Curated playlist

1945 births

Rune SlagstadRune Slagstad, a Norwegian philosopher, played flute at a statesman's funeral.
Elvin HayesElvin Hayes scored 39 points and ended UCLA's 47-game winning streak in 1968. He held Lew Alcindor to 15 points.
Neil YoungIn April 2026, Neil Young announced a new studio album called Second Song, and three of its tracks were songs he had written in 1963. They had remained unreleased ever since. That detail suits a man who has spent his career refusing to…
Goldie HawnGoldie Hawn was born on the 21st of November 1945, and her first major film role won her an Academy Award. That is a startling debut for a performer who, only a short time earlier, had been known for giggling her way through a television…
Eric ClaptonEric Clapton got the nickname Slowhand from a broken guitar string. Fans clapped slowly while he replaced it.
Gerd MüllerGerd Müller scored 68 goals in 62 games for West Germany. He averaged more than one goal per game for eight years.
Bob MarleyBob Marley, the Jamaican singer, songwriter and guitarist born Robert Nesta Marley, was buried with a red Gibson Les Paul guitar in his casket. Beside it lay a Bible opened to Psalm 23 and a stalk of cannabis, placed there by his widow,…
Rod StewartRod Stewart, the British singer with the raspy voice, stood on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on the 31st of December 1994 and sang to 3.5 million people. Nobody paid to get in. That crowd earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of…
Angus DeatonIn 2024, Nobel economist Angus Deaton said he had changed his mind on much of mainstream economics.
Geoff EmerickGeoff Emerick ran John Lennon's voice through a spinning organ speaker for "Tomorrow Never Knows".
Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on the 26th of July 1945, at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in the Hammersmith district of London. Neither the first name nor the surname on that record would last. The woman who…
George Miller (filmmaker)Before Mad Max, George Miller was a trained doctor. He taught himself filmmaking on the side.
Walt FrazierWalt Frazier had 36 points and 19 assists in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. Willis Reed played two minutes.
Go NagaiGo Nagai started drawing manga because he thought he was dying. The illness was catarrh of the colon.
Richard ThalerEconomist Richard Thaler played himself in the 2015 film The Big Short.
Winston PetersWinston Peters was shut out of Parliament in 2008, then came back.
Mario LivioA 1980 supernova simulation by Mario Livio led him to measure how fast the universe expands.
Chuck BlazerChuck Blazer, a top FIFA official, had never played soccer. He began by coaching his son's youth team in 1976.
Phil JacksonPhil Jackson convinced Michael Jordan to trust his teammates. In 1991 the Bulls swept the Pistons and won the title.
Joseph James DeAngeloDeputies arrested Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. in the side yard of his Sacramento home on the afternoon of the 24th of April 2018. He was 72 years old, a retired truck mechanic and a former police officer. For more than four decades,…
David StarkeyHistorian David Starkey lost many honors within days in July 2020. A podcast remark on slavery set it off.
Seppo LinnainmaaSeppo Linnainmaa wrote the first published description of backpropagation, though not its first use.
James Peter AllenJames Peter Allen's seminary thesis on Egyptian creation accounts became a book. It appeared as Genesis in Egypt.
Franz BeckenbauerFranz Beckenbauer won the World Cup as a captain, then again as a manager.
Dennis RaderDennis Rader, the man who called himself BTK, made a strange request while police questioned him in February 2005. He asked an officer to write "BTK" on the lid of his cup before it went into the refrigerator, instead of his own name. The…
Sammy GravanoSammy Gravano, known to the world as Sammy the Bull, once faced up to 20 years in prison and received a sentence that amounted to less than one year. In 1994 a federal judge gave him five years, but he had already served four. The judge…