Curated playlist
1959 births
- Emma ThompsonEmma Thompson is the only person to win Oscars for both acting and screenwriting.
- Fujihiko HosonoFujihiko Hosono won the 1996 Shogakukan Manga Award for two series at once. One was Gallery Fake.
- Jonathan FranzenA gate-crasher once pulled novelist Jonathan Franzen's glasses off his face. He jokingly demanded $100,000 in 2010.
- Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson told the world he had HIV from the free throw line in 1991. He was 32 and a five-time NBA champion.
- Daniel HuttenlocherIn 2019, Daniel Huttenlocher became the first dean of MIT's new Schwarzman College of Computing.
- Roger GoodellRoger Goodell won his first NFL job by writing to the league and all 28 teams. He became commissioner 24 years later.
- Val KilmerVal Kilmer spent decades being praised in a way that sounded almost like an apology. In 1992, the film critic Roger Ebert remarked, "if there is an award for the most unsung leading man of his generation, Kilmer should get it". By then…
- Peter MolyneuxPeter Molyneux got ten free Amiga computers after Commodore mistook his baked bean exporter for a software firm.
- Michel Preud'hommeIn his mid-thirties, Michel Preud'homme won the first Yashin Award for best goalkeeper at the 1994 World Cup.
- Jim IrsayJim Irsay was 24 years old when he became general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, the youngest person ever to hold that title in the NFL. He stayed with the franchise for the rest of his life, rising from front-office apprentice to its…
- Kevin SpaceyLate in the 1995 thriller Se7en, Kevin Spacey walks into the story as the serial killer John Doe, and most of the audience had no idea he was coming. His name was missing from the opening credits. It was missing from the film's…
- Robert Smith (musician)On the 14th of October 2024, Robert Smith of the Cure said he plans to retire in 2029. His reasoning was tidy. He turns 70 that year, and 2029 marks 50 years since the band's first album, Three Imaginary Boys. Smith added a caveat: he has…
- Kurtis BlowIn 1979, Harlem's Kurtis Blow became the first rapper signed by a major label.
- Sade (singer)Sade is the professional name of Helen Folasade Adu, a Nigerian-British singer-songwriter. When her new band played its first show at Heaven, a London nightclub, 1,000 people were turned away at the door. The group was brand new, and the…
- Bryan AdamsIn 1990, Bryan Adams sat down with two collaborators, Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Michael Kamen, and finished a song in a single 45-minute session. The song was "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," and it went on to reach number one in at…
- Satoru IwataSatoru Iwata walked onto the stage at E3 in 2005 and lifted the Wii above his head, so the audience could see for themselves how small and light it was. It was a fitting gesture for the man who ran Nintendo as its fourth president while…
- MorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey, known to the world as Morrissey, once led a tour of Manchester for the Oxford Road Show in 1985. Late in that tour he reached the secondary school he had attended. He described it in harsh terms and closed with a…
- Nobuo UematsuNobuo Uematsu never took a formal piano lesson. A Square employee offered him game work at his music rental shop.
- Douglas A. AndersonDouglas Allen Anderson was born on the 30th of December 1959, and he has built a career around the fine print of fantasy books. He is an American writer and editor who works on fantasy and medieval literature. His special focus is textual…
- Chris HadfieldAt nine, Chris Hadfield watched Apollo 11 and set his mind on space. He later commanded the space station.