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Text File
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1995-10-31
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26KB
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1,024 lines
JANUARY
January 1
J Edgar Hoover, American lawyer and director of the FBI (1895).
January 2
Prof Isaac Asimov, American biochemist and science-fiction author (1920).
David Bailey, photographer and film director (1938).
January 3
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, South African academic and novelist (1892).
Victor Borge, Danish musician and comedian (1909).
January 4
Louis Braille, French inventor the raised alphabet for the blind (1809).
Sir Isaac Pitman, British inventor and publisher of Pitman's shorthand (1813).
January 5
Alfred Brendel, Austrian concert pianist (1931).
January 6
Joan d'Arc, French national heroine (1412).
January 7
St Bernadette of Lourdes (1844).
Gerald Durrell, author and naturalist (1925).
January 8
Prof Stephen Hawking, mathematician and author of 'A Brief History Of Time' (1942).
January 9
Richard Milhouse Nixon, 37th US president (1913).
January 10
Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist and playwright (1883).
January 11
Henry Gordon Selfridge, founder of the London store (1864).
January 13
Michael Bond, creator of 'Paddington Bear' (1926).
January 14
Hal Roach, US film producer and director (1892).
January 15
Martin Luther King, black civil rights leader (1929).
January 16
Prof John Enderby, physicist (1932).
January 17
Benjamin Franklin, US statesman and inventor (1706).
Al Capone, US gangster (1899).
Muhammed Ali, US former boxing champion (1942).
January 18
A A Milne, English author of stories and poems for children (1882).
Oliver Norvell Hardy, US comedian (1892).
January 19
James Watt, Scottish engineer (1736).
Paul Cézanne, French painter (1839).
January 20
Federico Fellini, Italian film director (1920).
Edwin Aldrin, US astronaut (1930).
January 21
Placido Domingo, Spanish operatic tenor (1941).
January 22
August Strindberg, Swedish playwright (1849).
David Wark Griffith, silent film producer and director (1875).
January 23
Édouard Manet, French impressionistic painter (1832).
January 24
Dr Desmond Morris, zoologist (1928).
January 25
Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland (1759).
January 26
Stephane Grapelli, jazz violinist (1908).
January 27
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (1756).
January 28
Jackson Pollock, US abstract artist (1912).
Acker Bilk, jazz clarinettist (1930).
January 29
W C Fields, US film comedian (1880).
Germaine Greer, feminist and author (1939).
January 30
Gene Hackman, US film actor (1932).
Phil Collins, rock singer and drummer (1951).
January 31
Norman Mailer, US novelist (1923).
FEBRUARY
February 1
John Ford, US film director (1895).
Sir Stanley Matthews, former footballer (1915).
February 2
James Augustine Joyce, Irish author (1882).
February 3
Gertrude Stein, US author and critic (1874).
February 5
Sir Robert Peel, statesman (1788).
William S Burroughs, US novelist (1914).
February 6
Ronald Reagan, former president of the USA (1911).
Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress (1920).
François Truffaut, French film director (1932).
February 7
Charles Dickens, English novelist (1812).
February 8
Jules Verne, French novelist (1828).
John Williams, US composer and conductor (1932).
February 10
Bertolt Brecht, German playwright and poet (1898).
Larry Adler, US mouth organist (1914).
February 11
Charles Darwin, naturalist (1809).
Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the USA (1809).
February 15
Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (1564).
February 18
Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (1784).
February 19
Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer (1473).
February 22
George Washington, American soldier and statesman, first US President (1732).
Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (1900).
February 23
Samuel Pepys, Englishman made famous by his personal Diary (1633).
George Frederick Handel, German-born, England resident musical composer (1685).
February 25
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French early Impressionist painter (1841).
February 26
Victor Hugo, French poet, novelist, dramatist and author of Les Misérables (1802).
Fats Domino, US pianist and singer (1928).
February 27
John Ernst Steinbeck, US author (1902).
February 29
Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer of over 30 operas (1792).
MARCH
March 1
Frédéric Chopin, Polish composer (1810).
March 2
Sir Thomas Bodley, refounder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, England (1545).
March 3
George Pullman, US designer of luxury railway carriages (1831).
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone (1847).
March 6
Michaelangelo Buonarotti, Italian painter, sculptor, and poet (1475).
March 7
Joseph-Maurice Ravel, French composer (1875).
March 8
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (1714).
March 9
Yuri Gagarin, Russian astronaut (1934).
March 10
Bix Beidebeck, US jazz musician (1903).
March 12
Thomas Arne, composer of 'Rule Britannia' (1710).
March 13
Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, novelist (1884).
March 14
Albert Einstein, German-born, American theoretical physicist (1879).
Quincy Jones, US bandleader (1933).
March 16
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director (1941).
March 17
Robert Knox-Johnston, first person to sail single-handed around the world (1939).
Nat 'King' Cole, US singer and pianist (1919).
March 18
Wilfred owen, poet (1893).
March 19
Born, David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (1813).
March 20
Ovid, full name Puplius Ovidius Naso, Roman Poet (43BC).
March 21
Johann Sebastian Bach, exceptional and prolific German music composer (1685).
March 22
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer of musicals (1948).
March 24
U B Iweks, US film animator and co-creator of 'Mickey Mouse' (1901).
March 25
Sir David Lean, film director (1908).
Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (1881).
March 26
Leonard ('Chico') Mark, US comedian (1887).
Tennessee Williams, American author (1911).
March 29
Sanzio Raffaelle, Italian painter (1520).
Joseph Ignace Guillotine, French physician who recommended its use for executions (1738).
March 30
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish painter and etcher (1746).
Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853).
March 31
René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician and father of modern philosophy (1596).
Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian musical composer and teacher of Mozart and Beethoven (1732).
APRIL
April 1
William Harvey, English physician who explained the circulation of the blood (1578).
Sergei Rachmaninov, Russian composer (1873).
April 2
Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author (1805).
Max Ernst, German suurealist painter and sculptor (1891).
April 3
Marlon Brando, US actor (1924).
April 4
Muddy Waters, US rhythm and blues singer (1915).
April 5
Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (1588).
Gregory Peck, US film actor (1916).
April 6
Jean-Baptise Rousseau, French playwright and poet (1671).
Harry Houdini, Hungarian-Erik Weisz, American magician and escape artist (1874).
April 7
William Wordsworth, English poet, namesake of Europe's favourite word processor (1770).
Francis Ford Coppola, US film director and screenwriter (1939).
April 9
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer (1806).
April 10
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army (1829).
April 13
Richard Trevithick, engineer and railway pioneer (1771).
F W Woolworth, American founder of the Woolworth chain stores (1852).
April 14
Sir John Gielgud, English actor and director (1904).
April 15
Henry James, American-born, British novelist (1843).
April 16
Wilbur Wright, American aviator (1867).
Sir Charles Chaplin, comedian and film actor (1889).
April 18
Bernhard Weber, German pianist, conductor and composer (1764).
April 20
Adolf Hitler, Austrian-Nazi leader, Chancellor of Germany (1889).
April 21
Charlotte Brontë, novelist (1816).
April 22
Julius Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist (1904).
April 23
William Shakespeare, known as 'the Bard of Avon', English playwright and poet (1564).
April 24
Edmund Cartwright, English engineer and inventor of the power loom (1743).
April 25
Sir Mark Isambard Brunel, French-English (1769).
Guglielmo Marconi, Italian electrical engineer (1874).
April 26
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (1889).
April 27
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, English feminist author and author of Rights of Women (1749).
April 29
Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellingto , US jazz musician and bandleader (1899).
MAY
May 2
Baron Manfred von Richthofen, German fighter pilot known as 'the Red Baron' (1892).
May 3
Henry Cooper, heavyweight boxing champion (1934).
May 4
Audrey Hepburn, film actress (1929).
May 5
Karl Heinrich Marx, German political philosopher and economist (1818).
May 6
Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, psychotherapist and founder of psychoanalysis (1856).
Robert Peary, American explorer and first person to reach the North Pole (1856).
May 7
Johannes Brahms, German Composer and pianist (1833).
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1840).
May 8
Jean Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross (1828).
May 9
J M Barrie, Scottish playwrite of 'Peter Pan' (1860).
Howard Carter, English archaeologist and discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb (1873).
May 10
John Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (1838).
May 11
Baron von Munchausen, German soldier (1720).
Savador Dali, Spanish surrealist (1904).
May 12
Florence Nightingale, English nurse and medical reformer (1820).
May 13
Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (1265).
Daphne Du Maurier, English novelist (1907).
May 14
Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist and inventor of the thermometer scale (1686).
Thomas Gainsborough, English landscape painter (1727).
May 15
Frank Baum, American children's story writer (1856).
May 16
David Hughes, American inventor of the microphone (1831).
May 17
Dr Edward Jenner, English physician and pioneer of the vaccination (1749).
Erik Satie, French composer (1866).
May 18
Nicholas II, last Czar of Russia (1868).
May 19
Nancy Astor, first woman to sit in the House of Commons (1879).
Malcolm X, American political activist and leader of the Black Muslims (1925).
May 20
Honoré de Balzac, French novelist (1799).
May 21
Albrecht Dürer, German painter and engraver (1471).
Henri Rousseau, French naive painter (1844).
May 22
Richard Wagner, German composer (1813).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish (1859).
May 23
Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer in the design and flying of gliders (1848).
May 24
George Formby, singer and comedian (1904).
May 25
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philospher and poet (1803).
Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American designer of flying boats (1889).
May 26
John Wayne, US film actor (1907).
Peter Cushing, actor (1913).
May 27
Wild Bill Hickock, American frontiersman and marshal (1837).
May 28
Joseph Guillotin, French physcian (1738).
Ian Flemming, English novelist and creator of the 'James Bond' spy character (1908).
May 29
G K Chesterton, English author of the Father Brown detective series (1874).
John F Kennedy, American youngest-ever US president and the first Catholic (1917).
JUNE
June 1
Marilyn Monroe, US film actress (1926).
June 2
Marquis de Sade, French writer and revolutionary (1740).
Sir Edwad Elgar, English composer (1857).
June 3
Dr James Hutton, Scottish, one of the founders of geology (1726).
June 5
Socrates, Greek philosopher (BC469).
Alfred Tennyson, English poet and author of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (1809).
June 6
Robert Falcon Scott, English antartic explorer and naval officer (1868).
June 7
Paul Gauguin, French painter (1848).
June 8
Robert Schumann, German romantic composer (1810).
June 9
Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (1682).
George Stephenson, English engineer (1781).
June 10
Nicholaus Otto, pioneer of the internal combustion engine, Germany (1832).
June 11
John Constable, English landscape painter (1776).
Richard Strauss, German music composer (1864).
June 13
Sir Charles Parsons, British engineer (1854).
W B Yeats, Irish poet, dramatist, Senator of the Irish Free State, Nobel laureate (1923).
June 14
Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Argentinean guerrilla leader and revolutionary (1928).
June 15
Edvard Grieg, Norwegian music composer (1843).
Harry Langdon, American silent film comedian (1884).
June 16
Stan Laurel, film comedian (1890).
June 17
John Wesley, English preacher and co-founder of Methodism (1703).
Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (1882).
June 19
Blaise Pascal, French child prodigy, mathematician and religious philosopher (1623).
June 20
Jacques Offenbach, French-resident German composer (1819).
June 21
Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, novelist and playwright (1905).
June 22
Henry Rider Haggard, English novelist (1856).
Billy Wilder, American director, writer and producer (1906).
June 23
Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte (1763).
June 24
Sir Fred Hoyle, astronomer and writer of science fiction (1915).
June 25
George Orwell (named Eric Arthur Blair), English novelist (1903).
June 26
Laurie Lee, poet and author (1914).
June 27
Helen Keller, American writer, social reformer, academic (1880).
June 28
Sir Peter Rubens, Flemish artist (1577).
JULY
July 1
George Sand, French novelist (1804).
July 2
Sir William Henry Bragg, physicist (1862).
July 3
Robert Adam, Scottish architect (1728).
July 4
Thomas Barnardo, Irish doctor, philanthropist and founder of Dr Barnado's homes (1845).
July 5
Phineas Barnum, American showman (1810).
July 7
Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer, condutor and pianist (1860).
July 8
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German aviation pioneer and inventor of the dirigible airship (1838).
July 9
Ann Radcliffe, English gothic novelist (1764).
July 10
Camille Pissarro, French impressionist painter and graphic artists (1830).
James McNeill Whistler, American-born, English painter (1834).
July 12
Julius Caesar, dictator of the Roman Empire (100BC).
Oscar Hammerstein II, American librettist (1895).
July 14
Gustav Klimt, Austrian art nouveau painter (1862).
Ingmar Bergman, Swedish film-maker (1918).
July 15
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Dutch painter, most celebrated work Night Watch (1606).
July 16
Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader and founder of the Christian science Movement (1821).
Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer and first to reach the South Pole (1872).
July 18
Nelson Mandela, first black president of South Africa (1918).
John Glen, politician and America's first astronaut (1921).
July 19
Samuel Colt, American inventor of the revolver (1814).
Edgar Degas, French impressionist painter and sculptor (1834).
July 20
Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer first to climb Everest (1919).
Jacques Delors, French socilist politician and president of the European Commission (1925).
July 21
Baron Paul von Reuter, German founder of Reuters world news agency (1816).
Ernest Hemingway, American novelist (1899).
July 23
Raymond Chandler, American novelist and creator of 'Phillip Marlowe' (1888).
July 24
Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan statesman (1783).
Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and dramatist (1802).
July 25
Louise Brown, first test tube baby (1978).
July 26
George Bernard Shaw, Irish journalist, critic and playwright (1856).
Stanley Kubrick, American film director (1928).
July 28
Beatrix Potter, English writer for children known for her series of illustrated animal stories
which began with 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' (1866).
July 30
Emily Bronte, English author of 'Wuthering Heights' (1818).
Sir Henry Moore, English sculptor (1898).
AUGUST
August 1
Claudius, Roman emperor (10BC).
Herman Melville, American novelist and short-story writer (1819).
August 2
James Baldwin, US author (1924).
August 3
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (1792).
Stanley Baldwin, former Conservative Prime Minister (1867).
August 4
Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic poet (1792).
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, The Queen Mother (1900).
August 5
Guy De Maupassant, French novelist and short-story writer (1850).
Neil Armstrong, American astronaut (1930).
August 6
Lord Alfred Tennyson, English poet laureate (1809).
Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist (1881).
August 7
Greg Chappell, cricketer and former captain of Australia (1948).
August 8
Princess Beatrice, first child of Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York (1988).
August 9
John Dryden, first official Poet Laureate (1631).
Philip Larkin, English poet (1922).
August 10
Herbert Hoover, 31st American President (1874).
August 12
Cecil B. De Mille, US film producer and director (1881).
Norris McWhirter, founder with his twin brother of the 'Guiness Book of Records' (1925).
August 13
John Logie Baird, Scottish pioneer of television (1888).
Alfred Hitchcock, English-film director (1899).
August 15
Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor, Corsica (1769).
T E Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia), Welsh-soldier and writer (1888).
August 16
Ted Hughes, English Poet Laureate (1930).
August 17
David Crockett ('Davy'), US frontiersman and politician (1786).
Alan Minter, English boxer and former world middleweight champion (1951).
August 18
Antonio Salieri, composer (1750).
Roman Polanski, Polish-film director.
August 19
John Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal (1646).
Orville Wright, US aviation pioneer (1871).
August 20
Thomas Corneille, prolific French dramatist (1625).
H P Lovecraft, US author of the macabre (1890).
August 21
King William IV (1765).
Count (William) Basie, US jazz pianist and bandleader (1904).
August 22
Claude Debussy, French composer (1862).
Henri Cartier-Bresson, renowned French photographer (1908).
August 23
King Louis XVI, King of France (1754).
Gene Kelly, US dancer and choreographer (1912).
August 24
Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer (1899).
Sam Torrance, Scottish golfer (1953).
August 25
Ivan IV ('The Terrible'), Tsar of Russia (1530).
Leonard Bernstein, US composer and conductor (1918).
August 26
Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, statesman (1676).
Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, considered the father of modern chemistry (1743).
August 27
Confucius, Kong the Master, Chinese philosopher (551BC).
Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910).
August 28
Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian author of 'War and Peace' (1828).
Emlyn Hughes, former Liverpool, Wolves and England football captain (1947).
August 29
Charlie Parker, US jazz musician known as Bird (1920).
Lord (Richard) Attenborough, English actor, producer and director (1923).
August 30
Mary Shelley, English novelist and author of Frankenstein (1797).
August 31
Buddy Hackett, American comedian (1924).
SEPTEMBER
September 1
Edgar Rice Burroughs, US novelist and creator of Tarzan (1875).
Rocky Marciano, legendary US world champion boxer (1923).
September 2
Jimmy Connors, US tennis player (1952).
September 3
Alan Ladd, US actor (1913).
Geoff Arnold, Sussex cricketer (1944).
September 4
Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (1824).
Tom Watson, US golfer, five-times winner of the British Open (1949).
September 5
Jesse James, notorious US outlaw of the wild west (1831).
Bob Newhart, US comedian (1929).
September 6
J R C Young, former England rugby international (1937).
Britt Ekland, Swedish actress (1942).
September 7
Sir Anthony Quayle, English actor who specialised in Shakespearian roles (1913).
Sonny Rollins, US saxophonist and composer (1929).
September 8
King Richard I, King of England known as Richard the Lionheart (1157).
Geoff Miller, Essex cricketer who also has over 30 test caps for England (1952).
September 9
William Bligh, English captain of the (1754).
Max Reinhardt, leading Austrian director (1873).
September 10
Arnold Palmer, US golfer who was sport's first millionaire (1929).
September 11
D H Lawrence, English novelist, poet and essayist (1885).
Barry Sheene, former British motor cycling champion (1950).
September 12
Maurice Chevalier, legendary French actor (1888).
Jesse Owens, US athlete, in 1935 he equalled or broke six world records in 45 minutes (1913).
September 13
J B Priestley, English novelist (1894).
Roald Dahl, British author of children's stories, as well as stories of the supernatural (1916).
September 14
Nicol Williamson, leading man of the British stage and screen (1938).
September 15
Titus Oates, English clergyman and conspirator (1649).
Jean Renoir, French film director and son of the famous painter (1894).
September 16
Henry V, King of England (1387).
Lauren Bacall, leading Hollywood actress of the 40s and 50s (1924).
September 17
Sir Francis Chichester, English solo round-the-world yachtsman (1901).
Stirling Moss, English grand prix driver (1929).
September 18
Died Dr Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer, writer and critic (1709).
Peter Shilton, former English international goalkeeper (1949).
September 20
Alexander the Great, Greek commander (356BC).
September 21
Gustav Holst, composer (1874).
September 22
Michael Faraday, physicist and chemist (1791).
September 24
F Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist (1896).
September 26
George Gershwin, US composer (1898).
September 28
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter (1573).
September 29
Horatio Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte, British admiral (1758).
September 30
Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist (480BC).
OCTOBER
October 2
Julius ('Groucho') Marx, US comedian (1890).
October 4
Buster Keaton, US film comedian (1895).
October 7
Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa (1931).
October 9
Jacques Tati, French actor and film director (1908).
October 10
Harold Pinter, playwright (1930).
October 11
Richard Burton, actor (1925).
October 12
Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer (1872).
Luciano Pavarotti, operatic tenor (1935).
October 13
Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister (1925).
October 15
Virgil, Publius Vergilius Maro, Roman poet (70BC).
October 17
Arthur Miller, US playwright (1915).
October 18
Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canale, Italian painter (1697).
October 20
Christopher Wren, English architect of over 40 London buildings (1632).
October 21
Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpeter (1917).
October 22
Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (1811).
Catherine Deneuve, French film actress (1943).
October 23
Pelé, Brazilian footballer (1940).
October 25
Georges Bizet, French composer (1838).
October 27
Captain James Cook, English naval explorer (1728).
October 29
Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (1656).
John Keats, English poet (1795).
October 30
Louis Malle, French film director (1932).
NOVEMBER
November 1
Laurence Stephen Lowry, painter (1887).
November 3
John Barry, popular musician and composer (1933).
November 5
Roy Rogers, US singing cowboy actor (1912).
November 7
Marie Curie, Polish-French physicist who pioneered radioactivity (1867).
Leon Trotsky, Russian Communist leader (1879).
November 8
Christiaan Neethling Barnard, South African surgeon (1922).
November 10
Muhammad, Arab prophet and founder of Islam, Mecca, Saudi Arabia (AD570).
Oliver Goldsmith, Irish playwright, poet and novelist (1728).
November 11
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian author (1821).
November 14
Claude Monet, French impressionistic painter (1840).
November 15
Sir William Herschel, astronomer (1738).
November 16
George Simon Kaufman, US playwright (1889).
November 19
Calvin Klein, US fashion designer (1942).
November 20
Edwin Powell Hubble, American astronomer (1899).
November 21
Voltaire, French philosopher and writer (1694).
Adolph ('Harpo') Marx, US comedian (1888).
November 22
Thomas Cook, travel agent and temperance advocate (1808).
November 24
Scott Joplin, US ragtime pianist and composer (1868).
November 26
Charles Schultz, US cartoonist, creater of 'Peanuts' (1922).
November 28
William Blake, poet and painter (1757).
Anton Rubenstein, Russian pianist and composer (1829).
November 29
C S Lewis, English scholar, religious writer and novelist (1898).
November 30
Mark Twain, US author (1835).
DECEMBER
December 1
Woody Allen, US film actor, writer, director and former stand-up comedian (1935).
December 2
Anthony Huxley, author and photographer (1920).
December 3
Samuel Crompton, English inventor of the spinning mule (1753).
Jean-Luc Godard, French film director (1930).
December 5
Walter Elias Disney, American film maker and animator (1901).
December 6
Dave Brubeck, US jazz musician (1920).
December 7
Prof Noam Chomsky, US linguist (1922).
December 8
Georges Méliès, French cinema pioneer (1861).
December 9
Clarence Birdseye, American inventor of the deep-freezing process (1886).
December 11
Sir David Brewster, physicist and inventor of the kaleidoscope (1781).
December 12
Gustav Flaubert, French novelist (1821).
Frank Sinatra, US singer and actor (1915).
December 13
Dick Van Dyke, US TV and film actor (1925).
December 14
Michel Nostradamus, French physician and astrologer (1503).
Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and mathematician (1546).
December 15
Nero, Roman emperor (37)
Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, French engineer (1832).
December 16
Jane Austen, English (1775).
Arthur C Clarke, science fact and fiction writer (1917).
December 17
Ludwig van Beethoven, prolific German music composer (1770).
December 18
Saki (Hector Hugh Monro), short-story writer (1870).
Steven Spielberg, US film producer and director (1947).
December 19
Edith Piaf, French singer (1915).
December 21
Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (1879).
December 23
Alexander I, Tsar of Russia (1777).
December 24
James Prescott Joule, physicist (1818).
December 25
Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure in Christian religion, Palestine (OBC).
Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (1642).
December 26
Charles Babbage, computer pioneer (1792).
December 27
Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (1571).
Louis Pasteur, French chemist and bacteriologist (1822).
December 28
Earl 'Fatha' Hines, jazz pianist (1905).
December 29
Dr Magnus Pyke, TV nutritionist (1908).
December 30
Joseph Rudyard Kipling, author and poet (1865).
December 31
Jacques Cartier, French explorer and navigator (1494).
Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse, French painter (1869).