Curated playlist
1936 births
- James M. McPhersonHistorian James M. McPherson helped lobby against a Disney theme park near the Manassas battlefield.
- Antonin ScaliaAntonin Scalia won confirmation to the United States Supreme Court on the 17th of September 1986 by a vote of 98-0. Not one senator voted no. Later, Joe Biden, a committee member who became a president, said he regretted not opposing…
- Buddy HollyBuddy Holly was back on tour in 1959 because his royalties were frozen in a lawsuit. He died in a plane crash at 22.
- Jim HensonJim Henson made the first Kermit from a halved table tennis ball and his mother's old coat.
- Pope FrancisPope Francis stepped onto the balcony of Saint Peter's Basilica in March 2013 and greeted the crowd with one plain Italian word, "Buonasera", which means good evening. Moments later he described himself as a pope who had come almost from…
- Johnny GentleJohnny Gentle once toured Scotland with the unknown Silver Beetles. They later became the Beatles.
- Aga Khan IVAga Khan IV, born Shah Karim al-Husseini, never appeared in gossip columns. Yet in 2013 Vanity Fair estimated his fortune at over US$13.3 billion. Forbes placed him among the world's fifteen richest royals, even though he held no political…
- Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
- Ken MattinglyKen Mattingly was pulled from Apollo 13 for measles he never got. He then helped from Mission Control to save the crew.
- Roy OrbisonRoy Orbison died weeks after finishing the best-selling album of his career. He never heard Mystery Girl released.
- Sepp BlatterSepp Blatter announced his resignation as FIFA president six days after the U.S. indicted FIFA officials.
- Tony BarrowTony Barrow, the English press officer who worked with the Beatles from 1962 to 1968, coined the phrase "the Fab Four". He first used it in an early press release. Barrow did not start out as a famous insider. He began as a part-time…
- Dražan JerkovićDražan Jerković scored twice as Yugoslavia beat France 5-4 in the 1960 European Championship semifinal.
- Wilt ChamberlainNo camera filmed Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in one game. Only a radio broadcast of the fourth quarter survived.
- Richard V. AllenReagan's first National Security Advisor resigned after a check was found in an office safe.
- Leonel SánchezLeonel Sánchez knocked out an Italian defender with one punch at the 1962 World Cup.
- John KortyJohn Korty turned a barn in Marin County into a film studio. Lucas and Coppola visited, inspired to build their own.
- John MaddenJohn Madden never flew on a plane after 1979. The football coach turned TV voice crossed the country by bus.
- Valery LegasovIn August 1986, Valery Legasov stood before the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and spoke for five hours. The report he carried for the Soviet delegation ran to 388 pages. Legasov was a Soviet inorganic chemist, not a reactor…
- Andrei ChikatiloOn the 20th of November 1990, four plainclothes police officers stepped up to a man leaving a cafe in Novocherkassk. He was carrying a large jar of beer and offered no resistance as they handcuffed him. The man was Andrei Chikatilo, a…
- Henry Lee LucasHenry Lee Lucas, later nicknamed The Confession Killer, sat in a Texas jail in 1983 and wrote a note to the local sheriff. "I have killed for the past 10 years and no one will believe me," it began. "I cannot go on doing this. I also…
- Judea PearlJudea Pearl gave computers a way to reason when facts are incomplete.
- Stephen B. OatesStephen B. Oates asked what it costs a person to fight for equality in America.
- Martin GilbertA boy evacuated to Canada in wartime grew up to write Churchill's official biography.
- Graham E. FullerA 1985 CIA study by Graham E. Fuller was later cited in the Iran-Contra affair.