Born on Saturday, 18th October – Famous Birthdays

18/10/2000

Sophie Thatcher, American actress

Sophie Bathsheba Thatcher is an American actress and musician. After beginning as a child actress in stage plays and minor television roles, she made her feature film debut in Prospect (2018), and later had her breakthrough in the series Yellowjackets (2021–present). Since, she has appeared in The Book of Boba Fett (2022), The Boogeyman (2023), Heretic (2024), and Companion (2025), the last of which earned her a Critics' Choice Super Award. She released her debut extended play, Pivot & Scrape, in 2024.

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18/10/1998

Janalynn Castelino, Italian-Indian singer-songwriter

Janalynn Castelino is a multilingual pop singer, songwriter, record producer and medical doctor. She made her international crossover debut in 2024, with the Spanish-language single "Drama". Her music has been described as pop with R&B elements. Castelino has recorded in many languages including English, Latin, Italian, Spanish and Hindi.

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18/10/1996

Terance Mann, American basketball player

Terance Stanley Mann is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles. Mann was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2019 NBA draft with the 48th overall pick. Mann played six seasons with the Clippers before being traded to the Atlanta Hawks in 2025.

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18/10/1994

Enhō Akira, Japanese sumo wrestler

Enhō Yūya is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ishikawa Prefecture. He made his debut in March 2017 and was a member of Miyagino stable, under the guidance of former yokozuna Hakuhō, until his transfer to Isegahama stable in March 2024. His highest rank has been maegashira 4.

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Pascal Wehrlein, German-Mauritian race car driver

Pascal Konrad Wehrlein is a German and Mauritian racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Porsche. In formula racing, Wehrlein competed under the German flag in Formula One from 2016 to 2017, and won the 2023–24 Formula E World Championship with Porsche.

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18/10/1993

Ivan Cavaleiro, Portuguese footballer

Ivan Ricardo Neves Abreu Cavaleiro is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays for Swiss Super League club Zürich. Mainly a winger, he can also play as a forward.

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18/10/1992

John John Florence, American surfer

John "John John" Alexander Florence is an American professional surfer. He is considered one of the most dominant pipe surfers of his era and won back-to-back world titles on the 2016 World Surf League and 2017 World Surf League Men's Championship Tour. He is the first Hawaii-born surfer to win back-to-back world titles since the late Andy Irons. Florence qualified to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in surfing's debut, as well as qualified for the Paris Olympic Games.

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Barry Keoghan, Irish actor

Barry Keoghan is an Irish actor. His accolades include a BAFTA Award, along with nominations for an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, he was listed at number 27 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

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18/10/1991

Roly Bonevacia, Dutch footballer

Rolieny Nonato Luis Bonevacia is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for I-League club Sreenidi Deccan. He has played international football at youth level for the Netherlands, while at senior level he represents Curaçao, making his first official appearance for them in June 2019.

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Tyler Posey, American actor and musician

Tyler Garcia-Posey is an American actor and musician. He began his career as a child actor and received recognition for his role as Raul Garcia in Doc (2001–2004) and Ty Ventura in Maid in Manhattan (2002). As an adult, he is known for playing the central character Scott McCall in the MTV series Teen Wolf (2011–2017), although he has since been cast in a number of film roles and has also performed in voice acting roles. In late 2011 to 2012, he won a number of youth acting awards, including a Teen Choice Award, and was nominated for several others. He was active for several years in the band Lost in Kostko, which he co-founded in 2009.

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Toby Regbo, English actor

Toby Finn Regbo is an English actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his role as young Nemo Nobody in the science fiction drama Mr. Nobody (2009), as Francis II of France in Reign (2013–2017), Æthelred in The Last Kingdom (2017–2020), Tommaso Peruzzi in Medici: Masters of Florence (2019) and Jack Blackfriars on A Discovery of Witches (2022) and he starred in Platform 7 (2023).

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Zohran Mamdani, American politician, mayor of New York City

Zohran Kwame Mamdani is an American politician who has served as the 112th mayor of New York City since January 2026. A member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani served from 2021 to 2025 as a member of the New York State Assembly for the 36th district, representing Astoria, Queens.

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18/10/1990

Drew Crawford, American basketball player

Andrew Eugene Crawford is an American professional basketball player for Maccabi Ramat Gan of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the Northwestern Wildcats. He was the 2009–10 Big Ten Freshman of the Year (media) and is a two-time Academic All-American as well as a third team 2011–12 All-Big Ten selection. He was a third-team All-Big Ten selection by the media and honorable mention selection by the coaches in 2014. Crawford was named the Italian League MVP after leading Vanoli Cremona to the Italian League Semifinals in 2019.

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Brittney Griner, American basketball player

Brittney Yvette Griner is an American professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for the Vinyl of Unrivaled. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's national basketball team and a six-time WNBA All-Star. Griner was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.

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Bristol Palin, American public speaker and reality television personality

Bristol Sheeran Marie Palin is an American real estate agent who is a former public speaker and reality television personality. She is the oldest daughter and second of five children of Todd and Sarah Palin.

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18/10/1989

Laci Green, American YouTube personality, video blogger, sex educator, and activist

Valacia Nusheen Cyrus better known as Laci Green is an American clinical mental health counselor and former YouTuber. Her content focuses on sex education; Green also hosted Braless, the first MTV YouTube channel, as part of a 12-week deal with MTV. The first episode aired November 4, 2014. In 2016, Time named her one of the 30 most influential people on the Internet.

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Joy Lauren, American actress, director, and producer

Lauren Joy Jorgensen, is an American producer, director, writer and former actress. She is known for playing Danielle Van de Kamp on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives and, as an adult, for creating award-winning films. Jorgensen is a Sundance and Rotterdam Producing Fellow, Torino Film Lab Script Editing Fellow, a recipient of the 2022 NYC Women's Fund for Media, Music and Theatre in partnership with the City of New York, and a 2024 Ingmar Bergman Estate Foundation Resident. Jorgensen is the founder of Killjoy Films.

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Riisa Naka, Japanese model and actress

Riisa Naka is a Japanese actress. She was given a Best New Talent award at the 2009 Yokohama Film Festival. Naka became famous by appearing in Hachi One Diver (2008) and played the lead, Hana Adachi, in Yankee-kun to Megane-chan (2010). Naka also portrayed cousins Makoto Konno and Akari Yoshiyama who are the protagonists in respectively the 2006 anime film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the 2010 live action movie Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, both of which are based on the 1967 novel Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo by Yasutaka Tsutsui.

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18/10/1988

Tessa Schram, Dutch director and actress

Tessa Schram is a Dutch actress and director. She is the daughter of film producer and director Dave Schram and Maria Peters and the sister of actor Quinten Schram.

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18/10/1987

Zac Efron, American actor and singer

Zachary David Alexander Efron is an American actor. Efron began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence as a teen idol for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008). During this time, he also starred in the musical film Hairspray (2007) and the comedy film 17 Again (2009).

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Freja Beha Erichsen, Danish model

Freja Beha Erichsen, also known as Freja Beha, is a Danish model. Dubbed as the "Queen of Cool", she is known for her androgynous look and for being one of the muses of the late Karl Lagerfeld.

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18/10/1986

Wilma Elles, German actress and fashion designer

Wilma Elles is a German actress, model and fashion designer.

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18/10/1985

Yoenis Céspedes, Cuban baseball player

Yoenis Céspedes Milanés, nicknamed "La Potencia", is a Cuban-born former professional baseball outfielder. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut on March 28, 2012, for the Oakland Athletics, and has also played in MLB for the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and New York Mets. Primarily a left fielder in his early career, he split between left and center field on the Mets. A right-hand batter and fielder, he stands 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighs 220 pounds (100 kg).

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Andrew Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Andrew Adrian Garcia is an American singer-songwriter who was the ninth place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol. Garcia has released two EPs and numerous standalone singles. He has also collaborated with several artists.

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18/10/1984

Robert Harting, German discus thrower

Robert Harting is a retired German discus thrower. He represents the sports club SCC Berlin, his coach is Torsten Schmidt. He is a former Olympic, World, and European champion in the men's discus throw. His younger brother Christoph is the event's 2016 Olympic champion.

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Freida Pinto, Indian actress and model

Freida Selena Pinto is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai she took part in amateur plays. After graduation, she briefly worked as a model and then as a television presenter.

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Esperanza Spalding, American singer-songwriter and bassist

Esperanza Emily Spalding, sometimes professionally known with the stylized name of esperanza spalding, is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, a Soul Train Music Award, and two honorary doctorates: one from her alma mater Berklee College of Music and one from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

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Lindsey Vonn, American skier

Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships with titles in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012. Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first one for an American woman. She also won a record eight World Cup season titles in the downhill discipline, five titles in super-G, and three consecutive titles in the combined (2010–2012). In 2016, she won her 20th World Cup crystal globe title, the overall record for men or women, surpassing Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden, who won 19 globes from 1975 to 1984. She has the third highest super ranking of all skiers, men or women.

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Milo Yiannopoulos, British journalist and public speaker

Milo Yiannopoulos is a British far-right political commentator, whose speeches and writings criticise Islam, feminism, and social justice. He is a former editor of Breitbart News, an American far-right news and opinion website.

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18/10/1983

Dante, Brazilian footballer

Dante Bonfim Costa Santos, also known as Dante Bonfim or simply Dante, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for and captains Ligue 1 club Nice. Primarily a centre-back, he has previously also been used as a defensive midfielder or left-back.

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18/10/1982

Thierry Amiel, French singer-songwriter

Thierry Amiel is a French singer and songwriter from Marseille, France. He rose to fame after coming in second place to Jonatan Cerrada on the first edition of the French Pop Idol, À la Recherche de la Nouvelle Star.

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Michael Dingsdag, Dutch footballer

Michael Christiaan Dingsdag is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He is currently working as a youth coach at NAC Breda.

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Simon Gotch, American wrestler

Seth Lesser, better known by the ring name Simon Gotch, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently working on the independent circuit. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he held the NXT Tag Team Championship as one-half of The Vaudevillains along with Aiden English and also worked for the main roster on its SmackDown brand. He also competed for Major League Wrestling (MLW).

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Mark Sampson, Welsh footballer and manager

Mark Geraint Sampson is a Welsh football coach who was most recently a first team coach at Stevenage.

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18/10/1981

Nathan Hauritz, Australian cricketer

Nathan Michael Hauritz is a former Australian cricketer who has represented Australia in Tests, One-dayers and Twenty20 Internationals. He is mainly noted for his off spin bowling. He was a part of the Australian squad which won the 2003 Cricket World Cup and the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy.

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Tina Hergold, Slovenian tennis player

Tina Hergold is a Slovenian retired tennis player.

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Greg Warren, American football player

Gregory Robert Warren is an American former professional football player who was a long snapper for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels and was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in after the 2005 NFL draft.

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18/10/1980

Birsen Yavuz, Turkish sprinter and hurdler

Birsen Bekgöz is a Turkish female track and field athlete competing in sprinting events. She is a member of Enkaspor athletics team. She studied at the Eastern Mediterranean University in Northern Cyprus.

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18/10/1979

Jaroslav Drobný, Czech footballer

Jaroslav Drobný is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He currently works as the goalkeeping coach for German club Bayern Munich II.

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Ne-Yo, American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor

Shaffer Chimere Smith, known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as a preeminent figure in 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including three Grammy Awards. He gained recognition for his songwriting abilities following the success of his first major credit, Mario's 2004 single "Let Me Love You". Its release prompted a meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam's then-president Jay-Z, resulting in a contract in which he released four studio albums, each of which spawned hit songs.

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Damon Scott, British entertainer

Damon Scott is a British entertainer known for his appearance in the first series of the ITV variety talent show Britain's Got Talent. Scott is best known for his performances with monkey puppets, earning him the nickname The Monkey Man which became the title of a BBC documentary about him.

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18/10/1978

Mike Tindall, English rugby player

Michael James Tindall is an English former rugby union player and a member of the British royal family. Tindall played outside centre for Bath and Gloucester, and won 75 caps for England between 2000 and 2011. He was a member of the England squad which won the 2003 World Cup.

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Kenji Wu, Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor

Kenji Wu is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, actor and director.

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18/10/1977

Flavia Colgan, Brazilian-American journalist

Flavia Monteiro Colgan is a Brazilian-American Democratic strategist who is an active political contributor on MSNBC and serves as a special correspondent for Extra. She resides in Los Angeles.

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Kunal Kapoor, Indian actor

Kunal Kishore Kapoor, professionally known as Kunal Kapoor, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Hindi films. Kapoor is a recipient of several accolades including a Stardust Award and an Asiavision Award.

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Ryan Nelsen, New Zealand-American soccer player and coach

Ryan William Nelsen is a New Zealand former professional football player and head coach.

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David Vuillemin, French motorcycle racer

David Vuillemin is a French former professional motocross and supercross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1995 to 1999 and won the 1999 supercross world championship. He competed in the AMA Motocross Championships from 2000 and 2008 before returning to the Motocross World Championships for one final season in 2009. Although Vuillemin never won a major championship, he was twice the runner-up in the AMA Supercross championships and, was one of the few competitors who could beat both Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael in their prime.

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18/10/1975

Alex Cora, Puerto Rican baseball player and manager

Jose Alexander Cora is a Puerto Rican professional baseball manager and former infielder who is the manager of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for 14 seasons with the Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals. After retiring as a player, Cora served as the bench coach for the Houston Astros when they won their first World Series title in 2017. Cora was named Boston's manager the following season, winning a franchise-best 108 games and leading the team to victory in the 2018 World Series. He is the fifth MLB manager to win the World Series in his first season and the first Puerto Rican manager of a World Series-winning team.

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Josh Sawyer, American video game designer

Joshua Eric Sawyer, more commonly known and credited as Josh Sawyer, J.E. Sawyer, or JSawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games. Sawyer is most well known for his work on Fallout: New Vegas.

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18/10/1974

Robbie Savage, Welsh footballer and sportscaster

Robert William Savage is a Welsh professional football manager, pundit and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the manager of National League club Forest Green Rovers.

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Peter Svensson, Swedish guitarist and songwriter

Anders Peter Svensson is a Swedish record producer, songwriter, and musician. He is the former main songwriter and guitarist of the band the Cardigans. Svensson started playing guitar at the age of eight, and in his teens he went on to play with local bands. After meeting bass player Magnus Sveningsson, they formed The Cardigans in 1992. Svensson is credited with writing the music and melodies for almost all of the group's original songs.

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Amish Tripathi, Indian author

Amish Tripathi is an author, former diplomat and broadcaster from India. He is among the fastest-selling authors in Indian publishing history, known best for The Shiva Trilogy and Ram Chandra Series.

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Zhou Xun, Chinese actress and singer

Zhou Xun is a Chinese actress and singer. Regarded as one of the Four Dan Actresses of China, Zhou became the first Chinese actor to achieve the "Grand Slam" in 2009, winning Best Actress at the three most prestigious Chinese-language film awards, the Golden Horse Awards, the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Rooster Awards.

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18/10/1973

Stephen Allan, Australian golfer

Stephen Douglas Allan is an Australian professional golfer.

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James Foley, American photographer and journalist (died 2014)

James Wright Foley was an American journalist and video reporter. While working as a freelance war correspondent during the Syrian Civil War, he was abducted on November 22, 2012, in north-western Syria. He was murdered by decapitation in August 2014 purportedly as a response to American airstrikes in Iraq, thus becoming the first American citizen to be murdered by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

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Michalis Kapsis, Greek footballer

Michalis Kapsis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He was an integral part of Greece's UEFA Euro 2004 winning squad.

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Rachel Nichols, American journalist and sportscaster

Rachel Michele Nichols is an American journalist and sportscaster. She is most notable for her work with the National Basketball Association (NBA), and has also covered the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), professional tennis, college sports, and the Olympics. In 2014, Sports Illustrated called Nichols "the country's most impactful and prominent female sports journalist".

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Sarah Winckless, English rower

Sarah Katharine Winckless is a British former rower. She won a bronze medal in Double sculls with her partner Elise Laverick at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and was twice world champion, in 2005 and 2006.

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18/10/1972

Mika Ninagawa, Japanese photographer and director

Mika Ninagawa is a Japanese photographer and director, known for her brightly colored photographs of flowers, goldfish, and landscapes.

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Alex Tagliani, Canadian race car driver

Alexandre Tagliani, nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Canada Series, driving the No. 80 Chevrolet Camaro for Groupe Theetge.

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18/10/1971

Nick O'Hern, Australian golfer

Nicholas Simon O'Hern is an Australian professional golfer. O'Hern has played on both of the world's premier professional golf tours, the European Tour, and the United States–based PGA Tour. His biggest successes, though, have come at home on the PGA Tour of Australasia, where he won the Order of Merit as the leading money winner in 2006.

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18/10/1970

Doug Mirabelli, American baseball player and coach

Douglas Anthony Mirabelli is an American former Major League Baseball catcher. He played for the San Francisco Giants (1996–2000), Texas Rangers (2001), Boston Red Sox (2001–2005), and San Diego Padres (2006) before returning to the Red Sox (2006–2007) to end his 11-year career. He batted and threw right-handed.

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Mike Starink, Dutch television host and actor

Mike Starink is a Dutch television presenter and stage actor.

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18/10/1969

Volker Neumüller, German talent manager

Volker Neumüller is a German music manager and was known for being a judge on Deutschland sucht den Superstar.

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Nelson Vivas, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager

Nelson David Vivas is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager who played as a right-back. Vivas played for clubs Quilmes, Boca Juniors, Lugano, Arsenal, Celta Vigo, Inter Milan and River Plate. He also played for the Argentina national team. Vivas has gone on to manage sides Quilmes, Estudiantes and Defensa y Justicia.

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18/10/1968

Rhod Gilbert, Welsh comedian

Rhodri Paul Gilbert is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award. In 2008, he was nominated for the main comedy award.

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Stuart Law, Australian cricketer and coach

Stuart Grant Law is an Australian-born cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current head coach of Nepal National Cricket Team. He was a part of the Australian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1996 Cricket World Cup.

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Michael Stich, German tennis player and sportscaster

Michael Detlef Stich is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved in 1993, and No. 9 in men's doubles, achieved in 1991. Stich won 18 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including the 1991 Wimbledon Championships, as well as the 1993 ATP Tour World Championships and the 1992 Grand Slam Cup. He also won ten doubles titles, including the men's doubles title at the 1992 Wimbledon Championships, partnering John McEnroe, and the gold medal in men's doubles 1992 Barcelona Olympics, partnering Boris Becker. Stich was part of the victorious German team at the 1993 Davis Cup, and was also the singles runner-up at the 1994 US Open and the 1996 French Open.

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18/10/1967

Eric Stuart, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and voice actor

Eric Stuart is an American voice actor and musician whose clients include 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, and Central Park Media.

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18/10/1966

Dave Price, American journalist and game show host

David M. Price is an American journalist and weather forecaster who is currently working for WNBC-TV in New York as a weekday afternoon weatherman.

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18/10/1965

Zakir Naik, Indian Islamic preacher; founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF)

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik is an Indian Islamic da'i and orator who focuses on comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and Peace TV. He is a well-known figure in the Islamic world. Unlike many Islamic preachers, he quotes from various religious scriptures in his speeches which he delivers in English rather than Arabic or Urdu, wearing a suit and tie instead of the traditional robe. Naik does not claim to be a follower of any one school of thought in Islam, but he is considered to be most closely associated with the Salafi school of thought.

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Curtis Stigers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Curtis Stigers is an American jazz singer. He achieved a number of hits in the early 1990s, most notably the international hit "I Wonder Why" (1991), which reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 9 in the US.

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18/10/1964

Dan Lilker, American singer-songwriter and bass player

Daniel Adam Lilker is an American musician best known as a bass player, but also guitarist, pianist, drummer, and vocalist. He has played bass in numerous heavy metal bands, including Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, S.O.D. and Holy Moses, and grindcore bands Brutal Truth and Exit-13.

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Charles Stross, English journalist, author, and programmer

Charles David George "Charlie" Stross is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera.

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18/10/1963

Sigvart Dagsland, Norwegian singer, pianist and composer

Sigvart Dagsland is a Norwegian singer, pianist, and composer.

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18/10/1962

Min Ko Naing, Burmese activist

Paw Oo Tun, better known by his alias Min Ko Naing, is a leading democracy activist and dissident from Myanmar. He has spent most of the years since 1988 imprisoned by the state for his opposition activities. The New York Times has described him as Burma's "most influential opposition figure after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi".

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Vincent Spano, American actor, director, and producer

Vincent M. Spano Jr. is an American film, stage, and television actor, and a film director and producer.

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18/10/1961

Wynton Marsalis, American trumpet player, composer, and educator

Wynton Learson Marsalis is an American trumpeter, composer, and music instructor, who is currently the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has been active in promoting classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awards, and his 1997 oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Marsalis is the only musician to have won a Grammy Award in both jazz and classical categories in the same year.

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Rick Moody, American author and composer

Hiram Frederick Moody III is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought him widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into the film The Ice Storm. Many of his works have been praised by fellow writers and critics alike.

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Gladstone Small, Barbadian-English cricketer

Gladstone Cleophas Small is an English former cricketer, who played in 17 Test matches and 53 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the England cricket team. He was a part of the English squads which finished as runners-up at the 1987 Cricket World Cup and as runners-up at the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

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18/10/1960

Erin Moran, American actress (died 2017)

Erin Marie Moran-Fleischmann was an American actress, best known for playing Joanie Cunningham on the television sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi.

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Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian martial artist, actor, and producer, and screenwriter

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg, known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, he was enrolled by his father in a Shotokan karate school at the age of ten, which led Van Damme to hold the rank of 2nd Dan in karate, and compete in several karate and kickboxing competitions. As a teenager, he won the middleweight championship of the European Professional Karate Association in 1979 and the Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title in 1978. With the desire of becoming an actor in Hollywood, he moved to the United States in 1982, where he worked on several films, until he got his break as the lead in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).

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18/10/1959

Kirby Chambliss, American pilot

Kirby Chambliss is an American world champion aerobatic and air race pilot who raced in the Red Bull Air Race World Series under the Red Bull brand.

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Mauricio Funes, Salvadoran politician, former president of El Salvador (died 2025)

Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena was a Salvadoran politician and journalist who served as the 79th president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014. Funes won the 2009 presidential election as the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN).

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Milcho Manchevski, Macedonian-American director and screenwriter

Milcho Manchevski is a Macedonian-American film director, photographer and artist.

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John Nord, American wrestler

John Eric Nord is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association and World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s as Nord the Barbarian and Yukon John and with the World Wrestling Federation, All Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s as The Berzerker and under his birth name.

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18/10/1958

Thomas Hearns, American boxer

Thomas Hearns is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra," and more famously "the Hitman," Hearns' tall, slender build and long arms and broad shoulders allowed him to move up over fifty pounds (23 kg) in his career and become the first boxer in history to win world titles in five weight divisions: welterweight, light middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight, and light heavyweight.

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Megumi Ishii, Japanese actress and politician

Yoko Ishii , better known as Megumi Ishii is a Japanese actress and politician who is represented by the talent agency, Wonder Production. In 2015, she was elected to the Kunitachi Municipal Assembly.

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Letitia James, American lawyer, activist and politician

Letitia Ann "Tish" James is an American lawyer and politician from the state of New York. She has served since 2019 as the 67th attorney general of New York (NYAG), having been first elected to the post in 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, James is the first Black person to serve as New York attorney general and is the first Black woman to hold statewide office in New York.

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Kjell Samuelsson, Swedish ice hockey player and coach

Kjell William Alf Samuelsson is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Tampa Bay Lightning between 1985 and 1999. On December 17, 2018 he was named interim assistant coach of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL. He was then the Flyers' director of player development for ten years, before being fired on June 1, 2023.

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18/10/1957

Jon Lindstrom, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Jon Robert Lindstrom is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and musician. He is well known for his roles of Kevin Collins and Ryan Chamberlain on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital and its spin-off Port Charles. In 2024 his debut novel Hollywood Hustle, published February 6 by Crooked Lane Books, is an official USA Today Bestseller.

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Catherine Ringer, French singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress

Catherine Ringer is a French singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, choreographer, actress, former pornographic performer, and co-founder of the pop rock group Les Rita Mitsouko. She is the daughter of French artist Sam Ringer. She is also the lead vocalist for Plaza Francia Orchestra where she performs with Eduardo Makaroff and Christoph H. Müller, formerly of Gotan Project.

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18/10/1956

Craig Bartlett, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor

Craig Michael Bartlett is an American animator. He wrote, directed, created, and produced the Nickelodeon television series Hey Arnold! and the PBS Kids television series Ready Jet Go! and Dinosaur Train.

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Martina Navratilova, Czech-American tennis player and coach

Martina Navratilova is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in women's singles for 332 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 seven times, and was world No. 1 in women's doubles for a record 237 weeks. Navratilova won 167 top-level singles titles and 177 doubles titles, including an Open Era record 49 major titles: 18 in singles, an all-time record 31 in women's doubles, and an Open Era record 10 in mixed doubles. Her nine Wimbledon singles titles are an all-time record for women. Alongside Chris Evert, her greatest rival, Navratilova dominated women's tennis for much of the 1980s.

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Jim Talent, American lawyer and politician

James Matthes Talent is an American politician who was a U.S. senator from Missouri from 2002 to 2007. He is a Republican and resided in the St. Louis area while serving in elected office.

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18/10/1955

Jean-Pierre Hautier, Belgian journalist and television host (died 2012)

Jean-Pierre Hautier was a Belgian television presenter and broadcaster for RTBF.

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Vanessa Briscoe Hay, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player

Vanessa Briscoe Hay is an American singer for the Athens, Georgia bands Pylon, Supercluster and Pylon Reenactment Society.

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Timmy Mallett, English radio and television host

Timmy Mallett is an English television presenter, broadcaster, author and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses and shirts, and a giant pink foam mallet, as well as his "utterly brilliant!" and "blaaah!" catchphrases.

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Stu Mead, American painter and illustrator

Stuart "Stu" Mead is an American artist who lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

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David Twohy, American director, producer, and screenwriter

David Neil Twohy is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for working on science fiction-action films, most notably The Chronicles of Riddick series.

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Rita Verdonk, Dutch journalist and politician, Dutch Minister of Justice

Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a Dutch politician and businesswoman formerly affiliated with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later Proud of the Netherlands (TON), which she founded in 2007. Since 2022, she has been a municipal councillor of The Hague, elected on the list led by Richard de Mos.

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Denis Watson, Zimbabwean golfer

Denis Leslie Watson is a professional golfer from Zimbabwe.

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Mark Welland, English physicist and academic

Sir Mark Edward Welland, is a British physicist who is a professor of nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge and head of the Nanoscience Centre. He has been a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, since 1986 and started his career in nanotechnology at IBM Research, where he was part of the team that developed one of the first scanning tunnelling microscopes. He served as the Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge from 2016 to 2023.

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18/10/1954

Nick Houghton, English general

Field Marshal John Nicholas Reynolds Houghton, Baron Houghton of Richmond, is a retired senior British Army officer and former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of the British Armed Forces. He was appointed CDS in July 2013, following the retirement of General Sir David Richards. He served as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, the Green Howards in Northern Ireland during The Troubles and later became Commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland. He deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq during the Iraq War. Later, he became Chief of Joint Operations at Permanent Joint Headquarters and served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff until assuming the position of CDS. Houghton retired from the British Army in July 2016, and was succeeded as CDS by Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach.

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Arliss Howard, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Leslie Richard "Arliss" Howard is an American actor, screenwriter, and film director. He is known for his roles in the films Full Metal Jacket (1987), Tequila Sunrise (1988), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), The Time Traveler's Wife (2009), Moneyball (2011), and Mank (2020).

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Bob Weinstein, American film executive

Robert Weinstein is an American film producer. He was the founder and head of Dimension Films and former co-chairman of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company (TWC), all of which he co-founded with his estranged older brother, Harvey. Bob Weinstein is also the founder of Watch This Entertainment. He had focused on making action and horror films, as well as on "family films, comedies and upscale adult thrillers".

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18/10/1952

Roy Dias, Sri Lankan cricketer and coach

Roy Luke Dias is a former Sri Lankan cricketer who played Test matches and One Day Internationals for the national team.

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Paul Geroski, American-English economist and academic (died 2005)

Paul Andrew Geroski was a leading economist in the United Kingdom. Although born in Pleasantville, New York, United States, Geroski studied and spent most of his career in Britain, where he settled permanently in 1975.

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Chuck Lorre, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Charles Michael Lorre is an American television producer, writer, director, and composer. Nicknamed the "King of Sitcoms", Lorre has created/co-created and produced many sitcoms including Cybill (1995–1998), Dharma & Greg (1997–2002), Two and a Half Men (2003–2015), The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019) and its spinoffs Young Sheldon (2017–2024), Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage (2024–present) and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, and Mom (2013–2021). He also served as an executive producer of Roseanne. Lorre won two Golden Globe Awards for his work on Roseanne and Cybill.

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Patrick Morrow, Canadian mountaineer and photographer

Patrick Allan Morrow, is a Canadian photographer and mountain climber. In 1986 he was the first person to climb the Seven Summits in the Carstensz-Version.

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Bảo Ninh, Vietnamese soldier and author

Hoàng Ấu Phương, known by the pen name Bảo Ninh, is a Vietnamese novelist, essayist and writer of short stories, best known for his first novel, published in English as The Sorrow of War.

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Allen Ripley, American baseball player (died 2014)

Allen Stevens Ripley was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three different teams between the 1978 and 1982 seasons. Listed at 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), 190 pounds (86 kg), Ripley batted and threw right-handed. Born in Norwood, Massachusetts, he attended North Attleboro High School. His father, Walt Ripley, also was a major league pitcher.

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Jerry Royster, American baseball player, coach, and manager

Jeron Kennis Royster is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman, second baseman, left fielder, manager, and coach. He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees. He was manager of the Milwaukee Brewers in the MLB and the Lotte Giants in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). He is father to actress Kara Royster, who is best known for her recurring roles in TV shows Supernatural, Pretty Little Liars, Dynasty, and K.C. Undercover.

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18/10/1951

Mike Antonovich, American ice hockey player and coach

Michael Joseph John "Antone" Antonovich is an American former professional hockey player, and coach. He was selected in the ninth round of the 1971 NHL Amateur Draft, 113th overall, by the Minnesota North Stars. He is currently a scout for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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Pam Dawber, American actress and producer

Pamela Dawber is an American actress known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell on Mork & Mindy (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell on My Sister Sam (1986–1988).

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Terry McMillan, American author and screenwriter

Terry McMillan is an American novelist known for her vivid portrayals of African American women's lives, relationships, and journeys of self-discovery. Her best-selling works, including Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, have resonated widely for their humor, authenticity, and emotional insight. McMillan's contributions have influenced contemporary fiction and continue to shape the representation of Black women in literature and film.

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David Normington, English civil servant and politician

Sir David John Normington, is a retired British civil servant. He served as the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2005, and then of the Home Office until 2011. From 2011 until 2016 he served as both the First Civil Service Commissioner and the Commissioner for Public Appointments for the British government.

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Nic Potter, English bass player and songwriter (died 2013)

Nic Potter was a British bassist, composer and painter, best known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator in the 1970s.

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18/10/1950

Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and author (died 2006)

Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 for her play The Heidi Chronicles.

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18/10/1949

George Hendrick, American baseball player and coach

George Andrew Hendrick Jr. is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder between 1971 and 1988, most prominently as an integral member of the St. Louis Cardinals team that won the 1982 World Series.

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Gary Richrath, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (died 2015)

Gary Dean Richrath was an American guitarist, best known as the lead guitarist and a songwriter for the band REO Speedwagon from 1970 until 1989.

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18/10/1948

Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher, author, and academic

Hans Köchler is a retired professor of philosophy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and president of the International Progress Organization, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the United Nations. In his general philosophical outlook he is influenced by Husserl and Heidegger, his legal thinking has been shaped by the approach of Kelsen. Köchler has made contributions to phenomenology and philosophical anthropology and has developed a hermeneutics of trans-cultural understanding that has influenced the discourse on the relations between Islam and the West.

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Ntozake Shange, American author, poet, and playwright (died 2018)

Ntozake Shange was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award–winning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975). She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane (1994), and Betsey Brown (1985), about an African-American girl run away from home.

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18/10/1947

Paul Chuckle, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter

The Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy double act comprising real-life brothers Barry David Elliott and Paul Harman Elliott. They were known for their BBC children's programme ChuckleVision, which aired from 1987 to 2009 and celebrated its twenty-first series with a 2010 stage tour titled An Audience with the Chuckle Brothers. The comedy of the Chuckle Brothers usually derived from slapstick, other visual gags, and wordplay, and their catchphrases included "To me, to you!" and "Oh dear, oh dear!"

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Job Cohen, Dutch scholar and politician, Mayor of Amsterdam

Marius Job Cohen is a retired Dutch politician and jurist who served as Mayor of Amsterdam from 2001 to 2010 and Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 2010 to 2012.

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John Johnson, American basketball player (died 2016)

John Howard Getty "J. J." Johnson was an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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Joe Morton, American actor

Joseph Thomas Morton Jr. is an American actor. Known as a character actor for his numerous roles on stage, television and film, he has received several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award.

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Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1997)

Laura Nyro was an American songwriter and singer. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the 5th Dimension recording her songs. Wider recognition for her artistry was posthumous, while her contemporaries such as Elton John idolized her. She was praised for her emotive three-octave mezzo-soprano voice.

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Gary Sullivan, Australian rugby league player

Gary Sullivan is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. An Australian international and New South Wales interstate representative forward, he played club football in the New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership for Newtown.

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18/10/1946

James Robert Baker, American author and screenwriter (died 1997)

James Robert Baker was an American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California. After graduating from UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead. Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel-Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder, after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel, Tim and Pete, he faced increasing difficulty having his work published. According to his life partner, this was a contributing factor in his suicide.

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Frank Beamer, American football player and coach

Franklin Mitchell Beamer is an American former college football player and coach, most notably for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

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Joe Egan, Scottish singer-songwriter (died 2024)

Joseph Egan was a Scottish singer-songwriter. Along with Gerry Rafferty, Egan was one of the two main members of the folk rock band Stealers Wheel, and co-writer of their hit song "Stuck in the Middle with You".

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Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Welsh academic and politician (died 2025)

Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas, was a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021.

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Howard Shore, Canadian composer, conductor, and producer

Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, conductor, and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. He is a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg, having scored all but one of his films since 1979, and collaborated with Martin Scorsese on six of his films.

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18/10/1945

Huell Howser, American television host and actor (died 2013)

Huell Burnley Howser was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing California's Gold and his human interest show Visiting...with Huell Howser, produced by KCET in Los Angeles for California PBS stations. The archive of his video chronicles offers an enhanced understanding of the history, culture, and people of California. He also voiced the Backson in Winnie the Pooh (2011).

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Chris Shays, American politician

Christopher Hunter Shays is an American politician. He previously served in the United States House of Representatives as representative of the 4th District of Connecticut from 1987 to 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party.

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18/10/1943

Christine Charbonneau, Canadian singer-songwriter (died 2014)

Christine Charbonneau was a French Canadian singer and songwriter.

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Birthe Rønn Hornbech, Danish police officer and politician, Danish Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs

Birthe Johanne Sparrevohn Rønn Hornbech is a Danish politician, member of the Folketing for Venstre, the liberal party, elected in the constituency of Køge, and former Minister for Refugees, Immigrants and Integration and for Ecclesiastical Affairs.

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18/10/1942

Gianfranco Ravasi, Italian cardinal and scholar

Gianfranco Ravasi is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a biblical scholar. A cardinal since 2010, he was President of the Pontifical Council for Culture from 2007 to 2022. He headed Milan's Ambrosian Library from 1989 to 2007.

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18/10/1941

Timothy Bell, Baron Bell, English businessman (died 2019)

Timothy John Leigh Bell, Baron Bell, was a British advertising and public relations executive, best known for his advisory role in Margaret Thatcher's three successful general election campaigns and his co-founding and 30 years of heading agency, Bell Pottinger.

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Martha Burk, American psychologist and author

Martha Gertrude Burk is an American political psychologist, feminist, and former (2000-2005) Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations.

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18/10/1940

Talitha Getty, actress and model of Dutch extraction (died 1971)

Talitha Dina Getty was a Dutch actress, socialite, and model who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh. Her husband was the oil heir and subsequent philanthropist John Paul Getty Jr.

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Cynthia Weil, American songwriter (died 2023)

Cynthia Weil was an American lyricist who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Weil and Mann were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and in 2011, they jointly received the Johnny Mercer Award, the highest honor bestowed by that Hall of Fame. She and her husband were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

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18/10/1939

Flavio Cotti, Swiss lawyer and politician, 82nd President of the Swiss Confederation (died 2020)

Flavio Cotti was a Swiss politician who served as member of the Federal Council from 1986 to 1999. He was a member of the Christian Democratic People's Party from the canton of Ticino. In the 1990s, Cotti led the Swiss government's unsuccessful attempts to further Switzerland's political integration into the European Union. He was President of the Confederation in 1991 and 1998 and headed the departments of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.

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Mike Ditka, American football player, coach, and sportscaster

Michael Keller Ditka is an American former professional football player, coach, and commentator. During his playing career, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year in 1961, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, and a six-time All-Pro tight end with the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL); he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988. Ditka was the first tight end in NFL history to reach 1,000 yards receiving in his rookie season.

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Lee Harvey Oswald, American assassin of John F. Kennedy (died 1963)

Lee Harvey Oswald was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

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Paddy Reilly, Irish folk singer and guitarist

Patrick Reilly is an Irish folk singer and guitarist. Born in Rathcoole, County Dublin, he is one of Ireland's most famous balladeers and is best known for his renditions of "The Fields of Athenry", "Rose of Allendale" and "The Town I Loved So Well". Reilly released his version of "The Fields of Athenry" as a single in 1983; it was the most successful version of this song, remaining in the Irish charts for 72 weeks. He achieved number 1 in Ireland with the Liam Reilly written song "Flight of Earls" in 1988.

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Jan Erik Vold, Norwegian poet, author, and translator

Jan Erik Vold is a Norwegian lyric poet, reciter, translator and author. He was a member of the so-called "Profil generation", the circle attached to the literary magazine Profil. Throughout his career, he has contributed to modernist Norwegian poetry. Jan Erik Vold is currently living in Stockholm.

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18/10/1938

Robert Dove, American lawyer and politician (died 2021)

Robert B. Dove was a parliamentarian of the United States Senate and a professor of political science at George Washington University.

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Dawn Wells, American model and actress, Miss Nevada 1959 (died 2020)

Dawn Elberta Wells was an American actress. She was best known for her role as Mary Ann Summers in the sitcom Gilligan's Island.

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18/10/1936

Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cuban cardinal (died 2019)

Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino was a Cuban prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Havana from 1981 to 2016. He was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 1994, the second Cuban to hold that distinction.

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18/10/1935

Peter Boyle, American actor (died 2006)

Peter Richard Boyle was an American actor. He is known for his work as a character actor on film and television and received several awards including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

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18/10/1934

Inger Stevens, Swedish-American actress (died 1970)

Inger Stevens was a Swedish-born American film, stage, and Golden Globe–winning television actress.

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18/10/1933

Forrest Gregg, American football player and coach (died 2019)

Alvis Forrest Gregg was an American professional football player and coach. A Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), he was a part of six NFL championships, five of them with the Green Bay Packers before closing out his tenure with the Dallas Cowboys with a win in Super Bowl VI. Gregg was later the head coach of three NFL teams, as well as two Canadian Football League (CFL) teams. He was also a college football coach for the SMU Mustangs.

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Irwin M. Jacobs, American electrical engineer, businessman, and entrepreneur

Irwin Mark Jacobs is an American electrical engineer and businessman. He is a co-founder and former chairman of Qualcomm, and chair of the board of trustees of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. As of 2019, Jacobs had an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.

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Ludovico Scarfiotti, Italian race car driver (died 1968)

Ludovico Scarfiotti was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1963 to 1968. Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian Grand Prix with Ferrari. In endurance racing, Scarfiotti won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 12 Hours of Sebring, both in 1963 with Ferrari.

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18/10/1932

Roger Climpson, English-Australian journalist (died 2025)

Roger Climpson was a British-born Australian media personality who served a lengthy career in both radio and television, as a journalist and reporter, announcer, newsreader, weather presenter and host. He started his career as an actor in radio, but also appeared in theatre and television productions; post his mainstream media career, he went into Christian broadcasting.

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Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuanian musicologist and politician

Vytautas Landsbergis is a Lithuanian politician, musicologist and former Member of the European Parliament. He was the first Speaker of Reconstituent Seimas of Lithuania after its independence declaration from the Soviet Union. He has written 20 books on a variety of topics, including a biography of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis, as well as works on politics and music. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration, and a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

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18/10/1931

Chris Albertson, Icelandic-American historian, journalist, and producer (died 2019)

Christiern Gunnar Albertson was a New York City-based jazz journalist, writer and record producer.

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Ien Dales, Dutch civil servant and politician, Dutch Minister of the Interior (died 1994)

Catharina Isabella "Ien" Dales was a Dutch politician and social worker. Born in Arnhem, she received a degree in education from the University of Amsterdam and worked in social services before her career in politics. She became a member of the Labour Party (PvdA) in 1968 and was appointed State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in the Van Agt II cabinet, a position that she held between 1981 and 1982. Dales was a member of the House of Representatives between 1981 and 1987 and mayor of Nijmegen between 1987 and 1989. She was the Minister of the Interior in the Lubbers III cabinet from 1989 and 1994.

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18/10/1930

Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun, Scottish politician (died 2024)

Flora Marjorie Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun, was a Scottish noblewoman and Crossbench peer. Until her retirement on 12 December 2014, she was the only holder of a lordship of Parliament with a seat in the House of Lords as an elected hereditary peer.

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Esther Hautzig, Lithuanian-American author (died 2009)

Esther R. Hautzig was a Polish-born American writer, best known for her award-winning book The Endless Steppe (1968).

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18/10/1929

Violeta Chamorro, Nicaraguan publisher and politician, President of Nicaragua (died 2025)

Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro was a Nicaraguan politician who served as the president of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997. She was the country's first female president. Previously, she was a member of the Junta of National Reconstruction from 1979 to 1980.

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Hillard Elkins, American producer and manager (died 2010)

Hillard (Hilly) Elkins was an American theatre and film producer.

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Kees Fens, Dutch author and critic (died 2008)

Kees Fens was a Dutch writer, essayist and literary critic.

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Frank Stanmore, Australian rugby league player (died 2005)

Frank Stanmore (1929–2005) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australian international and New South Wales interstate representative five-eighth, he played club football in Sydney's NSWRFL for Western Suburbs, winning the 1948 Premiership with them. Stanmore also played in the Newcastle Rugby League and was inducted into the Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame.

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18/10/1928

Maurice El Mediouni, Algerian pianist and composer (died 2024)

Maurice El Médiouni, French El Médioni was an Algerian pianist, composer and interpreter of Andalusian, Raï, Sephardic and Arab music. He was one of the few living artists to have performed with artists such as Lili Labassi, Line Monty, Lili Boniche, Samy el Maghribi, and Reinette l’Oranaise. He was also a professional tailor and initially took up music as a hobby.

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Keith Jackson, American sportscaster and actor (died 2018)

Keith Max Jackson was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career, he is best known for his coverage of college football from 1952 until 2006 and his distinctive voice, that according to Steve Kelley in The Seattle Times was "a throwback voice, deep and operatic. A voice that was to college football what Edward R. Murrow's was to war. It was the voice of ultimate authority in his profession."

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Dick Taverne, English lawyer and politician (died 2025)

Dick Taverne, Baron Taverne was a British politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Lincoln from 1962 to 1974. A member of the Liberal Democrats, he was a Labour MP until his deselection in 1972, following which he resigned his seat and won the subsequent by-election in 1973 as a Democratic Labour candidate.

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18/10/1927

Marv Rotblatt, American baseball player (died 2013)

Marvin Rotblatt, nicknamed "Rotty", was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox in the 1948, 1950 and 1951 seasons. His ERAs in 1948 (7.85) and 1950 (6.23) were the highest in the majors. He failed to get a base hit in fifteen career at-bats.

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George C. Scott, American actor and director (died 1999)

George Campbell Scott was an American actor. He had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his portrayal of stern but complex authority figures.

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18/10/1926

Chuck Berry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017)

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter; and one of the pioneers of rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957), and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.

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Klaus Kinski, German-American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1991)

Klaus Kinski was a German actor. Equally renowned for his intense performance style and his notoriously eccentric and volatile personality, he appeared in over 130 film roles in a career that spanned 40 years, from 1948 to 1988. He is best known for starring in five films directed by Werner Herzog from 1972 to 1987, who would later chronicle their tumultuous relationship in the documentary My Best Fiend.

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18/10/1925

Ramiz Alia, Albanian politician, 1st President of Albania (died 2011)

Ramiz Alia was an Albanian politician serving as the second and last leader of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1985 to 1991, serving as First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He was also the country's head of state from 1982 to 1992. He had been seen as a successor by Enver Hoxha and took power after Hoxha died.

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18/10/1924

Buddy MacMaster, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler (died 2014)

Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster was a Canadian fiddler. He performed and recorded both locally and internationally, and was regarded as an expert on the tradition and lore of Cape Breton fiddle music.

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18/10/1923

Jessie Mae Hemphill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2008)

Jessie Mae Hemphill was an American electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the North Mississippi hill country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage.

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18/10/1921

Jerry Cooke, Ukrainian-American photographer and journalist (died 2005)

Jerry Cooke was an American photojournalist from the 1940s-1990s.

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Jesse Helms, American journalist and politician (died 2008)

Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. was an American politician, a journalist, and Navy veteran. A leader in the conservative and nationalist movement, he represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001, he had a major voice in foreign policy. Helms helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, focusing on Ronald Reagan's quest for the White House as well as helping many local and regional candidates.

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Beatrice Helen Worsley, Mexican-Canadian computer scientist and academic (died 1972)

Beatrice Helen Worsley, better known as "Trixie" Worsely, was a Canadian computer scientist, the first woman in the country to work in that profession. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge with Douglas Hartree as adviser, also with advice from Alan Turing, one of the earliest Ph.D.s to be granted in what would today be known as computer science, in parallel with David Wheeler's Ph.D. studies at Cambridge under Maurice Wilkes. She wrote the first program to run on EDSAC, co-wrote the first compiler for Toronto's Ferranti Mark 1, wrote numerous papers in computer science, and taught computers and engineering at Queen's University and the University of Toronto for over 20 years before her death at the early age of 50.

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18/10/1920

Melina Mercouri, Greek actress, singer, and politician, 9th Greek Minister of Culture (died 1994)

Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a prominent political family for multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a French Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance in the film Never on Sunday (1960) and an Italian David di Donatello for Topkapi (1964). Mercouri was also nominated for one Tony Award, three Golden Globes, and two BAFTA Awards in her acting career. In 1987, she was awarded a special prize in the first edition of the Europe Theatre Prize.

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18/10/1919

Ric Nordman, Canadian captain and politician (died 1996)

Rurik (Ric) Nordman was a businessman and politician in Manitoba, Canada.

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Anita O'Day, American singer (died 2006)

Anita O'Day was an American singer known for her work in the jazz genre. She was considered an influential jazz vocalist for her ability to keep up with fast-tempo arrangements and for her characteristic vocal delivery. Her music has been acclaimed by critics and writers.

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Pierre Trudeau, Canadian lawyer, academic, and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (died 2000)

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his non-consecutive terms as prime minister from 1979 to 1980, he served as the leader of the Official Opposition.

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Camilla Williams, American soprano and educator (died 2012)

Camilla Ella Williams was an American operatic soprano who performed nationally and internationally. After studying with renowned teachers in New York City, she was the first African American to receive a regular contract with a major American opera company, the New York City Opera. She had earlier won honors in vocal competitions and the Marian Anderson Fellowship in 1943–44.

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18/10/1918

Molly Geertsema, Dutch lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 1991)

Willem Jacob "Molly" Geertsema II was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and jurist.

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Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Greek lawyer and politician, 178th Prime Minister of Greece (died 2017)

Konstantinos Mitsotakis was a Greek liberal politician and statesman. He served as prime minister of Greece from 1990 to 1993.

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Bobby Troup, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (died 1999)

Robert William Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the composer of the rhythm and blues standard "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and for portraying the role of Dr. Joe Early in the television program Emergency! co-starring with his wife Julie London, in the 1970s.

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18/10/1915

Victor Sen Yung, American actor (died 1980)

Victor Sen Yung was an American character actor, best known for playing Jimmy Chan in the Charlie Chan films and Hop Sing in the western series Bonanza.

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18/10/1914

Raymond Lambert, Swiss mountaineer (died 1997)

Raymond Lambert was a Swiss mountaineer who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached an altitude of 8611 metres of Mount Everest, as part of a Swiss Expedition in May 1952. At the time it was the highest point that a climber had ever reached. There was a second Swiss expedition in autumn 1952, but a party including Lambert and Tenzing was forced to turn back at a slightly lower point. The following year Tenzing returned with Edmund Hillary to reach the summit on 29 May 1953.

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18/10/1909

Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher and theorist (died 2004)

Norberto Bobbio was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily La Stampa. Bobbio was a social liberal in the tradition of Piero Gobetti, Carlo Rosselli, Guido Calogero, and Aldo Capitini. He was also strongly influenced by Hans Kelsen and Vilfredo Pareto. He was considered one of the greatest Italian intellectuals of the 20th century.

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18/10/1906

James Brooks, American painter and educator (died 1992)

James David Brooks was an American Abstract Expressionist, muralist, abstract painter, art teacher, and winner of the Logan Medal of the Arts.

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18/10/1905

Jan Gies, Dutch activist (died 1993)

Jan Augustus Gies was a member of the Dutch Resistance who, with his wife, Miep, helped hide Anne Frank, her sister Margot, their parents Otto and Edith, the van Pels family, and Fritz Pfeffer from Nazi persecution during the occupation of the Netherlands by aiding them as they resided in the Secret Annex.

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Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivorian union leader and politician, 1st President of Côte d'Ivoire (died 1993)

Félix Houphouët-Boigny, affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux, was a politician and physician who served as the first president of Ivory Coast, from 1960 until his death in 1993. A tribal chief, he worked as a medical aide, union leader, and planter before being elected to the French Parliament in 1945. He served in several ministerial positions within the Government of France before leading Ivory Coast following independence in 1960. Throughout his life, he played a significant role in politics and the decolonisation of Africa.

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18/10/1904

Aarne Juutilainen, Finnish army captain (died 1976)

Aarne Edward Juutilainen, nicknamed "Marokon kauhu", was a Finnish army captain who served in the French Foreign Legion in Morocco between 1930 and 1935. After returning to Finland, he served in the Finnish army and became a national hero in the Battle of Kollaa during the Winter War with the Soviet Union; with his relentless fighting spirit, he rose to legendary status on the war front. He was wounded three times during World War II.

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A. J. Liebling, American journalist and author (died 1963)

Abbott Joseph Liebling was an American journalist who was closely associated with The New Yorker from 1935 until his death. His New York Times obituary called him "a critic of the daily press, a chronicler of the prize ring, an epicure and a biographer of such diverse personages as Gov. Earl Long of Louisiana and Col. John R. Stingo." He was known for dubbing Chicago "The Second City" and for the aphorism "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." Liebling's boxing book The Sweet Science was named the greatest sports book of all time by Sports Illustrated. Liebling was a connoisseur of French cuisine, a subject he wrote about in Between Meals: An Appetite For Paris. Pete Hamill, editor of a Library of America anthology of Liebling's writings, said "He was a gourmand of words, in addition to food... he retained his taste for 'low' culture too: boxers and corner men, conmen and cigar store owners, political hacks and hack operators. They're all celebrated in [his] pages."

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Haim Shirman, Ukrainian-Israeli scholar and academic (died 1981)

Hayyim (Jefim) Schirmann was an Israeli scholar of medieval Spanish and Italian Jewish poetry.

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18/10/1903

Lina Radke, German runner and coach (died 1983)

Karoline "Lina" Radke-Batschauer, nacida Karoline Batschauer, was a German track and field athlete. She was the first Olympic champion in the 800 m for women.

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18/10/1902

Miriam Hopkins, American actress (died 1972)

Ellen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility. She signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930.

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Pascual Jordan, German physicist and theorist (died 1980)

Ernst Pascual Jordan was a German theoretical and mathematical physicist who made significant contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. He contributed much to the mathematical form of matrix mechanics, and developed canonical anticommutation relations for fermions. He introduced Jordan algebras in an effort to formalize quantum field theory; the algebras have since found numerous applications within mathematics.

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18/10/1898

Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (died 1981)

Lotte Lenya was an Austrian-American singer, diseuse, and actress, long based in the United States. In the German-speaking and classical music world, she is best remembered for her performances of the songs of her first husband, Kurt Weill. In English-language cinema, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as a jaded aristocrat in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). She also played the murderous and sadistic Rosa Klebb in the James Bond movie From Russia with Love (1963).

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18/10/1897

Isabel Briggs Myers, American theorist and author (died 1980)

Isabel Briggs Myers was an American writer who co-created the pseudoscientific personality test known as the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) with her mother, Katharine Cook Briggs. The MBTI is one of the most-often used personality tests worldwide; over two million people complete the questionnaire each year. Isabel Briggs Myers typed herself as an INFP (Mediator).

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18/10/1894

H. L. Davis, American author and poet (died 1960)

Harold Lenoir Davis, also known as H. L. Davis, was an American novelist and poet. A native of Oregon, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Honey in the Horn, the only Pulitzer Prize for Literature given to a native Oregonian. Later living in California and Texas, he also wrote short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post.

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Tibor Déry, Hungarian author and translator (died 1977)

Tibor Déry was a Hungarian writer and poet. He also wrote under the names Tibor Dániel and Pál Verdes.

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18/10/1893

Sidney Holland, New Zealand lieutenant and politician, 25th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1961)

Sir Sidney George Holland was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th prime minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation of the New Zealand National Party, which was to dominate New Zealand politics for much of the second half of the 20th century.

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George Ohsawa, Japanese philosopher and academic (died 1966)

George Ohsawa was a Japanese author and proponent of alternative medicine who was the founder of the macrobiotic diet. When living in Europe he went by the pen names of Musagendo Sakurazawa, Nyoiti Sakurazawa, and Yukikazu Sakurazawa. He also used the French first name Georges while living in France, and his name is sometimes also given this spelling. He wrote about 300 books in Japanese and 20 in French. He defined health on the basis of seven criteria: lack of fatigue, good appetite, good sleep, good memory, good humour, precision of thought and action, and gratitude.

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18/10/1888

Paul Vermoyal, French actor (died 1925)

Pierre Paul Vermoyal was a French stage and film actor.

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18/10/1887

Takashi Sakai, Japanese general and politician, Governor of Hong Kong (died 1946)

Takashi Sakai was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, known for his role as Governor of Hong Kong under Japanese occupation.

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18/10/1882

Väinö Kivisalo, Finnish politician (died 1953)

Väinö Kivisalo was a Finnish politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Häme Province South between August 1929 and July 1948. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for political reasons following the Finnish Civil War.

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Lucien Petit-Breton, French cyclist (died 1917)

Lucien Georges Mazan, known by the pseudonym Lucien Petit-Breton, was a French racing cyclist best known as the first two-time winner of the Tour de France.

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18/10/1881

Max Gerson, German-born American physician (died 1959)

Max Gerson was a German-born American physician who developed the Gerson therapy, a pseudoscientific dietary-based alternative cancer treatment that he falsely claimed could cure cancer and most chronic, degenerative diseases. Gerson therapy involves a plant-based diet with coffee enemas, ozone enemas, dietary supplements, and raw calf liver extract; the latter was discontinued in the 1980s after patients were hospitalized for bacterial infections.

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18/10/1880

Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Ukrainian-Russian general, journalist, and theorist (died 1940)

Ze'ev Jabotinsky was an author, poet, orator, soldier, and founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in Odessa.

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18/10/1878

James Truslow Adams, American historian and author (died 1949)

James Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well regarded by scholars. He popularized the phrase "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America.

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18/10/1875

Len Braund, English cricketer, coach, and umpire (died 1955)

Leonard Charles Braund was a cricketer who played for Surrey, Somerset and England.

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18/10/1873

Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian lawyer and politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1951)

Ivanoe Bonomi was an Italian politician and journalist who served as Prime Minister of Italy from 1921 to 1922 and again from 1944 to 1945.

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18/10/1872

Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian poet and author (died 1936)

Mikhail Alekseevich Kuzmin was a Russian poet, musician and novelist, as well as a prominent contributor to the Silver Age of Russian Poetry.

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18/10/1870

D. T. Suzuki, Japanese author and scholar (died 1966)

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki , was a Japanese essayist, philosopher, religious scholar, and translator. He was an authority on Buddhism, especially Zen and Shin, and was instrumental in spreading interest in these to the West. He was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and Sanskrit literature. Suzuki spent several lengthy stretches teaching or lecturing at Western universities and devoted many years to a professorship at Ōtani University, a Japanese university of the Ōtani School of Jōdo Shinshū.

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18/10/1869

Johannes Linnankoski, Finnish author (died 1913)

Johannes Linnankoski was a Finnish author and playwright, who mainly influenced writing in the Golden Age of Finnish Art. His most famous work is the romance novel, The Song of the Blood-Red Flower (1905). His primary themes were guilt, punishment, and redemption as moral questions.

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18/10/1868

Ernst Didring, Swedish author (died 1931)

Ernst Didring was an early 20th-century author who wrote mainly of life in his home country of Sweden.

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18/10/1865

Arie de Jong, Dutch linguist and author (died 1957)

Arie de Jong was a Dutch enthusiast and reformer of the constructed language Volapük by Johann Martin Schleyer, with whose help the Volapük movement gained new strength in the Netherlands. He not only revised Volapük, but also began Volapükaklub Valemik Nedänik and founded Diläd valemik Feda Volapükaklubas. He also founded and edited Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, an independent newspaper in Volapük, which ran for thirty-one years (1932–1963). He wrote Gramat Volapüka, a grammar of the language completely in Volapük, and a German-Volapük dictionary, Wörterbuch der Weltsprache. He translated the New Testament into Volapük from Greek, as well as many other pieces of literature. Arie de Jong is justly considered the most important Volapükist of a new age of Volapük history.

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Logan Pearsall Smith, American-English author and critic (died 1946)

Lloyd Logan Pearsall Smith was an American-born British essayist and critic. Harvard and Oxford educated, he was known for his aphorisms and epigrams, and was an expert on 17th century divines. His Words and Idioms made him an authority on correct English language usage. He wrote his autobiography, Unforgotten Years, in 1938.

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18/10/1862

Mehmet Esat Bülkat, Ottoman general (died 1952)

Mehmet Esat Bülkat was a Turkish or Albanian officer of the Ottoman Army who fought during the First Balkan War, where he led the Yanya Corps, and in World War I, where he served as a senior commander in the Gallipoli campaign. Prior to the 1934 Surname Law, he was known as Mehmed Esad Pasha.

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18/10/1859

Henri Bergson, French philosopher and theologian, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1941)

Henri-Louis Bergson was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the Second World War, but also after 1966 when Gilles Deleuze published Le Bergsonisme.

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18/10/1854

Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (died 1911)

William Lloyd Murdoch was an Australian cricketer who captained the Australian national side in 16 Test matches between 1880 and 1890. This included four tours of England, one of which, in 1882, gave rise to The Ashes. In 2019 Murdoch was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.

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18/10/1850

Basil Hall Chamberlain, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (died 1935)

Basil Hall Chamberlain was a British academic and Japanologist. He was a professor of the Japanese language at Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English. He is perhaps best remembered for his informal and popular one-volume encyclopedia Things Japanese, which first appeared in 1890 and which he revised several times thereafter. His interests were diverse, and his works include an anthology of poetry in French.

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18/10/1836

Frederick August Otto Schwarz, American businessman, founded FAO Schwarz (died 1911)

Frederick August Otto Schwarz was a German-born American toy retailer known for founding FAO Schwarz.

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18/10/1831

Frederick III, German Emperor (died 1888)

Frederick III, or Friedrich III, was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days from 9 March 1888 until his death in June that year, during the Year of the Three Emperors.

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18/10/1822

Midhat Pasha, Ottoman civil servant and politician, 238th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (died 1883)

Ahmed Şefik Midhat Pasha was an Ottoman politician, reformist, and statesman. He was the author of the Constitution of the Ottoman Empire.

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18/10/1804

Mongkut, Thai king (died 1868)

Mongkut, posthumously honoured as King Mongkut the Great, was the fourth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama IV. He reigned from 1851 until his death in 1868.

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18/10/1792

Lucas Alamán, Mexican politician and historian (died 1853)

Lucas Alamán was a Mexican scientist, conservative statesman, historian, and writer. He came from an elite Guanajuato family and was well-traveled and highly educated. He was an eyewitness to the early fighting in the Mexican War of Independence when he witnessed the troops of insurgent leader Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla sack Guanajuato City, an incident that informed his already conservative and antidemocratic thought.

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18/10/1785

Thomas Love Peacock, English author and poet (died 1866)

Thomas Love Peacock was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels, each with the same basic setting: characters at a table discussing and criticising the philosophical opinions of the day.

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18/10/1777

Heinrich von Kleist, German author and poet (died 1811)

Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays The Prince of Homburg, Das Käthchen von Heilbronn, The Broken Jug, Amphitryon and Penthesilea, and the novellas Michael Kohlhaas and The Marquise of O. Kleist ended his life in a suicide pact by shooting himself together with a close female friend who was terminally ill.

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18/10/1770

Thomas Phillips, English artist (died 1845)

Thomas Phillips was an English painter who specialised in portrait painting. He painted many of the notable men of the day including scientists, artists, writers, poets and explorers.

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18/10/1741

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, French general and author (died 1803)

Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos was a French novelist, official, Freemason and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782).

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18/10/1706

Baldassare Galuppi, Italian harpsichord player and composer (died 1785)

Baldassare Galuppi was a Venetian composer, born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Republic. He belonged to a generation of composers, including Johann Adolph Hasse, Giovanni Battista Sammartini, and C. P. E. Bach, whose works are emblematic of the prevailing galant music that developed in Europe throughout the 18th century. He achieved international success, spending periods of his career in Vienna, London and Saint Petersburg, but his main base remained Venice, where he held a succession of leading appointments.

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18/10/1701

Charles le Beau, French historian and author (died 1778)

Charles le Beau was a French historical writer.

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18/10/1668

John George IV, Elector of Saxony (died 1694)

John George IV was Elector of Saxony from 1691 to 1694. He belonged to the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin and was the eldest son of John George III, Elector of Saxony and Anna Sophie of Denmark.

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18/10/1663

Prince Eugene of Savoy (died 1736)

Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano, better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished feldmarschall in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. Renowned as one of the greatest military commanders of his era, Prince Eugene also rose to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna, spending six decades in the service of three emperors.

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18/10/1662

Matthew Henry, Welsh minister and scholar (died 1714)

Matthew Henry was a British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary Exposition of the Old and New Testaments.

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18/10/1653

Abraham van Riebeeck, South African-Dutch merchant and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (died 1713)

Abraham van Riebeeck was a merchant with the Dutch East India Company and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies from 1709 to 1713.

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18/10/1634

Luca Giordano, Italian painter and illustrator (died 1705)

Luca Giordano was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Giordano was one of the most celebrated artists of the Neapolitan Baroque, whose vast output included altarpieces, mythological paintings and many decorative fresco cycles in both palaces and churches. He moved away from the dark manner of early 17th-century Neapolitan art as practised by Caravaggio and his followers and Jusepe de Ribera, and, drawing on the ideas of many other artists, above all the 16th-century Venetians and Pietro da Cortona, he introduced a new sense of light and glowing colour, of movement and dramatic action. He was internationally successful and travelled widely, working in Naples, Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.

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18/10/1630

Henry Powle, English politician (died 1692)

Henry Powle was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1660 and 1690, and was Speaker of the House of Commons from January 1689 to February 1690. He was also Master of the Rolls.

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18/10/1616

Nicholas Culpeper, English botanist (died 1654)

Nicholas Culpeper was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer. His book The English Physitian is a source of pharmaceutical and herbal lore of the time, and Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick (1655) one of the most detailed works on medical astrology in Early Modern Europe. Culpeper catalogued hundreds of outdoor medicinal herbs. He scolded contemporaries for some of the methods they used in herbal medicine: "This not being pleasing, and less profitable to me, I consulted with my two brothers, Dr. Reason and Dr. Experience, and took a voyage to visit my mother Nature, by whose advice, together with the help of Dr. Diligence, I at last obtained my desire; and, being warned by Mr. Honesty, a stranger in our days, to publish it to the world, I have done it."

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18/10/1595

Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader (died 1655)

Edward Winslow was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the Mayflower in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and his brother, Gilbert Winslow signed the Mayflower Compact. In Plymouth he served in a number of governmental positions such as assistant governor, three times was governor and also was the colony's agent in London. In early 1621 he had been one of several key leaders on whom Governor Bradford depended after the death of John Carver. He was the author of several important pamphlets, including Good Newes from New England and co-wrote with William Bradford the historic Mourt's Relation, which ends with an account of the First Thanksgiving and the abundance of the New World. In 1655 he died of fever while on an English naval expedition in the Caribbean against the Spanish.

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18/10/1587

Lady Mary Wroth, English poet (died 1651)

Lady Mary Wroth was an English noblewoman and a poet of the English Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary family, Lady Wroth was among the first female English writers to have achieved an enduring reputation. Mary Wroth was niece to Mary Herbert née Sidney, and to Sir Philip Sidney, a famous Elizabethan poet-courtier.

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18/10/1553

Luca Marenzio, Italian composer (died 1599)

Luca Marenzio was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance.

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18/10/1547

Justus Lipsius, Belgian philologist and scholar (died 1606)

Justus Lipsius was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible with Christianity. The most famous of these is De Constantia. His form of Stoicism influenced a number of contemporary thinkers, creating the intellectual movement of Neostoicism. He taught at the universities in Jena, Leiden, and Leuven.

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18/10/1536

William Lambarde, English antiquarian and politician (died 1601)

William Lambarde was an English antiquarian, writer on legal subjects, and politician. He is particularly remembered as the author of A Perambulation of Kent (1576), the first English county history; Eirenarcha (1581), a widely read manual on the office and role of justice of the peace; and Archeion, a discourse that sought to trace the Anglo-Saxon roots of English common law, prerogative and government.

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18/10/1523

Anna Jagiellon, daughter of Sigismund I of Poland (died 1596)

Anna Jagiellon was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania from 1575 to 1587.

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18/10/1517

Manuel da Nóbrega, Portuguese-Brazilian priest and missionary (died 1570)

Manuel da Nóbrega, SJ was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and the first provincial of the Society of Jesus in colonial Brazil. Together with José de Anchieta, he was very influential in the early history of Brazil. He participated in the founding of several cities, such as Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, as well as many Jesuit colleges and seminaries.

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18/10/1482

Philipp III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (died 1538)

Philipp III of Hanau-Lichtenberg was the third Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg.

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18/10/1444

John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (died 1476)

John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, known as 1st Earl of Surrey between 1451 and 1461, was the only son of John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and Eleanor Bourchier. His maternal grandparents were William Bourchier, Count of Eu and Anne of Gloucester.

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18/10/1405

Pope Pius II (died 1464)

Pope Pius II, born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464.

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18/10/1130

Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (died 1200)

Zhu Xi, formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi played a pivotal role in shaping the intellectual foundations of later imperial China. He sought to integrate moral self-cultivation, classical interpretation, ritual practice, and cosmological theory into a coherent framework, emphasizing disciplined study and ethical cultivation while criticizing approaches—particularly within contemporary Buddhist traditions—that claimed immediate insight detached from ritual, learning, and moral practice. His extensive commentaries and editorial work on the Four Books became the core texts of the imperial civil service examinations from 1313 until their abolition in 1905. He advanced a rigorous philosophical methodology known as the "investigation of things" (格物) and emphasized meditation as an essential practice for moral and intellectual self-cultivation. Zhu Xi's thought exerted profound influence, becoming the official state ideology of China from the Yuan dynasty onward, and was later adopted in other East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In these regions, his Neo-Confucian doctrines were institutionalized through educational systems and civil service examinations, shaping political ideologies, social hierarchies, and cultural values for centuries.

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18/10/1127

Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (died 1192)

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His de jure reign spanned the years from 1155 through 1158, though arguably he effectively maintained imperial power for almost thirty-seven years through the insei system – scholars differ as to whether his rule can be truly considered part of the insei system, given that the Hōgen Rebellion undermined the imperial position. However, it is broadly acknowledged that by politically outmaneuvering his opponents, he attained greater influence and power than the diminished authority of the emperor's position during this period would otherwise allow.

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