Born on Monday, 12th May – Famous Birthdays

12/05/2006

Vasilije Adžić, Montenegrin footballer

Vasilije Adžić is a Montenegrin professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Juventus and the Montenegro national team.

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12/05/2005

Zach Benson, Canadian ice hockey player

Zachary Ruben Benson is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a winger for the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 13th overall by the Sabres in the 2023 NHL entry draft.

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12/05/2001

Issa Kaboré, Burkinabé footballer

Issa Kaboré is a Burkinabé professional footballer who plays as a right-back or right wing-back for EFL Championship club Wrexham, on loan from Premier League club Manchester City, and the Burkina Faso national team.

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12/05/1999

Hiroki Itō, Japanese footballer

Hiroki Ito is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back, left-back and defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Japan national team.

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12/05/1998

Mo Bamba, American-Ivorian basketball player

Mohamed Fakaba Bamba is an Ivorian-American professional basketball player who last played for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns. He was highly regarded by scouts due to his 7 ft 10 in (2.39 m) wingspan and shooting ability. He attended Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire, and Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and was considered one of the top high school prospects for the class of 2017.

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12/05/1997

Frenkie de Jong, Dutch footballer

Frenkie de Jong is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Netherlands national team.

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12/05/1996

Fabrice Olinga, Cameroonian footballer

Fabrice Olinga Essono, known as Olinga, is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a forward.

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Kostas Tsimikas, Greek footballer

Konstantinos "Kostas" Tsimikas is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Serie A club Roma, on loan from Premier League club Liverpool, and the Greece national team.

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12/05/1993

Timo Horn, German footballer

Timo Phil Horn is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for 2. Bundesliga club VfL Bochum. He began his professional career with 1. FC Köln, where he spent over a decade as the club's first-choice goalkeeper and made more than 300 appearances. After leaving Köln in 2023, he had a brief spell with Red Bull Salzburg before returning to Germany with VfL Bochum in 2024.

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12/05/1992

Erik Durm, German footballer

Erik Durm is a German former professional footballer who played as a full-back.

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12/05/1990

Florent Amodio, French figure skater

Florent Amodio is a French figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 2011 European champion, a four-time French national champion, and the 2008 JGP Final champion. He has represented France at two Winter Olympics.

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Etika, American YouTuber and live streamer (died 2019)

Desmond Daniel Amofah, better known as Etika, was an American YouTuber and live streamer. Amofah became known online for his dramatic reactions to Super Smash Bros. character trailers, Nintendo Direct presentations, and for playing and reacting to various games. He resided in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, his father is the Ghanaian politician Owuraku Amofah and his granduncle is the former Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo. Starting his online career in 2007, Amofah created his main YouTube channel, "EWNetwork", in 2012. His fanbase was dubbed the "JOYCONBOYZ" in reference to the Nintendo Switch controller, the Joy-Con. He garnered popularity following the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, primarily stemming from his reaction videos of news surrounding the game. His content consisted of playthroughs of various video games, reaction videos, and pre-recorded material. Across his multiple YouTube channels, he amassed over 1 million subscribers and 146 million views.

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12/05/1989

Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Greek Cypriot singer, musician, and actress

Eleftheria Eleftheriou is a Greek Cypriot singer. She came to prominence through her participation in the second season of the Greek version of The X Factor. Shortly after her elimination, Sony Music Greece signed her and submitted her as a candidate to represent Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. She was later disqualified from the national final, following the leak of her song onto the internet by an unknown party.

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12/05/1988

Marcelo, Brazilian footballer

Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior, known as Marcelo, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. Widely regarded as one of the greatest left-backs of all time, he is known for his attacking capabilities. He spent most of his career with La Liga club Real Madrid and is one of the club’s most decorated players, winning 25 trophies.

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12/05/1987

Lance Lynn, American baseball player

Michael Lance Lynn is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Between 2011 and 2024, he played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Kieron Pollard, Trinidadian cricketer

Kieron Adrian Pollard is a Trinidadian cricketer, who captained the West Indies cricket team in limited overs cricket. He used to play in various T20 leagues around the globe as an all-rounder. He also used to captain MI Cape Town, MI Emirates and MI New York in the SA20, ILT20 and MLC respectively. He is currently playing for the Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League. He is also the batting coach of the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League and was the assistant coach of the England cricket team for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. He was part of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 winning team for West Indies. During his period, he was one of the most aggressive batsmen and he also has the record of six 6s in an over against Sri Lanka.

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Darren Randolph, Irish footballer

Darren Edward Andrew Randolph is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He represented the Republic of Ireland national team in football, and Ireland at basketball.

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12/05/1986

Emily VanCamp, Canadian actress

Emily Irene VanCamp is a Canadian actress. She gained acclaim and international recognition for portraying the lead role of Emily Thorne on the ABC series Revenge (2011–2015). She also starred on the Fox medical drama series The Resident (2018–2021).

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12/05/1983

Domhnall Gleeson, Irish actor

Domhnall Gleeson is an Irish actor and screenwriter. The son of actor Brendan Gleeson, he studied media arts at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He began his career by directing and writing short films, and garnered a Tony Award nomination in 2006 for his role in the Broadway production The Lieutenant of Inishmore. He had a supporting role in Never Let Me Go (2010) and became known to a wider audience for his portrayal of Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter film series (2010–2011).

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Yujiro Kushida, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist

Yujiro Kushida is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, better known by his mononymous ring name Kushida. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and also makes appearances for Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he is a member of Contra Unit and the current MLW World Middleweight Champion in his first reign.

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12/05/1981

Rami Malek, American actor

Rami Said Malek is an Egyptian-American actor. He gained recognition for portraying Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), for which he won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2019, becoming the first actor of Egyptian heritage to win in that category. He played computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

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12/05/1980

Rishi Sunak, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Rishi Sunak is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's Labour Party in the 2024 general election, he became Leader of the Opposition, serving in this role from July to November 2024. He previously held two Cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, latterly as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. Sunak is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond and Northallerton, previously Richmond (Yorks), since 2015.

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12/05/1979

Steve Smith Sr., American football player

Stevonne Latrall Smith Sr., better known as Steve Smith, is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers. He played college football for the Utah Utes and was selected by the Panthers in the third round of the 2001 NFL draft. Smith spent 13 seasons in Carolina and three with the Baltimore Ravens. After retiring from the NFL, Smith became a sports analyst and show host for NFL Network.

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12/05/1978

Malin Åkerman, Swedish-Canadian model, actress, and singer

Malin Maria Åkerman, often anglicised to Malin Akerman, is a Swedish and American actress. She first appeared in smaller parts in both Canadian and American productions, including The Utopian Society (2003) and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004). Following a main role on the HBO mockumentary series The Comeback (2005), Akerman co-starred in the commercially successful romantic comedies The Heartbreak Kid (2007) and 27 Dresses (2008). She gained wider recognition for her role as Silk Spectre II in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen, for which she received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

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Jason Biggs, American actor and comedian

Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor. He is best known for his lead role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie film series (1999–2012). His other notable lead credits include Loser (2000), Saving Silverman (2001), Anything Else (2003), My Best Friend's Girl (2008), Life Happens (2011), Grassroots (2012), and Best. Christmas. Ever! (2023).

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12/05/1977

Graeme Dott, Scottish snooker player and coach

Graeme Dott is a Scottish former professional snooker player from Glasgow. He turned professional in 1994, first entered the top 16 in 2001, and reached his first world final at the 2004 World Championship, losing 8–18 to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Two years later, he defeated Peter Ebdon 18–14 in the final of the 2006 World Championship, winning his first world title and first ranking title. He claimed his second ranking title at the 2007 China Open, defeating Jamie Cope 9–5 in the final, and reached his career highest ranking of second in the 2007–08 rankings.

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Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (died 2017)

Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. Her research topics included Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry. On 13 August 2014, Mirzakhani was honored with the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics, becoming the first woman to win the prize, as well as the first Iranian. The award committee cited her work in "the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces". Mirzakhani was considered a leading force in the fields of hyperbolic geometry, topology and dynamics.

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12/05/1976

Bruno Lage, Portuguese football manager

Bruno Miguel Silva do Nascimento, known as Bruno Lage, is a Portuguese football manager who last managed Primeira Liga club Benfica.

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12/05/1975

Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player (died 2015)

Jonah Tali Lomu was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in the history of the sport, and as one of the most talented sportsmen ever. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game.

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12/05/1972

Rhea Seehorn, American actress

Deborah Rhea Seehorn is an American actress and director. She is best known for playing attorney Kim Wexler in the AMC legal crime drama series Better Call Saul (2015–2022) and novelist Carol Sturka in the Apple TV science fiction thriller series Pluribus (2025–present).

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12/05/1970

Jim Furyk, American golfer

James Michael Furyk is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. In 2010, he was the FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year. He has won one major championship, the 2003 U.S. Open. Furyk holds the record for the lowest score in PGA Tour history, a round of 58 which he shot during the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship, and has earned notoriety for his unorthodox golf swing.

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Samantha Mathis, American actress

Samantha Mathis is an American actress and trade union leader who served as the Vice President, Actors/Performers of SAG-AFTRA from 2015 to 2019. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in Pump Up the Volume (1990), and later co-starred or appeared in such films as FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992), Super Mario Bros. (1993), The Thing Called Love (1993), Little Women (1994), The American President (1995), Jack and Sarah (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), American Psycho (2000), The Punisher (2004), and Atlas Shrugged: Part II (2012). She has also had recurring roles on The Strain as New York City Councilwoman Justine Feraldo, and on Billions as Taylor Mason Capital COO Sara Hammon.

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Mike Weir, Canadian golfer

Michael Richard Weir, is a Canadian professional golfer. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 110 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 2001 and 2005. He plays golf left-handed and is best known for winning the Masters Tournament in 2003, making him the only Canadian man to ever win a major championship.

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12/05/1969

Kim Fields, American actress

Kim Fields Morgan is an American actress and director. She first gained fame as a child actress on the television series Good Times (1978–1979), and rose to greater prominence for her role as Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey on the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1979–1981), as well as its spin-off The Facts of Life (1979–1988).

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12/05/1968

Tony Hawk, American skateboarder and actor

Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game series named after him, published by Activision that same year. Hawk, who retired from competing professionally in 2003, is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential skateboarders of all time.

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12/05/1967

Bill Shorten, Australian politician

William Richard Shorten is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Labor Party from 2013 to 2019, and served as a cabinet minister in the Gillard, Rudd and Albanese governments.

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12/05/1966

Stephen Baldwin, American actor

Stephen Andrew Baldwin is an American actor. He has appeared in the films Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Posse (1993), 8 Seconds, Threesome, The Usual Suspects (1995), Bio-Dome (1996) and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000). Baldwin also starred in the television series The Young Riders (1989–1992) and as himself in the reality shows Celebrity Big Brother 7, in which he placed 9th in the United Kingdom, and The Celebrity Apprentice. In 2004, he directed Livin' It, a Christian-themed skateboarding DVD. He is the youngest of the four Baldwin brothers.

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12/05/1965

Mark Thomas, British sprinter

Mark Thomas is a British former sprinter specializing in the 400 metres. He was the 1988 AAA Indoor Championships winner in his event, and he won the silver medal representing the U.K. at the 1987 World Athletics Championships by virtue of running in the heats and semi-finals.

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12/05/1962

Emilio Estevez, American actor

Emilio Estévez is an American actor and filmmaker. The son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen, he made his film debut with an uncredited role in Badlands (1973). He later received his first credited appearance with a supporting role in the coming-of-age film Tex (1982).

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Brett Gurewitz, American guitarist and songwriter

Brett W. Gurewitz, nicknamed Mr. Brett, is an American musician and record producer, best known as the co-founder and guitarist of the punk band Bad Religion. He is also the owner of the music label Epitaph Records and a number of sister labels. He has produced albums for Bad Religion as well as Epitaph Records labelmates NOFX, Rancid, and Pennywise, among others. Gurewitz also had a project called Error, which also featured Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Greg Puciato. He is also the co-founder of comic book and graphic novel publisher, Black Mask Studios.

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12/05/1959

Ving Rhames, American actor

Irving Rameses Rhames is an American actor. Born and raised in Harlem, New York City, he studied drama at SUNY Purchase before transferring to the Juilliard School, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1983. After early stage work in Shakespeare and contemporary plays, he made his screen debut in 1985 and gained attention through roles in Jacob's Ladder (1990), The People Under the Stairs (1991), and as Marsellus Wallace in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994). Rhames achieved further recognition as Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible film series, appearing in all eight installments.

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12/05/1957

Lou Whitaker, American baseball player

Louis Rodman Whitaker Jr., nicknamed "Sweet Lou", is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Whitaker spent his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. From 1977 to 1995, he appeared in 2,390 games for the Tigers, third most in franchise history behind Ty Cobb and Al Kaline. He helped the Tigers win the 1984 World Series, was selected as an American League All-Star five consecutive years (1983–1987) and won four Silver Slugger Awards and three Gold Glove Awards (1983–1985). The Tigers retired his No. 1 jersey in August 2022.

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12/05/1952

Domingos Maubere, East Timorese Catholic priest and activist (died 2025)

Domingos da Silva Soares, popularly known as Padre Maubere or Amu Du, was an East Timorese Roman Catholic priest, activist, and independence leader. Born in Letefoho in what was then Portuguese Timor, he attended seminary in Portugal and was ordained in 1978. In 1980, he returned to East Timor and became involved in the resistance against the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999), often supporting the guerrillas and coordinating with the movement's leaders. As a pastor in Timor-Leste, he served in parishes in Ossu, Letefoho, Ermera, Suai, and Becora, Dili.

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12/05/1951

George Karl, American basketball player and coach

George Matthew Karl is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, he became an assistant with the team before being appointed as a head coach in 1980 with the Montana Golden Nuggets of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). Three years later, Karl became one of the youngest National Basketball Association (NBA) head coaches in history when he was named coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers at age 33. By the time his coaching career came to an end in 2016, Karl coached nine different teams in three different leagues, which included being named Coach of the Year three combined times with one championship roster in the FIBA Saporta Cup. He is one of nine coaches in NBA history to have won 1,000 NBA games and was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 2012–13 season. While he never won an NBA championship, Karl made the postseason 22 times with five different teams, which included a trip to the 1996 NBA Finals with the Seattle SuperSonics.

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12/05/1950

Bruce Boxleitner, American actor and author

Bruce William Boxleitner is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series: How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Babylon 5 . He is also known for his dual role as the characters Alan Bradley and Tron in the 1982 Walt Disney Pictures film Tron, a role which he reprised in the 2003 video game Tron 2.0, the 2006 Square-Enix/Disney crossover game Kingdom Hearts II, the 2010 film sequel, Tron: Legacy and the animated series Tron: Uprising. He co-starred in most of the Gambler films with Kenny Rogers, where his character provided comic relief. He also voiced General Moss in the films AniMen: Triton Force and AniMen: The Galactic Battle.

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Gabriel Byrne, Irish actor, director, and producer

Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and was listed at number 17 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors in 2020. In 2009 The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

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Billy Squier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

William Haislip Squier is an American rock musician, singer, and songwriter who had a string of hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Everybody Wants You", "Emotions in Motion", "Love Is the Hero", and "Don't Say You Love Me". Squier's best-selling album, 1981's Don't Say No, is considered a landmark release of arena rock, bridging the gap between power pop and hard rock.

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12/05/1948

Dave Heineman, American politician, 39th Governor of Nebraska

David Eugene Heineman is an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Nebraska from 2005 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 39th treasurer of Nebraska from 1995 to 2001 and 37th lieutenant governor of Nebraska from 2001 to 2005 under governor Mike Johanns. Heineman took over the governorship after Johanns resigned to become the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

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Steve Winwood, English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

Stephen Lawrence Winwood is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his distinctive soulful high tenor voice, Winwood also plays instruments including mandolin, bass, drums and percussion.

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12/05/1947

Michael Ignatieff, Canadian journalist and politician

Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has held senior academic posts at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Toronto. Most recently, he was rector and president of Central European University; he held this position from 2016 to 2021.

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12/05/1946

Daniel Libeskind, American architect, designed the Imperial War Museum North and Jewish Museum

Daniel Libeskind is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor, and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect.

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12/05/1945

Alan Ball, Jr., English footballer and manager (died 2007)

Alan James Ball was an English professional football player and manager. He won the 1966 World Cup with England and scored more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years. After retiring as a player, he had a 15-year career as a manager which included spells in the top flight of English football with Portsmouth, Southampton and Manchester City. One of the best midfielders of his generation, he was inducted in the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

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Ian McLagan, English keyboard player and songwriter (died 2014)

Ian Patrick McLagan was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

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12/05/1944

Chris Patten, English academic and politician, 28th Governor of Hong Kong

Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, is a British politician who was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, and the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997. He was made a life peer in 2005 and served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 2003 to 2024. He is one of two living former governors of Hong Kong, alongside David Wilson.

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12/05/1942

Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter (died 2000)

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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12/05/1940

Norman Whitfield, American songwriter and producer (died 2008)

Norman Jesse Whitfield was an American songwriter, composer, and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s subgenre of psychedelic soul.

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12/05/1939

Reg Gasnier, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2014)

Reginald William Gasnier was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played centre for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australia in a then record 36 Tests and three World Cup games. He was the captain of the national side on eight occasions between 1962 and 1967.

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12/05/1937

Beryl Burton, English cyclist (died 1996)

Beryl Burton OBE was an English racing cyclist who dominated the women's sport, winning more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records. In 1967, she set a world record for the 12-hour time-trial which exceeded the men's record for two years.

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George Carlin, American comedian, actor, and author (died 2008)

George Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. He was known for his dark comedy and reflections on politics, English, psychology, religion, and taboo subjects.

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12/05/1936

Guillermo Endara, Panamanian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Panama (died 2009)

Guillermo David Endara Galimany was a Panamanian politician who served as the president of Panama from 1989 to 1994.

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Tom Snyder, American journalist and talk show host (died 2007)

Thomas James Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows Tomorrow, on NBC in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on CBS in the 1990s. Snyder was also the pioneer anchor of the prime time NBC News Update, in the 1970s and early 1980s, which was a one-minute capsule of news updates.

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Frank Stella, American painter and sculptor (died 2024)

Frank Philip Stella was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He lived and worked in New York City for much of his career before moving his studio to Rock Tavern, New York. Stella's work catalyzed the minimalist movement in the late 1950s. He moved to New York City in the late 1950s, where he created works which emphasized the picture-as-object. These were influenced by the abstract expressionist work of artists like Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock. He developed a reductionist approach to his art, saying he wanted to demonstrate that for him, every painting is "a flat surface with paint on it—nothing more", and disavowed conceptions of art as a means of expressing emotion. He won notice in the New York art world in 1959 when his four black pinstripe paintings were shown at the Museum of Modern Art. Stella was a recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 2009 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture by the International Sculpture Center in 2011.

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12/05/1935

Felipe Alou, Dominican-American baseball player, coach, and manager

Felipe Rojas Alou is a Dominican former professional outfielder, first baseman, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He managed the Montreal Expos (1992–2001) and the San Francisco Giants (2003–2006). The first Dominican to play regularly in the major leagues, he is the most prominent member of one of the sport's most notable families of the late 20th century: he was the oldest of the trio of baseball-playing brothers that included Matty and Jesús, who were both primarily outfielders, and his son Moisés was also primarily an outfielder; all but Jesús have been named All-Stars at least twice. His son Luis, in turn, managed the New York Mets.

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Johnny Bucyk, Canadian ice hockey player

John Paul "Chief" Bucyk is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Having played most of his career with the Boston Bruins, he has been associated in one capacity or another with the Bruins' organization since the late 1950s. Bucyk was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in 2017.

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12/05/1930

Jesús Franco, Spanish director and screenwriter (died 2013)

Jesús Franco Manera, also commonly known as Jess Franco, was a Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor, known as a highly prolific director of low-budget exploitation and B-movies. He worked in many different genres during his career, but was best known for his horror and erotic films, often incorporating surrealist elements.

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12/05/1929

Sam Nujoma, Namibian politician, 1st President of Namibia (died 2025)

Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma was a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first president of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first president of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) in 1960.

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12/05/1928

Burt Bacharach, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (died 2023)

Burt Freeman Bacharach was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist, widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. He composed hundreds of pop songs, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. His music features atypical chord progressions and time signature changes, influenced by his background in jazz, and uncommon selections of instruments for small orchestras. He arranged, conducted, and produced much of his recorded output.

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12/05/1925

Yogi Berra, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 2015)

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was an 18-time All-Star and won 10 World Series championships as a player—more than any other player in MLB history. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only six players to win the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

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12/05/1924

Tony Hancock, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 1968)

Anthony John Hancock was an English comedian and actor.

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12/05/1922

Roy Salvadori, English racing driver and manager (died 2012)

Roy Francesco Salvadori was a British racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1952 to 1962. In endurance racing, Salvadori won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959 with Aston Martin.

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12/05/1921

Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and illustrator (died 1986)

Joseph Heinrich Beuys was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, Johannes Stüttgen, Caroline Tisdall, Robert McDowell, and Enrico Wolleb, Beuys created the Free International University for Creativity & Interdisciplinary Research (FIU). Through his talks and performances, he also formed The Party for Animals and The Organisation for Direct Democracy. He was a member of a Dadaist art movement Fluxus and singularly inspirational in developing of Performance Art, called Kunst Aktionen, alongside Wiener Aktionismus that Allan Kaprow and Carolee Schneemann termed Art Happenings.

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Farley Mowat, Canadian environmentalist and author (died 2014)

Farley McGill Mowat, was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian north, such as People of the Deer (1952) and Never Cry Wolf (1963). The latter, an account of his experiences with wolves in the Arctic, was made into a film of the same name released in 1983. For his body of work as a writer he won the annual Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 1970.

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12/05/1918

Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (died 2001)

Mary Kay Ash was an American businesswoman and founder of direct sales company Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc. At the time of her death, she had a fortune of $98 million, and her company had more than $1.2 billion in sales with a sales force of more than 800,000 in at least three dozen countries.

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Julius Rosenberg, American spy (died 1953)

Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Rosenberg were an American married couple who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union, including providing top-secret information about American radar, sonar, jet propulsion engines, and nuclear weapon designs. They were executed by the federal government of the United States in 1953 using New York's state execution chamber in Sing Sing in Ossining, New York, becoming the first American civilians to be executed for such charges and the first to be executed during peacetime.

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12/05/1914

Howard K. Smith, American journalist and actor (died 2002)

Howard Kingsbury Smith was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, political commentator, and film actor. He was one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as the Murrow Boys.

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12/05/1911

Charles Biro, American author and illustrator (died 1972)

Charles Biro was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He created the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and worked on Daredevil Comics and Crime Does Not Pay at Lev Gleason Publications.

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12/05/1910

Johan Ferrier, Surinamese educator and politician, first President of Suriname (died 2010)

Johan Henri Eliza Ferrier was a Surinamese politician who served as the first president of Suriname from 1975 to 1980. He was also the country's last governor-general before independence, serving from 1968 to 1975, before becoming the first president upon independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1975 and also served as the fifth prime minister from 1955 to 1958.

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Dorothy Hodgkin, English biochemist, crystallographer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994)

Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin was an English chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential for structural biology. She received the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and is the only British woman scientist to have been awarded a Nobel Prize.

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12/05/1908

Nicholas Kaldor, Hungarian-English economist (died 1986)

Nicholas Kaldor, Baron Kaldor, born Káldor Miklós, was a Hungarian-born British economist. He developed the "compensation" criteria called Kaldor–Hicks efficiency for welfare comparisons (1939), derived the cobweb model, and argued for certain regularities observable in economic growth, which are called Kaldor's growth laws. Kaldor worked alongside Gunnar Myrdal to develop the key concept Circular Cumulative Causation, a multicausal approach where the core variables and their linkages are delineated.

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12/05/1907

Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (died 1993)

Leslie Charteris, was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of his hero Simon Templar, alias "The Saint".

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Katharine Hepburn, American actress (died 2003)

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a leading lady on stage and screen spanned six decades. Known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, she cultivated a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly played strong-willed, sophisticated women. She worked in a varied range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, which earned her various accolades, including a record four Academy Awards for Best Actress, as well as two British Academy Film Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards and eight Golden Globes.

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12/05/1903

Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (died 1991)

Wilfrid Hyde-White was an English actor. Described by Philip French as a "classic British film archetype", Hyde-White often portrayed droll and urbane upper-class characters. He had an extensive stage and screen career in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and portrayed over 160 film and television roles between 1935 and 1987. He was twice nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, in 1957 for The Reluctant Debutante and in 1973 for The Jockey Club Stakes.

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12/05/1900

Helene Weigel, Austrian-German actress (died 1971)

Helene Weigel was an Austrian actress and artistic director. She was the second and last wife of Bertolt Brecht until his death in 1956; together they had two children.

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12/05/1899

Indra Devi, pioneer of Yoga (died 2002)

Eugenie Peterson, known as Indra Devi, was a pioneering teacher of yoga as exercise, and an early disciple of the "father of modern yoga", Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.

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12/05/1897

Earle Nelson, American serial killer and rapist (died 1928)

Earle Leonard Nelson, also known as the Gorilla Man, the Gorilla Killer, and the Dark Strangler, was an American serial killer, rapist, and necrophile who killed at least twenty women in various U.S. states and two in Canada between 1926 and 1927. He is perhaps the first known serial sex murderer of the twentieth century.

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12/05/1895

William Giauque, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1982)

William Francis Giauque was a Canadian-born American chemist and Nobel laureate. He was recognized in 1949, for his studies in the properties of matter, at temperatures close to absolute zero. He spent virtually all of his educational and professional career at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian-American philosopher and author (died 1986)

Jiddu Krishnamurti was an Indian spiritual figure, speaker, and writer. Adopted by members of the Theosophical Society as a child, Krishnamurti was raised to fill the mantle of the prophesied World Teacher, a role tasked with aiding humankind's spiritual evolution. In 1922, he began to suffer from painful, seizure-like mystical episodes that would produce a lasting change in his perception of reality. In 1929, he broke from the Theosophy movement and disbanded the Order of the Star in the East which had been formed around him. He spent the rest of his life speaking to groups and individuals around the world, hoping to contribute a radical transformation of mankind.

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12/05/1892

Fritz Kortner, Austrian-German actor and director (died 1970)

Fritz Kortner was an Austrian stage and film actor and theatre director.

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12/05/1889

Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (died 1967)

Abelardo Rodríguez Luján, commonly known as Abelardo L. Rodríguez was a Mexican military officer, businessman and politician who served as Substitute President of Mexico from 1932 to 1934. He completed the term of President Pascual Ortiz Rubio after his resignation, during the period known as the Maximato, when Former President Plutarco Elías Calles held considerable de facto political power, without being president himself. Rodríguez was, however, more successful than Ortiz Rubio had been in asserting presidential power against Calles's influence.

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Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman and Holocaust survivor; father of diarist Anne Frank (died 1980)

Otto Heinrich Frank was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 and advised on its later theatrical and cinematic adaptations. In the 1950s and the 1960s, he established European charities in his daughter's name and founded the trust which preserved his family's wartime hiding place, the Anne Frank House, in Amsterdam.

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12/05/1886

Ernst A. Lehmann, German captain and pilot (died 1937)

Captain Ernst August Lehmann was a German Zeppelin captain. He was one of the most famous and experienced figures in German airship travel. The Pittsburgh Press called Lehmann the best airship pilot in the world; although, he was criticized by Hugo Eckener for often making dangerous maneuvers that compromised the airships. He was a victim of the Hindenburg disaster in 1937.

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12/05/1885

Paltiel Daykan, Lithuanian-Israeli lawyer and jurist (died 1969)

Paltiel Daykan was an Israeli jurist.

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12/05/1880

Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (died 1951)

Lincoln Ellsworth was an American polar explorer, engineer, surveyor, and writer. He led the first Arctic and Antarctic air crossings.

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12/05/1875

Charles Holden, English architect, designed the Bristol Central Library (died 1960)

Charles Henry Holden was an English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway, for the University of London's Senate House and for Bristol Central Library. He created many war cemeteries in Belgium and northern France for the Imperial War Graves Commission.

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12/05/1874

Clemens von Pirquet, Austrian pediatrician and immunologist (died 1929)

Clemens Peter Freiherr von Pirquet was an Austrian scientist and pediatrician best known for his contributions to the fields of bacteriology and immunology.

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12/05/1873

J. E. H. MacDonald, English-Canadian painter (died 1932)

James Edward Hervey MacDonald was an English-born Canadian artist, best known as a member of the Group of Seven who asserted a distinct national identity combined with a common heritage stemming from early modernism in Europe in the early twentieth century. He was the father of the illustrator, graphic artist and designer Thoreau MacDonald.

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12/05/1872

Anton Korošec, Slovenian priest and politician, tenth Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (died 1940)

Anton Korošec was a Slovene Yugoslav politician, a prominent member of the conservative People's Party, a Roman Catholic priest and a noted orator.

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12/05/1869

Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, wrestler, and weightlifter (died 1946)

Carl August Berthold Schuhmann was a German athlete who won four Olympic titles in gymnastics and wrestling at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, becoming the most successful athlete at the inaugural Olympics of the modern era. He also competed in weightlifting.

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12/05/1867

Hugh Trumble, Australian cricketer and accountant (died 1938)

Hugh Trumble was an Australian cricketer who played 32 Test matches as a bowling all-rounder between 1890 and 1904. He captained the Australian team in two Tests, winning both. Trumble took 141 wickets in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of 21.78 runs per wicket. He is one of only four bowlers to twice take a hat-trick in Test cricket. Observers in Trumble's day, including the authoritative Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, regarded him as ranking among the great Australian bowlers of the Golden Age of cricket. He was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1897 and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, established in 1996, inducted him in 2004.

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12/05/1863

Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, Bengali writer, painter, violin player and composer, technologist and entrepreneur (died 1915)

Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a Bengali writer, painter and entrepreneur. He was the son-in-law of reformer Dwarkanath Ganguly.

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12/05/1859

William Alden Smith, American lawyer and politician (died 1932)

William Alden Smith was a U.S. representative and U.S. senator from the state of Michigan. After the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, Smith chaired the Senate hearings into the disaster. His report led to major reforms in maritime safety.

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Frank Wilson, English-Australian politician, ninth Premier of Western Australia (died 1918)

Frank Wilson, was the ninth Premier of Western Australia, serving on two separate occasions – from 1910 to 1911 and then again from 1916 to 1917.

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12/05/1850

Henry Cabot Lodge, American historian and politician (died 1924)

Henry Cabot Lodge was an American politician, historian, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the United States Senate from 1893 to 1924 and is best known for his positions on foreign policy. He voted in favor of American entry into World War I and his successful crusade against Woodrow Wilson's Treaty of Versailles ensured that the United States never joined the League of Nations. His penned conditions against that treaty, known collectively as the Lodge reservations, influenced the structure of the modern United Nations.

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Frederick Holder, Australian politician, 19th Premier of South Australia (died 1909)

Sir Frederick William Holder was an Australian politician who served as the first speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 1901 to 1909. A member of the Free Trade Party and later an independent, he served twice as the 19th premier of South Australia from June to October 1892 and again from 1899 to 1901. He was a prominent member of federation movement and the first Parliament of Australia, following Federation in 1901.

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12/05/1845

Gabriel Fauré, French pianist, composer, and educator (died 1924)

Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style.

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12/05/1842

Jules Massenet, French composer (died 1912)

Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892). He also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music.

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12/05/1840

Alejandro Gorostiaga, Chilean colonel (died 1912)

Alejandro Gorostiaga Orrego, was a Chilean military officer born in La Serena. He joined the Escuela Militar de Chile in 1857 until his retirement in 1878. Alejandro Gorostiaga was of Basque descent.

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12/05/1839

Tôn Thất Thuyết, Vietnamese mandarin (died 1913)

Tôn Thất Thuyết, Courtesy name Đàm Phu (談夫), was the regent and leading mandarin of Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam's Nguyễn dynasty. Thuyết later led the Cần Vương movement which aimed to restore Vietnamese independence under Emperor Hàm Nghi. He fled to China seeking political refuge after Hàm Nghi's capture by France, and later died in Longzhou, Guangxi.

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12/05/1829

Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer and educator (died 1896)

Pavlos Carrer or Pavlos Carreris, was a Greek composer, one of the leaders of the Ionian art music school and the first to create national operas and national songs on Greek plots, Greek librettos and verses, as well as melodies inspired by the folk and the urban popular musical tradition of modern Greece.

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12/05/1828

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (died 1882)

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti inspired many contemporary artists and writers, such as Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Morris, and Edward Burne-Jones in particular. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.

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12/05/1825

Orélie-Antoine de Tounens, French lawyer and explorer (died 1878)

Orélie-Antoine de Tounens was a French avoué and adventurer who proclaimed by two decrees on 17 and 20 November 1860 that Araucanía and Patagonia did not depend of any other states and that he himself was King of Araucanía and Patagonia. On 5 January 1862, he was arrested by the Chilean army and imprisoned. He was declared insane by the court of Santiago on 2 September 1862, and expelled to France on 28 October 1862. He tried three further times to go back to Araucanía to regain his "kingdom", but without success, and he died in poverty on 17 September 1878, in Tourtoirac, France.

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12/05/1820

Florence Nightingale, Italian-English nurse, social reformer, and statistician (died 1910)

Florence Nightingale was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, in which she organised care for wounded soldiers at Constantinople. She significantly reduced death rates by improving hygiene and living standards. Nightingale gave nursing a favourable reputation and became an icon of Victorian culture, especially in the persona of "The Lady with the Lamp" making rounds of wounded soldiers at night.

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12/05/1814

Adolf von Henselt, German pianist and composer (died 1889)

Georg Martin Adolf von Henselt was a German composer and virtuoso pianist.

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12/05/1812

Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (died 1888)

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised but which term he never used.

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12/05/1806

Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (died 1881)

Johan Vilhelm Snellman was an influential Fennoman philosopher and Finnish statesman, ennobled in 1866. He was one of the most important 'awakeners' or promoters of Finnish nationalism, alongside Elias Lönnrot and J. L. Runeberg.

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12/05/1804

Robert Baldwin, Canadian lawyer and politician, third Premier of West Canada (died 1858)

Robert Baldwin was an Upper Canadian lawyer and politician who with his political partner Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine of Lower Canada, led the first responsible government ministry in the Province of Canada. "Responsible Government" marked the province's democratic self-government, without a revolution, although not without violence. This achievement also included the introduction of municipal government, the introduction of a modern legal system, reforms to the jury system in Upper Canada, and the abolition of imprisonment for debt. Baldwin is also noted for feuding with the Orange Order and other fraternal societies. The Lafontaine-Baldwin government enacted the Rebellion Losses Bill to compensate Lower Canadians for damages suffered during the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–1838. The passage of the Bill outraged Anglo-Canadian Tories in Montreal, resulting in the burning of the Parliament Buildings in Montreal in 1849.

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12/05/1803

Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (died 1873)

Justus Freiherr von Liebig was a German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biological chemistry; he is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the University of Giessen, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the most outstanding chemistry teachers of all time. He has been described as the "father of the fertilizer industry" for his emphasis on nitrogen and minerals as essential plant nutrients, and his popularization of the law of the minimum, which states that plant growth is limited by the scarcest nutrient resource, rather than the total amount of resources available. He also developed a manufacturing process for beef extracts, and with his consent a company, called Liebig Extract of Meat Company, was founded to exploit the concept; it later introduced the Oxo brand beef bouillon cube. He popularized an earlier invention for condensing vapors, which came to be known as the Liebig condenser.

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12/05/1777

Mary Reibey, Australian businesswoman (died 1855)

Mary Reibey was an English-born merchant, shipowner and trader who was transported to Australia as a convict. After gaining her freedom, she was viewed by her contemporaries as a community role model and became legendary as a successful businesswoman in the colony.

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12/05/1776

José de La Mar, Peruvian military leader, President of Peru (died 1830)

José Domingo de la Merced de La Mar y Cortázar was a Peruvian military leader and politician who served as the third President of Peru.

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12/05/1774

Ellis Cunliffe Lister, English politician (died 1853)

Ellis Cunliffe Lister-Kay was an English Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1832 to 1841.

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12/05/1767

Manuel Godoy, Spanish field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (died 1851)

Manuel de Godoy y Álvarez de Faria Ríos, 1st Prince of the Peace was First Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He was one of the central Spanish political figures during the rise of Napoleon and his invasion of Spain. Godoy came to power at a young age as the favourite of King Charles IV and Queen Maria Luisa, with whom he had a sexual relationship. He has been partly blamed for the Anglo-Spanish War of 1796–1808 that weakened the Spanish Empire. Godoy's unmatched power ended in 1808 with the Tumult of Aranjuez, which forced him into a long exile. He died in Paris in 1851.

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12/05/1755

Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist and composer (died 1824)

Giovanni Battista Viotti was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness. He was also a director of French and Italian opera companies in Paris and London. He personally knew Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven.

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12/05/1754

Franz Anton Hoffmeister, German composer and publisher (died 1812)

Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a German and Austrian composer and music publisher.

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12/05/1739

Johann Baptist Wanhal, Czech-Austrian organist and composer (died 1813)

Johann Baptist Wanhal was a Czech composer of the Classical period. He was born in Nechanice, Bohemia, and died in Vienna. His music was well respected by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. He was an accomplished instrumentalist as well; a proficient organist, he also played the violin and cello.

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12/05/1725

Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (died 1785)

Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, known as le Gros, was a French royal of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of Philippe Égalité. He greatly augmented the already huge wealth of the House of Orléans.

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12/05/1700

Luigi Vanvitelli, Italian architect and engineer, designed the Palace of Caserta and Royal Palace of Milan (died 1773)

Luigi Vanvitelli, was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an easy transition to Neoclassicism.

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12/05/1670

Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (died 1733)

Augustus II the Strong, was Elector of Saxony as Frederick Augustus I from 1694 as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1697 to 1706 and from 1709 until his death in 1733. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin.

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12/05/1626

Louis Hennepin, Flemish priest and missionary (died 1705)

Louis Hennepin, OFM was a Belgian Catholic priest and missionary best known for his activities in North America. A member of the Recollects, a minor branch of the Franciscans, he travelled to New France and proselytised to several Native American tribes.

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12/05/1622

Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French-Canadian soldier and politician, third Governor General of New France (died 1698)

Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a number of Forts on the Great Lakes and engaged in a series of battles against the English and the Iroquois.

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12/05/1606

Joachim von Sandrart, German art-historian and painter (died 1688)

Joachim von Sandrart was a German Baroque art-historian and painter, active in Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. He is most significant for his collection of biographies of Dutch and German artists the Teutsche Academie, published between 1675 and 1680.

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12/05/1590

Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1621)

Cosimo II de' Medici was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1609 until his death. He was the elder son of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Christina of Lorraine.

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12/05/1496

Gustav I of Sweden (died 1560)

Gustav Eriksson Vasa, also known as Gustav I, was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560. He was previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm (Riksföreståndare) from 1521, during the Swedish War of Liberation against King Christian II of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Gustav rose to lead this war following the Stockholm Bloodbath, where his father was executed. Gustav's election as king on 6 June 1523 and his triumphant entry into Stockholm eleven days later marked Sweden's final secession from the Kalmar Union.

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12/05/1479

Pompeo Colonna, Catholic cardinal (died 1532)

Pompeo Colonna was an Italian noble, condottiero, politician, and cardinal. At the culmination of his career he was Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples (1530–1532) for the Emperor Charles V. Born in Rome, he was the son of Girolamo Colonna, whose father Antonio was second Prince of Salerno; and Vittoria Conti, of the Conti de Poli. His family belonged to the highest rank of nobility both of the City of Rome and of the Kingdom of Naples. Pompeo and his family were hereditary supporters of the Holy Roman Empire (Ghibbelines), and they spent their careers fighting their hereditary enemies, the Orsini family, and defending and expanding their family territories and interests. He played a significant, if sometimes disruptive, role in the Conclaves of 1521 and 1523 on behalf of the Imperial interest. His family commitments and his conclave activities brought Pompeo into conflict with the second Medici pope, Clement VII, whose election he vigorously opposed, and made him a leading figure in the attempted overthrow of Pope Clement and the Sack of Rome in 1527.

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12/05/1401

Emperor Shōkō of Japan (died 1428)

Emperor Shōkō was the 101st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1412 through 1428.

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12/05/1325

Rupert II, Elector Palatine (died 1398)

Rupert II, Count Palatine of the Rhine. He was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine from the house of Wittelsbach in 1390–1398.

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