Curated playlist
1943 births
- Christopher WalkenTo look gaunt for The Deer Hunter, Christopher Walken ate only bananas, water and rice for a month.
- Horst-Dieter HöttgesBorussia Mönchengladbach let defender Horst-Dieter Höttges go, and he won a Bundesliga title with Werder Bremen.
- Keith RichardsKeith Richards, guitarist of the Rolling Stones, began his musical life by stretching toward an instrument he could not reach. His maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore "Gus" Dupree, toured Britain with a jazz big band called Gus Dupree…
- Wolfgang OverathWolfgang Overath won World Cup medals of all three kinds and never played for a club besides 1. FC Köln.
- Joni MitchellAfter a 2015 brain aneurysm, Joni Mitchell relearned guitar at living room jam sessions. Brandi Carlile organized them.
- Jim MorrisonOn live TV in 1967, Jim Morrison sang a lyric censors had told him to change. Ed Sullivan then banned the Doors.
- Terrence MalickAfter Days of Heaven, director Terrence Malick moved to Paris and stayed out of public view for roughly two decades.
- Roger WatersThe Dark Side of the Moon, with lyrics written entirely by Roger Waters, spent 736 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, a run that lasted until July 1988. Waters is an English singer-songwriter, musician and political activist,…
- Mick JaggerMick Jagger was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters on Platform Two of Dartford railway station on the 17th of October 1961. The man he met there was Keith Richards. The records revealed a shared passion for rhythm and blues,…
- Joseph StiglitzJoseph Stiglitz explained why wages stay high in recessions even when workers are desperate for jobs.
- George HarrisonGeorge Harrison mortgaged his home to save Monty Python's Life of Brian. EMI Films had pulled its funding in 1978.
- Nout WellinkIn 2010, Financial News named Nout Wellink the most influential person in global bank oversight.
- Mark GranovetterSociologist Mark Granovetter argued that casual acquaintances carry more new information than close friends do.
- Vítor ConstâncioHow does a young economics lecturer become a top European banker? Vítor Constâncio went from Lisbon to the ECB.
- Jan Terje FaarlundA Norwegian grammar expert argued in 2014 that English is really a Scandinavian language.
- Osamu DezakiOsamu Dezaki made anime fade into a painted still. He called the technique a "postcard memory."
- Carly SimonCarly Simon, an American singer, songwriter and author, recorded a line that strangers still sing back at her: "You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you." Listeners have argued about the target of that accusation ever since.…
- Henry HillIn 1955, an eleven-year-old boy named Henry Hill crossed the street from his Brooklyn home and wandered into a dispatch cabstand, hoping for a part-time job after school. The men who gathered there were local mobsters, and Hill had admired…
- Janis JoplinIn the summer of 1962, the campus newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin printed a profile of a student named Janis Joplin. The issue was dated the 27th of July, and the headline read “She Dares to Be Different.” The writer noted…
- Ben KingsleyBen Kingsley turned down an offer to become a pop star in 1966. He auditioned for the Royal Shakespeare Company instead.
- Gloria GaynorGloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" was first placed on a B-side. Her label thought it less radio-friendly.
- William W. FitzhughWilliam W. Fitzhugh founded the Arctic Studies Center in 1988. It focuses only on northern cultures.
- Franklin Delano FloydFranklin Delano Floyd died of natural causes on the 23rd of January 2023, at the age of 79, while still on death row. He was an American murderer and child sex offender, and he spent most of his life moving under borrowed names. For years,…
- Rodney AlcalaRodney Alcala walked onto the set of the television game show The Dating Game in 1978, and host Jim Lange introduced him as a successful photographer. Lange promised that between takes he might be found skydiving or motorcycling. The…
- Bo HanssonBo Hansson took his girlfriend's copy of The Lord of the Rings in 1969 and went off to write music.
- Griselda BlancoGriselda Blanco Restrepo ran a distribution network, stretching across the United States and Colombia, that earned $80 million per month. She lived from 1943 to 2012, and her name is tied to the cocaine underworld of Miami from the 1970s…
- Stephen GreenblattStephen Greenblatt was stunned when universities sought experts in "New Historicism," a phrase he coined.
- Robert DurstOn the 30th of November 2001, Robert Durst was caught inside a Wegmans supermarket in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was trying to steal Band-Aids, a newspaper and a chicken salad sandwich. In his pocket he had $500 in cash. Durst, an…
- William DearA musical short for the song "Rio" won William Dear his first big film job. Michael Nesmith hired him for Timerider.
- Tom ShippeyA borrowed copy of The Hobbit changed Tom Shippey's life when he was 14. He became a leading Tolkien scholar.
- Jed S. RakoffJed Rakoff ruled against his own circuit's insider trading rule, and the Supreme Court unanimously agreed in 2016.
- Eric FonerHistorian Eric Foner started college as a physics major. A Civil War seminar at Columbia changed his path.
- Chris MontezChris Montez once headlined over The Beatles and had never heard of them. They opened his concerts in Britain.
- Peter TrudgillLinguist Peter Trudgill found the Beatles pronounced fewer r sounds over the 1960s.
- Billie Jean KingBillie Jean King beat 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in straight sets in 1973. He had claimed women's tennis was too weak.