JANUARY January 1 J Edgar Hoover, American lawyer and director of the FBI (1895). January 2 Prof Isaac Asimov, American biochemist and science-fiction author (1920). David Bailey, photographer and film director (1938). January 3 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, South African academic and novelist (1892). Victor Borge, Danish musician and comedian (1909). January 4 Louis Braille, French inventor the raised alphabet for the blind (1809). Sir Isaac Pitman, British inventor and publisher of Pitman's shorthand (1813). January 5 Alfred Brendel, Austrian concert pianist (1931). January 6 Joan d'Arc, French national heroine (1412). January 7 St Bernadette of Lourdes (1844). Gerald Durrell, author and naturalist (1925). January 8 Prof Stephen Hawking, mathematician and author of 'A Brief History Of Time' (1942). January 9 Richard Milhouse Nixon, 37th US president (1913). January 10 Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist and playwright (1883). January 11 Henry Gordon Selfridge, founder of the London store (1864). January 13 Michael Bond, creator of 'Paddington Bear' (1926). January 14 Hal Roach, US film producer and director (1892). January 15 Martin Luther King, black civil rights leader (1929). January 16 Prof John Enderby, physicist (1932). January 17 Benjamin Franklin, US statesman and inventor (1706). Al Capone, US gangster (1899). Muhammed Ali, US former boxing champion (1942). January 18 A A Milne, English author of stories and poems for children (1882). Oliver Norvell Hardy, US comedian (1892). January 19 James Watt, Scottish engineer (1736). Paul Cézanne, French painter (1839). January 20 Federico Fellini, Italian film director (1920). Edwin Aldrin, US astronaut (1930). January 21 Placido Domingo, Spanish operatic tenor (1941). January 22 August Strindberg, Swedish playwright (1849). David Wark Griffith, silent film producer and director (1875). January 23 Édouard Manet, French impressionistic painter (1832). January 24 Dr Desmond Morris, zoologist (1928). January 25 Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland (1759). January 26 Stephane Grapelli, jazz violinist (1908). January 27 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (1756). January 28 Jackson Pollock, US abstract artist (1912). Acker Bilk, jazz clarinettist (1930). January 29 W C Fields, US film comedian (1880). Germaine Greer, feminist and author (1939). January 30 Gene Hackman, US film actor (1932). Phil Collins, rock singer and drummer (1951). January 31 Norman Mailer, US novelist (1923). FEBRUARY February 1 John Ford, US film director (1895). Sir Stanley Matthews, former footballer (1915). February 2 James Augustine Joyce, Irish author (1882). February 3 Gertrude Stein, US author and critic (1874). February 5 Sir Robert Peel, statesman (1788). William S Burroughs, US novelist (1914). February 6 Ronald Reagan, former president of the USA (1911). Zsa Zsa Gabor, actress (1920). François Truffaut, French film director (1932). February 7 Charles Dickens, English novelist (1812). February 8 Jules Verne, French novelist (1828). John Williams, US composer and conductor (1932). February 10 Bertolt Brecht, German playwright and poet (1898). Larry Adler, US mouth organist (1914). February 11 Charles Darwin, naturalist (1809). Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the USA (1809). February 15 Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (1564). February 18 Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (1784). February 19 Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer (1473). February 22 George Washington, American soldier and statesman, first US President (1732). Luis Buñuel, Spanish film director (1900). February 23 Samuel Pepys, Englishman made famous by his personal Diary (1633). George Frederick Handel, German-born, England resident musical composer (1685). February 25 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French early Impressionist painter (1841). February 26 Victor Hugo, French poet, novelist, dramatist and author of Les Misérables (1802). Fats Domino, US pianist and singer (1928). February 27 John Ernst Steinbeck, US author (1902). February 29 Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer of over 30 operas (1792). MARCH March 1 Frédéric Chopin, Polish composer (1810). March 2 Sir Thomas Bodley, refounder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, England (1545). March 3 George Pullman, US designer of luxury railway carriages (1831). Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone (1847). March 6 Michaelangelo Buonarotti, Italian painter, sculptor, and poet (1475). March 7 Joseph-Maurice Ravel, French composer (1875). March 8 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (1714). March 9 Yuri Gagarin, Russian astronaut (1934). March 10 Bix Beidebeck, US jazz musician (1903). March 12 Thomas Arne, composer of 'Rule Britannia' (1710). March 13 Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, novelist (1884). March 14 Albert Einstein, German-born, American theoretical physicist (1879). Quincy Jones, US bandleader (1933). March 16 Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director (1941). March 17 Robert Knox-Johnston, first person to sail single-handed around the world (1939). Nat 'King' Cole, US singer and pianist (1919). March 18 Wilfred owen, poet (1893). March 19 Born, David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (1813). March 20 Ovid, full name Puplius Ovidius Naso, Roman Poet (43BC). March 21 Johann Sebastian Bach, exceptional and prolific German music composer (1685). March 22 Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer of musicals (1948). March 24 U B Iweks, US film animator and co-creator of 'Mickey Mouse' (1901). March 25 Sir David Lean, film director (1908). Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (1881). March 26 Leonard ('Chico') Mark, US comedian (1887). Tennessee Williams, American author (1911). March 29 Sanzio Raffaelle, Italian painter (1520). Joseph Ignace Guillotine, French physician who recommended its use for executions (1738). March 30 Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Spanish painter and etcher (1746). Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch painter (1853). March 31 René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician and father of modern philosophy (1596). Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian musical composer and teacher of Mozart and Beethoven (1732). APRIL April 1 William Harvey, English physician who explained the circulation of the blood (1578). Sergei Rachmaninov, Russian composer (1873). April 2 Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author (1805). Max Ernst, German suurealist painter and sculptor (1891). April 3 Marlon Brando, US actor (1924). April 4 Muddy Waters, US rhythm and blues singer (1915). April 5 Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (1588). Gregory Peck, US film actor (1916). April 6 Jean-Baptise Rousseau, French playwright and poet (1671). Harry Houdini, Hungarian-Erik Weisz, American magician and escape artist (1874). April 7 William Wordsworth, English poet, namesake of Europe's favourite word processor (1770). Francis Ford Coppola, US film director and screenwriter (1939). April 9 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer (1806). April 10 William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army (1829). April 13 Richard Trevithick, engineer and railway pioneer (1771). F W Woolworth, American founder of the Woolworth chain stores (1852). April 14 Sir John Gielgud, English actor and director (1904). April 15 Henry James, American-born, British novelist (1843). April 16 Wilbur Wright, American aviator (1867). Sir Charles Chaplin, comedian and film actor (1889). April 18 Bernhard Weber, German pianist, conductor and composer (1764). April 20 Adolf Hitler, Austrian-Nazi leader, Chancellor of Germany (1889). April 21 Charlotte Brontë, novelist (1816). April 22 Julius Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist (1904). April 23 William Shakespeare, known as 'the Bard of Avon', English playwright and poet (1564). April 24 Edmund Cartwright, English engineer and inventor of the power loom (1743). April 25 Sir Mark Isambard Brunel, French-English (1769). Guglielmo Marconi, Italian electrical engineer (1874). April 26 Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher (1889). April 27 Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, English feminist author and author of Rights of Women (1749). April 29 Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellingto , US jazz musician and bandleader (1899). MAY May 2 Baron Manfred von Richthofen, German fighter pilot known as 'the Red Baron' (1892). May 3 Henry Cooper, heavyweight boxing champion (1934). May 4 Audrey Hepburn, film actress (1929). May 5 Karl Heinrich Marx, German political philosopher and economist (1818). May 6 Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist, psychotherapist and founder of psychoanalysis (1856). Robert Peary, American explorer and first person to reach the North Pole (1856). May 7 Johannes Brahms, German Composer and pianist (1833). Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1840). May 8 Jean Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross (1828). May 9 J M Barrie, Scottish playwrite of 'Peter Pan' (1860). Howard Carter, English archaeologist and discoverer of Tutankhamun's tomb (1873). May 10 John Booth, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (1838). May 11 Baron von Munchausen, German soldier (1720). Savador Dali, Spanish surrealist (1904). May 12 Florence Nightingale, English nurse and medical reformer (1820). May 13 Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (1265). Daphne Du Maurier, English novelist (1907). May 14 Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, German physicist and inventor of the thermometer scale (1686). Thomas Gainsborough, English landscape painter (1727). May 15 Frank Baum, American children's story writer (1856). May 16 David Hughes, American inventor of the microphone (1831). May 17 Dr Edward Jenner, English physician and pioneer of the vaccination (1749). Erik Satie, French composer (1866). May 18 Nicholas II, last Czar of Russia (1868). May 19 Nancy Astor, first woman to sit in the House of Commons (1879). Malcolm X, American political activist and leader of the Black Muslims (1925). May 20 Honoré de Balzac, French novelist (1799). May 21 Albrecht Dürer, German painter and engraver (1471). Henri Rousseau, French naive painter (1844). May 22 Richard Wagner, German composer (1813). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish (1859). May 23 Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer in the design and flying of gliders (1848). May 24 George Formby, singer and comedian (1904). May 25 Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philospher and poet (1803). Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American designer of flying boats (1889). May 26 John Wayne, US film actor (1907). Peter Cushing, actor (1913). May 27 Wild Bill Hickock, American frontiersman and marshal (1837). May 28 Joseph Guillotin, French physcian (1738). Ian Flemming, English novelist and creator of the 'James Bond' spy character (1908). May 29 G K Chesterton, English author of the Father Brown detective series (1874). John F Kennedy, American youngest-ever US president and the first Catholic (1917). JUNE June 1 Marilyn Monroe, US film actress (1926). June 2 Marquis de Sade, French writer and revolutionary (1740). Sir Edwad Elgar, English composer (1857). June 3 Dr James Hutton, Scottish, one of the founders of geology (1726). June 5 Socrates, Greek philosopher (BC469). Alfred Tennyson, English poet and author of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (1809). June 6 Robert Falcon Scott, English antartic explorer and naval officer (1868). June 7 Paul Gauguin, French painter (1848). June 8 Robert Schumann, German romantic composer (1810). June 9 Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia (1682). George Stephenson, English engineer (1781). June 10 Nicholaus Otto, pioneer of the internal combustion engine, Germany (1832). June 11 John Constable, English landscape painter (1776). Richard Strauss, German music composer (1864). June 13 Sir Charles Parsons, British engineer (1854). W B Yeats, Irish poet, dramatist, Senator of the Irish Free State, Nobel laureate (1923). June 14 Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Argentinean guerrilla leader and revolutionary (1928). June 15 Edvard Grieg, Norwegian music composer (1843). Harry Langdon, American silent film comedian (1884). June 16 Stan Laurel, film comedian (1890). June 17 John Wesley, English preacher and co-founder of Methodism (1703). Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (1882). June 19 Blaise Pascal, French child prodigy, mathematician and religious philosopher (1623). June 20 Jacques Offenbach, French-resident German composer (1819). June 21 Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, novelist and playwright (1905). June 22 Henry Rider Haggard, English novelist (1856). Billy Wilder, American director, writer and producer (1906). June 23 Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte (1763). June 24 Sir Fred Hoyle, astronomer and writer of science fiction (1915). June 25 George Orwell (named Eric Arthur Blair), English novelist (1903). June 26 Laurie Lee, poet and author (1914). June 27 Helen Keller, American writer, social reformer, academic (1880). June 28 Sir Peter Rubens, Flemish artist (1577). JULY July 1 George Sand, French novelist (1804). July 2 Sir William Henry Bragg, physicist (1862). July 3 Robert Adam, Scottish architect (1728). July 4 Thomas Barnardo, Irish doctor, philanthropist and founder of Dr Barnado's homes (1845). July 5 Phineas Barnum, American showman (1810). July 7 Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer, condutor and pianist (1860). July 8 Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German aviation pioneer and inventor of the dirigible airship (1838). July 9 Ann Radcliffe, English gothic novelist (1764). July 10 Camille Pissarro, French impressionist painter and graphic artists (1830). James McNeill Whistler, American-born, English painter (1834). July 12 Julius Caesar, dictator of the Roman Empire (100BC). Oscar Hammerstein II, American librettist (1895). July 14 Gustav Klimt, Austrian art nouveau painter (1862). Ingmar Bergman, Swedish film-maker (1918). July 15 Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Dutch painter, most celebrated work Night Watch (1606). July 16 Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader and founder of the Christian science Movement (1821). Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer and first to reach the South Pole (1872). July 18 Nelson Mandela, first black president of South Africa (1918). John Glen, politician and America's first astronaut (1921). July 19 Samuel Colt, American inventor of the revolver (1814). Edgar Degas, French impressionist painter and sculptor (1834). July 20 Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer first to climb Everest (1919). Jacques Delors, French socilist politician and president of the European Commission (1925). July 21 Baron Paul von Reuter, German founder of Reuters world news agency (1816). Ernest Hemingway, American novelist (1899). July 23 Raymond Chandler, American novelist and creator of 'Phillip Marlowe' (1888). July 24 Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan statesman (1783). Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and dramatist (1802). July 25 Louise Brown, first test tube baby (1978). July 26 George Bernard Shaw, Irish journalist, critic and playwright (1856). Stanley Kubrick, American film director (1928). July 28 Beatrix Potter, English writer for children known for her series of illustrated animal stories which began with 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' (1866). July 30 Emily Bronte, English author of 'Wuthering Heights' (1818). Sir Henry Moore, English sculptor (1898). AUGUST August 1 Claudius, Roman emperor (10BC). Herman Melville, American novelist and short-story writer (1819). August 2 James Baldwin, US author (1924). August 3 Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet (1792). Stanley Baldwin, former Conservative Prime Minister (1867). August 4 Percy Bysshe Shelley, English Romantic poet (1792). Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, The Queen Mother (1900). August 5 Guy De Maupassant, French novelist and short-story writer (1850). Neil Armstrong, American astronaut (1930). August 6 Lord Alfred Tennyson, English poet laureate (1809). Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish bacteriologist (1881). August 7 Greg Chappell, cricketer and former captain of Australia (1948). August 8 Princess Beatrice, first child of Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York (1988). August 9 John Dryden, first official Poet Laureate (1631). Philip Larkin, English poet (1922). August 10 Herbert Hoover, 31st American President (1874). August 12 Cecil B. De Mille, US film producer and director (1881). Norris McWhirter, founder with his twin brother of the 'Guiness Book of Records' (1925). August 13 John Logie Baird, Scottish pioneer of television (1888). Alfred Hitchcock, English-film director (1899). August 15 Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor, Corsica (1769). T E Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia), Welsh-soldier and writer (1888). August 16 Ted Hughes, English Poet Laureate (1930). August 17 David Crockett ('Davy'), US frontiersman and politician (1786). Alan Minter, English boxer and former world middleweight champion (1951). August 18 Antonio Salieri, composer (1750). Roman Polanski, Polish-film director. August 19 John Flamsteed, first Astronomer Royal (1646). Orville Wright, US aviation pioneer (1871). August 20 Thomas Corneille, prolific French dramatist (1625). H P Lovecraft, US author of the macabre (1890). August 21 King William IV (1765). Count (William) Basie, US jazz pianist and bandleader (1904). August 22 Claude Debussy, French composer (1862). Henri Cartier-Bresson, renowned French photographer (1908). August 23 King Louis XVI, King of France (1754). Gene Kelly, US dancer and choreographer (1912). August 24 Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian writer (1899). Sam Torrance, Scottish golfer (1953). August 25 Ivan IV ('The Terrible'), Tsar of Russia (1530). Leonard Bernstein, US composer and conductor (1918). August 26 Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, statesman (1676). Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, considered the father of modern chemistry (1743). August 27 Confucius, Kong the Master, Chinese philosopher (551BC). Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910). August 28 Count Leo Tolstoy, Russian author of 'War and Peace' (1828). Emlyn Hughes, former Liverpool, Wolves and England football captain (1947). August 29 Charlie Parker, US jazz musician known as Bird (1920). Lord (Richard) Attenborough, English actor, producer and director (1923). August 30 Mary Shelley, English novelist and author of Frankenstein (1797). August 31 Buddy Hackett, American comedian (1924). SEPTEMBER September 1 Edgar Rice Burroughs, US novelist and creator of Tarzan (1875). Rocky Marciano, legendary US world champion boxer (1923). September 2 Jimmy Connors, US tennis player (1952). September 3 Alan Ladd, US actor (1913). Geoff Arnold, Sussex cricketer (1944). September 4 Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (1824). Tom Watson, US golfer, five-times winner of the British Open (1949). September 5 Jesse James, notorious US outlaw of the wild west (1831). Bob Newhart, US comedian (1929). September 6 J R C Young, former England rugby international (1937). Britt Ekland, Swedish actress (1942). September 7 Sir Anthony Quayle, English actor who specialised in Shakespearian roles (1913). Sonny Rollins, US saxophonist and composer (1929). September 8 King Richard I, King of England known as Richard the Lionheart (1157). Geoff Miller, Essex cricketer who also has over 30 test caps for England (1952). September 9 William Bligh, English captain of the (1754). Max Reinhardt, leading Austrian director (1873). September 10 Arnold Palmer, US golfer who was sport's first millionaire (1929). September 11 D H Lawrence, English novelist, poet and essayist (1885). Barry Sheene, former British motor cycling champion (1950). September 12 Maurice Chevalier, legendary French actor (1888). Jesse Owens, US athlete, in 1935 he equalled or broke six world records in 45 minutes (1913). September 13 J B Priestley, English novelist (1894). Roald Dahl, British author of children's stories, as well as stories of the supernatural (1916). September 14 Nicol Williamson, leading man of the British stage and screen (1938). September 15 Titus Oates, English clergyman and conspirator (1649). Jean Renoir, French film director and son of the famous painter (1894). September 16 Henry V, King of England (1387). Lauren Bacall, leading Hollywood actress of the 40s and 50s (1924). September 17 Sir Francis Chichester, English solo round-the-world yachtsman (1901). Stirling Moss, English grand prix driver (1929). September 18 Died Dr Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer, writer and critic (1709). Peter Shilton, former English international goalkeeper (1949). September 20 Alexander the Great, Greek commander (356BC). September 21 Gustav Holst, composer (1874). September 22 Michael Faraday, physicist and chemist (1791). September 24 F Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist (1896). September 26 George Gershwin, US composer (1898). September 28 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter (1573). September 29 Horatio Viscount Nelson, Duke of Bronte, British admiral (1758). September 30 Euripides, Greek tragic dramatist (480BC). OCTOBER October 2 Julius ('Groucho') Marx, US comedian (1890). October 4 Buster Keaton, US film comedian (1895). October 7 Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa (1931). October 9 Jacques Tati, French actor and film director (1908). October 10 Harold Pinter, playwright (1930). October 11 Richard Burton, actor (1925). October 12 Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer (1872). Luciano Pavarotti, operatic tenor (1935). October 13 Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister (1925). October 15 Virgil, Publius Vergilius Maro, Roman poet (70BC). October 17 Arthur Miller, US playwright (1915). October 18 Canaletto, Giovanni Antonio Canale, Italian painter (1697). October 20 Christopher Wren, English architect of over 40 London buildings (1632). October 21 Dizzy Gillespie, jazz trumpeter (1917). October 22 Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (1811). Catherine Deneuve, French film actress (1943). October 23 Pelé, Brazilian footballer (1940). October 25 Georges Bizet, French composer (1838). October 27 Captain James Cook, English naval explorer (1728). October 29 Edmond Halley, English astronomer and mathematician (1656). John Keats, English poet (1795). October 30 Louis Malle, French film director (1932). NOVEMBER November 1 Laurence Stephen Lowry, painter (1887). November 3 John Barry, popular musician and composer (1933). November 5 Roy Rogers, US singing cowboy actor (1912). November 7 Marie Curie, Polish-French physicist who pioneered radioactivity (1867). Leon Trotsky, Russian Communist leader (1879). November 8 Christiaan Neethling Barnard, South African surgeon (1922). November 10 Muhammad, Arab prophet and founder of Islam, Mecca, Saudi Arabia (AD570). Oliver Goldsmith, Irish playwright, poet and novelist (1728). November 11 Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian author (1821). November 14 Claude Monet, French impressionistic painter (1840). November 15 Sir William Herschel, astronomer (1738). November 16 George Simon Kaufman, US playwright (1889). November 19 Calvin Klein, US fashion designer (1942). November 20 Edwin Powell Hubble, American astronomer (1899). November 21 Voltaire, French philosopher and writer (1694). Adolph ('Harpo') Marx, US comedian (1888). November 22 Thomas Cook, travel agent and temperance advocate (1808). November 24 Scott Joplin, US ragtime pianist and composer (1868). November 26 Charles Schultz, US cartoonist, creater of 'Peanuts' (1922). November 28 William Blake, poet and painter (1757). Anton Rubenstein, Russian pianist and composer (1829). November 29 C S Lewis, English scholar, religious writer and novelist (1898). November 30 Mark Twain, US author (1835). DECEMBER December 1 Woody Allen, US film actor, writer, director and former stand-up comedian (1935). December 2 Anthony Huxley, author and photographer (1920). December 3 Samuel Crompton, English inventor of the spinning mule (1753). Jean-Luc Godard, French film director (1930). December 5 Walter Elias Disney, American film maker and animator (1901). December 6 Dave Brubeck, US jazz musician (1920). December 7 Prof Noam Chomsky, US linguist (1922). December 8 Georges Méliès, French cinema pioneer (1861). December 9 Clarence Birdseye, American inventor of the deep-freezing process (1886). December 11 Sir David Brewster, physicist and inventor of the kaleidoscope (1781). December 12 Gustav Flaubert, French novelist (1821). Frank Sinatra, US singer and actor (1915). December 13 Dick Van Dyke, US TV and film actor (1925). December 14 Michel Nostradamus, French physician and astrologer (1503). Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and mathematician (1546). December 15 Nero, Roman emperor (37) Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, French engineer (1832). December 16 Jane Austen, English (1775). Arthur C Clarke, science fact and fiction writer (1917). December 17 Ludwig van Beethoven, prolific German music composer (1770). December 18 Saki (Hector Hugh Monro), short-story writer (1870). Steven Spielberg, US film producer and director (1947). December 19 Edith Piaf, French singer (1915). December 21 Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (1879). December 23 Alexander I, Tsar of Russia (1777). December 24 James Prescott Joule, physicist (1818). December 25 Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the central figure in Christian religion, Palestine (OBC). Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (1642). December 26 Charles Babbage, computer pioneer (1792). December 27 Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (1571). Louis Pasteur, French chemist and bacteriologist (1822). December 28 Earl 'Fatha' Hines, jazz pianist (1905). December 29 Dr Magnus Pyke, TV nutritionist (1908). December 30 Joseph Rudyard Kipling, author and poet (1865). December 31 Jacques Cartier, French explorer and navigator (1494). Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse, French painter (1869).