Curated playlist
1947 births
- Stephen KingA minivan hit Stephen King on a Maine road in June 1999. A dog in the back distracted the driver.
- David BowieDavid Bowie died two days after releasing his final album. He planned Blackstar as a parting gift while privately dying.
- Paul WerbosPaul Werbos, a social scientist, first formally described backpropagation in his 1974 dissertation.
- Muzaffar AlamHistorian Muzaffar Alam reads the Mughal empire's own records in the original Persian.
- Elton JohnElton John sang "Candle in the Wind 1997" live only once, at Princess Diana's funeral. He wrote it days before.
- Yumiko ŌshimaYumiko Ōshima wrote a manga about a kitten who believes she is a little girl. It ran in LaLa from 1978 until 1987.
- Queen CamillaQueen Camilla, born Camilla Rosemary Shand, is the second wife of King Charles III and queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms. In 1999, around 200 photographers and reporters from across the world crowded in to watch…
- Salman RushdieA fatwa ordering Salman Rushdie's execution was broadcast on Radio Tehran on Valentine's Day 1989.
- Michael Cox (academic)Michael Cox co-founded LSE's Cold War Studies Centre in 2004 with Professor Odd Arne Westad.
- Margaret L. KingRenaissance scholar Margaret L. King became an assistant professor three years before her doctorate.
- Iggy PopIggy Pop, born James Newell Osterberg Jr., built a reputation on rolling around in broken glass while a crowd watched. Admirers eventually called him the "Godfather of Punk". His first band sold few records, yet its songs outlasted much of…
- James Graham-CampbellJames Graham-Campbell studied Viking gold and silver found across Scotland. His 1995 catalogue spans AD 850 to 1100.
- David LettermanDavid Letterman got fired from campus radio for treating classical music irreverently.
- Ronnie WoodAt Live Aid in 1985, Ronnie Wood handed Bob Dylan his own guitar. Dylan's string had broken mid-song.
- Don HenleyDon Henley told interviewer Charlie Rose in March 2001 that "rock bands work best as a benevolent dictatorship." He knew the arrangement from the inside. Henley is a drummer, singer and songwriter, and a founding member of the Eagles. In…
- Jonathan PryceA drama school tutor said Jonathan Pryce would only play villains on Z-Cars. He was knighted in 2021.
- Gerd B. AchenbachIn 1981, Gerd B. Achenbach opened the world's first philosophical practice. Anyone could walk in and do philosophy.
- Pat ProftPat Proft helped write the Naked Gun films, yet his name is in none of their titles. He also worked on Police Academy.
- Mick FleetwoodMick Fleetwood is the only member on every Fleetwood Mac studio album. He held the band together as drummer.
- Brian MayBrian May climbed onto the roof of Buckingham Palace on the 3rd of June 2002 and played a guitar solo of "God Save the Queen." It was part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Elizabeth II. May, born in 1947, is the lead guitarist of the…
- Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Schwarzenegger broke into a locked gym on weekends as a teenager. He later became California's governor.
- Alan Lee (illustrator)Peter Jackson mailed two of his films to lure a reclusive artist. Alan Lee then helped design Middle-earth.
- Daniel YerginDaniel Yergin started his energy research firm with a two-dollar file cabinet.
- Willy RussellWilly Russell left school at fifteen to become a women's hairdresser. He later wrote Educating Rita and Blood Brothers.
- Joe WalshJoe Walsh ran for President of the United States in 1980 on a platform of "Free Gas For Everyone." He promised that if he won, "Life's Been Good" would become the new national anthem. He was only 32, three years short of the 35 the office…
- Jeff LynneJeff Lynne helped finish John Lennon's demo "Free as a Bird" for the Beatles. George Harrison asked him to join in 1994.
- Sogyal RinpocheIn 2017 the Dalai Lama called Sogyal Rinpoche "my very good friend" and then said, "Now he is disgraced."
- Rob ReinerRob Reiner, the American filmmaker, actor and political activist, once joked about how firmly a sitcom nickname had attached itself to him. "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize.'" The remark came…
- Meat LoafMeat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, and by his own account he was bright red for days afterward. His father took one look at the baby and said he resembled "nine pounds of ground chuck." The father then talked hospital…
- Geoffrey HintonGeoffrey Hinton left Google in May 2023 to warn the world about AI. He had helped build the field for decades.
- Steve Perry (author)Before writing novels, Steve Perry worked as a private detective and a nurse. He also sold aluminum and taught swimming.
- Barbara DicksonBarbara Dickson had never acted professionally, and she first turned down the musical Blood Brothers.
- Kareem Abdul-JabbarKareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's career scoring record with a skyhook over a 7-foot-4 defender.
- BuronsonBuronson joined Japan's air force to escape poverty and ended up writing Fist of the North Star.
- Yoshikazu YasuhikoYoshikazu Yasuhiko answered a newspaper ad on a whim and became Gundam's character designer.
- Sam NeillSam Neill, the New Zealand actor, did not start out as Sam. At school he found that several other boys were named Nigel, and he decided the name sounded "a little effete for... a New Zealand playground". So he dropped it. The shorter name…
- Dave ArnesonDave Arneson's Blackmoor game had a tank, submarines and steam power. It also introduced hit points.
- Brian DaleyBrian Daley died hours after toasting the finished Return of the Jedi radio drama. He was 48 and never heard it air.
- James KahnEmergency doctor James Kahn played the doctor who pronounces E.T. dead. He had advised on reviving an alien.
- Fergus BordewichFergus Bordewich toured Native American reservations as a boy with his mother. She led a Native American advocacy group.
- Bob Allen (economic historian)Around 1790, British factories boomed, but workers' real wages barely moved for roughly fifty years.
- Pete MaravichPete Maravich played 658 NBA games with no left coronary artery. An autopsy found it missing from birth.
- Timothy ReuterHistorian Timothy Reuter translated a German scholar's book on the medieval church into English.