Curated category
Knights of the Legion of Honour
- Joseph BeaumeJoseph Beaume entered the world on the 27th of September 1796 in Marseilles. This port city provided his first view of a bustling Mediterranean harbor before…
- Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Verdi was born on the 9th of October 1813 in a small village called Le Roncole. His parents Carlo and Luigia ran an inn there while he learned to…
- Orson WellesGeorge Orson Welles was born the 6th of May 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His father Richard Head Welles made a fortune inventing a bicycle lamp before…
- Elton JohnOn the 25th of March 1947, Reginald Kenneth Dwight entered the world in Pinner, Middlesex. His father served in the Royal Air Force and his mother worked as…
- Jim LovellJames Arthur Lovell Jr. was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on the 25th of March 1928. His father James Lovell Sr., a furnace salesman from Toronto, Canada, died in…
- Pierre-Auguste RenoirPierre-Auguste Renoir was born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, on the 25th of February 1841. His father Léonard Renoir worked as a tailor with modest means.
- Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born on the 27th of February 1932 at Heathwood, her family's home at 8 Wildwood Road in Hampstead Garden Suburb.
- Édouard ManetÉdouard Manet was born in Paris on the 23rd of January 1832. He entered a world of privilege within an ancestral mansion on the Rue des Petits Augustins.
- Claude DebussyAchille Claude Debussy was born on the 22nd of August 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a town on the north-western fringes of Paris.
- Miles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III arrived in the world on the 26th of May 1926, born into an affluent African-American family in Alton, Illinois.
- Tom HanksThomas Jeffrey Hanks arrived in the world on the 9th of July 1956 inside a hospital in Concord, California. His mother Janet Marylyn worked as a hospital…
- Walt DisneyWalter Elias Disney was born on the 5th of December 1901 at 1249 Tripp Avenue in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood. He moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri…
- Didier DeschampsDidier Claude Deschamps arrived in Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques on the 15th of October 1968. He began his athletic life playing rugby for Biarritz Olympique…
- Tony ParkerWilliam Anthony Parker Jr. arrived in the world on the 17th of May 1982, inside a hospital in Bruges, Belgium. His father Tony Parker Sr.
- Édouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was born in Carpentras, a town in the Vaucluse region of France, on the 18th of June 1884. He grew up as the son of a village baker and…
- Allen Lawrence PopeAllen Lawrence Pope was born in Miami, Florida on the 20th of October 1928. He grew up as the son of a moderately prosperous fruit grower in Perrine, Florida.
- Robert StephensonRobert Stephenson was born on the 16th of October 1803 at Willington Quay, east of Newcastle upon Tyne. His father George worked as a brakesman on a…
- Kylian MbappéKylian Mbappé Lottin arrived into the world on the 20th of December 1998 within the 19th arrondissement of Paris. He grew up in Bondy, a suburb located to…
- Eldar RyazanovEldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov entered the world on the 18th of November 1927 in Samara. His father, Aleksandr Semyonovich Ryazanov, worked as a diplomat…
- Zinedine ZidaneZinedine Yazid Zidane was born on the 23rd of June 1972 in La Castellane, a neighbourhood in the 16th arrondissement of Marseille.
- Alexis de TocquevilleAlexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville entered the world on the 29th of July 1805. He descended from an old Norman family that had produced…
- PeléEdson Arantes do Nascimento arrived in the world on the 23rd of October 1940, born in the small town of Três Corações within Minas Gerais.
- Just FontaineJust Louis Fontaine arrived in the world on the 18th of August 1933 within the borders of French Morocco. His father hailed from France while his mother came…
- Edison DenisovEdison Vasilievich Denisov was born in Tomsk, Siberia on the 6th of April 1929. He initially studied mathematics before making a decisive turn toward…
- Jack MaOn the 10th of September 1964, Ma Yun was born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. He became interested in learning the English language as a young boy and began…
- George SteinerFrancis George Steiner was born on the 23rd of April 1929 in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. His right arm withered from birth yet his mother insisted he use…
- Arsène WengerArsène Charles Ernest Wenger was born on the 22nd of October 1949 in Strasbourg, the youngest of three children. His father Alphonse managed a local village…
- Michel PlatiniMichel François Platini was born on the 21st of June 1955 in the small town of Jœuf, Meurthe-et-Moselle. His parents were Aldo and Anna Platini, both of…
- Fabien BarthezFabien Alain Barthez entered the world on the 28th of June 1971 in the small town of Lavelanet, located within the Ariège department of France.
- Paul PogbaPaul Labile Pogba arrived in the world on the 15th of March 1993 within the town of Lagny-sur-Marne. His parents traced their roots back to Guinea…
- Ivan AivazovskyIvan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky entered the world on the 29th of July 1817 in the Black Sea port of Feodosia. His baptismal records at St.