Curated playlist
1933 births
- Michael CaineMichael Caine took his stage name from a cinema sign he saw while phoning from a Leicester Square telephone box.
- Roman PolanskiRoman Polanski survived the Holocaust by pretending to be Catholic. As a boy in Poland, he memorized prayers to hide.
- Stuart RoosaStuart Roosa orbited the Moon 34 times alone while two crewmates walked on it. He also carried tree seeds in his pocket.
- James BrownJames Brown pointed out band members' wrong notes with hand signals.
- Fred HaiseFred Haise came within days of becoming the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Then Apollo 13's oxygen tank ruptured.
- Yoko OnoYoko Ono hung a magnifying glass atop a white ladder in a London gallery. Climbers read one tiny word: YES.
- Willie NelsonWillie Nelson plays a classical guitar with a hole worn through its face. Decades of strumming with a pick have scoured a wide sweep of wood away beside the sound hole. Classical guitars are made for fingers, so this one has no pickguard…
- Jayne MansfieldOn the 26th of May 1957, Jayne Mansfield played the violin on The Ed Sullivan Show, backed by a six-person band. Afterward she exclaimed, "Now I am really national. Momma and Dallas see the Ed Sullivan show!" According to Nielsen, the…
- Louis FarrakhanLouis Farrakhan has led the Nation of Islam since 1981, longer than any other leader in the organization's history. The group blends black nationalism with Islamic teaching. Over a long public life he has carried several different names,…
- Kray twinsThe Kray twins were convicted of murder in 1969, yet crowds of thousands lined up to applaud when Reggie Kray was buried at Chingford Mount Cemetery in October 2000. Ronald and Reginald Kray were identical brothers from Haggerston in East…
- William AndersWilliam Anders fled Japanese bombers as a boy, then photographed Earth from the Moon.
- Amartya SenAmartya Sen carries a name that was chosen for him by a Nobel laureate. Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize, gave the newborn the name অমর্ত্য. The boy was born on the 3rd of November 1933 in Santiniketan, Bengal,…
- Imre PozsgayOn January 28, 1989, Communist official Imre Pozsgay called Hungary's 1956 revolution a popular uprising.
- Ronald Evans (astronaut)Ronald Evans is the last person to orbit the Moon alone. He circled it 75 times while two crewmates walked below.
- GarrinchaA doctor certified Garrincha as crippled, yet he won two World Cups. His legs curved in opposite directions.
- Just FontaineJust Fontaine scored thirteen goals in six matches at the 1958 World Cup.
- Quincy JonesQuincy Jones taped a sign to the entrance of a recording studio in 1985, and it read "Check Your Ego at the Door." Behind that door waited most of the major American recording artists of the day. Jones needed every one of them to work as…
- John BoormanWhen his film got no awards campaign, John Boorman gave Oscar voters free video copies.
- Rob InglisRob Inglis spent six intense weeks in 1990 voicing The Lord of the Rings.
- Elinor OstromUCLA rejected Elinor Ostrom's economics application for lacking math. She later won a Nobel Prize in economics.