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• 
  

• 
  Allahabad
  Allahabad ([ɪlɑhɑbɑd̪]; Hindi: इलाहाबाद; Urdu: الہ آباد), or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughal emperor Akbar from the original (still unofficially used) native name of Prayaga, and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, lying some 205 kilometres (127 mi) south of the state capital, Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of the Allahabad District. Allahabad has been ranked the world's 130th fastest growing city (growth rate: 2.09 per cent (2011)).^{[citation needed]} The ancient name of the city is Prayaga (Sanskrit for "place of sacrifice"), as it is believed to be the spot where Brahma offered his first sacrifice after creating the world. It is one of four sites of the mass Hindu pilgrimage Kumbh Mela, the others being Haridwar, Ujjain and Nashik. It has a position of importance in Hindu scriptures for it is situated at Triveni Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges and Yamuna, and the ancient Sarasvati River.
  
  wn.com/Allahabad
• 
  Boston
  Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ ( listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
  In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).
  
  wn.com/Boston
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  Brazil
  Brazil ⁱ/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil,  listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
  Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
  Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
  
  wn.com/Brazil
• 
  Cambodia
  Cambodia (ⁱ/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
  With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.
  
  wn.com/Cambodia
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  Canterbury Cathedral
  Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.
  Founded in 597, the cathedral was completely rebuilt 1070-77. The east end was greatly enlarged at the beginning of the twelfth century, and largely rebuilt in the Gothic style following a fire in 1174. The Norman nave and transepts survived until the late fourteenth century, when they were demolished to make way for the present structures.
  The cathedral's first archbishop was Augustine of Canterbury, previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome. He was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in 596 as a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons. Augustine founded the cathedral in 597 and dedicated it to Jesus Christ, the Holy Saviour.
  
  wn.com/Canterbury_Cathedral
• 
  Florida
  Florida (ⁱ/ˈflɒrɪdə/) is a state in the southeastern United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state capital is Tallahassee, its largest city is Jacksonville, and the South Florida metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern U.S.
  Much of Florida is situated on a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. Its geography is marked by a coastline, by the omnipresence of water and the threat of hurricanes. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state to border both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and its terrain is characterized by sedimentary soils. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. Its symbolic animals like the American alligator, Florida panther and the manatee, can be found in the Everglades, one of the most famous national parks in the world.
  
  wn.com/Florida
• 
  Guatemala
  Guatemala (ⁱ/ˌɡwɑːtəˈmɑːlə/ GWAH-tə-MAH-lə), officially the Republic of Guatemala (Spanish: República de Guatemala [reˈpuβlika ðe ɣwateˈmala]), is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its area is 108,890 km² (42,043 mi²) with an estimated population of 13,276,517.
  A representative democracy, its capital is Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City. Guatemala's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contributes to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The former Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization, which continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. The Mayas live in Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, the southern part of Mexico and northern parts of El Salvador.
  Guatemala became independent from Spain in 1821, joining the Mexican Empire. After it became an independent country in its own right, it was ruled by a series of dictators, assisted by the United Fruit Company. The late 20th century saw Guatemala embroiled in a 36-year-long civil war. Following the war, Guatemala has witnessed both economic growth and successful democratic elections. In the most recent election, held in 2011, Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriotic Party, won the presidency.
  
  wn.com/Guatemala
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  Hong Kong
  Coordinates: 22°16′42″N 114°09′32″E / 22.27833°N 114.15889°E / 22.27833; 114.15889
  Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港) is one of two special administrative regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km² (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Hong Kong's population is 95 percent ethnic Chinese and 5 percent from other groups. Hong Kong's Han Chinese majority originate mainly from the cities of Guangzhou and Taishan in the neighbouring Guangdong province.
  Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after the First Opium War (1839–42). Originally confined to Hong Kong Island, the colony's boundaries were extended in stages to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and then the New Territories in 1898. It was occupied by Japan during the Pacific War, after which the British resumed control until 1997, when China resumed sovereignty. The region espoused minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism during the colonial era. The time period greatly influenced the current culture of Hong Kong, often described as "East meets West", and the educational system, which used to loosely follow the system in England until reforms implemented in 2009.
  
  wn.com/Hong_Kong
• 
  Ireland
  Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8
  Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.
  Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
  Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.
  
  wn.com/Ireland
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  Irish Free State
  The Irish Free State (Irish: Saorstát Éireann) (6 December 1922–1937) was the state established as a dominion under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand. On the day the Irish Free State was established, it comprised the entire island of Ireland, but Northern Ireland almost immediately exercised its right under the treaty to remove itself from the new state. The Irish Free State effectively replaced both the self-proclaimed Irish Republic (founded 21 January 1919) and the Provisional Government of Southern Ireland. W. T. Cosgrave, the first President of the Irish Free State had led both of these "governments" since August 1922.
  The Irish Free State came to an end in 1937, when the citizens voted by referendum to replace the 1922 constitution. It was succeeded by the sovereign, modern state of the Republic of Ireland.
  The Easter Rising of 1916, and in particular the decision of the British military authorities to execute many of its leaders after courts martial, generated sympathy for the republican cause in Ireland. Republicans and some independent Nationalists who led opposition to the idea of compulsory military service for Irish men in the conscription crisis of early 1918. The Irish Parliamentary Party, who supported the Allied cause in World War I in response to the passing of the Third Home Rule Bill in 1914 was discredited by the crisis. In the December 1918 general election, a large majority of Irish seats in the Westminster parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were won by Sinn Féin, with 73 of 105 constituencies returning Sinn Féin members. Sinn Féin was a previously non-violent separatist party founded by Arthur Griffith in 1905. Under Éamon de Valera's leadership from 1917, it had campaigned aggressively for an Irish republic.
  
  wn.com/Irish_Free_State
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  Japan
  Japan ⁱ/dʒəˈpæn/ (Japanese: 日本 Nihon or Nippon; formally 日本国  Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku, literally the State of Japan) is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
  Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.
  Archaeological research indicates that people lived in Japan as early as the Upper Paleolithic period. The first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other nations followed by long periods of isolation has characterized Japan's history. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and World War I allowed Japan to expand its empire during a period of increasing militarism. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
  
  wn.com/Japan
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  LaGuardia Airport
  LaGuardia Airport (IATA: LGA, ICAO: KLGA, FAA LID: LGA) ( /ləˈɡwɑrdiə/) is an airport located in the northern part of the New York City borough of Queens. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst.
  The New York City metropolitan area's JFK International, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty International airports combine to create the largest airport system in the United States, second in the world in terms of passenger traffic, and first in the world in terms of total flight operations. In 2011, the airport handled just under 25.0 million passengers; JFK handled 47.4 million and Newark handled 33.9 million, making for a total of approximately 105 million travelers using New York airports.
  On July 11, 2012, the airport will become a domestic hub for Delta Air Lines. The airport also serves as a focus city for American Airlines and subsidiary American Eagle.
  LaGuardia is the busiest airport in the United States without any non-stop service to and from Europe. A perimeter rule prohibits nonstop flights to or from points beyond 1,500 statute miles (2,400 km). Exceptions to the perimeter rule are flights on Saturdays and flights to Denver. Transcontinental and international flights use JFK or Newark.
  
  wn.com/LaGuardia_Airport
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  Lima
  Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population approaching 9 million, Lima is the fifth largest city in Latin America, behind Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. Lima is home to one of the largest financial hubs in Latin America. It has been defined as a beta world city by GaWC international ranking.
  Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as la Ciudad de los Reyes, or "the City of Kings". It became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Today, around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area.
  Lima is home to one of the oldest higher learning institutions in the New World. The National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12, 1551 during Spanish colonial regime, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas.
  
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  London
  London ⁱ/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the name London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core. The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region and the Greater London administrative area, governed by the elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
  London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is the world's leading financial centre alongside New York City and has the fifth-largest city GDP in the world (and the largest in Europe). London has been described as a world cultural capital. It was the world's most visited city during 2011 and London Heathrow is the world's busiest airport by number of international passengers. London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe. In 2012 London will become the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.
  
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  Mexico
  Mexico (ⁱ/ˈmɛksɨkoʊ/; Spanish: México, IPA: [ˈmexiko] ( listen)), officially the United Mexican States (Spanish:  Estados Unidos Mexicanos (help·info)), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States of America; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometres (over 760,000 sq mi), Mexico is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the thirteenth largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of over 113 million, it is the eleventh most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a Federal District, the capital city.
  In Pre-Columbian Mexico many cultures matured into advanced civilizations such as the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, the Maya and the Aztec before the first contact with Europeans. In 1521, Spain conquered and colonized the territory from its base in México-Tenochtitlan, which was administered as the Viceroyalty of New Spain. This territory would eventually become Mexico as the colony's independence was recognized in 1821. The post-independence period was characterized by economic instability, the Mexican-American War and territorial cession to the United States, a civil war, two empires and a domestic dictatorship. The latter led to the Mexican Revolution in 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the country's current political system. Elections held in July 2000 marked the first time that an opposition party won the presidency from the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
  
  wn.com/Mexico
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  Mongolia
  Mongolia ⁱ/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian:  Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
  The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.
  
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  New York City
  New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. The city is referred to as New York City or The City of New York to distinguish it from the State of New York, of which it is a part. As a global power city, New York exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural capital of the world.
  Located on one of the world's largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, each of which comprises a state county. The five boroughs—The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated 2011 population of 8,244,910 distributed over a land area of just 305 square miles (790 km²), New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. The New York City Metropolitan Area's population is the United States' largest, with 18.9 million people distributed over 6,720 square miles (17,400 km²), and is also part of the most populous combined statistical area in the United States, containing 22.1 million people as of the 2010 Census.
  
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  Pakistan
  Pakistan (ⁱ/ˈpækɨstæn/ or ⁱ/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
  The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
  
  wn.com/Pakistan
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  Peru
  Peru ⁱ/pəˈruː/ (Spanish: Perú; Quechua: Perú;Aymara: Piruw), officially the Republic of Peru (Spanish: República del Perú, pronounced: [reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu] ( listen)), is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
  Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures, spanning from the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty, which included most of its South American colonies. After achieving independence in 1821, Peru has undergone periods of political unrest and fiscal crisis as well as periods of stability and economic upswing.
  Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. Its geography varies from the arid plains of the Pacific coast to the peaks of the Andes Mountains and the tropical forests of the Amazon Basin. It is a developing country with a high Human Development Index score and a poverty level around 31%. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing of products such as textiles.
  
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  Qing dynasty
  The Qing Dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China.
  The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in contemporary Northeastern China. The Aisin Gioro leader, Nurhachi, who was originally a vassal of the Ming emperors, began unifying the Jurchen clans in the late sixteenth century. By 1635, Nurhachi's son Hong Taiji could claim they constituted a single and united Manchu people and began forcing the Ming out of Liaoning in southern Manchuria. In 1644, the Ming capital Beijing was sacked by a peasant revolt led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official who became the leader of the peasant revolt, who then proclaimed the Shun dynasty. The last Ming ruler, the Chongzhen Emperor, committed suicide when the city fell. When Li Zicheng moved against Ming general Wu Sangui, the latter made an alliance with the Manchus and opened the Shanhai Pass to the Manchurian army. Under Prince Dorgon, they seized control of Beijing and overthrew Li Zicheng's short-lived Shun Dynasty. Complete pacification of China was accomplished around 1683 under the Kangxi Emperor.
  
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  Republic of Ireland
  Ireland (/ˈaɪərlənd/ or /ˈɑrlənd/; Irish: Éire, pronounced [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the state was 4.59 million in 2011. It is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy, with an elected president serving as head of state. In the 1937 constitution, the name of the state is given as simply "Ireland". The Constitution of Ireland (Article 4) and the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 provides that the "Republic of Ireland" (Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann) is "the description of the state".
  Ireland is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. A developed country with the seventh highest Human Development Index, Ireland is also highly ranked for press freedom, economic freedom and democracy and political freedom.
  The modern Irish state was established in 1922 as the Irish Free State, a dominion within the British Empire, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty which brought an end to the Irish War of Independence. The partition of Ireland had already been provided for in previous British legislation in 1921 in response to opposition to Irish Home Rule or independence by Unionists, who formed a majority in the north-eastern part of the country. Six of the nine counties in the northern province of Ulster were established under that legislation as Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, with which the Irish state shares its only land border. The state is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south east, and the Irish Sea to the east.
  
  wn.com/Republic_of_Ireland
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  Romania
  Romania (ⁱ/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
  At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
  The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
  
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  Texas
  Texas (ⁱ/ˈtɛksəs/) (Alibamu: Teksi ) is the second most populous and the second most extensive of the 50 United States, and the most extensive state of the 48 contiguous United States. The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas. Located in the South Central United States, Texas shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south, and borders the US states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²), and a growing population of 25.7 million residents.
  During the Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas: La Provincia de Texas. Antonio Margil de Jesús was known to be the first person to use the name in a letter to the Viceroy of Mexico in July 20, 1716. The name was not popularly used in daily speech but often appeared in legal documents until the end of the 1800s.
  
  wn.com/Texas
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  United Kingdom
  The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
  The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
  
  wn.com/United_Kingdom
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  United States
  The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
  At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
  
  wn.com/United_States
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  USS Constitution
  USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts, at Edmund Hartt's shipyard, her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.
  Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to actively serve the nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy and carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878. Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1931 she started a three-year, 90-port tour of the nation, and in 1997 she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday.
  
  wn.com/USS_Constitution
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  Vietnam
  Vietnam ( listen), formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam;  listen), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 91.5 million inhabitants as of 2012, it is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "South Viet", and was officially adopted in 1945. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east.
  The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. The First Indochina War eventually led to the expulsion of the French in 1954, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two states, North and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.
  
  wn.com/Vietnam

• Akmal Shaikh
  Akmal Shaikh (5 April 1956 – 29 December 2009) was a Pakistan-born British businessman who was convicted and executed in the People's Republic of China for drug trafficking. The trial and execution attracted significant media attention in the UK.
  Shaikh was born in Pakistan and moved to the United Kingdom as a child. After a couple of failed businesses, Shaikh moved to Poland with his second wife in 2005 with the dream of starting an airline, and later of becoming a pop star. He travelled from Poland to China and was arrested by Chinese customs officers at Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport on 12 September 2007 with 4 kilograms (9 lb) of heroin hidden in a compartment in his baggage. Shaikh's defence team pleaded ignorance of the existence of the drugs, although his lawyers said that the evidence against Shaikh was "overwhelming".Reprieve, an anti-death penalty organisation, argued that Shaikh suffered from mental illness which was exploited by criminals who tricked him into transporting the heroin on the promise of a recording contract.
  
  wn.com/Akmal_Shaikh
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  Alan Rusbridger
  Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953, Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia) is the editor of the British newspaper The Guardian. He has also been a reporter and a columnist.
  Rusbridger was born in Northern Rhodesia, the son of B.E. (née Wickham) and G.H. Rusbridger, the Director of Education of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). He was educated at Cranleigh School, a boys' independent school in Cranleigh, Surrey, and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read English.
  His first post in journalism was with the Cambridge Evening News. He joined The Guardian as a reporter in 1979 and subsequently wrote the paper's diary column and was a feature writer. He left to become The Observer's TV critic before moving to America to be the Washington editor of the London Daily News. On returning to The Guardian in 1987 he launched the "Weekend" supplement and the paper's "G2" section. As editor from 1995, he oversaw the launch and development of the Guardian Unlimited website. He defended the paper against a number of high-profile defamation suits, including from the Police Federation and the Conservative MPs, Neil Hamilton and Jonathan Aitken. In late 2005 The Guardian responded to the tabloid re-launches of The Times and The Independent by moving from a broadsheet format to the "Berliner" format, common in the rest of Europe.
  
  wn.com/Alan_Rusbridger
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  Albert Amrhein
  Albert Amrhein (born December 29, 1870, date of death unknown) was a German rugby union player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.
  He was a member of the German rugby union team, which won the silver medal. Germany was represented at the tournament by the FC 1880 Frankfurt rather than an official national team. Amrhein was the captain of the Frankfurt team at the event.
  
  
  
  
  
  wn.com/Albert_Amrhein
• Albrecht Böttcher
  Albrecht Böttcher (born 29 December 1954 in Oberwiesenthal, Saxony, GDR) is a German mathematician. His field of research is functional analysis.
  Between 1971 and 1973, Böttcher was in an elite class for mathematics at the Chemnitz University of Technology. In 1973, he won a silver medal at the International Math Olympiad in Moscow. Böttcher studied mathematics from 1975 to 1979 in Chemnitz and then went to Rostov on Don in 1980 to study and earned a PhD there in 1984. The topic of his dissertation was The finite section method for the Wiener-Hopf integral operator. After this he worked as scientist assistance at the university of Chemnitz. Since 1992, the professor for Harmonic Analysis and Operator theory at the Chemnitz University of Technology.
  As of 2011, he is the author of seven books and about 180 papers.
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  wn.com/Albrecht_Böttcher
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  Aled Jones
  Aled Jones (born 29 December 1970) is a Welsh singer and television/radio personality, broadcaster and television presenter (Escape to the Country and Cash in the Attic) who first came to fame as a treble (the highest vocal range). He is notable for presenting Songs of Praise on BBC 1, BBC Radio 2's The Early Breakfast Show, Good Morning Sunday and The Choir on BBC Radio 3. On the 4 May 2012, it was announced that Jones would become the new presenter of the ITV Breakfast programme Daybreak, alongside Lorraine Kelly.
  Jones was born in St. David's Hospital in Bangor, Wales, the only child of Nest Rowlands, a teacher, and Derek John Jones, a draughtsman for a shipbuilder. He was raised in the small Welsh-speaking community of Llandegfan, in Anglesey and attended Ysgol David Hughes. Jones joined the choir of Bangor Cathedral at age nine and was lead soloist within two years, although he never made Head Chorister. The remarkable quality of his treble voice was appreciated by a member of the congregation, Hefina Orwig Evans, who wrote a letter to local record company Sain, and he was duly signed. In 1982 he won the Cerdd Dant solo competitions for competitors under 12 at the Urdd Eisteddfod.
  
  wn.com/Aled_Jones
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  Alexa Ray Joel
  Alexa Ray Joel (born December 29, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. She is the daughter and only child of singer-songwriter Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley.
  Joel released an EP Sketches (2006) and several singles on an independent record label. Joel has performed at numerous charity events, and in 2010 was chosen to be the spokesmodel for Prell shampoo.
  Alexa Ray Joel is the daughter of singer Billy Joel and his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley. Her middle name Ray is in honor of the late musician Ray Charles. She has a half-brother Jack Paris (Taubman, born 1995) and a half-sister Sailor Lee (Cook, born 1998), both children of her mother Christie Brinkley.
  Joel has said that her father's 1994 song "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" was written for her, and is her favorite song of his. His 1989 song "The Downeaster Alexa" is titled after a boat he named after her, but is about the struggles of Long Island fishermen. Joel is also referenced in her father's 1989 song "Leningrad" (with lyrics: "...He made my daughter laugh, then we embraced..."), in which "He" refers to a Russian man who became a circus clown after being in the Red Army.)
  
  wn.com/Alexa_Ray_Joel
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  Alexis Amore
  Alexis Amore (born December 29, 1978) is the stage name of a Peruvianpornographic actress, exotic dancer and model.
  In January 2003, she re-entered the industry after a short break, and signed exclusively with Jill Kelly Productions (JKP) and began in February 2003. She eventually left the company and, in June 2004 she signed an acting and directing deal with Anabolic Video under which she would direct eight to 10 movies and star in six films a year. This made her Anabolic's first 'contract girl'.
  In 2005 she became the Video Team spokeswoman and exclusive contract performer. Alexis Amore is also known as the “Peruvian Princess,”. She was to be the central talent for Video Team's Ethnicity Films line, which specialized in Latin, African-American and interracial titles.
  She is to represent Video Team at press events, signings and meet-and-greet shows with fans. At this time she had over 300 films to credit in the adult industry.
  Since early 2006, Amore has infrequently written for AVN Insider, is a contract girl for Metro/Video Team, and has a sex-toys contract with California Exotic Novelties.
  
  wn.com/Alexis_Amore
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  Alison Brie
  Alison Brie (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress best known for portraying Annie Edison on Community, Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, and Rebecca Walters in Scream 4.
  Brie was born Alison Brie Schermerhorn in Hollywood, California. Her mother, Joanne (Brenner), works at the non-profit child care agency Para Los Niños, and her father, Charles Terry Schermerhorn, is a musician and freelance entertainment reporter. Brie began her career acting onstage at the Jewish Community Center in Southern California (her mother is Jewish). She graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a bachelor's in theater in 2005. Prior to becoming a television actress, Brie had worked as a clown at birthday parties, and performed in theater in California.
  For a time, Brie studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.
  One of Brie's first television roles was the minor character Nina, a novice hairdresser, on Hannah Montana. She then went on to star in the web series My Alibi, and was chosen for the role of Trudy Campbell in Mad Men. She is also a main cast member on Community as Annie Edison.
  
  wn.com/Alison_Brie
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  Allan McNish
  Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a Scottish racing driver. He is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2008, and three-time American Le Mans Series champion.
  McNish who was born in Dumfries, Scotland played football while at school. He was a fan of Nottingham Forest and also supported his local club Queen of the South. It wasn't until McNish began in karting that he found something at which he excelled.
  McNish began his career in karting like fellow Dumfries and Galloway driver David Coulthard. McNish credited the start given to both of them and Dario Franchitti as being largely down to David Leslie senior and junior.
  McNish and Coulthard both were recognised with a McLaren/Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award having moved up to car racing. In 1988 he won the Formula Vauxhall Lotus championship and in 1989 finished runner up to David Brabham in a close fought British Formula Three Championship. During the late 1980s McNish shared a house with team mate Mika Häkkinen.
  
  wn.com/Allan_McNish
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  Alma Tell
  Alma Tell (March 27, 1898 - December 29, 1937) was an American stage and motion picture actress whose career in cinema began in 1915 and lasted into the talkie era of the early 1930s.
  Tell was born in New York City, New York in 1898. She was the younger sister of stage and motion picture actress Olive Tell (1895-1951). She began her career as an actress on the stages of New York before making her screen debut in the Edward José-directed drama Simon, the Jester, released in September 1915. Tell's career never quite rivalled that of her older sister and she was most often cast in films as the second leading lady. Throughout the 1920s, Tell appeared opposite such leading silent film actresses as Mae Murray, Corinne Griffith and Madge Kennedy and would achieve leading lady status in 1923's J. Gordon Edwards-directed film The Silent Command, opposite actors Edmund Lowe, Martha Mansfield and Béla Lugosi in his first American film role.
  Tell was married to actor Stanley Blystone. She made her last film appearance in the 1934 John M. Stahl-directed romantic-drama Imitation of Life, which starred Claudette Colbert. She died in 1937 and was interred at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, North Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California, USA.
  
  wn.com/Alma_Tell
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  Andrei Tarkovsky
  Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Russian: Андре́й Арсе́ньевич Тарко́вский; April 4, 1932 – December 29, 1986) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century.
  Tarkovsky's films include Andrei Rublev, Solaris, The Mirror, and Stalker. He directed the first five of his seven feature films in the Soviet Union; his last two films were produced in Italy and Sweden, respectively. They are characterized by spirituality and metaphysical themes, long takes, lack of conventional dramatic structure and plot, and distinctively authored use of cinematography.
  Film director Ingmar Bergman said of Tarkovsky:
  Tarkovsky was born in the village of Zavrazhye in Ivanovo Oblast, the son of poet and translator Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky, native of Kirovohrad, Ukraine, and Maria Ivanova Vishnyakova, a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute.
  
  wn.com/Andrei_Tarkovsky
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  Andrew Johnson
  Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was the 17th President of the United States (1865–1869). As Vice President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American Civil War. Johnson's reconstruction policies failed to promote the rights of the Freedmen, and he came under vigorous political attack from Republicans, ending in his impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives; he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate.
  Johnson, born in poverty and of Scots-Irish descent, became a master tailor and was self-educated, married and had five children. He served as an alderman and as Mayor of Greeneville, Tennessee and then sat in both houses of the Tennessee legislature. He went on to spend five consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms as Governor of Tennessee, all as a Democrat. His signature legislative endeavor in the state and federal arenas was passage of the Homestead Act.
  
  wn.com/Andrew_Johnson
• Andy Stanfield
  Andrew ("Andy") William Stanfield (December 29, 1927 – June 15, 1985) was an American sprinter and Olympic gold and silver medallist.
  Andy Stanfield was born in Washington, D.C., but moved to Jersey City as a child. At Lincoln High School, he was already a talented athlete, excelling in the sprints and long jump. After his army service, Stanfield entered Seton Hall University in 1948. The following year, he won his first of a long list of national titles. His list includes six AAU titles (1949: 100 and 200 m; 1950: 60 y; 1951: long jump; 1952: 200 m; 1953: 220 y) and nine IC4A titles (both indoor and outdoor). He was coached by Johnny Gibson, a former world record holder in 400 m hurdles.
  Internationally, the 200 m was Stanfield's strongest distance. In 1951, at the ICAAAA Championships, Stanfield—in the outside lane—won the Turn 220-Yard Dash in 20.6. The Turn-220 had never been commonly contested in the US. 220s were normally raced on "NoTurn" or "Straight" courses. In 1951 the IAAF commenced to establish world records for the Turn-200-Meters: the initial listing accepted was by Willie Applegarth of Great Britain in 21 1/5, set in London in 1914. That spring of 1951, Stanfield's Intercollegiate 220-Yard Dash in 20.6 was established by the IAAF as a new World-Record for the 200 m with 20.6 (220 yards is more than one meter longer than 200 meters).
  
  wn.com/Andy_Stanfield
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  Ariel Schrag
  Ariel Schrag (b. December 29, 1979, in Berkeley, California) is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an unusually early age for her autobiographical comics.
  While attending high school in Berkeley, California, Schrag self-published her first comic series, Awkward, depicting events from her freshman year, originally selling copies to friends and family.Slave Labor Graphics subsequently reprinted Awkward as a graphic novel, followed by three more books based on her next three years of school: Definition, Potential, and Likewise. The books were republished by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster in 2008 and 2009. The books tell stories of family life, going to concerts, experimenting with drugs, high school crushes, and coming out as a bisexual and later as a lesbian.
  Schrag was nominated for the 1998 Kimberly Yale Award for Best New Talent (administered by the Friends of Lulu).
  Killer Films is producing a movie adaptation of Potential; Schrag has written the screenplay.
  
  wn.com/Ariel_Schrag
• Asheru
  Asheru, born Gabriel Benn, is an African American hip hop artist, educator, and youth activist. He is widely known for performing the opening and closing themes for the popular TV series, The Boondocks, as well as his pioneering and innovative efforts to forward the Hip Hop Education movement.
  As a youth, many of Asheru’s musical influences came from a wide range of Hip Hop artists such as Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, KRS-One, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Native Tongues, Pharoahe Monch, and more, as well as the classic Soul, R&B, and Pop records of the 70’s and 80’s eras that his mother used to play throughout the house. At the age of 16, he graduated from high school and attended the University of Virginia, where he finished in 1996 with a B.A. degree in Anthropology. In college he formed relationships with colleagues, a group of like-minded individuals that shared a similar passion for Hip Hop music and the collective Black experience. After college, one of those colleagues, Wes Jackson, founded an independent Hip Hop label, Seven Heads Entertainment, and in 1996 signed its first group, Unspoken Heard, made up primarily of Asheru and Jackson’s older brother, Robert Jackson, also known as “Blue Black". Asheru and Blue Black went on to release a series of 12” singles and EPs, and in 2001 released their first album, “Soon Come”, a critically acclaimed debut, still widely considered a classic in many Hip Hop circles. In 2003, the group released their second album “48 Months”, followed by the “No Edge Ups in South Africa” album, a compilation album of other 7 Heads artists featuring the hit, “Mood Swing” with Talib Kweli.
  
  wn.com/Asheru
• Ashleigh Banfield
  Ashleigh Banfield (born December 29, 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian-American journalist who as of 2010 hosts Disorder in the Court, Open Court and Hollywood Heat on Tru TV (formerly CourtTV), where she reports on domestic and pop culture issues. Prior to joining the network, Banfield worked for MSNBC and reported from numerous overseas locations, including the Middle East and Central Asia. She received several Emmy Awards for her body of journalistic work, and criticized media coverage of the Iraq War in April 2003. She was also briefly a law and justice correspondent on Good Morning America until October 2011 and now works for CNN Early Start.
  She began her career in 1988 at CJBN-TV in Kenora, Ontario, and at CKY-TV in Winnipeg later that year. From 1989 to 1992, she anchored the weekend news for CFRN-TV in Edmonton, and from 1992 until 1995, at CICT-TV in Calgary, where she won two Iris Awards.^{[citation needed]}.
  During her tenure at CICT, Banfield worked as a freelance associate producer for ABC's World News Tonight. She covered the 1991 Bush/Gorbachev Summit in Russia and the 1992 Clinton/Yeltsin Summit in Vancouver.^{[self-published source?]}
  
  wn.com/Ashleigh_Banfield
• Austin Farrer
  Austin Marsden Farrer (11 October 1904 – 29 December 1968) was an English theologian and philosopher. His activity in philosophy, theology, and spirituality lead many to consider him the outstanding figure of 20th century Anglicanism.
  Farrer was born 11 October 1904, the only son of the three children of Augustus and Evangeline Farrer in Hampstead, London, England. His father was a Baptist minister and Farrer was brought up in that faith. Encouraged by his father to value scholarship he nevertheless found the divisions within the Baptist church dispiriting and whilst at university, became an Anglican. He went to St Paul's School, in London where he gained a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Finding his spiritual home at St. Barnabas church in Oxford, his theology and his spirituality became profoundly Anglo-Catholic, though centered on the Book of Common Prayer rather than details of ritual. After gaining a first in Greats, he went up to Cuddesdon Theological College where he trained with the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey. He served a curacy in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England after which he was invited to become chaplain and tutor at St Edmund Hall in Oxford in 1931.
  
  wn.com/Austin_Farrer
• Barbara Steele
  Barbara Steele (born December 29, 1937, Birkenhead, Cheshire, England) is an English film actress. She is best known for starring in Italian gothic horror films of the 1960s. Her breakthrough role came in Italian director Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960), now hailed as a classic.
  Steele starred in a string of horror films, including The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962), The Ghost directed by Riccardo Freda, and Roger Corman's 1961 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Pit and the Pendulum, among others. She guested on various British television shows including the spy drama Danger Man starring Patrick McGoohan.
  She took the role of Julia Hoffman in the 1991 revival of the 1960s TV series Dark Shadows. In 2010, she was a guest star in the Dark Shadows audio drama The Night Whispers.
  In 2010, actor-writer Mark Gatiss interviewed Steele about her role in Black Sunday (1960) for his BBC documentary series A History of Horror.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Barbara_Steele
• Bernard Cribbins
  Bernard Cribbins, OBE (born 29 December 1928) is an English character actor, voice-over artist and musical comedian with a career spanning over half a century who came to prominence in films in the 1960s, has been in work consistently since his professional debut in the mid 1950s, and as of 2012 is still an active performer.
  He is particularly known to British audiences as the story-telling narrator in The Wombles, a children's programme which ran for 40 episodes between 1973 and 1975. He also recorded several hit novelty records in the early 1960s and was a regular and prolific performer on Jackanory on BBC TV between 1966 and 1991. Cribbins' most recent prominent role has been as Wilfred Mott, companion of the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who.
  Born in Derker, Oldham, Lancashire, Cribbins served an apprenticeship at the Oldham Repertory Theatre, taking a break during his years of study to undertake national service with the Parachute Regiment in his late teens.
  Cribbins made his first West End theatre appearance in 1956 at the Arts Theatre playing the two Dromios in A Comedy of Errors and co-starred in the first West End productions of Not Now Darling, There Goes the Bride and Run for Your Wife. He also starred in the revue And Another Thing, and recorded a single of a song from the show entitled "Folksong". In 1962 he recorded two comic songs, "Hole in the Ground" (in which an embittered workman murders a bowler-hatted harasser) and followed it with "Right Said Fred" (in which a group of workmen struggle to relocate something resembling a piano). Both were produced by George Martin for Parlophone, with music by Ted Dicks and lyrics by Myles Rudge. "Hole in the Ground" reached No. 1 in the charts, and the other two songs reached high positions.
  
  wn.com/Bernard_Cribbins
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  Bill Aucoin
  William "Bill" Aucoin (29 December 1943 – 28 June 2010, Aventura) was an American band manager, well known for his work with the rock band Kiss.
  Born in 1943, Aucoin attended Northeastern University and graduated with a degree in film. He worked at WGBH in Boston during his college years and after. Aucoin later worked at Teletape Productions as a cinematographer. Credited with discovering Kiss, Aucoin managed the group for nearly a decade. He quit in 1982 citing creative and directional differences, but later worked with the band on various DVD projects.
  Aucoin produced a television show called "Supermarket Sweep" in the early 1970s. From 2005 to 2007, Aucoin went into the Broadway business with a staging of the Who's Quadrophenia, which showed intermittently for two years in Anaheim, CA and Los Angeles. Aucoin had re-entered the management business with his company, Aucoin Globe Entertainment, at the time of his death of surgical complications from prostate cancer. He is survived by partner Roman Fernandez and two sisters Betty Britton and Janet Bankowski.
  
  wn.com/Bill_Aucoin
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  Bill Erwin
  William Lindsey "Bill" Erwin (December 2, 1914 – December 29, 2010) was an American film, stage and television actor with over 250 television and film credits. As a veteran character actor, he was widely known for his role of Sid Fields, an embittered, irascible man on Seinfeld – for which he received an Emmy nomination – as well his appearances on shows such as I Love Lucy and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  Erwin was a self-taught cartoonist, published in The New Yorker, Playboy and Los Angeles. He won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, four Drama-Logue Awards, Gilmore Brown Award for Career Achievement, Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters' Diamond Circle Award, and Distinguished Alumnus Award from Angelo State University.
  Erwin was born in Honey Grove, Texas. He attended San Angelo College before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in 1935, earning a Bachelors degree in Journalism. He completed a Masters of Theater Arts degree in California at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1941. After serving as a Captain in the Army Air Force in World War II, Erwin returned to Hollywood to resume his acting career. His first film role was in 1942 in "You're in the Army Now", with Phil Silvers.
  
  wn.com/Bill_Erwin
• Bill Osmanski
  Bill Osmanski (December 29, 1915 in Providence, RI - December 25, 1996 in Chicago, IL) was a college and professional football player, playing fullback. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.
  After graduating from Central High School in Providence, Osmanski attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. He played fullback for the Crusaders from 1936-1938. These three seasons were some of the most successful in Holy Cross' football history with the record of 23-3-3. "Bullet Bill" was named All-America in 1938. He was named the Most Valuable Player at the College All-Star Game in 1939. His jersey number, 25, was retired by Holy Cross.
  Osmanski was drafted in the 1st round (6th pick overall) of the 1939 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. The pick paid immediate dividends for the Bears as Osmanski led the NFL in rushing in 1939 with 699 yards. The Bears also selected Hall of Fame quarterback Sid Luckman in the 1st round, forming the backbone of the Bears' great 1940s teams, which won championships in 1940, 1941, 1943, and 1946. Osmanski did not play for the Bears in the 1944 and 1945 seasons due to World War II. He served in the United States Marine Corps during these years, in Guam, Guadalcanal, and Okinawa. Osmanski retired from professional football following the 1947 season.
  
  wn.com/Bill_Osmanski
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  Billy Joel
  William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man," in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA.
  Joel had Top 40 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote himself. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold over 150 million records worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006), and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2009). In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary, with Billy Joel positioned at No. 23. With the exception of the 2007 songs "All My Life" and "Christmas in Fallujah," Joel stopped recording pop/rock material after 1993's River of Dreams, but he continued to tour extensively until 2010.
  
  wn.com/Billy_Joel
• Billy Tipton
  Billy Lee Tipton (December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician and bandleader. Born Dorothy Lucille Tipton, he is also notable for the discovery, after his death, that he was female assigned at birth.
  Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Tipton grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was raised by an aunt after his parents' divorce, after which he rarely saw his father, G.W. Tipton, a pilot who sometimes took him for airplane rides. As a high school student, he went by the nickname Tippy and became interested in music, especially jazz. He studied piano and saxophone. He returned to Oklahoma for his final year of high school and joined the school band there.
  As Tipton began a more serious music career, he adopted his father's nickname, Billy, and more actively worked to pass as male by breast binding and packing. At first, Tipton only presented as male in performance, but by 1940 Tipton was living as a man in his private life as well. Two of Tipton's female cousins, with whom Tipton maintained contact over the years, and perhaps some of his later paramours, were the only persons privy to both sides of Tipton's life.
  
  wn.com/Billy_Tipton
• Bob Monkhouse
  Robert Alan 'Bob' Monkhouse OBE (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host. Monkhouse was famous for his one-line jokes.
  Bob Monkhouse was born at 168 Bromley Road, Beckenham, Kent, the son of Wilfred Adrian Monkhouse (1894–1957), and Dorothy Muriel Monkhouse née Hansard (1895–1971). Monkhouse had an elder brother, John, born in 1922. Monkhouse's grandfather was a prosperous Methodist businessman who co-owned Monk and Glass, which made custard powder and jelly.
  Bob Monkhouse was educated at Goring Hall School in Worthing and Dulwich College, from which he was later expelled. While still at school, Monkhouse wrote for The Beano and The Dandy and drew for comics including Hotspur, Wizard and Adventure comics . He established a comics writing and art partnership with Dulwich schoolmate Denis Gifford and the two formed their own publishing company in the early 1950s. Among other writing, Monkhouse wrote more than 100 Harlem Hotspots erotic novelettes.
  
  wn.com/Bob_Monkhouse
• Brad Grey
  Brad Alan Grey (born December 29, 1957) is the chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, a position he has held since 2005. Under Grey’s leadership, Paramount finished No. 1 in global market share in 2011 and No. 2 domestically in 2008, 2009 and 2010 despite releasing significantly fewer films than its competitors.
  Since arriving at Paramount in 2005, Chairman and CEO Brad Grey has led a return to fortune at the box office. He has overseen the creation or revitalization of several major franchises, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek, and Paranormal Activity, which was made for $15,000 and generated $192 million at the global box office.Paranormal Activity 2 grossed $177 million worldwide, and the third installment in the franchise collected $205.7 million worldwide in 2011. A fourth installment is scheduled for release in October 2012. The studio’s industry-leading 2011 results included Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, whose $600 million-plus global box office tally makes it the most successful entry in that franchise. Paramount's 2012 slate includes World War Z, The Dictator and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
  
  wn.com/Brad_Grey
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  Brook Taylor
  Brook Taylor FRS (18 August 1685 – 29 December 1731) was an English mathematician who is best known for Taylor's theorem and the Taylor series.
  Brook Taylor was born in Edmonton (at that time in Middlesex) to John Taylor of Bifrons House, Kent, and Olivia Tempest, daughter of Sir Nicholas Tempest, Bart., of Durham.^{[citation needed]} Brook entered St John's College, Cambridge as a fellow-commoner in 1701, and took degrees of LL.B. and LL.D. in 1709 and 1714, respectively. Having studied mathematics under John Machin and John Keill, in 1708 he obtained a remarkable solution of the problem of the "centre of oscillation," which, however, remained unpublished until May 1714, when his claim to priority was disputed by Johann Bernoulli. Taylor's Methodus Incrementorum Directa et Inversa (1715) added a new branch to the higher mathematics, now designated the "calculus of finite differences." This work is available in translation on the web [1]. Among other ingenious applications, he used it to determine the form of movement of a vibrating string, by him first successfully reduced to mechanical principles. The same work contained the celebrated formula known as Taylor's theorem, the importance of which remained unrecognised until 1772, when J. L. Lagrange realized its powers and termed it "le principal fondement du calcul différentiel" ("the main foundation of differential calculus").
  
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  Carl Ludwig
  Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (29 December 1816, Witzenhausen – 23 April 1895, Leipzig) was a German physician and physiologist.
  In 1842 Ludwig became a professor of physiology and in 1846 of comparative anatomy. From professorships in Zurich and Vienna he went in 1865 to the University of Leipzig and developed there the Physiological Institute, designated today after him: Carl Ludwig Institute of Physiology. Ludwig researched several topics such as the physiology of blood pressure, urinary excretion and anesthesia. He received the Copley Medal in 1884 for his research. In 1869, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He is credited for inventing the stromuhr.
  Since 1932 the Carl Ludwig Honorary Medal is awarded by the German Society for Cardiology to outstanding investigators in the area of cardiovascular research.
  Ludwig was born at Witzenhausen, near Kassel, and studied medicine at Erlangen and Marburg, taking his doctor's degree at Marburg in 1839. He made Marburg his home for the next ten years, studying and teaching anatomy and physiology, first as prosector to FL Fick (1841), then as privat-docent (1842), and finally as extraordinary professor (1846). In 1849 he was chosen professor of anatomy and physiology at Zurich, and 6 years afterwards he went to Vienna as professor in the Josephinum school for military surgeons.
  
  wn.com/Carl_Ludwig
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  Carl Spitteler
  Carl Friedrich Georg Spitteler (24 April 1845 – 29 December 1924) was a Swiss poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1919. His work includes both pessimistic and heroic poems.
  Spitteler was born in Liestal, and from 1863 he studied law at the University of Zurich. In 1865-1870 he studied theology in the same institution, at Heidelberg and Basel. Later he worked in Russia as tutor, starting from August 1871, remaining there (with some periods in Finland) until 1879. Later he was elementary teacher in Bern and La Neuveville, as well as journalist for the Der Kunstwart and as editor for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 1883 Spitteler married Marie op der Hoff, previously his pupil in Neuveville.
  In 1881 Spitteler published the allegoric prose poem Prometheus and Epimetheus, published under the pseudonym Carl Felix Tandem, and showing contrasts between ideals and dogmas through the two mythological figures of the titles. This 1881 edition was given an extended psychological exegesis by Carl Gustav Jung in his book Psychological Types (published in 1921). Late in life, Spitteler reworked Prometheus and Epimetheus and published it under his true name, with the new title Prometheus der Dulder (Prometheus the Sufferer, 1924).
  
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  Charles Goodyear
  
  Charles Goodyear (December 29, 1800 – July 1, 1860) was an American inventor who developed a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 -- a method that he perfected while living and working in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1844, and for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844
  Although Goodyear is often credited with its invention, modern evidence has proven that the Mesoamericans used stabilized rubber for balls and other objects as early as 1600 BC.
  Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process accidentally after five years of searching for a more stable rubber.
  Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Amasa Goodyear, and the oldest of six children. His father was a descendant of Stephen Goodyear, one of the founders of the colony of New Haven in 1638.
  In 1814, Charles left his home and went to Philadelphia to learn the hardware business. He worked industriously until he was twenty-one years old, and then, returning to Connecticut, entered into partnership in his father's business in Naugatuck, where they manufactured not only ivory and metal buttons, but a variety of agricultural implements.
  
  wn.com/Charles_Goodyear
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  Christina Rossetti
  Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She is perhaps best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.
  Christina Rossetti was born at 38 Charlotte Street (now 105 Hallam Street), London to Gabriele Rossetti, a poet and a political exile from Vasto, Abruzzo, and Frances Polidori, the sister of Lord Byron's friend and physician, John William Polidori. She had two brothers and a sister: Dante became an influential artist and poet, and William and Maria both became writers. Christina, the youngest, was a lively child. She dictated her first story to her mother before she had learned to write.
  Rossetti was educated at home by her mother, who had her study religious works, classics, fairy tales and novels. Rossetti delighted in the works of Keats, Scott, Ann Radcliffe and Monk Lewis. The influence of the work of Dante Alighieri, Petrarch and other Italian writers filled the home and would have a deep impact on Rossetti's later writing. Their home was open to visiting Italian scholars, artists and revolutionaries. The family homes in Bloomsbury at 38 and later 50 Charlotte Street were within easy reach of Madam Tussauds, London Zoo and the newly opened Regent's Park, which she visited regularly; in contrast to her parents, Rossetti was very much a London child, and, it seems, a happy one.
  
  wn.com/Christina_Rossetti
• Cozy Powell
  Colin Flooks (29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998), better known as Cozy Powell, was an English rock drummer who made his name with many major rock bands.
  Cozy Powell was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, and started playing drums at age 12 in the school orchestra, thereafter playing along in his spare time to popular singles of the day. The first band he was in, called the Corals, played each week at the youth club in Cirencester. At age 15 he had already worked out an impressive drum solo. The stage name 'Cozy' was borrowed from the jazz drummer Cozy Cole.
  The semi-professional circuit was next, with semi-pro outfit The Sorcerers, a vocal harmony pop band. The late nights and usual on-the-road exploits began to affect his education, and Powell left to take an office job in order to finance the purchase of his first set of Premier drums. The Sorcerers performed in the German club scene of the 1960s. By 1968 the band had returned to England, basing themselves around Birmingham. Powell struck up friendships with fellow musicians like Robert Plant and John Bonham (both at the time unknowns in Listen), future Slade vocalist Noddy Holder, bassist Dave Pegg and a young guitarist called Tony Iommi. The Sorcerers now became Youngblood, and a series of singles were released in late 1968–69. The group then linked up with the Move bassist/singer Ace Kefford to form The Ace Kefford Stand. Powell also began session work. Powell with fellow Sorcerers Dave and Dennis Ball formed Big Bertha.
  
  wn.com/Cozy_Powell
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  Cássia Eller
  Cássia Rejane Eller (December 10, 1962 – December 29, 2001) was a Brazilian musician. She performed a fusion of rock and MPB.
  After spending most of her adolescence in Brasília, Eller dropped out of high school and returned to her birthplace of Rio de Janeiro, where she began a career as a recording artist. In 1990, she became an underground favorite with the release of her self-titled debut album, which contained the song "Rubens," an ambiguous love song that was censored by the authorities. Her follow-up release, 1992's E.C.T., has been called "a battle cry for sexual freedom."
  Eller gave birth to a son, Francisco "Chicão" Eller, in 1993. That same year, she went public with her long-term relationship with Maria Eugênia Vieira Martins. She explained that she came out so that her son could grow up without hearing rumors about his mother. As one of Brazil's most prominent lesbian artists, Eller was sometimes called the "South American Melissa Etheridge."
  In addition to her deep and husky singing voice, Eller became known for her brash public image, as she occasionally wore a mohawk and bared her breasts on television shows. She posed nude for the artwork of her breakout release, 1999's Com Você... Meu Mundo Ficaria Completo. The album went gold and earned Eller a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Best Brazilian Rock Album. She received another Latin Grammy Award nomination for her cover of "O Segundo Sol," originally by Nando Reis. The song was included on her 2001 album Acustico MTV, a live recording for MTV Brasil similar to MTV Unplugged, which was also certified gold.
  
  wn.com/Cássia_Eller
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  Dale Morris
  Dale Morris (born 29 December 1982) is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays for the Western Bulldogs.
  Morris spent four years playing for Werribee Football Club in the Victorian Football League before being added to the Bulldogs' rookie list in the 2004 Rookie Draft. He quickly cemented his place in the Western Bulldogs' lineup, impressing many with his pace and consistency as a defender, and finished with 17 games for season 2005. He was elevated to the senior list at the end of 2005.
  Morris was selected in the back pocket of the 2008 All-Australian team, his first nomination.
  Morris plays in guernsey number 38.
  In Round 21, 2011, against the Essendon Bombers, Morris suffered a broken tibia in his lower right leg which prematurely ended his season.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Dale_Morris
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  Danny Higginbotham
  Daniel John "Danny" Higginbotham (born 29 December 1978) is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Stoke City.
  Higginbotham started his career at his local side Manchester United he made seven appearances at Old Trafford as well as a loan spell with Belgium side Royal Antwerp before joining Derby County in order to play more matches. He spent three years at The Rams but handed in a transfer request when the club was relegated from the Premiership. Southampton moved to sign Higginbotham for £1.5 million in February 2003, and he help the South Coast side reach the 2002–03 FA Cup final. When Southampton were relegated in 2005 Higginbotham rejected a new contact and was placed on the transfer list.
  He joined fellow Championship side Stoke City for £225,000 in August 2006. He was made captain when Michael Duberry left in January 2007 and Stoke went on to narrowly missed out on a play-off place. With Stoke not being promoted Higginbotham again decided to hand in a transfer request to help force through a move to Sunderland. He spent one season at the Stadium of Light before returning to Stoke in 2008.
  
  wn.com/Danny_Higginbotham
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  Dave McKean
  David McKean (born 29 December 1963 in Maidenhead, Berkshire) is an English illustrator, photographer, comic book artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician.
  His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, found objects, digital art and sculpture.
  McKean's most recent projects are directing an original feature called Luna, and a book with the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.
  After a trip to New York in 1986 during which he failed to find work as a comics artist, McKean met writer Neil Gaiman, and the pair collaborated on a short graphic novel of disturbing childhood memories, Violent Cases, published in 1987. This was followed in 1988 by a Black Orchid miniseries (again with Gaiman) and Hellblazer covers for DC Comics.
  In 1989, he illustrated the Batman graphic novel, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, with writer Grant Morrison. His work during this period was often compared to that of Bill Sienkiewicz.^{[citation needed]}
  From 1989–1996 McKean produced the covers for Gaiman's celebrated series The Sandman, all its collected editions, and many of its spin-offs. Further collaborations with Gaiman produced the graphic novels Signal to Noise in 1992 (previously serialized in The Face magazine), about a dying filmmaker and his hypothetical last film; and Mr. Punch, which explored similar themes as Violent Cases through the imagery of the Punch and Judy show.
  
  wn.com/Dave_McKean
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  David Boon
  David Clarence Boon MBE (born 29 December 1960), nicknamed Boonie, is a former Australian cricketer whose international playing career spanned the years 1984–1995. A right-handed batsman and a very occasional off-spin bowler, he played First-class cricket for both his home state Tasmania and English county side Durham.
  Known for his portly figure and distinctive moustache, Boon scored over 7,000 runs at Test level, and made over 100 appearances for both the Test and One Day International Australian side. After leaving the international game he went to England to captain Durham before retiring to become a national selector.
  The son of Clarrie and Lesley, David Boon was born in the Northern Tasmanian city of Launceston on 29 December 1960. His younger sister Vanessa was born in 1964. His father Clarrie worked in a newsagency in Launceston, while his mother Lesley represented Australia at hockey before working with Clarrie at the newsagency after David was born. When David was approximately six years old his family moved from South Launceston to a house connected to his parents' newsagency in the Launceston central business district. The family returned to South Launceston when David was in secondary school.
  
  wn.com/David_Boon
• David Topliss
  David Topliss (29 December 1949 – 16 June 2008(2008-06-16) (aged 58)) was an English Rugby League World Cup winning footballer, and coach. He played and coached with Wakefield Trinity in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
  His playing career started at Normanton Juniors ARLFC before spending 13 years with Wakefield from 1968–81 and won the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match in the 1979 Challenge Cup final even though he was on the losing side.
  He joined Hull at age 31 for a fee of £15,000. He captained them to six finals in his four years at the club including when they won the Challenge Cup in 1982.[1] He was captain of Hull during the 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, and 1984–85 seasons.
  Topliss played in the summer in Australia for Penrith Panthers (1976) and Balmain Tigers (1977).
  David Topliss won caps for England while at Wakefield Trinity in 1975 against France, Australia (sub), and won caps for Great Britain while at Wakefield Trinity in 1973 against Australia (2 matches), in 1979 against Australia, and while at Hull in 1982 against Australia.
  
  wn.com/David_Topliss
• Des Foy
  Des Foy (born 29 December 1963) was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England and played rugby league in the early Eighties and Nineties for various teams in England and Australia.
  He signed for Widnes Vikings at the age of seventeen, he later transferred for an undisclosed fee to Oldham. In 1984, he toured with the British Lions to Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In 1989 he signed for Newcastle Knights in Australia, and in the same year returned to England to play again for the Roughyeds and for Huddersfield. He retired from club rugby in 1993.
  Since then, he has played various international games for the Ireland national rugby league team against such national teams as Scotland and the United States. In 1995, he played for Ireland in the Rugby League Emerging Nations Tournament held in October in northern England. On St. Patrick's Day in 1996 he was on the squad against the USA Rugby League team, at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. He currently resides in Killarney, Ireland, where he has been an active part in the organization of Rugby League Ireland - an organization aimed at the promotion and development of the sport of rugby league in Ireland.
  
  wn.com/Des_Foy
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  Dexter Holland
  Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965 in Garden Grove, California) is the singer, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the California punk rock band The Offspring. Prior to that, he was a singer from a karaoke bar and the drummer for Manic Subsidal (which also featured another Offspring member, Greg K).
  After Holland met friend and fellow cross-country teammate Greg Kriesel, they started a local punk band called Manic Subsidal in 1984, where he played the drums. It formed after the duo failed to get into a Social Distortion concert in 1984. (There has been a rumor that Dexter and Greg were involved in a band before Manic Subsidal called Clowns of Death). After James Lilja was hired as their drummer and Holland switched to both vocals and guitars. They never released any albums but some demos have existed online. After some line-up changes, Manic Subsidal changed their name to The Offspring in 1986. After recording a demo in 1988, The Offspring signed a deal with a small-time label, Nemesis Records, for whom they recorded their first full length album, The Offspring, in March 1989. This album would eventually be re-issued on November 21, 1995 by Holland's own record label, Nitro Records.
  
  wn.com/Dexter_Holland
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  Diego Luna
  Diego Luna (born December 29, 1979) is a Mexican actor known for his childhood telenovela work, a starring role in the film Y tu mamá también, and supporting roles in American films. He is also known for his roles in Rudo y Cursi and Milk. Together with Romola Garai, he starred the film Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Luna also had minor roles in Frida and Before Night Falls. He also provides Spanish language narration for the National Geographic Channel documentary Great Migrations.
  Luna was born Diego Luna Alexander in Mexico City; the son of Fiona Alexander, an English costume designer, and Alejandro Luna, a Mexican set designer who is one of the most acclaimed living theatre, cinema, and opera set designers in Mexico. His mother died in a car accident when he was two years old. She had worked in the film industry and had made sure that this was a life Luna would be immersed in. His father also reinforced the importance of theater and the arts in his life. In Luna's youth, he would bring him to the sets and mentor him in all different aspects of his art, furthering his desire to become an actor and uphold a family tradition.
  
  wn.com/Diego_Luna
• Dinsdale Landen
  Dinsdale James Landen (4 September 1932 — 29 December 2003) was a British actor known mainly for his television appearances.
  Landen was born at Margate. He made his television debut in 1959 as Pip in an adaptation of Great Expectations and made his film debut in 1960, with a walk-on part in The League of Gentlemen. He first became well known during the 1960s when he starred in the TV series Mickey Dunne and The Mask of Janus, which was renamed The Spies in later series. He also had a parallel career as a stage actor, including as Richard Dazzle in the RSC's 1970 production of London Assurance.
  On radio, he appeared in the 1976 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Jim Eldridge's novel Down Payment on Death as Art Gordo. He also portrayed Rupert Purvis in the 1982 production of Tom Stoppard's play The Dog It Was That Died and played the urbane Ambassador McKenzie in four series of Flying the Flag.
  In 1977 Landen starred in his own situation comedy, Devenish, playing a Basil Fawlty type character in a Reggie Perrin-type situation; designing board games. In 1980 he starred as Barty in the television series Pig In The Middle with Liza Goddard.
  
  wn.com/Dinsdale_Landen
• Don Marquis
  Donald Robert Perry Marquis (/ˈmɑrkwɪs/MAR-kwis; July 28, 1878, in Walnut, Illinois – June 16, 1937, in New York City) was a humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters "Archy" and "Mehitabel", supposed authors of humorous verse.
  Marquis grew up in Walnut, Illinois. His brother David died in 1892 at the age of 20; his father James died in 1897. After graduating from Walnut High School in 1894, he attended Knox Academy, a now-defunct preparatory program run by Knox College, in 1896, but left after three months. From 1902 to 1907 he served on the editorial board of the Atlanta Journal where he wrote many editorials during the heated election between his publisher Hoke Smith and future Pulitzer Prize winner, Clark Howell (Smith was the victor).
  In 1909, Marquis married Reina Melcher, with whom he had a son, Robert (1915–1921) and a daughter, Barbara (1918–1931). Reina died on December 2, 1923.
  
  wn.com/Don_Marquis
• Earl Hindman
  Earl John Hindman (October 20, 1942 – December 29, 2003) was an American actor, best known for his role as the kindly neighbor (whose lower face was always hidden from television viewers) Wilson W. Wilson Jr. on the television sitcom Home Improvement (1991–1999).
  Long before this role, however, he played bad guys in two 1970s thrillers, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and The Parallax View. He also played the part of J.T in the Lawrence Kasdan film Silverado.
  Hindman's most famous and enduring pre-Home Improvement role was as Bob Reid in Ryan's Hope. He played the role in 459 episodes during the years 1975-1989. Ex-police officer Bob Reid was everybody's best friend who never got the girl, and was the long-suffering brother of the soap's serial bride Delia Reid Ryan Ryan Coleridge. Hindman's wife Molly McGreevey was also on the soap 1977-1981 as Polly Longworth, best friend to media tycoon Rae Woodard.
  Hindman was born in Bisbee, Arizona, the son of Eula and Burl Latney Hindman, who worked in the oil pipeline business. He studied acting at the University of Arizona.
  
  wn.com/Earl_Hindman
• Ed Flanders
  Edward Paul Flanders (December 29, 1934 - February 22, 1995) was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. Donald Westphall in the television series St. Elsewhere.
  Flanders was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Bernice (née Brown) and Francis Michael Grey Flanders. Flanders began his acting career on Broadway before moving on to guest parts in television series. From 1967 through 1975, Flanders appeared in more than a dozen American TV shows, including six appearances on Hawaii Five-O (as six different characters). During this time, he was also prolific in TV movies. He also married actress Ellen Geer during this time; they later divorced.
  In the late 1970s, Flanders moved away from small TV roles to take major credits in both TV and feature films, while continuing his stage career. In 1974, Flanders won a Tony Award for Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Dramatic Presentation for A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill on Broadway, He also won an Emmy award in 1976 for the TV movie adaptation of A Moon for the Misbegotten.
  
  wn.com/Ed_Flanders
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  Eden Phillpotts
  Eden Phillpotts (4 November 1862 – 29 December 1960) was an English author, poet and dramatist. He was born in India, educated in Plymouth, Devon, and worked as an insurance officer for 10 years before studying for the stage and eventually becoming a writer.
  He was the author of many novels, plays and poems about Dartmoor. His Dartmoor cycle of 18 novels and two volumes of short stories still have many avid readers despite the fact that many titles are out of print.
  Phillpotts also wrote many other books with a Dartmoor setting. He was for many years the President of the Dartmoor Preservation Association and cared passionately about the conservation of Dartmoor.
  One of his novels, Widecombe Fair, inspired by an annual fair at the village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, provided the scenario for his comic play The Farmer's Wife. It went on to become a silent movie of the same name, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and filmed in 1927. The cast included: Jameson Thomas, Lillian Hall-Davis, Gordon Harker and Gibb McLaughlin.
  
  wn.com/Eden_Phillpotts
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  Elisabeth of Wied
  Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise zu Wied (29 December 1843 – 3 March/2 November 1916) was the Queen consort of Romania as the wife of King Carol I of Romania, widely known by her literary name of Carmen Sylva. Elisabeth was the aunt of William of Albania (father of William of Albania, William, 5th Prince of Wied was brother of Elisabeth).
  Born at "Schloss Monrepos" in Neuwied, she was the daughter of Hermann, Prince of Wied, and his wife Princess Marie of Nassau, daughter of William, Duke of Nassau (and sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg). Elisabeth had artistic leanings; her childhood featured seances and visits to the local lunatic asylum.
  As a young girl, sixteen-year old Elisabeth was considered as a possible bride for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom, known as Bertie). His mother Queen Victoria strongly favored her as a prospective daughter-in-law, and urged her daughter Princess Vicky to look further into her. Elisabeth was spending the social season at the Berlin court, where her family hoped she would be tamed into a docile, marriageable princess. Vicky responded, "I do not think her at all distinguée looking - certainly the opposite to Bertie's usual taste", whereas the tall and slender Alexandra of Denmark was "just the style Bertie admires". Bertie was also shown photographs of Elisabeth, but professed himself unmoved and declined to give them a second glance. In the end, Alexandra was chosen for Bertie.
  
  wn.com/Elisabeth_of_Wied
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  Elizabeth of Russia
  Elizaveta Petrovna (Russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́т) Петро́вна) (29 December [O.S. 18 December] 1709 – 5 January 1762 [O.S. 25 December 1761]), also known as Yelisavet and Elizabeth, was the Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death. She led the country into the two major European conflicts of her time: the War of Austrian Succession (1740–8) and the Seven Years' War (1756–63). On the eve of her death, Russia spanned almost 4,000,000,000 acres (16,000,000 km²)^{[citation needed]}.
  Her domestic policies allowed the nobles to gain dominance in local government while shortening their terms of service to the state. She encouraged Mikhail Lomonosov's establishment of the University of Moscow and Ivan Shuvalov foundation of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. She also spent exorbitant sums of money on the grandiose baroque projects of her favourite architect, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, particularly in Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo. The Winter Palace and the Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg remain the chief monuments of her reign. She remains one of the most popular Russian monarchs due to her strong opposition to Prussian policies and her abstinence from executing a single person during her reign.
  
  wn.com/Elizabeth_of_Russia
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  Empress Gemmei
  Empress Gemmei (元明天皇, Gemmei-tennō^?, 660 – December 29, 721), also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd empress of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.
  Gemmei's reign spanned the years 707 through 715.
  In the history of Japan, Gemmei was the fourth of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. The three female monarchs before Gemmei were: (a) Suiko, (b) Kōgyoku/Saimei, and (c) Jitō. The four women sovereigns reigning after Gemmei were (d) Genshō, (e) Kōken/Shōtoku, (f) Meishō, and (g) Go-Sakuramachi.
  Before her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (imina) was Abe-hime.
  Empress Gemmei was the fourth daughter of Emperor Tenji; and she was a younger sister of Empress Jitō by a different mother. Her mother, Mei-no-Iratsume (also known as Soga-hime), was a daughter of Udaijin Soga-no-Kura-no-Yamada-no-Ishikawa-no-Maro (also known as Soga Yamada-no Ō-omi).
  Gemmei became the consort (nyōgo) of Crown Prince Kusakabe no Miko, who was the son of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō. After the death of their son Emperor Mommu in 707, she acceded to the throne. At least one account suggests that she accepted the role of empress because Emperor Mommu felt his young son, her grandson, was still too young to withstand the pressures which attend becoming emperor.
  
  wn.com/Empress_Gemmei
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  Eric Berry
  James Eric Berry (born December 29, 1988), nicknamed "The Fifth Dimension," is an American football safety for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Tennessee, and was a two-time unanimous All-American. The Kansas City Chiefs chose him with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and he was selected for the Pro Bowl following his rookie season.
  Berry was born in Fairburn, Georgia. He attended Creekside High School in Fairburn, and was a standout athlete for the Creekside Seminoles track and football teams. In track, Berry was the anchor leg of the 2006 Class 4A state championship 4x400-meters relay team. Individually, he was the 2005 Class 4A state champion in the 200-meters run.
  Berry played cornerback and quarterback, earning a 37-5 record as a starter at Creekside. He was teammates with Rokevious Watkins and Terrance Parks. Following his stellar high school career, Berry was invited to play in the 2007 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Berry was considered the top player in Georgia and the top cornerback prospect by every recruiting service, and Rivals.com ranked him the #3 player in the nation.
  
  wn.com/Eric_Berry
• Evan Seinfeld
  Evan Seinfeld (born December 29, 1967) is an American musician and actor, as well as a director, photographer, and writer. He has also appeared in several pornographic films under the pseudonym "Spyder Jonez". He is best known as a founding member of Biohazard. Since leaving the band in May 2011 for personal reasons, he has joined the band Attika7 as a vocalist. He is also the ex-husband of pornographic actress Tera Patrick. The couple announced their split on September 30, 2009, although they remain business partners.
  Seinfeld was the bassist and vocalist for the hardcore band Biohazard but left the band in early 2011. Evan was also the bassist for the short-lived supergroup Damnocracy, featured in the VH1 reality television show Supergroup, with other members including Ted Nugent, Sebastian Bach, Scott Ian and Jason Bonham.In March 2007, Evan Seinfeld debuted his new band, The Spyderz, as an opening act for a Buckcherry performance. The band was originally named White Line Fever, until it was discovered that a UK band already owned the name. The Spyderz also features guitarist John Monte, formerly of Ministry and M.O.D.. In October 2008, Seinfeld briefly joined Tattooed Millionaires as a bassist and co-vocalist.
  
  wn.com/Evan_Seinfeld
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  Filip Kuba
  Filip Kuba (born December 29, 1976) is a Czech professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League. He has previously played for the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning.
  Kuba was drafted in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Florida Panthers in the 8th round, 192nd overall, after playing with HC Vítkovice junior team in his native Czech Republic. Upon being drafted, he remained in the Czech Republic for one more season, playing with HC Vítkovice's senior team of the Czech Extraliga.
  Moving to North America, he played the majority of his four seasons with the Panthers in the minor leagues before being traded to the Calgary Flames for Rocky Thompson on March 16, 2000. However, before the 2000–01 season began, Kuba was left unprotected by the Flames for the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft and was claimed by the Minnesota Wild.
  He played his first full NHL season with the Wild in the subsequent season and recorded 9 goals and 30 points. In 2003, the Wild advanced to the semi-finals of the playoffs, defeating division rivals Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks before falling to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in four games. Kuba set career playoff marks, appearing in 18 games and scoring 8 points during Minnesota's run. After five seasons with the Wild, he became an unrestricted free agent and on July 1, 2006, he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He left the Wild as the franchise's all-time leader in scoring among defencemen with 33 goals and 132 points in 357 games. During his time with Minnesota, he was named team captain on two occasions, in November 2001 and November 2005, as part of the Wild's monthly rotating captaincy system. Kuba represented the Wild along with teammate Dwayne Roloson in the 2004 All-Star game.
  
  wn.com/Filip_Kuba
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  Francisco Bustamante
  Francisco Bustamante (born December 29, 1963, Philippines) is a Filipino professional pocket billiards (pool) player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.
  Bustamante is the youngest of eight siblings. People in his vicinity nicknamed him "Django" because of his scrappy nature and the way he often appeared with a cigarette in his mouth reminded them of the movie character of that name. The character was portrayed by an Italian actor. Their father made a living through building toilets and planting rice, and Bustamante engaged himself in the activities also. His life in pool began when he worked in his sister's pool hall, racking and spotting balls on the tables. When the patrons leave and the place closes for the night, the young Bustamante would grab a stick and practice alone.
  He never completed high school and has been concentrating in pocket billiards from 12 years of age. He quoted:
  
  wn.com/Francisco_Bustamante
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  Fred MacAulay
  Frederick "Fred" MacAulay (born 29 December 1956) is a Scottish comedian. He presents a daily BBC Scotland radio programme, and has appeared on numerous TV shows.
  Born in Perth, MacAulay was educated at Killin Primary School, at Rattray Primary School and Blairgowrie High School, both in Blairgowrie, and at Perth Academy. In 1978 he graduated from the University of Dundee with an MA in accountancy and jurisprudence. He went on to work as an accountant in a number of companies, including the Cairngorm Chairlift Company in Aviemore. In 1984 he married Aileen; the couple have three children.
  MacAulay's first experience of stand-up comedy came at Bar Point in the "West End" of Paisley. He enjoyed vocal support from some close friends as he appeared alongside the established Glasgow comedian Bruce Morton. From there, in 1988 he performed at Mayfest festival in Glasgow, which burgeoned into a semi-professional career, including jobs as a warm-up act for TV programmes including Have I Got News for You and for comedians Paul Merton and Rory Bremner. His first on-screen appearance came on STV's stand-up programme The Funny Farm. MacAulay became a full-time professional comedian in 1993.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Fred_MacAulay
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  Freddie Hubbard
  Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and bebop.
  Hubbard started playing the mellophone and trumpet in his school band at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Trumpeter Lee Katzman, former sideman with Stan Kenton, recommended that he begin studying at the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music (now the Jordan College of Fine Art at Butler University) with Max Woodbury, the principal trumpeter of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In his teens Hubbard worked locally with brothers Wes and Monk Montgomery and worked with bassist Larry Ridley and saxophonist James Spaulding. In 1958, at the age of 20, he moved to New York, and began playing with some of the best jazz players of the era, including Philly Joe Jones, Sonny Rollins, Slide Hampton, Eric Dolphy, J. J. Johnson, and Quincy Jones. In June 1960 Hubbard made his first record as a leader, Open Sesame, with saxophonist Tina Brooks, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Sam Jones, and drummer Clifford Jarvis.
  
  wn.com/Freddie_Hubbard
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  Frunzik Mkrtchyan
  Mher (Frunzik) Mushegovich Mkrtchyan (Armenian: Մհեր (Ֆրունզիկ) Մուշեղի Մկրտչյան, Russian: Мгер (Фрунзик) Мушегович Мкртчян; 4 July 1930 – 29 December 1993) was a popular Soviet Armenian actor who was named a People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1984.
  He was born in Leninakan, currently Gyumri, Armenia. He studied in Leninakan Art College and Theatre Studio, then finished at the Acting Department of Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and Theatre. Since 1953, he has performed in the Sundukyan Drama Theatre of Yerevan. He also directed many successful productions, best of them Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths". His cinema career began in 1955. His famous roles in Rolan Bykov's "Aybolit-66" (1966), Leonid Gaidai's "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style" (1966), and Georgi Daneliya's "Mimino" (1977) earned him the reputation of one of the leading comedy actors in the Soviet Union. But that reputation sometimes overshadowed his real talent and emotional depth which he put into his roles in such classics of Armenian cinema as "Yerankyuni" ("Triangle") (1967), "Menq enq, mer sarere" ("We, Our Mountains") (1969), "Hayrik" ("Father") (1973), "Nahapet" (1977), "Hin oreri yerge" ("Old Days' Song") (1982), "Mer mankutyan tangon" ("Tango of Our Childhood") (1985). Among his many awards was the USSR State Prize for 1978. He died in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1993.
  
  wn.com/Frunzik_Mkrtchyan
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  Gali Atari
  Avigail "Gali" Atari (born December 29, 1953, in Rehovot, Israel) is an Israeli actress and singer.
  She first appeared on the international scene in 1971, when she represented Israel at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan with the songs "All free" and "Give love away". Atari participated in the contest again in 1976, this time with the song "The same old game".
  In 1978, Atari performed the song "Nesich hachlomot" (נסיך החלומות, Dream Prince), along with Zvi Bums and Udi Spielman, at the Festival Hazemer Ha'ivri, the Israeli qualification heat for the Eurovision Song Contest. She placed third but, undeterred, entered again in 1979, this time as female vocalist with the group Milk and Honey. They won, and their song, Hallelujah represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Jerusalem on March 31. The song was voted the winner, and was a success in the European charts. Atari did not remain with the group for long though, and returned to her solo career.
  Also in 1979, she starred in the Israeli film Dizengoff 99.
  
  wn.com/Gali_Atari
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  Gelsey Kirkland
  Gelsey Kirkland (born 29 December 1952, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is an American ballerina. Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age fifteen, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was promoted to soloist in 1969 and principal in 1972. She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor including Balanchine's revival of The Firebird, Robbins' Goldberg Variations, and Tudor's The Leaves are Fading.
  She is perhaps most famous to the general public for dancing the role of "Clara" in Baryshnikov's 1977 televised production of The Nutcracker. She left the ABT in 1984.
  In 1986, Gelsey Kirkland had published Dancing On My Grave, co-written by her then husband Greg Lawrence, a startling memoir chronicling her artistic transformation from George Balanchine's "baby ballerina" to one of the most acclaimed ballerinas in her generation. The book describes in detail her struggles with her domestic family problems, anorexia, bulimia, drug addiction, her quest for artistic perfection, and her complicated love affair with ballet superstar Mikhail Baryshnikov and numerous other men, most of which she encountered in the ballet world.
  
  wn.com/Gelsey_Kirkland
• Georges Thurston
  George Thurston (December 29, 1951-June 18, 2007) was a Quebec singer, author and composer and radio show host. He was known as Boule Noire since 1975 and worked in the music industry as a solo artist for nearly 30 years and as part of musical groups for 5 years.
  Born in Bedford, Quebec, Thurston later moved to Saint-Jerome, Quebec, where he formed his first band in 1965 called les Zinconnus and produced R&B music, his favorite musical genre. In 1969, he moved on to join the 25th Regiment band and remained with the group until the early 1970s.
  In the 1970s, he worked with several other Quebec artists including Robert Charlebois, Claude Dubois, Tony Roman, Nanette Workman and Michel Pagliaro. He played the piano, bass and guitar. He would later be a composer for the group Toulouse.
  Thurston's solo career started in 1976 when he released his first solo album titled Boule Noire. It included his first hit Aimes-tu la vie?. During his 30-year solo career, he produced at least 14 albums in both English and French. His first English album, entitled Premiere, was recorded in 1980.
  
  wn.com/Georges_Thurston
• Gerda Boyesen
  Gerda Boyesen (born May 18, 1922 in Bergen, Norway, dead December 29, 2005 in London) is the founder of Biodynamic Psychology, a branch of Body Psychotherapy.
  Gerda Boyesen was born in 1922 in Bergen. Her first marriage was with Carl Boyesen. In 1947 she read a book by Wilhelm Reich which made a strong impression on her. Shortly thereafter she began therapy with Ola Raknes, a vegetotherapist who had been trained by Reich. Later she studied psychology in Oslo and received training as physiotherapist which led to work with Aadel Bülow-Hansen. Through her own therapy Boyesen got to know the connection between repressed emotions and muscle tensions. In her book Über den Körper die Seele heilen she established and partly described in a very personal manner how she developed her own therapeutic method linking the beginnings of Wilhelm Reich, Carl Gustav Jung and Sigmund Freud, through her own studies, her own therapeutic experience as well as her own practice.
  Gerda Boyesen is the founder of "Biodynamic Psychology and Psychotherapy". In 1969 she left for London and opened a practice and later an international teaching and training institute. In addition to client-oriented work other focus areas were included, most notably she was the first woman in Europe to establish her own psychotherapeutic training institute.
  
  wn.com/Gerda_Boyesen
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  Glen Phillips
  
  
  Glen Phillips (born December 29, 1970) is a songwriter, lyricist, singer and guitarist. He is best known as the singer and songwriter of 1990s alternative rock group Toad the Wet Sprocket.
  Phillips was born in Santa Barbara, California, United States, and began making music at age 14. Glen grew up in a household where Reform Judaism was practiced and Eastern Religion was studied, and his spiritual curiosity has been one of the major themes of his writing.
  Phillips and his wife, Laurel, have three girls (Sophia, Freya, and Zola).
  Phillips injured his arm on October 8, 2008 at a friend's house when a glass coffee table he was sitting on collapsed. Phillips had surgery to repair a damaged ulnar nerve and muscle in his left arm. His ability to play guitar was hampered during his recovery, but he had been actively touring in spite of his injury. Sean Watkins and Jonathan Kingham have recently joined Phillips on the road to provide accompaniment.
  Phillips is frequently barefoot when performing with the band.
  
  wn.com/Glen_Phillips
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  Gonzalo Olave
  Gonzalo Olave Alcaide (Santiago, December 29, 1983 - Santiago, April 4, 2009) was a Chilean actor, best known by his role in the telenovela called Lola and his recent work in Mis Años Grossos where he obtained the main role.
  Gonzalo Alonso Olave Alcaide was born in Santiago, Chile. He studied at the Liceo Manuel Barros Borgoño and later attended Instituto Profesional DuocUC. From the age of 16, Gonzalo modelled for Chilean and international television advertisements, and was the second male to appear nude in a Chilean advertisement.
  In 2007, he debuted as an actor in the role of Sebastián "Boogie" Cuevas in the telenovela Lola by Canal 13. At the same time, Gonzalo acted in theatre with his company "La Marcha". After Lola ended, in March 2009, Gonzalo appeared as the lead in the TV series Mis Años Grossos, as the Chilean version of Eric Forman from That '70s Show.
  On April 4, 2009, Gonzalo was involved in a motorcycle accident on San Ignacio Street, Santiago. A car hit him, causing serious injuries. He was taken to Hospital Barros Luco where he later died. On 7 April 2009, Gonzalo Olave was buried in the Cementerio General de Santiago.
  
  wn.com/Gonzalo_Olave
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  Grigori Rasputin
  Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn]) (22 January [O.S. 10 January] 1869 – 29 or 30 December [O.S. 16 December] 1916) was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei. Some people called Rasputin the "Mad Monk", while others considered him a "strannik" (or religious pilgrim) and even a starets (ста́рец, "elder", a title usually reserved for monk-confessors), believing him to be a psychic and faith healer.
  It has been argued that Rasputin helped to discredit the tsarist government, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. Contemporary opinions saw Rasputin variously as a saintly mystic, visionary, healer and prophet or, on the contrary, as a debauched religious charlatan. There has been much uncertainty over Rasputin's life and influence as accounts of his life have often been based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend. In his homeland he is revered as a righteous man by many people and clerics, among them Elder Nikolay Guryanov.
  
  wn.com/Grigori_Rasputin
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  Guatemalan Civil War
  The Guatemalan Civil War ran from 1960 to 1996. The thirty-six-year civil war began as a grassroots, popular movement to the rightist and military usurpation of civil government (state and public institutions). In 1944, the "October Revolutionaries" assumed government and instituted liberal economic reform benefiting and politically strengthening the civil and labor rights of the urban working class and the peasants. Elsewhere, a group of leftist students, professionals, and liberal-democratic government coalitions were led by Juan José Arévalo and Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.
  In consequence, the U.S. government ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to launch Operation PBSUCCESS (1953–54) and halt Guatemala's “communist revolt", as perceived by the corporate fruit companies such as United Fruit and the U.S. State Department. The CIA chose right-wing Guatemalan Army Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas to lead an "insurrection" in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état. Upon deposing the Árbenz Guzmán government, Castillo Armas began to dissolve a decade of social and economic reform and legislative progress, and banned labor unions and left-wing political parties, a disenfranchisement that radicalized left-wing Guatemalans.
  
  wn.com/Guatemalan_Civil_War
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  Harold Macmillan
  Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC, FRS (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963.
  Nicknamed 'Supermac' and known for his pragmatism, wit and unflappability, Macmillan achieved notoriety before the Second World War as a Tory radical and critic of appeasement. Rising to high office as a protégé of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he believed in the post-war settlement and the necessity of a mixed economy, and in his premiership pursued corporatist policies to develop the domestic market as the engine of growth. During his time as prime minister, average living standards steadily rose while numerous social reforms were carried out such as the 1956 Clean Air Act, the 1957 Housing Act, the 1960 Offices Act, the 1960 Noise Abatement Act, the Factories Act 1961, and the introduction of a graduated pension scheme to provide an additional income to retirees.
  As a One Nation Tory of the Disraelian tradition, haunted by memories of the Great Depression, he championed a Keynesian strategy of public investment to maintain demand, winning a second term in 1959 with an increased majority on an electioneering budget. Benefiting from favourable international conditions, he presided over an age of affluence, marked by low unemployment and high if uneven growth. In his Bedford speech of July 1957 he told the nation they had 'never had it so good', but warned of the dangers of inflation, summing up the fragile prosperity of the 1950s.
  
  wn.com/Harold_Macmillan
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  Helmut Gollwitzer
  Helmut Gollwitzer (29 December 1908 – 17 October 1993) was a Protestant (Lutheran) theologian and author.
  Born in Pappenheim, Bavaria, Gollwitzer studied Protestant theology in Munich, Erlangen, Jena and Bonn (1928–1932); he later completed a doctorate under Karl Barth in Basel (1937), writing on the understanding of the eucharist in Martin Luther and John Calvin.
  During the period of the Nazi regime in Germany, Gollwitzer was a well-known member of the Confessing Church movement which resisted the regime's attempt to control the churches. He took over as the pastor of the congregation at Berlin-Dahlem after the arrest of Martin Niemöller.
  During World War II, Gollwitzer served as a medic at the Eastern Front, and was a Prisoner of War in the Soviet Union from 1945-1949. He wrote a book about his experience of being a POW which became a bestseller in Germany in 1950 (Unwilling Journey: A Diary from Russia); the then President of West Germany, Theodor Heuss, called it "a great historical document".
  
  wn.com/Helmut_Gollwitzer
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  Henry II of England
  Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle, Henry FitzEmpress or Henry Plantagenet, ruled as King of England (1154–89), Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, and Lord of Ireland; at various times, he also controlled Wales, Scotland and Brittany. Henry was the son of Geoffrey of Anjou and Matilda, who was the daughter of King Henry I and took the title of Empress from her first marriage. He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother's efforts to claim the throne of England, and was made the Duke of Normandy at 17. He inherited Anjou in 1151 and shortly afterwards married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to the French king Louis VII had recently been annulled. King Stephen agreed to a peace treaty after Henry's military expedition to England in 1153, and he inherited the kingdom on Stephen's death a year later. Still quite young, he now controlled what would later be called the Angevin empire, stretching across much of western Europe.
  
  wn.com/Henry_II_of_England
• Hidetoshi Mitsusada
  Hidetoshi Mitsusada (光貞秀俊, Mitsusada Hidetoshi^?, born 29 December 1970) is a former Formula 3000 driver from Japan. He competed in his first F3000 race at Spa in 1998. His best race result was at Germany in 1998. He drove again in F3000 in 2000, for World Racing Team. Unfortunately, he did not manage to qualify for the first three races of the season. Later that year, he test drove for Benetton-Playlife.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Hidetoshi_Mitsusada
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  Inga Swenson
  Inga Swenson (born December 29, 1932; Omaha, Nebraska) is an American actress.
  Inga Swenson was a graduate of Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska, Class of 1950. Swenson was a member of Alpha Phi sorority at Northwestern University where she studied in their famed Drama Department. Swenson is best known to American audiences for her portrayal of "Gretchen Kraus", the autocratic and acerbic German cook (later Head Housekeeper and Budget Director) on the TV sitcom Benson. She got the part by appearing in a multi-episode stint as "Ingrid Svenson", birth mother of Corinne Tate (Diana Canova), on the TV sitcom Soap. Both series were created by Susan Harris and produced by Witt-Thomas-Harris Productions (who later created The Golden Girls and Empty Nest). She also appeared as northern matriarch Maude Hazard in the acclaimed mini-series North and South in 1985 and again in 1986.
  Earlier in her career, Swenson had a notable turn on the TV western series Bonanza in two episodes: "Inger, My Love" (1962) and "Journey Remembered" (1963). Swenson took a brief leave of absence from her starring role in 110 in the Shade on Broadway to appear in "Journey Remembered." The appearances were significant in that she played Lorne Greene's Ben Cartwright character's second wife, the mother of Hoss Cartwright, played by Dan Blocker, She was actually four years younger than Blocker. After Bonanza ended its 14-year run, Swenson guest starred in an episode of Lorne Greene's short-lived crime drama Griff.
  
  wn.com/Inga_Swenson
• Ivo Van Damme
  Ivo Van Damme (21 February 1954 – 29 December 1976) was a Belgian middle distance runner.
  Van Damme was born in Dendermonde. He played football until he was 16, but then switched to athletics. His breakthrough came in 1973, when he placed fourth in the 800 m at the European Junior Championships.
  He suffered from mononucleosis the following season, but returned strong beating Roger Moens's 1955 national 800 m record. In 1976, he won the European indoor title over this distance, and was one of the favourites for a medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He eventually ended up second in both the 800 and 1500 m, finishing behind Alberto Juantorena and John Walker, respectively.
  These were his last successes, as Van Damme was killed in a car accident later that year while travelling home from Marseille in southern France. He was to marry Rita Thijs in 1977. Since 1977, a memorial competition has been held in Brussels to remember him, the Memorial van Damme. It has become one of the major track and field meetings of the season.
  
  wn.com/Ivo_Van_Damme
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  James Joyce
  James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, perhaps most prominently the stream of consciousness technique he perfected. Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His complete oeuvre includes three books of poetry, a play, occasional journalism, and his published letters.
  Joyce was born to a middle class family in Dublin, where he excelled as a student at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, then at University College Dublin. In his early twenties he emigrated permanently to continental Europe, living in Trieste, Paris and Zurich. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe does not extend beyond Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there; Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city. Shortly after the publication of Ulysses he elucidated this preoccupation somewhat, saying, "For myself, I always write about Dublin, because if I can get to the heart of Dublin I can get to the heart of all the cities of the world. In the particular is contained the universal."
  
  wn.com/James_Joyce
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  Jaret Wright
  Jaret Samuel Wright (born December 29, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball starting pitcher, who played 10 years for five teams. He is the son of former major league pitcher Clyde Wright.
  Wright born on December 29, 1975, in Anaheim, California, to Clyde Wright. His father pitched for nine season in the major leagues and three season in the Japanese equivalent. He graduated from Katella High School in Anaheim, where he also played quarterback and linebacker for the football team. He was named league MVP and High School Player of the Year by the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times.
  Wright was drafted out of high school by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round (10th pick overall) of the 1994 Major League Baseball Draft.
  Following the draft, Wright began his professional career with the Burlington Indians, the team's rookie league affiliate in the Appalachian League. The 18 year-old started in four games and had a 5.40 ERA. For 1995, he progressed to the Class A Columbus RedStixx in the South Atlantic League, where he went 5-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 24 games. In 1996, he moved up to the Kinston Indians, the team's "High-A" affiliate in the Carolina League. He went 7-4 in 19 starts, with a 2.50 ERA. Baseball America rated Wright as the #22 Prospect and was regularly mentioned by the Cleveland front office as one of the organization's top prospects.
  
  wn.com/Jaret_Wright
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  Jason Kreis
  Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer.
  Kreis spent the majority of his playing career in MLS in the United States, initially with Dallas Burn, and then with Real Salt Lake. In total he made over 300 professional appearances, was Major League Soccer MVP in 1999, and is currently the third highest scorer in MLS regular season history. He also earned fourteen caps with the United States national team.
  Kreis played for the Gladiator Soccer Club in his hometown of Omaha, where his parents were among the pioneers who established this first premier/select club within the state. As a freshman at Burke High School in Omaha, Kreis was selected First Team All-State. He remains the only freshman selected to the first team. Following his freshman year, Kreis and his family moved to Mandeville, Louisiana, where he led Mandeville High School to several Class 5A state soccer tournaments, but never won a state title, losing to Lafayette High in the quarter finals his senior year. While at Mandeville, he was also a standout performer for the Baton Rouge United Jags, a U-19 Select team that finished as national runner-up in 1991 and won the prestigious Capital Cup tournament in Washington, D.C.
  
  wn.com/Jason_Kreis
• Jennifer Ehle
  Jennifer Ehle ( /ˈiːliː/; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress of stage and screen. She is known for her BAFTA winning role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice.
  Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle, Ehle made her stage debut as a toddler in a 1973 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which her mother played Blanche Dubois.^{[citation needed]} She spent her childhood between the UK and US, attending 18 different schools including the Interlochen Arts Academy. She was raised largely in Asheville, North Carolina, which was close by her hometown. Her drama training was split between the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.^{[citation needed]}
  In 1992, Peter Hall cast her as Calypso in a television adaptation of Mary Wesley's novel The Camomile Lawn, in which she and her mother played the same character at different ages. This story, produced by UK's Channel 4, was a five part miniseries about the lives and loves of a family of cousins from 1939 to the present. The two would later reprise this different age portrayal of a character as Valerie in István Szabó's 1999 movie Sunshine.
  
  wn.com/Jennifer_Ehle
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  Jess Willard
  Jess Willard (December 29, 1881 – December 15, 1968) was a world heavyweight boxing champion known as the Pottawatomie Giant.
  He won the heavyweight title from Jack Johnson in April 1915 which earned him the nickname "The Great White Hope". He was known for his great strength and ability to absorb tremendous punishment, although today he is best known for his title loss to Jack Dempsey.
  Willard held the championship for more than 4 years but only defended his title once as few people dared to challenge him. Today his reign is considered the 11th longest in the heavyweight division. He lost the title to Jack Dempsey in 1919 and to this day the fight is considered the worst beating any man has ever received in the history of boxing. Willard was knocked down for the first time in his career during the first round and another 6 times before the round was over; he suffered a cracked skull, broken ribs, shattered jaw, broken nose, four missing teeth, partial hearing loss in one ear along with numerous cuts and contusions. Jess fought for two more rounds before retiring on his stool due to the injuries he received in the first round, relinquishing the title. It is one of the most controversial fights in boxing history and many thought Dempsey had something in his gloves during the first round to act as a knuckleduster to weaken the big Willard down.
  
  wn.com/Jess_Willard
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  Jessica Andrews
  Jessica Danielle Andrews (born December 29, 1983) is an American country music singer. At age 15 in mid-1999, she made her debut on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts with the single "I Will Be There for You", from her debut album Heart Shaped World, released in 1999 on DreamWorks Records Nashville.
  Andrews saw her biggest chart success in 2001 with the song "Who I Am", a #1 country hit and the title track to her second studio album, which was certified gold in the United States. A third album, Now was released in 2003 to lower sales, while a fourth album (tentatively titled Ain't That Life) was never released due to DreamWorks' closure. In late 2008, Andrews signed to Carolwood Records, an imprint of Lyric Street Records, however, she was dropped from the label in 2009 without issuing an album.
  Jessica Andrews was born in Huntingdon, Tennessee to parents Jessie and Vicki Andrews. When she was seven, a bone was growing through her spinal cord, a condition that required surgery. She had a 50/50 chance of coming out of it paralyzed. Andrews learned her passion for singing in the fourth grade. Andrews planned on dancing in her school's talent show, but her sister convinced her to sing Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" instead. At 11, she put her first band together. Meanwhile, after someone sent a song of her singing to producer Byron Gallimore, Andrews signed with DreamWorks Records Nashville and soon began working on her first album. Prior to its release, she began opening for Faith Hill on her Fall 1998 tour, as well as for Tim McGraw (also produced by Gallimore) for his New Year's Eve concert.
  
  wn.com/Jessica_Andrews
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  Jim Reid
  Jim Reid (born 29 December 1961, Glasgow, Scotland) is the lead singer for the alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain, which he formed with his elder brother and guitarist William Reid
  Reid is the lead singer and founding member of the alternative rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain. They released six studio albums before they split up in 1999. They reformed in March 2007.
  Reid went on to form the band Freeheat with former Mary Chain drummer Nick Sanderson and guitarist Ben Lurie. Freeheat did several tours and released an EP, Retox, before the members went their separate ways in 2003.
  Reid released his first solo single "Song For A Secret" in 2005 on the Transistor record label, and released a follow up called "Dead End Kids" in July 2006 also on Transistor. Since April 2006 he has been playing with a new band that features Phil King (Felt, Lush, Jesus and Mary Chain) on lead guitar, Loz Colbert (Ride) on drums and Mark Crozer on bass. The band has performed his new material at several low key gigs including Whelans in Dublin and, more recently, the Carling Bar Academy in Islington.
  
  wn.com/Jim_Reid
• Jimmy Journell
  James Richard Journell, (born December 29, 1977), is an American former baseball pitcher. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was drafted by the Cardinals in the 4th round in 1999. His only Major League experience came with the Cardinals. On December 1, 2005 he signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds, but was later released on March 20, 2006, and spent the 2006 season with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
  Journell was selected for the US team in the 2002 All-Star Futures Game. He was once a highly regarded prospect in the Cardinals' minor league system (even considered the team's best prospect according to Baseball America), but had control and injury problems in the Major Leagues. After posting an earned run average (ERA) of 6.00 in seven games in 2003, Journell suffered a right shoulder injury in 2004, forcing him to undergo season-ending surgery. In 2005, he was 0–1 with a 10.38 ERA in five appearances for the Cardinals.
  
  wn.com/Jimmy_Journell
• Joe Anyon
  Joseph "Joe" Anyon (born 29 December 1986) is an English football goalkeeper who plays for Conference National club Lincoln City.
  A youth player at Port Vale, he turned professional at the club in 2004, and was loaned out to non-league sides Stafford Rangers and Harrogate Town to gain experience. He was the Vale's first choice goalkeeper from his debut in December 2006 up until a clash that saw him break his leg in March 2009 – later in the year he was voted Player of the Year. He failed to regain his place following recovery from the injury and was released in the summer of 2010, whereupon he signed with Lincoln City. Whilst at City he was loaned out to Morecambe. He was voted as Lincoln's Player of the Season in 2011–12.
  Born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, Anyon played in the Blackburn Rovers youth system before joining Port Vale. He joined Stafford Rangers on loan towards the end of the 2004–05 season, making five appearances. He rejoined Stafford on loan in August 2005, again making five appearances. At the end of the season he was voted Youth Player of the Year by the Port Vale management. After winning a first team contract with Vale, Anyon spent time on loan at Harrogate Town, making two appearances in November. He rejoined Harrogate in February 2006, making nine appearances before returning to Vale after breaking his jaw in April.
  
  wn.com/Joe_Anyon
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  Johan Herman Wessel
  Johan Herman Wessel (6 October 1742, Vestby – 29 December 1785, Copenhagen) was a Norwegian-Danish poet. Some of his satirical poems are still popular.
  The son of a painter, he was born and raised in Vestby, Akershus, Norway, and was the elder brother of mathematician Caspar Wessel. He was a relative of the naval hero Peder Tordenskjold.
  Living most of his (bohemian) life in Copenhagen dependent on casual work and weakened by a bad health and drinking Wessel became the popular and admired centre of Norske Selskab ("The Norwegian Society") a very important club of Norwegian literary figures cultivating their national identity in Copenhagen, and writing in classical metres.
  First of all Wessel is known for his many humorous and satiric verse tales (ed. 1784-1785), referring to man’s foolishness and injustice. Most famous is Smeden og Bageren (“The Smith and the Baker”) about the only smith of a village who is pardoned for manslaughter since the village people need one, while a more superfluous baker is executed instead (there are two bakers, the village only needs one) in order to observe the rules that “life pays life”.
  
  wn.com/Johan_Herman_Wessel
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  John Albert Vasa
  John Albert Vasa (Jan Albert Waza) (June 25, 1612 – December 29, 1634), was a Polish cardinal, and a Prince-Bishop of Warmia and Kraków. He was the son of Swedish and Polish King Sigismund III Vasa and Austrian archduchess Constance of Austria.
  John Albert Vasa was born in Warsaw in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. When he was 9 years old, after the death of Szymon Rudnicki his father chose him to be the next Prince-Bishop of Warmia. The pope agreed to that request on October 21, 1621. More difficult to reach was an agreement from the Warmian chapter, and the objections of szlachta delayed the final approval of this nomination in the Sejm until 1631. The prince never visited his diocese, it was governed in his name by the suffragan bishop Michał Działyński, archdeacon of Warsaw Jakub Wierzbipięta Borzuchowski and canon of Warmia, Paweł Piasecki. The cathedral at Frauenburg (Frombork) was enriched by the gifts from Jan Albert that included liturgical robes and a golden statue of Saint Andrew.
  
  wn.com/John_Albert_Vasa
• Jon Polito
  Jon Polito (born December 29, 1950) is an American actor and voice artist, who is known for working with the Coen Brothers, most notably in the major supporting role of Italian gangster Johnny Caspar in Miller's Crossing. He also appeared in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and on the first season of Crime Story. Polito won the Maverick Spirit Event Award at Cinequest Film Festival in 2005.
  He portrays Orren Boyle in Atlas Shrugged (2011), the film adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel of the same name.
  Polito is an openly gay man.
  
  wn.com/Jon_Polito
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  Jon Voight
  Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight (/vɔɪt/) (born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He has won one Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie.
  Voight came to prominence in the late 1960s with his performance as a would-be gigolo in Midnight Cowboy (1969). During the 1970s, he became a Hollywood star with his portrayals of a businessman mixed up with murder in Deliverance (1972), a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, and a penniless ex-boxing champion in The Champ (1979).
  Although his output slowed during the 1980s, Voight received critical acclaim for his performance as a ruthless bank robber in Runaway Train (1985). During the 1990s, he most notably starred as an unscrupulous showman attorney in The Rainmaker (1997). Voight gave critically acclaimed biographical performances during the 2000s, appearing as sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali (2001), as Nazi officer Jürgen Stroop in Uprising (2001), and as Pope John Paul II in the television miniseries of the same name (2005).
  
  wn.com/Jon_Voight
• Joseph Saurin
  Joseph Saurin (1659 at Courtaison – December 29, 1737 at Paris) was a French mathematician and a converted Protestant minister. He was the first to show how the tangents at the multiple points of curves could be determined by mathematical analysis. He was accused in 1712 by Jean-Baptiste Rousseau of being the actual author of defamatory verses that gossip had attributed to Rousseau.
  He was the father of Bernard-Joseph Saurin.
  
  
  
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  Jude Law
  David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972), known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.
  He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989. After starring in films directed by Andrew Niccol, Clint Eastwood and David Cronenberg, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley. In 2000 he won a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for his work in the film. In 2003, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in another Minghella film, Cold Mountain.
  In 2006, he was one of the top ten most bankable movie stars in Hollywood. In 2007, he received an Honorary César and he was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He was a member of the main competition jury at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
  Law was born in Lewisham, South London, the second child of comprehensive school teachers Margaret Anne (née Heyworth) and Peter Robert Law; his father later became, according to Law, "the youngest headmaster in London". He has a sister, Natasha. Law was named after a "bit of both" the book Jude the Obscure and the song Hey Jude. He grew up in Blackheath, an area in the Borough of Lewisham, and was educated at John Ball Primary School in Blackheath and Kidbrooke School, before attending the Alleyn's School.
  
  wn.com/Jude_Law
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  Julius Axelrod
  Julius Axelrod (May 30, 1912 – December 29, 2004) was an American biochemist. He won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler. The Nobel Committee honored him for his work on the release and reuptake of catecholamine neurotransmitters, a class of chemicals in the brain that include epinephrine, norepinephrine, and, as was later discovered, dopamine. Axelrod also made major contributions to the understanding of the pineal gland and how it is regulated during the sleep-wake cycle.
  Axelrod was born in New York City, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. He received his bachelor's degree in biology from the College of the City of New York in 1933. Axelrod wanted to become a physician, but was rejected from every medical school to which he applied. He worked briefly as a laboratory technician at New York University, then in 1935 he got a job with the New York City Department of Health testing vitamin supplements added to food. He injured his left eye when an ammonia bottle in the lab exploded; he would wear an eyepatch for the rest of his life. While working at the Department of Health, he attended night school and received his master's in sciences degree from New York University in 1941. Although he became an atheist early in life and resented the strict upbringing of his parents’ religion, he identified with Jewish culture and joined several international fights against anti-Semitism. His wife of 53 years, Sally Taub Axelrod, died in 1992. At his death, he was survived by two sons, Paul and Alfred, and three grandchildren.
  
  wn.com/Julius_Axelrod
• Katerina Didaskalou
  Katerina Didaskalou (born December 29, 1960 in Athens, Greece) is a Greek theatre, stage, television and film actress. She studied dramatic arts and philosophy in Athens and went on to study cinema and theater at Columbia University, on an Onassis Foundation scholarship. In 2005, she starred in Eric Rohmer's Triple Agent, as "Arsinoe", the Greek wife of a retired general of the Tsarist army. She was recently in the 1st and 4th seasons of the Greek soap opera Erotas ("Love") and in the US-produced film Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Katerina_Didaskalou
• Katherine Moennig
  Katherine Sian Moennig (Pronounced meh-nig; born December 29, 1977)^{[dead link]} is an American actress known for her role as Shane McCutcheon on The L Word, as well as Jake Pratt on Young Americans. In 2009, she starred as Dr. Miranda Foster on CBS Three Rivers.
  Moennig was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Broadway dancer Mary Zahn and violin maker William H. Moennig III. Moennig has a half-sister and a half-brother from the first marriage of her father.^{[dead link]} Moennig is also the half-niece of actress Blythe Danner (who is the half sister of Moennig's father) and the cousin of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and director Jake Paltrow. Moennig is of German, Scottish and Irish descent.^{[citation needed]}
  Moennig moved to New York City at the age of 18 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.^{[citation needed]}
  In 1999, she had the central role in the Our Lady Peace video "Is Anybody Home?".^{[citation needed]} She also took a role in a Fleet Bank commercial, and appeared in a Red Cross Campaign benefitting victims of Hurricane Katrina.^{[citation needed]} Moennig was a presenter at the 17th annual GLAAD awards and appeared at the 10th annual Ribbon of Hope Celebration.
  
  wn.com/Katherine_Moennig
• Ken Burkhart
  Kenneth William Burkhart, born Burkhardt (November 18, 1916 – December 29, 2004), was an American right-handed pitcher and umpire in Major League Baseball. From 1945 through 1949 he played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1945–48) and Cincinnati Reds (1948–49), and he served as a National League umpire from 1957 to 1973.
  Burkhart was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. During his major league pitching career, he posted a 27–20 record with 181 strikeouts and a 3.84 earned run average in 519 2/3 innings pitched. He posted an 18–8 mark as a Cardinals rookie in 1945, with 22 starts and 20 relief appearances; his 18 victories and .692 winning percentage each tied him for third in the National League, while his 2.90 ERA ranked him seventh, but an ailing throwing arm ended his season prematurely, and he increasingly worked from the bullpen afterwards. As a pitcher, since he lacked a speedy fastball, he relied on an "oddly breaking knuckleball" for much of his success. On July 26, 1948, Burkhart was traded by St. Louis to the Reds in exchange for first baseman Babe Young. He appeared in 11 games for the Reds in 1949 and retired at the end of the season.
  
  wn.com/Ken_Burkhart
• 
  Kevin Granata
  Kevin P. Granata (December 29, 1961 – April 16, 2007) was an American professor in multiple departments including the Departments of Engineering, Science and Mechanics (in which he was tenured) and Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Granata held an additional academic appointment as a professor in the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and was an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. During the Virginia Tech massacre, he shepherded students into his office in order to safeguard them. He was then killed by Seung-Hui Cho after he went to investigate and intervene.
  A native of Toledo, Ohio, Granata attended St. Francis de Sales High School in Toledo, where he played football and served on the debate team for four years, graduating in 1980 with a 4.0 GPA. Granata was awarded a bachelor's degree in engineering physics & electrical engineering from Ohio State University in 1984, a master's degree in physics from Purdue University in 1986, and a doctorate in biomechanics from Ohio State in 1993. He began his bachelor's degree in physics at John Carroll University in Cleveland, where he also played football, before transferring to Ohio State to finish the degree.
  
  wn.com/Kevin_Granata
• Kevin Greening
  Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted the BBC Radio 1 breakfast show with Zoe Ball from 1997 to 1998.
  Kevin Greening grew up in Bristol where he worked voluntarily for the Bristol Hospital Broadcasting Service and was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He later studied chemical engineering at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he was station manager at Cambridge University Radio. His first job was as a construction worker on the Humber Bridge. He then trained as a studio manager and began his broadcasting career at the BBC World Service. After a brief spell as a Programme assistant at BBC Radio Solent, in 1989 Greening joined London's Local station BBC GLR as a producer, before becoming a presenter of their Breakfast show in 1991.
  In April 1993, Greening joined the newly launched Virgin Radio, presenting a Friday and Saturday evening show and a Sunday morning show. After two months, he took over their weekday afternoon show, where he remained until he quit Virgin in December 1993.
  
  wn.com/Kevin_Greening
• Kevin Weisman
  Kevin Weisman (born December 29, 1970) is an American film, television and stage actor. His best-known acting role was that of Marshall Flinkman on the television series Alias (2001–2006).
  He pursued acting at a young age, participating in local drama festivals in and around the Los Angeles area (DTASC). He received a BA from UCLA's prestigious School of Theatre/Film/Television and also studied at New York's Circle in the Square Theatre. Kevin was a founding member of Buffalo Nights Theater Company, and went on to produce and act in over fifteen award winning shows in and around the Los Angeles area.
  Weisman is a founding member of the Buffalo Nights Theatre Company and appeared in numerous plays at their resident space, the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica.
  Weisman's stage résumé includes roles in Arthur Schnitzler's Anatol, Jean Giraudoux's Apollo of Bellac, which received a Garland for Production of the Year and seven LA Weekly award nominations; Madman and the Nun, The Firebugs, Suburban Motel, Ethan Lipton's Hope on the Range, Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, Oscar Wilde's Salome, and the West Coast Premiere of Jonathan Marc Sherman's Sophistry.
  
  wn.com/Kevin_Weisman
• 
  Kieron Dyer
  Kieron Courtney Dyer (born 29 December 1978) is an English footballer who plays for Queens Park Rangers as an attacking midfielder. Born in Ipswich, he went to Westbourne sports college and played youth football for his home club before going on to make nearly 100 league appearances for the club's first team. He was sold to Newcastle United for £6m which at the time was the highest fee paid for a Ipswich player, this record stood until the £12m transfer of Connor Wickham to Sunderland FC in 2011, and made nearly 200 appearances for Newcastle between 1999 and 2007. A £6m move to West Ham United followed, but Dyer suffered from a variety of injuries, restricting him to only thirty league appearances in four seasons. In March 2011, he was sent out on month-long loan to Ipswich Town.
  He has represented England on 33 occasions and was a member of the England squads at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2004, but has not been capped since 2007.
  Born in Ipswich, Dyer's career began with his hometown team, Ipswich Town, whom he signed for as a 17-year-old trainee in 1996. He broke into the Ipswich first team during his first season at the club, and quickly established a reputation as one of the top youngsters in English football outside of the Premier League. He had spent three years at Portman Road when he requested a transfer in order to further his international prospects following Ipswich's failure to gain promotion through the playoffs into the Premier League in 1999.
  
  wn.com/Kieron_Dyer
• 
  Kuvempu
  Kuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa (December 29, 1904 – November 11, 1994), widely known by the pen name Kuvempu or by the abbreviation K. V. Puttappa, was a Kannada writer and poet, widely regarded as the greatest poet of 20th century Kannada literature. He is the first among eight recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada. Puttappa wrote all his literary works using the pen name Kuvempu. He is the second among Kannada poets to be revered as Rashtrakavi (after M. Govinda Pai). His work Sri Ramayana Darshanam, the rewriting of the great ancient Indian epic Ramayana in modern Kannada, is regarded as revival of the era of Mahakavya (Epic poetry) in a contemporary form and charm. He is immortalised by some of his phrases, and in particular for his contribution to Universal Humanism or in his own words Vishwa maanavataa Vaada. He was conferred Padma Bhushan by Government of India. He has penned the Karnataka State anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate.
  Kuvempu was born in Hirekodige, Koppa taluk, of Chikmagalur district to a native Kannada family. He was brought up in a place in the lush Malenadu region of Tirthahalli, called Kuppali, of Shivamogga district. His education began at his home by an appointed teacher from Dakshina Kannada. He joined Anglo Vernacular school in Tirthahalli to continue his middle school education. He lost his father Venkatappa Gowda at the early age of 12 due to ill health. Kuvempu finished his lower and secondary education in Kannada and English in Theerthahalli. He moved to Mysore for further education and completed his high school from the Wesleyan high school. He pursued his college studies in from Maharaja College of Mysore and graduated in 1929 majoring in Kannada. He married Hemavathi on 30 April 1937.
  
  wn.com/Kuvempu
• 
  LaToya London
  LaToya Renee London (born on December 29, 1978) is an American R&B and soul singer and actress who was the fourth-place finalist on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol. She released her debut album, Love & Life, in September 2005 and recently completed a starring role as Nettie in the national tour of the Broadway musical, The Color Purple.
  London was born in San Francisco, California and raised in Oakland, California, where she had her first public musical performance when, at the age of 7, she sang in her mother's wedding. Her interest in singing began when she was just 4 years old, when she frequently sang when attending Allen Temple Baptist church. As a teenager, she sang with the Oakland Youth Chorus from 1993 to 1996. In 1996, she graduated from Skyline High School (the same school actor Tom Hanks and basketball player Gary Payton attended). She also worked as a waitress and a bartender and even sang in a Christian rock group. She was also a backup vocalist and did frequent guest vocals for several Bay Area artists. When she began American Idol, she was the lead vocalist in a band, All-Star Jukebox, which usually performed at weddings.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/LaToya_London
• 
  Laurent Boudouani
  Laurent Boudouani (born December 29, 1965 in Sallanches, Haute-Savoie) is retired professional boxer. He is a former WBA world light middleweight champion and a welterweight silver medal winner at the 1988 Olympics.
  Boudouani turned professional in 1989 and had two early victories over future titlist Javier Castillejo prior to capturing the WBA Light Middleweight Title by defeating Julio César Vásquez by KO in the 5th. Boudouani successfully defended his title five times, including victories over Carl Daniels, Guillermo Jones, and boxing great Terry Norris. Boudouani lost his title to Olympian David Reid in 1999 by unanimous decision and retired after the bout.
  
  wn.com/Laurent_Boudouani
• Left Brain
  Left Brain (born Vyron Dalyan Turner on December 29, 1989) is an American record producer, rapper, and photographer from Los Angeles. He serves as one of the main producers in OFWGKTA, having produced portions on nearly all Odd Future releases. He is also one half of MellowHype, along with rapper Hodgy Beats.
  With Hodgy Beats as MellowHype, he has released two albums, YelloWhite and BlackenedWhite. He has produced songs on many Odd Future albums, such as Rolling Papers, Ali, Goblin, BlackenedWhite, YelloWhite, The Odd Future Tape, The Dena Tape, Earl, and The Journey to the 5th Echelon. He also contributed production to the Pusha T song Trouble On My Mind featuring fellow Odd Future member Tyler, The Creator off of his 2011 EP Fear of God II: Let Us Pray.
  On April 5, 2011, MellowHype performed the song "64" on the Fuel TV program The Daily Habit.
  MellowHype along with Tyler, The Creator and Syd tha Kyd also performed their song "64" for the BBC music showcase.
  Left Brain is featured on 2 songs from The Internet's debut album Purple Naked Ladies, the single "Cocaine" and the song "Lincoln", which he sings the chorus on and which also features Mike G. He also contributed production to the tracks "Tevie", "She Knows" and "Visions".
  
  wn.com/Left_Brain
• Leon Radzinowicz
  Sir Leon Radzinowicz (August 15, 1906 – December 29, 1999) was an academic criminologist and the founding director of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge.
  He was born in Łódź, Poland and arrived in Cambridge in the late 1930s. During World War II he established the Department of Criminal Science in the Faculty of Law, and in 1959 he became the first Wolfson Professor of Criminology. He was knighted in 1970.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Leon_Radzinowicz
• 
  Leonor Varela
  Leonor Varela Palma (born December 29, 1972) is a Chilean actress, and model. She played the character Cleopatra in the 1999 film Cleopatra. She also has actively participated in various ecological causes such as "Save Whales Again".
  Varela was born in Santiago, Chile, the daughter of Leonor, a massage therapist, and Chilean biologist and cognitive neuroscientist Francisco Varela García. She has a sister, Alejandra, and two brothers, Javier and Gabriel. Her mother, Leonor Palma, was of French, Hungarian and Syrian descent. Varela's family fled to Costa Rica in her early childhood when her homeland was overtaken by a military regime. She subsequently resided in Germany, the U.S., and France. In the early 1990s, her parents moved back to Chile, while she remained in Paris where she studied acting at the Niels Arestrup School, L'École du Passage, and Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris.
  Varela's first acting job was in 1995, playing Anette in Pony Trek, a children's film. Filming was in Iceland and Leonor was riding horses for three months. Then, referred to a French filmmaker by her dentist, she played in Shooting Stars (1997). Varela found her popularity on the rise at home when she was cast in the Chilean soap opera Tic Tac.
  
  wn.com/Leonor_Varela
• 
  Leopold Kronecker
  Leopold Kronecker (December 7, 1823 – December 29, 1891) was a German mathematician who worked on number theory and algebra. He criticized Cantor's work on set theory, and was quoted by Weber (1893) as having said, "God made integers; all else is the work of man". Kronecker was a student and lifelong friend of Ernst Kummer.
  Leopold Kronecker was born on 7 December 1823 in Liegnitz, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland) in a wealthy Jewish family. His parents, Isidor and Johanna (née Prausnitzer), took care of their children's education and provided them private tutoring at home - Leopold's younger brother Hugo Kronecker would also follow a scientific path later becoming a notable physiologist. Kronecker then went to the Liegnitz Gymnasium where he was interested in a wide range of topics including science, history and philosophy, while also practicing gymnastics and swimming. At the gymnasium he was taught by Ernst Kummer, who noticed and encouraged the boy's interest for mathematics.
  In 1841 Kronecker became a student at the University of Berlin where his interest did not immediately focus on mathematics, but rather spread over several subjects including astronomy and philosophy. He spent the summer of 1843 at the University of Bonn to study astronomy and 1843-44 at the University of Breslau following his former teacher Kummer. Back in Berlin, Kronecker studied mathematics with Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and in 1845 defended his dissertation in algebraic number theory written under Dirichlet's supervision.
  
  wn.com/Leopold_Kronecker
• Liddy Holloway
  Elizabeth Brenda "Liddy" Holloway (27 March 1947 – 29 December 2004) was a New Zealand actress.
  Born in Wellington, New Zealand, the daughter of a politician, Phil Holloway, Liddy Holloway originally worked as a journalist. She switched to acting and had a long career in the theater. She also acted in Australia in the early 1980s, with acting roles in feature films Squizzy Taylor and The Clinic. She also acted on Australian television, appearing in guest roles in several episodes of soap opera Prisoner, a series for which she also wrote some scripts.
  Holloway moved to Los Angeles briefly in 1990 to give Hollywood a try, but did not stay long. She eventually garnered international attention for her recurring role as Hercules' mother on the syndicated adventure series, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a role she played intermittently from 1995 to 1998.
  Holloway also found wide recognition in her home country through her 1992-1998 lead role of Alex McKenna in the popular soap opera Shortland Street. Holloway was also a writer for the series. She was the first person to champion making the book The Whale Rider into a feature film. Holloway fought with the Film Commission because she wanted a writing credit for her work on the 2002 feature.
  
  wn.com/Liddy_Holloway
• 
  Lita Grey
  Lita Grey (April 15, 1908 – December 29, 1995) was an American actress and the second wife of Charlie Chaplin. She was born in Hollywood, California, in 1908, to a Mexican-born mother and a father of Irish heritage and christened Lillita Louise MacMurray.
  Grey married four times. In 1924, when she was 16 years old, she suspected she had become pregnant by Charlie Chaplin, who was then 35. Chaplin, who could have been imprisoned for having sexual relations with a minor, married her in secret in Empalme, Sonora, Mexico to avoid a scandal. They had two children, Charles Chaplin, Jr. (1925–1968) and Sydney Earle Chaplin (1926–2009).
  The marriage was troubled from the start. The two had few interests in common, and Chaplin spent as much time as he could away from home, working on The Gold Rush (in which Grey was to have played the female lead) and later The Circus. They divorced on August 22, 1927, due to his alleged numerous affairs with other women, and he was ordered to pay over US$600,000 and US$100,000 in trust for each child. It was the largest divorce settlement up to that time. The divorce was one of the sensational media events of the time. Copies of her lengthy divorce complaint which made then-scandalous sexual claims against Chaplin were published and publicly sold.
  
  wn.com/Lita_Grey
• 
  Louis XV of France
  Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774) was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, though Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, his first cousin twice removed, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723. Cardinal de Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinal's death in 1743, at which time the young king took over control of the Kingdom.
  Louis enjoyed a favorable reputation at the beginning of his reign and earned the epithet "le Bien-Aimé" ("the Beloved"). In time, the debauchery of his court, his ill-advised financial policies, the return of the Austrian Netherlands (which were gained following the Battle of Fontenoy) at Aix-la-Chapelle, and the cession of New France at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War led Louis to become one of the most unpopular kings in the history of France. He even suffered an assassination attempt in 1757. However, his reign saw the incorporation of Lorraine and Corsica to the Kingdom.
  
  wn.com/Louis_XV_of_France
• 
  Madame de Pompadour
  Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour (29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764, French pronunciation: [pɔ̃.pa.duːʁ]) was a member of the French court and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.
  Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, otherwise known as Reinette ('little queen') to her friends, was born on 29 December 1721 in Paris to François Poisson and his wife Madeleine de La Motte. However, it is suspected that her biological father was either the rich financier Pâris de Montmartel or the tax collector (fermier général) Le Normant de Tournehem, who became her legal guardian when François Poisson was forced to leave the country in 1725 after a scandal over a series of unpaid debts, a crime at that time punishable by death. Poisson was cleared eight years later and allowed to return to France. Her younger brother was Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, who would later become the marquis de Marigny.
  Jeanne Antoinette was intelligent, beautiful, and refined. She spent her younger childhood at the Ursuline convent in Poissy where she received a good education. At adolescence, her mother took personal charge of her education at home by hiring tutors who taught her to recite entire plays by heart, play the clavichord, dance, sing, paint and engrave. She became an accomplished actress and singer, and also attended Paris's Club de l'Entresol (formed in 1724 and suppressed in 1731). The greatest expense of her education was undoubtedly the employment of renowned singers and actors, such as Pierre Jélyotte, much of it paid for by Le Normant de Tournehem; and it may have been this in particular that sparked rumours of his paternity to Jeanne Antoinette.
  
  wn.com/Madame_de_Pompadour
• Margot Thien
  Margot Thien (born December 29, 1971) is an American competitor in synchronized swimming and Olympic champion.
  She was part of the American team that received a gold medal in synchronized swimming at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Margot_Thien
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  Marianne Faithfull
  Marianne Evelyn Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades.
  Her early work in pop and rock music in the 1960s was overshadowed by her struggle with drug abuse in the 1970s. During the first two-thirds of that decade, she produced only two little-noticed studio albums. After a long commercial absence, she returned late in 1979 with the highly acclaimed album, Broken English. Faithfull's subsequent solo work, often critically acclaimed, has at times been overshadowed by her personal history.
  From 1966 to 1970, she had a highly publicised romantic relationship with Rolling Stones' lead singer, Mick Jagger. She co-wrote "Sister Morphine", which is featured on the Stones' Sticky Fingers album.
  Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London. Her father, Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, was a British military officer and professor of psychology. Her mother, Eva von Sacher-Masoch, Baroness Erisso, was originally from Vienna, with aristocratic roots in the Habsburg Dynasty and Jewish ancestry on her maternal side. Erisso was a ballerina for the Max Reinhardt Company during her early years, and danced in productions of works by the German theatrical duo Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Faithfull's maternal great great uncle was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the nineteenth-century Austrian nobleman whose erotic novel, Venus in Furs, spawned the word "masochism". In regard to her roots in nobility, Faithfull commented in March 2007 prior to beginning the European leg of her tour, "I'm even going to Budapest, which is nice because I'm half English and half Austro Hungarian. I've inherited the title Baroness Sacher-Masoch—it comes from one of my great uncles who gave his name to masochism."
  
  wn.com/Marianne_Faithfull
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  Marie Menken
  Marie Menken (born "Marie Menkevicius", May 25, 1909 – December 29, 1970), was an American experimental filmmaker, painter, and socialite. She is noted for her unique filming style that incorporated collage as well as a strong influence from her background in painting.
  Menken was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 25, 1909, to a Catholic-Lituanian immigrant couple. She studied at the New York School of Fine and Industrial Arts as well as the Art Students League of New York and honed her craft as a painter. To support herself, she worked as a secretary at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum before receiving a scholarship from Yaddo and moving to upstate New York.
  Menken and her husband Willard Maas began a well-respected avant-garde art group known as The Gryphon Group in the mid-1940s. It was around this time that Menken, bored of the static nature of paint on canvas, began to experiment with film. She released her first film Visual Variations on Noguchi in 1945 to acclaim within the experimental art circles of the time. She used a hand-held and hand-cranked 16mm Bolex camera for this as well as many of her later films, contributing to the spontaneity and agility of her work. Noguchi is a non-narrative film that combines quick, decontextualized shots of the sculptures of Isamu Noguchi with shrill, discordant music.
  
  wn.com/Marie_Menken
• Martin Offiah
  Martin Offiah MBE (born 29 December 1966 in London, England) is an English former rugby league and rugby union footballer.
  He is known as "Chariots" Offiah after the film Chariots of Fire. When playing in Australia, he was also known as "Great Balls" Offiah after the Jerry Lee Lewis song.
  Since retiring Offiah has also provided commentary for Sky Sports rugby league coverage and worked as a player agent.
  A Londoner, Offiah attended Woolverstone Hall School near Ipswich, Suffolk, where he represented the school at fencing and played rugby and cricket. He played for Essex 2nd XI but soon realised his main talent was for rugby. At club level, he first played rugby union for Rosslyn Park and after starring on the Sevens circuit and for the Barbarians, there was talk of an England future.
  Offiah was spotted by Widnes coach Doug Laughton playing in the Middlesex Sevens and was "brought North" to play rugby league for the 1987–88 season. Alex Murphy had been interested in acquiring Offiah from rugby union, but the board of directors at St. Helens infamously referred to Offiah as an "uncoordinated clown" and the interest was not followed up with action. It was at Widnes where he forged his reputation as a devastating winger, scoring 181 tries in 145 games. By his second season at Widnes, Offiah's performance was rewarded with selection for the Great Britain national team and the prestigious Man of Steel award.
  
  wn.com/Martin_Offiah
• 
  Mary Tyler Moore
  Mary Tyler Moore (born December 29, 1936) is an American actress, primarily known for her roles in television sitcoms. Moore is best known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–77), in which she starred as Mary Richards, a 30-something single woman who worked as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and for her earlier role as Laura Petrie (Dick Van Dyke's wife) on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–66). She also appeared in a number of films, most notably 1980's Ordinary People, in which she played a role that was the polar opposite of the television characters she had portrayed, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Moore has also been active in charity work and various political causes, particularly around the issues of animal rights and Diabetes mellitus type 1. Mary Tyler Moore was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the beginning of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and also dealt with alcoholism, which was treated in the 1980s. In May 2011, Moore underwent elective brain surgery to remove a benign meningioma.
  
  wn.com/Mary_Tyler_Moore
• Matthew Carr
  Matthew Carr (born 29 December 1978) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fremantle and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played as a half-back flanker and began his football career at East Fremantle. Matthew is the brother of Josh Carr, who also played for Fremantle and they both attended Corpus Christi College in Bateman, Western Australia.
  Carr was drafted by Collingwood with the 64th selection in the 1995 AFL Draft, from East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League, but did not manage to make his debut for the Magpies. He then returned to East Fremantle in 1997, before being drafted by the St Kilda with their 1st round selection in the 1998 Pre-Season Draft. Carr played another year in the reserves before making his AFL debut in 1999. He played 28 games for the Saints over two seasons before being traded to Fremantle.
  Carr was traded to Fremantle at the 2000 AFL Draft by St Kilda in exchange for Craig Callaghan. He played 21 games in Fremantle's disastrous 2001 season. He played every game in 2002 and after an excellent 2003 season, in which he was sixth in Fremantle's best and fairest, his 2004 season was severely disrupted by injury. An ankle problem early in the season and a broken leg later in the season saw Carr restricted to just 11 games.
  
  wn.com/Matthew_Carr
• Matthew Kandegas
  Postminimalist Artist Matthew Kingston Kandegas was born December 29, 1960 in a poor section of south Seattle called White Center. Kandegas is a native speaker of Suomi. He formally trained with Seattle art instructors Norman Lundin and Sharon Munger. Kandegas' work reflects the Postminimalist echo of simpler times when the hand was used to create things, such as works on paper, and how the obsolescence of paper (and the paper-clip by extension) fulfills the ultimate Postminimalist destiny of complete separation of artist and artwork. He had his first exhibit of his work in November 2007 at Form/Space Atelier at the advanced age of 45 and is represented by Form/Space Atelier, Seattle. He has become known for his paintings of paperclips and association with Kyle MacDonald, a performative artist and author of One Red Paper Clip... a book detailing MacDonalds art performance wherein he traded 14 times from a paperclip to a house. Kandegas is in the private collections of MacDonald and Lindsay Daniel, and the public collections of the Low Income Housing Institute, Cascade People's Center and other charitable organizations. His next scheduled exhibit is February 2010 at Form/Space Atelier, Seattle.
  
  wn.com/Matthew_Kandegas
• 
  Mekhi Phifer
  Mekhi Thira Phifer ( /mɛˌkaɪ ˈfaɪfər/; born December 29, 1974) is an American actor. He portrayed Dr. Greg Pratt on NBC's long-running medical drama ER and had a co-starring role opposite Eminem in the feature film 8 Mile. He was a regular on the Fox crime show Lie to Me in the role of Ben Reynolds, before season 3, and also starred as CIA agent Rex Matheson in Torchwood: Miracle Day.
  Phifer was born in Harlem, New York City, the son of Rhoda Phifer, a high school teacher from Somalia; he grew up in a single-parent household with his mother.
  In 1995, Phifer attended an open casting call for director Spike Lee’s Clockers, beating over a thousand others to get the lead role as a narcotics dealer embroiled in a murder cover-up. He followed that role with another in the comedy spoof feature High School High (which also starred his former wife Malinda Williams) and continued by co-starring in the fright flick I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr.
  
  wn.com/Mekhi_Phifer
• Mike Beuttler
  Michael Simon Brindley Bream Beuttler (13 April 1940 – 29 December 1988) was a British Formula One driver who raced privately entered March cars. He was born in Cairo, Egypt.
  He was a talented Formula Three graduate from the late 1960s, who then graduated to Formula Two and then to Formula One in 1971. The finance for the team came from a group of stockbroker friends from whom the team took its name - at first Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie Racing, and in 1973 it became Clarke-Mordaunt-Guthrie-Durlacher Racing. He raced on one occasion, at the 1971 Canadian Grand Prix, for the works March team. Beuttler's best result was a seventh place in the 1973 Spanish Grand Prix.
  Beuttler retired from racing the following year and eventually moved to the United States, where he died of complications resulting from AIDS in 1988, in Los Angeles, aged 48.
  Beuttler was also the brother-in-law of politician Alan Clark.
  
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  wn.com/Mike_Beuttler
• Mireille Hartuch
  Mireille Hartuch (30 September 1906 – 29 December 1996) was a French singer, composer, and actress. She was generally known by the stage name "Mireille".
  She was born in Paris to Jewish parents. Her mother came from a family of musicians and as a child Mireille was taught to play the piano and encouraged to pursue a career in music. As a teenager she worked in live theatre and, influenced by the music of the great dance halls of Paris, she began composing music for the theatre. For her performances, she was billed simply as Mireille, the single name a common practice at the time. In 1928 she began a collaboration with lyricist Jean Nohain (1900–1981) that led to considerable success for many years.
  Fluent in the English language, she spent two years in the United States, first in New York City where she performed in a Broadway play before going on to Hollywood. In 1931, she appeared in a film with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and another with Buster Keaton. Back in France, her songwriting career took off when her songs were recorded by the great French singers of the time, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Trenet and a young Jean Sablon.
  
  wn.com/Mireille_Hartuch
• 
  Miroslav Krleža
  Miroslav Krleža (Croatian pronunciation: [mǐrɔ̝slav̞ kř̩le̞ʒa]) (July 7, 1893 - December 29, 1981) was a leading Croatian and Yugoslav writer and the dominant figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the Kingdom (1918–1941) and the Republic (1945 until his death in 1981). He has often been proclaimed the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century.
  Miroslav Krleža was born in Zagreb, modern-day Croatia. He enrolled in a preparatory military school in Pécs, modern-day Hungary. At that time, Pécs and Zagreb were within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Subsequently, he attended the Ludoviceum military academy at Budapest. He defected to Serbia in 1912 as a volunteer for the Serbian army, but was dismissed as a suspected spy. Upon his return to Croatia, he was demoted in the Austro-Hungarian army and sent as a common soldier to the Eastern front in World War I. In the post-World War I period Krleža established himself both as a major Modernist writer and politically controversial figure in Yugoslavia, a newly created country which encompassed South Slavic lands of the former Habsburg Empire and the kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro.
  
  wn.com/Miroslav_Krleža
• 
  Mitsuhiro Ishida
  Mitsuhiro Ishida (石田光洋, born December 29, 1978) is a Japanese mixed martial artist who has competed in Shooto, Strikeforce and Pride. He currently competes in Dream and is known for his wrestling ability and endurance.^{[citation needed]} He holds notable wins over Justin Wilcox and Gilbert Melendez.
  Ishida's pro debut was on July 6, 2001 at Shooto: To the Top 6 against Daisuke Sugie where he lost via unanimous decision. He then went on to win his next four fights. On February 17, 2006 he defeated Kenichiro Togashi to obtain the Shooto Pacific Rim Championship Belt.
  At Pride Shockwave 2006 he lost to Takanori Gomi in a non-title fight on December 31, 2006, his first defeat in that organization. As a result of the loss to Gomi, he was unable to defend his Shooto Pacific Rim Welterweight Championship at a mandatory title defense in February 2007.
  His most notable victory to date was a unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated Gilbert Melendez at Yarennoka!. He made his U.S mainland debut at Strikeforce: Playboy Mansion defeating Justin Wilcox by armbar.
  
  wn.com/Mitsuhiro_Ishida
• 
  Muhammad Iqbal
  Sir Muhammad Iqbal (Urdu: محمد اقبال) (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938), also known as Allama Iqbal (Urdu: علامہ اقبال), was a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages.
  Iqbal is admired as a prominent classical poet by Pakistani, Indian and other international scholars of literature. Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times". His first poetry book, Asrar-e-Khudi, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Payam-i-Mashriq and Zabur-i-Ajam. Amongst these his best known Urdu works are Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim and a part of Armughan-e-Hijaz. Along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his various Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political disputes over the years. In 1922, he was knighted by King George V, giving him the title "Sir".
  
  wn.com/Muhammad_Iqbal
• 
  Nadezhda Mandelstam
  Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandelstam (Russian: Наде́жда Я́ковлевна Мандельшта́м, née Khazina; 30 October [O.S. 18 October] 1899 – 29 December 1980) was a Russian writer and educator, and the wife of the poet Osip Mandelstam, who died in 1938 in a transit camp to the gulag of Siberia. She wrote two memoirs about their lives together and the repressive Stalinist regime: Hope Against Hope (1970) and Hope Abandoned (1974), both first published in the West in English, translated by Max Hayward.
  Of these books the critic Clive James has written:
  "Hope Against Hope puts her at the centre of the liberal resistance under the Soviet Union. A masterpiece of prose as well as a model of biographical narrative and social analysis it is mainly the story of the terrible last years of persecution and torment before the poet [her husband Osip] was murdered. The sequel, Hope Abandoned, is about the author's personal fate, and is in some ways even more terrible, because, as the title implies, it is more about horror as a way of life than as an interruption to normal expectancy. [The two books] were key chapters in the new bible that the twentieth century had written for us."
  
  wn.com/Nadezhda_Mandelstam
• 
  Nels Stewart
  Robert Nelson "Old Poison" Stewart (December 29, 1902 – August 21, 1957) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Maroons, New York Americans and Boston Bruins in the National Hockey League. He is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
  Born in Montreal, Quebec, Stewart began play as an amateur at age 18 for the Cleveland Indians of the United States Amateur Hockey Association, leading the league in goals scored in four out of the five seasons he played before he and Babe Siebert were signed by the expansion Montreal Maroons of the NHL in 1925. Nicknamed "Old Poison," and with Siebert and veteran stars Clint Benedict, Punch Broadbent and Reg Noble, he would lead the Maroons to the Stanley Cup championship that season. Stewart himself led the league in goal- and point-scoring that year, and become one of the few rookies in history to win the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player.
  Stewart would later center the legendary "S Line", with Hooley Smith and Siebert, and star for the Maroons for seven seasons in all, winning a second Hart Trophy in 1930, having led the league once more with 39 goals in 44 games. As the Great Depression deepened, though, the Maroons had increasing financial problems — eventually folding in 1938 — and sold Stewart to the Boston Bruins for cash. His glittering play continued for the Bruins, finishing second in team scoring each of his three full seasons with the team, despite being moved back to defence a fair bit.
  
  wn.com/Nels_Stewart
• 
  Nie Rongzhen
  Nie Rongzhen (simplified Chinese: 聂荣臻; traditional Chinese: 聶榮臻; pinyin: Niè Róngzhēn; Wade–Giles: Nieh Jung-chen) (December 29, 1899 - May 14, 1992) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, and one of ten Marshals in the People's Liberation Army of China. He was the last surviving PLA officer with the rank of Marshal.
  
  wn.com/Nie_Rongzhen
• 
  Oliver Hirschbiegel
  Oliver Hirschbiegel (born 29 December 1957) is a German film director. His works include Das Experiment and the Oscar nominatedDer Untergang.
  A Waldorf graduate, Hirschbiegel studied painting and graphic arts, later film, at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts. In 1986, he directed his first film, the made-for-TV movie Das Go! Projekt, the script for which he had written himself. He became a successful TV director, directing numerous episodes of the Tatort and Kommissar Rex series. His first theatrical release was the well-received Das Experiment, followed by Mein letzter Film, which also met with critical approval.
  In 2004, he attracted world-wide attention with the movie Der Untergang (released in English-speaking countries as Downfall), produced by Bernd Eichinger. It recounts Adolf Hitler's last days, and sparked an extensive debate in Germany over the portrayal of Nazi leaders. The film was a critical and commercial success, winning numerous awards and a nomination for the Academy Award for the best foreign film. One scene from the film has become the basis for a widespread viral video phenomenon.
  
  wn.com/Oliver_Hirschbiegel
• 
  Pablo Casals
  Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpaw kəˈzaɫs]; December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973), known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time. He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor, but he is perhaps best remembered for the recordings of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939.
  
  
  Casals was born in El Vendrell, Catalonia, Spain. His father, Carlos Casals i Ribes (1852–1908), was a parish organist and choirmaster. He gave Casals instruction in piano, song, violin, and organ. He was also a very strict disciplinarian. When Casals was young his father would pull the piano out from the wall and have him and his brother, Arturo, stand behind it and name the notes and the scales that his father was playing. At age four Casals could play the violin, piano and flute; at the age of six he played the violin well enough to perform a solo in public. His first encounter with a cello-like instrument was from witnessing a local traveling Catalan musician, who played a cello-strung broom handle. Upon request, his father built him a crude cello, using a gourd as a sound-box. When Casals was eleven, he first heard the real cello performed by a group of traveling musicians, and decided to dedicate himself to the instrument.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Pablo_Casals
• 
  Patricia Clarkson
  Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. After studying drama on the East Coast, Clarkson launched her acting career in 1985 (a guest spot on Spenser: for Hire being one of her first acting jobs), and has worked steadily in both film and television. She twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in Six Feet Under. Film roles included The Green Mile, Far From Heaven, Shutter Island and The Station Agent, and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Pieces of April (2003).
  Clarkson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Jacquelyn (née Brechtel), a local New Orleans politician and councilwoman, and Arthur, a school administrator who worked at the Department of Medicine of Louisiana State University.
  Clarkson studied drama at Fordham University, where she graduated summa cum laude, and earned her MFA at the Yale School of Drama before making her film debut in The Untouchables in 1987.
  Clarkson's Broadway theatre credits include The House of Blue Leaves and Eastern Standard.
  
  wn.com/Patricia_Clarkson
• Paul Rudnick
  Paul M. Rudnick (born December 29, 1957) is an American playwright, screenwriter and novelist. His plays include I Hate Hamlet, Jeffrey, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla and The New Century. He also wrote for Premiere magazine under the pseudonym Libby Gelman-Waxner, and for Spy.
  Rudnick grew up in Piscataway Township, New Jersey. He is Jewish and openly gay.
  Rudnick also wrote the initial drafts for the film Sister Act. However, he left the project before completion, distancing himself from the final product by choosing the pseudonym "Joseph Howard" for the writing credit.
  The gay farce Social Disease (1986), reminiscent of the early Evelyn Waugh of Vile Bodies, and I'll Take It (1990) a tale of Jewish life in America. Extasy Club (1997).
  
  wn.com/Paul_Rudnick
• 
  Paul Whiteman
  Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader and orchestral director.
  Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman produced recordings that were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz". Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin's jazz-influenced "Rhapsody In Blue". Whiteman recorded many jazz and pop standards during his career, including "Wang Wang Blues", "Mississippi Mud", "Rhapsody in Blue", "Wonderful One", "Hot Lips", "Mississippi Suite", and "Grand Canyon Suite". His popularity faded in the swing music era of the 1930s, and by the 1940s Whiteman was semi-retired from music.
  Whiteman's place in the history of early jazz is somewhat controversial. Detractors suggest that Whiteman's ornately-orchestrated music was jazz in name only (lacking the genre's improvisational and emotional depth), and co-opted the innovations of black musicians. Defenders note that Whiteman's fondness for jazz was genuine (he worked with black musicians as much as was feasible during an era of racial segregation), that his bands included many of the era's most esteemed white jazz musicians, and argue that Whiteman's groups handled jazz admirably as part of a larger repertoire. In his autobiography, Duke Ellington declared, "Paul Whiteman was known as the King of Jazz, and no one as yet has come near carrying that title with more certainty and dignity."
  
  wn.com/Paul_Whiteman
• 
  Paula Poundstone
  Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian.
  Poundstone was born in Huntsville, Alabama, and her family moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts. Poundstone attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, but dropped out to pursue a show business career. Her jobs have included busing tables and working as a bicycle messenger.
  Paula Poundstone started doing stand-up comedy at open-mic nights in Boston in 1979. She characteristically performs dressed in a suit and tie. In 1984, Poundstone was cast in the movie Hyperspace but she did not further pursue an acting career. Instead, she continued as a comedian and began appearing on several talk shows. In 1989, she won the American Comedy Award for "Best Female Stand-Up Comic." In 1990, she wrote and starred in an HBO special called Cats, Cops and Stuff, for which she won a CableACE Award. She worked as a political correspondent for the Tonight Show during the 1992 US Presidential campaign and did the same for The Rosie O'Donnell Show in 1996. In 1993, Poundstone won a second CableACE Award, and began writing the column, "Hey, Paula!" for Mother Jones (1993–1998). Paula featured in her own variety show, The Paula Poundstone Show, on ABC (which lasted only two episodes). She was also a regular panelist for the game shows Hollywood Squares and To Tell the Truth, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
  
  wn.com/Paula_Poundstone
• Pete Dye
  Paul B. "Pete" Dye (born December 29, 1925) is a world-renowned golf course designer and a member of a famous family of course designers. He is married to fellow designer and former amateur champion Alice Dye.
  Pete Dye was born in Urbana, Ohio. A few years before Pete's birth, his father, "Pink" Dye, got hooked on golf and built a nine-hole course on family land in Champaign County. Pete worked and played that course while growing up. He won the Ohio State High School Golf Championship and medaled in the Ohio State Amateur Golf Championship before he went into the Army in 1944. He attended United States Army Airborne School at Fort Benning in Georgia to be a paratrooper, but World War II ended before he was sent overseas. He was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina where he served the rest of his hitch as greenskeeper on the base golf course. Pete Dye explained,
  "I played the golf course at Pinehurst No. 2 for six solid months, and I got to know Mr. Donald Ross...(who) had built the Fort Bragg golf course. He would come over and watch us play golf, and most of the time the captain and colonel hauled me over there. They didn't know who Mr. Ross was, but the other fellow walking with him was JC Penney, and they all knew him."
  
  wn.com/Pete_Dye
• Philippe Panneton
  Philippe Panneton (pseudonym Ringuet, which was his mother's maiden name) (April 30, 1895 – December 28, 1960) was a Canadian physician, academic, diplomat and writer.
  Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, he received a degree in medicine from Université Laval in 1920. In 1935 he became a professor at the Université de Montréal. In 1944 he was a founding member of L’Académie canadienne-française (now known as the Académie des lettres du Québec) and served as its president from 1947 until 1953. In 1956, he was named ambassador to Portugal, and died in Lisbon in 1960.
  In 1959 he was awarded the Lorne Pierce Medal.
  
  wn.com/Philippe_Panneton
• Pierre Dagenais
  Pierre Dagenais (born December 29, 1978) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player currently playing for Akwesasne Warriors of the Federal Hockey League.
  Pierre Dagenais began his junior career after being drafted by the Moncton Alpines of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) when he was 17 years old. He quickly became a young star on his team, leading the team in points and goals in his rookie campaign in the 1995-96 season. Dagenais was drafted 47th overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by the New Jersey Devils, but remained in the QMJHL.
  Six games into the following season, Dagenais was traded to the Laval Titan for Mathieu Letourneau. At mid-season he was traded to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies for Yannick Hubert and Jean-Philippe Soucy.
  In the 1997–98 season, Dagenais led the QMJHL in goals and was second in points. That year Dagenais met Mike Ribeiro, who finished second in points after Pierre. Ribeiro and Dagenais developed a great friendship while playing on the same line throughout the entire season.
  
  wn.com/Pierre_Dagenais
• Pimp C
  Chad Lamont Butler (December 29, 1973 – December 4, 2007), better known by his stage name Pimp C, was an American rapper, singer, and producer. Pimp C is best known for his work with Bun B as a founding member of the Underground Kingz (UGK) and is widely considered a pioneer of the signature Houston, Texas scene and sound.
  Butler formed the rap group Underground Kingz (colloquially known as UGK) with best friend Bernard "Bun B" Freeman. In 1987, Jive Records signed UGK and released Too Hard to Swallow, followed by the critically acclaimed Super Tight. The group's third album, Ridin' Dirty, reached #2 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and their momentum was continued with features on the popular singles "Big Pimpin'" with Jay-Z and "Sippin On Some Syrup" by Three 6 Mafia. UGK's fourth album, Dirty Money, was distributed in 2001.
  Due to Butler's incarceration in 2002, UGK wouldnt release another studio album until 2007's Underground Kingz which included "International Player's Anthem (I Choose You)" featuring Outkast.
  
  wn.com/Pimp_C
• 
  Prince Takamado
  wn.com/Prince_Takamado
• 
  Rainer Maria Rilke
  René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (German pronunciation: [ˈʁaɪnɐ maˈʁiːa ˈʁɪlkə]; 4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian-Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language. His haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety: themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets.
  He wrote in both verse and a highly lyrical prose. Among English-language readers, his best-known work is the Duino Elegies; his two most famous prose works are the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He also wrote more than 400 poems in French, dedicated to his homeland of choice, the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
  
  wn.com/Rainer_Maria_Rilke
• Rajesh Khanna
  Rajesh Khanna  pronunciation (help·info); (born Jatin Khanna on 29 December 1942) is an Indian actor of Hindi films, and has been Hindi film producer and an Indian politician.
  He appeared in 163 films of which 106 had him as the solo lead hero and 22 were two hero projects. He won three Filmfare Best Actor Awards and was nominated for the same fourteen times. He received the maximum BFJA Awards for Best Actor (Hindi) – four times and nominated 25 times. He was awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005. Khanna is referred to as the "First Superstar" of Hindi cinema. He made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat and rose to prominence with his performances in films like Raaz, Baharon Ke Sapne, Ittefaq and Aradhana.
  Khanna was born in Amritsar on 29 December 1942. He was adopted and raised by foster parents who were relatives of his biological parents. Khanna lived in Thakurdwar near Girgaon. Khanna attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School in Girgaum, along with his friend Ravi Kapoor, who later took the stage name Jeetendra. Their mothers were friends. Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre and did a of stage and theater plays in his school and college days and won many prizes in the inter college drama competitions. Khanna became a rare newcomer who struggled in his own MG sports car to get work in theatre and films in the early sixties. Both friends later studied in Kishinchand Chellaram College(KC). When Jeetendra went for his first film audition, it was Khanna who tutored him. Khanna's uncle changed Khanna's first name to Rajesh when Khanna decided to join films. His friends and his wife call him Kaka.
  
  wn.com/Rajesh_Khanna
• Ramanand Sagar
  Ramanand Sagar (29 December 1917 – 12 December 2005) (born Chandramauli Chopra) was an Indian film director. He is most famous for making the extremely popular Ramayan television series, a 78-part TV adaptation of the ancient Hindu epic of the same name, starring Arun Govil as Lord Ram and Deepika Chikhalia as Sita.
  Ramanand Sagar was born at Asal Guru Ke near Lahore. His great-grandfather, Lala Shankar Das Chopra, migrated from Peshawar to Kashmir. Ramanand was adopted by his childless maternal grandmother and, although his original name was "Chandramauli," it was changed to "Ramanand" by his adoptive family. Sagar worked as a peon, truck cleaner, soap vendor, goldsmith apprentice etc. during the day and studied for his degree at night.
  He was a gold medalist in Sanskrit and Persian from the University of Punjab in 1942. He was also editor of newspaper Daily Milap. He wrote many short stories, novels, poems, plays, etc. under names like "Ramanand Chopra", "Ramanand Bedi" and "Ramanand Kashmiri". In 1942 when he caught tuberculosis he wrote a subjective column “Diary of a T.B. patient” about his fight. The column was published in series in the magazine Adab-e-Mashriq in Lahore.
  
  wn.com/Ramanand_Sagar
• 
  Ray Nitschke
  Raymond Ernest "Ray" Nitschke (December 29, 1936 – March 8, 1998) was a professional football player who played his entire career as a middle linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Wearing #66, he played fifteen seasons, from 1958-72.
  Nitschke was born on December 29, 1936 in Elmwood Park, Illinois. His father, Robert, and Nitschke's mother, Anna, had two other children, Robert Jr. (age 8) and Richard (age 4). His father was killed in a car accident in 1940. Anna died of a blood clot when Ray was 13. Robert (age 21) and Richard (age 17) decided they would raise Ray on their own.
  Ray entered Proviso High School in Maywood shortly before his mother's death. The loss of both parents enraged Nitschke, and the lack of a parental disciplinarian to quell his rage, caused him to engage in fights with other kids in the neighborhood. His freshman year at Proviso, Ray played fullback on one of the school's three football teams. He was a poor student at school and his grades eventually caught up with him as he was declared academically ineligible to play sports his sophomore year. This embarrassment he would lament for the rest of his life.
  
  wn.com/Ray_Nitschke
• Ray Thomas
  Ray Thomas (born 29 December 1941, Stourport-on-Severn, England) is an English musician, best known as the flautist and as a singer and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues.
  In the 1960s, Thomas joined the Birmingham Youth Choir. He began singing with various Birmingham blues and soul groups, including the Saints and Sinners as well as the Ramblers. Taking up the harmonica, he then started a band with bass guitarist and future Moody Blues bandmate John Lodge. The two performed together in El Riot and the Rebels. After a couple of years, keyboardist and friend Mike Pinder, another future Moody, joined as well. Thomas and Pinder (sans Lodge) were later in a band called Krew Cats. El Riot and the Rebels had once opened for The Beatles in Tenbury Wells; the Krew Cats formed in 1963 and played in Hamburg and other places in Northern Germany, possibly at some of the same venues which the Beatles had played although this is unconfirmed.
  Thomas and Pinder then recruited guitarist Denny Laine along with drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick to form a new, blues-based band. The name of the band, chosen by Pinder, was "The Moody Blues", chosen from initials which were part of a hoped-for sponsorship from the M&B Brewery (which failed to materialise) and also as a subtle reference to Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo."
  
  wn.com/Ray_Thomas
• 
  Richard Feynman
  Richard Phillips Feynman ( /ˈfaɪnmən/; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics (he proposed the parton model). For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965. He developed a widely used pictorial representation scheme for the mathematical expressions governing the behavior of subatomic particles, which later became known as Feynman diagrams. During his lifetime, Feynman became one of the best-known scientists in the world. In a 1999 poll of 130 leading physicists worldwide by the British journal Physics World he was ranked as one of the ten greatest physicists of all time.
  He assisted in the development of the atomic bomb and was a member of the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In addition to his work in theoretical physics, Feynman has been credited with pioneering the field of quantum computing, and introducing the concept of nanotechnology. He held the Richard Chace Tolman professorship in theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  
  wn.com/Richard_Feynman
• 
  Richie Sexson
  Richmond Lockwood "Richie" Sexson (born December 29, 1974 in Portland, Oregon) is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played for five teams from 1997 to 2008. At 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m) tall, he is the tallest position player in the history of the major leagues.
  At Prairie High School in Brush Prairie, Washington, Sexson was an All-State performer in baseball, basketball, and football. He also set the school record for the most RBI and home runs in a career.
  Sexson was drafted in 1993 by the Cleveland Indians in the 24th round (671st overall) of the baseball amateur draft. He reached the major leagues with five games in 1997. Sexson played 49 games in 1998. He batted .305 with 11 home runs and 35 RBIs. Sexson had a breakout year in 1999 with 31 home runs, and 116 runs batted in in 134 games.
  In 2000, Sexson was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers with a player to be named later, for Bob Wickman, Steve Woodard, and Jason Bere. In 2001, his 45 home runs tied the Brewers record set by Gorman Thomas in 1979. His 178 strikeouts also broke the Brewers record, but that was re-broken the following season by José Hernández. In 2002, Sexson represented the Milwaukee Brewers in the MLB All-Star Game which was played in Milwaukee. Sexson would hit .279 with 29 home runs and 102 RBIs. In 2003, he played in all 162 games and again tied the Brewers record of 45 home runs while hitting .272 and earning a selection to the 2003 MLB All-Star Game. Prince Fielder broke Sexson's and Thomas's team record in 2007, hitting 50 home runs.
  
  wn.com/Richie_Sexson
• 
  Rick Danko
  Richard Clare "Rick" Danko (December 29, 1942 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician and singer, best known as a member of The Band.
  The third of four sons, Danko was born in Green's Corners, Ontario, a farming community outside of the town of Simcoe, to a musical family of Ukrainian descent.
  Growing up in front of the family radio (as his future bandmates also did), he was exposed to country and R&B music at an early age. His musical heroes included Hank Williams and, later, Sam Cooke. He also drew inspiration from the music of his oldest brother, Maurice "Junior" Danko. Danko's younger brother, Terry, also became a musician. After entering the first grade in school, he performed on a 4 string tenor banjo.
  Danko formed the Rick Danko Band at the age of 12 or 13, and at 14, he left school to pursue music. At 17, already a five-year music veteran, he booked himself as the opening act for Ronnie Hawkins, an American rockabilly singer whose group, The Hawks, were considered to be one of the best in Canada.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Rick_Danko
• 
  Robin Milford
  Robin Milford (22 January 1903–29 December 1959) was an English composer.
  Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School from 1916 where his musical talent for the piano, flute and theory was recognised, and studied at the Royal College of Music from 1921 to 1926. His composition teachers were Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and he studied harmony and counterpoint under R. O. Morris. He also studied organ.
  In 1927, he married. Realising that he would not be able to make a living solely as a composer he worked for a time with the Aeolian Company correcting Duo-Art pianola rolls until 1930. He also taught part-time at Ludgrove School (where his pupils included the music enthusiast George Lascelles, later 7th Earl of Harewood) and at Downe House School. In 1929 he had met fellow-composer Gerald Finzi, with whom he found he had much in common, personally and musically, and the two formed a lifelong friendship.
  
  wn.com/Robin_Milford
• Roger Voudouris
  Roger Voudouris (29 December 1954 - 3 August 2003) was an American singer-songwriter/guitarist best known for his 1979 hit, "Get Used To It".
  Voudouris was born in Sacramento, California and formed Roger Voudouris Loud as Hell Rockers while still in high school. That band would later enjoy small success while performing as an opening act for The Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills and John Mayall.
  His first solo album was the self titled Roger Voudouris released in 1978 which received little interest from radio or other media. However, Voudouris' second album Radio Dream contained the pop hit "Get Used To It" peaking at #21 in 1979 on the Billboard Hot 100.
  Radio Dream was followed a year later with the 1980 A Guy Like Me album and later by the 1981 album On The Heels Of Love. While A Guy Like Me and On the Heels of Love did not achieve the success of his previous album, Voudouris did achieve quite a large amount of success in Japan where his musical style was very popular. He also became a small cult-figure in Australia after appearing on the popular music television program "Countdown" in August 1979. In his appearance on the show he wore a figure hugging white outfit while miming "Get Used To It" into a wind machine, which made his long hair flow. This led to his brief status as a sex symbol in that country.
  
  wn.com/Roger_Voudouris
• 
  Ronald Coase
  Ronald Harry Coase (/ˈkoʊs/; born 29 December 1910) is a British-born, America-based economist and the Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago Law School. After studying with the University of London External Programme in 1927–29, Coase entered the London School of Economics, where he took courses with Arnold Plant. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1991.
  Coase is best known for two articles in particular: "The Nature of the Firm" (1937), which introduces the concept of transaction costs to explain the nature and limits of firms, and "The Problem of Social Cost" (1960), which suggests that well-defined property rights could overcome the problems of externalities (see Coase Theorem). Coase is also often referred to as the "father" of reform in the policy for allocation of the electromagnetic spectrum, based on his article "The Federal Communications Commission" (1959), where he criticizes spectrum licensing, suggesting property rights as a more efficient method of allocating spectrum to users. Additionally, Coase's transaction costs approach is currently influential in modern organizational economics, where it was reintroduced by Oliver E. Williamson.
  
  wn.com/Ronald_Coase
• Ryan Shore
  Ryan Shore is a Grammy Award nominated composer for film, television, records and games. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and is the nephew of composer Howard Shore.
  Ryan Shore’s recent scores include Prime starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman; The Girl Next Door; Scout’s Honor starring Bill Murray and Alec Baldwin; Harvard Man starring Adrian Grenier and Sarah Michelle Gellar; Lower Learning starring Rob Corddry and Jason Biggs; Numb starring Matthew Perry and Mary Steenburgen; Stan Helsing from the executive producer of Scary Movie; Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (named Aint It Cool News’ Top 10 Scores of the Year); Vulgar produced by Kevin Smith; Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever; and Offspring for Sam Raimi's distribution company.
  Shore received a 2012 Grammy Award nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for his score for The Shrine.
  Shore created many of the full orchestral original arrangements and orchestrations for Jackie Evancho's holiday album, "Heavenly Christmas", for Columbia Records, released on November 1, 2011.
  
  wn.com/Ryan_Shore
• 
  Sean Payton
  Patrick Sean Payton (born December 29, 1963) is the currently suspended head coach of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. Payton was a quarterback at Naperville Central High School and Eastern Illinois University and played professionally in 1987 and 1988. He began his coaching career as offensive assistant for San Diego State University and had several assistant coaching positions in collegiate and NFL teams before being named as the 10th full-time coach in Saints history in 2006.
  Under Payton, the New Orleans Saints made the 2006 NFL playoffs after a 3–13 season in 2005, and Payton won the AP NFL Coach of the Year Award because of this effort. Following the 2009 season, the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl championship.
  On March 21, 2012, Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 NFL season, originally set to take effect April 1, 2012, as a result of his involvement in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, under which "bounties" were paid for interceptions, forced fumbles and contact that would "knock out" targeted players on opposing teams. Payton filed an appeal of his suspension with the league the Friday before it was set to take effect. On April 9, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denied his appeal; his suspension began on April 16.
  
  wn.com/Sean_Payton
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  Sebastian Castellio
  Sebastian Castellio (also Sébastien Châteillon, Châtaillon, Castellión, and Castello) (1515 – December 29, 1563) was a French preacher and theologian; and one of the first Reformed Christian proponents of religious toleration, freedom of conscience and thought.
  Castellio was born in 1515 at Saint-Martin-du-Frêne in the village of Bresse of Dauphine, the country bordering Switzerland, France, and Savoy. Under the Savoyard rule his family called itself Chateillon, Chatillon, or Chataillon. Having been educated at the age of twenty at the University of Lyon, Castellio was fluent in both French and Italian, and became an expert in Latin, Hebrew and Greek as well. Subsequently he learned German as he started to write theological works in the various languages of Europe.
  Evidently his education, zeal and theological knowledge were so outstanding that he was considered to be one of the most learned men of his time, equal, if not superior, to John Calvin. Regarding Castellio, Voltaire wrote: "We can measure the virulence of this tyranny by the persecution to which Castellio was exposed at Calvin's instance—although Castellio was a far greater scholar than Calvin, whose jealousy drove him out of Geneva."
  
  wn.com/Sebastian_Castellio
• 
  Shaun Suisham
  Shaun Christopher Suisham ( /ˈswiːzəm/; born December 29, 1981) is a Canadian placekicker of American football for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at Bowling Green.
  Suisham has also been a member of the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.
  Suisham was born in Wallaceburg, Ontario to Rick and Wendy Suisham. The 1999 conference offensive MVP, Suisham graduated from Wallaceburg District Secondary School. In 1998, Suisham kicked two field goals (from 58 and 27 yards) and helped Wallaceburg win the league championship for the first time since 1968. Starting from the spring 2000 semester, Suisham attended Bowling Green State University. Injured during spring practice, Suisham redshirted his freshman season and was on the active roster from 2001 to 2004. He played under coach Urban Meyer in 2001 and 2002.
  In the 2004 CFL Draft, the Ottawa Renegades drafted Suisham and traded his rights to the Edmonton Eskimos. Suisham never signed with either team.
  
  wn.com/Shaun_Suisham
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  Shawn Hatosy
  Shawn Wayne Hatosy (born December 29, 1975) is an actor with over 45 film and television credits to his name.
  Hatosy was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Carol (née Owens), a loan officer, and Wayne Hatosy, a graphic designer and event planning director. He grew up in the Loch Haven neighborhood of Ijamsville, Maryland, attended New Market Middle School, and graduated from Linganore High School. Larry James, who still resides in Frederick, MD, was his high school basketball coach. Larry says that "he was a star in his own right" on and off the court. Hatosy's middle name, Wayne, is taken from his father. (He also has an older sister). Hatosy was raised Roman Catholic; his mother served on the Parish Council at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Ijamsville. Shawn is married and has a son, and currently lives in Los Angeles, CA.
  Hatosy's two most recent films are Public Enemies (2009), starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, and the remake of the 1992 cult classic Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), in which Hatosy portrays Nicolas Cage's partner, Armand Benoit.
  
  wn.com/Shawn_Hatosy
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  Shizuka Arakawa
  Shizuka Arakawa (荒川 静香, Arakawa Shizuka^?, born December 29, 1981) is a Japanese figure skater.
  She is the 2006 Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles and the 2004 World Champion. Arakawa is the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating and the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic medal in figure skating, after Midori Ito, who won silver in 1992. She is also the second Japanese woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, following skier Tae Satoya. She was the only Japanese medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
  Arakawa retired from competitive skating following her Olympic win and began skating professionally in ice shows and exhibitions. She also works as a skating sportscaster for Japanese television.
  Arakawa was born in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in Sendai, Miyagi. She is the only child of Koichi and Sachi Arakawa and was named Shizuka after Shizuka Gozen.^{[citation needed]}
  In March 2000, Arakawa enrolled at Waseda University and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in social sciences in 2004, while still competing as a skater. She won the 2004 World Figure Skating Championships days after completing her graduation examinations at Waseda University.^{[citation needed]}
  
  wn.com/Shizuka_Arakawa
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  Stefano Eranio
  Stefano Eranio (born 29 December 1966 in Genova, Italy) is an Italian former football player, most remembered for his time with AC Milan and Genoa. Eranio played as a winger and represented Italy 20 times between 1990 and 1997. He was voted one of Derby County's 11 greatest ever footballers.
  Stefano Eranio started his professional football career with Genoa in August 1984. His first five seasons at Genoa were in Serie B before in 1989 the club were promoted to Serie A. In total, Eranio played for the club for eight seasons before he moved to AC Milan in August 1992. At Milan he won three league titles (1993, 1994 and 1996), three Italian Super Cups (1992, 1993 and 1994) and he also played in two Champions League finals. The first was in 1992–93 when Milan lost 1–0 to Olympique de Marseille, and the second was in 1994–95 when his club lost 1–0 to Ajax Amsterdam. Part of the team's successful campaign in 1993–94, he did not play in the final due to injury. He added to his trophy collection with the 1994 European Super Cup.
  
  wn.com/Stefano_Eranio
• Syed Kirmani
  Padma Sri Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani (Kannada: ಸೈಯದ್ ಮುಜ್ತಾಬ ಹುಸೇನ್ ಕಿರ್ಮಾನಿ)  pronunciation (help·info) (born December 29, 1949, in Madras) played cricket for India and Karnataka as a wicket-keeper.
  Popularly known as 'Kiri', Syed Kirmani is generally regarded as the finest wicket keeper to play for India^{[citation needed]}.
  He started off as an understudy to Farokh Engineer in the tours of England in 1971 and 1974 and to the 1975 Cricket World Cup. Kirmani made his debut against New Zealand and in his second Test, equalled the world record of six victims in an innings. He followed this with an atrocious series in West Indies where he missed numerous chances and considerably contributed to Vivian Richards scoring hundreds in three consecutive Tests.
  When New Zealand toured India the next year, he topped the batting averages with 65.33, and scored 305 runs in the tour of Australia. He did not have a very good time behind the stumps against Pakistan and West Indies in 1978–79.
  He was dropped in favour of Bharath Reddy for the 1979 Cricket World Cup and the subsequent series against England. Sunil Gavaskar was also sacked as the captain. Though Kirmani was dropped ostensibly for performance, there was a rumour that the real reason was that both he and Gavaskar had been approached by the organisers of the Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket.
  
  wn.com/Syed_Kirmani
• Takashi Asahina
  Takashi Asahina (朝比奈 隆, Asahina Takashi^?, 9 July 1908—29 December 2001) was a Japanese conductor.
  Born in Tokyo, he founded the Kansai Symphonic Orchestra (today the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra) in 1947 and remained its chief conductor until his death in Kobe. Inspired by a meeting with Wilhelm Furtwängler in the 1950s, he began a lifelong attachment to the music of Anton Bruckner, recording the complete Bruckner symphonies several times. For many years he was associated with the North German Radio Orchestra in Hamburg. Towards the end of his life he made several appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
  
  wn.com/Takashi_Asahina
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  Ted Danson
  Edward Bridge 'Ted' Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor, author and producer, well known for his role as lead character Sam Malone in the sitcom Cheers, and his role as Dr. John Becker on the series Becker. He is currently starring in the CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He also plays a recurring role on Larry David's HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm, starred alongside Glenn Close in legal drama Damages and was a regular on the HBO comedy series Bored to Death.
  In his 30-year career, Danson has been nominated for 15 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning two; ten Golden Globe Awards nominations, winning three; one Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination; one American Comedy Award and a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. He was ranked second in TV Guide's list of the top 25 television stars. Danson has also been a longtime activist in ocean conservation. In March 2011, he published his first book, Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans And What We Can Do To Save Them, written with journalist Michael D'Orso.
  
  wn.com/Ted_Danson
• Theo Epstein
  Theo Nathan Epstein (born December 29, 1973) is the President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.
  On November 25, 2002, he became the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28. In 2004, he was general manager of the club that won the first World Series championship by the Red Sox in 86 years and was in the position when the team won another championship in the 2007 season. Epstein resigned in October 2005, but was rehired as GM and Executive Vice President on January 24, 2006. On October 21, 2011 he resigned from his job in Boston to become President of Baseball Operations for the Chicago Cubs.
  He attended Deerfield Academy (a 1991 graduate), and never played baseball for the Brookline High School Warriors, but dreamed of working for the Red Sox. Epstein has a fraternal twin brother, Paul Epstein; together they founded a charity, "Foundation to be Named Later." Epstein's grandfather, Philip G. Epstein, and great-uncle, Julius J. Epstein, won Academy Awards for the screenplay of Casablanca, while his father, the novelist Leslie Epstein, is the head of the Creative Writing Program at Boston University. Epstein's sister, Anya Epstein, was a writer for the television series Homicide: Life on the Street and Tell Me You Love Me. On January 1, 2007, Epstein married Marie Whitney, a volunteer at Horizons for Homeless Children. An early report on the marriage from Boston Globe sportswriter Gordon Edes reported the site of the wedding was Nathan's Famous hot dog stand at Coney Island. Edes later published a correction, noting that he had fallen for a prank by Theo's father, Leslie. The site and actual date of the wedding was never released, but the Boston Herald later published a story claiming the wedding took place on Red Sox owner John Henry's yacht in Saint Thomas. On December 12, 2007, Epstein's wife gave birth to the couple's first child, Jack, in Boston, Massachusetts.
  
  wn.com/Theo_Epstein
• 
  Thomas Becket
  Thomas Becket (also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London, and later Thomas à Becket;circa 1118 – 29 December 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over the rights and privileges of the Church and was murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his death, he was canonized by Pope Alexander III.
  The main sources for the life of Becket are a number of biographies that were written by contemporaries. A few of these documents are by unknown writers, although traditional historiography has given them names. The known biographers are John of Salisbury, Edward Grim, Benedict of Peterborough, William of Canterbury, William fitz Stephen, Guernes of Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Robert of Cricklade, Alan of Tewkesbury, Benet of St Albans, and Herbert of Bosham. The other biographers, who remain anonymous, are generally given the pseudonyms of Anonymous I, Anonymous II (or Anonymous of Lambeth), and Anonymous III (or Lansdowne Anonymous). Besides these accounts, there are also two other accounts that are likely contemporary that appear in the Quadrilogus II and the Thomas Saga Erkibyskups. Besides these biographies, there is also the mention of the events of Becket's life in the chroniclers of the time. These include Robert of Torigni's work, Roger of Howden's Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi and Chronica, Ralph Diceto's works, William of Newburgh's Historia Rerum, and Gervase of Canterbury's works.
  
  wn.com/Thomas_Becket
• Thomas Sydenham
  Thomas Sydenham (10 September 1624 – 29 December 1689) was an English physician. He was born at Wynford Eagle in Dorset, where his father was a gentleman of property. His brother was Colonel William Sydenham. Thomas fought for the Parliament throughout the English Civil War, and, at its end, resumed his medical studies at Oxford. He became the undisputed master of the English medical world and was known as 'The English Hippocrates’. Among his many achievements was the discovery of a disease, Sydenham's Chorea, also known as St Vitus Dance.
  At the age of eighteen Sydenham was entered at Magdalen Hall, Oxford; after a short period his college studies appear to have been interrupted, and he served for a time as an officer in the Parliamentarian army during the Civil War. He completed his Oxford course in 1648, graduating as bachelor of medicine, and about the same time he was elected a fellow of All Souls College. It was not until nearly thirty years later (1676) that he graduated as M.D., not at Oxford, but at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where his eldest son was by then an undergraduate.
  
  wn.com/Thomas_Sydenham
• Tim Hardin
  James Timothy "Tim" Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk musician and composer. He wrote the Top 40 hits "If I Were a Carpenter", covered by, among others, Bobby Darin, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, The Four Tops, and Robert Plant; his song "Reason to Believe" has been covered by by many artists, including Rod Stewart (who had a chart hit with the song). Hardin is also known for his own recording career.
  Hardin was born in Eugene, Oregon and attended South Eugene High School. He dropped out of high school at age 18 to join the Marine Corps. He spent part of 1959 in Vietnam as a military advisor.^{[citation needed]} Hardin is said to have discovered heroin in Vietnam.
  After his discharge he moved to New York City in 1961, where he briefly attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was dismissed because of truancy and began to focus on his musical career by performing around Greenwich Village, mostly in a blues style.
  After moving to Boston in 1963 he was discovered by the record producer Erik Jacobsen (later the producer for The Lovin' Spoonful), who arranged a meeting with Columbia Records. In 1964 he moved back to Greenwich Village to record for his contract with Columbia. The resulting recordings were not released and Columbia terminated Hardin's recording contract.
  
  wn.com/Tim_Hardin
• 
  Trophimus of Arles
  According to Catholic lore, Saint Trophimus of Arles (also called Trophime) was the first bishop of Arles, in today's southern France.
  It was an early tradition of the Church that under the co-Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus (251 AD), Pope Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul, to preach the Gospel: Gatien to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Paul to Narbonne, Saturninus to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges.
  From the mid-fifth century local tradition has assimilated Trophimus of Arles with the Trophimus mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a companion of Saint Paul. Though the Martyrium romanum identifies him as the disciple of Paul, the identification is spurious. Saint Trophîme, as he is in French, does not rate a biography in the Catholic Encyclopedia, but the church at Arles dedicated to him, built from the 12th century onwards over a third-century crypt, is one of the glorious monuments of Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Provence. In its cloister a corner figure in the north gallery, dated about 1180, represents Trophimus.
  
  wn.com/Trophimus_of_Arles
• Tyron Perez
  Tyron Perez (14 September 1985 – 29 December 2011) was a model, actor and TV host and an alumnus of the reality based talent search StarStruck. He became famous after joining StarStruck in 2003 and started the leading role as Dwight in the 2006 movie Twilight Dancers.
  Jojo Perez was born in Brgy. Alfonso, Concepcion, Tarlac. Perez grew up a farmer's son in his hometown. with the rice fields as his playground. He was the youngest among six children.
  "He and his father would rise with the sun," said Tyron who quit his Fine Arts studies (freshman at the Bulacan State University) when he joined the GMA star-search StarStruck (first batch, with Mark Herras and Jennylyn Mercado). "There, on top of the carabao, he dreams to be in showbiz. He imagined himself acting with Kris Aquino, his crush and idol. Until he was in high school (at the Benigno Aquino National High School), he and his dad would milk their carabaos early mornings and sell the milk. Sometimes, they would sleep in the middle of the rice fields when we had to water the seedlings (nagpapatubig ng palay)." Before joining Starstruck, Perez first became a member of a late-night variety show of Kuya Germs' Master Showman Presents' Walang Tulugan. As part of the said late-night show, he was a member of a teen group performing weekly called "MSP Teenstars."
  
  wn.com/Tyron_Perez
• 
  Venustiano Carranza
  Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (28 December 1859 – 21 May 1920) was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. He ultimately became President of Mexico following the overthrow of the dictatorial Huerta regime in the summer of 1914, and during his administration the current constitution of Mexico was drafted. He was assassinated near the end of his term of office at the behest of a cabal of army generals resentful at his insistence that his successor be a civilian.
  Carranza was born in the town of Cuatro Ciénegas, in the state of Coahuila, in 1859, to an upper middle-class cattle-ranching family. His father, Jesús Carranza, had been a rancher and mule driver until the time of the Reform War (1857–1861), in which he fought against the Indians and on the Liberal side. During the Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), Jesús Carranza became a colonel and was Benito Juárez's main contact in Coahuila. Jesus Carranza's connection to Juarez caught the attention of Venustiano, who would idolize Juarez.
  
  wn.com/Venustiano_Carranza
• Vincent Winter
  Vincent Winter (29 December 1947 – 2 November 1998) was a Scottish film actor who was successful as a child actor.
  Winter was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and made his first film appearance at the age of six in The Little Kidnappers (1954) winning, along with his co-star Jon Whiteley, an Academy Juvenile Award. He appeared in several films as a child including Beyond This Place (1959) and the Walt Disney features Greyfriars Bobby (1961), Almost Angels (1962) and The Three Lives of Thomasina (1964).
  As an adult he continued to work in films behind the scenes, and was a production manager on such films as For Your Eyes Only (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and The Color Purple (1985).
  He died in Chertsey, England, as a result of a heart attack.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Vincent_Winter
• Violet MacMillan
  Violet MacMillan (March 4, 1887 – December 29, 1953), was an American actress in Broadway theatre productions, vaudeville, and silent motion pictures. She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  MacMillan gained fame as the Cinderella Girl in a contest to discover a woman with feet small enough to wear a Cinderella golden slipper. She was hesitant, but entered a Broadway show, and won. Her foot measured an 11½ children's size.
  Soon she had a leading part in the original production of the musical, The Time, The Place and The Girl. While engaged in this play, in the 1908 season, the actress had surgery at Harper Hospital, Detroit, Michigan. She completed a successful vaudeville tour in 1916. She participated in the stage production, The Wishing Slippers, at Universal City, California. Another play of note is In And Out of the Movies. She performed in this vaudeville oddity, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the fall of 1917.
  In motion pictures Miss MacMillan joined the stock company of The Oz Film Manufacturing Company (where she appeared in the company's logo, with her face on a black background) and debuted in the film version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914) and The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914) and the lost series of L. Frank Baum-written and produced shorts, Violet's Dreams, in which she played a girl named Claribel who had fairy-tale adventures in her dreams. She was an actress for Universal Pictures. She made twenty-six motion pictures, ending with the role of Violet Bronson in The Mystery Mind (1920). Among her co-stars in films were Lon Chaney, Blanche Ring, Trixie Friganza, and Julian Eltinge. Violet retired from show business in 1922.
  
  wn.com/Violet_MacMillan
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  Viveca Lindfors
  Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors (29 December 1920 – 25 October 1995), better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.
  Lindfors was born in Uppsala, Sweden, the daughter of Karin Emilia Therese (née Dymling) and Axel Torsten Lindfors. She trained at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School, Stockholm. Soon after, she became a theater and film star in Sweden. She moved to the United States in 1946 after being signed by Warner Bros. and began working in Hollywood. She appeared in more than one hundred films including Night Unto Night, No Sad Songs for Me, Dark City, King of Kings, Creepshow, and Stargate.
  She appeared with actors such as Ronald Reagan, Jeffrey Hunter, Charlton Heston, Lizabeth Scott and Errol Flynn. She also appeared on television, including the 1959 episode "The Temple of the Swinging Doll" of the NBC espionage drama Five Fingers, starring David Hedison. Later, she had a recurring role on the ABC series Life Goes On, for which she won an Emmy Award. Lindfors appeared with Joseph Cotten and Ward Bond in the 1957 film The Halliday Brand. One of her last performances was in the original Stargate film in which she played the role of Catherine Langford.
  
  wn.com/Viveca_Lindfors
• Wayne Huizenga
  Harry Wayne Huizenga (pronounced /haɪˈzɛŋɡə/; born December 29, 1939 in Evergreen Park, Illinois) is an American businessman who grew Blockbuster Video, Waste Management, Inc., and AutoNation into successful companies. He is the former owner of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, the National Hockey League's Florida Panthers and the Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins.
  H. Wayne Huizenga is of Dutch descent. His parents, Gerrit Harry and Jean Huizenga, were both products of the Chicago Dutch community. Wayne was born in Evergreen Park, a Chicago suburb, on December 29, 1939. He has one sister, Bonnie, who is five years younger. Wayne grew up in Evergreen Park until he was about 15 when the Huizenga family moved to Florida and settled in the Fort Lauderdale area.
  Wayne spent part of his high school years in the Chicago area, where he attended Timothy Christian School. His family then moved to Florida, the remainder of his high school years were spent at Pine Crest School. Wayne is remembered by his Pine Crest teachers and classmates as a happy and popular student who played on the school's football team, was elected to senior class treasurer, and earned decent grades.^{[citation needed]} After high school graduation Wayne moved back to Chicago where most of his friends, grandparents and other relatives still lived. In 1956 he enrolled at Calvin College, a liberal arts college in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  
  wn.com/Wayne_Huizenga
• 
  Wilhelm Maybach
   Wilhelm Maybach (help·info) (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈmaɪbax]; 9 February 1846 – 29 December 1929) was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of constructors".
  From the late 19th century Wilhelm Maybach, together with Gottlieb Daimler, developed light, high-speed internal combustion engines suitable for land, water, and air use. These were fitted to the world's first motorcycle, motorboat, and after Daimler's death, to a new automobile introduced in late 1902, the Mercedes model, built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek.
  Maybach rose to become technical director of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, or DMG, (and never known by the English name of the quite separate English business, The Daimler Motor Company) but he did not get on well with its chairmen. As a result Maybach left DMG in 1907 to found Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH together with his son Karl in 1909; they manufactured Zeppelin engines. After the signing of the Versailles Treaty in 1919 the company started producing large luxury vehicles, branded as "Maybach". The company joined the German war effort in 1940, ceasing automotive production in favour of tank engines, including those for Tiger tanks.
  
  wn.com/Wilhelm_Maybach
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  William Bainbridge
  William Bainbridge (May 7, 1774 – July 27, 1833) was a Commodore in the United States Navy, notable for his victory over HMS Java during the War of 1812.
  Born in Princeton, New Jersey, eldest son of Dr. Absalom Bainbridge and Mary (Taylor) Bainbridge. His father, a loyalist during the American Revolution, served as a surgeon in the British Army and was convicted of high treason by the State of New Jersey and successfully filed for damages with the American Loyalist Claims Commission. He had two brothers: Joseph, who also became a Navy captain, and John T.; and a sister, Mary. He was raised by his maternal grandfather, John Taylor, Esq., of Middleton, New Jersey as his father left for England in 1783 and his mother remained behind due to her ill health (though his father returned to the United States and died in New York City in 1807).
  At the age of 14, William Bainbridge went to sea in the merchant service, and was in command of a trading schooner (a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel with two or more masts) at an early age. The American trading vessels of that period were supposed to be excluded by the navigation laws from commerce with the British West Indies, though with the concealed or very slightly disguised assistance of the planters, they engaged in a good deal of contraband commerce.
  
  wn.com/William_Bainbridge
• William Gaddis
  William Thomas Gaddis, Jr. (December 29, 1922 – December 16, 1998) was an American novelist. The first and longest of his five novels, The Recognitions, was named one of TIME magazine's 100 best novels from 1923 to 2005 and two others won the annual U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. A collection of his essays was published posthumously as The Rush for Second Place (2002).
  Gaddis is one of the first and most important American postmodern writers. Because of their complexity and inventiveness in structure and style, his novels are often challenging to read; for example, his National Book Award winners J R and A Frolic of His Own are written almost entirely in dialogue form and without much description, which sometimes confuses which character is speaking. His books are also known for their extensive use of literary and cultural allusions, some of which are annotated in the The Gaddis Annotations.
  Gaddis was born in New York City to William Thomas Gaddis, who worked "on Wall Street and in politics", and Edith Gaddis, an executive for the New York Steam Corporation. When he was 3, his parents separated and Gaddis was subsequently raised by his mother in Massapequa, Long Island. At age 5 he was sent to Merricourt Boarding School in Berlin, Connecticut. He continued in private school until the eighth grade, after which he returned to Long Island to receive his diploma at Farmingdale High School in 1941. He entered Harvard in 1941 and famously wrote for the Harvard Lampoon (where he eventually served as President), but was asked to leave in 1944, supposedly because of a drunken brawl, though the circumstances are unclear.^{[citation needed]} He worked as a fact checker for The New Yorker for little over a year (late February 1945 until late April 1946), then spent five years traveling in Mexico, Central America, Spain, France, England, and North Africa, returning to the United States in 1951.
  
  wn.com/William_Gaddis
• William James Linton
  William James Linton (December 7, 1812 - December 29, 1897) was an English-born American wood engraver, landscape painter, political reformer and author of memoirs, novels, poetry and non-fiction.
  Born in Mile End, London, his family moved to Stratford, Essex in 1818. The young Linton was educated at Chigwell Grammar School, an early 17th century foundation attended by many sons of the Essex and City of London middle classes.
  In his sixteenth year Linton was apprenticed to the wood-engraver George Wilmot Bonner (1796–1836). His earliest known work is to be found in Martin and Westall's Pictorial Illustrations of the Bible (1833). He rapidly rose to a place amongst the foremost wood-engravers of the time. After working as a journeyman engraver with two or three firms, losing his money over a cheap political library called the "National," and writing a life of Thomas Paine, he went into partnership in 1842 with John Orrin Smith. The firm was immediately employed on the Illustrated London News, just then projected. The following year Orrin Smith died, and Linton, who had married a sister of Thomas Wade, editor of Bell's Weekly Messenger, found himself in sole charge of a business upon which two families were dependent.
  
  wn.com/William_James_Linton
• Yuhi Sekiguchi
  Yuhi Sekiguchi (関口雄飛, Sekiguchi Yuhi^?, born December 29, 1987 in Nakano, Tokyo) is a Japanese racing driver.
  Sekiguchi competed in two races of the 2004 Asian Formula Renault Challenge for the Asia Racing Team, scoring no points.
  Sekiguchi drove in the Japan-based Formula Toyota in 2005 and 2006, winning the drivers' championship in his second year in the series.
  Sekiguchi also competed in Formula Challenge Japan in 2006, winning the drivers' title in this championship in addition to his FToyota success.
  Sekiguchi moved up to the All-Japan Formula Three series for 2007, driving for the Now Motorsport team. He finished seventh overall in the points standings.
  Sekiguchi moved to Europe in 2008 to compete in the International Formula Master championship. He finished sixteenth in the points standings, with two fourth-placed finishes at Imola and Monza.
  Sekiguchi took part in a Japanese Super GT race in 2008, scoring one point in the GT300 class. He has competed in several Super GT races in every year since then.
  
  wn.com/Yuhi_Sekiguchi
• 
  Yvonne Elliman
  Yvonne Marianne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer who performed for four years in the first cast of Jesus Christ Superstar. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved a #1 hit with "If I Can't Have You." After a long hiatus in the 80s and 90s, during which time she dedicated herself to her family, she made a comeback album as a singer-songwriter in 2004.
  Elliman's father was of Irish descent, and her mother shared Japanese and Chinese ancestries. She was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and graduated from President Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1970. Her father taught her how to play the piano. She played in the high-school band, and after graduation she moved to London.
  Elliman's singing career began in 1969 in London where she performed as a singer at various bars and clubs. At the time she did not like what she was singing and was singing for the money. She was doing drugs and liked the music of the Jefferson Airplane. An unknown, she was discovered by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, who asked her to sing Mary Magdalene's part in Jesus Christ Superstar, and later invited her to join the traveling cast, which she did for four years. This performance led to a 1974 Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for the film version of "Jesus Christ Superstar". She had her first hit single in 1971 with the ballad "I Don't Know How to Love Him", from Jesus Christ Superstar. The song was her first entry on the U.S. charts, peaking at #28 pop in 1971, although a cover version by Helen Reddy was a bigger hit. In the end, she sang Jesus Christ Superstar on the 1970 concept album, in the original Broadway cast (1971), and starred and sang it in the 1973 film by the same title.
  
  wn.com/Yvonne_Elliman
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  Ágnes Szávay
  Ágnes Szávay (Hungarian: Szávay Ágnes, pronounced [ˈsaːvɒ.i ˈaːɡnɛʃ]; born December 29, 1988) is a professional tennis player from Hungary. She was the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2007. She achieved her career high ranking of World No. 13 on April 14, 2008.
  Szávay was born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary and grew up in Soltvadkert, Hungary. She started to play tennis at the age of six, with her parents acting as her first coaches and managers. Her previous coaches were Zoltán Újhidy, Levente Barátosi, Miklós Hornok, József Bocskay, Zoltán Kuharszky, Karl-Heinz Wetter and Gábor Köves. She has a younger sister, Blanka, who is five years younger than her and currently plays on the junior circuit.
  In 2006 she made it to the final of the Ashland Challenger tournament, but lost there to Aleksandra Wozniak 6–1, 7–6 (2).
  Szávay won her first career WTA-level tournament in singles in Palermo, Italy in July. The win caused her ranking to rise to World No. 37, which was the first time she had been included in the top 40. She also won one doubles tournament, the Tier III Budapest Grand Prix, with Vladimíra Uhlířová.
  
  wn.com/Ágnes_Szávay