Curated playlist
1930 births
- Pete ConradPete Conrad's first words on the Moon were a joke he had bet $500 on.
- Donn F. EiseleDonn Eisele was in a hospital on January 27, 1966, exactly a year before the Apollo 1 fire.
- Ed White (astronaut)Ed White floated out of his capsule in 1965 and did not want to come back. He was the first American to walk in space.
- Osamu SakaOsamu Saka voiced a kindly grandfather in Dragon Ball and a sniper in Metal Gear Solid.
- Clint EastwoodPresident Reagan quoted Clint Eastwood's line "Go ahead, make my day" to Congress.
- Helmut KohlGerman cartoonists drew Chancellor Helmut Kohl as a pear. He still reunited Germany in 1990.
- Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." Years later he was selling used cars.
- Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong's astronaut application came about a week late, until a colleague slipped it into the pile.
- Chuck DalyChuck Daly was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame twice. The second came after his death, for the Dream Team.
- John Young (astronaut)John Young walked on the Moon and later commanded the first Space Shuttle mission. He is the only person to do both.
- Allan WilliamsAllan Williams drove the Beatles to Hamburg in a Morris J2 van in August 1960. He was a Liverpool coffee-bar owner.
- Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard dropped his script and wrote dialogue day by day for the film Breathless.
- Princess Margaret, Countess of SnowdonOn the 21st of August 1955, the world waited for Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. Three hundred journalists stood outside Balmoral that day, four times as many as would later trail Diana, Princess of Wales. It was Margaret's 25th…
- Michael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins orbited the Moon thirty times and never set foot on it.
- Stanley SadieStanley Sadie grew a nine-volume music dictionary into twenty volumes. The 1980 result needed a new name: The New Grove.
- Warren BuffettWarren Buffett's yearbook photo called him a future stockbroker. He was seventeen and liked math.
- Mobutu Sese SekoMobutu renamed his country Zaire, its cities and himself. He also banned Western suits and European baby names.
- James BakerJames Baker's father forbade him from ever entering politics. He became a chief of staff and secretary of state anyway.
- Edgar MitchellApollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell had a spiritual awakening on his way home from the Moon.
- Akiyuki NosakaAkiyuki Nosaka made the hero of his famous story far nobler than he was. He had eaten his dying sister's food in 1945.
- Lin CarterLin Carter printed about 3,000 copies of his fanzine Kadath, and most were thrown away.
- George SorosAt 14, George Soros posed as the Christian godson of a government official to survive the Nazi occupation of Hungary.
- James IrwinAfter walking on the Moon, astronaut James Irwin spent years searching for Noah's Ark.
- Sean ConnerySir Sean Connery was the first actor to play James Bond in the cinema, and the role followed him for the rest of his life. In 2009, he described a taxi ride during the Edinburgh Film Festival. The driver was amazed that Connery could name…
- Frank LucasFrank Lucas liked to ask one question when he explained how he moved heroin. "Who the hell is gonna look in a dead soldier's coffin?" He put it that way in an interview for a New York magazine article published in 2000. Lucas operated in…
- Gary BeckerEconomist Gary Becker argued that criminals are not irrational. He said they weigh the risks and rewards of a crime.
- Frank CassPublisher Frank Cass bought the scripts of The Goon Show in 1972. His list was mostly history and social science.
- Andy White (drummer)Session drummer Andy White replaced Ringo Starr on "Love Me Do" in one afternoon. He earned no royalties.
- Harold BloomHarold Bloom argued that every poet struggles to escape the shadow of earlier poets.
- John Eric HolmesA neurology professor asked TSR for an easier Dungeons and Dragons. John Eric Holmes wrote its 1977 Basic Set.
- Brown MeggsBrown Meggs heard a Beatles demo in 1963 and signed the group at once.
- Thomas P. StaffordApollo 10's lunar module spun out of control after Thomas Stafford flew it within nine miles of the Moon.