Died on Friday, 27th March – Famous Deaths

27/03/2025

Christina McKelvie, Scottish politician (born 1968)

Christina McKelvie was a Scottish politician and social worker who was a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP). She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse from 2011 until her death in 2025, having previously represented the Central Scotland region from 2007 to 2011.

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27/03/2024

Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American author, psychologist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1934)

Daniel Kahneman was an Israeli-American psychologist best known for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making as well as behavioral economics, for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences together with Vernon L. Smith. Kahneman's published empirical findings challenge the assumption of human rationality prevailing in modern economic theory. Kahneman became known as the "grandfather of behavioral economics."

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Joe Lieberman, American politician and lawyer (born 1942)

Joseph Isadore Lieberman was an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's vice presidential nominee in the 2000 presidential election. During his final term in office, he was officially listed as an Independent Democrat and caucused with and chaired committees for the Democratic Party.

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27/03/2018

Bert Nievera, Filipino-American singer (born 1936)

Roberto Jose Dela Cruz Nievera was a Filipino-American singer and businessman. He rose to prominence in 1959 after winning the "Search for Johnny Mathis of the Philippines", a singing contest on the television variety show Student Canteen. He was one of the original members of the Society of Seven (SOS).

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27/03/2016

Mother Angelica, American Roman Catholic religious leader and media personality (born 1923)

Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, commonly referred to as "Mother Angelica", was an American Catholic nun of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration.

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27/03/2015

Johnny Helms, American trumpet player, bandleader, and educator (born 1935)

John Newton "Johnny" Helms was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, and music educator from Columbia, South Carolina. He performed with Chris Potter, Tommy Newsom, Bill Watrous, Red Rodney, Woody Herman, Sam Most, and the Clark Terry Big Band among others. In 1989, he was featured along with Terry and Oscar Peterson as part of Clark Terry and Friends at Town Hall during the JVC Jazz Festival.

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T. Sailo, Indian soldier and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram (born 1922)

Brigadier Ṭhenphunga Sailo, AVSM was an Indian military officer and politician who served as the 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram. He founded the Mizoram People's Conference, one of the major political parties in Mizoram. He was a recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Padma Shri for his military service and humanitarian works, and the Mizo Award for his lifetime achievements.

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27/03/2014

Richard N. Frye, American scholar and academic (born 1920)

Richard Nelson Frye was an American scholar of Iranian and Central Asian studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University. His professional areas of interest were Iranian philology along with the history of ancient Iran and Central Asia.

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James R. Schlesinger, American economist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Defense and first United States Secretary of Energy (born 1929)

James Rodney Schlesinger was an American economist and statesman who was best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to becoming Secretary of Defense, he served as Chair of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1971 to 1973, and as CIA Director for a few months in 1973. He became America's first Secretary of Energy under Jimmy Carter in 1977, serving until 1979.

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27/03/2013

Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater (born 1923)

Hjalmar "Hjallis" Johan Andersen was a speed skater from Norway who won three gold medals at the 1952 Winter Olympic Games of Oslo, Norway. He was the only triple gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, and as such, became the most successful athlete there.

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Yvonne Brill, Canadian-American scientist and engineer (born 1924)

Yvonne Madelaine Brill was a Canadian American rocket and jet propulsion engineer. She is responsible for inventing the Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster (EHT/Resistojet), a fuel-efficient rocket thruster that keeps today’s satellites in orbit, and holds a patent for its invention. During her career she was involved in a broad range of national space programs in the United States, including NASA and the International Maritime Satellite Organization.

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Fay Kanin, American screenwriter and producer (born 1917)

Fay Kanin was an American screenwriter, playwright and producer. Kanin was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 1983.

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27/03/2012

Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist and feminist (born 1929)

Adrienne Cecile Rich was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse". Rich criticized the rigid identities that are sometimes created by feminism, called for feminism that is flexible and open to being transformed, and drew attention to the existing current of solidarity and creativity among women, which she named the "lesbian continuum."

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27/03/2011

Clement Arrindell, Nevisian judge and politician, 1st Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis (born 1931)

Sir Clement Athelston Arrindell was the first governor-general of Saint Kitts and Nevis, serving from 1983 to 1995, and also served as the country's final colonial governor, from 1981 to 1983.

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Farley Granger, American actor (born 1925)

Farley Earle Granger Jr. was an American actor. Granger was first noticed in a small stage production in Hollywood by a Goldwyn casting director, and given a significant role in The North Star (1943), a controversial film praising the Soviet Union at the height of World War II, but later condemned for its political position. Another war film, The Purple Heart (1944), followed, before Granger's naval service in Honolulu, in a unit that arranged troop entertainment in the Pacific. Here he made useful contacts, including Bob Hope, Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth. It was also where he began exploring his bisexuality, which he said he never felt any need to conceal.

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27/03/2010

Dick Giordano, American illustrator (born 1932)

Richard Joseph Giordano was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics.

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27/03/2009

Irving R. Levine, American journalist and author (born 1922)

Irving Raskin Levine was an American journalist and longtime correspondent for NBC News. During his 45-year career, Levine reported from more than two dozen countries. He was the first American television correspondent to be accredited in the Soviet Union. He wrote three non-fiction books on life in the USSR, each of which became a bestseller.

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27/03/2008

Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (born 1921)

Jean-Marie Balestre was a French motorsport administrator and journalist. From 1978 to 1991, Balestre served as president of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA); from 1985 to 1993, he also served as president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

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27/03/2007

Nancy Adams, New Zealand botanist and illustrator (born 1926)

Jacqueline Nancy Mary Adams was a New Zealand botanical illustrator, botanical collector, phycologist and museum curator. Throughout her career (1943–1987), she worked at DSIR and later at the Dominion Museum in different roles as technician, artist and assistant curator of botany. Largely self-taught, Adams collected over 3300 botanical specimens in New Zealand, illustrated nearly forty publications on algae and other native plants, and authored numerous scientific publications. Her major work, Seaweeds of New Zealand – An Illustrated Guide, was published in 1994.

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Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929)

Paul Christian Lauterbur was an American chemist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2003 with Peter Mansfield for his work which made the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) possible.

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27/03/2006

Dan Curtis, American director and producer (born 1928)

Daniel Mayer Cherkoss, known by his pen name Dan Curtis, was an American television and film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was best known as the creator of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71), and for directing the epic World War II miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and War and Remembrance (1988).

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Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish author (born 1921)

Stanisław Herman Lem was a Polish writer. He was the author of many novels, short stories, and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical and humorous character. Lem's books have been translated into more than 50 languages and have sold more than 45 million copies. Worldwide, he is best known as the author of the 1961 novel Solaris. In 1976, Theodore Sturgeon wrote that Lem was the most widely read science fiction writer in the world.

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Rudolf Vrba, Czech Holocaust survivor and educator (born 1924)

Rudolf Vrba was a Slovak-Jewish biochemist who, as a teenager in 1942, was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. He escaped from the camp in April 1944, at the height of the Holocaust, and co-wrote the Vrba-Wetzler report, a detailed report about the mass murder taking place there. The report, distributed by George Mantello in Switzerland, is credited with having halted the mass deportation of Hungary's Jews to Auschwitz in July 1944, saving more than 200,000 lives. After the war, Vrba trained as a biochemist, working mostly in England and Canada.

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Neil Williams, English cricketer (born 1962)

Neil Fitzgerald Williams was an England cricketer, who played first-class cricket for both Middlesex and Essex. In a first-class career spanning over seventeen years, he took 675 wickets and scored 4,457 runs.

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27/03/2005

Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (born 1913)

Wilfred Gordon "Bill" Bigelow was a Canadian heart surgeon known for his role in developing the artificial pacemaker and the use of hypothermia in open heart surgery.

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27/03/2004

Robert Merle, French author (born 1909)

Robert Merle was a French novelist.

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27/03/2003

Edwin Carr, New Zealand composer and educator (born 1926)

Edwin James Nairn Carr was a composer of classical music from New Zealand.

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27/03/2002

Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (born 1908)

Milton Berle was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over eight decades, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre (1948–1953), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during the first Golden Age of Television. He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in both radio and TV.

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Dudley Moore, English actor (born 1935)

Dudley Stuart John Moore was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. He first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-performers in the groundbreaking satirical comedy revue Beyond the Fringe from 1960 to 1964. With another member of that team, Peter Cook, Moore collaborated on the BBC television series Not Only... But Also from 1965 to 1970. In their popular double act, Moore's buffoonery contrasted with Cook's deadpan monologues. They jointly received the 1966 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance and worked together on other projects, such as the hit film Bedazzled (1967) and the Derek and Clive series of comedy albums. Moore and Cook ceased working together regularly after 1978, by which time Moore had settled in Los Angeles, California to concentrate on his film career.

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Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1906)

Billy Wilder was an Austrian-American filmmaker and screenwriter. Born in Sucha Beskidzka, at the time in Austria-Hungary, Wilder's career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most versatile filmmakers of classical Hollywood cinema. He received seven Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or and two Golden Globe Awards.

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27/03/2000

George Allen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1914)

George Trenholm Allen was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played Left wing in the National Hockey League, mostly for the Chicago Black Hawks, between 1938 and 1947. Allen was born in Bayfield, New Brunswick, but grew up in Kerrobert, Saskatchewan.

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Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter and actor (born 1942)

Ian Robins Dury was an English singer, songwriter and actor best remembered as the frontman of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Described by The Guardian as "one of few true originals of the English music scene", Dury drew from music hall and punk traditions, often incorporating observational humour and word play in his lyrics.

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27/03/1999

Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (born 1946)

Michael Vaillancourt Aris was a British historian who wrote and lectured on Bhutanese, Tibetan, and Himalayan culture and history. He was the husband of Aung San Suu Kyi, who would later become State Counsellor of Myanmar.

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27/03/1998

David McClelland, American psychologist and academic (born 1917)

David Clarence McClelland was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation need theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and its descendants. McClelland is credited with developing Achievement Motivation Theory, commonly referred to as "need for achievement" or n-achievement theory. A Review of General Psychology survey published in 2002, ranked McClelland as the 15th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

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27/03/1997

Lane Dwinell, American businessman and politician, 69th Governor of New Hampshire (born 1906)

Seymour Lane Dwinell was an American manufacturer and Republican politician from Lebanon, New Hampshire. Born in 1906 in Newport, Vermont, he served in and led both houses of the New Hampshire legislature before his tenure as the 69th governor of New Hampshire from 1955 to 1959. He died in 1997 aged 90 in Hanover, New Hampshire and is buried in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

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Ella Maillart, Swiss skier, sailor, field hockey player, and photographer (born 1903)

Ella Maillart was a Swiss adventurer, travel writer and photographer, as well as a sportswoman.

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27/03/1995

René Allio, French director and screenwriter (born 1924)

René Allio was a French film and theater director.

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27/03/1994

Elisabeth Schmid, German archaeologist and osteologist (born 1912)

Elisabeth Schmid was a German archaeologist and osteologist. She is best known for her work concerning the prehistoric ivory statue, the lion-man, and for her book, Atlas of Animal Bones. Schmid was the first woman to serve as dean of the natural sciences faculty of the University of Basel. In 1953 she co-founded the Swiss Archaeological Society with Rudolf Laur-Belart.

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Lawrence Wetherby, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Kentucky (born 1908)

Lawrence Winchester Wetherby was an American politician who served as 40th lieutenant governor and the 48th governor of Kentucky. He was the first of only two Kentucky governors born in Jefferson County, despite the fact that Louisville is the state's most populous city. The second governor born in Jefferson County is the incumbent governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, who grew up in the Lexington area. Two other governors have been elected when residents of Jefferson: Republicans Augustus Willson, 1907–11, and Matt Bevin, 2015–19.

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27/03/1993

Kamal Hassan Ali, Egyptian general and politician, Prime Minister of Egypt (born 1921)

General Kamal Hassan Ali was an Egyptian politician and military hero.

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Paul László, Hungarian-American architect and interior designer (born 1900)

Paul László or Paul Laszlo was a Hungarian-born architect and interior designer whose work spanned eight decades and many countries. László built his reputation while designing interiors for houses, but in the 1960s, largely shifted his focus to the design of retail and commercial interiors.

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27/03/1992

Colin Gibson, English footballer (born 1923)

Colin Haywood Gibson was an English footballer who scored 57 goals from 288 appearances in the Football League playing for Cardiff City, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Lincoln City. He played as an outside right or inside right.

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Lang Hancock, Australian businessman (born 1909)

Langley Frederick George Hancock was an Australian iron ore magnate from Western Australia who maintained a high profile in the spheres of business and politics. Famous initially for discovering the world's largest iron ore deposit in 1952 and becoming one of the richest men in Australia, he is now perhaps best remembered for his marriage to the much-younger Rose Porteous, a Filipino woman and his former maid. Hancock's daughter, Gina Rinehart, was bitterly opposed to Hancock's relationship with Porteous. The conflicts between Rinehart and Porteous overshadowed his final years and continued until more than a decade after his death.

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James E. Webb, American colonel and politician, 16th Under Secretary of State (born 1906)

James Edwin Webb was an American government official who served as Undersecretary of State from 1949 to 1952. He was the second administrator of NASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968. Webb led NASA from the beginning of the Kennedy administration through the end of the Johnson administration, thus overseeing each of the critical first crewed missions throughout the Mercury and Gemini programs until days before the launch of the first Apollo mission. He also dealt with the Apollo 1 fire. He helped found the National Academy of Public Administration, a key locus for governmental reform studies.

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27/03/1991

Aldo Ray, American actor (born 1926)

Aldo Ray was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Pictures before achieving stardom through his roles in The Marrying Kind, Pat and Mike, Let's Do It Again, and Battle Cry. His athletic build and gruff, raspy voice saw him frequently typecast in "tough guy" roles throughout his career, which lasted well into the late 1980s.

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27/03/1990

Percy Beard, American hurdler and coach (born 1908)

Percy Morris Beard was an American college and international track and field athlete who specialized in the high hurdles event, and won an Olympic silver medal. Beard later became a nationally prominent college track and field coach at the University of Florida.

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27/03/1989

May Allison, American actress (born 1890)

May Allison was an American actress whose greatest success was achieved in the early part of the 20th century in silent films, although she also appeared on stage.

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Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (born 1898)

Malcolm Cowley was an American writer, editor, historian, poet, and literary critic. His best known works include his first book of poetry, Blue Juniata (1929), and his memoir, Exile's Return, written as a chronicler and fellow traveller of the Lost Generation and an influential editor and talent scout at Viking Press.

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27/03/1988

Charles Willeford, American author, poet, and critic (born 1919)

Charles Ray Willeford III was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography and literary criticism, Willeford wrote a series of novels featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. Willeford published steadily from the 1940s on, but vaulted to wider attention with the first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues (1984), which is considered one of its era's most influential works of crime fiction. Film adaptations have been made of four of Willeford's novels: Cockfighter, Miami Blues, The Woman Chaser, and The Burnt Orange Heresy.

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27/03/1987

William Bowers, American journalist and screenwriter (born 1916)

William Bowers was an American reporter, playwright, and screenwriter. He worked as a reporter in Long Beach, California and for Life magazine, and specialized in writing comedy-westerns. He also turned out several thrillers.

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27/03/1982

Fazlur Khan, Bangladeshi-American engineer and architect, designed the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (born 1929)

Fazlur Rahman Khan was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect, who initiated important structural systems for skyscrapers. Considered the "father of tubular designs" for high-rises, Khan was also a pioneer in computer-aided design (CAD). He was the designer of the Sears Tower, since renamed Willis Tower, the tallest building in the world from 1973 until 1998, and the 100-story John Hancock Center.

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27/03/1981

Jakob Ackeret, Swiss engineer and academic (born 1898)

Jakob Ackeret, FRAeS was a Swiss aeronautical engineer. He is widely viewed as one of the foremost aeronautics experts of the 20th century.

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27/03/1980

Steve Fisher, American author and screenwriter (born 1912)

Stephen Gould Fisher was an American author best known for his pulp stories, novels and screenplays. He is one of the few pulp authors to go on to enjoy success as both an author in "slick" magazines, such as the Saturday Evening Post, and as an in-demand writer in Hollywood.

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27/03/1978

Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded the White Spot (born 1902)

Nathaniel Ryal Bailey, better known as Nat Bailey, was an American-born Canadian restaurateur, and the founder of White Spot restaurants. He is known for building the first drive-in restaurant in Canada, in 1928, and developing the first carhop tray. His chain of restaurants continues to thrive today.

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Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey (born 1922)

Kunwar Digvijay Singh, popularly known as "Babu", was an Indian field hockey player. He was born in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. He is widely known for his passing ability and is considered by many to be the greatest dribbler of the game comparable only to Dhyan Chand.

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Sverre Farstad, Norwegian speed skater (born 1920)

Sverre Farstad was a Norwegian speed skater representing Sportsklubben Falken, Trondheim, as part of the Falken Trio also including Henry Wahl and Hjalmar Andersen. Farstad won one Olympic gold medal and one European Championship in his three-year international career.

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27/03/1977

Shirley Graham Du Bois, American author, playwright, and composer (born 1896)

Shirley Graham Du Bois was an American-Ghanaian writer, playwright, composer, and activist for African-American causes, among others. She won the Messner and the Anisfield-Wolf prizes for her works. She was also the wife of activist W. E. B. Du Bois.

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Diana Hyland, American actress (born 1936)

Diana Hyland was an American stage, film, and television actress.

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Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch airline pilot (born 1927)

Jacob Louis "Jaap" Veldhuyzen van Zanten was a Dutch aircraft captain and flight instructor. He was the captain of the KLM plane involved in the Tenerife airport disaster and died in the collision, which is the deadliest accident in aviation history. He was KLM's chief instructor and commonly appeared on advertising.

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27/03/1976

Georg August Zinn, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Hesse (born 1901)

Georg August Zinn was a German lawyer and a politician of the SPD. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1951 representing Kassel, the 2nd Minister-President of Hesse from 1950 to 1969 and served as the 5th and 16th President of the Bundesrat in 1953/54 and 1964/65.

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27/03/1975

Arthur Bliss, English conductor and composer (born 1891)

Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss was British composer and conductor.

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27/03/1974

Eduardo Santos, Colombian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of Colombia (born 1888)

Eduardo Santos Montejo was a Colombian publisher and politician who was President of Colombia from 1938 to 1942.

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27/03/1973

Mikhail Kalatozov, Georgian-Russian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (born 1903)

Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov, born Mikheil Kalatozishvili, was a Soviet film director of Georgian origin who contributed to both Georgian and Russian cinema. He is known for his films The Cranes Are Flying and I Am Cuba, winning the Palme d'Or for the former at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. Kalatozov received the State Stalin Prize in 1951. In 1969, he was named a People's Artist of the USSR.

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27/03/1972

Lorenzo Wright, American athlete (born 1926)

Lorenzo Christopher Wright was an American athlete. A Detroit native, he started at Miller High School and Wayne State University; Wright is renowned for his noteworthy track and field accomplishments.

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27/03/1968

Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (born 1934)

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first person to journey into outer space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes. By achieving this major milestone for the Soviet Union amidst the Space Race, he became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including his country's highest distinction: Hero of the Soviet Union.

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Vladimir Seryogin, Russian soldier and pilot (born 1922)

Vladimir Sergeyevich Seryogin was a Soviet test pilot.

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27/03/1967

Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1890)

Jaroslav Heyrovský was a Czech chemist and inventor who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1959 for his invention of polarography.

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27/03/1960

Gregorio Marañón, Spanish physician, philosopher, and author (born 1887)

Gregorio Marañón y Posadillo, OWL was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, and they had four children.

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27/03/1958

Leon C. Phillips, American lawyer and politician, 11th Governor of Oklahoma (born 1890)

Leon Chase "Red" Phillips was an American attorney, a state legislator and the 11th governor of Oklahoma from 1939 to 1943. As Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Phillips made a name for himself as an obstructionist of the proposals of governors William H. Murray and E.W. Marland, including components of the New Deal. As governor, Phillips pushed for deep cuts, but was unable to avoid an unbalanced budget.

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27/03/1956

Évariste Lévi-Provençal, French orientalist and historian (born 1894)

Évariste Lévi-Provençal was a French medievalist, orientalist, Arabist, and historian of Islam.

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27/03/1952

Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (born 1894)

Kiichiro Toyoda was a Japanese engineer and businessman, and the son of Toyoda Loom Works founder Sakichi Toyoda. His decision to change Toyoda's focus from automatic loom manufacture into automobile manufacturing created what later became Toyota.

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27/03/1949

Elisheva Bikhovski, Israeli-Russian poet (born 1888)

Elisheva Bikhovski was a Russian and Israeli poet, writer, literary critic and translator, often known simply by her adopted Biblical Hebrew name "Elishéva". Her Russian Orthodox father, Ivan Zhirkov, was a village teacher who later became a bookseller and textbook publisher; her mother was descended from Irish Catholics who had settled in Russia after the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). Elisheva wrote most of her works in Hebrew, and also translated English and Hebrew poetry into Russian.

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27/03/1946

Karl Groos, German psychologist and philosopher (born 1861)

Karl Groos was a German philosopher and psychologist who proposed an evolutionary instrumentalist theory of play. His 1898 book on The Play of Animals suggested that play is a preparation for later life.

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27/03/1945

Vincent Hugo Bendix, American engineer and businessman, founded Bendix Corporation (born 1881)

Vincent Hugo Bendix was an American inventor and industrialist. Vincent Bendix was a pioneer and leader in both the automotive and aviation industries during the 1920s and 1930s.

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Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (born 1866)

Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil was a Turkish author, poet, and playwright. A part of the Edebiyat-ı Cedide movement of the late Ottoman Empire, he was the founder of and contributor to many literary movements and institutions, including his flagship Servet-i Fünun journal. He was a strong critic of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II, which led to the censorship of much of his work by the Ottoman government. His many novels, plays, short stories, and essays include his 1899 romance novel Aşk-ı Memnu, which has been adapted into an internationally successful television series of the same name.

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27/03/1943

George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1882)

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.

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27/03/1942

Julio González, Catalan sculptor and painter (born 1876)

Julio González i Pellicer, born in Barcelona, was a Spanish sculptor and painter who developed the expressive use of iron as a medium for modern sculpture. Known as "the father of all iron sculpture of this century", he was associated with the Spanish circle of artists of Montmartre. He came from a lineage of metalsmith workers and artists.

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27/03/1940

Michael Joseph Savage, Australian-New Zealand politician, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1872)

Michael Joseph Savage was an Australian-born New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940.

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Dan Kolov, Bulgarian professional wrestler (born 1892)

Doncho Kolev Danev, better known by the ring name Dan Kolov, was a Bulgarian professional wrestler born in Sennik, Bulgaria who was the first European freestyle wrestling champion from Bulgaria. He is also famously known for rejecting the offer to become a bodyguard for one of the most powerful mobsters in history Al Capone.

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27/03/1938

William Stern, German-American psychologist and philosopher (born 1871)

Louis William Stern was a German American psychologist and philosopher who originated personalistic psychology, which placed emphasis on the individual by examining measurable personality traits as well as the interaction of those traits within each person to create the self.

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27/03/1934

Francis William Reitz, South African lawyer and politician, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (born 1844)

Francis William Reitz Jr. was a South African lawyer, politician, statesman, publicist, and poet who was a member of parliament of the Cape Colony, Chief Justice and fifth State President of the Orange Free State, State Secretary of the South African Republic at the time of the Second Boer War, and the first president of the Senate of the Union of South Africa.

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27/03/1931

Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (born 1867)

Enoch Arnold Bennett was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays, and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information during the First World War, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. Sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day.

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27/03/1928

Leslie Stuart, English organist and composer (born 1863)

Leslie Stuart born Thomas Augustine Barrett was an English composer of Edwardian musical comedy, best known for the hit show Florodora (1899) and many popular songs.

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27/03/1927

Joe Start, American baseball player and manager (born 1842)

Joseph Start, nicknamed "Old Reliable", was one of the most durable regulars of baseball's earliest era, and one of the top first basemen of his time. He began his playing career in 1859, before the formation of organized leagues and before ballplayers received payment for their services. He continued to play regularly until 1886, when he was 43. Start's career spanned countless innovations that transformed the game in fundamental ways, but he adjusted and continued to play at a high level for almost three decades. Baseball historian Bill Ryczek said that Start "was the last of the pre–Civil War players to hang up his cleats."

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Klaus Berntsen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (born 1844)

Klaus Berntsen was a Danish politician, representing the Liberal party, Venstre. He was Council President of Denmark from 1910 to 1913. He served as minister of defence from 1910 to 1913 and again from 1920 to 1922. He was also minister of the interior from 1908 to 1909.

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27/03/1926

Kick Kelly, American baseball player, manager, and umpire (born 1856)

John O. "Kick" Kelly, also nicknamed "Honest John" and "Diamond John", was an American catcher, manager and umpire in Major League Baseball who went on to become a boxing referee and to run gambling houses in his native New York City. He made a notable impact on the development of umpiring, helping to pioneer the use of multiple umpires in games in the 1880s. By the time he initially retired in 1888, he held the record for most games umpired in the major leagues (587); he returned to work the last two months of the 1897 season.

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Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1887)

Joseph Georges Gonzague Vézina was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. A goaltender, he played seven seasons in the National Hockey Association (NHA) and nine in the National Hockey League (NHL), all with the Montreal Canadiens. After being signed by the Canadiens in 1910, Vézina played in 327 consecutive regular season games and a further 39 playoff games, before leaving early during a game in 1925 due to illness. Vézina was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and died on March 27, 1926.

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27/03/1925

Carl Neumann, German mathematician and academic (born 1832)

Carl Gottfried Neumann was a German mathematical physicist and professor at several German universities. His work focused on applications of potential theory to physics and mathematics. He contributed to the mathematical formalization of electrodynamics and analytical mechanics. Neumann boundary conditions and the Neumann series are named after him.

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27/03/1923

James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (born 1842)

Sir James Dewar was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction for his research into the liquefaction of gases. He also studied atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than 25 years. Dewar was nominated for the Nobel Prize 8 times — 5 times in Physics and 3 times in Chemistry — but he was never so honoured.

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27/03/1922

Nikolay Sokolov, Russian composer and educator (born 1859)

Nikolay Alexandrovich Sokolov was a Russian composer of classical music and a member of the circle that grew around the publisher Mitrofan Belyayev.

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27/03/1921

Harry Barron, English general and politician, 16th Governor of Western Australia (born 1847)

Major-General Sir Harry Barron, was a British Army officer who served as Governor of Tasmania from 1909 to 1913, and Governor of Western Australia from 1913 to 1917.

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27/03/1918

Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (born 1838)

Henry Brooks Adams was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Francis Adams, Abraham Lincoln's ambassador to the United Kingdom. The posting influenced the younger man through the experience of wartime diplomacy and absorption in English culture, especially the works of John Stuart Mill. After the American Civil War, he became a political journalist who entertained America's foremost intellectuals at his homes in Washington and Boston.

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Martin Sheridan, Irish-American discus thrower and jumper (born 1881)

Martin John Sheridan was an Irish-American athlete and three time Olympic Games gold medallist in discus throw.

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27/03/1913

Richard Montgomery Gano, American minister, physician, and general (born 1830)

Richard Montgomery Gano was a physician, Protestant minister, and brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.

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27/03/1910

Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss-American ichthyologist, zoologist, and engineer (born 1835)

Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz, was an American scientist and engineer. He was the son of Louis Agassiz and stepson of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz,

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27/03/1900

Joseph A. Campbell, American businessman, founded the Campbell Soup Company (born 1817)

Joseph Albert Campbell was an American businessman who is best known for founding Campbell Soup Company in 1869 when he partnered with Abraham Anderson.

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27/03/1898

Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian philosopher and activist (born 1817)

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British Raj.

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27/03/1897

Andreas Anagnostakis, Greek ophthalmologist, physician, and educator (born 1826)

Andreas Anagnostakis was a Greek ophthalmologist, physician, and educator. He is best known for inventing the ophthalmoscope, a handheld tool used in diagnostics and still relevant today. He is credited as the first ophthalmologist in Greece.

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27/03/1890

Carl Jacob Löwig, German chemist and academic (born 1803)

Carl Jacob Löwig was a German chemist and discovered bromine independently of Antoine Jérôme Balard.

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27/03/1889

John Bright, English politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (born 1811)

John Bright was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies.

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27/03/1886

Henry Taylor, English poet and playwright (born 1800)

Sir Henry Taylor was an English dramatist and poet and Colonial Office official.

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27/03/1878

George Gilbert Scott, English architect, designed the Albert Memorial and St Mary's Cathedral (born 1811)

Sir George Gilbert Scott, largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started his career as a leading designer of workhouses. Over 800 buildings were designed or altered by him.

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27/03/1875

Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, Peruvian soldier and politician, President of Peru (born 1808)

Juan Crisóstomo Torrico Vargas served as the 16th President of Peru during a brief period in 1842. At age 34, he was Peru's youngest President ever.

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Edgar Quinet, French historian and academic (born 1803)

Edgar Quinet was a French historian and intellectual.

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27/03/1869

James Harper, American publisher and politician, 65th Mayor of New York City (born 1795)

James Harper was an American publisher and politician. Along with his brother John, Harper formed publishing company J. & J. Harper in 1817. He incorporated his brothers Joseph and Fletcher into the company in 1825, changing its name to Harper & Brothers.

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27/03/1864

Jean-Jacques Ampère, French philologist and academic (born 1800)

Jean-Jacques Ampère was a French philologist and man of letters.

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27/03/1850

Wilhelm Beer, Prussian astronomer and banker (born 1797)

Wilhelm Wolff Beer was a banker and astronomer from Berlin, Prussia, and the brother of Giacomo Meyerbeer.

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27/03/1849

Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, Irish-Canadian politician, 35th Governor General of Canada (born 1776)

Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford,, styled The Honourable Archibald Acheson from 1790 to 1806 and Lord Acheson from 1806 to 1807, was a British politician who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Lower Canada and Governor General of British North America in the 19th century.

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27/03/1848

Gabriel Bibron, French zoologist and herpetologist (born 1805)

Gabriel Bibron was a French zoologist and herpetologist. He was born in Paris. The son of an employee of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, he had a good foundation in natural history and was hired to collect vertebrates in Italy and Sicily. Under the direction of Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846), he took part in the Morea expedition to Peloponnese.

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27/03/1770

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (born 1696)

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, also known as Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school. He was prolific, and worked not only in Italy, but also in Germany and Spain.

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27/03/1757

Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (born 1717)

Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz was a Czech composer and violinist. Johann is considered the founding father of the Mannheim school, a composition style that his two surviving sons, Carl and Anton Stamitz, continued. His music is stylistically transitional between the Baroque and Classical periods and he is recognized for many innovations.

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27/03/1729

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (born 1679)

Leopold the Good was Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to his death. Through his son Francis Stephen, he is the direct male ancestor of all rulers of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, including all Emperors of Austria.

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27/03/1697

Simon Bradstreet, English businessman and politician, 20th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (born 1603)

Simon Bradstreet was a New England merchant, politician and colonial administrator who served as the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679.

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27/03/1679

Abraham Mignon, Dutch painter (born 1640)

Abraham Mignon or Minjon was a Dutch still life painter. He is known for his flower pieces, still lifes with fruit, still lifes in forests or grottoes, still lifes of game and fish as well as his garland paintings. His works are influenced by those of Jan Davidszoon de Heem and Jacob Marrel.

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27/03/1676

Bernardino de Rebolledo, Spanish poet, soldier, and diplomat (born 1597)

Bernardino de Rebolledo y Villamizar, Earl of Rebolledo and Graf (Count) of the Holy Roman Empire was a Spanish poet, soldier and diplomat. He was a descendant of the 1st Count of Rebolledo, don Rodrigo, who received his surname and title from the king of Asturias and León don Ramiro I in 815 during the Reconquista.

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27/03/1635

Robert Naunton, English politician (born 1563)

Sir Robert Naunton was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1606 and 1626.

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27/03/1625

James VI and I of the United Kingdom (born 1566)

James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603, until his death in 1625. Though he long attempted to get both countries to adopt a closer political union, the kingdoms of Scotland and England remained sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciaries and laws; they were ruled by James in personal union.

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27/03/1624

Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (born 1578)

Prince Ulrik John of Denmark, was a son of King Frederick II of Denmark and his consort, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. As the second-born son he bore the merely titular rank of Duke of Holstein and Schleswig, Stormarn and Ditmarsh and had no share in the royal-ducal condominial rule of Holstein and Schleswig, wielded by the heads of the houses of Oldenburg (royal) and its cadet branch Holstein-Gottorp (ducal). Since 1602 he held the religiously defunct position of Bishop of Schleswig, enjoying the revenues of the implied estates and manor. The year after he succeeded his grandfather as Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin, holding both posts until his death.

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27/03/1621

Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian cardinal (born 1554)

Benedetto Giustiniani was an Italian clergyman who was made a cardinal in the consistory of 16 November 1586 by Pope Sixtus V.

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27/03/1615

Margaret of Valois (born 1553)

Margaret of Valois, popularly known as Queen Margot, was Queen of Navarre from 1572 to 1599 and Queen of France from 1589 to 1599 as the consort of Henry IV of France and III of Navarre.

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27/03/1613

Sigismund Báthory (born 1573)

Sigismund Báthory was Prince of Transylvania several times between 1586 and 1602, and Duke of Racibórz and Opole in Silesia in 1598. His father, Christopher Báthory, ruled Transylvania as voivode of the absent prince, Stephen Báthory. Sigismund was still a child when the Diet of Transylvania elected him voivode at his dying father's request in 1581. Initially, regency councils administered Transylvania on his behalf, but Stephen Báthory made János Ghyczy the sole regent in 1585. Sigismund adopted the title of prince after Stephen Báthory died.

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27/03/1598

Theodor de Bry, Belgian-German engraver, goldsmith, and publisher (born 1528)

Theodor de Bry was a Walloon engraver, goldsmith, editor and publisher, famous for his depictions of early European expeditions to the Americas. The Spanish Inquisition forced de Bry, a Protestant, to flee his native, Spanish-controlled Southern Netherlands. He moved around Europe, starting from his birth on the city of Liège in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, then to Strasbourg, Antwerp, London and Frankfurt, where he settled.

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27/03/1572

Girolamo Maggi, Italian polymath (born c. 1523)

Girolamo Maggi, also known by his Latin name Hieronymus Magius, was an Italian scholar, jurist, poet, military engineer, urban planner, philologist, archaeologist, mathematician, and naturalist who studied at Bologna under Francis Robortello. He authored several works, including a collection of poems on the Flemish wars,, one detailing military fortifications, and several on the subject of philosophy.

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27/03/1564

Lütfi Pasha, Turkish historian and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1488)

Lütfi Pasha was an Ottoman- Albanian statesman, general, and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent from 1539 to 1541. He wrote 21 works mainly on religious topics and history, 13 of them written in Arabic and eight in Turkish. Two of his works are the Asafname, a kind of mirror for ministers, and the Tevâriḫ-i Âl-i ‘Os̱mân, dealing with Ottoman history and including his own experiences in the reign of the sultans Bayezid II, Selim I and Suleyman I.

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27/03/1482

Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1457)

Mary of Burgundy, nicknamed the Rich, was a member of the House of Valois-Burgundy, and ruler in her own right over much of the Valois-Burgundian lands, from 1477 to 1482. Her effective rule extended over major part of the Burgundian Netherlands, while she also claimed the rest of the Burgundian inheritance, including domains that were seized by her cousin, the French king Louis XI in 1477, such as the Duchy of Burgundy, the Free County of Burgundy and several other lands, both within the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

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27/03/1472

Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop and poet (born 1434)

Janus Pannonius was an influential intellectual in the Kingdom of Hungary, a Latinist, poet, diplomat and Bishop of Pécs. He was the most significant poet of the Renaissance in the Kingdom of Hungary and one of the better-known figures of humanist poetry in Europe.

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27/03/1462

Vasily II of Moscow (born 1415)

Vasily II Vasilyevich, nicknamed the Blind or the Dark, was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1425 until his death in 1462.

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27/03/1378

Pope Gregory XI (born 1336)

Pope Gregory XI was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death, in March 1378. He was the seventh and last Avignon pope and the most recent French pope. In 1377, Gregory XI returned the papal court to Rome, ending nearly 70 years of papal residency in Avignon, in modern-day France. His death was swiftly followed by the Western Schism involving two Avignon-based antipopes.

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27/03/1248

Maud Marshal, English countess (born 1192)

Maud Marshal, Countess of Norfolk, Countess of Surrey was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and her mother Isabel de Clare suo jure 4th Countess of Pembroke. Maud was their eldest daughter. She had two husbands: Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, and William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey.

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27/03/1184

Giorgi III, King of Georgia

George III, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the 8th King (mepe) of Georgia from 1156 to 1184. He became king when his father, Demetrius I, died in 1156, which was preceded by his brother's revolt against their father in 1154. His reign was part of what would be called the Georgian Golden Age – a historical period in the High Middle Ages, during which the Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its military power and development.

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27/03/1045

Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara'i, Fatimid vizier

Abu’l-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Jarjarāʾī was a Fatimid official of Iraqi origin, who served as the Fatimid vizier from 1027 until his death on 27 March 1045.

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27/03/0973

Hermann Billung, Frankish lieutenant (born 900)

Hermann Billung was a prominent German noble from Saxony in the East Frankish Kingdom, who was a notable military commander and count, serving as royal governor of the Duchy of Saxony during the reign of king and emperor Otto I (936–973). As such, he was entrusted with the defense of Saxon eastern regions and borders towards the neighboring Polabian Slavs. He became the founder of the House of Billung, that had a prominent role in the medieval history of northern German lands.

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27/03/0965

Arnulf I, Count of Flanders (born c. 890)

Arnulf I, called "the Great", was the first Count of Flanders.

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27/03/0916

Alduin I, Frankish nobleman

Alduin I was the Count of Angoulême from 886.

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27/03/0913

Du Xiao, chancellor of Later Liang

Du Xiao (杜曉), courtesy name Mingyuan (明遠), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty and Later Liang, serving as a chancellor during Later Liang.

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Zhang empress of Later Liang

Empress Zhang was the wife and empress of Zhu Yougui, who reigned briefly as the emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Liang.

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27/03/0853

Haymo of Halberstadt, German bishop and author (born 778)

Haymo was a German Benedictine monk who served as bishop of Halberstadt, and was a noted author.

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27/03/0710

Rupert of Salzburg, Austrian bishop and saint (born 660)

Rupert of Salzburg was Bishop of Worms as well as the first Bishop of Salzburg and abbot of St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg. He was a contemporary of the Frankish king Childebert III. Rupert is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Rupert is also patron saint of the Austrian state of Salzburg.

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