Curated playlist

1946 births

Donald TrumpDonald Trump was a millionaire in inflation-adjusted terms by age eight.
Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
David LynchDavid Lynch began as a painter who just wanted his canvases to move. That wish led him to film.
Bill ClintonBill Clinton was born three months after his father died in a car crash.
John LindowJohn Lindow became a Berkeley authority on Old Norse myth, Sami and Finnish mythology, and Inuit religion.
Howard Marks (investor)In 1995, Howard Marks and four partners left TCW to start Oaktree Capital Management.
Sylvester StalloneSylvester Stallone has said that he once slept for three weeks in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. Decades later, he is one of only two actors in history, alongside Harrison Ford, to have starred in a box-office number one…
John Baines (Egyptologist)John Baines became an Oxford professor of Egyptology by age thirty. It came in 1976, the year of his doctorate.
Ted BundyIn June 1974, Ted Bundy walked into the middle of an active Seattle police investigation to collect evidence he had left behind. Bundy would murder dozens of young women and girls in 1974-1975 and 1978. On the night of the 11th of June…
CherCher, the American singer and actress born Cheryl Sarkisian, first reached radio in 1964 with a record that programmers misjudged. The single was “Ringo, I Love You,” produced by Phil Spector and released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.…
Barry GibbBarry Gibb wrote songs that held the number one spot on the American Billboard Hot 100 for 27 of the 37 weeks between the 24th of December 1977 and the 2nd of September 1978. Many of those records were not sung by him. He is a British and…
Patti SmithPatti Smith, the American singer, songwriter, poet and author, lost her place in the middle of a song at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm. The date was the 10th of December 2016. She was standing in for Bob Dylan, winner of the…
Dolly PartonDolly Parton refused to give Elvis Presley half the publishing rights to "I Will Always Love You."
Anthony DanielsAnthony Daniels walked out of 2001: A Space Odyssey after ten minutes. He later became C-3PO in Star Wars.
Antony BeevorAntony Beevor swapped a troop of tanks for a typewriter. The army officer became a historian of war.
Alan RickmanAlan Rickman almost turned down Die Hard. He took the villain role of Hans Gruber anyway.
Freddie MercuryFreddie Mercury, the pianist and lead singer of Queen, once described himself in two halves. "When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man." The showman who held whole stadiums in his hand gave very few…
Janet YellenJanet Yellen is the only person to have led the Fed, the White House economic advisers and the Treasury.
Hassanal BolkiahHassanal Bolkiah, the sultan of Brunei, has held his throne since 1967. That makes him the longest-reigning current monarch and the longest-serving current head of state anywhere in the world. He is also counted among the few absolute…
Terry WinogradTerry Winograd once taught a computer to obey commands about toy blocks.
Leon BotsteinLeon Botstein became a college president at just twenty-three. He later led Bard College for more than fifty years.
David Christian (historian)A historian of Russian peasants started a history course at the Big Bang. David Christian first taught it in 1989.
Diane KeatonDiane Keaton was born Diane Hall, but she gave up that surname before her career took off, because another actress was already registered under it. She chose her mother's maiden name instead. The new name would be credited in films across…
Peter SutcliffePeter William Sutcliffe was questioned by police nine times during a five-year hunt for the killer the press called the Yorkshire Ripper, and each time he was let go. He was a heavy goods vehicle driver from Bradford, in the north of…
Wendell WallachCan a machine be built to make genuinely ethical decisions? Bioethicist Wendell Wallach studies that question.
Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."
Keith MoonKeith Moon's 21st birthday ended with police arriving, guns drawn, at a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan.
Robert GreenfieldIn 1971, a 25-year-old reporter sat down with Keith Richards at a French Riviera villa.
Deepak ChopraDeepak Chopra sold 137,000 copies of one book within 24 hours of appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in July 1993. That figure comes from the physician and author Paul Offit, who adds that sales reached 400,000 by the end of the week.…
Tim CurryTim Curry titled his memoir Vagabond, and Grand Central Publishing released it on the 14th of October 2025. When a fan asked about the title, the English actor and singer offered two reasons. In the 17th and 18th centuries, he said, actors…
Toshio FurukawaJapanese actor
Claudia GoldinIn October 2023, the economist Claudia Goldin received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for having advanced our understanding of women's labor market outcomes". Only two women had won the award before her. None had ever won…
Robert J. ShillerRobert J. Shiller called the stock market a bubble in his 2000 book Irrational Exuberance. He shared a Nobel in 2013.
Alan Dean FosterThe 1976 Star Wars novel carried only George Lucas's name, but Alan Dean Foster wrote it. He was hired as a ghostwriter.
Joel MokyrEconomist Joel Mokyr won half of the 2025 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. He argues ideas drive growth.
Roy PorterHistorian Roy Porter died while cycling, five months into retirement. He planned to learn the saxophone.
Syd BarrettSyd Barrett walked into Abbey Road Studios on the 5th of June 1975, and the men inside did not know him. He had shaved off his hair and even his eyebrows, and he was overweight. He was 29. The musicians were Pink Floyd, the band he had…
Linda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt sings harmony on Under African Skies, a track on Paul Simon's album Graceland, and its second verse contains a line written for her. The line reads, "Take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona...." Simon's tribute suits a…