his assassination in May 1932. He is described as "the Father of French Indochina", and was seen as one of the most active and effective governors general of Indochina.

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22/03/1855

Dorothy Tennant, British painter (died 1926)

Dorothy Tennant, Lady Stanley was an English painter of the Victorian era neoclassicism. She was married to explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley.

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22/03/1852

Otakar Ševčík, Czech violinist and educator (died 1934)

Otakar Ševčík was a Czech violinist and influential teacher. He was known as a soloist and an ensemble player, including his occasional performances with Eugène Ysaÿe.

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Hector Sévin, French cardinal (died 1916)

Hector Sévin was a French Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 1912 to 1916. He was made a cardinal in 1914.

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22/03/1846

Randolph Caldecott, English illustrator and painter (died 1886)

Randolph Caldecott was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were promptly and generously recognised by the Royal Academy. Caldecott greatly influenced illustration of children's books during the nineteenth century. Two books illustrated by him, priced at a shilling each, were published every Christmas for eight years.

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James Timberlake, American lieutenant, police officer, and farmer (died 1891)

James H. Timberlake was an American law enforcement officer, Civil War soldier, farmer and rancher who served as a deputy U.S. marshal for the Western District of Missouri. Timberlake is best known for being the chief enforcer and investigator against the James-Younger Gang, beginning in the 1870s, which culminated in the death of the outlaw Jesse James on April 3, 1882, at the hands of Robert Ford.

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22/03/1842

Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1912)

Mykola Vitaliiovych Lysenko was a Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, and ethnomusicologist of the late Romantic period. In his time, he was the central figure of Ukrainian music, with an oeuvre that includes operas, art songs, choral works, orchestral and chamber pieces, and a wide variety of solo piano music. He is often credited with founding a national music tradition during the Ukrainian national revival, in the vein of contemporaries such as Grieg in Norway, The Five in Russia, and Smetana and Dvořák in what is now the Czech Republic.

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22/03/1841

Anastassios Christomanos, Greek scientist (died 1906)

Anastasios Christomanos was a Greek chemist. He was one of the most important Greek scientists of the later part of the 19th century. His academic collaborators were some of the most important scientists in the world, including Robert Bunsen, Georg Ludwig Carius, Emil Erlenmeyer and Gustav Kirchhoff. He is the father of modern Greek chemical education. He wrote 73 books and dissertations. His fields of study included: Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Analytical Chemistry. He helped restructure Greek education. Greek education was in the grasp of Korydalism for over 300 years. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, Christomanos and his contemporaries were pioneers of modern education all over the world.

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22/03/1822

Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Ottoman sociologist, historian, scholar, statesman and jurist (died 1895)

Ahmed Cevdet Pasha was an Ottoman scholar, intellectual, bureaucrat, administrator, and historian who was a prominent figure in the Tanzimat reforms of the Ottoman Empire. He was the head of the Mecelle commission that codified Islamic law for the first time in response to the Westernization of law. He is often regarded as a pioneer in the codification of a civil law based on the European legal system. The Mecelle remained intact in several modern Arab states in the early and mid-20th-century. In addition to Turkish, he was proficient in Arabic, Persian, French and Bulgarian. He wrote numerous books on history, law, grammar, linguistics, logic and astronomy.

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22/03/1818

John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-Australian explorer, founded Penwortham (died 1846)

John Ainsworth Horrocks was an English pastoralist and explorer who was one of the first European settlers in the Clare Valley of South Australia where, in 1840, he established the village of Penwortham.

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22/03/1817

Braxton Bragg, American general (died 1876)

Braxton Bragg was an American military officer during the Second Seminole War and Mexican–American War. He later served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War, seeing action in the Western Theater. His most important role was the commander of the Army of Mississippi, later renamed the Army of Tennessee, from June 1862 until December 1863.

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22/03/1814

Thomas Crawford, American sculptor, designed the Statue of Freedom (died 1857)

Thomas Gibson Crawford was an American sculptor who is best known for his numerous artistic contributions to the United States Capitol, including the Statue of Freedom atop its dome.

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22/03/1812

Stephen Pearl Andrews, American author and activist (died 1886)

Stephen Pearl Andrews was an American libertarian socialist, individualist anarchist, linguist, political philosopher, and outspoken abolitionist.

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22/03/1808

Caroline Norton, English feminist, social reformer, and author (died 1877)

Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton, Lady Stirling-Maxwell was an active English social reformer and author. She left her husband, who was accused by many of coercive behaviour, in 1836. Her husband then sued her close friend Lord Melbourne, then the Whig Prime Minister, for criminal conversation (adultery).

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David Swinson Maynard, American physician and lawyer (died 1873)

David Swinson "Doc" Maynard was an American doctor and businessman. He was one of Seattle's primary founders. Maynard was Seattle's first doctor, merchant prince, second lawyer, Sub-Indian Agent, Justice of the Peace, and architect of the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855.

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22/03/1797

William I, German Emperor (died 1888)

Wilhelm I was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. He was regent of Prussia from 1858 to 1861 for his elder brother, King Frederick William IV. During the reign of his grandson Wilhelm II, he was known as Emperor Wilhelm the Great.

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22/03/1785

Adam Sedgwick, English scientist (died 1873)

Adam Sedgwick FRS was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on Welsh rock strata, he proposed the Cambrian period in 1835, in a joint publication in which Roderick Murchison also proposed the Silurian period. Later in 1840, to resolve what later became known as the Great Devonian Controversy about rocks near the boundary between the Silurian and Carboniferous periods, he and Murchison proposed the Devonian period.

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22/03/1728

Anton Raphael Mengs, German painter and theorist (died 1779)

Anton Raphael Mengs was a German Neoclassical painter.

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22/03/1723

Charles Carroll, American lawyer and politician (died 1783)

Charles Carroll was an American statesman from Annapolis, Maryland. In 1760, he built the colonial home Mount Clare in Maryland, and a he was named a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1776 and 1777, which unanimously approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

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22/03/1720

Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect, designed the Yellow Palace and Bernstorff Palace (died 1799)

Nicolas-Henri Jardin was a French architect. Born in St. Germain des Noyers, Seine-et-Marne, Jardin worked seventeen years in Denmark–Norway as an architect to the Danish royal court. He introduced neoclassicism to Denmark–Norway.

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22/03/1712

Edward Moore, English poet and playwright (died 1757)

Edward Moore, English dramatist and miscellaneous writer, the son of a dissenting minister, was born at Abingdon, Berkshire.

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22/03/1684

William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War (died 1764)

William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, was an English Whig politician and peer who sat in the British House of Commons from 1707 to 1742 when he was raised to the peerage as the Earl of Bath by George II of Great Britain. He is sometimes represented as having served as First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister of Great Britain as part of the short-lived ministry in 1746, although most modern sources do not consider him to have held the office.

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22/03/1663

August Hermann Francke, German clergyman, philanthropist, and scholar (died 1727)

August Hermann Francke was a German Lutheran clergyman, theologian, philanthropist, and Biblical scholar. His evangelistic fervour and pietism got him expelled as lecturer from the universities of Dresden and Leipzig and as deacon from Erfurt. In 1691 he found his calling at the University of Halle, where he turned towards the education of underprivileged children; he founded an orphan asylum, a Latin school, a German school, a Gynaeceum, the first Protestant higher girls school, and a seminary for training teachers. Francke's schools provided a prototype, which greatly influenced later German education.

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22/03/1615

Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, British scientist (died 1691)

Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, also known as Lady Ranelagh, was an Anglo-Irish scientist in seventeenth-century Ireland and England. She was also a political and religious philosopher, and a member of many intellectual circles including the Hartlib Circle, the Great Tew Circle, and the Invisible College. Her correspondents included Samuel Hartlib, Edward Hyde, William Laud, Thomas Hyde, and John Milton. She was the sister of Robert Boyle and is thought to have been a great influence on his work in chemistry. In her own right, she was a political and social figure closely connected to the Hartlib Circle. Lady Ranelagh held a London salon during the 1650s, much frequented by virtuosi associated with Hartlib.

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22/03/1609

John II Casimir Vasa, Polish king (died 1672)

John II Casimir Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1648 to his abdication in 1668 as well as a claimant to the throne of Sweden from 1648 to 1660. He was the first son of Sigismund III Vasa with his second wife Constance of Austria. John Casimir succeeded his older half-brother, Władysław IV Vasa.

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22/03/1599

Anthony van Dyck, Flemish-English painter and etcher (died 1641)

Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.

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22/03/1582

John Williams, Archbishop of York (died 1650)

John Williams was a Welsh clergyman and political advisor to King James I. He served as Dean of Westminster 1620–1644, Bishop of Lincoln 1621–1641, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal 1621–1625, and Archbishop of York 1641–1646. He was the last bishop to serve as lord chancellor.

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22/03/1519

Catherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, English noblewoman (died 1580)

Katherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, suo jure 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, was an English noblewoman living at the courts of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I. She was the fourth wife of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who acted as her legal guardian during his third marriage to Henry VIII's sister Mary. Her second husband was Richard Bertie, a member of her household. Following Charles Brandon's death in 1545, it was rumoured that King Henry had considered marrying Katherine as his seventh wife, while he was still married to his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, who was Katherine's close friend.

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22/03/1517

Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer (died 1590)

Gioseffo Zarlino was an Italian music theorist and composer of the Renaissance. He made a large contribution to the theory of counterpoint as well as to musical tuning.

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22/03/1503

Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian author and educator (died 1583)

Antonio Francesco Grazzini or Antonfrancesco Grazzini was an Italian Renaissance author.

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22/03/1499

Johann Carion, German astrologer and chronicler (died 1537)

Johann Carion was a German astrologer, known also for historical writings.

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22/03/1459

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1519)

Maximilian I was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death in 1519. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself elected emperor in 1508 at Trent, with Pope Julius II later recognizing it. This broke the tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the Imperial title. Maximilian was the only surviving son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal. From his coronation as King of the Romans in 1486, he ran a double government, or Doppelregierung with his father until Frederick's death in 1493.

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22/03/1394

Ulugh Beg, Persian astronomer and mathematician (died 1449)

Mīrzā Muhammad Tarāghāy bin Shāhrukh, better known as Ulugh Beg, was a Timurid sultan, as well as an astronomer and mathematician.

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22/03/1367

Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal (probable); (died 1399)

Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, KG was an English landowner and peer. His family was a venerable one, and by the time Thomas reached adulthood, they were extremely influential in national politics. He claimed a direct bloodline from King Edward I. His father died when Thomas and his elder brother were young. John soon died, and Thomas inherited the Earldom of Nottingham. He had probably been friends with the king, Richard II, since he was young, and as a result, he was a royal favourite, a role he greatly profited from. He accompanied Richard on his travels around the kingdom and was elected to the Order of the Garter. Richard's lavish dispersal of his patronage made him unpopular with parliament and other members of the English nobility, and Mowbray fell out badly with the king's uncle, John of Gaunt.

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22/03/1212

Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (died 1235)

Emperor Go-Horikawa was the 86th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1221 through 1232.

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22/03/0875

William I, Duke of Aquitaine (died 918)

William I, called the Pious, was the Count of Auvergne from 886 and Duke of Aquitaine from 893, succeeding the Poitevin ruler Ebalus Manser. He made numerous monastic foundations, most important among them the foundation of Cluny Abbey on 11 September 910.

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22/03/0841

Bernard Plantapilosa, Frankish son of Bernard of Septimania (died 885)

Bernard Plantapilosa or Bernard II of Auvergne, or Plantevelue, son of Bernard of Septimania and Dhuoda, was the Count of Auvergne from 872 to his death. The Emperor Charles the Fat granted him the title of Margrave of Aquitaine in 885.

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