Curated playlist
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
- Akira KurosawaRashomon won Venice's Golden Lion in 1951 after its own studio entered it reluctantly.
- Bulat OkudzhavaBulat Okudzhava claimed to know only seven chords, yet he wrote about 200 songs.
- Eldar RyazanovEldar Ryazanov first refused to direct a comedy. He wanted to make serious films, but Carnival Night was a hit.
- Garry KasparovGarry Kasparov won the world chess title at 22 by beating Anatoly Karpov 13-11.
- Cheddi JaganCheddi Jagan governed British Guiana for only 133 days before Britain removed him.
- Wojciech JaruzelskiWojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law in Poland on the 13th of December 1981. Later he helped end Communist rule.
- Evgeny LifshitzEvgeny Lifshitz was only the second person to pass Lev Landau's Theoretical Minimum exam. Just 43 people ever did.
- Dmitri ShostakovichStalin walked out of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera in 1936, and the next day Pravda attacked it.
- Alexey IvakhnenkoAlexey Ivakhnenko found that the noisier the data, the simpler the best model must be.
- Arvydas SabonisArvydas Sabonis was drafted by Portland in 1986 but did not play in the NBA until 1995. He was 30 by then.
- Valentina TereshkovaValentina Tereshkova, a former textile worker, orbited Earth 48 times in 1963. She was 26 and skydived as a hobby.
- Armand HammerArmand Hammer was buried across the street from the oil company he ran for 33 years. He never practiced medicine.
- Sergey MikhalkovSergey Mikhalkov wrote a friendly giant policeman for children, then anthems for two countries.
- Leonid GaidaiLeonid Gaidai finished school two days before the Great Patriotic War began.