Born on Tuesday, 24th March – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 245 notable people were born on 24th March — spanning from 1103 to 2004. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
Tuesday, 24th March 2026 marks the birth of numerous individuals across sports, entertainment and public service. Among those born on this date is Clara Burel, the French tennis player who was born in 2001, establishing herself as a notable competitor in international tennis circuits. The date also celebrates the birth of Ilir Meta in 1969, an Albanian politician who would go on to serve as the incumbent president of Albania, demonstrating the significant political influence that has emerged from those born on this day.
Historical records show that 24th March has consistently produced individuals of considerable achievement and prominence. Dario Fo, the Italian playwright, actor, director and composer, was born in 1926 and would later receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, leaving an indelible mark on theatre and performance arts. The date encompasses a remarkable range of birth years, from contemporary athletes and entertainers to pioneering figures in science and culture spanning several centuries.
The geographical and temporal scope of births recorded for 24th March demonstrates the global nature of achievement across various fields. From athletes competing at the highest levels of professional sport to academics, artists and political leaders, individuals born on this date have contributed significantly to their respective disciplines. Whether in creative pursuits, scientific advancement or public administration, those born on 24th March have shaped cultural and professional landscapes across multiple generations and continents.
On this date in 2026, conditions display moderate temperature with partly cloudy skies and light winds. The zodiac sign is Aries, characterising those born on this day. The moon is in its waning gibbous phase, approaching the final quarter. DayAtlas provides comprehensive information on weather patterns for this date, historical events, notable births and deaths for any location worldwide.
Discover who was born today 1st April.
24/03/2004
Gonzalo García, Spanish footballer
Gonzalo García Torres is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Real Madrid.
24/03/2001
Clara Burel, French tennis player
Clara Burel is a French professional tennis player. On 10 June 2024, she peaked at No. 42 in the WTA singles rankings.
24/03/1999
Katie Swan, English tennis player
Katie Swan is a British tennis player. She has won 16 ITF singles titles and one in doubles. Her peak world ranking in singles is 118 and her highest in doubles is 293. When she made her debut, Swan was the youngest player to represent Great Britain in the Fed Cup.
24/03/1998
Christopher Briney, American actor
Christopher Thomas Briney is an American actor. He is known for his breakthrough role as Conrad Fisher in the Amazon Prime Video teen romance series The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022–2025). He also starred in the musical film Mean Girls (2024).
Ethel Cain, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and model
Hayden Silas Anhedönia, known professionally as Ethel Cain, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and model. She became known for her ambient and Southern Gothic-style music and lyrics. She began releasing recordings under various aliases, before releasing multiple extended plays including Inbred (2021) which garnered various singles including "Crush".
Damar Hamlin, American football player
Damar Romeyelle Hamlin is an American professional football safety for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers and was selected by the Bills in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft. Hamlin spent most of his rookie season as a backup before becoming a starter in 2022 following a season-ending injury to Micah Hyde.
24/03/1997
Mina, Japanese singer and dancer
Mina Myoi, known mononymously as Mina, is a Japanese singer and dancer based in South Korea. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, which debuted under JYP Entertainment in 2015, and its subgroup MiSaMo, which debuted in 2023.
24/03/1996
Myles Turner, American basketball player
Myles Christian Turner is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season for the Texas Longhorns before being selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 11th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. Turner spent 10 seasons with the Pacers, reaching the 2025 NBA Finals in his final year with the team. Standing at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), Turner plays the center position. He has led the league in blocks twice in his career.
24/03/1995
Enzo Zidane, French-Spanish footballer
Enzo Alan Zidane Fernández, known simply as Enzo, is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
24/03/1993
Daniel Sazonov, Finnish politician
Daniel Matti Mikael Sazonov is a Finnish politician from the National Coalition Party. He has served as Deputy Mayor of Helsinki for Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services since 2021. Sazonov has served as a Helsinki city councilor since 2017 and as a member of the city board since 2018. He served as the chairman of the National Coalition Party's council group in 2019–2021. He began his duties as Mayor of Helsinki in June 2025.
24/03/1991
Nick Browne, English cricketer
Nicholas Laurence Joseph Browne is an English former professional cricketer turned cricket coach. A left-handed batsman, he who played for Essex.
Dalila Jakupovic, Slovenian tennis player
Dalila Jakupović is a Slovenian tennis player of Bosnian descent.
24/03/1990
Aljur Abrenica, Filipino actor
Aljur Mikael Guiang Abrenica is a Filipino actor and singer. He appeared on the fourth season of StarStruck.
Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress
Keisha Castle-Hughes is a New Zealand actress. She made her acting debut in the drama film Whale Rider (2002), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second-youngest nominee in this category. Her subsequent films include the biblical drama film The Nativity Story (2006) and the teen film Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger (2008).
Starlin Castro, American baseball player
Starlin DeJesus Castro is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, Miami Marlins, and Washington Nationals. Castro is a four-time MLB All-Star and holds the record for most runs batted in in an MLB debut. In 2011, he led the National League in hits, becoming the youngest player to do so.
Lacey Evans, American wrestler
Macey Estrella-Kadlec is an American professional wrestler and former U.S. Marine. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Lacey Evans.
Alyssa Healy, Australian cricketer
Alyssa Jean Healy is an Australian former cricketer who played for and captained the Australian women's national team. She also played for New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. She made her international debut in February 2010 and retired in March 2026.
JonTron, American YouTuber
Jonathan Aryan Jafari, better known online as JonTron, is an American YouTuber and comedian. He created the eponymous YouTube web series JonTron, where he reviews and parodies video games, films and other media.
24/03/1989
Zyzz, Russian-Australian bodybuilder and internet personality (died 2011)
Aziz Sergeyevich Shavershian, better known as Zyzz, was an Australian bodybuilder and model. He established a cult following after posting videos of himself on YouTube, starting in 2007.
24/03/1988
Aiga Grabuste, Latvian heptathlete
Aiga Grabuste is a Latvian track and field athlete competing in heptathlon. She represented her country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won bronze medal at the 2012 European Athletics Championships, finishing just 10 points behind fellow Latvian Laura Ikauniece.
Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer
Ryan Shaun Higgins is a former Zimbabwean cricketer. He played 11 One Day Internationals for Zimbabwe in 2006, highlights include the wicket of Brian Lara and best bowling figures of 4/21 from 10 overs. Ryan Higgins retired from international cricket in 2007 at the age of 18. Higgins is now based in the Cotswolds and is now managing director of Gecko Cricket, the company he founded in 2012.
Matías Martínez, Argentinian footballer
Matías Alfredo Martínez is an Argentine football defender who plays for Atlético de Rafaela.
Kardo Ploomipuu, Estonian swimmer
Kardo Ploomipuu is an Estonian swimmer.
Matt Todd, New Zealand rugby union player
Matthew Brendon Todd is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for the Crusaders.
24/03/1987
Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
Shakib Al Hasan is a former Bangladeshi international cricketer and captain who played Test, ODI and T20I cricket for the Bangladeshi cricket team. He was a former member of Parliament for Magura-1. He is known for his aggressive left-handed batting style in the middle order and controlled slow left-arm orthodox bowling. He is widely regarded as a very successful Bangladeshi sportsman, and considered as a highly skilled all-rounder in international Cricket. As of 2025, he is the all-time highest ICC Men's T20 World Cup wicket taker.
Yuma Asami, Japanese actress and singer
Yuma Asami , is a Japanese actress, singer, and a former adult video (AV) actress and model. Starring in more than 600 adult films between 2005 and 2013, Asami was widely recognized as one of Japan's most famous and acclaimed adult film actresses with her popularity resulting in mainstream media appearances as well. A leading actress of two major Japanese AV studios, Alice Japan and S1 No.1 Style, Asami was known for her youthful looks, large bust, and her natural onscreen charisma which was largely credited in helping her establish herself as Japan's top adult performer. Between 2008 and 2013, she was also a member of the idol group Ebisu Muscats, where she performed with numerous other famous AV actresses like Sola Aoi, Akiho Yoshizawa, Tina Yuzuki (Rio) and Aino Kishi.
Billy Jones, English footballer
Billy Jones is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-back.
Ramires, Brazilian footballer
Ramires Santos do Nascimento, known as Ramires, is a Brazilian former professional footballer. A midfielder, he was comfortable playing in either the centre or right midfielder position. He normally played as a box-to-box midfielder role because of his energy in supporting defensive and attacking play.
24/03/1985
Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and singer
Aya Tademaru better known by the stage name Haruka Ayase , is a Japanese actress who started her career as a model in the year 2000. She has since become a leading actress in television and film.
CJ Perry, American wrestler, manager, and actress
Catherine Joy "CJ" Perry is an American professional wrestling manager, retired professional wrestler, and actress. She is signed to WWE under a "Legends" contract under the ring name Lana. She is also known for her appearances with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name CJ.
24/03/1984
Benoît Assou-Ekotto, French-Cameroonian footballer
Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto is a former professional footballer who played as a left back.
Park Bom, South Korean singer
Park Bom, also known mononymously as Bom, is a South Korean singer. She is best known as a member of the South Korean girl group 2NE1, which became one of the most popular South Korean girl groups worldwide.
Chris Bosh, American basketball player
Christopher Wesson Bosh is an American former professional basketball player. A Texas Mr. Basketball in high school, he played one season of college basketball for Georgia Tech before declaring for the 2003 NBA draft, where he was selected fourth overall by the Toronto Raptors. Bosh is considered to be one of the greatest power forwards for the Raptors, and one of the best players of his generation.
Adrian D'Souza, Indian field hockey player
Adrian Albert D'souza is an Indian field hockey goalkeeper, who made his international debut for the men's national team in January 2004 during the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Adrian has more than 100 International Caps for his country in all competitions. He has played in all major field hockey tournaments, including the 2006 Hockey World Cup, 2006 Asian Games, 2007 Asia Cup and 2 Champions Trophies. Regarded as one of the most innovative and daring goal-keepers of recent times, Adrian brought the rushing technique to the hockey field. Adrian has competed in 3/4 major international hockey events : the Olympics, World Cup, and Asian Games with a total of 165 caps for his country.
Lucy Wangui Kabuu, Kenyan runner
Lucy Wangūi Kabuu is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 and 10,000 metres events. She has represented Kenya twice at the Summer Olympics, finishing in the top ten of the 10,000 m race in both 2004 and 2008. Her personal bests of 14:33.49 minutes for the 5000 m and 30:39.96 minutes for the 10,000 m make her one of Kenya's fastest ever runners in the events.
Philipp Petzschner, German tennis player
Philipp Petzschner is a retired German professional tennis player. He was known for his hard-hitting forehand and backhand slices. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 9, which he achieved in April 2011.
24/03/1983
Luca Ceccarelli, Italian footballer
Luca Ceccarelli is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a right back.
T. J. Ford, American basketball player
Terrance Jerod Ford Sr. is an American former professional basketball player. Having been awarded numerous top basketball accolades in high school and college, Ford entered the 2003 NBA draft and was selected eighth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. Ford's recurring back injuries resulted in him missing many games in his three seasons with the Bucks, but in 2005, it was announced that he was fit to play basketball again. Ford was traded to the Raptors prior to the 2006–07 NBA season, and established himself as the starting point guard, helping the team win the Atlantic Division crown and reach the 2007 NBA Playoffs. Following an injury sustained in the 2007–08 NBA season, however, Ford had difficulties reclaiming the starting spot and was traded to the Indiana Pacers. He signed with KK Zagreb of Croatia during the 2011 NBA lockout where he appeared in three games. On December 9, 2011, Ford signed a contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
Riccardo Musetti, Italian footballer
Riccardo Musetti is a retired Italian footballer.
Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Canadian ice hockey player
Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger.
24/03/1982
Epico Colon, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
Orlando Tito Colón Nieves is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs as Orlando Colón and is in a tag team with his cousin Eddie Colón. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Epico Colón.
Jake Hager, American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler
Donald Jacob Hager Jr. is an American retired professional wrestler, amateur wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is best known for his tenures in WWE as Jack Swagger and in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as Jake Hager. As a mixed martial artist, he was signed to Bellator MMA and competed in the heavyweight division.
Corey Hart, American baseball player
Jon Corey Hart is an American former professional baseball right fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2004 through 2013, the Seattle Mariners in 2014 and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015. Hart was a two-time MLB All-Star, and also participated in the MLB Home Run Derby.
Jimmy Hempte, Belgian footballer
Jimmy Hempte is a Belgium retired footballer who played as a left back and current head coach of CS PV Ostiches.
Dustin McGowan, American baseball player
Dustin Michael McGowan is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies, and Miami Marlins.
24/03/1981
Mike Adams, American football player
Michael Carl Adams is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He is currently the assistant secondary coach for the New York Giants. Adams played college football for the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens, and was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2004. Adams also played for the Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers, and Houston Texans, and made two Pro Bowls during his 16-year career.
Ron Hainsey, American ice hockey player
Ronald Martin Hainsey is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He played seventeen years in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets, Atlanta Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets, Carolina Hurricanes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators, playing over 1,100 career NHL games.
Dirk Hayhurst, American baseball player
Dirk Von Hayhurst is an American author and broadcaster, and formerly a professional baseball pitcher. Hayhurst played in Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres in 2008 and for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009. Following the end of his playing career, Hayhurst wrote four books about his experiences in professional baseball.
Mark Looms, Dutch footballer
Mark Looms is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a left back.
Gary Paffett, English racing driver
Gary James Paffett is a British former racing driver, motorsport executive, and Racing Director at Kiro Race Co in Formula E. Having become a household name in the DTM, following fifteen years in the series and two championship wins, Paffett moved onto Formula E for the 2018/19 championship, after it was announced in 2017 that Mercedes would no longer be taking part in DTM. Paffett was also a test driver for the Williams Formula One team, having previously worked in a similar role at McLaren for a number of years, during the team's successful title winning years. Paffett progressed through the ranks of karting and junior formulae in the United Kingdom, winning the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1999. He now lives in Ousden, Suffolk, England.
24/03/1980
Ramzi Abid, Canadian ice hockey player
Ramzi Abid is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player of Tunisian descent, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Atlanta Thrashers and the Nashville Predators.
Andrew Hutchinson, American ice hockey player
Andrew Thomas Hutchinson is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman, who played in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Tassos Venetis, Greek footballer
Anastasios "Tasos" Venetis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defender.
24/03/1979
Norris Hopper, American baseball player
Norris Stephen Hopper is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played three seasons of Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds. Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the eighth round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft, Hopper made his MLB debut on August 20, 2006, with the Cincinnati Reds. He has a major league career .316 batting average with 125 hits, 15 doubles, two triples, one home run, 20 runs batted in, and 17 stolen bases.
Periklis Iakovakis, Greek hurdler
Periklís Iakovákis is a retired Greek athlete mainly competing in 400 metres hurdles. He is the Greek record holder with a time of 47.82 seconds and fifteen times national champion in the event.
Graeme Swann, English cricketer
Graeme Peter Swann is an English former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Born in Northampton, he attended Sponne School in Towcester, Northamptonshire. He was primarily a right-arm off-spinner, and also a capable late-order batsman with four first-class centuries, and often fielded at second slip. Swann could score quickly; his test strike rate is the third highest of any English batsman to have scored at least 1000 runs after Harry Brook and Ben Duckett. Swann was a member of the England team that won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.
24/03/1978
Amir Arison, American actor
Amir Arison is an American actor, best known for his work as FBI tech expert Aram Mojtabai on NBC’s The Blacklist for ten seasons.
Michael Braun, Australian footballer and coach
Michael Braun is an Australian rules footballer who played for the AFL's West Coast Eagles.
Tomáš Ujfaluši, Czech footballer and manager
Tomáš Ujfaluši is a Czech former professional footballer. He operated as either a central defender or a right-back. Initially beginning his career with SK Sigma Olomouc in 1996, he played in Germany, Italy (four), Spain (three), and Turkey (two) – winning six major titles between Hamburger SV, Atlético Madrid and Galatasaray – respectively. Ujfaluši earned 78 appearances for the Czech Republic, representing the country at the 2006 World Cup and two European Championships.
José Valverde, Dominican baseball player
José Rafael Valverde is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, and New York Mets. He is nicknamed "Papa Grande".
24/03/1977
Maxim Kuznetsov, Russian ice hockey player
Maxim Romanovich Kuznetsov is a Kazakhstan-born Russian former professional ice hockey player. Kuznetsov was drafted in the 1st round by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft.
24/03/1976
Aaron Brooks, American football player
Aaron Lafette Brooks is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons, primarily with the New Orleans Saints. He played college football for the Virginia Cavaliers. He was a member of the Saints for six seasons, where he set the franchise records for regular season and career touchdown passes. Brooks spent his first season with the Green Bay Packers, who selected him in the fourth round of the 1999 NFL draft, and his final season with the Oakland Raiders.
Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer and coach
Aliou Cissé is a Senegalese professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Libya national team. Cissé is best known for captaining the Senegal team which reached the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations Final and for being the first Senegal manager to win the tournament in 2022 after reaching the final in 2019.
Annette Dasch, German soprano
Annette Dasch is a German soprano. She has performed in opera and concerts internationally, often portraying Mozart characters such as Elvira in Don Giovanni at La Scala, Aminta in Il re pastore at the Salzburg Festival, and Electra in Idomeneo at the reopening of the Cuvilliés Theatre in 2008. She made her debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Elsa in Lohengrin in 2010.
Athanasios Kostoulas, Greek footballer
Athanasios Kostoulas is a Greek former international footballer who played as a defender.
24/03/1975
Thomas Johansson, Swedish-Monégasque tennis player
Karl Thomas Conny Johansson is a Swedish tennis coach and a former professional player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 7 singles ranking in May 2002. His career highlights in singles include a major title at the 2002 Australian Open, and a Masters title at the 1999 Canada Masters. He also won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in men's doubles, partnering Simon Aspelin. As of 2025, Johansson remains the last Swedish man to win a major in singles.
24/03/1974
Sergey Klyugin, Russian high jumper
Sergey Petrovich Klyugin is a Russian high jumper. He won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics with 2.35m, one centimetre behind his personal best jump from 1998. A bronze medal at 1998's European championships was his only other international medal.
24/03/1973
Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer
Jacek Waldemar Bąk is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a central defender.
Philippe Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
Philippe Boucher is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League. He was the general manager of the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the QMJHL from 2019 to 2023. He also served as GM with the Quebec Remparts and the Rimouski Oceanic.
Steve Corica, Australian footballer and coach
Stephen Christopher Corica is an Australian soccer manager and former player. In December 2023, Corica was announced as the inaugural manager of A-League expansion club Auckland FC.
Jure Ivanušič, Slovenian actor, concert pianist and chansonnier
Jure Ivanušič is a Slovene theatre and film actor, director, playwright, concert pianist, composer, chansonnier and translator.
Mette Jacobsen, Danish swimmer
Mette Jacobsen is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer from Denmark who competed in five consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country, beginning in 1988. She won a total of 32 individual medals in international championships in a period from 1989 to 2005.
Glen Jakovich, Australian footballer
Glen Darren Jakovich is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL).
24/03/1972
Christophe Dugarry, French footballer
Christophe Jérôme Dugarry is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the France team that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. His clubs included Bordeaux, AC Milan, Barcelona, Marseille, Birmingham City and Qatar SC.
Steve Karsay, American baseball player and coach
Stefan Andrew Karsay is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians (1998–2001), Atlanta Braves (2001), New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers (2005). He later served as the bullpen coach for the Milwaukee Brewers (2019–2021). He is the current bullpen coach for the Los Angeles Angels.
24/03/1970
Judith Draxler, Austrian swimmer
Judith Draxler is a retired freestyle swimmer from Austria, who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics for her native country, starting in 1996.
Erica Kennedy, American journalist and author (died 2012)
Erica Kennedy was an American author, blogger, news correspondent, fashion journalist, and singer. Her 2004 novel Bling, became a New York Times bestseller. In 2010, she was named to the list of 100 most influential African Americans, as published by Ebony magazine and known as the "Ebony Power 100".
Mike Vanderjagt, Canadian-American football player
Michael John Vanderjagt is a Canadian former professional football placekicker and punter who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily with the Indianapolis Colts. He served as the Colts' placekicker from 1998 to 2005 and was a member of the Dallas Cowboys during his final NFL season in 2006. Before the NFL, Vanderjagt played four seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), three with the Toronto Argonauts and one with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
24/03/1969
Stephan Eberharter, Austrian skier
Stephan "Steff" Eberharter is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria.
Ilir Meta, Albanian politician, incumbent president of Albania
Ilir Rexhep Meta is an Albanian politician who served as President of Albania from 2017 to 2022.
24/03/1968
Minarti Timur, Indonesian badminton player
Minarti Timur is a former Indonesian badminton player who is affiliated with PB Djarum since 1987.
24/03/1967
Diann Roffe, American skier
Diann Roffe, also known as Diann Roffe-Steinrotter, is a former World Cup-winning alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from the United States.
24/03/1966
Floyd Heard, American sprinter and coach
Floyd Wayne Heard is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States, best known for setting the 1986 world's best year performance in the men's 200 m. He did so on 7 July 1986 at a meet in Moscow, Soviet Union, clocking 20.12s. A year later he won the title in the men's 200 m at the 1987 Pan American Games.
Rico Hizon, Filipino broadcast journalist
Federico "Rico" Morales Hizon, is a Filipino broadcast journalist. He is currently the Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations of SM Investment Corp. since May 6, 2024.
24/03/1964
Patterson Hood, American singer-songwriter
Patterson David Hood is an American singer-songwriter and co-founder of the band Drive-By Truckers.
24/03/1963
Vadym Tyshchenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (died 2015)
Vadym Mykolayovych Tyshchenko or Vadim Nikolayevich Tishchenko was a Soviet and Ukrainian association football player and Ukrainian coach.
Raimond van der Gouw, Dutch footballer and coach
Raimundus Johannes Hendrikus "Raimond" van der Gouw is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper.
Torsten Voss, German decathlete and bobsledder
Torsten Voss is a former East German track and field athlete and bobsledder who competed from the late 1980s to the late 1990s.
24/03/1962
Angèle Dubeau, Canadian violinist
Angèle Dubeau, is a retired Canadian classical violinist. She has devoted a large part of her career to making classical music accessible to a wide audience and also frequently played works by contemporary composers. In October 2024, she announced that due to nerve damage in her right hand, she was no longer able to play the violin.
Irina Meszynski, German discus thrower
Irina Meszynski is a retired East German discus thrower.
24/03/1961
Dean Jones, Australian cricketer and coach (died 2020)
Dean Mervyn Jones was an Australian cricket player, coach and commentator who played Tests and One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Australia. He had an excellent record in Test cricket and is best remembered for revolutionising the ODI format. Jones was a part of the Australian team that won their first world title during the 1987 Cricket World Cup. Through the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was recognised as among the best ODI batsmen in the world, a view which has been validated in the retrospective ICC Player Rankings. His batting was often characterised by his agile footwork against both pace and spin, aggressive running between wickets, and willingness to take risks and intimidate bowlers. In 2019, Jones was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founded in 2016. Previously, he was a member of Syriza and was Greece's Minister of Finance between January and July 2015, negotiating on behalf of the Greek government during the 2009–2018 Greek government-debt crisis.
24/03/1960
Jan Berglin, Swedish cartoonist
Jan Berglin is a Swedish cartoonist who made his debut in the Uppsala student newspaper Ergo in 1985. After completing his studies, Berglin has been living in Gävle where he works as a teacher of Swedish and religion. He published his early strips in the local social democratic newspaper Arbetarbladet, but became known to a wider audience in 1995, when he started to draw for the Stockholm-based but nationally distributed conservative newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. His strips have been collected and republished in several albums.
Barry Horowitz, American wrestler
Barry Horowitz is an American professional wrestler, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Nena, German singer-songwriter and actress
Gabriele Susanne Kerner, better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 as the lead vocalist of the band Nena with the Neue Deutsche Welle song "99 Luftballons". In that same year, the band re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena's re-recording of some of the band's old hit songs as a solo artist, produced by the co-composer of most of them, her former Nena band colleague and keyboard player Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, rekindled her solo career in 2002. Combined with the success of the Nena band years, she has sold over 25 million records, making her the most successful German pop singer in chart history.
Scott Pruett, American race car driver
Scott Donald Pruett is an American former racing driver who has competed in numerous disciplines of the sport. In the 1980s, Pruett established himself as a top sports car racer, winning two IMSA GTO, and three Trans-Am championships. Later in his career, he won five Grand-Am championships. In the 1990s, Pruett competed in CART Championship cars. After a brief stint in NASCAR, he returned to sports cars.
Annabella Sciorra, American actress
Annabella Gloria Philomena Sciorra is an American actress. She came to prominence with her film debut in True Love (1989) and worked steadily throughout the 1990s in films such as Jungle Fever (1991), The Hard Way (1991), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), The Addiction (1995), Cop Land (1997), and What Dreams May Come (1998). She received an Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of Gloria Trillo on The Sopranos (2001–2004), appeared as Detective Carolyn Barek on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005–2006), and had recurring roles on GLOW (2018), Truth Be Told (2019–2020), and Tulsa King (2022). Her stage credits include The Motherfucker with the Hat.
24/03/1959
Emmit King, American sprinter (died 2021)
Emmit King was an American track and field sprinter, who twice was a member of the American Relay Team for the Summer Olympics but he did not compete. He is best known for winning the bronze medal at the inaugural 1983 World Championships in the men's 100 metres. At the same championships, he was part of the team that won gold in the 4 × 100 m relay for the United States, and in doing so set a new world record of 37.86 s. He set his personal best (10.04) in the 100 metres on June 17, 1988, at the 1988 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Tampa, Florida.
Renaldo Nehemiah, American hurdler and football player
Renaldo Nehemiah is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the 110 m hurdles. He was ranked number one in the world for four straight years, and is a former world record holder. Nehemiah is the first man to run the event in under 13 seconds. Nehemiah also played pro football in the National Football League (NFL) as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers from 1982 to 1985, before returning to track and field athletics from 1986 to 1991. After retiring from competition, he has worked in sports management.
Derek Statham, English footballer
Derek James Statham is an English former footballer who played at left-back. He played for West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Walsall and Stoke City.
24/03/1958
Mike Woodson, American basketball player and coach
Michael Dean Woodson is an American professional basketball coach and former professional basketball player who is the associate head coach of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
24/03/1957
Pierre Harvey, Canadian cyclist and skier
Pierre Harvey, is a Canadian sports athlete. He was the first Canadian male athlete to compete in both the 1984 Summer Olympics and 1984 Winter Olympics.
24/03/1956
Steve Ballmer, American businessman
Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American businessman and investor who was the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and a co-founder of the Ballmer Group, a philanthropic investment company.
Bill Wray, American cartoonist and painter
William York Wray, known professionally in animation as Bill Wray, is an American cartoonist, animator and landscape painter. He is best known for his contributions to Mad and The Ren & Stimpy Show, as well as his current focus on regional landscape painting.
24/03/1955
Doug Jarvis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Douglas McArthur Jarvis is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played for the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals and Hartford Whalers in the National Hockey League. He was a four-time Stanley Cup winner with the Canadiens.
Pat Price, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Shaun Patrick Price is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Vancouver Blazers and the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Quebec Nordiques, New York Rangers and Minnesota North Stars. He reached the NHL playoff semifinals four times, three times with the Islanders and once with the Nordiques.
24/03/1954
Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (died 1992)
Rafael José Orozco Maestre was a Colombian singer of vallenato music. He was one of the major representatives of Colombian popular folk music and was lead singer and co-founder, alongside fellow accordionist Israel Romero, of the vallenato group Binomio de Oro de América, which was very popular in Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.
24/03/1953
Anita L. Allen, American lawyer, philosopher, and academic
Anita LaFrance Allen is the Henry R. Silverman Professor of Law and professor of philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was formerly Vice Provost for Faculty from 2013 to 2020.
Louie Anderson, American actor and comedian (died 2022)
Louis Perry Anderson was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. He created the cartoon series Life with Louie and the television sitcom The Louie Show, and wrote four books, including Hey Mom: Stories for My Mother, But You Can Read Them Too, which was published in 2018. Anderson was the third host of the game show Family Feud from 1999 to 2002 — the first host in its third and current run.
24/03/1952
Greg McCrary, American football player (died 2013)
Gregory Alonza McCrary was an American professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, and the San Diego Chargers. He played college football for the Clark Atlanta Panthers and was selected in the fifth round of the 1975 NFL draft.
24/03/1951
Peter Boyle, Scottish-Australian footballer and manager (died 2013)
Peter Boyle was a footballer and manager who played as a striker. Born in Scotland, he represented Australia at international level.
Pat Bradley, American golfer
Pat Bradley is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1974 and won 31 tour events, including six major championships. She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer, founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.
Anna Włodarczyk, Polish long jumper and coach
Anna Bożena Włodarczyk is a Polish athlete. She is the 1980 European long jump champion.
24/03/1950
Gary Wichard, American football player and agent (died 2011)
Gary Theodore Wichard was a college football player and professional sports agent.
24/03/1949
Tabitha King, American author and poet
Tabitha "Tabby" Jane King is an American author.
Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer and coach
Rudolf Jozef "Ruud" Krol is a Dutch former professional footballer who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax. He became a coach after retirement. Regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, Krol mainly played as a sweeper or left-back, though he could play anywhere across the back line, or in midfield as a defensive midfielder, due to his range of passing with both feet, temperament, tactical intelligence, and his ability to start attacking plays after winning back the ball.
Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (died 2017)
Stephen Keith Lang was a Canadian bassist best known for his time and work with the rock band April Wine from 1976 to 1984 during the band's most successful years.
Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian academic and politician, 36th Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran
Ali Akbar Salehi is an Iranian academic, diplomat and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who served in this position from 2009 to 2010 and also from 2013 to 2021. He served for the first time as head of the AEOI from 2009 to 2010 and was appointed to the post for a second time on 16 August 2013. Before the appointment of his latter position, he was foreign affairs minister from 2010 to 2013. He was also the Iranian representative in the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1998 to 2003.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th prime minister of Sri Lanka
Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 and in 2022. Wickremesinghe has held several ministerial roles, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Defence, Minister of Technology and Minister of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment. Wickremesinghe has led the United National Party (UNP) since 1994. He is also the eighth executive president of Sri Lanka, a role established by the 1977 constitutional amendment that expanded presidential powers.
24/03/1948
Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (died 2013)
Javier Diez Canseco Cisneros was a Peruvian politician and member of the Peruvian Congress representing the Socialist Party of Peru (PS), of which he was a founding member and also served as its Party President.
Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer (died 1989)
Józef Jerzy Kukuczka was a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest high-altitude climbers in history. In 1987, he became the second man to climb all 14 eight-thousanders in the world, a feat known as the "Crown of the Himalayas." He accomplished this feat in less than eight years, and climbed all, except for Lhotse, by new routes or in winter. He is the only person to have climbed two eight-thousanders in one winter, and his ascents of Cho Oyu, Kangchenjunga and Annapurna were the first winter ascents. His ascent of K2 in 1986, in alpine style with Tadeusz Piotrowski, is now known as the Polish Line. No other mountaineers have attempted an ascent using the route since.
24/03/1947
Dennis Erickson, American football player and coach
Dennis Brian Erickson is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho, the University of Wyoming (1986), Washington State University (1987–1988), the University of Miami (1989–1994), Oregon State University (1999–2002), and Arizona State University (2007–2011). During his tenure at Miami, Erickson's teams won two national championships, in 1989 and 1991. A coach who won conference championships with four different programs, his record as a college football head coach is 179–96–1 (.650).
Christine Gregoire, American lawyer and politician, 22nd governor of Washington
Christine Gregoire is an American attorney and politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington, from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004 and 2008, the first of which was the closest gubernatorial election in the history of Washington. She was Washington’s second female governor. Gregoire served as chair of the National Governors Association from 2010 to 2011. She also served on the governors' council of the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Mick Jones, English footballer and coach (died 2022)
Michael Jones was an English professional footballer and coach.
Alan Sugar, English businessman
Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British businessman and television personality.
24/03/1946
Klaus Dinger, German guitarist and songwriter (died 2008)
Klaus Dinger was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock band Neu!. He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of new wave group La Düsseldorf and briefly the percussionist of Kraftwerk.
Kitty O'Neil, American stuntwoman (died 2018)
Kitty Linn O'Neil was an American stuntwoman and auto-racer, often called "the fastest woman in the world" for her various speed records. Her women's absolute land speed record stood until 2019.
24/03/1945
Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist and academic
Robert Thomas Bakker is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor John Ostrom, Bakker was responsible for initiating the ongoing "dinosaur renaissance" in paleontological studies, beginning with Bakker's article "Dinosaur Renaissance" in the April 1975 issue of Scientific American. His specialty is the ecological context and behavior of dinosaurs.
Curtis Hanson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2016)
Curtis Lee Hanson was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Reno, Nevada, Hanson grew up in Los Angeles. After dropping out of high school, Hanson worked as photographer and editor for Cinema magazine. In the 1970s, Hanson participated as a writer for the horror film The Dunwich Horror (1970) and made his directorial debut the B-Movie Sweet Kill (1973), where he lacked creative control to fulfill his vision. While Hanson continued directing, he rose to prominence screenwriting critically acclaimed films such as The Silent Partner (1978), White Dog (1982), and Never Cry Wolf (1983).
Patrick Malahide, English actor and screenwriter
Patrick Gerald Duggan, known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a British actor of stage and screen. His acting credits include The New Avengers (1976), ITV Playhouse (1977), The Eagle of the Ninth (1977), Sweeney 2 (1978), Comfort and Joy (1984), The Singing Detective (1986), A Month in the Country (1987), Minder (1979–1988), Middlemarch (1994), The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries (1993–1994), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Brideshead Revisited (2008), The Paradise (2012), Luther (2015–2019), Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), Game of Thrones (2012–2016), Mortal Engines (2018), The Protégé (2021), and Liaison (2023).
24/03/1944
R. Lee Ermey, American sergeant and actor (died 2018)
Ronald Lee Ermey was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Ermey was also a United States Marine Corps staff sergeant and an honorary gunnery sergeant.
Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th prime minister of Serbia
Vojislav Koštunica is a Serbian former politician who served as the last president of FR Yugoslavia from 2000 to 2003 and as the prime minister of Serbia from 2004 to 2008.
24/03/1942
Jesús Alou, Dominican baseball player (died 2023)
Jesús María Rojas Alou was a Dominican professional baseball outfielder. During a 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played for the San Francisco Giants (1963–68), the Houston Astros, the Oakland Athletics (1973–74), and the New York Mets (1975). He was the youngest of a trio of baseball-playing brothers that included Felipe and Matty.
24/03/1941
Michael Masser, American songwriter, composer and producer (died 2015)
Michael William Masser was an American songwriter, composer and producer of popular music.
24/03/1940
Bob Mackie, American fashion designer
Robert Gordon Mackie is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of numerous entertainment personalities for television, movies, concerts, and live stage shows. He was the costume designer for all of the performers on The Carol Burnett Show during its entire eleven-year run, and the creator of memorable ensembles for Cher and Elton John.
24/03/1938
Holger Czukay, German musician (died 2017)
Holger Schüring, known professionally as Holger Czukay, was a German musician who co-founded the krautrock group Can. Described as "successfully bridg[ing] the gap between pop and the avant-garde", Czukay also created early important examples of ambient music, explored "world music" well before the term was coined, and was a pioneer of sampling.
David Irving, English historian and author
David John Cawdell Irving is an English author who has written on the military and political history of the Second World War, especially Nazi Germany. He was found to be a Holocaust denier in a British court in 2000 as a result of a failed libel case.
Larry Wilson, American football player (died 2020)
Lawrence Frank Wilson was an American professional football safety who played with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). An eight-time Pro Bowl selection, he played his entire 13-year career with the Cardinals and remained on the team's payroll until 2003, long after the team moved to Phoenix in the 1988 season.
24/03/1937
Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (died 1970)
William Larry Stewart II was an American R&B singer and pianist popular during the 1960s.
24/03/1936
Don Covay, American singer-songwriter (died 2015)
Donald James Randolph, better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Alex Olmedo, Peruvian-American tennis player (died 2020)
Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez was a tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player for 1958, but as a U.S. player for 1959. He helped win the Davis Cup for the United States in 1958 and was the No. 2 ranked amateur in 1959. Olmedo won two Majors in 1959 and the U.S. Pro Championships in 1960, and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
24/03/1935
Carol Kaye, American bass guitarist
Carol Kaye is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career lasting over 65 years.
24/03/1933
Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (died 2011)
Stephen De Staebler was an American sculptor, printmaker, and educator, he was best recognized for his work in clay and bronze. Totemic and fragmented in form, De Staebler's figurative sculptures call forth the many contingencies of the human condition, such as resiliency and fragility, growth and decay, earthly boundedness and the possibility for spiritual transcendence. An important figure in the California Clay Movement, he is credited with "sustaining the figurative tradition in post-World War II decades when the relevance and even possibility of embracing the human figure seemed problematic at best."
Lee Mendelson, American television producer (died 2019)
Leland Maurice Mendelson was an American animation producer and executive producer of many Peanuts animated specials.
24/03/1931
Hanno Drechsler, German educator and politician, Mayor of Marburg (died 2003)
Hanno Drechsler was the Lord Mayor of the City of Marburg, Germany between 1970 and 1992, and the instigator of its restoration after urban renewal; he was also an important Social Democratic politician and political scientist.
24/03/1930
David Dacko, Central African politician, 1st president of the Central African Republic (died 2003)
David Dacko was a Central African politician who served as the first President of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 31 December 1965 and as the third President of the Central African Republic from 21 September 1979 to 1 September 1981. He also served as Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 1 May 1959 to 14 August 1960. After his second removal from power in a coup d'état led by General André Kolingba, he pursued an active career as an opposition politician and presidential candidate with many loyal supporters; Dacko was an important political figure in the country for over 50 years.
Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (died 1980)
Terrence Stephen McQueen was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of 1960s counterculture, made him a top box office draw for his films of the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. He was nicknamed the "King of Cool" and used the alias "Harvey Mushman" when participating in motor races.
24/03/1929
Pat Renella, Italian-American actor (died 2012)
Pat Renella was an American actor. His motion picture debut was as an engineer in the space drama X-15 (1961) starring David McLean and Charles Bronson.
24/03/1928
Byron Janis, American pianist and composer (died 2024)
Byron Janis was an American classical pianist. He made numerous recordings for RCA Victor and Mercury Records, and occupies two volumes of the Philips series Great Pianists of the 20th Century. His discography covered repertoire from Bach to David W. Guion and included major piano concertos from Mozart to Rachmaninoff and Liszt to Prokofiev.
24/03/1927
John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (died 2014)
John Woodland "Woody" Hastings, was a leader in the field of photobiology, especially bioluminescence, and was one of the founders of the field of circadian biology. He was the Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University. He published over 400 papers and co-edited three books.
Martin Walser, German author and playwright (died 2023)
Martin Johannes Walser was a German writer, known especially as a novelist. He began his career as journalist for Süddeutscher Rundfunk, where he wrote and directed audio plays. He was a member of Group 47 from 1953 on.
24/03/1926
Desmond Connell, Irish cardinal (died 2017)
Desmond Connell was an Irish cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was an Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland. Cardinal Connell was one of a number of senior clergy to have been heavily criticised for inaction, making misleading statements and covering up clerical sex abuse in Dublin. He died on 21 February 2017, aged 90.
Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2016)
Dario Luigi Angelo Fo was an Italian playwright, actor, theatre director, stage designer, songwriter, political campaigner for the Italian left wing and the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Literature. In his time he was "arguably the most widely performed contemporary playwright in world theatre". Much of his dramatic work depends on improvisation and comprises the recovery of "illegitimate" forms of theatre, such as those performed by giullari and, more famously, the ancient Italian style of commedia dell'arte.
William Porter, American hurdler (died 2000)
William "Bill" Franklin Porter III was an American track and field athlete, gold medal winner of the 110-meter hurdles at the 1948 Summer Olympics.
24/03/1924
Norman Fell, American actor (died 1998)
Norman Fell was an American actor of film and television, most famous for his role as landlord Mr. Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off, The Ropers, and his film roles in Ocean's 11 (1960), The Graduate (1967), and Bullitt (1968). Early in his career, he was billed as Norman Feld.
24/03/1923
Murray Hamilton, American actor (died 1986)
Murray Hamilton was an American stage, screen and television character actor who appeared in such acclaimed films as The Spirit of St. Louis, Anatomy of a Murder, The Hustler, The Graduate, The Way We Were, Jaws and The Amityville Horror.
Michael Legat, English author and publisher (died 2011)
Michael Legat was a British writer of writers' guides and romance novels. He was Chairman of Swanwick writers' summer school and an associate vice-president of the Romantic Novelists' Association.
24/03/1922
Onna White, Canadian dancer and choreographer (died 2005)
Onna White was a Canadian choreographer and dancer, nominated for eight Tony Awards.
24/03/1921
Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish priest (died 1987)
Franciszek Blachnicki was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Light-Life movement, also known as the Oasis Movement, and the Secular Institute of the Immaculate Mother of the Church. He founded several other movements and religious congregations that would address a range of social and ethical issues. These issues included anti-alcoholism and human rights. His movements first came about after starting out as simple retreats designed for both altar servers and families that later began to address a series of issues in Poland at the time. His concern for human rights came during the communist era in Poland as well as his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in which he was incarcerated in Auschwitz and other concentration camps under the German Nazi regime.
Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (died 2010)
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions. Smyslov twice tied for first place at the USSR Chess Championships, and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals.
24/03/1920
Gene Nelson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1996)
Gene Nelson was an American actor, dancer, screenwriter, and director.
Mary Stolz, American author (died 2006)
Mary Stolz was an American writer of fiction for children and young adults. She received the 1953 Child Study Association of America's Children's Book Award for In a Mirror, Newbery Honors in 1962 for Belling the Tiger and 1966 for The Noonday Friends, and her entire body of work was awarded the George G. Stone Recognition of Merit in 1982.
24/03/1919
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore (died 2021)
Lawrence Monsanto Ferlinghetti was an American poet, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. An author of poetry, translations, fiction, theatre, art criticism, and film narration, Ferlinghetti was best known for his second collection of poems, A Coney Island of the Mind (1958), which has been translated into nine languages and sold over a million copies. When Ferlinghetti turned 100 in March 2019, the city of San Francisco turned his birthday, March 24, into "Lawrence Ferlinghetti Day".
Robert Heilbroner, American economist and historian (died 2005)
Robert L. Heilbroner was an American economist and historian of economic thought. The author of some two dozen books, Heilbroner was best known for The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers (1953), a survey of the lives and contributions of famous economists, notably Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes.
24/03/1917
Constantine Andreou, Greek painter and sculptor (died 2007)
Constantine Andreou was a Brazilian-born Greek painter and sculptor with a highly successful career that spanned six decades. Andreou has been praised by many as an eminent figure in international art of the 20th century.
John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997)
Sir John Cowdery Kendrew, was an English biochemist, crystallographer, and science administrator. Kendrew shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz, for their work at the Cavendish Laboratory to investigate the structure of haem-containing proteins.
24/03/1916
Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American soldier and author (died 2006)
Donald Bengtsson Hamilton was an American writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction, but also crime fiction and westerns, such as The Big Country. He is known best for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counter-agent/assassin working for a secret American government agency. The noted critic Anthony Boucher wrote: "Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told."
Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (died 2010)
Harry Blackmore Whittington FRS was a British palaeontologist who made a major contribution to the study of fossils of the Burgess Shale and other Cambrian fauna. His works are largely responsible for the concept of Cambrian explosion, whereby modern animal body plans are explained to originate during a short span of geological period. With initial work on trilobites, his discoveries revealed that these arthropods were the most diversified of all invertebrates during the Cambrian Period. He was responsible for setting the standard for naming and describing the delicate fossils preserved in Konservat-Lagerstätten.
24/03/1915
Eugène Martin, French racing driver (died 2006)
Eugène Martin was a racing driver from France. He participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 May 1950. He scored no championship points.
24/03/1912
Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (died 2010)
Dorothy Irene Height was an African-American civil rights and women's rights activist. She focused on the issues of Foundational Black American women, including unemployment, illiteracy, and voter awareness. Height is credited as the first leader in the civil rights movement to recognize inequality for women and Foundational Black Americans as problems that should be considered as a whole. She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. Height's role in the "Big Six" civil rights movement was frequently ignored by the press due to sexism. In 1974, she was named to the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which published the Belmont Report, a bioethics report in response to the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
24/03/1911
Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (died 2006)
Joseph Roland Barbera was an American animator and cartoonist. He co-founded the animation studio Hanna-Barbera alongside William Hanna.
24/03/1910
Richard Conte, American actor, singer, and director (died 1975)
Richard Conte was an American actor. He was known for his starring roles in films noir and crime dramas during the 1940s and 1950s, including Call Northside 777, Cry of the City, House of Strangers, Whirlpool, The Blue Gardenia, and The Big Combo.
24/03/1909
Clyde Barrow, American criminal (died 1934)
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut "Champion" Barrow were American outlaws who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression, committing a series of criminal acts such as bank robberies, kidnappings, and murders between 1932 and 1934. The couple were known for their bank robberies and multiple murders, although they preferred to rob small stores or rural gas stations. Their exploits captured the attention of the American press and its readership during what is occasionally referred to as the "public enemy era" between 1931 and 1934. On May 23, 1934, they were ambushed and killed on Louisiana Highway 154 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana by a law enforcement posse led by retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. They are believed to have murdered at least nine police officers and three civilians.
Richard Wurmbrand, Romanian pastor and evangelist (died 2001)
Richard Wurmbrand, also known as Nicolai Ionescu, was a Romanian Evangelical Lutheran priest, and professor of Jewish descent. In 1948, having become a Christian ten years before, he publicly said Communism and Christianity were incompatible. Wurmbrand preached at bomb shelters and rescued Jews during World War II. He experienced imprisonment and torture by the Communist regime of Romania, which maintained a policy of state atheism.
24/03/1907
Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th premier of Quebec (died 1960)
Joseph-Mignault-Paul Sauvé was a Canadian lawyer, World War II veteran, and politician. He was the 17th premier of Quebec in 1959 and 1960.
24/03/1905
Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino author and diplomat (died 2007)
Pura Santillan-Castrence was a Filipino writer and diplomat. Of Filipino women writers, she was among the first to gain prominence writing in the English language. She was named a Chevalier de Légion d'honneur by the French government.
24/03/1903
Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995)
Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt was a German biochemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for his "work on sex hormones." He initially rejected the award in accordance with government policy, but accepted it in 1949 after World War II. He was President of the Max Planck Society from 1960 to 1972. He was also the first, in 1959, to discover the structure of the sex pheromone of silkworms, which he named bombykol.
Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist, author, and scholar (died 1990)
Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge was a conservative British journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament. Malcolm's brother Eric was one of the founders of Plan International. In his twenties, Muggeridge was attracted to communism and went to live in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and the experience turned him into an anti-communist.
24/03/1902
Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th governor of New York (died 1971)
Thomas Edmund Dewey was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican Party's nominee for president of the United States in 1944 and 1948, losing the former election to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the latter election to Harry S. Truman in a major upset.
24/03/1901
Ub Iwerks, American animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse (died 1971)
Ub Iwerks was an American animator, cartoonist, film director, film producer, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. He was known for his early work with Walt Disney, especially for having worked on the creation of Mickey Mouse and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, among other characters.
José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (died 1968)
José Nasazzi Yarza was a Uruguayan footballer who played as a right-back or centre-back. He captained his country when they won the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930.
24/03/1897
Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (died 1957)
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian doctor of medicine and a psychoanalyst, a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author of several influential books, The Impulsive Character (1925), The Function of the Orgasm (1927), Character Analysis (1933), and The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), he became one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry.
24/03/1893
Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (died 1960)
Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade was a German astronomer who worked in the United States from 1931 to 1959.
George Sisler, American baseball player and scout (died 1973)
George Harold Sisler, nicknamed "Gorgeous George", was an American professional baseball first baseman and player-manager. From 1915 through 1930, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, and Boston Braves. He managed the Browns from 1924 through 1926.
24/03/1892
Marston Morse, American mathematician and academic (died 1977)
Harold Calvin Marston Morse was an American mathematician best known for his work on the calculus of variations in the large, a subject where he introduced the technique of differential topology now known as Morse theory. The Morse–Palais lemma, one of the key results in Morse theory, is named after him, as is the Thue–Morse sequence, an infinite binary sequence with many applications.
24/03/1891
Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Russian physicist and academic (died 1951)
Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov was a Soviet physicist, the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union from July 1945 until his death. His elder brother Nikolai Vavilov was a famous Russian geneticist.
24/03/1890
Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (died 1954)
Agnes Campbell Macphail was a Canadian politician and the first woman elected to Canada's House of Commons. She served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1921 to 1940; from 1943 to 1945 and again from 1948 to 1951, she served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the Toronto riding of York East. Active throughout her life in progressive politics, Macphail worked for multiple parties, most prominently the Progressive Party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the United Farmers of Ontario. She promoted her ideas through column-writing, activist organizing, and legislation.
24/03/1889
Albert Hill, English-Canadian runner (died 1969)
Albert George Hill was a British track and field athlete. He competed at the 1920 Olympics and won gold medals in the 800 m and 1500 m and a silver medal in the 3000 m team race.
24/03/1888
Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (died 1922)
Viktor Eduard Kingissepp was an Estonian communist politician who was a founder and leading member of the Estonian Communist Party.
24/03/1887
Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1933)
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter. He started at the Selig Polyscope Company and eventually moved to Keystone Studios, where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd as well as with his nephew, Al St. John. He also mentored Charlie Chaplin, Monty Banks and Bob Hope, and brought vaudeville star Buster Keaton into the movie business. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s and one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, signing a contract in 1920 with Paramount Pictures for $1 million a year.
24/03/1886
Edward Weston, American photographer (died 1958)
Edward Henry Weston was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his 40-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of subjects, including landscapes, still lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes, and even whimsical parodies. It is said that he developed a "quintessentially American, and especially Californian, approach to modern photography" because of his focus on the people and places of the American West. In 1937 Weston was the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship, and over the next two years he produced nearly 1,400 negatives using his 8 × 10 view camera. Some of his most famous photographs were taken of the trees and rocks at Point Lobos, California, near where he lived for many years.
Robert Mallet-Stevens, French architect and designer (died 1945)
Robert Mallet-Stevens was a French architect, designer, production designer and professor.
24/03/1885
Charles Daniels, American swimmer (died 1973)
Charles Meldrum Daniels was an American competition swimmer, eight-time Olympic medalist, and world record-holder in two freestyle swimming events. Daniels was an innovator of the front crawl swimming style, helping to develop the "American crawl".
Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian violinist and composer (died 1978)
Dimitrie Cuclin was a Romanian classical music composer, musicologist, philosopher, translator, and writer.
24/03/1884
Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1966)
Peter Joseph William Debye was a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.
Chika Kuroda, Japanese chemist (died 1968)
Chika Kuroda was a Japanese chemist whose research focused on natural pigments. She was the first woman in Japan to receive a Bachelor of Science.
Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (died 1972)
Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant was a French prelate and cardinal of the Catholic Church. Elevated to the cardinalate in 1936, Tisserant was a prominent and long-time member of the Roman Curia.
24/03/1883
Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (died 1945)
Dorothy Lee Campbell was a Scottish amateur golfer. Campbell was the first woman to win the American, British and Canadian Women's Amateurs.
24/03/1882
Marcel Lalu, French gymnast (died 1951)
Marcel Lalu was a French gymnast who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics, in the 1908 Summer Olympics, and in the 1912 Summer Olympics. In 1900 he finished eighth in the combined exercises competition which was the only Olympic gymnastic event. Eight years later he finished seventh in the 1908 all-around competition and at the 1912 Games he finished again seventh in the all-around contest.
George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th governor-general of New Zealand (died 1943)
George Vere Arundell Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, was a British politician. He served as the fifth Governor-General of New Zealand from 1935 to 1941.
24/03/1879
Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher, poet, and composer (died 1953)
Tevfik Kolaylı, better known by his pen name Neyzen Tevfik, was a Turkish poet, satirist, and neyzen. Tevfik was born in Bodrum and died in Istanbul. In addition to his satire, he composed taksims and saz semais. He used satire against tyranny during the Ottoman period and against those who opposed revolutions during the Republic years. He wrote poems criticising injustice and corruption. He was frequently arrested.
24/03/1875
William Burns, Canadian lacrosse player (died 1953)
William Laurie Burns was a Canadian lacrosse player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. In 1904 he was member of the Shamrock Lacrosse Team which won the gold medal in the lacrosse tournament.
24/03/1874
Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd president of the Italian Republic (died 1961)
Luigi Numa Lorenzo Einaudi was an Italian politician, economist and banker who served as the president of Italy from 1948 to 1955 and is considered one of the founding fathers of the Italian Republic.
Harry Houdini, Hungarian-American magician and actor (died 1926)
Erik Weisz, known professionally as Harry Houdini, was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts.
24/03/1871
Alec Hurley, English music hall singer (died 1913)
Alexander Hurley was an English music hall singer, and Marie Lloyd's second husband.
24/03/1869
Émile Fabre, French author and playwright (died 1955)
Émile Fabre was a French playwright and general administrator of the Comédie-Française from 1915 to
24/03/1862
Frank Weston Benson, American painter and educator (died 1951)
Frank Weston Benson, frequently referred to as Frank W. Benson, was an American artist from Salem, Massachusetts, known for his Realistic portraits, American Impressionist paintings, watercolors and etchings. He began his career painting portraits of distinguished families and murals for the Library of Congress. Some of his best known paintings depict his daughters outdoors at Benson's summer home, Wooster Farm, on the island of North Haven, Maine. He also produced numerous oil, wash and watercolor paintings and etchings of wildfowl and landscapes.
24/03/1855
Andrew W. Mellon, American banker, financier, and diplomat, 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 1937)
Andrew William Mellon, known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon, he established a vast business empire before moving into politics. He served as United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 9, 1921, to February 12, 1932, presiding over the boom years of the 1920s and the Wall Street crash of 1929. A conservative Republican, Mellon favored policies that reduced taxation and the national debt of the United States in the aftermath of World War I. Mellon also helped fund and manage Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.
Olive Schreiner, South African author and activist (died 1920)
Olive Schreiner was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her novel The Story of an African Farm (1883), which has been highly acclaimed. It deals boldly with such contemporary issues as agnosticism, existential independence, individualism, the professional aspirations of women, and the elemental nature of life on the colonial frontier.
24/03/1854
Henry Lefroy, Australian politician, 11th premier of Western Australia (died 1930)
Sir Henry Bruce Lefroy was the eleventh Premier of Western Australia.
24/03/1850
Silas Hocking, English minister and author (died 1935)
Silas Kitto Hocking was a Cornish novelist and Methodist preacher. He is known for his novel for youth called Her Benny (1879), which was a best-seller.
24/03/1848
Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, 18th mayor of Montreal (died 1906)
Honoré Beaugrand was a French Canadian journalist, politician, author and folklorist, born in Saint-Joseph-de-Lanoraie, Quebec.
24/03/1835
Joseph Stefan, Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet (died 1893)
Josef Stefan was a Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet of the Austrian Empire.
24/03/1834
William Morris, English textile designer, poet, and author (died 1896)
William Morris was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he campaigned for socialism in fin de siècle Great Britain.
John Wesley Powell, American soldier, geologist, and explorer (died 1902)
John Wesley Powell was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He is famous for his 1869 geographic expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers, including the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon.
24/03/1830
Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet and playwright (died 1889)
Robert Hamerling was an Austrian poet.
24/03/1829
George Francis Train, American businessman (died 1904)
George Francis Train was an American businessman who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also was an organizer of the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in the United States in 1864 to construct the eastern portion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and a horse tramway company in England while there during the American Civil War.
Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (died 1862)
Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín was a Mexican military officer and politician. He is best known for leading a Mexican army of 3,791 men which defeated a 5,730-strong force of French troops at the battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862 during the second French intervention in Mexico. The Mexican victory is celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo.
24/03/1828
Horace Gray, American lawyer and jurist (died 1902)
Horace Gray was an American jurist who served on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and then on the United States Supreme Court, where he frequently interpreted the Constitution in ways that increased the powers of Congress. He was a staunch supporter of the authority of precedent throughout his career, and would write landmark opinions in cases such as Elk v. Wilkins and United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
24/03/1826
Matilda Joslyn Gage, American activist and author (died 1898)
Matilda Joslyn Gage was an American writer and activist. She is mainly known for her contributions to women's suffrage in the United States, but also campaigned for Native American rights, abolitionism, and freethought. She is the eponym for the Matilda effect, which describes the tendency to deny women credit for scientific invention. She influenced her son-in-law L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
24/03/1823
Thomas Spencer Baynes, English philosopher and critic (died 1887)
Thomas Spencer Baynes was an English writer and scholar. He was best known for serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopædia Britannica. He was also well known for his essays in the Edinburgh Review and Fraser's Magazine.
24/03/1820
Edmond Becquerel, French physicist and academic (died 1891)
Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity, and optics. In 1839, he discovered the photovoltaic effect, the operating principle of the solar cell, which he invented in the same year. He is also known for his work in luminescence and phosphorescence. He was the son of Antoine César Becquerel and the father of Henri Becquerel, the discoverer of radioactivity.
Fanny Crosby, American poet and composer (died 1915)
Frances Jane van Alstyne, more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. A prolific hymnist, she wrote more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, with more than 100 million copies printed. She is also known for her teaching and rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she had become a household name.
24/03/1816
Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Mexican politician and Roman Catholic archbishop, regent during the Second Mexican Empire (died 1891)
José Antonio Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos was a Roman Catholic Mexican prelate, lawyer, and doctor of canon law. He notably served as the Archbishop of Mexico (1863-1891), and was a regent of the Second Mexican Empire (1863) until eventually being dismissed from the position and replaced by Juan Bautista Ormaechea.
24/03/1809
Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (died 1837)
Mariano José de Larra y Sánchez de Castro was a Spanish romantic writer and journalist best known for his numerous essays and his infamous suicide. His works were often satirical and critical of the 19th-century Spanish society, and focused on both the politics and customs of his time.
Joseph Liouville, French mathematician and academic (died 1882)
Joseph Liouville was a French mathematician who worked on a number of different fields in mathematics, including number theory, complex analysis, and mathematical physics.
24/03/1808
Maria Malibran, Spanish-French soprano (died 1836)
Maria Felicia Malibran was a Spanish singer who commonly sang both contralto and soprano parts, and was one of the best-known opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death in Manchester, England, at age 28. Contemporary accounts of her voice describe its range, power and flexibility as extraordinary.
24/03/1803
Egerton Ryerson, Canadian minister, educator, and politician (died 1882)
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Canadian educator, author, editor, and Methodist minister who was a prominent contributor to the design of the Ontario public school system.
24/03/1796
Zulma Carraud, French author (died 1889)
Zulma Carraud was a French author. She is best known for her children's books and textbooks particularly La Petite Jeanne ou le devoir and Maurice ou le travail.
John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian businessman and politician (died 1878)
Lieutenant-Colonel John Corry Wilson Daly was a Canadian politician, businessperson, militia officer, and the first Mayor of Stratford, Ontario.
24/03/1782
Orest Kiprensky, Russian-Italian painter (died 1836)
Orest Adamovich Kiprensky was a leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism. His most familiar work is probably his portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1827), which prompted the poet to remark that "the mirror flatters me."
24/03/1775
Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (died 1835)
Muthuswami Dikshitar, mononymously known as Dikshitar, was a South Indian, Hindu poet, singer, veena player, and prolific composer of Indian classical music. He was the youngest member of the Trinity of Carnatic music, alongside Tyagaraja and Shyama Sastri. Dikshitar was born on 24 March 1776 in Thiruvarur near Thanjavur, in Tamil Nadu. His family traditionally traced its lineage to Virinchipuram in the northern part of the state.
24/03/1762
Marcos Portugal, Portuguese organist and composer (died 1830)
Marcos António da Fonseca Portugal, also known as Marco Portogallo in Italian, was a Portuguese-Brazilian classical composer, who achieved great international fame for his operas.
24/03/1755
Rufus King, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (died 1827)
Rufus King was an American Founding Father, lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution in 1787. After formation of the new Congress, he represented New York in the United States Senate. He emerged as a leading member of the Federalist Party and was the party's last presidential nominee during the 1816 presidential election.
24/03/1725
Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th governor of North Carolina (died 1813)
Samuel Ashe was the ninth governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1795 to 1798. He was also one of the first three judges of the North Carolina Superior Court in 1787.
Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st lieutenant governor of Massachusetts (died 1788)
Thomas Cushing III was an American lawyer, merchant, and statesman from Boston, Massachusetts. Active in Boston politics, he represented the city in the provincial assembly from 1761 to its dissolution in 1774, serving as the lower house's speaker for most of those years. Because of his role as speaker, his signature was affixed to many documents protesting British policies, leading officials in London to consider him a dangerous radical. He engaged in extended communications with Benjamin Franklin who at times lobbied on behalf of the legislature's interests in London, seeking ways to reduce the rising tensions of the American Revolution.
24/03/1693
John Harrison, English carpenter and clock-maker, invented the Marine chronometer (died 1776)
John Harrison was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea.
24/03/1657
Arai Hakuseki, Japanese academic and politician (died 1725)
Arai Hakuseki was a Confucianist, scholar-bureaucrat, academic, administrator, writer and politician in Japan during the middle of the Edo period, who advised the shōgun Tokugawa Ienobu. His personal name was Kinmi or Kimiyoshi (君美). Hakuseki (白石) was his pen name. His father was a Kururi han samurai Arai Masazumi.
24/03/1628
Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1685)
Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg was Queen of Denmark and Norway as the consort of the King Frederick III of Denmark. She is known for her political influence, as well as for her cultural impact: she acted as the adviser of her husband, and introduced ballet and opera to Denmark.
24/03/1607
Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (died 1667)
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter was a Dutch States Navy officer. His achievements with the Dutch navy during the Anglo-Dutch Wars earned him the reputation as one of the greatest naval commanders in history.
24/03/1577
Francis, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin, Bishop of Cammin (died 1620)
Francis of Pomerania was Duke of Pomerania-Stettin and Bishop of Cammin.
24/03/1494
Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (died 1555)
Georgius Agricola was a German Renaissance humanist scholar, mineralogist and metallurgist. Born in the small town of Glauchau, in the Electorate of Saxony of the Holy Roman Empire, he was broadly educated, but took a particular interest in the mining and refining of metals. He was the first to drop the Arabic definite article al-, exclusively writing chymia and chymista in describing activity that we today would characterize as chemical or alchemical, giving chemistry its modern name. For his groundbreaking work De Natura Fossilium published in 1546, he is generally referred to as the father of mineralogy and the founder of geology as a scientific discipline.
24/03/1441
Ernest, Elector of Saxony, German ruler of Saxony (died 1486)
Ernest, known in German as Ernst, was Elector of Saxony from 1464 to 1486. He established the Ernestine line of Saxon princes.
24/03/1103
Yue Fei, Chinese military general (died 1142)
Yue Fei, courtesy name Pengju (鵬舉), was a Chinese military general of the Song dynasty and is remembered as a patriotic national hero, known for leading its forces in the wars in the 12th century between Southern Song and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in northern China. Because of his warlike stance, he was put to death by the Southern Song government in 1142 under a frameup, after a negotiated peace was achieved with the Jin dynasty. He was posthumously pardoned. Yue Fei is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu by Jin Guliang.