Samuel Alexander was an Australian-born British philosopher. He was the first Jewish fellow of an Oxford or Cambridge college.
1859-1938
John Jacob Astor V, the fifth member of the American Astor family to bear the name John Jacob, became owner and chairman of The Times of London in 1922.
1886-1971
Politician and publisher Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor became a member of Parliament and was the publisher of the London Observer from 1915 to 1945.
1879-1952
W.H. Auden was a literary chameleon known for his poetry but who also wrote librettos, essays and verse dramas.
1907-1973
Joseph Banks was a late-18th to early-19th century British explorer and botanist who pushed for the advancement of science.
1743-1820
Film actor. Kate Beckinsale is an actress whose starring role in the Underworld films catapulted her to international stardom.
1973-
Gertrude Bell was a British writer, archaeologist and political officer best known for helping to establish modern Iraq after World War I.
1868-1926
Benazir Bhutto became the first female prime minister of Pakistan in 1988. She was killed by a suicide bomber in 2007.
1953-2007
1925-2011
1943-
British historian Alan Bullock is the author of several works on 20th century Europe, including studies of Hitler, Bevin and Stalin.
1914-2004
Cicely Saunders was a nurse, social worker who founded the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's Hospice, in 1967 to provide palliative care to those in need.
1918-2005
Roger Corman is a film director and producer who helmed B-Movie classics and helped launch the careers of James Cameron, John Sayles, Ron Howard and others.
1926-
John Warcup Cornforth is an Australian scientist who won the 1975 Nobel Prize for his research in stereochemistry and enzyme-based synthesis.
1917-
Movie and theater actor Hugh Dancy is now starring in the eerie NBC series Hannibal, as well as enjoying family life with wife Claire Danes and their son.
1975-
Militant suffragette Emily Wilding Davison fought to gain equal voting rights for British women before dying at the Epsom Derby in 1913.
1872-1913
King Edward VII took over the British throne after the death of Queen Victoria. He was a popular ruler who strengthened his country prior to World War I.
1841-1910
Writer John Fowles's works include The French Lieutenant's Woman and combine a respect for the Victorian novel and an interest in contemporary French novels.
1926-2005
Billionaire businessman J. Paul Getty became president of the Getty Oil Company after his father George Getty’s death. His Getty Foundation funds the J. Paul Getty Museum and other artist endeavors.
1892-1976
Stephen Hawking is known for his work regarding black holes and for authoring several popular science books. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
1942-
Based on his experience, novelist Joseph Heller wrote the satirical novel Catch-22, considered one of the most significant works of postwar protest literature.
1923-1999
1844-1889
A rising star in the Republican Party, Bobby Jindal became the first Indian American to be elected governor in the United States in 2007.
1971-
Imran Khan is a champion cricketer and a Pakistani politician.
1952-
Author John Le Carré’s first published novel, Call for the Dead, introduced his ‘anti-hero’ George Smiley, who appears in most of his stories.
1931-
Harper Lee is best known for writing the Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)—her one and only published novel.
1926-
British surgeon and medical scientist Joseph Lister is regarded as the founder of antiseptic medicine, which he implemented with amputee patients.
1827-1912
Liberal political journalist Rachel Maddow is known for hosting the MSNBC TV show The Rachel Maddow Show, as well as an Air America radio show of the same name.
1973-
1925-2004
British actor and comedian Dudley Moore starred in funny films such as Bedazzled (1967), 10 (1979), and Arthur (1981).
1935-2002
1888-1981
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, regent of Yugoslavia following Alexander I's assassination, was deposed by a Serbian military coup after the signing of the Tripartite Pact.
1893-1976
1911-1999
James Edward Oglethorpe was an 18th century member of British Parliament who also founded the U.S. colony of Georgia.
1696-1785
1893-1957
French novelist Claude Simon’s novels include The Wind; The Grass; and The Flanders Road. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1985.
1913-2005
1961-
1944-