Saturday, 2nd May 2026 in Rome

On this day, 180 notable people were born on 2nd May — spanning from 1360 to 2015. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

02/05/2015

Princess Charlotte of Wales, British royal, and third in line to the British throne

Princess Charlotte of Wales is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, and a granddaughter of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. She is third in the line of succession to the British throne. Charlotte was born at St Mary's Hospital, London, during the reign of her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and was fourth in line before her great-grandmother's death.

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02/05/1997

BamBam, Thai singer

Kunpimook Bhuwakul, known professionally as BamBam, is a Thai rapper and singer based in South Korea, and a member of the South Korean boy band Got7.

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02/05/1996

Cherprang Areekul, Thai singer

Cherprang Areekul is a former member of the Thai idol girl group BNK48, an international sister group of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She is one of the first-generation members of the group, and is also the group's first captain. She had developed her role from captain to general manager (Shihainin) during her late time as an idol and continued such role even after her graduation. In June 2025, she decided to pass on her managing role, after which she moved on to full-time acting. In August 2025, she temporarily moved to Tokyo, Japan, to pursue her one-year MBA program with Globlis University while still traveling back and forth to work in Bangkok.

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Julian Brandt, German footballer

Julian Brandt is a German professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder or attacking midfielder for the Germany national team.

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Schuyler Bailar, American swimmer

Schuyler Miwon Hong Bailar is an American swimmer, author, educator, and advocate for LGBTQ rights. He is the first openly transgender NCAA Division I swimmer, and also the first publicly documented NCAA D1 transgender man to compete as a man in any sport.

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02/05/1995

Lucy Dacus, American singer-songwriter

Lucy Elizabeth Dacus is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Dacus first gained fame following the release of her debut album, No Burden (2016), which led to a deal with Matador Records. Historian, her second album, was released in 2018 to critical acclaim. Home Video, her third studio album, was released in 2021. Forever Is a Feeling, her fourth album, was released in 2025.

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02/05/1993

Owain Doull, Welsh track cyclist

Owain Daniel Doull is a Welsh road and track cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Visma–Lease a Bike. Doull specialises in the team pursuit on the track, and won a gold medal in the discipline at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; as a result, he became the first Welsh-speaking athlete to win Olympic gold.

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Isyana Sarasvati, Indonesian singer

Isyana Sarasvati is an Indonesian singer-songwriter and the founder of Redrose Records. She is a graduate of Singapore's Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and London's Royal College of Music. Known for her original compositions, she wrote all of the songs on her 2015 debut pop album, Explore!, and on her three subsequent albums, Paradox (2017), Lexicon (2019) and ISYANA (2023). She has also performed as an opera singer in Singapore. She is the recipient of numerous Indonesian and international awards.

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Huang Zitao, Chinese singer and rapper

Huang Zitao, also known by his stage name Tao (Korean: 타오), is a Chinese rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is a former member of the South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo and its Chinese sub-unit, Exo-M. After leaving Exo, he made his solo debut in China in 2015 with the mini-album TAO, under the stage name Z.Tao. Huang made his acting debut in the romantic movie You Are My Sunshine, followed by TV series Negotiator and The Brightest Star in the Sky.

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02/05/1992

Sunmi, South Korean singer

Lee Sun-mi, known mononymously as Sunmi, is a South Korean singer, dancer, songwriter and record producer. She debuted in 2007 as a member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls and left the group in 2010 to pursue her studies. After a three-year hiatus, Sunmi resumed her career as a soloist with her 2013 debut extended play, Full Moon, spawning the number two singles "24 Hours" and "Full Moon" on the national Gaon Digital Chart.

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María Teresa Torró Flor, Spanish tennis player

María Teresa Torró Flor is a Spanish former professional tennis player.

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02/05/1991

Jeong Jinwoon, South Korean actor and singer

Jeong Jin-woon (Korean: 정진운), most often credited as Jinwoon, is a South Korean singer and actor. Debuting as a member of the group 2AM in July 2008, he began his acting career in 2012 with the KBS series Dream High 2, playing Jin Yoo-jin.

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Jonathan Villar, Dominican baseball player

Jonathan Rafael Villar Roque is a Dominican professional baseball second baseman for the Caliente de Durango of the Mexican League. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Angels. Prior to 2017, Villar was primarily a shortstop.

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02/05/1990

Kay Panabaker, American actress

Stephanie Kay Panabaker is an American zookeeper and former actress. She is best known for her work with the Disney Channel, starring in popular productions like Phil of the Future (2004–2006) and Read It and Weep (2006), and her role on the teen drama Summerland (2004–2005).

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Paul George, American basketball player

Paul Clifton Anthony George Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "PG-13", he is a nine-time NBA All-Star and six-time member of the All-NBA Team, as well as a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team.

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02/05/1988

Neftalí Feliz, Dominican baseball player

Neftalí Feliz Antonio is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Feliz won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 2010.

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02/05/1987

Saara Aalto, Finnish singer and actress

Saara Sofia Aalto is a Finnish singer, songwriter and voice actress. In 2012, she came second in the first season of The Voice of Finland.

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Nana Kitade, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress

Nana Kitade is a Japanese singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to being the lead singer of the rock band The Teenage Kissers, she has success as a solo artist, model, actress, and fashion designer. Kitade is particularly known for her songs appearing in various anime, TV shows, doramas and movie opening and endings. Kitade was featured on the cover of the Gothic & Lolita Bible, as well as featured in Neo and Kera magazines. She has toured Asia, Europe, and North America.

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Pat McAfee, American sports analyst and football player

Patrick Justin McAfee is an American sports analyst, color commentator, former professional wrestler, and former professional football punter and kickoff specialist. He is an analyst on College GameDay and the host of the sports talk show The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. In professional wrestling, he is best known for his tenure in WWE, as a color commentator and an occasional wrestler.

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Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player

Kris Russell is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played in the 2021–22 season, for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was originally drafted in the third round, 67th overall, by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2005 NHL entry draft and played four seasons with the team before moving on to the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars. He has also played for TPS and Oulun Kärpät in the Finnish Liiga.

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02/05/1986

Yasir Shah, Pakistani cricketer

Yasir Shah SI is an international cricketer from Pakistan. He plays as a bowler, and is the joint-second fastest bowler in the history of Test cricket to take 100 wickets, as well as the fastest to pick up 200 wickets, having broken the previous record held by Australian bowler Clarrie Grimmett.

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02/05/1985

Lily Allen, English singer-songwriter and actress

Lily Rose Beatrice Allen is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her accolades include a Brit Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.

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Kyle Busch, American race car driver (died 2026)

Kyle Thomas Busch was an American professional stock car racing driver and racing team owner who competed from 2001 until his death in 2026. Throughout his career, Busch raced under several car numbers, though he was most prominently identified with the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing between 2008 and 2022 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Known for his dominance across NASCAR's top three divisions series, Busch is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and talented drivers in motorsports history.

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Ashley Harkleroad, American tennis player

Ashley Harkleroad Adams is an American former professional tennis player. She reached a career-high ranking in singles of 39 in June 2003.

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Sarah Hughes, American figure skater

Sarah Elizabeth Hughes is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic Champion and the 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies' singles.

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02/05/1984

Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuanian footballer

Saulius Mikoliūnas is a Lithuanian former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He has previously played for Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian and Ukrainian Premier League club Arsenal Kyiv, among others. With 101 caps, Mikoliūnas is the Lithuania national team's second-most capped player.

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Thabo Sefolosha, Swiss basketball player

Thabo Patrick Sefolosha is a Swiss former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Turkish Basketball League, LNB Pro A, and Lega Basket Serie A. In 2006, Sefolosha became the first player from Switzerland to play in the NBA, and in 2013, he was labelled the best Swiss basketball player of all time by Swiss newspaper Freiburger Nachrichten.

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02/05/1983

Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer

Alessandro Diamanti is an Italian professional football coach and former midfielder who is the manager for Melbourne City Youth.

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Maynor Figueroa, Honduran footballer

Maynor Alexis Figueroa Róchez is a Honduran former professional footballer who played as a left-back or centre-back. He is best known for his time at Wigan Athletic, where he made 179 Premier League appearances and won the 2013 FA Cup. Figueroa made 181 international appearances between 2003 and 2022, including appearances at seven CONCACAF Gold Cups, two FIFA World Cups and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

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Tina Maze, Slovenian skier

Tina Maze is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. She is the most successful Slovenian ski racer in history with a career that culminated with two gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Maze was awarded the title of the Slovenian Sportswoman of the Year in 2005, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015, and with her four medals she is the most decorated Slovenian athlete at the Winter Olympics.

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Daniel Sordo, Spanish race car driver

Daniel "Dani" Sordo Castillo is a Spanish rally driver. He competes in the World Rally Championship for Hyundai Motorsport. He achieved his first WRC victory at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland.

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02/05/1982

Johan Botha, South African cricketer

Johan Botha is a South African-Australian cricket coach, cricketer, and long-distance runner who played for the South African national team between 2005 and 2012. He moved to Australia in 2012 to play in the country's domestic leagues, and in 2016 became an Australian citizen. In January 2019, he retired from all forms of the game. However, in December 2020, he made a comeback as a replacement player for the Hobart Hurricanes in the 2020–21 Big Bash League.

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02/05/1981

Robert Buckley, American actor

Robert Earl Buckley is an American actor, known for his roles as Kirby Atwood on the NBC dramedy series Lipstick Jungle, Clay Evans on The CW drama series One Tree Hill, Brian Leonard on the ABC horror-drama series 666 Park Avenue, Major Lilywhite on The CW dramedy series iZombie, and Evan Kincaid on the Hallmark Channel drama series Chesapeake Shores.

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Chris Kirkland, English footballer

Christopher Edmund Kirkland is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper. As a player, he made 321 league and cup appearances in an 18-year professional career from 1998 to 2016 and won one cap for the England national team in 2006.

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Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer

Tiago Cardoso Mendes, known simply as Tiago, is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.

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02/05/1980

Tim Borowski, German footballer

Tim Borowski is a German football manager and former player.

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Ellie Kemper, American actress, comedian and writer

Elizabeth Claire Kemper is an American actress and comedian, best known for her roles of Erin Hannon in the sitcom The Office (2009–2013) and Kimmy Schmidt in the sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2019). She has also appeared in films, notably Bridesmaids (2011), 21 Jump Street (2012), Sex Tape (2014), and Home Sweet Home Alone (2021). In 2018, she released her debut book, My Squirrel Days.

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Zat Knight, English footballer

Zatyiah Knight is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back.

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Troy Murphy, American basketball player

Troy Brandon Murphy is an American former professional basketball player who played twelve seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Murphy was born in Morristown, New Jersey but grew up in Sparta Township. He attended the Delbarton School and the University of Notre Dame, both of which are Roman Catholic schools. During his time at Notre Dame, he was a two-time consensus All-American before declaring himself for the 2001 NBA draft, where he was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 14th overall pick. Murphy has since graduated from Columbia University.

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Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player

Bradley Ray Richards is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Richards was drafted in the third round, 64th overall, by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1998 NHL entry draft and played for the Lightning, New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks, and Detroit Red Wings during his National Hockey League (NHL) career.

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02/05/1979

Roman Lyashenko, Russian ice hockey player (died 2003)

Roman Yurievich Lyashenko was a Russian ice hockey player. He played professionally in North America for the Dallas Stars and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1999 to 2002, and also spent time with affiliate teams in the American Hockey League and the now-defunct International Hockey League. Lyashenko also played professionally in Russia for Torpedo Yaroslavl before joining the Stars. He was drafted by the Stars in the second round of the 1997 NHL entry draft.

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02/05/1978

Kumail Nanjiani, Pakistani-American actor, stand-up comedian, and screenwriter

Kumail Ali Nanjiani is a Pakistani and American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter. His accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and two Emmy Awards. In 2018, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

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02/05/1976

Jeff Gutt, American singer-songwriter

Jeffrey Adam Gutt is an American singer and songwriter who has been the lead vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots since November 2017. He is also the former lead vocalist for the nu metal band Dry Cell.

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02/05/1975

David Beckham, English footballer, coach, and model

Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City F.C.. Primarily a right midfielder and known for his range of passing, crossing ability and set-piece taking, Beckham is considered one of the best players of his generation and one of the greatest set-piece specialists of all time. He won 19 major trophies in his career, and is the only English player to win league titles in four different countries: England, France, Spain, and the United States.

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Joe Wilkinson, English comedian, actor and writer

Joseph Roland Wilkinson is an English comedian, actor, and screenwriter. He began his comedy career in 2004 and has supported Alan Carr and Russell Howard on tour. In 2006, Wilkinson won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year.

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02/05/1973

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German director and screenwriter

Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck is a German-Austrian film director. He is best known for writing and directing the 2006 dramatic thriller Das Leben der Anderen , which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He also wrote and directed the 2010 romantic thriller The Tourist starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, and the 2018 epic drama Never Look Away.

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02/05/1972

Dwayne Johnson, American actor and wrestler

Dwayne Douglas Johnson, also known by his ring name "The Rock", is an American actor and professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on a part-time basis. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Johnson was integral to the development and success of the World Wrestling Federation during the Attitude Era. He wrestled for the WWF full-time for eight years before pursuing an acting career. His films have grossed over $11.4 billion worldwide, making him one of the world's highest-grossing actors of all time. He is a co-owner of the United Football League, a member of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings—the parent company of UFC and WWE—and co-founder of Seven Bucks Productions.

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02/05/1971

Musashimaru Kōyō, Samoan-American sumo wrestler, the 67th Yokozuna

Musashimaru Kōyō is an American-born Japanese-naturalized former professional sumo wrestler. He was born in American Samoa, before moving to Hawaii at the age of 10. At 18 he moved to Japan and made his professional sumo debut in 1989, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1991. After reaching the rank of ōzeki in 1994 his progress seemed to stall, but in 1999 he became only the second foreign-born wrestler in history to reach the sport's highest rank of yokozuna. Musashimaru won over 700 top division bouts and took twelve top division tournament championships during his career. His sheer 235 kg (518 lb) bulk combined with 1.92 m of height made him a formidable opponent, and he was remarkably consistent and injury-free for most of his career. An amiable personality, his fan base was helped by a surprising facial resemblance to Japanese warrior hero Saigō Takamori. After becoming a Japanese national in 1996 and retiring in 2003, he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and founded the Musashigawa stable in 2013.

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02/05/1969

Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer

Brian Charles Lara is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, and the record for the highest individual score in an international Test innings, after scoring 400 not out at Antigua during the 4th test against England in 2004. He is nicknamed "The Prince of Port of Spain" or simply "The Prince".

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02/05/1968

Jeff Agoos, American footballer

Jeffrey Alan Agoos is an American former professional soccer player who played as a defender. He is one of the all-time appearance leaders for the United States national team. Agoos won a record five MLS championships: three with D.C. United and two with the San Jose Earthquakes. He also won the 1996 U.S. Open Cup and was the 2001 MLS Defender of the Year. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2009.

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Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress

Siti Roziana Zain is a Malaysian pop singer and actress. Her music career began in the early '90s with her signature single, "Madah Berhelah" followed by hits like "Terlerai Kasih", "Setia Ku Di Sini" and "Puncak Kasih". In 1995, she was crowned Voice of Asia in Kazakhstan.

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02/05/1967

Mika Brzezinski, American journalist and author

Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski Scarborough is an American talk show host who co-hosts MS NOW's weekday morning broadcast show Morning Joe alongside her husband Joe Scarborough. She was formerly a CBS News correspondent, and was their principal "Ground Zero" reporter during the morning of the September 11 attacks. In 2007, she joined MSNBC as an occasional anchor, and was subsequently chosen as co-host of Morning Joe.

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David Rocastle, English footballer (died 2001)

David Carlyle Rocastle was an English professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the roles of a playmaker and a winger.

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02/05/1966

Belinda Stronach, Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist, and politician

Belinda Caroline Stronach is a Canadian businesswoman and former politician. She served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 2004 to 2008, initially as a Conservative and later as a Liberal. During her political career, Stronach served as the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development from May 17, 2005, to February 6, 2006, and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal from May 17, 2005, to February 6, 2006, both in Paul Martin's Cabinet.

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02/05/1963

Gina Yoginda, Indonesian army general and diplomat

Gina Yoginda is an Indonesian military officer and diplomat who is currently serving as ambassador of Indonesia to North Korea since 2025. Prior to his ambassadorship, Gina served within intelligence units at the Indonesian armed forces, with his last position as deputy chief of the armed forces intelligence agency.

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02/05/1962

Michael Grandage, English director and producer

Michael Grandage CBE is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently artistic director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was artistic director of Sheffield Theatres.

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Jimmy White, English snooker player

James Warren White is an English professional snooker player, commentator and pundit. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" because of his swift and attacking style of play, he has won ten ranking titles, placing him twelfth on the all-time list of ranking event winners. He has won two of snooker's Triple Crown events, the Masters in 1984 and the UK Championship in 1992, but has lost all six of the World Snooker Championship finals he contested. He finished runner-up to Steve Davis in 1984, to Stephen Hendry in 1990, 1992, 1993, and 1994, and to John Parrott in 1991. He is widely regarded as one of the best players never to have won the World Championship.

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02/05/1960

Stephen Daldry, English director and producer

Stephen David Daldry CBE is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway and an Olivier Award for his work in the West End. He has received three Academy Awards nominations for Best Director, for the films Billy Elliot (2000), The Hours (2002), and The Reader (2008).

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Royce Simmons, Australian rugby league player and coach

Royce Michael Simmons is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A one-club man, he played as a hooker for the Penrith Panthers in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) from 1980 to 1991, winning a premiership in his final season. He later coached the Panthers from 1994 to 2001, in between coaching English sides Hull F.C. (1992–94) and St Helens (2011–12).

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02/05/1959

Tony Wakeford, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Anthony Charles Wakeford is a British neofolk musician, who primarily records under the name Sol Invictus. He is also a member of the punk rock band Crisis and a co-founder of Death in June.

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02/05/1958

Yasushi Akimoto, Japanese songwriter and producer

Yasushi Akimoto is a Japanese record producer, lyricist, and television writer, best known for creating and producing some of Japan's top idol groups, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise. Total sales of the singles he has written exceed 100 million copies, making him the best-selling lyricist in Japan.

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David O'Leary, English-Irish footballer and manager

David Anthony O'Leary is a football manager and former player. The majority of his 20-year playing career was spent as a central defender at Arsenal, where his tally of 722 appearances stands as a club record. He played 68 times for the Republic of Ireland from 1976 to 1993, and was part of the squad that reached the quarter-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

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02/05/1956

Régis Labeaume, Canadian businessman and politician, 41st Mayor of Quebec City

Régis Labeaume is a Canadian businessman, writer and politician. He served as mayor of Quebec City from 2007 to 2021. He was first elected on December 2, 2007, after the death of former mayor Andrée Boucher. He was reelected in 2009, 2013, and 2017.

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02/05/1955

Willie Miller, Scottish footballer

William Ferguson Miller MBE is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, who made a club record 560 league appearances for Aberdeen. Sir Alex Ferguson described Miller as "the best penalty box defender in the world".

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Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer

Donatella Francesca Versace is an Italian fashion designer, businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the development of the brand and in particular its combining of Italian luxury with pop culture and celebrity.

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02/05/1954

Elliot Goldenthal, American composer and conductor

Elliot Goldenthal is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend various musical styles and techniques in original and inventive ways. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2002 for his score to the motion picture Frida, directed by his longtime partner Julie Taymor.

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Dawn Primarolo, English politician

Dawn Primarolo, Baroness Primarolo, is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South from 1987 until 2015, when she stood down. She was Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families at the Department for Children, Schools and Families from June 2009 to May 2010 and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons from 2010 to 2015. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for political service. She was nominated for a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours.

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02/05/1953

Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor and director

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg. He was formerly chief conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and of the Munich Philharmonic.

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Jamaal Wilkes, American basketball player

Jamaal Abdul-Lateef, better known as Jamaal Wilkes, is an American former basketball player who was a small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-time NBA All-Star, he won four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. Nicknamed "Silk", he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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02/05/1952

Chris Anderson, Australian rugby league player and coach

Christopher Anderson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian Kangaroos and New South Wales Blues representative winger, he featured in Canterbury-Bankstown's third grand final win and captained Halifax to both League and Cup success.

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Christine Baranski, American actress and singer

Christine Jane Baranski is an American actress. She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom Cybill (1995–1998). Baranski is also known for her roles as Diane Lockhart in the legal drama series The Good Wife (2009–2016) and its spin-off series The Good Fight (2017–2022), and as Agnes van Rhijn in the period drama series The Gilded Age (2022–present); both roles earned her Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

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02/05/1951

John Glascock, English singer and bass player (died 1979)

John Glascock was a British musician. He was the bassist and occasional lead vocalist of the rock band Carmen from 1972 to 1975; and the bass guitarist for progressive rock band Jethro Tull from 1976 until his death in 1979. Glascock died at the age of 28 as a result of a congenital heart valve defect, which was worsened by an infection caused by an abscessed tooth.

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02/05/1950

Frank Curry, Australian rugby league player and coach (died 2022)

Frank Curry Jr. was an Australian rugby league player and coach of the South Sydney Rabbitohs club.

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Duncan Gay, Australian businessman and politician

Duncan John Gay is a former Australian politician who served as the Vice-President of the Executive Council of New South Wales and the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council from May 2014 to January 2017; and the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight from April 2015 to January 2017. Gay served as the Leader of the Nationals in the Legislative Council until January 2017 and was a member of the Council from 1988 to 2017, representing the Nationals.

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Lou Gramm, American singer-songwriter

Louis Andrew Grammatico, known professionally as Lou Gramm, is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as co-founder and original frontman of the rock band Foreigner from 1976 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 2003, during which time the band had numerous successful albums and singles.

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02/05/1949

Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener and author

Alan Fred Titchmarsh is an English gardener, author and broadcaster. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist.

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Alfons Schuhbeck, German celebrity chef, author and businessman

Alfons Schuhbeck is one of Germany's top chefs, as well as being a restaurateur, celebrity chef, author and businessman.

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02/05/1948

Larry Gatlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers are an American country music vocal group. The group consists of lead singer Larry Gatlin and his brothers, Rudy and Steve Gatlin. The group achieved considerable success within the country music genre, performing on 33 top 40 country singles.

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02/05/1947

James Dyson, English businessman, founded the Dyson Company

Sir James Dyson is an English inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and business magnate who founded the Dyson company. He is best known as the inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. In the Sunday Times Rich List 2023, he was the fifth-richest person in the United Kingdom, with an estimated family net worth of £23 billion. As of March 2025, Forbes lists Dyson's net worth as $13.3 billion.

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02/05/1946

Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (died 2015)

Lesley Gore was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song "It's My Party", a U.S. number one in 1963. She followed it up with ten further U.S. Billboard top 40 hits including "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "You Don't Own Me". Gore said she considered "You Don't Own Me" her signature song.

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David Suchet, English actor

Sir David Courtney Suchet is an English actor. He is known for his work on stage and in television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial Oppenheimer (1980) and received the RTS and BPG awards for his performance as Augustus Melmotte in the British serial The Way We Live Now (2001). International acclaim and recognition followed his performance as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989–2013), for which he received a 1991 British Academy Television Award for Best Actor nomination.

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02/05/1945

Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (died 1998)

Alexander Minto Hughes, better known as Judge Dread, was an English reggae and ska musician. He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, and the BBC has banned more of his songs from radio and television than those of any other recording artist, because of his frequent use of sexual innuendo and double entendres. Following his death, Rolling Stone reported, "He sold several million albums throughout his 25-plus year career and was second only to Bob Marley in U.K. reggae sales during the 1970s".

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Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-American model, actress, and activist

Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan social activist, human rights advocate, and a former actress. She gained international prominence in the 1970s through her marriage to Mick Jagger, the frontman of the Rolling Stones. Renowned for her influential style, Jagger was inducted into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame in 1976.

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02/05/1944

Robert G. W. Anderson, English chemist, historian, and curator

Robert Geoffrey William Anderson, is a British museum curator and historian of chemistry. He has interests in the history of chemistry, including the history of scientific instrumentation, the work of Joseph Black and Joseph Priestley, the history of museums, and the involvement of the working class in material culture. He has been Keeper at the Science Museum, London, and Director of the National Museums of Scotland, and the British Museum, London, and president and CEO of the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia.

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02/05/1943

Mustafa Nadarević, Bosnian actor and film director (died 2020)

Mustafa Nadarević was a Bosnian and Croatian actor. Widely considered one of the greatest actors from the former Yugoslavia, he starred in over 70 films, including The Smell of Quinces (1982), When Father Was Away on Business (1985), Reflections (1987), The Glembays (1988), Kuduz (1989), Silent Gunpowder (1990), The Perfect Circle (1997), Days and Hours (2004), Mirage (2004) and Halima's Path (2012).

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02/05/1942

Jacques Rogge, Belgian businessman (died 2021)

Jacques Jean Marie, Count Rogge was a Belgian sports administrator, former athlete, and physician, who served as the eighth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, Rogge became the IOC's honorary president, a lifetime position, which he held until his death from Parkinson's disease in August 2021.

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02/05/1941

Clay Carroll, American baseball player

Clay Palmer Carroll is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1964 through 1978, most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won three division titles, one National League pennant and the 1975 World Series title. He also played for the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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02/05/1938

Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (died 1996)

Moshoeshoe II, previously known as Constantine Bereng Seeiso, was the Paramount Chief of Basutoland, succeeding paramount chief Seeiso from 1960 until the country gained full independence from Britain in 1966. He was King of Lesotho from 1966 until his exile in 1990, and from 1995 until his death in 1996.

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02/05/1937

Lorenzo Music, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2001)

Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He then became a writer and a regular performer on the controversial CBS variety show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In the 1970s, Music co-created the sitcom The Bob Newhart Show with David Davis and composed its theme music with his wife. He also wrote episodes for The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda, and got a major voiceover role for playing the unseen, but often heard, Carlton the Doorman in Rhoda. Music gained fame in the 1980s for voicing Jim Davis' comic strip character Garfield in twelve animated specials, and later an animated series, video games, and commercials. His distinctive drawling voice of Garfield was emulated by later actors following his death in 2001.

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02/05/1936

Norma Aleandro, Argentinian actress, director, and screenwriter

Norma Aleandro is an Argentine actress. She is considered one of the most celebrated and prolific Argentine actresses of all time and is recognized as a cultural icon in her home country.

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Engelbert Humperdinck, English singer and pianist

Arnold George Dorsey, MBE, known professionally as Engelbert Humperdinck, is a British singer. He achieved international success in 1967 with his recording of "Release Me".

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02/05/1935

Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spanish footballer and manager (died 2023)

Luis Suárez Miramontes was a Spanish professional footballer and manager. He played as a midfielder for Deportivo de La Coruña, España Industrial, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Sampdoria; he also represented the Spain national team between 1957 and 1972. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Spanish football players of all time, Suárez was noted for his elegant and fluid style of play and also regarded to be one of the greatest midfielders in the history of the sport.

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Faisal II of Iraq, the last King of Iraq (died 1958)

Faisal II was the last King of Iraq. He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was killed during the 14 July Revolution. This regicide marked the end of the thirty-seven-year-old Hashemite monarchy in Iraq, which then became a republic.

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02/05/1933

Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

Harry Kenneth Woolf, Baron Woolf is a British life peer and retired barrister and judge. He was Master of the Rolls from 1996 until 2000 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2000 until 2005. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 made him the first Lord Chief Justice to be President of the Courts of England and Wales. He was a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong from 2003 to 2012. He sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.

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02/05/1931

Phil Bruns, American actor and stuntman (died 2012)

Philip Bruns was an American television and movie actor and writer. He portrayed George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman on the 1970s comedic series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, and Morty Seinfeld, the father of Jerry Seinfeld, in the 1990 second episode of Seinfeld.

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Pulak Bandyopadhyay, Indian lyricist (died 1999)

Pulak Bandyopadhyay was a Bengali Indian lyricist and songwriter of Bengali cinema.

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02/05/1930

Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter and critic (died 2013)

Yoram Kaniuk was an Israeli writer, painter, journalist, and theatre critic.

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Marco Pannella, Italian journalist and politician (died 2016)

Marco Pannella was an Italian politician, journalist and activist. He was well known in his country for his nonviolence and civil rights' campaigns, like the right to divorce, the right to abortion, the legalization of cannabis and the abolition of nuclear power. Internationally, he supported human rights and self-determination causes, like the Tibetan independence and campaign against persecution of Montagnard in Vietnam.

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02/05/1929

Édouard Balladur, Turkish-French economist and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of France

Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, coming in third place.

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Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2005)

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. His 1958 instrumental single "Rumble" reached the top 20 in the United States, and was one of the earliest songs in rock music to use distortion and tremolo.

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Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan (died 1972)

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck was King of Bhutan from 30 March 1952 until his death in 1972.

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02/05/1927

Ray Barrett, Australian actor and singer (died 2009)

Raymond Charles Barrett was an Australian actor. During the 1960s, he was a leading actor on British television, where he was best known for his appearances in The Troubleshooters (1965–1971). From the 1970s, he appeared in lead and character roles in Australian films and television series.

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Michael Broadbent, British wine critic and writer (died 2020)

John Michael Broadbent, MW, was a British wine critic, writer and auctioneer in a capacity as a Master of Wine. He was an authority on wine tasting and old wines.

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02/05/1925

John Neville, English-Canadian actor (died 2011)

John Reginald Neville CM OBE was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned more than sixty years. He was renowned for his roles on both stage and screen in genres ranging from classical theatre to fantasy and science fiction.

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02/05/1924

Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2015)

Theodore Meir Bikel was an Austrian-American actor, singer, and political activist.

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Hugh Cortazzi, English soldier, historian, and diplomat, British Ambassador to Japan (died 2018)

Sir Arthur Henry Hugh Cortazzi, was a British diplomat. He was also a distinguished international businessman, academic, author and prominent Japanologist. He was Ambassador from the United Kingdom to Japan (1980–84), President of the Asiatic Society of Japan (1982–1983) and Chairman of the Japan Society of London (1985–95).

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02/05/1923

Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (died 2008)

Patrick John Hillery was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1976 to December 1990. He also served as vice-president of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Social Affairs from 1973 to 1976, Minister for External Affairs from 1969 to 1973, Minister for Labour from 1966 to 1969, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1965 to 1969 and Minister for Education from 1959 to 1965. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Clare constituency from 1951 to 1973.

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02/05/1922

Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (died 2007)

Roscoe Lee Browne was an American actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his many guest appearances on TV series from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as movies like The Cowboys (1972) with John Wayne, and The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) with John Amos and Jan-Michael Vincent, but his biggest roles were as narrator in Babe and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, which grossed $400 million combined.

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A. M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born American journalist and author (died 2006)

Abraham Michael "Abe" Rosenthal was a Canadian-born American journalist who served as The New York Times executive editor from 1977 to 1986. Previously he was the newspaper's metropolitan editor and managing editor. Following his tenure as executive editor, he became a columnist (1987–1999). Later, he had a column for the New York Daily News (1999–2004).

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02/05/1921

B. B. Lal, Indian archaeologist (died 2022)

Braj Basi Lal was an Indian writer and archaeologist. He was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from 1968 to 1972 and has served as Director of the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. Lal also served on various UNESCO committees.

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Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1992)

Satyajit Ray was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential film directors in the history of cinema. He is celebrated for works including The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958), The Big City (1963), Charulata (1964), and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy (1969–1992).[a]

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02/05/1920

Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Scottish pianist and composer (died 1980)

Joseph Turner Henderson, known as Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, was a Scottish pianist, composer and recording artist who became well-known in Britain in the 1950s, with his entertainment career continuing into the 1960s and 1970s.

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02/05/1917

Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (died 2002)

Văn Tiến Dũng was a Vietnamese general in the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), PAVN chief of staff (1954–1974); PAVN commander in chief (1975–1980); member of the Central Military–Party Committee (CMPC) (1984–1986) and Socialist Republic of Vietnam defense minister (1980–1987).

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02/05/1915

Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (died 2003)

Doris Fisher was an American singer and songwriter, collaborating both as lyricist and composer. She co-wrote many popular songs in the 1940s, including "Whispering Grass", "You Always Hurt the One You Love", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", "That Ole Devil Called Love", and "Put the Blame on Mame." Her songs were recorded by the Ink Spots, Louis Prima, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, Pearl Bailey, the Mills Brothers and Ella Fitzgerald amongst others.

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Peggy Mount, English actress (died 2001)

Margaret Rose Mount was an English actress. As a child, she found acting an escape from an unhappy home life. After playing in amateur productions, she was taken on by a repertory company and spent nine years in various British towns, learning her craft. In 1955, she got her big break in the comic play Sailor Beware!: she created the leading role in a repertory production and, though unknown to London audiences, was given the part when the play was presented in the West End. She became known for playing domineering middle-aged women in plays, films and television shows.

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02/05/1912

Axel Springer, German journalist and publisher, founded Axel Springer AG (died 1985)

Axel Cäsar Springer was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press market. His Bild Zeitung became the nation's tabloid.

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Marten Toonder, Dutch comic strip creator (died 2005)

Marten Toonder was a Dutch comic strip creator. He was probably the most successful comic artist in the Netherlands and had a great influence on the Dutch language by introducing new words and expressions. He is most famous for his series Tom Puss and Panda.

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Nigel Patrick, English actor and director (died 1981)

Nigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman was an English actor and stage director born into a theatrical family.

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02/05/1910

Alexander Bonnyman Jr., American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1943)

Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Jr. was a United States Marine Corps officer who was killed in action on Betio Atoll in the Gilbert Islands during World War II.

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Edmund Bacon, American urban planner, architect, educator, and author (died 2005)

Edmund Norwood Bacon was an American urban planner, architect, educator, and author. During his tenure as the executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, his visions shaped today's Philadelphia, the city of his birth, to the extent that he is sometimes described as "The Father of Modern Philadelphia". He authored the seminal urban planning book Design of Cities. He was the father of actor Kevin Bacon.

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02/05/1907

Pinky Lee, American comedian and television host (died 1993)

Pinky Lee was an American actor of stage, screen, radio, and television. He is best known as a children's-TV personality of the 1950s.

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02/05/1905

Charlotte Armstrong, American author (died 1969)

Charlotte Armstrong Lewi was an American writer. Under the names Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine she wrote 29 novels, as well as short stories, plays, and screenplays. She also worked for The New York Times' advertising department, as a fashion reporter for Breath of the Avenue, and in an accounting firm. Additionally, she worked for the New Yorker magazine, publishing only three poems for them.

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02/05/1903

Benjamin Spock, American pediatrician, activist, and author (died 1998)

Benjamin McLane Spock, widely known as Dr. Spock, was an American pediatrician, Olympic athlete, and left-wing political activist. His book Baby and Child Care (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the 20th century, selling 500,000 copies in the six months after its initial publication and 50 million by the time of Spock's death in 1998. The book's premise told mothers, "You know more than you think you do." Spock was widely regarded as a trusted source for parenting advice in his generation.

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02/05/1902

Brian Aherne, English actor (died 1986)

William Brian de Lacy Aherne was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States.

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02/05/1898

Henry Hall, English bandleader, composer, and actor (died 1989)

Henry Robert Hall was an English bandleader who performed regularly on BBC Radio during the British dance band era of the 1920s and 1930s, through to the 1960s.

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02/05/1897

John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (died 1985)

John Frederick Coots, better known as J. Fred Coots or Fred Coots, was an American songwriter. He composed more than 700 popular songs and more than a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then chief collaborator, lyricist Haven Gillespie, for the biggest success of either man's career, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." The song became one of the biggest sellers in American history.

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02/05/1895

Lorenz Hart, American playwright and lyricist (died 1943)

Lorenz Milton Hart was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include "Blue Moon"; "The Lady Is a Tramp"; "Manhattan"; "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"; and "My Funny Valentine".

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02/05/1894

Norma Talmadge, American actress of the silent era (died 1957)

Norma Marie Talmadge was an American actress and film producer of the silent era. A major box-office draw for more than a decade, her career reached a peak in the early 1920s, when she ranked among the most popular idols of the American screen.

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Joseph Henry Woodger, English biologist, philosopher, and academic (died 1981)

Joseph Henry Woodger was a British theoretical biologist and philosopher of biology whose attempts to make biological sciences more rigorous and empirical was significantly influential to the philosophy of biology in the twentieth century. Karl Popper, the prominent philosopher of science, claimed "Woodger... influenced and stimulated the evolution of the philosophy of science in Britain and in the United States as hardly anybody else".

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02/05/1892

Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (died 1918)

Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.

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02/05/1890

E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (died 1965)

Edward Elmer Smith was an American food engineer and science-fiction author, best known for the Lensman and Skylark series. He is sometimes called the father of space opera.

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02/05/1889

Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian philosopher, academic, and politician (died 1959)

Raden Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat, better known by the name Ki Hajar Dewantara since 1922, was a leading Indonesian independence movement activist, writer, columnist, politician, and pioneer of education for native Indonesians in Dutch colonial times. He founded the Taman Siswa school, an institution that provided education for indigenous commoners, which otherwise was limited to the Javanese aristocracy and the Dutch colonials.

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02/05/1887

Vernon Castle, English-American dancer (died 1918)

Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers and dance teachers who appeared on Broadway and in silent films in the early 20th century. They are credited with reviving the popularity of modern dancing. Castle was a stage name: Vernon was born William Vernon Blyth in England. Irene was born Irene Foote in the United States.

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Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (died 1951)

Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr., nicknamed "Cocky", was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played as a second baseman in Major League Baseball from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox. A graduate of Columbia University, Collins holds major league career records in several categories and is among the top few players in several other categories. In 1925, Collins became just the sixth person to join the 3,000 hit club – and the last for the next 17 seasons. His 47 career home runs are the fewest of any player with 3,000 hits. Collins is the only non-Yankee to win five or more World Series titles with the same club as a player. He is also the only player to have been a member of all five World Series championships won by the Athletics during the franchise's time in Philadelphia.

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02/05/1886

Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (died 1956)

Gottfried Benn was a German poet, essayist, and physician. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1951.

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02/05/1885

Hedda Hopper, American actress and gossip columnist (died 1966)

Elda Furry, known professionally as Hedda Hopper, was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, more than 35 million people read her columns. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings, Hopper named suspected Communists and was a major proponent of the Hollywood blacklist. Hopper continued to write her gossip column until her death in 1966. Her work appeared in many magazines and later on radio. She had an extended public feud with Louella Parsons, an arch-rival and fellow gossip columnist.

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02/05/1884

John Boland, American politician (died 1958)

John Abram Boland Sr. was an American politician and businessman from South Dakota. He was an early supporter of Mount Rushmore and served as treasurer for its construction costs between 1929 and 1938. He served as mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, between 1924 and 1925, and as a member of the South Dakota Senate between 1929 and 1936. Boland also owned a number of stores and businesses in the area and helped oversee South Dakota's financial support for World War I. He was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1978.

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02/05/1882

Isabel González, Puerto Rican activist who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans' American citizenship (died 1971)

Isabel González was a Puerto Rican activist who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans to be given United States citizenship. As a young unwed pregnant woman, González had her plans to find and marry the father of her unborn child derailed by the United States Treasury Department when she was excluded as an alien "likely to become a public charge" upon her arrival in New York City. González challenged the Government of the United States in the groundbreaking case Gonzales v. Williams. Officially the case was known as Isabella Gonzales, Appellant, v. William Williams, United States Commissioner of Immigration at the Port of New York No. 225, argued December 4, 7, 1903, and decided January 4, 1904. Her case was an appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, filed February 27, 1903, after also having her writ of habeas corpus dismissed. Her Supreme Court case is the first time that the Court confronted the citizenship status of inhabitants of territories acquired by the United States. González actively pursued the cause of U.S. citizenship for all Puerto Ricans by writing letters published in The New York Times.

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02/05/1881

Harry J. Capehart, American lawyer, politician, and businessperson (died 1955)

Harry Jheopart Capehart Sr. was an American lawyer, politician, and businessperson in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Capehart served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing McDowell County for three consecutive terms, from 1919 to 1925. He also served as an assessor, city councilperson, and city attorney for Keystone, West Virginia.

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02/05/1880

Bill Horr, American football player, discus thrower, and coach (died 1955)

Marquis Franklin "Bill" Horr was an American college football player and coach and Olympic track and field athlete.

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02/05/1879

James F. Byrnes, American stenographer and politician, 49th United States Secretary of State (died 1972)

James Francis Byrnes was an American judge and politician from South Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. Congress and on the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as in the executive branch, most prominently as the 49th U.S. Secretary of State under President Harry S. Truman. Byrnes was also the 104th governor of South Carolina.

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02/05/1873

Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (died 1944)

Jurgis Baltrušaitis was a Lithuanian Symbolist poet and translator who wrote in Lithuanian and Russian, and was an exponent of iconology. He was the father of art historian and critic Jurgis Baltrušaitis Jr.

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02/05/1872

Ichiyō Higuchi, Japanese writer (died 1896)

Natsuko Higuchi , known by her pen name Higuchi Ichiyō , was a Japanese writer during the Meiji era. She was Japan's first professional woman writer of modern literature, specializing in short stories and poetry, and was also an extensive diarist. Her portrait was used on the 5000 yen banknote in Japan.

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02/05/1867

Giuseppe Morello, Italian-American mobster (died 1930)

Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello, also known as "the Old Fox", was the first boss of the Morello crime family and later top adviser to Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. He was known as Piddu and his rivals the Castellammarese knew him as Peter Morello. He had a deformed right hand with only one finger, resembling a claw.

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02/05/1865

Clyde Fitch, American playwright (died 1909)

William Clyde Fitch was an American dramatist, the most popular writer for the Broadway stage of his time.

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02/05/1860

John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist, physician, and academic (died 1936)

John Scott Haldane was a Scottish physician physiologist and philosopher famous for his often-dangerous self-experimentation that led to many important discoveries about the human body and the nature of gases. He also experimented on his son, the celebrated and polymathic biologist J. B. S. Haldane, even when he was quite young. Haldane locked himself in sealed chambers breathing potentially lethal cocktails of gases while recording their effect on his mind and body.

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Theodor Herzl, Austro-Hungarian Zionist philosopher, journalist and author (died 1904)

Theodor Herzl was a Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine, which, in the late 19th century was part of the Ottoman Empire, in an effort to form a Jewish state. Due to his Zionist work, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah, lit. 'Visionary of the State'. He is specifically mentioned in the Israeli Declaration of Independence and is officially referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State".

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02/05/1859

Jerome K. Jerome, English author and playwright (died 1927)

Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the comic travelogue Three Men in a Boat (1889). Other works include the essay collections Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886) and Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; Three Men on the Bummel, a sequel to Three Men in a Boat; and several other novels.

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02/05/1844

Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American engineer (died 1929)

Elijah J. McCoy was a Canadian-American engineer of African-American descent who invented lubrication systems for steam engines. Born free on the Ontario shore of Lake Erie to parents who fled enslavement in Kentucky, he traveled to the United States as a young child when his family returned in 1847, becoming a U.S. resident and citizen. His inventions and accomplishments were honored in 2012 when the United States Patent and Trademark Office named its first regional office, in Detroit, Michigan, the "Elijah J. McCoy Midwest Regional Patent Office".

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02/05/1830

Otto Staudinger, German entomologist and author (died 1900)

Otto Staudinger was a German entomologist and a natural history dealer considered one of the largest in the world specialising in the collection and sale of insects to museums, scientific institutions, and individuals.

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02/05/1828

Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist and photographer (died 1915)

Claude-Joseph Désiré Charnay was a French traveller and archaeologist notable both for his explorations of Mexico and Central America, and for the pioneering use of photography to document his discoveries.

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02/05/1822

Jane Miller Thengberg, Scottish-Swedish governess and educator (died 1902)

Jane Miller Thengberg was a Swedish-Scottish teacher. She founded and managed the girls' school Klosterskolan in Uppsala from 1855 to 1863 and was the principal of the Högre lärarinneseminariet in Stockholm from 1863 to 1868. She organized the rules of the newly founded Högre lärarinneseminariet, was an active participant in the contemporary debate about the educational system in Sweden, and is regarded as a pioneer of the education of girls and women in Sweden.

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02/05/1815

William Buell Richards, Canadian lawyer and judge, 1st Chief Justice of Canada (died 1889)

Sir William Buell Richards was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and judge, and served as the first Chief Justice of Canada.

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02/05/1813

Caroline Leigh Gascoigne, English novelist and poet (died 1883)

Caroline Leigh Gascoigne was a 19th-century English poet and novelist from London. The daughter of a wealthy banker, she began writing at an early age and went on to publish several works in both prose and verse, including Temptation and Evelyn Harcourt. She was married to a Member of Parliament (MP) and had three children.

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02/05/1810

Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (died 1874)

Hans Christian Lumbye was a Danish composer of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and galops, among other things.

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02/05/1806

Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (died 1876)

Catherine Labouré, DC was a French member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the Miraculous Medal, now worn by millions of people around the world. Labouré spent forty years caring for the aged and infirm. For this, she is called the patroness of seniors.

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02/05/1802

Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (died 1870)

Heinrich Gustav Magnus was a German experimental scientist. His training was mostly in chemistry but his later research was mostly in physics. He spent the great bulk of his career at the University of Berlin, where he is remembered for his laboratory teaching as much as for his original research. He did not use his first given name, and was known throughout his life as Gustav Magnus.

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02/05/1797

Abraham Pineo Gesner, Canadian physician and geologist (died 1864)

Abraham Pineo Gesner was a Nova Scotian and New Brunswickan medical doctor and geologist who invented kerosene. Gesner was born in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and lived much of his life in Saint John, New Brunswick. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was an influential figure in the development of the study of Canadian geology and natural history.

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02/05/1773

Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher and poet (died 1845)

Henrik Steffens, was a Norwegian philosopher, scientist, and poet.

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02/05/1772

Novalis, German author and poet (died 1801)

Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, better known by his pen name Novalis, was a German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and mystic. He is regarded as an influential figure of Jena Romanticism.

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02/05/1754

Vicente Martín y Soler, Spanish composer (died 1806)

Anastasio Martín Ignacio Vicente Tadeo Francisco Pellegrin Martín y Soler was a Spanish composer of opera and ballet. Although relatively obscure now, in his own day he was compared favorably with his contemporary and admirer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as a composer of opera buffa. In his time he was called "Martini lo spagnuolo" ; in modern times, he has been called "the Valencian Mozart". He was known primarily for his melodious Italian comic operas and his work with Lorenzo Da Ponte in the late 18th century, as well as the melody from Una cosa rara quoted in the dining scene of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

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02/05/1752

Ludwig August Lebrun, German oboe player and composer (died 1790)

Ludwig August Lebrun was a German oboist and composer.

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02/05/1750

John André, English soldier and spy (died 1780)

Major John André was a British Army officer who served as the head of Britain's intelligence operations during the American War for Independence. In September 1780, André negotiated with Continental Army general Benedict Arnold, who secretly offered to turn over control of the American fort at West Point, New York, to the British. Due to a series of mishaps and unforeseen events, André was forced to try to return to British lines from a meeting with Arnold through American-controlled territory while wearing civilian clothes.

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02/05/1740

Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Continental Congress (died 1821)

Elias Boudinot was an American Founding Father, lawyer, statesman, and early abolitionist and women's rights advocate. During the Revolutionary War, Boudinot was an intelligence officer and prisoner-of-war commissary under general George Washington, working to improve conditions for prisoners on both the American and British sides. In 1779, he was elected to the Continental Congress and then to its successor, the Congress of the Confederation, serving as President of Congress in 1782–1783, the final years of the war.

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02/05/1737

William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1805)

William Petty Fitzmaurice, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, known as the Earl of Shelburne between 1761 and 1784, by which title he is generally known to history, was an Anglo-Irish Whig statesman who was the first home secretary in 1782 and then prime minister in 1782–83 during the final months of the American War of Independence. He succeeded in securing peace with America and this feat remains his most notable legacy.

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02/05/1729

Catherine the Great of Russia (died 1796)

Catherine II, commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after a coup d'etat against her husband, Peter III. Her long reign helped Russia thrive under a golden age during the Enlightenment. This renaissance led to the founding of many new cities, universities, and theatres, along with large-scale immigration from the rest of Europe and the recognition of Russia as one of the great powers of Europe.

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02/05/1707

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, French cellist and composer (died 1747)

Jean-Baptiste Barrière was a French cellist and composer. He was born in Bordeaux, Gascony and died in Paris, at 40 years of age.

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02/05/1702

Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and theosopher (died 1782)

Friedrich Christoph Oetinger was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and theosopher.

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02/05/1695

Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French painter and architect (died 1766)

Jean-Nicolas Servan, also known as Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, was an Italian decorator, architect, painter, firework designer and trompe-l'œil specialist.

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02/05/1660

Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (died 1725)

Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan School of opera.

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02/05/1601

Athanasius Kircher, German priest and scholar (died 1680)

Athanasius Kircher was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fellow Jesuit Roger Joseph Boscovich and to Leonardo da Vinci for his vast range of interests, and has been honoured with the title "Master of a Hundred Arts". He taught for more than 40 years at the Roman College, where he set up a wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities that would become the Kircherian Museum. A resurgence of interest in Kircher has occurred within the scholarly community in recent decades.

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02/05/1579

Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shōgun (died 1632)

Tokugawa Hidetada was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the second shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Through his daughter Tokugawa Masako, he was also the maternal grandfather of Empress Meishō.

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02/05/1567

Sebald de Weert, Dutch captain, vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (died 1603)

Sebald or Sebald de Weert was a Flemish captain and vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company. He is most widely remembered for accurately plotting the Falkland Islands in 1600.

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02/05/1551

William Camden, English historian and topographer (died 1623)

William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of Britannia, the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland that relates landscape, geography, antiquarianism, and history, and the Annales, the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I.

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02/05/1533

Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (died 1596)

Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a member of the House of Welf, was the last ruler of the Principality of Grubenhagen from 1595 until his death. When he died in 1596, the Grubenhagen branch of the Welfs became extinct, whereafter the principality was occupied by Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

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02/05/1476

Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (died 1536)

Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels was a member of the House of Poděbrady. He was Duke of Münsterberg and Duke of Oels as well as Count of Kladsko. From 1519 to 1523 he held the office of the bailiff of Upper Lusatia, in 1523 he was made Obersthauptmann of Bohemia and in 1524 Landeshauptmann of Silesia.

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02/05/1458

Eleanor of Viseu (died 1525)

Dona Eleanor of Avis, also known as Leonor de Lencastre or Eleanor of Viseu, was a Portuguese infanta (princess) and queen consort of Portugal. She was the wife of King John II of Portugal and the sister of King Manuel I of Portugal. Eleanor is one of Portugal's more famous queen consorts and is best known as the founder of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, a charitable organization operating since 1498.

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02/05/1451

René II, Duke of Lorraine (died 1508)

René II was Count of Vaudémont from 1470, Duke of Lorraine from 1473, and Duke of Bar from 1483 to 1508. He claimed the crown of the Kingdom of Naples and the County of Provence as the Duke of Calabria 1480–1493 and as King of Naples and Jerusalem 1493–1508. He succeeded his uncle John of Vaudémont as Count of Harcourt in 1473, exchanging it for the county of Aumale in 1495. He succeeded as Count of Guise in 1504.

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02/05/1402

Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (died 1445)

Eleanor of Aragon was Queen of Portugal from 1433 to 1438 as the spouse of King Edward. After Edward's death, she served as regent in 1438-1440 for her son Afonso V. She was the daughter of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor of Alburquerque.

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02/05/1360

Yongle Emperor of China (died 1424)

The Yongle Emperor, personal name Zhu Di, was the third emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. He was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the dynasty.

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