Curated playlist
1940 births
- John LennonJohn Lennon was ordered to leave the United States in 1973. His anti-war activities had alarmed President Nixon.
- Al PacinoAl Pacino's mother told him poor people don't do acting. He went on to earn nine Oscar nominations.
- Martin SheenMartin Sheen was born Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez. In a 2009 speech at Oxford University, he said he had been arrested 66 times. The human rights activist Craig Kielburger gave that tally a memorable comparison. He said Sheen had "a rap…
- Bruce LeeBruce Lee appeared in his first film as a baby. By 18, he had been in 20 films in Hong Kong.
- Julie ChristieJulie Christie turned down roles that won other actresses Oscar nominations. She also retreated to a farm in Wales.
- George AkerlofGeorge Akerlof showed why good used cars can vanish from a market.
- Ringo StarrRingo Starr's first drum was a cotton bobbin used to tap the cabinets by his hospital bed.
- Gabor BorittGabor Boritt, a Hungarian-born American historian, reached New York with exactly one dollar in his pocket. He judged it the dirtiest city he had ever seen. He was a teenager, a refugee, and far from anyone who knew him. Behind him lay a…
- Frank ZappaAs a boy, Frank Zappa spread mercury across his bedroom floor with a hammer. His father brought it home from work.
- Stuart SutcliffeStuart Sutcliffe left the Beatles in 1961 to study painting in Hamburg. He died the next spring, aged 21.
- Paul TagliabueTwo days after September 11, 2001, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue canceled that weekend's games.
- Patrick StewartPatrick Stewart grew a moustache for Macbeth and saw his father's face in the mirror.
- Gary KurtzStar Wars producer Gary Kurtz filmed combat in Vietnam as a Quaker who refused to carry a sidearm.
- Dennis Kennedy (author)Dennis Kennedy went from a Navy communications post to the Samuel Beckett chair of drama.
- Roger NollEconomist Roger Noll has testified against the NCAA in several court cases. One was O'Bannon v. NCAA.
- Richard AppignanesiRichard Appignanesi turned a Mexican cartoonist's book on Karl Marx into Marx for Beginners in 1976.
- Peter BiskindPeter Biskind's own named source denied the Todd Haynes story he printed. Roger Ebert denied it too.
- PeléAt 17, Pelé passed out on the field after scoring twice in the 1958 World Cup final. His teammate Garrincha revived him.
- Muhammad YunusMuhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, once handed US$27 of his own money to 42 village women. Each woman made a profit of just BDT 0.50 on her loan, roughly US$0.02. It sounds like nothing at all. Yet from that tiny result he drew a…
- Anthony FauciAnthony Fauci, pronounced FOW-chee, once summed up his working life in a single sentence. In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, he said, "My career and my identity has really been defined by HIV." That is a striking claim from a man whose…
- Tim SeverinTim Severin built a boat from ox hides to test a medieval legend. In 1976 he sailed it from Ireland toward Newfoundland.
- Quentin SkinnerQuentin Skinner turned down a knighthood offered with a Cambridge professorship. His republicanism would not allow it.
- Michael Lindsay-HoggAt 16, Michael Lindsay-Hogg heard his mother deny in great detail that Orson Welles was his father.
- Tony SheridanTony Sheridan is the only non-Beatle to sing lead on a charting Beatles single.
- Samuel LittleSamuel Little, born Samuel McDowell, told investigators that he had committed 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. Courts convicted him of eight. The FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program has confirmed his involvement in at least 60 of…
- John GottiJohn Gotti ran the Gambino crime family of New York City, and one of his fellow mobsters once delivered a harsh verdict on him. Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the former underboss of the Lucchese crime family, said: "what John Gotti did was the…
- Prue LeithPrue Leith joined The Great British Bake Off in March 2017, taking over as a judge from Mary Berry when the programme moved to Channel 4. It was a high-profile seat to inherit. Yet the newcomer already had a career that few in British food…
- Roy DeMeoRoy DeMeo, a Brooklyn mobster in the Gambino crime family, was found dead on the 20th of January 1983. His body lay in the trunk of his own Cadillac Coupe DeVille, parked in the lot of the Varuna Boat Club in Sheepshead Bay. The corpse was…