Curated playlist
1925 births
- Richard PoirierLiterary critic Richard Poirier signed a 1968 pledge to refuse federal taxes. It was a protest against the Vietnam War.
- Ahmad HuseinOn January 9, 1958, Ahmad Husein helped announce a rival government to President Sukarno's.
- Arthur E. BrysonArthur E. Bryson and Henry J. Kelley developed an early version of backpropagation.
- Johnny CarsonUri Geller failed on Johnny Carson's show, and it made him famous. Carson had asked James Randi for help.
- Margaret ThatcherMargaret Thatcher kept a portrait of her chemistry tutor on the wall at 10 Downing Street.
- Richard BurtonRichard Burton, the Welsh actor born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr., once received a cable from Laurence Olivier. Olivier was shocked by Burton's affair with Elizabeth Taylor, and his message was blunt. It read: “Make up your mind, dear heart.…
- Malcolm XMalcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964 and flew to Mecca. There he saw Muslims of all colors treated as equals.
- Sammy Davis Jr.Sammy Davis Jr. once answered a simple golf question with a line that became his signature. Playing a round with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. Davis replied, "Handicap?" and then went on: "Talk about handicap. I'm a…
- Paul NewmanAt the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona, Paul Newman was 70 years and eight days old, and his team won its class. That made him the oldest driver to date on a winning team in a major sanctioned race. Newman was best known as a film star, and he…
- Frantz FanonAt 17, Frantz Fanon slipped out of Martinique during a family wedding to join the Allies.
- Patrice LumumbaPatrice Lumumba was not scheduled to speak at Congo's independence ceremony, but he rose anyway.
- Joseph Francis SheaJoe Shea's 1962 analysis steered NASA toward its Moon landing plan. He had joined the agency only months earlier.
- Dick Van DykeDick Van Dyke walked onto the stage of The Masked Singer in 2023 disguised as a character called Gnome, and he was the first contestant eliminated. The show had promoted his unmasking as "the most legendary, decorated and beloved unmasking…
- Kihachirō KawamotoPuppet animator Kihachirō Kawamoto said his puppets only came alive after a year studying in Prague.
- Rayner UnwinAt ten, Rayner Unwin read The Hobbit for one shilling and helped get it published.
- Yukio MishimaYukio Mishima shouted to soldiers from a Tokyo balcony in 1970, then killed himself.
- John List (murderer)John Emil List left behind a mansion in Westfield, New Jersey, that blazed with light in the autumn of 1971. Every room was lit, day and night, and yet nobody seemed to be living there. Neighbors waited and watched. Then the light bulbs…