Curated playlist
1951 births
- Bob IgerBob Iger began on television sets earning $150 a week and later ran Disney twice.
- Sting (musician)Sting, the English musician and actor born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, once disowned his own first name on camera. In the 1985 documentary Bring On the Night, a journalist addressed him as Gordon. He answered, "My children call me Sting,…
- Phil CollinsPhil Collins is the only artist who performed at both Live Aid concerts on the 13th of July 1985. He crossed between London and Philadelphia by helicopters and a Concorde to do it. Born Philip David Charles Collins, he went on to sell an…
- Carl WiemanAfter a Nobel Prize in physics, Carl Wieman turned to why students learn so little in science class.
- Damien KeownWhat does Buddhism say about brain death and organ donation? Scholar Damien Keown has studied that question for decades.
- Ace FrehleyAce Frehley showed up to an audition above the Live Bait Bar in New York City wearing one red sneaker and one orange sneaker. Waiting for him were Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, who needed a lead guitarist. Frehley was born in…
- Robin WilliamsRobin Williams was voted "Most Likely Not to Succeed" by his high school classmates in 1969.
- Sally RideSally Ride quietly passed along the key clue to what caused the Challenger explosion.
- Timothy ZahnTimothy Zahn wrote a Star Wars trilogy from a box of roleplaying game sourcebooks.
- Bonnie TylerBonnie Tyler's trademark rasp began with a scream. In the spring of 1977, the Welsh singer had surgery to remove nodules from her vocal cords. Her doctor ordered six weeks of rest for her voice. One day she lost patience and screamed in…
- Lou FerrignoLou Ferrigno built his first weights from a broomstick and pails of cement. He later played the Hulk.
- Carl MacekCarl Macek's rewrites of anime angered many fans of the original Japanese shows. Fans still split over his work.
- Mark HamillMark Hamill voiced Ukraine's air raid alert app as Luke Skywalker. Each alert ended with "May the Force be with you".
- Andrew Wallace-HadrillHistorian Andrew Wallace-Hadrill said Pompeii was suffering a "second death". He blamed human neglect.
- Alison WeirPublishers rejected Alison Weir's Henry VIII book for being too long, then her next for being too short.
- Patrick CurryPatrick Curry argues that Tolkien was more of a Green subversive than a conservative.
- Emmy van DeurzenEmmy van Deurzen describes human life as four worlds: physical, social, personal and spiritual.
- Jim ShooterJim Shooter was 14 when DC Comics bought his scripts. His first paycheck went toward a rebuilt family car engine.
- Michael FranzeseIn 1986, Fortune magazine ranked Michael Franzese number 18 among the wealthiest and most powerful Mafia bosses in America. He was 35 years old. Franzese was a caporegime, or crew captain, in the Colombo crime family of New York City.…