Born on Monday, 26th May – Famous Birthdays

26/05/2000

Yeji, South Korean singer

Hwang Ye-ji, known mononymously as Yeji, is a South Korean singer and dancer. She is the leader of the South Korean girl group Itzy, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2019. Yeji released her debut solo extended play (EP), Air, in March 2025.

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26/05/1999

Micah Parsons, American football player

Micah Aaron Parsons is an American professional football linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Parsons played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, where he earned consensus All-American honors and was named the 2019 Big Ten Linebacker of the Year.

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Georgia Wareham, Australian cricketer

Georgia Wareham is an Australian cricketer who plays for the national cricket team as a leg spin bowler. At the domestic level, she plays for Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades. In April 2018, she played six matches on an Under-19 tour of South Africa, taking a total of nine wickets including 4/17 in a 50-over match against the Emerging South Africa team.

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26/05/1997

Mathew Barzal, Canadian ice hockey player

Mathew Michael Paul Barzal is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). Barzal was selected by the Islanders in the first round, 16th overall, of the 2015 NHL entry draft. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 2017–18, the fifth Islander to win the award.

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26/05/1996

Lara Goodall, South African cricketer

Lara Goodall is a South African cricketer who represents South Africa in Women's One Day Internationals and Women's Twenty20 Internationals. In February 2019, Cricket South Africa named her as one of the players in the Powerade Women's National Academy intake for 2019. In September 2019, she was named in the M van der Merwe XI squad for the inaugural edition of the Women's T20 Super League in South Africa. On 23 July 2020, Goodall was named in South Africa's 24-woman squad to begin training in Pretoria, ahead of their tour to England.

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26/05/1994

Gong Myung, South Korean actor

Kim Dong-hyun, known professionally as Gong Myung (Korean: 공명), is a South Korean actor. He is a member of 5urprise. He is known for his roles in the television series Be Melodramatic (2019), and Lovers of the Red Sky (2021), as well as the film Extreme Job (2019).

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26/05/1993

Jason Adesanya, Belgian footballer

Jason Adesanya is a Belgian footballer who currently plays for K Lyra-Lierse Berlaar.

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26/05/1991

Ah Young, South Korean singer and actress

Cho Ah-young, better known by her stage name Ah Young (아영), is a South Korean singer and actress, as well known as a member of the South Korean girl group Dal Shabet.

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26/05/1989

Paula Findlay, Canadian triathlete

Paula Findlay is a Canadian triathlete from Edmonton, Alberta.

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Park Ye-eun, South Korean singer

Park Ye-eun, professionally known as Yeeun, Yenny, or Ha:tfelt (핫펠트), is a South Korean singer, songwriter and composer known for her work as a former member of South Korean girl group Wonder Girls. In July 2014, she made her debut as solo artist under the name Ha:tfelt with released her solo EP Me?. In early 2017, Wonder Girls officially disbanded due to contract expiration. Following the disbandment, Yeeun signed with Amoeba Culture to continue her career as solo artist.

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26/05/1988

Andrea Catellani, Italian footballer

Andrea Catellani is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward.

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Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower

Dani Stevens is an Australian retired discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current national and Oceanian record holder.

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26/05/1987

Olcay Şahan, Turkish footballer

Olcay Şahan is a Turkish professional football manager and a former player who played as a winger or as an attacking midfielder. Born in Germany, he played for the Turkey national team internationally.

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26/05/1986

Michel Tornéus, Swedish long jumper

Michel Tresor Komesha Tornéus is a Swedish former long jumper.

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26/05/1985

Monika Christodoulou, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist

Monika Christodoulou also known by her stage name Monika, is a Greek singer-songwriter. Her debut album Avatar was released in 2008 and her second album Exit followed in 2010. Both albums achieved platinum status in her native Greece and were met with critical acclaim. Her third album, Secret in the Dark, was the first to be given an international release, in 2015. It was recorded in New York in collaboration with musicians from the Dap-Kings, and sees Christodoulou moving away from the folk, singer-songwriter style of her earlier albums towards a disco and funk sound.

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Ashley Vincent, English footballer

Ashley Derek Vincent is an English former football player and manager who is a first-team coach at EFL League Two club Cheltenham Town.

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26/05/1983

Demy de Zeeuw, Dutch footballer

Demy Patrick René de Zeeuw is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He previously played for AGOVV, Go Ahead Eagles, AZ and AFC Ajax. While at AZ he was a key player in the squad that won the 2008–09 Dutch league, the club's first championship victory in 28 years. Following this success he transferred to Ajax, with whom he won the 2009–10 Dutch Cup, and the 2010–11 Dutch league title. A good tackler and a gifted passer of the ball, he made 24 appearances for the Netherlands national team.

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Nathan Merritt, Australian rugby league player

Nathan Merritt is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New South Wales State of Origin representative winger, he played in the National Rugby League for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with whom he won the 2014 NRL Premiership, and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Merritt has also played representative football for the City New South Wales, Indigenous All Stars and Prime Minister's XIII sides. A prolific try-scorer, he was the NRL's top try-scorer in 2006 and 2011, and in 2013 became the 9th player in the history of the League to score 150 tries.

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26/05/1982

Hasan Kabze, Turkish footballer

Hasan Salih Kabze is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Formerly, he played for Bucaspor, Çanakkale Dardanelspor, Galatasaray SK, Rubin Kazan, Montpellier HSC, Orduspor, Konyaspor, Akhisar Belediyespor, and Sivasspor. In 2006, he made seven appearances for the international scoring twice.

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26/05/1981

Anthony Ervin, American swimmer

Anthony Lee Ervin is an American competitive swimmer who has won four Olympic medals and two World Championship golds. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 50-meter freestyle, and earned a silver medal as a member of the second-place United States relay team in the 4×100-meter freestyle event. He was the second swimmer of African descent, after Anthony Nesty of Suriname, to win an individual gold medal in Olympic swimming. He is the first United States citizen of African descent to earn a gold medal in an individual Olympic swimming event. In 2017, he knelt for the US national anthem prior to the start of a competition in Brazil.

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Jason Manford, English actor, screenwriter, and television host

Jason John Manford is an English comedian, singer, presenter and actor.

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Ben Zobrist, American baseball player

Benjamin Thomas Zobrist is an American former professional baseball second baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, and Chicago Cubs. Zobrist played in three World Series and won the last two, becoming a two-time World Series champion in consecutive seasons of 2015 with the Royals and 2016 with the Cubs. He was the World Series MVP in 2016. Internationally, Zobrist represented the United States.

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26/05/1980

Louis-Jean Cormier, Canadian singer and songwriter

Louis-Jean Cormier is a Canadian indie rock singer and songwriter. Formerly associated with the band Karkwa, since that band went on hiatus in 2012 he has recorded and performed as a solo artist and was a judge on the second season of the television singing competition La Voix.

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26/05/1979

Ashley Massaro, American wrestler and model (died 2019)

Ashley Marie Massaro was an American professional wrestler. She was best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) where she performed under her real name.

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Natalya Nazarova, Russian sprinter

Natalya Viktorovna Nazarova is a track and field sprinter.

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Mehmet Okur, Turkish basketball player

Mehmet Murat Okur is a Turkish former professional basketball player. Listed at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), he played as a power forward and center.

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26/05/1978

Fabio Firmani, Italian footballer

Fabio Firmani is an Italian retired footballer who played as a midfielder.

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Dan Parks, Australian-Scottish rugby player

Daniel Arthur Parks is a professional rugby union coach and former player who played as a fly-half.

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26/05/1977

Nikos Chatzivrettas, Greek basketball player

Nikolaos (Nikos) Chatzivrettas is a retired Greek professional basketball player. At a height of 1.97 m tall, he played at the shooting guard and small forward positions. He was inducted into the Greek Basket League Hall of Fame in 2022.

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Raina Telgemeier, American author and cartoonist

Raina Telgemeier is an American cartoonist. Her works include the autobiographical webcomic Smile, which was published as a full-color middle grade graphic novel in February 2010, and the follow-up Sisters and the fiction graphic novel Drama, all of which have been on The New York Times Best Seller lists. She has also written and illustrated the graphic novels Ghosts and Guts as well as four graphic novels adapted from The Baby-Sitters Club stories by Ann M. Martin.

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Luca Toni, Italian footballer

Luca Toni is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competitions; with 322 career goals, he is currently the fourth-highest scoring Italian player of all time, second only to Alessandro Del Piero in the post-World War II era. At international level, he represented the Italy national team on 47 occasions, scoring 16 goals.

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Misaki Ito, Japanese actress and model

Misaki Ito is a Japanese actress and model. Her maiden name is Tomoko Anzai .

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26/05/1976

Paul Collingwood, English cricketer and coach

Paul David Collingwood is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England. He played for Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood was a regular member of the England Test side and captain of the One Day International (ODI) team (2007–2008). He was the first T20I captain for England. As captain, he led the England team to win their first ICC trophy, the 2010 World Twenty20, and scored the winning run in the final.

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Stephen Curry, Australian comedian and actor

Stephen Curry is an Australian comedian and actor who has appeared in many television drama and comedy series, and feature films. He first became known as Dale Kerrigan in the 1997 hit comedy The Castle.

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Kenny Florian, American mixed martial artist and sportscaster

Kenneth Alan "Kenny" Florian is an American retired mixed martial artist and commentator who formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He formerly served as an analyst for UFC on Fox from 2011 to 2018, provided color commentary for UFC Fight Night, and provides color commentary on the robot combat television series BattleBots. He is currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL) as a commentator.

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26/05/1975

Lauryn Hill, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of her time and considered a pioneer of neo soul and rap-singing, she has been credited by The Telegraph with popularizing hip-hop music. In 2015, Billboard named her the greatest female rapper. Hill has been included on Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Singers, VH1's 100 Women in Music, and NPR's 50 Great Voices. She is the highest-grossing American female rapper in live music, and has won eight Grammy Awards, the most for any female rapper.

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26/05/1974

Lars Frölander, Swedish swimmer

Lars Arne Frölander is a Swedish swimmer. He has competed in six consecutive Olympic Games.

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26/05/1973

Naomi Harris, Canadian-American photographer

Naomi Harris is a Canadian photographer living in Toronto. She is known for her portraits of people from sub-cultures such as retirement communities and nudist beaches.

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26/05/1971

Zaher Andary, Lebanese footballer

Zaher Toufic Al Indari is a Lebanese former professional footballer who played as a striker.

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Matt Stone, American actor, animator, screenwriter, producer, and composer

Matthew Richard Stone is an American animator, writer, producer, songwriter, filmmaker, and actor. He is best known for co-creating the animated television series South Park and the stage musical The Book of Mormon (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Intrigued by a career in entertainment at a young age, he studied film and mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he met Parker. During their attendance, the two worked on various short films and starred in the feature-length musical Cannibal! The Musical (1993).

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26/05/1970

Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese illustrator

Nobuhiro Nishiwaki , better known by his pen name Nobuhiro Watsuki , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his samurai-themed series Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (1994–1999), which has over 70 million copies in circulation, and a sequel he is currently creating, Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc (2017–present).

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26/05/1969

John Baird, Canadian politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs

John Russell Baird is a retired Canadian politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2015 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He had been a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions, since 2006. Previously he was a provincial cabinet minister in Ontario during the governments of Premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. Baird resigned from Harper's cabinet on February 3, 2015, and as a Member of Parliament on March 16, 2015.

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Siri Lindley, American triathlete and coach

Siri Lindley is an American triathlon coach and former professional triathlete. She is the 2001 ITU Triathlon World Champion as well as the winner of the 2001 and 2002 ITU Triathlon World Cup series and 2001 ITU Aquathlon World Championships. She has coached a number of Olympic and Ironman athletes and champions, including Mirinda Carfrae, Leanda Cave, Sarah True, and Susan Williams. In 2014, she was selected to be a member of the inaugural International Triathlon Union (ITU) Hall of Fame class.

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26/05/1968

Fernando León de Aranoa, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter

Fernando León de Aranoa is a Spanish screenwriter and film director.

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Frederik X, King of Denmark

Frederik X is King of Denmark, reigning since the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, in January 2024.

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26/05/1967

Philip Treacy, Irish milliner, hat designer

Philip Anthony Treacy is an Irish haute couture milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by Vogue magazine as "perhaps the greatest living milliner". In 2000, Treacy became the first milliner in eighty years to be invited to exhibit at the Paris haute couture fashion shows. He has won British Accessory Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards five times, and has received public honours in both Britain and Ireland. His designs have been displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist (died 2012)

Mika Yamamoto was a Japanese video and photojournalist for the news agency Japan Press. Yamamoto was killed on 20 August 2012 while covering the ongoing Syrian Civil War in Aleppo, Syria. She was the first Japanese and fourth foreign journalist killed in the Syrian Civil War that began in March 2011. She was the fifteenth journalist killed in Syria in 2012. Yamamoto was a recipient of the Vaughn-Uyeda Memorial Prize of the Japanese Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association for her reporting of international affairs in 2004.

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26/05/1966

Helena Bonham Carter, English actress

Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress. She is known for her character roles as eccentric women in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas. Bonham Carter rose to prominence by playing Lucy Honeychurch in A Room with a View (1985) and the title character in Lady Jane (1986). Her early period roles saw her typecast as a virginal "English rose", a label with which she was uncomfortable. Bonham Carter is recognized for her unconventional fashion choices and dark aesthetic. For her role as Kate Croy in The Wings of the Dove (1997), Bonham Carter received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in The King's Speech (2010), she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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Zola Budd, South African runner

Zola Budd is a South African middle-distance and long-distance runner. She competed at the 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain and the 1992 Olympic Games for South Africa, both times in the 3000 metres. In 1984 (unratified) and 1985, she broke the world record in the 5000 metres. She was also a two-time winner at the World Cross Country Championships (1985–1986). Budd mainly trained and raced barefoot. Her mile best of 4:17.57 in 1985 stood as the British record for 38 years until Laura Muir ran 4:15.24 on 21 July 2023.

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26/05/1964

Caitlín R. Kiernan, Irish-American paleontologist and author

Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is an Irish-born American paleontologist and writer of science fiction and dark fantasy works, including 10 novels, series of comic books, and more than 250 published short stories, novellas, and vignettes. Kiernan is a two-time recipient of both the World Fantasy and Bram Stoker awards.

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Lenny Kravitz, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor

Leonard Albert Kravitz is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album Let Love Rule (1989) was characterized by a blend of rock, funk, reggae, hard rock, soul, and R&B, along with his subsequent releases.

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Argiris Pedoulakis, Greek basketball player and coach

Argyris Pedoulakis is a former Greek professional basketball player and basketball coach, who is currently acting as the youth academy director for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague.

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26/05/1963

Simon Armitage, English poet, playwright and novelist

Simon Robert Armitage is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.

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Claude Legault, Canadian actor and screenwriter

Claude Legault is a Canadian actor and television writer from Quebec.

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26/05/1962

Black, English singer-songwriter (died 2016)

Colin Vearncombe, known by his stage name Black, was an English singer-songwriter. He emerged from the punk rock music scene and achieved mainstream pop success in the late 1980s, most notably with the 1986 single "Wonderful Life", which was an international hit the next year.

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Genie Francis, Canadian-American actress

Genie Francis is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Laura Spencer on the television soap opera General Hospital from 1977 to present, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007.

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26/05/1961

Tarsem Singh, Indian-American director, producer, and screenwriter

Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, known professionally as Tarsem, is an Indian director who has worked on films, music videos, and commercials. He directed The Cell (2000), The Fall (2006), Immortals (2011), Mirror Mirror (2012), Self/less (2015), and Dear Jassi (2023).

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26/05/1960

Dean Lukin, Australian weightlifter

Dinko "Dean" Lukin, OAM is an Australian retired weightlifter. Lukin won the gold medal in the Super Heavyweight category at the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles. He carried the Australian flag during the closing ceremony of the 1984 games, and remains Australia's only Olympic gold medallist for weightlifting. He also saw success in the Commonwealth Games, winning gold medals in the super heavyweight division of the 1982 Brisbane games and the 1986 Edinburgh games.

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Romas Ubartas, Lithuanian discus thrower

Romas Ubartas is a retired male discus thrower from Lithuania who won a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics for the USSR and a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics for Lithuania, the nation's first gold. His personal best was 70.06m. He also became European champion, in 1986. When Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union, he trained at Dynamo in Vilnius. In 1993, after finishing fourth at the World Track and Field Championships in Germany, Ubartas failed a doping test and was disqualified for four years.

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26/05/1959

Ole Bornedal, Danish actor, director, and producer

Ole Bornedal is a Danish film director, actor and producer.

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26/05/1958

Arto Bryggare, Finnish hurdler and politician

Arto Kalervo Bryggare is a Finnish former hurdling athlete. He was a member of the Parliament of Finland, representing the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1995 to 1999 and 2003 to 2007. His personal best time 13.35, made during trials in 1984 Los Angeles Games, is still the record time in Finland and in Nordic countries. Bryggare made Finnish history by becoming the first Finn to medal in a sprint event shorter than 400 metres.

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Margaret Colin, American actress

Margaret Colin is an American actress. She is known for her roles as White House Communications Director Constance Spano in the sci-fi film Independence Day (1996), the originating performer of character Margo Hughes on As the World Turns (1980–1983), and her recurring role as Eleanor Waldorf in all six seasons of Gossip Girl (2007–2012).

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26/05/1957

Diomedes Díaz, Colombian singer-songwriter (died 2013)

Diomedes Díaz Maestre was a Colombian vallenato singer and composer. He has been named the "King of Vallenato" and is nicknamed El Cacique de La Junta, which was given to him by another vallenato singer, Rafael Orozco Maestre, in honor of Díaz's birthplace. Diomedes is the greatest Colombian singer-songwriter of vallenato music and the biggest seller of records in that musical genre, surpassing 20 million copies.

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François Legault, Canadian businessman and politician

François Legault is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 32nd premier of Quebec since October 2018. A founding member of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), he led the party since its inception in 2011 until his resignation. Legault sits as a member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the Lanaudière region riding of L'Assomption. He is the Dean of the Quebec National Assembly.

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Roberto Ravaglia, Italian racing driver

Roberto Ravaglia is an Italian former racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most successful touring car racing drivers, primarily for BMW, and won seven titles in four different championships.

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26/05/1956

Fiona Shackleton, English lawyer

Fiona Sara Shackleton, Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, is an English solicitor and Conservative politician, who has represented members of the British royal family and celebrities, including Paul McCartney, Charles III, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess Haya bint Hussein, and Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer. Her charm and resoluteness earned her the nickname "Steel Magnolia".

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Jyoti Gogte, Indian academician

Jyoti Jayant Gogte is an Indian entrepreneur and academic, most notable for her reference textbooks on entrepreneurship titled Startup & New Venture Management (2014) and Roadmap for an Entrepreneur (2024).

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26/05/1954

Michael Devine, Irish Republican hunger strike participant (died 1981)

Michael James Devine was an Irish militant and Republican activist. He was a volunteer in the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), and the last hunger striker to die during the 1981 Irish hunger strike.

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Alan Hollinghurst, English novelist, poet, short story writer, and translator

Sir Alan James Hollinghurst is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award and the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 2004, he won the Booker Prize for his novel The Line of Beauty. Hollinghurst is credited with having helped gay-themed fiction to break into the literary mainstream through his seven novels since 1988.

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Denis Lebel, Canadian businessman and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Transport

Denis Lebel is a Canadian politician who served as mayor of Roberval, Quebec, and deputy leader of the Official Opposition.

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26/05/1953

Kay Hagan, American lawyer and politician (died 2019)

Janet Kay Hagan was an American lawyer, banking executive, and politician who served as a United States senator from North Carolina from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the North Carolina Senate from 1999 to 2009. By defeating Republican Elizabeth Dole in the 2008 election, she became the first woman to defeat an incumbent woman in a U.S. Senate election. She ran for re-election in 2014 and lost to Republican Thom Tillis, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, in a close race. As of 2025, she is the last Democrat to represent North Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

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Don McAllister, English footballer and manager

Donald McAllister is an English former professional footballer who played as a central defender for Bolton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, Charlton Athletic, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Rochdale.

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Michael Portillo, English journalist, politician and TV presenter

Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and retired politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys. A former member of the Conservative Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Enfield Southgate from 1984 to 1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 1999 to 2005, holding a number of ministerial and Cabinet positions.

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26/05/1951

Ramón Calderón, Spanish lawyer and businessman

José Ramón Calderón Ramos is a Spanish lawyer who is the former President of Real Madrid. He got his Law Degree in the University of Navarra, Spain in 1974 and he worked in London, England, as a lawyer, in 1975 and 1976. A member of the Madrid Bar Association since 1976, Calderón opened his Law Firm: Calderon Abogados, where he has been working during the last 40 years.

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Lou van den Dries, Dutch mathematician

Laurentius Petrus Dignus "Lou" van den Dries is a Dutch mathematician working in model theory. He is a professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

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Muhammed Faris, Syrian military aviator and cosmonaut (died 2024)

Muhammed Ahmed Faris was a Syrian military aviator and astronaut. He was the first Syrian and the second Arab in space.

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Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut, founded Sally Ride Science (died 2012)

Sally Kristen Ride was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. She was the youngest American astronaut to have flown in space, having done so at the age of 32.

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26/05/1949

Jeremy Corbyn, British journalist and politician

Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. He currently sits as an independent, and is the parliamentary leader of Your Party, which he co-founded with Zarah Sultana in July 2025. Corbyn had previously been a member of the Labour Party from 1965 until his expulsion in 2024, and served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020 and was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus. He identifies ideologically as a socialist on the political left.

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Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer, developed the first wiki

Howard G. Cunningham is an American computer programmer, who developed the first wiki and co-authored the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Called a pioneer, and innovator, he also helped create both software design patterns and extreme programming. He began coding the WikiWikiWeb in 1994, and installed it on c2.com on March 25, 1995, as an add-on to the Portland Pattern Repository. He co-authored a book about wikis, entitled The Wiki Way, and invented the Framework for Integrated Test.

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Pam Grier, American actress

Pamela Suzette Grier is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation and women-in-prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures. Her accolades include nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award and a Saturn Award.

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Anne McGuire, Scottish educator and politician

Dame Anne Catherine McGuire is a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling from 1997 to 2015. She was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland from 2002 to 2005 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People from 2005 to 2008.

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Philip Michael Thomas, American actor

Philip Michael Thomas is a retired American actor and musician and composer best known for his role as detective Ricardo Tubbs on the hit 1980s TV series Miami Vice. His first notable roles were in Coonskin (1975) and opposite Irene Cara in the 1976 film Sparkle. After his success in Miami Vice, he appeared in numerous made-for-TV movies and advertisements for telephone psychic services. He also voiced the character Lance Vance in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006).

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Hank Williams Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Randall Hank Williams, known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style has been described as a blend of rock, blues, and country. He is the son of country musician Hank Williams and the father of musicians Sam Williams, Holly Williams and Hank Williams III, and the grandfather of Coleman Williams. He is also the half-brother of Jett Williams.

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26/05/1948

Dayle Haddon, Canadian model and actress (died 2024)

Dayle Haddon was a Canadian model and actress, known for promoting anti-aging products manufactured by L'Oréal. Additionally, she was credited as the author of Ageless Beauty: A Woman's Guide to Lifelong Beauty and Well-Being. During the earlier part of her career as a model, Haddon appeared on the covers of many top fashion and beauty magazines, as well as the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1973. Haddon also served as a wellness contributor to CBS News where she appeared regularly on The Early Show at the turn of the 21st century. Haddon married French businessman Glenn Souham, who was murdered because of his believed connections to the Iran-Contra affair. They had one daughter, journalist and producer Ryan Haddon. Haddon died at her daughter's property due to carbon monoxide poisoning in December 2024.

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26/05/1947

Glenn Turner, New Zealand cricketer

Glenn Maitland Turner played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's most prolific batsmen. He played domestically for Otago for most of his career and played in England for Worcestershire County Cricket Club for 15 seasons.

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26/05/1946

Neshka Robeva, Bulgarian gymnast and coach

Neshka Stefanova Robeva is a Bulgarian former rhythmic gymnast and coach.

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Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (died 1993)

Michael Ronson was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musician who recorded five studio albums with Bowie followed by four with Ian Hunter, and also played in touring bands with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. A classically trained musician, Ronson was known for his melodic approach to guitar playing.

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26/05/1945

Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian lawyer and politician, 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (died 2012)

Vilasrao Dagadojirao Deshmukh was an Indian politician who served as the 14th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, first term from 18 October 1999 to 16 January 2003 and second term, from 1 November 2004 to 5 December 2008. He also served in the Union cabinet as the Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences.

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26/05/1944

Phil Edmonston, American-Canadian journalist and politician (died 2022)

Louis-Phillip Edmonston was a Canadian consumer advocate, writer, journalist, and politician. Along with Andrew Scheer, he was one of the few politicians with dual American and Canadian citizenship to be elected to the Parliament of Canada.

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Jan Kinder, Norwegian ice hockey player (died 2013)

Jan Runar Kinder was a Norwegian ice hockey player. He was born in Oslo, Norway and represented the club Hasle/Løren IL. He played for the Norwegian national ice hockey team, and participated at the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972, where the Norwegian team placed 8th.

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Sam Posey, American race car driver and journalist

Samuel Felton Posey is an American former racing driver and sports broadcast journalist.

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26/05/1943

Erica Terpstra, Dutch swimmer, journalist, and politician

Erica Georgina Terpstra is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

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26/05/1941

Aldrich Ames, American CIA officer and criminal (died 2026)

Aldrich Hazen Ames was an American CIA counterintelligence officer who was convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union and Russia in 1994. He served a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in various federal prisons until his death in 2026 at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland. Ames was responsible for the arrest and eventual execution of numerous Soviet and Russian officials secretly working on behalf of the U.S. intelligence community, and had compromised more highly classified CIA assets than any other intelligence officer at the time of his arrest until the arrest of FBI agent Robert Hanssen seven years later in 2001. Both Ames and Hanssen were recruited by Victor Cherkashin, a high-ranking KGB officer.

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Jim Dobbin, Scottish microbiologist and politician (died 2014)

James Dobbin was a British politician and microbiologist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood and Middleton from 1997 until his death in 2014.

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Cliff Drysdale, South African tennis player and sportscaster

Eric Clifford Drysdale is a South African former tennis player. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a tennis commentator.

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Imants Kalniņš, Latvian composer

Imants Kalniņš is a Latvian composer, musician and politician. Having studied classical and choral music, he has written seven symphonies, several operas, oratorios, cantatas, choir songs, a lot of movie and theater music. However, he is generally best known for his rock songs. In 2021, Kalniņš received the Grand Music Award for lifetime achievement.

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26/05/1940

Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Canadian academic and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec

Monique Gagnon-Tremblay is a politician in Quebec, Canada. She was the MNA for the riding of Saint-François in the Estrie region from 1985 to 2012. She served as Liberal leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Quebec from May 1998 to December 1998 and Deputy Premier in 1994 and from 2003 to 2005.

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Levon Helm, American singer-songwriter, drummer, producer, and actor (died 2012)

Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for The Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Helm was known for his deeply soulful, country-accented voice, multi-instrumental ability, and creative drumming style, highlighted on many of the Band's recordings, such as "The Weight", "Up on Cripple Creek", and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

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26/05/1938

William Bolcom, American pianist and composer

William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, and the Detroit Music Award, and was named Composer of the Year by Musical America in 2007. He taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 2008 and was named the Ross Lee Finney Distinguished University Professor of Composition in 2006. He is married to mezzo-soprano Joan Morris.

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Andrew Clennel Palmer, British engineer (died 2019)

Andrew Clennel Palmer was a British engineer who worked on offshore geotechnical problems of submarine pipeline design and the study of the properties of ice. He spent much of his career as a teacher and academic researcher, at the University of Liverpool, Cambridge University, the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, and the National University of Singapore, punctuated by work in industry, while also serving as an expert witness and as a member of various industrial and academic committees.

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Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian author and playwright

Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya is a Russian writer, novelist and playwright. She began her career writing short stories and plays, which the Soviet government often censored and published several well-respected prose works following perestroika.

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K. Bikram Singh, Indian director and producer (died 2013)

K. Bikram Singh was an Indian politician and filmmaker, most known for his documentary film, Satyajit Ray Introspections (1991) and feature film, Tarpan (1994). After a short stint as a lecturer in history, he joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1962. During his service with the Government of India, he has held many important positions, including Joint Director, of Food Corporation of India, Joint Director Planning, Joint Director of Film Festivals and Director of film Policy in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India

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Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano and actress

Teresa Stratas is a retired Canadian operatic soprano and actress of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's Lulu.

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26/05/1937

Manorama, Indian actress and singer (died 2015)

Gopishantha, better known by her stage name Manorama, also called Aachi, was an Indian actress, comedian and playback singer who had appeared in more than 1500 films and 5000 stage performances predominantly in the Tamil and also in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Sinhala. She was honoured with Kalaimamani award in 1995. In 2002, Government of India awarded Manorama the Padma Shri for her contribution to the arts. She is a recipient of one National Film Award, one Filmfare Award South and seven Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.

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Paul E. Patton, American politician, 59th Governor of Kentucky

Paul Edward Patton is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second term in office, since James Garrard, in 1800. Since 2013, he has been the chancellor of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky, after serving as its president from 2010 to 2013. He also served as chairman of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education from 2009 to 2011.

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26/05/1936

Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Russian-Polish poet and activist (died 2013)

Natalya Yevgenyevna Gorbanevskaya was a Russian poet, a translator of Polish literature and a civil-rights activist. She was one of the founders and the first editor of A Chronicle of Current Events (1968–1982). On 25 August 1968, with seven others, she took part in the 1968 Red Square demonstration against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1970 a Soviet court sentenced Gorbanevskaya to incarceration in a psychiatric hospital. She was released from the Kazan Special Psychiatric Hospital in 1972, and emigrated from the USSR in 1975, settling in France. In 2005, she became a citizen of Poland.

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26/05/1935

Eero Loone, Estonian philosopher and academic

Eero Loone is an Estonian philosopher.

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26/05/1930

Karim Emami, Indian-Iranian lexicographer and critic (died 2005)

Karim Emami was an Iranian translator, editor, lexicographer, and literary critic.

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26/05/1929

J. F. Ade Ajayi, Nigerian historian and academic (died 2014)

Jacob Festus Adeniyi Ajayi, commonly known as J. F. Ade Ajayi, was a Nigerian historian and a member of the Ibadan school, a group of scholars interested in introducing African perspectives to African history and focusing on the internal historical forces that shaped African lives. Ade Ajayi favours the use of historical continuity more often than focusing on events only as powerful agents of change that can move the basic foundations of cultures and mould them into new ones. Instead, he sees many critical events in African life, sometimes as weathering episodes which still leave some parts of the core of Africans intact. He also employs a less passionate style in his works, especially in his early writings, using subtle criticism of controversial issues of the times.

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Ernie Carroll, Australian television personality and producer (died 2022)

Ernest Carroll was an Australian puppeteer, entertainer, radio and television personality, comic writer, television producer and comic strip writer, most recognised for his role as the sidekick opposite Daryl Somers, as the man behind Ossie Ostrich on Hey Hey It's Saturday, Cartoon Corner and The Daryl and Ossie Show.

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Hans Freeman, Australian bioinorganic chemist and protein crystallographer (died 2008)

Hans Charles Freeman AM, FAA was a German-born Australian bioinorganic chemist, protein crystallographer, and professor of inorganic chemistry who spent most of his academic career at the University of Sydney. His best known contributions to chemistry were his work explaining the unusual structural, electrochemical, and spectroscopic properties of blue copper proteins, particularly plastocyanin. He also introduced protein crystallography to Australia and was a strong advocate for courses to ensure Australian scientists have good access to "big science" facilities. Freeman has received numerous honours, including being elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) by the Australian Government. He was a charismatic lecturer who voluntarily continued teaching well into his formal retirement and imbued his students with a love of science.

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Catherine Sauvage, French singer and actress (died 1998)

Catherine Sauvage was a French singer and actress.

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26/05/1928

Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, author, and assisted suicide activist (died 2011)

Murad Jacob Kevorkian, also known by the nickname "Dr. Death", was an American pathologist and euthanasia proponent. He publicly championed a terminal patient's right to die by physician-assisted suicide, embodied in his quote, "Dying is not a crime". Kevorkian said that he assisted at least 130 patients to that end. He was convicted of murder in 1999.

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26/05/1927

Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (died 2014)

Jacques Bergerac was a French actor and businessman.

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26/05/1926

Miles Davis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (died 1991)

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Davis was at the forefront of several major stylistic developments in jazz, including—but not limited to—bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, third stream, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, and jazz fusion. Davis's legacy extends beyond jazz into the realms of rock, funk, classical, and hip-hop.

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26/05/1925

Carmen Montejo, Cuban-Mexican actress (died 2013)

Carmen Montejo was a Cuban and Mexican actress.

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Alec McCowen, English actor (died 2017)

Alexander Duncan McCowen, was an English actor. He was known for his work in numerous film and stage productions.

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26/05/1923

James Arness, American actor (died 2011)

James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the series Gunsmoke. He has the distinction of having played the role of Dillon in five decades: 1955 to 1975 in the weekly series, then in Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge (1987) and four more made-for-television Gunsmoke films in the 1990s. In Europe, Arness reached cult status for his role as Zeb Macahan in the Western series How the West Was Won. He was the older brother of actor Peter Graves.

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Roy Dotrice, English actor (died 2017)

Roy Dotrice was a British stage and screen actor. He played the antiquarian John Aubrey in the solo play Brief Lives. He won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2000 Broadway revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten, also appearing as Leopold Mozart in the film version of Amadeus (1984), Charles Dickens in Dickens of London (1976), and Jacob Wells/Father in the TV series Beauty and the Beast.

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26/05/1921

Inge Borkh, German soprano (died 2018)

Inge Borkh was a German operatic dramatic soprano. She was first based in Switzerland, where she received international attention when she appeared in the first performance in German of Menotti's The Consul, in Basel, in 1951. In 1952, Borkh became a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. She appeared at leading opera houses in Europe and the Americas, and at festivals such as Bayreuth and Salzburg. Trained first as an actress, she was admired for both singing and stage presence, especially in the Richard Strauss roles of Salome and Elektra. She also performed in contemporary opera, such as the premiere of Josef Tal's Ashmedai at the Hamburg State Opera in 1971. Her recordings include complete operas and recitals. Borkh was awarded the Hans-Reinhart-Ring, the highest honour for theatre professionals in Switzerland.

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26/05/1920

Jack Cheetham, South African cricketer (died 1980)

John Erskine Cheetham was a South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches between 1949 and 1955, captaining South Africa in his last 15 Test matches. He later served as president of the South African Cricket Association.

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Peggy Lee, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 2002)

Norma Deloris Egstrom, known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music", Lee recorded more than 1,100 masters and co-wrote more than 270 songs. She is best known for her role in the Walt Disney classic Lady and the Tramp, where she voiced Darling, Peg, and the Siamese cats, among others. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role in the 1955 film Pete Kelly's Blues.

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26/05/1919

Rubén González, Cuban pianist (died 2003)

Rubén González Fontanills was a Cuban pianist. Together with Lilí Martínez and Peruchín he is said to have "forged the style of modern Cuban piano playing in the 1940s".

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26/05/1916

Henriette Roosenburg, Dutch journalist and author (died 1972)

Henriette Roosenburg was a Dutch journalist and political prisoner. Her memoir The Walls Came Tumbling Down described her attempts to return to the Netherlands from Germany after being released from prison at the end of World War II. Born in the Netherlands to an upper-class family, she was a graduate student at the University of Leiden at the start of World War II and became a courier in the Dutch resistance, where she served under the code name Zip. During this time she also wrote for the Dutch newspaper Het Parool. In 1944 she was caught and sentenced to death, and became a Night and Fog prisoner in a German prison at Waldheim.

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26/05/1915

Vernon Alley, American bassist (died 2004)

Vernon Alley was an American jazz bassist.

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26/05/1914

Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (died 2009)

Frank Manning was an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founders of Lindy Hop, an energetic form of the jazz dance style known as swing.

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26/05/1913

Peter Cushing, English actor (died 1994)

Peter Wilton Cushing was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition for his leading performances in the Hammer Productions horror films from the 1950s to 1970s and as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars (1977).

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Pierre Daninos, French author (died 2005)

Pierre Daninos was a French writer and humorist.

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Karin Ekelund, Swedish actress (died 1976)

Karin Ekelund was a Swedish actress. She appeared in 29 films between 1933 and 1976. She was the first female radio producer in Sweden, producing, and later directing, for Sveriges Radio's Radio Theatre. She performed in mainly comedic films, although she did have a few serious roles to her name. She was one of the most famous actresses of her time and often drew large crowds of fans.

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Josef Manger, German weightlifter (died 1991)

Josef Manger was a German heavyweight weightlifter who won a European title in 1935, an Olympic gold medal in 1936, and two world titles in 1937 and 1938. Between 1935 and 1941 he set 11 ratified world records, ten in the press and one in the snatch. His career was cut short by World War II, after which he worked as a salesman. A street in Bamberg, his hometown, was named in his honor.

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26/05/1912

János Kádár, Hungarian mechanic and politician, 46th Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1989)

János József Kádár was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retirement in 1988, and he died in 1989 after being hospitalized for pneumonia.

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Jay Silverheels, Canadian-American actor (died 1980)

Jay Silverheels was a First Nations and Mohawk actor and athlete, descended from three Iroquois nations. He was well known for his role as Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger in the American Western television series The Lone Ranger.

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26/05/1911

Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist (died 2005)

Maurice Louis Baquet was a French actor and cellist.

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Henry Ephron, American playwright, screenwriter, and producer (died 1992)

Henry Ephron was an American playwright, screenwriter and film producer. He often worked with his wife, Phoebe and was active as a writer from the early 1940s through the early 1960s.

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26/05/1910

Imi Lichtenfeld, Hungarian-Israeli martial artist, boxer, and gymnast (died 1998)

Imre "Imi" Lichtenfeld, also known as Imi Sde-Or, was a Hungarian-born Israeli martial artist. He is widely recognized for developing Krav Maga, an Israeli martial art.

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26/05/1909

Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and manager (died 1994)

Sir Alexander Matthew Busby was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an English team to win the European Cup and is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.

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Adolfo López Mateos, Mexican politician, 48th President of Mexico (died 1969)

Adolfo López Mateos was a Mexican politician and lawyer who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964. Previously, he served as Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare from 1952 to 1957 and a Senator from the State of Mexico from 1946 to 1952.

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26/05/1908

Robert Morley, English actor (died 1992)

Robert Adolph Wilton Morley was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, often in supporting roles. In 1939 he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of King Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette.

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Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, Vietnamese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (died 1976)

Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ was a South Vietnamese politician who was the first vice president of South Vietnam, serving under President Ngô Đình Diệm from 1956 until Diệm's overthrow and assassination in 1963. He also served as the first prime minister of South Vietnam, serving from November 1963 to late January 1964. Thơ was appointed to head a civilian cabinet by the military junta of General Dương Văn Minh, which came to power after overthrowing and assassinating Diệm, the nation's first president. Thơ's rule was marked by a period of confusion and weak government, as the Military Revolutionary Council (MRC) and the civilian cabinet vied for power. Thơ lost his job and retired from politics when Minh's junta was deposed in a January 1964 coup by General Nguyễn Khánh.

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26/05/1907

Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (died 2006)

Jean Bernard was a French physician and haematologist. During his life, he served as president of the French Academy of Sciences and the French National Academy of Medicine. He was also the first president of the National Ethics Advisory Committee. Bernard was a professor of haematology and director of the Institute for Leukaemia at the University of Paris.

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John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (died 1979)

Marion Robert Morrison, known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age, especially in Western and war movies. His career flourished from the silent film era of the 1920s through the American New Wave, as he appeared in a total of 179 film and television productions. He was among the top box-office draws for three decades and appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Wayne as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.

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26/05/1904

Tamurbek Dawletschin, Tatar author and prisoner of war (died 1983)

Tamurbek Dawletschin was a Soviet writer and intellectual, best known for publishing one of the few memoirs by a Soviet prisoner of war held by Germany during World War II.

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George Formby, English singer-songwriter and actor (died 1961)

George Formby was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he sang light, comic songs, usually accompanying himself on the ukulele or banjolele, and became the UK's highest-paid entertainer.

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Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (died 1983)

Ahmet Necip Fazıl Kısakürek was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, Islamist ideologue, and conspiracy theorist. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who later became his teacher.

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Vlado Perlemuter, Lithuanian-French pianist and educator (died 2002)

Vladislas "Vlado" Perlemuter was a Lithuanian-born French pianist and teacher.

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26/05/1900

Karin Juel, Swedish singer, actress, and writer (died 1976)

Karin Juel was a Swedish singer, actor and writer, born in Kungsholmen, Stockholm. She originally wrote novels under the pseudonym Katherind van Goeben. She died in Stockholm.

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26/05/1899

Antonio Barrette, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Premier of Quebec (died 1968)

Antonio J. Barrette was a Canadian politician born in Joliette, Quebec, Canada, who served as the 18th premier of Quebec.

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Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (died 1997)

Muriel McQueen Fergusson, was a Canadian activist, judge and politician. Fergusson served in the Senate of Canada and the first woman Speaker of the Senate. She is known for a long career of advocating for the less privileged, most often women.

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26/05/1898

Ernst Bacon, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1990)

Ernst Lecher Bacon was an American composer, pianist, and conductor. A prolific composer, Bacon wrote over 250 songs over his career. He was awarded three Guggenheim Fellowships and a Pulitzer Scholarship in 1932 for his Second Symphony.

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Christfried Burmeister, Estonian speed skater (died 1965)

Christfried Burmeister was an Estonian speed skater and bandy player who competed in the 1928 Winter Olympics.

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26/05/1895

Dorothea Lange, American photographer and journalist (died 1965)

Dorothea Lange was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange's photographs influenced the development of documentary photography and humanized the consequences of the Great Depression.

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Paul Lukas, Hungarian-American actor and singer (died 1971)

Paul Lukas was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943), reprising the role he created on the Broadway stage.

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26/05/1893

Eugene Aynsley Goossens, English conductor and composer (died 1962)

Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.

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26/05/1887

Ba U, 2nd President of Burma (died 1963)

Sir Ba U, was a Burmese politician and lawyer. He served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Burma from 1948 to 1952, and the second president of Burma from 16 March 1952 to 13 March 1957.

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26/05/1886

Al Jolson, American singer and actor (died 1950)

Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian.

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26/05/1883

Peter Kürten, German serial killer (died 1931)

Peter Kürten was a German serial killer, known as The Vampire of Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf Monster, who committed a series of murders and sexual assaults between February and November 1929 in the city of Düsseldorf. In the years before these assaults and murders, Kürten had amassed a lengthy criminal record for offences including arson and attempted murder. He also confessed to the 1913 murder of a nine-year-old girl in Mülheim am Rhein and the attempted murder of a 17-year-old girl in Düsseldorf.

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Mamie Smith, American singer, actress, dancer, and pianist (died 1946)

Mamie Smith was an American singer. As a vaudeville singer, she performed in multiple styles, including jazz and blues. In 1920, she entered blues history as the first African-American artist to make vocal blues recordings. Willie "The Lion" Smith described the background of these recordings in his autobiography Music on My Mind (1964).

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26/05/1881

Adolfo de la Huerta, Mexican politician and provisional president, 1920 (died 1955)

Felipe Adolfo de la Huerta Marcor was a Mexican politician, the 45th President of Mexico from 1 June to 30 November 1920, following the assassination of Mexican president Venustiano Carranza, with Sonoran generals Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles under the Plan of Agua Prieta. He is considered "an important figure among Constitutionalists during the Mexican Revolution."

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26/05/1880

W. Otto Miessner, American composer and educator (died 1967)

William Otto Miessner was an American composer and music educator. Most of his life was spent in the midwest, particularly Indiana and Wisconsin.

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26/05/1876

Percy Perrin, English cricketer (died 1945)

Percival Albert Perrin, known as either "Percy" or "Peter", was an English cricketer, who played for Essex as a right-handed middle-order batsman for more than thirty years from 1896.

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26/05/1873

Olaf Gulbransson, Norwegian painter and illustrator (died 1958)

Olaf Leonhard Gulbransson was a Norwegian artist, painter and designer. He is probably best known for his caricatures and illustrations.

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26/05/1867

Mary of Teck, English-born queen consort of the United Kingdom (died 1953)

Mary of Teck was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 January 1936 as the wife of King George V.

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26/05/1865

Robert W. Chambers, American author and illustrator (died 1933)

Robert William Chambers was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories titled The King in Yellow, published in 1895.

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26/05/1863

Bob Fitzsimmons, English-New Zealand boxer (died 1917)

Robert James Fitzsimmons was a Cornish professional boxer who was the sport's first three-division world champion. He achieved fame for beating "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, and he is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the lightest heavyweight champion, weighing just 167 pounds when he won the title. Nicknamed Ruby Robert and The Freckled Wonder, he took pride in his lack of scars and appeared in the ring wearing heavy woollen underwear to conceal the disparity between his trunk and leg-development.

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26/05/1822

Edmond de Goncourt, French author and critic, founded the Académie Goncourt (died 1896)

Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt was a French writer, literary critic, art critic, book publisher and the founder of the Académie Goncourt.

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26/05/1799

August Kopisch, German poet and painter (died 1853)

August Kopisch was a German poet and painter.

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26/05/1750

William Morgan, British actuary (died 1833)

William Morgan, FRS was a British physician, physicist and statistician, who is considered the father of modern actuarial science. He is also credited with being the first to record the "invisible light" produced when a current is passed through a partly evacuated glass tube: "the first x-ray tube".

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26/05/1700

Nicolaus Zinzendorf, German bishop and saint (died 1760)

Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf was a German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church, founder of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine, Christian mission pioneer and a major figure of 18th-century Protestantism.

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26/05/1669

Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (died 1722)

Sébastien Vaillant was a French botanist who was born at Vigny in present-day Val d'Oise.

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26/05/1667

Abraham de Moivre, French-English mathematician and theorist (died 1754)

Abraham de Moivre FRS was a French mathematician known for de Moivre's formula, a formula that links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory.

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26/05/1650

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (died 1722)

General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, was a British army officer and statesman. From a gentry family, he served as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York, through the 1670s and early 1680s, earning military and political advancement through his courage and diplomatic skill. He is known for never having lost a battle.

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26/05/1623

William Petty, English economist and philosopher (died 1687)

Sir William Petty was an English economist, physician, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to survey the land that was to be confiscated and given to Cromwell's soldiers. He also remained a significant figure under King Charles II and King James II, as did many others who had served Cromwell. Petty was also a scientist, inventor, and merchant, a charter member of the Royal Society, and briefly a member of the Parliament of England. However, he is best remembered for his theories on economics and his methods of political arithmetic. He was knighted in 1661.

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26/05/1602

Philippe de Champaigne, Dutch-French painter (died 1674)

Philippe de Champaigne was a Brabant-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of French Baroque painting. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art institution in the Kingdom of France during the Ancien Régime.

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26/05/1566

Mehmed III, Ottoman sultan (died 1603)

Mehmed III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the Long Turkish War, during which the Ottoman army was victorious at the Battle of Keresztes. This victory was however undermined by some military losses such as in Győr and Nikopol. He also ordered the successful quelling of the Jelali rebellions. The sultan also communicated with the court of Elizabeth I on the grounds of stronger commercial relations and in the hopes of England to ally with the Ottomans against the Spanish.

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26/05/1562

James III, margrave of Baden-Hachberg (died 1590)

Margrave James III of Baden-Hachberg was margrave of Baden-Hachberg from 1584 to 1590 and resided at Emmendingen. He converted, in 1590, from Lutheranism to the Roman Catholic confession, causing some political turmoil.

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26/05/1478

Clement VII, pope of the Catholic Church (died 1534)

Pope Clement VII was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 November 1523 to his death on 25 September 1534. Deemed "the most unfortunate of the popes", Clement VII's reign was marked by a rapid succession of political, military, and religious struggles—many long in the making—which had far-reaching consequences for Christianity and world politics.

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26/05/1264

Koreyasu, Japanese prince and shōgun (died 1326)

Prince Koreyasu , also known as Minamoto no Koreyasu , was the seventh shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate of medieval Japan. He was the nominal ruler virtually controlled by the Hōjō clan regents.

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