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• 
  

• 
  Armory Show
  Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of US National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors. The exhibition ran in New York City's 69th Regiment Armory, on Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets, from February 17 until March 15, and became an important event in the history of American art, introducing astonished New Yorkers, accustomed to realistic art, to modern art. The show served as a catalyst for American artists, who became more independent and created their own "artistic language".
  The Armory Show was the first exhibition mounted by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors and was run by their president, Arthur B. Davies, secretary Walt Kuhn, and Walter Pach. It displayed some 1,300 paintings, sculptures, and decorative works by over 300 avant-garde European and American artists. Impressionist, Fauvist, and Cubist works were represented.
  
  wn.com/Armory_Show
• 
  Azerbaijan
  Azerbaijan (ⁱ/ˌæzərbaɪˈdʒɑːn/ AZ-ər-by-JAHN; Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Respublikası) is the largest country in the Caucasus region located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bounded by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, while having a short borderline with Turkey to the northwest.
  Azerbaijan has an ancient and historic cultural heritage. Aside from having been the first Muslim-majority country to have operas, theater and plays, Azerbaijan today is among the Muslim-majority countries where support for secularism and tolerance is the highest. The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war. Azerbaijan has come under repeated international criticism for its record on human rights.
  
  wn.com/Azerbaijan
• 
  Bahrain
  Bahrain ( pronunciation) (Arabic: ‏البحرين‎, al-Baḥrayn) (Persian: ‏بحرين‎, Baḥrain), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين‎,  Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,234,571, including 666,172 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.
  Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The peninsula of Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.
  Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal'at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.
  
  wn.com/Bahrain
• 
  Capture of Columbia
  The capture of Columbia occurred February 17–18, 1865, during the Carolinas Campaign of the American Civil War. The state capital of Columbia, South Carolina, was captured by Union forces under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman and much of the city was burned.
  Following the fall of Savannah, Georgia, at the end of his "March to the Sea", Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman turned his combined armies northward to unite with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia and to cut General Robert E. Lee's supply lines to the Deep South. He planned to march through South Carolina to Columbia, then capture and destroy the Confederate arsenal at Fayetteville, North Carolina, before uniting with the XXIII Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. John Schofield, at Goldsboro, North Carolina. To confuse the Confederates, he sent his left wing westward towards Augusta and his right wing eastward towards Charleston.
  Confederate forces in South Carolina were part of the Department of the West, under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard. He attempted to defend both Augusta and Charleston and divided his available forces between the two cities to defend them as long as possible. He hoped that doing so would give the Confederacy an advantage during negotiations at the Hampton Roads peace conference; he also thought that he could reconcentrate his forces if Sherman changed course for Columbia.
  
  wn.com/Capture_of_Columbia
• 
  Constantinople
  Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis; Ottoman Turkish: قسطنطینیه, Qostantiniyye; and modern Turkish: İstanbul) was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin and the Ottoman Empires. It was founded in AD 330, at ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine I, after whom it was named. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages, and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire, which was eventually reduced to the city and its environs.
  Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. An inner wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a triple wall of fortifications, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Bosporus, and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes and towers. The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.
  
  wn.com/Constantinople
• 
  Denmark
  The Kingdom of Denmark (Danish: Kongeriget Danmark, pronounced [ˈkɔŋəʁiːəð ˈdanmɑɡ̊] ( listen)) is a constitutional monarchy and sovereign state consisting the country of Denmark in northern Europe and two autonomous constituent countries, the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and Greenland in North America. The kingdom is a unitary state with some power being devolved from Denmark proper to Greenland and the Faroe Islands; this polity is referred to as the Danish Realm. Denmark proper is the hegemonial area, where judicial, executive, and legislative power resides. The Faroe Islands are defined to be a community of people within the kingdom, and the Greenlandic people are defined as a separate people with the right to self-determination.
  Denmark is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, located southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland and many islands, most notably Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm, as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago.
  
  wn.com/Denmark
• 
  Dithmarschen
  Dithmarschen (German pronunciation: [ˈdɪtmaʁʃən], Low Saxon pronunciation: [ˈdɪtmaːʃn̩], archaic in English: Ditmarsh, Middle Latin: Tedmarsgo) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the state of Lower Saxony (district of Stade, from which it is separated by the Elbe river), and by the North Sea.
  The district is located on the North Sea. It is embraced by the Elbe estuary to the south and the Eider estuary to the north. Today it forms a kind of artificial island, surrounded by the Eider river in the north and the Kiel Canal in both the east and southeast. It is a rather flat countryside that was once full of fens and swamps.
  To the north it borders on Nordfriesland and Schleswig-Flensburg, to the east on Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and in the southeast on Steinburg. Its landward boundaries have remained basically the same since the times of Charlemagne. Land reclamation, however, has almost doubled the size of Dithmarschen as land has been wrested from the sea.
  
  wn.com/Dithmarschen
• 
  Ecuador
  Ecuador (ⁱ/ˈɛkwədɔr/ E-kwə-dawr), officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador [reˈpuβlika ðel ekwaˈðor], which literally translates to the "Republic of the Equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, (along with Chile), that do not have a border with Brazil. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, about 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) west of the mainland.
  The main spoken language in Ecuador is Spanish. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 275,830 km² (106,500 sq mi). Its capital city is Quito, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s for having the best preserved and least altered historic center in Latin America. The country's largest city is Guayaquil. The historic center of Cuenca, the third largest city in the country, was also declared a World Heritage Site in 1999, for being an outstanding example of a planned inland Spanish style colonial city in the Americas. Ecuador is also home—despite its size—to a great variety of species, many of them endemic, like those of the Galápagos islands. This species diversity makes Ecuador one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world. The new constitution of 2008 is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.
  
  wn.com/Ecuador
• Garadaghly Massacre
  Garadaghly Massacre (Azerbaijani: Qaradağlı qətliamı) Garadaghli Massacre, Qaradaghli Massacre was the killing of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians by Armenian troops in the village of Garadaghly on 17 February 1992 during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
  Garadaghly is a village in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan which was mostly populated with ethnic Azerbaijanis.When the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started, the village became one of the main targets of attacks by Armenian armed units. The first victims were the three villagers killed on November 24, 1989. On January 9, 1990 the head of the Narimanov collective farm, S. Bayramov was killed. On March 8, 1990 two villagers from Garadaghly were killed on Varandali farm near the village. During the night of June 28-29, 1991 the first Armenian organized armed assault took place which resulted in death of 6 civilians from Garadaghly. On October 18, 1991 one Azerbaijani villager was shot dead. On January 8, 1992 eight more people from this village were killed. Garadaghly was virtually left surrounded since November 19, 1991, when Khojavend regional center was occupied and the helicopter with Azerbaijani, Russian and Kazakh officials from the peacekeeping team was shot down on November 20 near Qarakend village. In December 1991, after the first siege of Garadaghly by Armenian armed units, Azeri self-defense detachments of the Mughanly village entered Khojavend diverting Armenian troops and liberating Garadaghly from the siege.
  
  wn.com/Garadaghly_Massacre
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  Kosovo
  Kosovo ( /ˈkɒsəvoʊˌ ˈkoʊsəvoʊ/; Albanian: Kosovë, Kosova; Serbian: Косово or Косово и Метохија or Космет, Kosovo or Kosovo i Metohija or Kosmet) is a region in southeastern Europe. In antiquity, it was known as the independent kingdom, and later Roman province, of Dardania. Part of the medieval Serbia, it was then conquered by the Ottoman Empire, later incorporated into Serbia after the First Balkan War and before the constitution of Yugoslavia, later still it became the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija (Serbian: Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo i Metohija) within Serbia (Serbia then being one of the constituent republics of Yugoslavia). Long-term severe ethnic tensions between Kosovo's Albanian and Serb populations have left Kosovo ethnically divided, resulting in inter-ethnic violence, including the Kosovo War of 1999. Following the Kosovo War, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) relinquished governance of this territory, whose governance was taken over by the United Nations, Kosovo remained legally the sovereign territory of the FRY after the transfer of authority. The partially recognised Republic of Kosovo (Albanian: Republika e Kosovës; Serbian: Република Косово, Republika Kosovo), a self-declared independent state, has de facto control over most of the territory, while North Kosovo, the largest Kosovo Serb enclave, is under the control of institutions of the Republic of Serbia.Serbia does not recognise the unilateral secession of Kosovo and considers it a UN-governed entity within its sovereign territory.
  
  wn.com/Kosovo
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  La Scala
  La Scala (Italian: Teatro alla Scala), is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala (Italian: Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
  Most of Italy's greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala during the past 200 years. Today, the theatre is still recognised as one of the leading opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet and La Scala Theatre Orchestra. The theatre also has an associate school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy (Italian: Accademia Teatro alla Scala), which offers professional training in music, dance, stage craft and stage management.
  La Scala's season traditionally opens on 7 December, Saint Ambrose's Day, the feast day of Milan's patron saint. All performances must end before midnight, and long operas start earlier in the evening when necessary.
  
  wn.com/La_Scala
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  Manama
  Manama (Arabic: المنامة‎ Al Manāma) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 155,000 people. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very diverse population. After periods of Portuguese and Persian control and invasions from the Al Sauds and Oman, Bahrain established itself as an independent nation during the 19th century period of British hegemony. In the 20th century, Bahrain's oil wealth helped spur fast growth and in the 1990s a concerted diversification effort led to expansion in other industries and helped transform Manama into an important financial hub in the Middle East.
  Manama was mentioned in Islamic chronicles at least as far back as 1345. It was conquered by Portugal in 1521 and then by the Persians in 1602. Since 1783 it has been under the control of the Al-Khalifa dynasty. Manama was declared a free port in 1958, and in 1971 it became the capital of independent Bahrain.
  
  wn.com/Manama
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  Mare Tranquillitatis
  Mare Tranquillitatis (Latin for Sea of Tranquility) is a lunar mare that sits within the Tranquillitatis basin on the Moon. The mare material within the basin consists of basalt formed in the intermediate to young age group of the Upper Imbrian epoch. The surrounding mountains are thought to be of the Lower Imbrian epoch, but the actual basin is probably Pre-Nectarian. The basin has irregular margins and lacks a defined multiple-ringed structure. The irregular topography in and near this basin results from the intersection of the Tranquillitatis, Nectaris, Crisium, Fecunditatis, and Serenitatis basins with two throughgoing rings of the Procellarum basin. Palus Somni, on the northeastern rim of the mare, is filled with the basalt that spilled over from Tranquillitatis.
  This Mare has a slight bluish tint relative to the rest of the moon and stands out quite well when color is processed and extracted from multiple photographs. The color is likely due to higher metal content in the basaltic soil or rocks.
  
  wn.com/Mare_Tranquillitatis
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  Milan
  Milan (Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ( listen); Lombard: [miˈlan]; Latin: Mediolanum) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy as well as of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area is the 5th largest in EU and the largest in Italy with an estimated population of approximately 5 million. The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper, following the Italian economic miracle of 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows, suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of its administrative limits and its agglomeration, creating a region of approximately 9,3 million people. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density. Its health care and education system is considered one of the best of Europe.
  
  wn.com/Milan
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  NASA
  Coordinates: 38°52′59″N 77°0′59″W / 38.88306°N 77.01639°W / 38.88306; -77.01639
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Since February 2006, NASA's mission statement has been to "pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research." On September 14, 2011, NASA announced that it had selected the design of a new Space Launch System that it said would take the agency's astronauts farther into space than ever before and provide the cornerstone for future human space exploration efforts by the U.S.
  NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The agency became operational on October 1, 1958. U.S. space exploration efforts have since been led by NASA, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Commercial Crew vehicles. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program (LSP) which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches.
  
  wn.com/NASA
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  NEAR Shoemaker
  The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR Shoemaker), renamed after its 1996 launch in honor of planetary scientist Eugene M. Shoemaker, was a robotic space probe designed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a period of a year. The mission succeeded in closing in with the asteroid and orbited it several times, finally terminating by touching down on the asteroid on 12 February 2001.
  The primary scientific objective of NEAR was to return data on the bulk properties, composition, mineralogy, morphology, internal mass distribution and magnetic field of Eros. Secondary objectives include studies of regolith properties, interactions with the solar wind, possible current activity as indicated by dust or gas, and the asteroid spin state. This data will be used to help understand the characteristics of asteroids in general, their relationship to meteorites and comets, and the conditions in the early solar system. To accomplish these goals, the spacecraft was equipped with an X-ray/gamma ray spectrometer, a near-infrared imaging spectrograph, a multi-spectral camera fitted with a CCD imaging detector, a laser rangefinder, and a magnetometer. A radio science experiment was also performed using the NEAR tracking system to estimate the gravity field of the asteroid. The total mass of the instruments was 56 kg, and they required 81 W power.
  
  wn.com/NEAR_Shoemaker
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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.
  
  wn.com/New_York_City
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  Orange Free State
  The Orange Free State (Dutch: Oranje-Vrijstaat Afrikaans: Oranje-Vrystaat) was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province. Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a seat of a British Resident in Bloemfontein.
  In the northern part of the territory a Voortrekker Republic was established at Winburg in 1837. This state merged with the Republic of Potchefstroom which later formed part of the South African Republic (Transvaal).
  Following the granting of independence to the Transvaal Republic, the British recognized the independence of the Orange River Sovereignty on 17 February 1854 and the country officially became independent as the Orange Free State on 23 February 1854, with the signing of the Orange River Convention. The United States and the Orange Free State mutually recognized each other in 1871. The new republic incorporated both the Orange River Sovereignty and the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic.
  
  wn.com/Orange_Free_State
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  Pacific Ocean
  The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.
  At 165.2 million square kilometres (64.1 million square miles) in area, this largest division of the World Ocean – and, in turn, the hydrosphere – covers about 46% of the Earth's water surface and about one-third of its total surface area, making it larger than all of the Earth's land area combined. The equator subdivides it into the North Pacific Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, with two exceptions: the Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific. The Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres (35,797 ft).
  The eastern Pacific Ocean was first sighted by Europeans early in the 16th century. Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 and named it Mar del Sur (South Sea). The ocean's current name was given by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation in 1521, who encountered favourable winds as he reached the ocean and called it Mar Pacifico in Portuguese, meaning "peaceful sea".
  
  wn.com/Pacific_Ocean
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  Pearl Roundabout
  Pearl Roundabout or Lulu Roundabout (Arabic: دوار اللؤلؤ(ة)‎ Dawwār al-luʾluʾ(ah), "Roundabout of the pearl(s)") was a roundabout located near the financial district of Manama, Bahrain. The roundabout was named after the pearl monument that previously stood on the site and was destroyed on March 18, 2011, by government forces as part of a crackdown on protesters during the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising.
  The roundabout was located in the heart of the capital Manama and was surrounded by the Bahrain Central Market, Marina, Pearl and City Center Roundabout as well the Abraj Al Lulu (Pearl Towers) apartment complex, which is named after the Pearl Monument. Also near the destroyed roundabout are some of the city's major remaining landmarks, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour.
  The roundabout served originally as a major traffic intersection for routes into the capital city, although it is now bypassed by a flyover and junction complex built as part of Bahrain's 2030 modernization plan.
  
  wn.com/Pearl_Roundabout
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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.
  
  wn.com/Peru
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  Philippines
  The Philippines ⁱ/ˈfɪlɨpiːnz/ FI-lə-peenz (Filipino: Pilipinas [ˌpɪlɪˈpinɐs]), officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (Filipino: Republika ng Pilipinas) is a sovereign country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam. The Sulu Sea to the southwest lies between the country and the island of Borneo, and to the south the Celebes Sea separates it from other islands of Indonesia. It is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and its tropical climate make the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons but have also endowed the country with natural resources and made it one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. An archipelago comprising 7,107 islands, the Philippines is categorized broadly into three main geographical divisions: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Its capital city is Manila.
  With an estimated population of about 98 million people, the Philippines is the 7th most populated Asian country and the 12th most populated country in the world. An additional 12.5 million Filipinos live overseas. Multiple ethnicities and cultures are found throughout the islands. In prehistoric times, Negritos were some of the archipelago's earliest inhabitants. They were followed by successive waves of Austronesian peoples who brought with them influences from Malay, Hindu, and Islamic societies. Trade introduced Chinese cultural influences which remain to this day.
  
  wn.com/Philippines
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  Rome
  Rome (/ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma pronounced [ˈroːma] ( listen); Latin: Rōma) is a city and special comune ("Roma Capitale") in Italy. Rome is the capital of Italy and the capital of Lazio (Latin: Latium). With 2.8 million residents in 1,285.3 km² (496.3 sq mi), it is also the country's largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. Between 3.2 and 3.7 million people live in the Rome metropolitan area. The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.
  Rome's history spans two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean for over seven hundred years from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD and the city is regarded as one of the birthplaces of western civilization. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.
  
  wn.com/Rome
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  Southern Leyte
  Southern Leyte (Filipino:Timog Leyte) is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Maasin City is the capital of the province. Southern Leyte was once a sub-province of Leyte before it was divided from the latter. Limasawa, an island to the south is part of the province where the first Christian Mass was held and is said to be the birthplace of Christianity in the Philippines.
  The province ranks as the second least populated area in the region. According to 2007 census, the province has a population of 390,847 a 1.13% growth compared to last 2000 census with a population record of 360,160.
  Southern Leyte's geological features created several issues in the province after the flooding of Subangdaku River and the awful mudslide in Guinsaugon. Organizations warned the province as susceptible to natural occurrences like landslides and floodings.
  Southern Leyte contributes to the economy of the country. It forms an important part of the inter-island transportation system of the country, with ferries transporting people and goods between Liloan and Surigao del Norte in Mindanao. The province is well known for its quality abaca products and the country's major producer of abaca fiber.
  
  wn.com/Southern_Leyte
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  Sweden
  Sweden (ⁱ/ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən; Swedish: Sverige [ˈsværjɛ] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish:  Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland, and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Øresund.
  At 450,295 square kilometres (173,860 sq mi), Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of about 9.4 million. Sweden has a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometre (54 /sq mi) with the population mostly concentrated to the southern half of the country. About 85% of the population live in urban areas. Sweden's capital city is Stockholm, which is also the largest city.
  Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, the country expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire. The empire grew to be one of the great powers of Europe in the 17th and early 18th century. Most of the conquered territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were lost during the 18th and 19th centuries. The eastern half of Sweden, present-day Finland, was lost to Russia in 1809. The last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Sweden by military means forced Norway into a personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, practicing "non-participation in military alliances during peacetime and neutrality during wartime". However, Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995 and is a member of the OECD.
  
  wn.com/Sweden
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  Tyana
  Tyana or Tyanna (Ancient Greek: Τύανα, Hittite Tuwanuwa) was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia, in modern south-central Turkey. It was the capital of a Luwian-speaking Neo-Hittite kingdom in the 1st millennium BC.
  Tyana is the city referred to in Hittite archives as Tuwanuwa. During the Hittite Empire period in mid 2nd millennium, Tuwanuwa was among the principal settlements of the region along with Hupisna, Landa, Sahasara, Huwassana and Kuniyawannni. This south-central Anatolian region was referred to as the Lower Land in Hittite sources and its population was mainly Luwian speakers. Following the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tuwanuwa/Tuwana was a major city of the independent Neo-Hittite kingdoms. It is not certain whether or not it was initially subject to the Tabal kingdom to its north, but certainly by the late 8th century BC it was an independent kingdom under a ruler named Warpalawa (in Assyrian sources Urballa). He figures in several hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions found in the region, including a monumental rock carving in Ivriz. Warpalawa is also mentioned in Assyrian texts, under the name Urballa, first in a list of tributees of Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III and later in a letter of Sargon II. Warpalawa was probably succeeded by his son Muwaharani whose name appears in another monument found in Niğde.
  
  wn.com/Tyana
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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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  White House
  The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical style. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.
  In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed house in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the house's load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame constructed inside the walls. Once this work was completed, the interior rooms were rebuilt.
  
  wn.com/White_House

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  Aaron Burr
  Aaron Burr, Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was the third Vice President of the United States under President Thomas Jefferson.
  After serving as a Continental Army officer in the Revolutionary War, Burr became a successful lawyer and politician. He was elected twice to the New York State Assembly (1784–1785, 1798–1799), was appointed New York State Attorney General (1789–1791), was chosen as a United States Senator (1791–1797) from the state of New York, and reached the apex of his career as Vice President of the United States (1801–1805).
  The highlight of Burr's tenure as President of the Senate (one of his few official duties as Vice President) was the Senate's first impeachment trial, of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. In 1804, the last full year of his single term as Vice President, Burr killed his political rival Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Burr was never tried for the illegal duel and all charges against him were eventually dropped. The death of Hamilton, however, ended Burr's political career. President Jefferson dropped him from the ticket for the 1804 presidential election, and he never held office again.
  
  wn.com/Aaron_Burr
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  AB de Villiers
  Abraham Benjamin de Villiers (born 17 February 1984, Pretoria, Transvaal Province, South Africa) more commonly known by his initials AB is a South African cricketer and captain of the South African One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 teams, having succeeded Graeme Smith in both roles after the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He is also part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
  De Villiers is a right-handed batsman, who, in a very short space of time, has accumulated many runs in Tests including centuries against England, India, the West Indies and Australia. He has been dismissed in the 90s on five occasions in Tests. He still holds the record for most Test innings without registering a duck (78), before being dismissed for nought against Bangladesh in November 2008. He also holds the record for the highest individual score by a South African batsman in an innings, with 278*. He is an occasional wicketkeeper for the South African cricket team, and is commonly regarded as one of the best fielders currently in international cricket. AB de Villiers blasted the seventh fastest century in ODI cricket, in 58 balls, when he slammed an unbeaten 102 off just 59 balls against India in Ahmedabad in February 2010. He reached the top of the Test Batting rankings in March 2012.
  
  wn.com/AB_de_Villiers
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  Abel Servien
  Abel Servien, marquis de Sablé et de Boisdauphin, comte de Roche-Servien and comte de La Roche des Aubiers (November 1, 1593 – February 17, 1659) was a French diplomat who served Cardinal Mazarin and signed for the French at the Treaty of Westphalia. He was an early member of the noblesse de robe in the service of the French state.
  Abel Servien was born at the château of Biviers, near Grenoble, the son of Antoine Servien, procurator-general of the estates of Dauphiné.
  He succeeded his father in that office in 1616, and in the following year attended the assembly of notables at Rouen convoked by the young Louis XIII. In 1618 he was named councillor of state and in March 1624 was called to Paris, where he found favor with Cardinal Richelieu. He displayed administrative ability and great loyalty to the central government as intendant in Guienne in 1627, where his executive qualities came to the fore, and where it became clear that he had broken with his background in the parlements to become a trusted follower of Richelieu. In 1628 he negotiated the boundary delimitation with Spain. In 1629 he was with the army of the king and cardinal in the War of the Mantuan Succession, where he remained behind at Turin to work on the peace negotiations, after the royal party had returned to France; thus by 1631 he came to know Mazarin, whom he was able to introduce to Richelieu. Servien was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Cherasco and of the treaties with the Duke of Savoy (1631–1632).
  
  wn.com/Abel_Servien
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  Abraham Fraenkel
  Abraham Halevi (Adolf) Fraenkel (Hebrew: אברהם הלוי (אדולף) פרנקל‎; February 17, 1891, Munich, Germany – October 15, 1965, Jerusalem, Israel), known as Abraham Fraenkel, was an Israeli mathematician born in Germany. He was an early Zionist and the first Dean of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is known for his contributions to axiomatic set theory, especially his addition to Ernst Zermelo's axioms which resulted in Zermelo–Fraenkel axioms.
  Fraenkel studied mathematics at the University of Munich, University of Berlin, University of Marburg and University of Breslau; after graduating, he lectured at the University of Marburg from 1916, and was promoted to professor in 1922.
  After leaving Marburg in 1928, Fraenkel taught at the University of Kiel for a year. He then made the fateful choice of accepting a position at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which had been founded four years earlier, where he spent the rest of his career. He became the first Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, and for a while served as Rector of the University.
  
  wn.com/Abraham_Fraenkel
• AJ Perez
  Antonello Joseph "AJ" Sarte Perez (February 17, 1993 – April 17, 2011) was a Filipino actor. He was a member of ABS-CBN's Star Magic in Batch 13. He portrayed one of the lead characters in the 2009 miniseries Your Song Presents: Underage. In 2010, he played his first main role on primetime in the television series, Sabel. He died at the age of 18, in a vehicular accident in Paniqui, Tarlac midnight of April 17, 2011.
  Perez was born on February 17, 1993 to a Bicolana mother, Maria Victoria "Marivic" (née Sarte) and Bacolodnon father, Gerardo "Gerry" Perez. He has a younger brother, Angello (nicknamed Gello) who is five years his junior. He was nephew of Albay Governor Joey Salceda. He dated Maria Cristina Stephanie "Steph" Ayson, from February 14, 2010 until his death. He attended high school at La Salle Greenhills in Greenhills, Mandaluyong City, and graduated on March 20, 2011. He planned to take up Marketing at the De La Salle University because he wanted to help run the family business.
  
  wn.com/AJ_Perez
• 
  Al Harrington
  Albert "Al" Harrington (born February 17, 1980 in Orange, New Jersey) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the NBA's Denver Nuggets. The forward stands six feet nine inches (2.06 m), and weighs 250 pounds (113 kg).
  Harrington is a cousin of Indiana Pacers guard/forward Dahntay Jones.
  Harrington grew up in Orange, New Jersey, but then his family moved to Roselle, New Jersey. He played high school basketball at St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1998, he was selected as player of the year by USA Today.
  At only 18 years of age, Al was selected by the Pacers with the 25th pick of the 1998 NBA Draft, and spent six seasons with them, primarily coming off the bench. Harrington really began to come into his own in the 2001–02 season, in which he averaged 13.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, but his season came to an end in a game against the Boston Celtics when he suffered a knee injury that forced him to miss the final 38 games of the season.
  He made a comeback in the 2002–03 season, becoming the only Pacer to play in all 82 games that year. He averaged 12.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while starting in 37 games. The following season, he boosted his averages slightly to 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and finished second in voting for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award. He was an integral part of the Pacers' first run to the Eastern Conference Finals since 2000.
  
  wn.com/Al_Harrington
• 
  Alan Bates
  Sir Alain Arthur Bates CBE (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving. He is also known for his performance with Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, as well as his roles in King of Hearts, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd, and The Fixer, which gave him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1969, he starred in the Ken Russell film Women in Love with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson.
  Bates went on to star in The Go-Between, An Unmarried Woman, Nijinsky, and The Rose with Bette Midler, as well as playing varied roles in television drama, including The Mayor of Casterbridge, Harold Pinter's The Collection, A Voyage Round My Father, An Englishman Abroad (as Guy Burgess), and Pack of Lies. He also continued to appear on the stage, notably in the plays of Simon Gray, such as Butley and Otherwise Engaged.
  
  wn.com/Alan_Bates
• Alan Wiggins
  Alan Anthony Wiggins (February 17, 1958 – January 6, 1991) was a Major League Baseball second baseman and left fielder. He was the first baseball player known to die of AIDS.
  Wiggins was born in 1958 in Los Angeles, California. After graduating from Hialeah High School in Hialeah, Florida, he went back to California, and spent one year at Pasadena Community College before being selected by the California Angels as the eighth overall pick of the 1977 Major League Baseball Draft.
  Wiggins failed to live up to his early promise, and after a season and a half in the Angels' organization, in which he batted .241 with two home runs, he was released. He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers shortly afterwards, and picked up an incredible 120 stolen bases for the Lodi Dodgers in 1980. He caught the eye of San Diego Padres General Manager Jack McKeon, who drafted him in the 1980 rule 5 draft.
  After having spent most of his minor league career as an infielder, he was converted into an outfielder with the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League in 1981. After batting .302 with 33 runs batted in, he received a September call-up. In his first season, he only got 14 at bats, but made the most of them, picking up five hits.
  
  wn.com/Alan_Wiggins
• 
  Albert I of Belgium
  Albert I (April 8, 1875 – February 17, 1934) reigned as the King of Belgium from 1909 through 1934. This was a crucial period in the History of Belgium since it included the period of World War I (1914 - 1918) when 99 percent of Belgium was overrun, occupied, and ruled by the German Empire. Other crucial events included the adoption of the Treaty of Versailles, the ruling of the Belgian Congo as an overseas possession of the Kingdom of Belgium, the reconstruction of Belgium following the war, and the first five years of the Great Depression (1929 - 1934). King Albert was killed in a mountaineering accident in eastern Belgium in 1934, at the age of just 58, and he was succeded by his son Leopold.
  Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad (in German Albrecht Leopold Clemens Marie Meinrad) in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Prince Philippe was the third (second surviving) son of Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, and his wife, Marie-Louise of France, and the younger brother of King Leopold II of Belgium. Princess Marie was a relative of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and a member of the non-reigning, Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern family. Albert grew up in the Palace of Flanders, initially as fourth in the line of succession to the Belgian throne. When, however, the only legitimate son of his uncle, Leopold II, died as a child, and Albert's older brother, Prince Baudouin of Belgium, who had been subsequently prepared for the throne, also died young, Albert, at the age of 16, unexpectedly became second in line (after his father) to the Belgian Crown.
  
  wn.com/Albert_I_of_Belgium
• Alexander Obolensky
  Prince Alexander Sergeevich Obolensky (Russian: Александр Сергеевич Оболенский; 17 February 1916 — 29 March 1940) was a Russian Rurikid prince and an international rugby union footballer who played for England. He was popularly known simply as "The Prince" by many sports fans.
  A member of the Rurik Dynasty, he was born in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) on 17 February 1916 and was the son of Prince Serge Obolensky, an officer in the Czar's Imperial Horse Guards, and his wife Princess Lubov' (née Naryshkina). Their name derived from the Russian town of Obolensk. They fled Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1917, settling in Muswell Hill, London.
  Obolensky was educated at The Ashe boys' preparatory school, Etwall, and Trent College, Long Eaton, both in Derbyshire, before going to Brasenose College, Oxford in Michaelmas 1934, where he held a College Exhibition and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He gained a Fourth Class degree in 1938. At Oxford he earned two rugby blues representing Oxford University RFC as a wing/three-quarter. Having previously played for Chesterfield RUFC whilst still at school, he played for Leicester Football Club between 1934 and 1939, as well as Rosslyn Park F.C.. His selection for England caused a stir because he was not a British citizen, but he gained British Citizenship in 1936.
  
  wn.com/Alexander_Obolensky
• 
  Alexis Falconieri
  Alexis Falconieri (Italian: Alessio Falconieri) (Florence, 1200 – Mount Senario, 17 February 1310) is one of the seven founders of the Servite Order and, as such, is commemorated on their common feast days: 12 February in the General Roman Calendar of 1962, and 17 February in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints.
  Alexis was the son of Bernard Falconieri, a merchant prince of Florence, and one of the leaders of the Republic. His family belonged to the Guelph party, and opposed the Imperialists whenever they could consistently with their political principles.
  Alexis grew up in the practice of the most profound humility. He joined the Laudesi, a pious confraternity of the Blessed Virgin, and there met the six future companions of his life of sanctity. He was favoured with an apparition of the Mother of God, 15 August 1233, as were these companions. The seven soon afterwards founded the Order of the Servites. Alexis at once abandoned all, and retired to La Camarzia, a house on the outskirts of the town, and the following year to Mt. Senario.
  
  wn.com/Alexis_Falconieri
• Alison Hargreaves
  Alison Jane Hargreaves (February 17, 1963 – August 13, 1995) was an English mountain climber from Derbyshire. Educated at Belper School, her accomplishments included scaling Mount Everest solo without supplementary oxygen in 1995. She also soloed all the great north faces of the Alps in a single season—a first for any climber. This feat included climbing the famously difficult north face of the Eiger in the Alps in 1993. Hargreaves also climbed Ama Dablam (6812m) in Nepal.
  In 1995 Alison Hargreaves intended to climb the three highest mountains in the world—Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga—unaided. On 13 May 1995 she reached the summit of Everest without the aid of Sherpas or bottled oxygen.
  She also did major climbs while pregnant.
  After a brief return to the United Kingdom to visit her family, she left in June 1995 to join an American team which had gained a permit to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, located in Pakistan. K2 is regarded as a significantly more difficult and dangerous climb than Mt Everest. By August 13, 1995, the remnants of the US team and Hargreaves had joined forces with a New Zealand and Canadian team at Camp 4, around 7600m above sea level, and at least 12 hours from the summit. Later that day, having joined with a Spanish team of mountaineers above Camp 4, New Zealander Peter Hillary (son of Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary) decided to turn back, noting that the weather that had been fine for the previous four days appeared to be changing. At 6:45pm, in fine conditions, Hargreaves and Javier Olivar (Spain) reached the summit, followed by Rob Slater (US), Javier Escartín (Spain), Lorenzo Ortíz (Spain) and Bruce Grant (NZ). All, however, died in a violent storm while returning from the summit. Canadian Jeff Lakes, who had turned back below the summit earlier, managed to reach one of the lower camps, but died from the effects of exposure.
  
  wn.com/Alison_Hargreaves
• 
  Andre Norton
  Andre Alice Norton, née Alice Mary Norton (February 17, 1912  – March 17, 2005) was an American science fiction and fantasy author (with some works of historical fiction and contemporary fiction) under the noms de plume Andre Norton, Andrew North and Allen Weston. Norton published her first novel in 1934, and was the first woman to receive the Gandalf Grand Master Award from the World Science Fiction Society in 1977, and won the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) association in 1983.
  Alice Mary Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Her parents were Adalbert Freely Norton, who owned a rug company, and Bertha Stemm Norton. She began writing at Collinwood High School in Cleveland, under the tutelage of Miss Sylvia Cochrane. She was the editor of a literary page in the school's paper called The Collinwood Spotlight for which she wrote short stories. During this time, she wrote her first book—Ralestone Luck, which was eventually published as her second novel in 1938, the first being The Prince Commands in 1934.
  
  wn.com/Andre_Norton
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  André Maginot
  André Maginot (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃dʁe maʒino]; 17 February 1877 – 7 January 1932) was a French civil servant, soldier, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his advocacy for the string of forts that would be known as the Maginot Line.
  Maginot was born in Paris, but spent a part of his youth in Alsace-Lorraine, the region where later on the line of fortifications that he advocated would be constructed. After taking the civil service exam, in 1897 Maginot began his career in the French bureaucracy, where he would serve for the rest of his life. He worked as the assistant of the Governor-General in Algeria until 1910, when he resigned and began his political career. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies that year and served as Under-Secretary of State for War just prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
  When the war began, Maginot enlisted in the army and was posted along the Lorraine front. In November 1914, Maginot (by now promoted to sergeant for his "coolness and courage") was wounded in the leg near Verdun (he would walk with a limp for the rest of his life). For extreme valor, he was awarded the Medaille Militaire, France's highest military award. He was also a fencer.
  
  wn.com/André_Maginot
• 
  Anne Curtis
  
  Anne Marie Ojales Curtis-Smith, also known as Anne Curtis-Smith (born on 17 February 1985 in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia) is a Filipino/Spanish-Australian, of British descent^{[citation needed]}actress, model, television host, singer, fashion icon, recording artist and VJ, currently active in the Philippines.
  Born Anne Curtis, she is the eldest daughter of Carmen Ojales, a Filipina and James Curtis-Smith, an Australian lawyer. She was discovered while on vacation in the Philippines at the age of 12 which made her visit permanent.
  Anne Curtis was born in Yarrawongga, Australia. Annually, her family visits the Philippines to see their mother's relatives. However, in 1997, her visit became permanent as she was approached while eating in a fast-food restaurant and was asked if she is interested in modeling. Within a week or so, Curtis bagged her first commercial. Because of this, she and her dad decided to move in the Philippines. She did her 7th grade in Colegio de Sta. Rita, and because she was not able to speak Filipino fluently, she had special Filipino classes. Her first movie was Magic Kingdom, where she played a princess. After this, she appeared in several supporting roles in GMA Network's shows. Some of the shows were T.G.I.S., Ikaw Na Sana and the long-running situational comedy series Beh Bote Nga
  
  wn.com/Anne_Curtis
• 
  Antoine Galland
  Antoine Galland (April 4, 1646 – February 17, 1715) was a French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of The Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights in English). His version of the tales appeared in twelve volumes between 1704 and 1717 and exerted a huge influence on subsequent European literature and attitudes to the Islamic world.
  Galland was born at Rollot in Picardy (now in the department of Somme). After completing school at Noyon he studied Greek and Latin in Paris, where he also acquired some Arabic. In 1670, he was attached to the French embassy at Istanbul because of his excellent knowledge of Greek, and in 1673 he travelled in Syria and the Levant, where he copied a great number of inscriptions, and sketched and -in some cases- removed historical monuments.
  After a brief visit to France, where his collection of ancient coins attracted some attention, Galland returned to the Levant in 1677 and in 1679 he undertook a third voyage, being commissioned by the French East India Company to collect for the cabinet of Colbert. On the expiration of this commission he was instructed by the government to continue his researches, and had the title of antiquary to the king (Louis XIV) conferred upon him. During his prolonged residences abroad he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Arabic, Turkish and Persian languages and literatures, which, on his final return to France, enabled him to render valuable assistance to Jean de Thévenot, the keeper of the royal library, and to Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville. When d'Herbelot died in 1695, Galland continued his Bibliothèque orientale ("Oriental Library"), a huge compendium of information about Islamic culture. It was finally published in 1697 and was a major contribution to European knowledge about the Middle East, influencing writers such as William Beckford (in his oriental tale Vathek).
  
  wn.com/Antoine_Galland
• 
  Arcangelo Corelli
  Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713) was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.
  Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life. His master on the violin was Giovanni Battista Bassani, while Matteo Simonelli, the well-known singer of the pope's chapel, taught him composition.
  He gained his first major success in Paris at the age of nineteen, and to this he owed his European reputation. From Paris, Corelli went to Germany. In 1681 he was in the service of the electoral prince of Bavaria; between 1680 and 1685 he spent a considerable time in the house of his friend and fellow violinist-composer Cristiano Farinelli.
  In 1685 Corelli was in Rome, where he led the festival performances of music for Queen Christina of Sweden; he was also a favorite of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, grandnephew of another Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, who in 1689 became Pope Alexander VIII. From 1689 to 1690 he was in Modena; the Duke of Modena was generous to him. In 1708 he returned to Rome, living in the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni. His visit to Naples, at the invitation of the king, took place in the same year.
  
  wn.com/Arcangelo_Corelli
• 
  Armenians
  Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.
  The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).
  Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.
  
  wn.com/Armenians
• Art Bears
  Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler (percussion, texts), Fred Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, keyboards) and Dagmar Krause (vocals). The group released three studio albums between 1978 and 1981, and toured Europe in 1979.
  In 2008 Cutler, Frith and others formed Art Bears Songbook, an Art Bears "review" project that performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec, Canada.
  Art Bears were formed during the recording of Henry Cow's last album after disagreements arose over the album's content. Frith and Cutler favoured song-oriented material, while others in the band preferred instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith, Cutler and Krause agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, Hopes and Fears, under the name Art Bears, with the rest of Henry Cow credited as guests. The instrumental material appeared later on the final Henry Cow album, Western Culture (1979).
  
  wn.com/Art_Bears
• 
  Arthur Hunnicutt
  Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, old rural characters. In one of his last movies, Moonrunners which was the precursor to The Dukes of Hazzard, he played the original Uncle Jesse.
  A native of Gravelly, Arkansas, Hunnicutt attended Arkansas State Teachers College but dropped out during his junior year when he ran out of money. He moved to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts where he joined up with a theatre company before moving to New York where he quickly found himself landing roles in Broadway productions. While touring as the lead actor in Tobacco Road, he developed the country character he would later be typecast as throughout his career. Hunnicutt often found himself cast as a character much older than himself.
  Hunnicutt appeared in a number of films in the early 1940s before returning to the stage. In 1949 he moved back to Hollywood and resumed his film career. He played a long string of supporting role characters – sympathetic, wise rural types, as in The Red Badge of Courage (1951), The Lusty Men (1952),The Kettles in The Ozarks (1955) The Last Command (1955) (as Davy Crockett), The Tall T (1957) and El Dorado (1966).
  
  wn.com/Arthur_Hunnicutt
• 
  Arthur Onslow
  Arthur Onslow (1 October 1691 – 17 February 1768) was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity.
  Onslow was born in Kensington, the elder son of Foot Onslow (died 1710) and his wife Susannah. He was educated at The Royal Grammar School, Guildford and Winchester College and matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford in 1708, although he took no degree. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1713, but had no great practice in law.
  When George I came to the throne, Onslow's uncle Sir Richard Onslow was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. Arthur became his private secretary. When Richard left office in 1715, Arthur obtained a place as receiver general of the Post Office. He became recorder of Guildford in 1719. As his Post Office position was not compatible with a parliamentary seat, he passed it on to his younger brother Richard when he entered Parliament in 1720 for Guildford.
  
  wn.com/Arthur_Onslow
• 
  Aryeh Deri
  Aryeh Deri (Hebrew: אריה דרעי‎; born February 17, 1959 in Meknes, Morocco) is an Israeli politician, and former leader of Israel's Shas Party.
  After Deri was convicted of taking $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister and given a three-year jail sentence in 2000, he was replaced by Eli Yishai. Due to good behavior, Deri was released from Maasiyahu Prison in 2002 after serving 22 months.
  In 2005, he was voted the 58th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
  In June 2011, he announced that he was planning to return to politics.
  
  wn.com/Aryeh_Deri
• 
  Banjo Paterson
  Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson OBE (17 February 1864 – 5 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood. Paterson's more notable poems include "Waltzing Matilda", "The Man from Snowy River" and "Clancy of the Overflow".
  Banjo Paterson was born at the property "Narrambla", near Orange, New South Wales, the eldest son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from Lanarkshire and Australian-born Rose Isabella Barton, related to the future first Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton. Paterson's family lived on the isolated Buckinbah Station in the Monaro until he was five when his father lost his wool clip in a flood and was forced to sell up. When Paterson's uncle died, his family took over the uncle's farm in Illalong, near Yass, close to the main route between Melbourne and Sydney. Bullock teams, Cobb and Co coaches and drovers were familiar sights to him. He also saw horsemen from the Murrumbidgee River area and Snowy Mountains country take part in picnic races and polo matches, which led to his fondness of horses and inspired his writings.
  
  wn.com/Banjo_Paterson
• Barry Burman
  Barry Burman (1943–2001) was an English figurative artist known for his dark and often disturbing subject matter. He was a successful as an artist and teacher. He took an overdose and died aged 57.
  Burman was born in Bedford in 1943. He gained a first in fine art at Coventry College of Art and continued his studies at the Royal College of Art.
  Despite his success as an artist, he continued to teach part-time at Mid-Warwickshire College in Leamington between 1974 and 1994.
  Burman painted with oil, acrylic, ink and wax crayon mixed with egg yolk and vinegar on thick paper to produce an extraordinary leathery surface.
  Shortly before his death, Burman began to work in a new medium, creating a series of Papier-mâché figures / puppets - a return in three dimensions to earlier themes ('Leather Face', 'Uncle Tic Tac' and 'Tommy Rawhead').^{[citation needed]}
  "If one had erroneously formed an impression of sadism or brutality, an encounter with the artist changed one's mind. His nature was as far as one could get from that of the monsters he portrayed. He was the most gentle, the most non-judgemental, the most modest man, affectionate to his friends, caring of them, supportive, and he was also among the most committed of artists."
  
  wn.com/Barry_Burman
• 
  Barry Humphries
  John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor. He is best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the Court of St. James's. He is a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer and an accomplished landscape painter. For his delivery of dadaist and absurdist humour to millions, biographer Anne Pender described Humphries in 2010 as not only the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin.
  Humphries' characters, especially Dame Edna Everage, have brought him international renown, and he has appeared in numerous films, stage productions and television shows. Originally conceived as a dowdy Moonee Ponds housewife who caricatured Australian suburban complacency and insularity, Edna has evolved over four decades to become a satire of stardom, the gaudily dressed, acid-tongued, egomaniacal, internationally feted Housewife Gigastar, Dame Edna Everage. Humphries' other major satirical character creation was the archetypal Australian bloke Barry McKenzie, who originated as the hero of a comic strip about Australians in London (with drawings by Nicholas Garland) which was first published in Private Eye magazine. The stories about "Bazza" (Humphries' nickname, as well as an Australian term of endearment for the name Barry) gave wide circulation to Australian slang, particularly jokes about drinking and its consequences (much of which was invented by Humphries), and the character went on to feature in two Australian films, in which he was portrayed by Barry Crocker.
  
  wn.com/Barry_Humphries
• Bill Cowsill
  William "Bill" Cowsill, Jr., also known as Billy, (January 9, 1948 – February 18, 2006) was an American singer best known as lead singer and guitarist of The Cowsills who had three top 10 singles in the late 1960s.
  Bill Cowsill was born in Middletown, Rhode Island. At a young age Bill began singing with his brother, Bob, and they formed The Cowsills in 1965 with their brothers: Barry on bass; Bob on guitar and organ; and John on drums. Another brother, Paul, their sister Susan and mother Barbara joined the band later. The Cowsills started playing around Newport before they recorded their first single "All I Really Wanna Be is Me" in 1967 on the independent label, Joda.
  While the first single failed to chart, an appearance on the NBC Today Show to promote it led to Mercury Records offering them a contract. However, three singles on that label failed to spark interest, and they were dropped. Artie Kornfeld, the producer of the singles, remained convinced of the band's potential and persuaded Barbara to sing on the single "The Rain, the Park and Other Things", which was released on MGM Records. However, it is Bill who sang the lead vocal part on "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things."
  
  wn.com/Bill_Cowsill
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  Billie Joe Armstrong
  Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side project Foxboro Hot Tubs.
  Raised in Rodeo, California, Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five. He met Mike Dirnt while attending elementary school, and the two instantly bonded over their mutual interest in music, forming the band Sweet Children when the two were 15 years old. The band changed its name to Green Day, and would later achieve massive commercial success. Armstrong has also pursued musical projects outside of Green Day's work, including numerous collaborations with other musicians as well as serving as the primary vocalist for the bands Pinhead Gunpowder and Foxboro Hot Tubs.
  Billie Joe Armstrong was born in Piedmont, California, a small town surrounded by the city of Oakland, and was raised in Rodeo, California, as the youngest of six children to Andrew "Andy" Armstrong and Ollie Jackson. His father worked as a jazz musician and truck driver for Safeway Inc. to support his family. He died of esophageal cancer on September 10, 1982. The song "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is a memorial to his father. He has five older siblings: David, Alan, Marci, Hollie, and Anna. His mother worked at Rod's Hickory Pit restaurant in El Cerrito. Armstrong and Mike Dirnt's first live performance was at Rod's Hickory Pit in 1987; their first performance under the name Green Day was in Davis, a college town approximately an hour's drive northeast of San Francisco Bay.
  
  wn.com/Billie_Joe_Armstrong
• 
  Bo Yibo
  Bo Yibo (17 February 1908 – 15 January 2007) was a Chinese political and military leader. He was one of the most senior politicians in China during the 1980s and 1990s.
  After joining the Chinese Communist Party when he was only 17, he worked as a Communist Party organizer in his native city of Taiyuan, Shaanxi. He was promoted to organize Communist guerrilla movements in northern China from a headquarters in Tianjin in 1928, but he was arrested and imprisoned by Kuomintang police in 1931. In 1936, with the tacit support of the Communist Party, Bo signed an anti-communist confession to secure his release. After his release Bo returned to Shanxi, rejoined the communists, and fought both the Kuomintang and the Japanese Empire in northern China until the Communists completed their unification of mainland China in 1949.
  During Bo's career he served as an alternate member and then member of the Chinese Politburo, deputy prime minister, chairman of State Economic Commission, and vice-chairman of the Central Advisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Bo was purged in 1966 by the Mao Zedong-backed Gang of Four, but he was returned to power by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, after Mao's death.
  
  wn.com/Bo_Yibo
• Bob Geary
  Bob Geary, was a player and general manager of the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL, died on February 17, 2001. He was 68.
  After playing for the Verdun Shamcats in the Quebec Senior Football League, Geary began his professional career with the CFL Calgary Stampeders in 1955.
  Geary moved to the Alouettes for the 1958 season and blocked for Canadian Football Hall of Fame running back George Dixon. He finished his career with the Quebec Rifles of the United Football League.
  He remained with the Alouettes organization after his playing days ended in 1964, serving as an assistant coach and later assistant to General Managers J.I. Albrecht and Marv Levy. In 1975 he became General Manager, staying in that position until 1981, when in 1982 he became the Director of Football Operations. Geary helped put together the 1974 and 1977 Grey Cup winning teams.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Bob_Geary
• Bob Merrill
  Bob Merrill (May 17, 1921 – February 17, 1998) was an American songwriter, theatrical composer, lyricist, and screenwriter.
  Merrill was born Henry Merrill Levan in Atlantic City, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following a stint with the Army during World War II, he moved to Hollywood, where he worked as a dialogue director for Columbia Pictures. He began his songwriting career writing tunes for Dorothy Shay. One of his first major hits was a country song co-written by Moon Mullican in 1950 entitled "You Don't Have To Be a Baby To Cry", and the 1950 novelty song "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake", co-written with Al Hoffman and Clem Watts and recorded by Eileen Barton.
  The other eight songs which round out the Top Ten for which he is most well-known include
  Guy Mitchell recorded many of Merrill's songs including "Sparrow in the Tree Top", She Wears Red Feathers, and "My Truly, Truly Fair".
  Merrill made his Broadway debut in 1957 with New Girl in Town, a musical adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie. His greatest theatrical success was the Barbra Streisand vehicle Funny Girl, which introduced the standard "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade". When the stage show was adapted for the screen, he and songwriting partner Jule Styne were asked to write a title tune, which eventually garnered them both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Song entitled "Funny Girl". Producer David Merrick employed Merrill to write additional songs for the musical Hello, Dolly/ Merrill contributed two songs, "Motherhood March" and "Elegance", and some additional lyrics to Jerry Herman's It Takes a Woman . Merrill did not accept billing or credit for his additions to the score.
  
  wn.com/Bob_Merrill
• Bobby Lewis
  Bobby Lewis (born February 17, 1933 or 1925, Indianapolis, Indiana) is an African American rock and roll and R&B singer.
  Lewis learned to play the piano by age six. Adopted at age twelve, he moved to a home in Detroit, Michigan. Growing up with the influences of the pioneer blues musicians until the advent of rock and roll, Lewis began to build a musical career in the 1950s, and in 1960 appeared at the Apollo Theatre in New York City.^{[citation needed]}
  In July 1961, his recording of "Tossin' and Turnin'" went to No.1 for seven weeks on the Billboard chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Later that year, he had a second Top Ten song, "One Track Mind", his only other major hit record, at #9 Pop.
  "Tossin' And Turnin'", composed by Ritchie Adams and Malou Rene, was featured in the soundtrack for the 1978 film, Animal House. The song was also covered by Steve Goodman, The Replacements, The Guess Who, Peter Criss, and Jimmy Sturr, among others. The Ivy League's UK hit 'Tossin' And Turnin', however, is a completely different song.
  
  wn.com/Bobby_Lewis
• 
  Bonnie Wright
  Bonnie Francesca Wright (born 17 February 1991) is an English actress, fashion model, screenwriter and director. She is best known for playing Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter film series.
  Wright was born in London, England, the second child of Sheila Teague and Gary Wright, owners of jewellery company Wright & Teague. She has an older brother, Lewis. Wright attended Prior Western Primary School and later the King Alfred School in North London for her secondary education.^{[citation needed]} During the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, Wright began attending London's University of the Arts: London College of Communication, to study Film and Television Production Manager. She plans to continue acting and to work behind-the-scenes after filming Harry Potter.
  
  wn.com/Bonnie_Wright
• 
  Brenda Fricker
  Brenda Fricker (born February 17, 1945) is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1989, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for My Left Foot.
  Fricker was born in Dublin. Her mother, "Bina" (née Murphy), was a teacher at Stratford College, and her father, Desmond Frederick Fricker, was an officer in the Department of Agriculture and a journalist for The Irish Times. In her teens, she aspired to follow her parent's footsteps into journalism. Fricker has an older sister, Nora Ann Grania Fricker.^{[citation needed]}
  Before becoming an actress, Fricker was assistant to the art editor of the Irish Times, with hopes to become a reporter. At age 19, she became an actress "by chance", her feature film career began with a small uncredited part in the 1964 film Of Human Bondage, based on the 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. She also appeared in Tolka Row, Ireland's first ever soap opera.
  Fricker first came to wider public attention in the United Kingdom for her role as Megan Roach in the BBC One television drama series Casualty. Fricker bowed out as Megan in December 1990, after playing the character in 65 episodes, because she believed her character had "started off with a wonderful sense of humour, [but] lost it all and all she ever seemed to do was push a trolley around and offer tea and sympathy". In February 1998 she appeared in two episodes, with Megan attending the wedding of her former colleagues Charlie Fairhead and Barbara 'Baz' Samuels. In 2007, she returned for a single episode for Red Nose Day. The episode was written by Richard Curtis. Fricker's final appearance as Megan was in August 2010, when the character took a lethal cocktail of drugs to end her life.
  
  wn.com/Brenda_Fricker
• 
  Brian Bruney
  Brian Anthony Bruney (born on February 17, 1982, in Astoria, Oregon) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox organization. He has previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees, and Washington Nationals.
  Bruney was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks after graduating from Warrenton High School in 2000. Bruney pitched in the minors from 2000 to 2003, making his major league debut on May 8, 2004 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
  Bruney had a good rookie year with the Diamondbacks, posting a 4.31 ERA and striking out 34 batters in 31.1 innings. In 2005, the Diamondbacks tried Bruney as their closer, and he saved 12 games in 16 opportunities. Overall, the 2005 season turned out to be a poor showing for Bruney. He posted a 7.43 ERA in 46 innings. In May 2006, Bruney was designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks. He was later signed as a minor league free agent by the New York Yankees.
  Bruney pitched for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers. Bruney received a call-up to the big club. Armed with an upper-90's fastball, mid-80's curveball and an aggressive approach, Bruney took advantage of this second wind and quickly established himself as one of the better relief pitchers in the Yankees bullpen. Bruney finished 2006 with a 1-1 record and a 0.87 ERA in 19 games (20.2 innings).
  
  wn.com/Brian_Bruney
• 
  Bruno Walter
  Bruno Walter (September 15, 1876 – February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor. Born in Berlin, he lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939. Though he was born Bruno Schlesinger, he began using Walter as his surname in 1896, and officially changed his surname to Walter upon becoming a naturalised Austrian in 1911. Walter was active as a composer for many years, but his works have not entered the repertoire.
  Born near Alexanderplatz in Berlin to a middle-class Jewish family as Bruno Schlesinger, he began his musical education at the Stern Conservatory at the age of eight, making his first public appearance as a pianist when he was nine. However, following visits to one of Hans von Bülow's concerts in 1889 and to Bayreuth in 1891, he changed his mind and decided upon a conducting career. He made his conducting début at the Cologne Opera with Albert Lortzing's Der Waffenschmied in 1894. Later that year he left for the Hamburg Opera to work as a chorus director. There he first met and worked with Gustav Mahler, whom he idolized and with whose music he later became strongly identified.
  
  wn.com/Bruno_Walter
• 
  Bryan Cox
  Bryan Keith Cox (born February 17, 1968) is a former American football linebacker who played twelve seasons in the NFL from 1991 through 2002. Cox was a three time pro bowler with the Miami Dolphins and was also a member of the New England Patriots club that won Super Bowl XXXVI. He is currently the defensive "front seven" coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
  Cox generated controversy while a Miami Dolphin in 1993, when he waved the middle fingers with both hands at fans prior to a road game against the Buffalo Bills.
  Cox was a member of the East St. Louis High School Flyers, where he was coached by Bob Shannon.
  Cox attended Western Illinois University and was a Mass Communications Major and a letterman in football. In football, he was a four-year letterman and a two-year starter. As a senior, he was named as a First Team All-America selection by the Football Gazzette and was a First Team All-Conference selection. As a junior, he was named the Western Illinois University M.V.P. As a sophomore, Cox played in every game, and finished his sophomore season with 54 tackles, four forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, two interceptions and three blocked kicks. As a freshman, Cox was a reserve nickel-back and finished the season with 30 tackles.
  
  wn.com/Bryan_Cox
• 
  Bryan White
  Bryan Shelton White (born February 17, 1974) is an American country music artist. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's Between Now and Forever, were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and 1997's The Right Place was certified gold. His fourth album, 1999's How Lucky I Am, produced 2 Top 40 hits with singles, "You're Still Beautiful To Me," and, "God Gave Me You."
  White has charted seventeen singles on the Billboard country charts, of which six reached Number One and the first four were consecutive: "Someone Else's Star" in 1995, "Rebecca Lynn" and "I'm Not Supposed to Love You Anymore" "So Much for Pretending" in 1996, and "Sittin' on Go" in 1997. "So Much for Pretending" was the most successful of these songs, spending two weeks at Number One.
  
  wn.com/Bryan_White
• Buck Trent
  Charles Wilburn "Buck" Trent (born February 17, 1938) is an American country music instrumentalist. He invented the electric Banjo and also plays the five-string Banjo, Dobro, Steel Guitar, Mandolin, Electric Bass and Guitar.
  Born and raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Buck started performing on WORD (AM) Radio at the age of 10. He traveled to California and Texas, finally arriving in Nashville in 1959 where he joined the Bill Carlisle Show and first appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. He was a member of Porter Wagoner's "Wagon Masters" from 1962 to 1973, and also appeared on the Roy Clark Show and Hee Haw.
  Over his long history, Buck has received many awards and nominations. He was twice named the Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year (1975, 1976) and he was twice the #1 Instrumentalist of the Year for the Music City Awards. Included in his nominations are the 1976 #1 Instrumentalist of the Year for Record World, 1972 through 1981 #1 Instrumentalist for the Music City News Awards and in 1979-1981 Instrumental Group of the Year (with Wendy Holcomb in the Bluegrass category) for the Music City News Awards.
  
  wn.com/Buck_Trent
• 
  Buster Olney
  Robert Stanbury "Buster" Olney III (born February 17, 1964, in Washington, D.C.) is a columnist for ESPN: The Magazine, ESPN.com, and covered the New York Giants and New York Yankees for The New York Times. He is also a regular analyst for the ESPN's Baseball Tonight. Olney is one of about 575 voters for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
  Olney currently resides in Yorktown Heights, New York
  Olney grew up on a dairy farm in Randolph Center, Vermont, which came in handy when he served as the "Cow Insider" for Mike Greenberg's milking of a cow on "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on June 21, 2007. He was educated at Northfield Mount Hermon School and Vanderbilt University, where he majored in history. As a child Buster was an avid baseball fan. At age 8, he developed an affinity for the Los Angeles Dodgers after reading a book about Sandy Koufax. Buster would later attribute his fanship as a reason for his journalistic career.
  After graduating, Olney began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. While in Nashville, he formed a close relationship with the legendary Don Meyer, Head Coach of the men's basketball program at David Lipscomb University. He later worked at the San Diego Union-Tribune and Baltimore Sun. He arrived at the Times in 1997 and in his first year won an Associated Press award.
  
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• 
  Chaim Potok
  Chaim Potok (February 17, 1929 – July 23, 2002) was an American Jewish author and rabbi. Potok is most famous for his first book The Chosen, a 1967 novel which was listed on The New York Times’ best seller list for 39 weeks and sold more than 3,400,000 copies.
  Herman Harold Potok was born in The Bronx, New York City, to Benjamin Max (died 1958) and Mollie (née Friedman) Potok (died 1985), Jewish immigrants from Poland. He was the oldest of four children, all of whom either became rabbis or married one. His Hebrew name was Chaim Tzvi (חיים צבי). He received an Orthodox Jewish education. After reading Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as a teenager, he decided to become a writer (he often said that the novel Brideshead Revisited is what inspired his work and literature). He started writing fiction at the age of 16. At age 17 he made his first submission to the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. Although it wasn't published, he received a note from the editor complimenting his work.
  In 1949, at the age of twenty, his stories were published in the literary magazine of Yeshiva University, which he also helped edit. In 1950, Potok graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English Literature.
  
  wn.com/Chaim_Potok
• Chanté Moore
  Chanté Moore (born Chanté Torrane Moore, February 17, 1967, San Francisco, California) is an American R&B and jazz singer.
  Born to a gospel minister, she grew up singing in the church and was heavily influenced by the music of George Duke and Lee Ritenour. While in high school, she decided to make a career of singing. She was a successful beauty pageant contestant and model when, at age twenty-two, she was discovered by the MCA Records executive Louil Silas. Moore was signed to Silas' MCA-distributed imprint Silas Records.
  In 1996 she had daughter Sophia Hardison, with actor Kadeem Hardison. They secretly married in 1997 and divorced in 2000. She married singer Kenny Lattimore on New Year's Day in 2002 at a private ceremony in Jamaica. Their son Kenny, Jr. was born April 10, 2003.
  When Moore recorded her 1999 single "Chanté's Got a Man", the man she was singing about was her then-husband Kadeem Hardison.
  Moore has recorded several hit records, including "Love's Taken Over", "It's Alright", "I'm What You Need", "Old School Lovin", and "Free" (a Deniece Williams cover). Moore recorded "Your Home Is In My Heart" with Boyz II Men for the How Stella Got Her Groove Back soundtrack. Moore was also featured on the soundtrack of Waiting to Exhale in 1995 with the song "Wey U."
  
  wn.com/Chanté_Moore
• 
  Chord Overstreet
  Chord Paul Overstreet (born February 17, 1989) is an American actor, singer and musician, best known for his role as Sam Evans on the television series Glee.
  Overstreet was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to make-up artist Julie Miller and country music singer-songwriter Paul Overstreet. He has an older brother, Nash, who plays in the band Hot Chelle Rae, an older sister, Summer, and three younger sisters, Harmony, Skye and Charity. He is of German, Irish, English, and "a little bit of Native American" descent. He was named after the musical term of the same name. Overstreet was raised on a farm outside of Nashville. Encouraged by his parents to pursue music, he started playing the mandolin at an early age, and moved on to the drums, flute, piano, and guitar. He is also a songwriter, but is unsigned. In his teenage years, he modeled for advertisements for Famous Footwear and Gap.
  Overstreet began to pursue his passion of performing after his high school graduation in 2007. After two unsuccessful years, Overstreet started his acting career on the web series Private, as Josh Hollis. He was also featured in an episode of iCarly iSpeed Date (for a few minutes) and the unaired pilot of No Ordinary Family. His first film role was that of Teenage Boy in the 2009 thriller The Hole, and he starred in the 2011 film A Warrior's Heart as Dupree, alongside Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz.
  
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• 
  Christina Pickles
  Christina Pickles (born February 17, 1935) is an English actress, best known for her long-running role of Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the hospital drama St. Elsewhere, for which she was nominated for four Emmys.
  Christina Pickles was born in Yorkshire, England. She is the niece of radio presenter Wilfred Pickles and the sister of judge James Pickles. Her niece Carolyn Pickles is also an actress.
  She has appeared in such television shows as Roseanne, Matlock, Diagnosis: Murder and Murder, She Wrote, as well as the soap operas The Guiding Light and Another World, though it was her role in the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) with which she is most identified. She remained on St. Elsewhere for its entire six-year run, and was nominated for four Emmy awards for her work on the series.
  Pickles played the mother of Harmon Rabb, in the television series, "JAG". She also appeared as "Judy Geller", the mother of Ross and Monica Geller (David Schwimmer and Courteney Cox), in the U.S. sitcom Friends, making appearances throughout the ten-year run of the series and receiving an Emmy nomination for her role in 1995. She appeared opposite Elliott Gould who played her on-screen husband.
  
  wn.com/Christina_Pickles
• Clément Richard
  Clément Richard (born February 17, 1939) is a lawyer, businessman and former political figure in Quebec. He represented Montmorency in the Quebec National Assembly as a member of the Parti Québécois from 1976 to 1985.
  He was born in Quebec City, the son of J. Damase Richard and Léontine Bégin, and was educated at the Collège Saint-Jean-Eudes, the Collège Saint-Louis in Edmundston, the Université Laval and Georgetown University. He was a reporter for L'Action de Québec and then taught Canadian history at the Académie de Québec from 1963 to 1967. Richard was called to the Quebec bar in 1965. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Quebec assembly in 1973, losing to Marcel Bédard. Richard served as President of the National Assembly from 1976 to 1980. He was a member of the Quebec cabinet, serving as Minister of Communications from 1980 to 1981 and Minister of Cultural Affairs from 1981 to 1985. Richard did not run for reelection in 1985. He was a vice-president for Lavalin and then president/director general for Lavalin Communications from 1986 to 1991. Richard was president and founder of MétéoMédia, Expotech Imax and the Quebec book publishing company Mondia. He served on the administrative council for Place des Arts, serving as president of the council from 1995 to 2002, and was also a member of the executive committee for the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal.
  
  wn.com/Clément_Richard
• Conchita Cintrón
  Concepción Cintrón Verrill, also known as Conchita Cintrón or La Diosa de Oro ('The Golden Goddess') (Antofagasta, August 9, 1922 – Lisboa, February 17, 2009), was a peruvian torera (female bullfighter), perhaps the most famous in the history of bullfighting. In the ring Cintrón was said to display particular grace, style and bravado, a combination known as duende.
  Cintrón was born in 1922 in Antofagasta, in northern Chile. Her father, Francisco Cintrón Ramos, was a Puerto Rican–born graduate of West Point and a businessman. Her mother, Lola Kathleen Verrill, was an American. By the time she was three years old, the family had moved to Lima, Peru, where she grew up, learned to ride, and began her career as a bullfighter.
  In Lima, Perú, she rode her first pony at three, and joined the riding school of the Portuguese rejoneador Ruy da Cámara, an immigrant to Peru, at 11. Cámara also became her bullfighting teacher. She trained originally as a rejoneadora, a bullfighter from horseback. This is the form of bullfighting practiced in Portugal.
  
  wn.com/Conchita_Cintrón
• Constabilis
  Saint Constabilis (Italian: San Constabile, San Costabile) (c. 1070–1124) was an Italian abbot and saint. He was abbot of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni, from 1122 to 1124.
  He was born around 1070 at Tresino in Lucania to the noble Gentilcore family. At the age of seven, he was entrusted to the care of abbot of Cava, Leo I. Constabilis then became a monk at the abbey. He followed the Benedictine Rule zealously and was entrusted by the abbot to manage important negotiations and transactions on behalf of the abbey. On January 10, 1118, he was promoted by abbot Peter of Pappacarbone to the position of coadjutor. He subsequently succeeded Peter as abbot after the latter's death on March 4, 1122.
  Constabilis is venerated as the patron saint of Castellabate, for the reason that he founded the town. He started construction on the Angel's Castle on 10 October 1123, which afterwards became entitled to him. His title gave the village its present name: Castrum Abbatis, the "castle of the abbot."
  
  wn.com/Constabilis
• Costas Azariadis
  Constantine Christos "Costas" Azariadis (Greek: Κώστας Αζαριάδης; b. February 17, 1943) is a macroeconomist born in Athens, Greece. He has worked on diverse topics, such as labor markets, business cycles, and economic growth and development. Azariadis originated and developed the concept of implicit contract theory.
  Azariadis studied engineering in the National Technical University of Athens before earning his MBA and PhD in economics at Carnegie Mellon during 1969-73. His doctoral dissertation at Carnegie Mellon was advised by Edward C. Prescott and Robert Lucas. His dissertation won him the Alexander Henderson Award for excellence in economics, an award also won by Nobel Laureates Oliver Williamson, Dale Mortensen, Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott.
  He was an assistant professor at Brown during 1973-76, a visiting researcher at Hebrew University in 1977, then at University of Pennsylvania during 1977-92, and finally professor at UCLA since 1992. Since July 1, 2006, he is the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at the Economics Department at Washington University while retaining a position at UCLA as a professor emeritus. He is a research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis since 2006. Azariadis was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 1989.
  
  wn.com/Costas_Azariadis
• 
  Daniel Merriweather
  Daniel Paul Merriweather (born 17 February 1982) is an Australian R&B singer-songwriter who has worked as a featured vocalist for other artists and has a solo career. His guest vocals are included on album tracks by Disco Montego, Mark Ronson and Phrase. His collaborations with Ronson led to working in the United Kingdom including lead vocals on Ronson's cover version of The Smiths' song "Stop Me" in 2007. Merriweather's debut solo album, Love & War, was released in June 2009. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. It was preceded by two singles, "Change" and "Red", which both made the top 10 on the related singles chart. Merriweather has won two ARIA Music Awards, 'Best Urban Release' in 2005 for "She's Got Me" and 'Best Male Artist' in 2009 for Love & War.
  Daniel Merriweather's first commercially released recording was a guest appearance on the track "All I Want" for Australian dance act Disco Montego's self-titled album in September 2002. The album peaked at No. 17 on the ARIA Albums Chart. He signed with the local label, Marlin Records, which led to work with Mark Ronson, a United Kingdom DJ and guitarist, on the latter's debut album, Here Comes the Fuzz, ("She's Got Me" and "NYC Rules") in September 2003. Merriweather signed with Ronson's label, Allido Records, and worked on his debut solo single, "City Rules", as a revised version of "NYC Rules". It was produced by Ronson and featured raps from New York MC Saigon and was issued in early 2004. Other musicians on the single are ?uestlove, The Black Eyed Peas' horn section and members of Beck's backing band. He received an ARIA Award nomination for "City Rules" in the category 'Best Urban Release' at the 2004 ceremony.
  
  wn.com/Daniel_Merriweather
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  David Douillet
  David Douillet (French pronunciation: [dujɛ]; born 17 February 1969) is a retired French judoka and politician.
  Douillet was born in the city of Rouen. Standing at 1.90 meters (6'3") and weighing 125 kilograms (276 lbs), he won the judo heavyweight gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games in Atlanta and Sydney. He also gained four world titles and a European crown. These achievements make him one of the most decorated judoka in history. The size of David Douillet (1 m 90 and more than 120 kg in his period of competition) classified him in the heavyweight division. After finishing his sporting career, he maintained his popularity by engaging with Bernadette Chirac in the charity “Operation Yellow coins" (fr:Opération Pièces Jaunes). He also became a consulting sportsman for Canal+.
  He was elected deputy to the French National Assembly on 18 October 2009 and on September 26, 2011 became the new Sports Minister until May 2012.
  David Douillet began judo at age 11, in the commune of Neufchâtel-in-Bray, near his birthplace of Rouen. Having exceptional physical size for someone his age (1,80 m and 80 kg), he was instructed by Jacques Lemaître who taught him the rudiments of the sport. Quickly becoming attracted to the Japanese martial art, he distinguished himself on the tatamis, and thanks to his school results, integrated the study of the sport at the Victor school, and Helene Basch, near the University of Rennes. In 1986, when Douillet was 17, he was noticed during a demonstration by Jean-Luc Rougé who brought him into INSEP (National institute of sport and physical education).
  
  wn.com/David_Douillet
• David McComb
  David Richard McComb (17 February 1962 – 2 February 1999) was an Australian rock musician. He was the singer-songwriter of the Australian band, The Triffids.
  David McComb was born in Perth, Australia on 17 February 1962, the youngest of four boys. His parents were both doctors, his father, Dr Harold McComb, a prominent plastic surgeon and his mother, Dr Athel Hockey (AO), a renowned geneticist. The family resided in a historical residence, The Cliffe in McNeil Street, Peppermint Grove. All the boys attended Christ Church Grammar School in Claremont, Western Australia, with David winning prizes in English Literature and Divinity. McComb studied journalism and literature at the Western Australian Institute of Technology. His older brother, Robert McComb, later joined The Triffids as a guitarist.
  Whilst still at high school, partly in response to the emergence of punk rock, McComb and Alan "Alsy" MacDonald formed Dalsy (a multimedia project, producing music, books and photographic work, and its output reflected his early interests, in Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith), in 1976. Dalsy, later known as Blök Music then evolved into The Triffids (from the post-apocalyptic John Wyndham novel, The Day of the Triffids). McComb and MacDonald wrote and performed songs with Phil Kakulas (later in Blackeyed Susans), Andrew McGowan, Julian Douglas-Smith, and later Byron Sinclair, Will Akers and Margaret Gillard. By Christmas 1978, they had released several home-recorded cassette tapes and been through many line-up changes. McComb became established as the band's main songwriter and common denominator in the band's various line-ups.
  
  wn.com/David_McComb
• 
  Denise Richards
  Denise Lee Richards (born February 17, 1971) is an American actress and former fashion model. She has appeared in films including Starship Troopers, Wild Things, and The World Is Not Enough. She appeared on the reality TV show, Denise Richards: It's Complicated, which was carried by American cable channel E!.
  Richards was born in Downers Grove, Illinois, the daughter of Joni, a coffee shop owner, and Irv Richards, a telephone engineer. She has one sister, Michelle, and grew up in both Mokena and Downers Grove, Illinois. She graduated in 1989 from El Camino High School in Oceanside, California. As a child, she was the "only girl on the baseball team."
  Before she was an actress, Richards was signed by the Judith Fontaine Modeling & Talent Agency as a model.^{[citation needed]}
  She spent the majority of the 1990s appearing in lower-budget films and TV shows such as Saved by the Bell, television movies, and guest starring in episodes of several television shows such as Married with Children (1991), a five-second walk through. She later made guest appearances in shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210 (1992), Seinfeld (1993), Lois and Clark (1994) and a guest-arc in Melrose Place (1996).
  
  wn.com/Denise_Richards
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  Dodie Stevens
  Dodie Stevens (born Geraldine Ann Pasquale, February 17, 1946) is an American pop singer. She is best known for her million selling 1959 song "Pink Shoe Laces", which made her a star when she was only 13 years old.
  Stevens was born in Chicago, Illinois. She and her family moved to the San Gabriel Valley in California when she was three. She soon started taking singing and dancing lessons. In 1954, at the age of eight, she recorded her first song, "Merry-Go Merry-Go Round." The song was performed on the Art Linkletter's House Party TV show and issued on Gold Star Records under the name Geri Pace.
  The president of Crystalette Records, Carl Burns, happened to see her in a local show called "Strickly Informal." Mr. Burns gave her the name Dodie Stevens and the song "Pink Shoe Laces." Although Stevens did not initially like her new name or the song, she recorded "Pink Shoe Laces" in 1959 for the Crystalette label. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Following the song’s success, Dot Records signed her to a recording contract. Her first Dot recording was "Mairzy Doats" (Dot 16002) in 1959. In the early 1960s, she had several minor hit singles on Dot including "No" (Dot 16103) and "Yes I'm Lonesome Tonight" (Dot 16167), as well as "Merry, Merry Christmas Baby" (M. Sylvia / G. Lopez) (Dot 16166), which continues to enjoy airplay during the Christmas season. Dot also released Dodie's cover of the Patsy Cline hit "I Fall to Pieces" (Dot 16200) in 1961, and "Pink Shoe Laces" (Dot 16389) in 1962. She also recorded three non-charting albums for the label:
  
  wn.com/Dodie_Stevens
• Dominic Purcell
  Dominic Haakon Myrtvedt Purcell (born 17 February 1970) is an Australian actor of Norwegian, Irish and English heritage, best known for his role as Lincoln Burrows in Prison Break, the title character in John Doe, and Dracula in Blade: Trinity.
  Purcell was born in Wallasey, Wirral, which, until 1974 when the county of Merseyside was formed, was part of Cheshire. At the age of two, Dominic and his family moved from England to Sydney's Bondi and later moved to the Western Suburbs. He is also of Irish and Norwegian descent. Purcell attended Blaxland East Public School, and later studied at Blaxland High School and St Dominic's College, Penrith. After becoming a landscape gardener, he soon tired of the profession and, while watching the war movie Platoon, decided to become an actor.^{[citation needed]}
  He eventually attended the Australian Theatre for Young People and then later enrolled at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts where he met his future wife Rebecca and studied with Hugh Jackman.^{[citation needed]} With his wife, Rebecca Williamson, he had a son Joseph (b. August 12th 1999), daughter Audrey (b. January 30th 2001), and twins Lily-Rose and Augustus (b. July 7th 2003).
  
  wn.com/Dominic_Purcell
• Don Scardino
  Don Scardino (born February 17, 1948) is an American television director and producer and a former actor.
  Born in New York City, Scardino began his career as an actor. His first Broadway credit was as an understudy in The Playroom in 1965. Additional Broadway acting credits include Johnny No-Trump, Godspell, and King of Hearts. Off-Broadway he appeared in The Rimers of Eldritch, The Comedy of Errors, Moonchildren, and I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, he was also the lead in a cult classic B horror movie titled Squirm in 1976. He served as Artistic Director at Playwrights Horizons from 1991-96. On television he appeared on the daytime soap operas The Guiding Light, All My Children, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and Another World and the primetime series The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and The Name of the Game. Feature film credits include Rip-off, Homer, Squirm and Cruising.
  Following his acting on the network soap operas, Scardino began to direct them. He directed episodes of Another World, One Life to Live, and All My Children. He went on to direct plays on and off-Broadway, including the world premiere of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men. He has directed extensively in television, most notably NBC's comedy 30 ROCK. Feature film directing work includes Me & Veronica (Venice Film Festival), and Advice From A Caterpillar, winner, best comedy, at Aspen Comedy Festival. He is currently directing "The Amazing Burt Wonderstone" Starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell
  
  wn.com/Don_Scardino
• Drew Barry
  Drew William Barry (born February 17, 1973) is a retired American professional basketball player. He is the son of Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry and has three brothers: Scooter, Jon and Brent, who also share his profession. His grandfather Bruce Hale also played in the NBA and was Rick's college coach at Miami of Florida. His stepmother is Lynn Barry.
  Born in Oakland, California, Barry graduated from De La Salle High School in Concord in 1991 and played four seasons with the Yellow Jackets basketball team at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) after redshirting his freshman year. The all-time assists leader of Georgia Tech, Barry played briefly for the Fort Wayne Fury in the CBA and in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks, Seattle SuperSonics, and Golden State Warriors.
  Prior to being signed by the Hawks on March 27, 2000, Barry played eight games with the Sydney Kings during the 1999-2000 Australian NBL season. He also played professionally in Poland.
  
  
  
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  Drew Miller
  Andrew Miller (born February 17, 1984 in Dover, New Jersey but raised in East Lansing, Michigan) is an American professional ice hockey winger currently playing for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL).
  Miller was drafted in the sixth round, 186th overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and made his NHL debut on April 19, 2007, playing with the Anaheim Ducks against the Minnesota Wild. He is the younger brother of Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller.
  Miller played junior hockey for the now-defunct Capital Centre Pride of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) from 2001–2003, totaling 32 goals and 28 assists for 60 points in 102 games. Early in the 2002–03 season, he graduated to the United States Hockey League (USHL).
  At 17, Miller played 49 games for the River City Lancers (now known as the Omaha Lancers) of the USHL in the 2002–03 season, posting 14 goals and 11 assists for 25 points. He scored nine points in 11 playoff games to help lead the Lancers to the USHL Finals, where they lost three games to one to the Lincoln Stars. Miller played with fellow NHLers Matt Carle and Paul Stastny and was named to the USHL All-Star team.
  
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• 
  Ed Sheeran
  Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter who is currently signed to Asylum / Atlantic Records. Sheeran broke through commercially in June 2011, when his debut single "The A Team" debuted at number 3 on the UK chart.
  Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire to Irish and English parents, before moving to Framlingham, Suffolk; he is a cousin of TV journalist and presenter Gordon Burns. He learned guitar at a very young age, and began writing songs during his time at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham. His early childhood memories, referred to in a interview on the Zane Lowe show, included listening to Van Morrison on his countless trips to London with his parents and going to an intimate gig with Damien Rice in Ireland when he was 11. He also opened for Nizlopi in Norwich in April 2008 after being one of their guitar technicians. Sheeran began recording in 2005, which led to the release of his first EP, The Orange Room EP. Sheeran also released 2 albums, a self-titled one in 2006 and Want Some? in 2007. He moved to London in 2008 to play gigs, starting off in very small venues, playing every day, to as little as five people. In 2008, he auditioned for the ITV series Britannia High.
  
  wn.com/Ed_Sheeran
• Edgar Evans
  Petty Officer Edgar Evans (7 March 1876 – 17 February 1912) was a member of the Polar Party on Robert Falcon Scott's companions on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912. This final group of five men, personally selected for the final expedition push, attained the Pole on 17 January 1912; but all of them, including Evans, perished as they attempted to return to their base camp.
  Evans was born in Middleton, Rhossili,Wales, the son of a seaman. He attended St. Helen's Boys School from the age of six until he was thirteen, then enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1891, and in 1899 began service on HMS Majestic, where Scott was serving as a torpedo lieutenant.
  Edgar Evans then joined Scott's first Antarctic expedition in Discovery in 1901–1904. Along with William Lashly, he accompanied Scott on his "Furthest West" sledge journey to the interior of Victoria Land in 1903.
  Scott's biographer Roland Huntford described Evans as "a huge, bull-necked beefy figure" and a "beery womanizer" who was "running a bit to fat" by the time of Scott's second expedition in Terra Nova. Evans was nearly left behind in New Zealand when he drunkenly fell into the water while boarding the ship. However, held in high regard by Scott for "his resourcefulness, his strength and fund of anecdotes," Scott decided to overlook the incident.
  
  wn.com/Edgar_Evans
• Enrico Banducci
  Enrico Banducci (born Harry Banducci February 17, 1922 – October 9, 2007) was an American impresario. Banducci operated the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, where he launched the careers of Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Bill Cosby, Jonathan Winters, and Barbra Streisand, and featured Woody Allen and Dick Cavett before they were well-known, as well as countless folk singers. The hungry i featured the original brick wall in the stage background, a staple for stand up comedy presentations ever since. Banducci bought the hungry i from its founder, Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, in 1950. Banducci later also started the Clown Alley hamburger stand as well as Enrico's Sidewalk Cafe on Broadway, a restaurant and jazz club that has been in and out of business (as of 2007 it remains in operation under new ownership).
  Banducci was born in 1922 in Bakersfield, California. He came to San Francisco at age 13 to study under the concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony. He changed his first name to "Enrico" after Enrico Caruso. He was married five times, the first to Raimonde Verney, daughter of a symphony violinist. He wore a beret, beginning after a health inspector insisted he wear a hair covering while he was running a food operation and continuing to cover his eventual baldness. He bought the hungry i for $800 in borrowed money in 1948. Although he once calculated that he made over $10 million from his various projects, he spent it all on his lavish lifestyle. He spent time in jail, and was involved in a number of brawls. The hungry i went bankrupt at least once.
  
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• 
  Ernst Jünger
  Ernst Jünger (29 March 1895 – 17 February 1998) was a German writer. In addition to his political essays, novels and diaries, he is well known for Storm of Steel, an account of his experience during World War I.
  Jünger was born in Heidelberg to a middle class family, and grew up in Hannover as the son of a chemical engineer who later became a pharmacist. He attended school from 1901 to 1913, and was a member of the Wandervogel movement. In 1913, he ran away from home to join the French Foreign Legion in which he served very briefly in North Africa. During World War I he served with distinction in the Imperial German Army on the Western Front. In the first week of January 1917 he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and in September 1918 was awarded Prussia's highest military decoration of that time, the Pour le Mérite (informally known as the "Blue Max"). This he received as a Lieutenant at the age of 23.
  His war experiences are first described in Storm of Steel (German title: In Stahlgewittern) which was published in 1920 (self-published). This book by which Jünger became suddenly famous has been seen as glorifying war. Jünger served as a lieutenant in the army of the Weimar Republic until his demobilisation in 1923. He studied marine biology, zoology, botany, and philosophy, and became a well-known entomologist. He married Gretha von Jeinsen (1906–1960) in 1925; they had two children, Ernst (1926–1944) and Alexander (1934–1993).
  
  wn.com/Ernst_Jünger
• Fausto Poli
  Fausto Poli (17 February 1581 – 7 October 1653) was a Roman Catholic prelate and Cardinal.
  Born in Usigni in Umbria, as a young man he went to Rome and was soon noticed by Maffeo Barberini, a cleric of the Apostolic Chamber and a fellow Umbrian from nearby Spoleto, soon to become Pope under the name of Urban VIII. In 1632 he was made Majordomo and Prefect of the Lateran palace, in which posts he was responsible for supervising church and court ceremonial. In 1633 he was consecrated titular archbishop of Amasia in partibus.
  As private secretary to Pope Urban, among his most valuable services was that of purchasing old works of art, or commissioning new works, for that inveterate collector; among the artists he encouraged was Claude Lorrain. He was rewarded toward the end of Urban's pontificate by being raised to the purple as Cardinal-Priest of San Crisogono on 31 August 1643. He was appointed Bishop of Orvieto in 1644.
  He participated in the Papal conclave of 1644 which elected Urban's successor, Pope Innocent X.
  
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  Ferdinando Carulli
  Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli (Naples, 9 February 1770 – Paris, 17 February 1841) was an Italian composer for classical guitar and the author of the first complete classical guitar method, which continues to be used today. He wrote a variety of works for classical guitar, including concertos and chamber works. He was an extremely prolific writer for guitar, composing over 400 works for the instrument in the space of 12 years.
  Carulli was born in Naples, then part of the Kingdom of Naples. His father, Michele, was a distinguished literator, secretary to the delegate of the Neapolitan Jurisdiction. Like many of his contemporaries, he was taught musical theory by a priest, who was also an amateur musician. Carulli's first instrument was the cello, but when he was twenty he discovered the guitar and devoted his life to the study and advancement of the guitar. As there were no professional guitar teachers in Naples at the time, Carulli developed his own style of playing.
  
  wn.com/Ferdinando_Carulli
• Fintan of Clonenagh
  Saint Fintan was born in Leinster. He received his religious formation in Terryglass, Co. Tipperary under the abbot Colum mac Crimthainn, and was deeply influenced by his penitential practices and the severity of the Rule. Fintan made his own foundation in Clonenagh, Co. Laois. He died in 603. His feast day is on February 17.
  His disciples included St Colmán of Oughaval. Though he is sometimes confused with Saint Fintán or Munnu, abbot of Taghmon, they are distinct.
   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 
  
  
  
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  Fred Frith
  Fred Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.
  Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, The Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, the ARTE Quartett and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues (1996, performed 1998 by Frith and Ensemble Modern) and Freedom in Fragments (1993, performed 1999 by Rova Saxophone Quartet). Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including Curlew, The Muffins, Etron Fou Leloublan and Orthotonics.
  Frith is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel's award-winning 1990 documentary film Step Across the Border. He also appears in the Canadian documentary Act of God, which is about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. Frith has contributed to a number of music publications, including New Musical Express and Trouser Press, and has conducted improvising workshops across the world. Frith's career spans over three decades and he appears on over 400 albums. He still performs actively throughout the world.
  
  wn.com/Fred_Frith
• Friedrich Sylburg
  Friedrich Sylburg (1536 – February 17, 1596) was a German classical scholar.
  The son of a farmer, he was born at Wetter near Marburg. He studied at Marburg, Jena, Geneva, and, lastly, Paris, where his teacher was Henry Estienne (Stephanus), to whose great Greek Thesaurus Sylburg afterwards made important contributions.
  Returning to Germany, he held educational posts at Neuhaus near Worms and at Lich near Gießen, where he edited a useful edition of the Institutiones in graecam linguam (1580) of Nicolaus Clenardus (Cleynaerts). In 1583 he resigned his post at Lich and moved to Frankfurt to act as corrector and editor of Greek texts for the enterprising publisher Johann Wechel. To his Frankfurt period belong the editions of Pausanias, Herodotus, Dionysius Halicarnassensis (one of his best pieces of work, highly praised by Carsten Niebuhr), Aristotle, the Greek and Latin sources for the history of the Roman emperors and the Peri syntaxeos of Apollonius Dyscolus.
  In 1591 he moved to Heidelberg, where he became librarian to the elector palatine. The Wechel series was continued by Hieronymus Commelinus of Heidelberg, for whom Sylburg edited Clement of Alexander, Justin Martyr, the Etymologicum magnum, the Scriptores de re rustica, the Greek gnomic poets, Xenophon, Nonnus and other works. All Sylburg's editions show great critical power and indefatigable industry; the latter may well have caused his death.
  
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  Fyodor Sologub
  Fyodor Sologub (Russian: Фёдор Сологу́б, born Fyodor Kuzmich Teternikov, Russian: Фёдор Кузьми́ч Тете́рников; March 1 [O.S. February 17] 1863 – December 5, 1927) was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, playwright and essayist. He was the first writer to introduce the morbid, pessimistic elements characteristic of European fin de siècle literature and philosophy into Russian prose.
  Sologub was born in St. Petersburg into the family of a poor tailor, Kuzma Afanasyevich Teternikov, who had been a serf in Poltava guberniya, the illegitimate son of a local landowner. His father died of tuberculosis in 1867, and his illiterate mother was forced to become a servant in the home of the aristocratic Agapov family, where Sologub and his younger sister Olga grew up. Seeing how difficult his mother's life was, Sologub was determined to rescue her from it, and after graduating from the St. Petersburg Teachers' Institute in 1882 he took his mother and sister with him to his first teaching post in Kresttsy, where he began his literary career with the 1884 publication in a children's magazine of his poem "The Fox and the Hedgehog" under the name Te-rnikov.
  
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  Garry Kasparov
  Garry Kimovich Kasparov (Russian: Га́рри Ки́мович Каспа́ров, Russian pronunciation: [ˈɡarʲɪ ˈkʲiməvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsparəf]; born Garik Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time.
  Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He was the first world champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997.
  Kasparov's ratings achievements include being rated world No. 1 according to Elo rating almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851. He was the world No. 1 ranked player for 255 months, by far the most of all-time and nearly three times as long as his closest rival, Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars.
  
  wn.com/Garry_Kasparov
• Gazanfer Özcan
  Saim Gazanfer Özcan (January 27, 1931 – February 17, 2009) was a Turkish actor.
  Born on January 27, 1931 in Istanbul, Özcan started his career as an actor with the play Hisse-i Şaiya at Vefa High School. Honored as a State Artist by the Ministry of Culture in 1998, he attracted millions of viewers with his performance as "Tahsin Sütçüoğlu" character in the famous TV series "Avrupa Yakası". He died on February 17, 2009 in Istanbul due to cardiac problems he was having following a 20 day stay at the Istanbul American Hospital.
  
  wn.com/Gazanfer_Özcan
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  Gene Pitney
  Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1941 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the British Invasion. Pitney charted 16 Top-40 hits in the U.S., four in the Top 10. In the UK he had 22 Top-40 hits, and 11 singles in the Top Ten. He also wrote the early 1960s hits "Rubber Ball" by Bobby Vee, "He's a Rebel" by The Crystals, and "Hello Mary Lou" by Rick Nelson. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon, Connecticut. His early influences were Clyde McPhatter, country-blues singer Moon Mullican and doo-wop groups like The Crows. He attended Rockville High School, at which he was named "the Rockville Rocket", and where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. He made records as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell (who in late 1963 had a solo hit, "Dumb Head"), and in 1959 recorded a single as Billy Bryan. The first of the two Decca 45s as Jamie and Jane was "Snuggle Up, Baby," a cover of a song Charlie Gracie recorded at Cameo 1957 or early 1958, which remained unreleased until London Records released Gracie's original version in Europe in 1978.
  
  wn.com/Gene_Pitney
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  Geronimo
  Geronimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua: Goyaałé [kòjàːɬɛ́] "one who yawns"; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent Native American leader of the Bedonkohe Apache who fought against Mexico and the United States for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. "Geronimo" was the name given to him during a battle with Mexican soldiers. His Chiricahua name is often rendered as Goyathlay or Goyahkla in English.
  After an attack by a company of Mexican soldiers killed his mother, wife and three children in 1858, Geronimo joined revenge attacks on the Mexicans. During his career as a war chief, he was notorious for consistently urging raids upon Mexican Provinces and their towns, and later against American locations across Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas.
  In 1886 Geronimo surrendered to U.S. authorities after a lengthy pursuit. As a prisoner of war in old age he became a celebrity and appeared in fairs but was never allowed to return to the land of his birth. He later regretted his surrender and claimed the conditions he made had been ignored. Geronimo died in 1909 from complications of pneumonia at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
  
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  Giordano Bruno
  Giordano Bruno (1548 – February 17, 1600), (Latin: Iordanus Brunus Nolanus) born Filippo Bruno, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer. His cosmological theories went beyond the Copernican model in proposing that the Sun was essentially a star, and moreover, that the universe contained an infinite number of inhabited worlds populated by other intelligent beings. He was burned at the stake by civil authorities in 1600 after the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy for his pantheism and turned him over to the state, which at that time considered heresy illegal. After his death he gained considerable fame, particularly among 19th- and early 20th-century commentators who, focusing on his astronomical beliefs, regarded him as a martyr for free thought and modern scientific ideas.
  Some assessments suggest that Bruno's ideas about the universe played a smaller role in his trial than his pantheist beliefs, which differed from the interpretations and scope of God held by the Catholic Church. In addition to his cosmological writings, Bruno also wrote extensively on the art of memory, a loosely organized group of mnemonic techniques and principles. The work of Frances Yates, especially influential in anglophone scholarship, argues that Bruno was deeply influenced by the astronomy found in Arab astrology, Neoplatonism and Renaissance Hermeticism. Other recent studies of Bruno have focused on his qualitative approach to mathematics and his application of the spatial paradigms of geometry to language.
  
  wn.com/Giordano_Bruno
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  Gérald Cid
  Gérald Cid (born 17 February 1983 Talence, Gironde) is a retired French footballer. He was primarily a centre back, who last played for OGC Nice.
  Cid joined Bolton from Girondins de Bordeaux in July 2007, having spent 8 years with the French club.
  After a number of shaky performances he was christened 'the hapless Gerald Cid' by Bolton Evening News journalist Gordon Sharrock.
  On 13 January 2008, it was announced that he had left Bolton Wanderers by mutual consent. He returned to France, joining Ligue 1 side Nice, on a three-and-a-half year deal.
  On 16 July 2010, Cid announced his retirement on the OGC Nice website.
  
  
  
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  Hal Holbrook
  Harold Rowe "Hal" Holbrook, Jr. (born February 17, 1925) is an American actor. His television roles include Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 TV series Lincoln, Hays Stowe on The Bold Ones: The Senator and Capt. Lloyd Bucher on Pueblo. He is also known for his role in the 2007 film Into the Wild, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award. He has also performed a one-man show as Mark Twain since 1954.
  Holbrook was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Aileen Davenport Holbrook, a vaudeville dancer, and Harold Rowe Holbrook, Sr. He was raised in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Culver Academies and Denison University, where an honors project about Mark Twain led him to develop the one-man show for which he is best known, a series of performances called Mark Twain Tonight (for which he won both a Tony and a Drama Desk Award). Holbrook served in the U.S. Army in World War II and was stationed in Newfoundland, where he performed in theatre productions such as the play Madam Precious.
  
  wn.com/Hal_Holbrook
• Haller Nutt
  Haller Nutt was born February 17, 1816 on Laurel Hill Plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi. Dr. Haller Nutt was a successful cotton planter and plantation owner in Mississippi. He developed a strain of cotton that became important commercially for the Deep South.
  Haller was educated at the University of Virginia from 1832 to 1835. After college he returned to Mississippi and assisted his father in management of Laurel Hill Plantation.
  Haller owned several plantations throughout his life including Araby, Evergreen and Winter Quarters in Louisiana and Cloverdale and Laurel Hill in Mississippi. Haller mainly grew cash crops including cotton and sugar cane. These plantations brought him considerable wealth. He made a net profit of more than $228,000 from agricultural enterprises in 1860. He owned 43,000 acres (170 km²) of land and 800 slaves. His fortune prior to the Civil War was estimated at more than three million dollars.
  Haller married Julia Augusta Williams in 1840. She was only eighteen at the time. Haller and Julia had eleven children:
  
  wn.com/Haller_Nutt
• Hans Morgenthau
  Hans Joachim Morgenthau (February 17, 1904 – July 19, 1980) was one of the leading twentieth-century figures in the study of international politics. He made landmark contributions to international-relations theory and the study of international law, and his Politics Among Nations, first published in 1948, went through many editions and was for decades the most-used textbook in its field in U.S. universities. In addition, Morgenthau wrote widely about international politics and U.S. foreign policy for general-circulation journals such as The New Leader, Commentary, Worldview, and The New Republic. He knew and corresponded with many of the leading intellectuals and writers of his era, such as Reinhold Niebuhr, George F. Kennan, and Hannah Arendt. At one point in the early Cold War, Morgenthau was a consultant to the U.S. State Department when Kennan headed its Policy Planning Staff. For most of his career, however, Morgenthau was an academic critic of U.S. foreign policy rather than a formulator of it. Indeed, he publicly opposed American involvement in Vietnam.
  
  wn.com/Hans_Morgenthau
• Hap Day
  Clarence Henry "Happy" Day (June 1, 1901 – February 17, 1990), later known as Hap Day, was a Canadian professional hockey player who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans. Day enjoyed a 33-year career as a player, referee, coach and assistant general manager, 28 of which were spent in various capacities with the Maple Leafs. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
  His name appears on the Stanley Cup 7 times—1932 (as Captain), 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1949 (as coach) and 1951 (as assistant manager); all with the Maple Leafs.
  Day was born in Owen Sound, Ontario. During his teenage years, his family moved to Port McNicoll, Ontario, a small village outside of Midland, Ontario. While developing his early hockey skills, Day skated with the Midland Juniors, and while attending Midland High School, wore the uniform of its hockey team. Legend has it that he'd often walk from Port McNicoll to Midland (approximately three kilometres away) in the winter, for games at the town's Casino Rink. He played for the Hamilton Tigers of the Ontario Hockey Association in 1922–23 and 1923–24, and then joined the varsity team at the University of Toronto, where he was enrolled as a pharmacy major. Day was persuaded to turn professional in 1924 by Charlie Querrie, owner of the Toronto St. Pats. He played left wing in his rookie season and then switched to defence, where he would remain for the rest of his career. He became team captain in 1926.
  
  wn.com/Hap_Day
• Harisu
  Harisu (Hangul: 하리수; Hanja: 河莉秀) is the stage name of Lee Kyung-eun originally Lee Kyung-yeop (born February 17, 1975), a transsexual pop singer, model and actress from South Korea. Born biologically male, Harisu identified as female from early childhood, and underwent sex reassignment surgery in the 1990s. She is noted for being South Korea's first transgender entertainer, and in 2002 became only the second person in Korea to legally change their gender. Her stage name is an adaptation of the English phrase "hot issue".
  Harisu first gained public attention in 2001, after appearing in a television commercial for DoDo cosmetics. The commercial was a big success and ended up launching her career, allowing her to branch out into other fields such as music and acting. So far she has recorded five Korean musical albums, switching genres between techno and R&B, and her overseas releases have featured songs recorded in Mandarin. Her first major acting role was in the 2001 film Yellow Hair 2, and since then her credits have included Hi! Honey, a Taiwanese drama series, and Colour Blossoms, an erotic drama by Hong Kong filmmaker Yonfan. On May 19, 2007, Harisu married boyfriend Micky Jung, whom she had been dating for two years previously.
  
  wn.com/Harisu
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  Heinrich Heine
  Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Heine's later verse and prose is distinguished by its satirical wit and irony. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities. Heine spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate in Paris.
  Heine was born in Düsseldorf, Rhineland, into a Jewish family. He was called "Harry" as a child, but became "Heinrich" after his conversion to Christianity in 1825. Heine's father, Samson Heine (1764–1828), was a textile merchant. His mother Peira (known as "Betty"), née van Geldern (1771–1859), was the daughter of a physician. Heinrich was the eldest of the four children; his siblings were Charlotte, Gustav - who later became Baron Heine-Geldern and publisher of the Viennese newspaper Das Fremdenblatt - and Maximilian, later a physician in Saint Petersburg.
  
  wn.com/Heinrich_Heine
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  Henri Vieuxtemps
  Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi fʁɑ̃swa ʒɔzɛf vjøtɑ̃ ]) (17 February 1820 – 6 June 1881) was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century.
  Vieuxtemps was born in Verviers, Belgium, son of a weaver and amateur violinist and violin-maker. He received his first violin instruction from his father and a local teacher and gave his first public performance at the age of six, playing a concerto by Pierre Rode. Soon he was giving concerts in various surrounding cities, including Liège and Brussels where he met the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot, with whom he began studies. In 1829, Bériot took him to Paris where he made a successful concert debut, again with a concerto by Rode, but he had to return the next year because of the July Revolution and Bériot's marriage to his mistress Maria Malibran and departure on concert tour. Back in Brussels, Vieuxtemps continued developing his violin technique on his own, his musicianship deepened by playing with the deeply musical mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot, Malibran's sister. A tour of Germany in 1833 brought friendship with Louis Spohr and with Robert Schumann, who compared the boy to Niccolò Paganini. During the following decade he visited various European cities, impressing with his virtuosity not only audiences but also famous musicians such as Hector Berlioz and Paganini himself, whom he encountered at his London debut in 1834.
  
  wn.com/Henri_Vieuxtemps
• Hervé Bazin
  Hervé Bazin (Jean-Pierre Hervé-Bazin) (April 17, 1911, Angers, Maine-et-Loire - February 17, 1996, Angers) was a French writer, whose best-known novels covered semi-autobiographical topics of teenage rebellion and dysfunctional families.
  Bazin had a difficult childhood living in a bigoted bourgeois family. He opposed his authoritarian mother, ran away several times during his teens, and refused Catholic teachings. At the age of 20 he broke up with his family.
  During fifteen years of writing poetry with little success, Bazin worked in lots of small jobs. Notable work of this period include a poetic review in 1946, la Coquille (The Shell, only eight volumes), and "À la poursuite d'Iris" in 1948. He won the 1947 Prix Apollinaire for Jour, his first book of poetry.
  Following the advice of Paul Valéry, he left poetry to focus on prose.
  Childhood conflicts with his mother inspired the novel Viper in the Fist in 1948. The novel portrays the hatred between a mother nicknamed Folcoche (from the French "folle" (crazy) and "cochonne" (pig) and her children, including the narrator Jean Rezeau, called "Brasse-bouillon". Maurice Nadeau described the novel as "Atrides in duffle-coat"^{[citation needed]}. The book was immensely successful in postwar France, and was followed by La Mort du Petit Cheval and Le Cri de la Chouette to create a trilogy. In other works, Bazin returned to the theme of the family. In addition to novels, he also wrote short stories and essays.
  
  wn.com/Hervé_Bazin
• Hugh McCrae
  Hugh Raymond McCrae (4 October 1876 - 17 February 1958) was an Australian writer.
  McCrae was born in Melbourne, the son of the Australian author George Gordon McCrae. He was originally articled to an architect, but later took upon writing and acting, settling eventually in Sydney and Camden. His works are notable for a sense of lightness and delicacy, and he had produced, in addition to a volume of memoirs, a considerable body of verse, and a light operetta, an edition of his grandmother's journal, and a volume of prose pieces.
  He wrote a fantasy play The Ship of Heaven which was produced by the Independent Theatre in 1933, for which Alfred Hill composed and conducted the music.
  McCrae was well known to a number of distinguished figures in Australian artistic and literary circles. He is remembered for his friendships with Norman Lindsay and Kenneth Slessor, but he was also friendly with such figures as Christopher Brennan and Shaw Neilson.
  
  
  
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  Isabelle Eberhardt
  Isabelle Eberhardt (17 February 1877 – 21 October 1904) was a Swiss explorer and writer who lived and travelled extensively in North Africa. For the time she was an extremely liberated individual who rejected conventional European morality in favour of her own path and that of Islam. She died in a flash flood in the desert at the age of 27.
  Eberhardt was born in Geneva, Switzerland, to an aristocratic Lutheran Baltic German Russian mother, Nathalie Moerder (née Eberhardt), and an Armenian-born father, Alexandre Trophimowsky, anarchist, and ex-priest. Isabelle's mother had been married to elderly widower General Pavel de Moerder, who held important Imperial positions. After bearing him two sons and a daughter she traveled to Switzerland to convalesce, taking along her stepson and her own children, with their tutor Trophimowsky. Soon after arriving in Geneva she gave birth again, to Isabelle's brother Augustin and four months later came the news that her husband had died of a heart attack. She elected to remain in Switzerland and four years later, Isabelle was born and registered as her "illegitimate" daughter to avoid acknowledging the tutor's paternity. Isabelle's illegitimacy caused her emotional and financial troubles later in life, preventing her inheritance and contributing to her feelings of estrangement from her siblings, who hated her father.
  
  wn.com/Isabelle_Eberhardt
• Isidora Sekulić
  Isidora Sekulić (Serbian Cyrillic: Исидора Секулић) (February 16, 1877 – April 5, 1958) was a famous Serbian prose writer, novelist, essayist, adventurer, polyglot and art critic.
  Sekulić was born in Mošorin, Bačka, in what is now the Serbian province of Vojvodina. Apart from her studies in literature, Sekulić was also well versed in natural sciences as well as philosophy. She graduated from the pedagogical school in Budapest in 1892, and obtained her doctorate in 1922 in Germany. Her travels included extended stays in England, France and Norway. Her travels from Oslo through Bergen to Finnmark resulted in Pisma iz Norveške / Letters from Norway meditative travelogue in 1914. Her collection of short stories, Saputnici, are unusually detailed and penetrating accomplishment in self-analysis and a brave stylistic experiment. She also spoke several classical as well as nine modern languages.
  Sekulić's lyrical, meditative, introspective and analytical writings come at the dawn of Serbian prose writing. Sekulić is concerned with the human condition of man in his new, thoroughly modern sensibility. In her main novel, The Chronicle of a Small Town Cemetery (Кроника паланачког гробља), she writes in opposition to the usual chronological development of events. Instead, each part of the book begins in the cemetery, eventually returning to the time of bustling life, with all its joys and tragedies. Characters such as Gospa Nola, are the first strong female characters in Serbian literature, painted in detail in all their courage, pride and determination.
  
  wn.com/Isidora_Sekulić
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  Ivo Caprino
  Ivo Caprino (17 February 1920 – 8 February 2001) was a Norwegian film director and writer, best known for his puppet films. His most famous film is Flåklypa Grand Prix ("Pinchcliffe Grand Prix"), made in 1975.
  In the mid 1940s, Caprino helped his mother design puppets for a puppet theatre, which inspired him to try making a film using his mother's designs. The result of their collaboration was Tim og Tøffe, an 8 minute film released in 1949 . Several films followed in the next couple of years, including two 15 minute shorts that are still shown regularly in Norway today, Veslefrikk med Fela (Little Freddy and his Fiddle), based on a Norwegian folk tale, and Karius og Baktus, a story by Thorbjørn Egner of two little trolls, representing Caries and Bacterium, living in a boy's teeth. Ingeborg Gude made the puppets for these films as well, as she would continue to do up until her death in the mid sixties.
  When making Tim og Tøffe, Caprino invented an ingenious method for controlling the puppet's movements in real time. The technique can be described as a primitive, mechanical version of animatronics.
  
  wn.com/Ivo_Caprino
• Jacob Wetterling
  Jacob Erwin Wetterling (born February 17, 1978 - ?) is a boy from St. Joseph, Minnesota who was kidnapped from his hometown at the age of 11 on Sunday, October 22, 1989. His fate remains unknown.
  Jacob, his brother, and a friend were cycling home from a convenience store on October 22nd 1989 when a masked gunman came out of a driveway and ordered the boys to throw their bikes into a ditch and lie down on the ground. He then asked each boy his age. Jacob's brother and friend were told to run toward a nearby wooded area and not look back or else he would shoot them. After a short run, both boys did look back and saw the gunman grab Jacob by the elbow and walk him away. The whereabouts of Jacob and the identity of the gunman remain unknown.
  The investigation into Jacob's abduction continues. In 2004, some new reports appeared in the local press. A long-held belief that the abductor got away in a car was abandoned. It was also revealed that ten months prior to the Wetterling abduction another boy had been kidnapped, placed into a car, and sexually assaulted before being released. The modus operandi was similar to that in the Wetterling case: the man used a gun and upon releasing the boy told him to run and not look back or else he would be shot. That incident occurred ten miles from the location where Jacob, his brother, and friend were stopped.
  
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  James Naismith
  James Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian sports coach and innovator. He invented the sport of basketball in 1891 and is often credited with introducing the first football helmet. He wrote the original basketball rulebook, founded the University of Kansas basketball program, and lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of both the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship (1939).
  Born in Canada, Naismith studied physical education in Montreal before moving to the United States, where he developed basketball in late 1891 while teaching at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith also studied medicine in Denver, taking his MD in 1898 before moving to the University of Kansas. After a decade (1898–1907) serving there as a faculty member and part-time basketball coach during the sport's fledgling years, he became the Kansas Jayhawks' athletic director. He became a U.S. citizen in 1925.
  
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  Jan Swammerdam
  Jan Swammerdam (February 12, 1637, Amsterdam – February 17, 1680) was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the same animal. As part of his anatomical research, he carried out experiments on muscle contraction. In 1658, he was the first to observe and describe red blood cells. He was one of the first people to use the microscope in dissections, and his techniques remained useful for hundreds of years.
  Swammerdam was born in Amsterdam. His father was an apothecary, and an amateur collector of minerals, coins, fossils, and insects from around the world. His mother died in 1661. The same year, when he was 24, Swammerdam entered the University of Leiden to study medicine. After qualifying as a candidate in medicine in 1663, he left for France, spending time in Issy, Saumur and Paris with Melchisédech Thévenot. He returned to Leiden in September 1665, and earned his M.D. on February 22, 1667.
  
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  Janani Luwum
  Janani Jakaliya Luwum (c. 1922 – 17 February 1977), was the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda from 1974 to 1977 and one of the most influential leaders of the modern church in Africa. He was murdered in 1977 by either Idi Amin personally or by Amin's henchmen.
  Luwum was born in the village of Mucwini in the Kitgum District to Acholi parents. He attended Gulu High School and Boroboro Teacher Training College, after which he taught at a primary school. Luwum converted to Christianity in 1948, and in 1949 he went to Buwalasi Theological College. In 1950 he was attached to St. Philip's Church in Gulu. He was ordained a deacon in 1953, and the following year he was ordained a priest. He served in the upper Nile Diocese of Uganda and later in the Diocese of Mbale. In 1961 he was consecrated bishop of the Anglican Church Province of northern Uganda at Gulu. After five years he was appointed archbishop of the metropolitan province of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga (in Zaire), becoming the second African to hold this position.
  
  wn.com/Janani_Luwum
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  Jason Ritter
  Jason Morgan Ritter (born February 17, 1980) is an American actor, son of actor John Ritter and actress Nancy Morgan. Ritter is probably best known for his role as Kevin Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia and as Sean Walker in the NBC series The Event. He now plays the recurring role of Mark Cyr in the NBC television series Parenthood.
  Ritter was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Nancy Morgan and John Ritter, and the grandson of musician/actor, Tex Ritter, and Dorothy Fay. His stepmother is actress Amy Yasbeck. He has three siblings.
  Ritter attended middle and high school at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, with Simon Helberg, who became his roommate at NYU. He then attended (as did Helberg) and graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied at the Atlantic Theatre Company. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
  Ritter appeared in The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story playing the son of real life father John Ritter. He appeared in the movie PG (2002), and one year later playing in Swimfan. In 2003, Ritter had a major role in the slasher/horror film Freddy vs. Jason as Will Rollins. He appeared in Raise Your Voice and Happy Endings. He portrayed Jeb Bush in the Oliver Stone film W. In 2007, he also voiced substitute teacher, Mr. Fisk, in an episode of "All Grown Up", the grown up version of "The Rugrats", a teacher who Angelica falls in love with. In 2008, he released Good Dick, a movie which he produced and starred in along with his girlfriend, Marianna Palka, who also wrote and directed the film.
  
  wn.com/Jason_Ritter
• Jean Le Moyne
  Jean Le Moyne, OC (February 17, 1913 – April 1, 1996) was a Canadian journalist, researcher, screenwriter and senator.
  Born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1961 he wrote Convergences, winner of the 1961 Governor General's Award for French non-fiction. He won the Molson Prize in 1968.
  On December 23, 1982 he was appointed to the Senate at the recommendation of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau representing the senatorial division of Rigaud, Quebec. He retired on his 75th birthday on February 17, 1988. He sat as a Liberal.
  In 1982, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "in recognition of his important contribution to Canadian humanities".
  
  wn.com/Jean_Le_Moyne
• Jean Servais
  Jean Servais (24 September 1910, Antwerp, Belgium – 17 February 1976, Paris) was a Belgian actor trained at the Brussels Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, where he won the Second Prize.
  His acting skills came to the attention of Raymond Rouleau, and he was hired at the Théâtre du Marais, where he acted in Le mal de jeunesse, which was successful in Brussels and in Paris. He was also a member of Jean-Louis Barrault's theatre company.
  His first film role was as the simple country dweller who was the victim of an error by the justice system in the film Criminel (1932), directed by Jack Forrester. Servais's film career continued in the 1930s with roles in films such as La Chanson De L'Adieu (1934) and La Vie Est Magnifique (1938). After a break in acting during World War II, he returned to the screen with roles in films such as La Danse De Mort (1948).
  In the 1950s, he displayed a brooding, haunted demeanor in the crime drama Rififi (1955)(which François Truffaut ranked as the best film noir) directed by Jules Dassin, in which he played an embittered and physically ailing leader of a gang of jewel thieves. He appeared in another film directed by Dassin, Celui qui doit mourir, in 1957. He also appeared in La fièvre monte à El Pao (1959), a film written and directed by Luis Buñuel.
  
  wn.com/Jean_Servais
• Jeremy Edwards
  Jeremy Edwards (born 17 February 1971 in London) is an English actor and television presenter, who has appeared in the TV shows Hollyoaks and Holby City. He lives in Belsize Park, North London with his wife Lydia.
  Edwards has a degree in Public Administration from Manchester Metropolitan University and his previous jobs have included modelling and a television researcher. He also delivered fish on roller skates in Soho and washed up at the canteen at Reading railway station for a short time. In his own words, Edwards "was a merchant banker once... walked out within a month... couldn't stand the snobbery, the wine bars, the suits and the Tube in the morning."
  Edwards played Kurt Benson in the soap opera, Hollyoaks on Channel 4 from 1995 to 1999 before appearing in the BBC medical drama television serial Holby City, in which he played Danny Shaughnessy from 1999 to 2003.
  In January 2005, Edwards took part in the third series of Celebrity Big Brother. He finished in fourth place, behind Brigitte Nielsen, Kenzie from Blazin' Squad and the winner Bez.
  
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  Jiddu Krishnamurti
  Jiddu Krishnamurti (May 11, 1895 – February 17, 1986) was an Indian writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society. He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social.
  Krishnamurti was born into a Telugu Brahmin family in what was then colonial India. In early adolescence, he had a chance encounter with prominent occultist and high-ranking theosophist Charles Webster Leadbeater in the grounds of the Theosophical Society headquarters at Adyar in Madras (now Chennai). He was subsequently raised under the tutelage of Annie Besant and Leadbeater, leaders of the Society at the time, who believed him to be a "vehicle" for an expected World Teacher. As a young man, he disavowed this idea and dissolved the worldwide organization (the Order of the Star) established to support it. He claimed allegiance to no nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy, and spent the rest of his life traveling the world, speaking to large and small groups and individuals. He authored many books, among them The First and Last Freedom, The Only Revolution, and Krishnamurti's Notebook. Many of his talks and discussions have been published. His last public talk was in Madras, India, in January 1986, a month before his death at his home in Ojai, California.
  
  wn.com/Jiddu_Krishnamurti
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  Jim Brown
  James Nathaniel "Jim" Brown (born February 17, 1936) is an American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever. He is considered to be one of the greatest professional athletes the U.S. has ever produced.
  James Nathaniel Brown was born to Theresa (a housekeeper) and Swinton Brown (a professional boxer).
  At Manhasset Secondary School, Brown earned 13 letters playing football, lacrosse, baseball, basketball and running track. According to the New York Times:
  Mr. Brown credits his self-reliance to having grown up on St. Simons's island, an all-black community off the coast of Georgia where he was raised by his grandmother and where racism did not affect him directly. At the age of 8 he moved to Manhasset, N.Y., where his mother worked as a domestic. It was at Manhasset High School that he became a football star and athletic legend.
  
  wn.com/Jim_Brown
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  Jimmy Jacobs
  Chris Scobille (born February 17, 1984) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Jimmy Jacobs. He is best known for his time in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a four-time World Tag Team Champion. He is currently working for ROH (where he recently returned), Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW), and various independent promotions
  Scobille first became involved in the wrestling industry in June 1998 as a general assistant for Pro Wrestling Worldwide (PWW), a promotion based in Grand Rapids, Michigan where his brother, Nick, was working. Scobille spent nine months performing various tasks, including providing color commentary and acting as the company webmaster. After PWW folded, Scobille began working for the Lakeshore Wrestling Organization (LsWO), and was made a referee on March 6, 1999, substituting for a referee who was on vacation. He began training as a wrestler under veteran Joe "El Tejano" Ortega, a former student of Jose Lothario and the founder of the LsWO, in Holland, Michigan in March 1999, and wrestled his debut match on May 1, 1999 at the age of fifteen as "Jimmy Jacobs", losing to Michael Stryker. Scobille completed his training in August 1999 and went on to wrestle for various independent promotions in the Michigan area on the weekends, while attending high school and working as a furniture mover during the week. After graduating, he attended college for three years before deciding to focus on his wrestling career as a full-time job in May 2005.
  
  wn.com/Jimmy_Jacobs
• John Leyton
  John Leyton (born John Dudley Leyton, 17 February 1939,Frinton-on-Sea, Essex) is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song, "Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek), which reached Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1961.
  Leyton went to Highgate School and after completing his national service, he studied drama, paying his way through drama school with bit-part roles in films and on television. His first major acting role was his portrayal of Ginger in a 1960 Granada TV adaptation of Biggles, which earned him a large following of young female fans and led to the formation of a John Leyton fan club.
  Following the success of Biggles, Leyton was persuaded by his manager, Robert Stigwood, to audition as a singer for record producer Joe Meek, and subsequently recorded a cover version of "Tell Laura I Love Her", which was released on the Top Rank label. In 1961 though, the Top Rank label was taken over by EMI who then issued Leyton's records on their HMV label. EMI had already released Ricky Valance's version of the same song. Leyton's recording was withdrawn from sale, whilst Valance's version reached Number 1 in the UK chart.
  
  wn.com/John_Leyton
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  Joseph Kearns
  Joseph Sherrard Kearns (February 12, 1907 – February 17, 1962) was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson ("Mr. Wilson") in the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.
  Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Kearns's family moved to California when he was very young. His mother was Cordelia M. Kearns (née Peterson) (1877–1962), a concert pianist, from whom Kearns derived his love of music. Kearns' acting career began in 1916 when he joined 'The Rising Generation," a vaudeville troupe of 11 children that toured for 14 months. He went to college at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City, where he earned his tuition by teaching a course in theatrical makeup. He graduated with a degree in music. Kearns started in radio and theatre as a pipe organist. Later, he built his soundproof Hollywood home around a 26-rank Wurlitzer theater pipe organ.
  He was a devout Mormon.
  He began his acting career in radio in the 1930s (playing the Crazyquilt Dragon in the serial The Cinnamon Bear), becoming active during the 1940s, with appearances on the shows The Adventures of Sam Spade, Burns and Allen and dozens of other shows. On Suspense, he was almost a mainstay, heard regularly as the host "The Man in Black" in the early years, announcing many episodes in the later run, and playing supporting and occasional lead roles in hundreds of shows throughout the series' tenure in Hollywood, from judges to kindly old-timers to cowards.
  
  wn.com/Joseph_Kearns
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  Josh Willingham
  Joshua David Willingham (born February 17, 1979 in Florence, Alabama) is an American Major League Baseball left fielder for the Minnesota Twins. He has played for the Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals and Oakland Athletics.
  He was born in Florence, Alabama where he played high school baseball and basketball at Mars Hill Bible School. Willingham attended college at the University of North Alabama. He played shortstop and was a two-time All-Gulf South Conference selection (1999, 2000) and a 2-time American Baseball Coaches Association All American. He is a member of Sigma Chi fraternity, Eta Rho Chapter.
  Willingham was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 17th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his MLB debut on July 6, 2004 against the Pittsburgh Pirates but did not garner regular playing time until 2006.
  After struggling to find a fielding position for Willingham, as his advanced hitting abilities did not allow him the opportunity to develop defensively, the Marlins made Willingham their starting left-fielder during the 2006 season in wake of the Marlins's "marker correction" in the 2005 offseason.
  
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  José José
  José José (born José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz on February 17, 1948) is a Mexican singer.
  Also known in the entertainment world as El Príncipe de la Canción (The Prince of Song), he is recognized for his romantic ballads and praised for his vocals. His voice garnered acclaim from musical peers and media.
  Born and raised in Mexico City into a family of musicians, José José started his musical career in his early teens playing guitar and singing in serenades. He later joined a jazz and bossa nova trio where he sang and played the bass and double bass. José became a successful solo artist in the early 1970s. Demonstrating his vocal ability with a masterful performance of the song "El Triste" in a Latin music festival in 1970, he climbed the Latin charts during the decade.
  In the 1980s, after signing with Ariola Records, he gained international fame as one of the most talented and successful performers in Latin America. His 1983 album Secretos has sold over 7.5 million copies around the world. With a series of huge hits, he received several nominations to the Grammy and numerous recognitions worldwide. He sold out in venues such as the Madison Square Garden and the Radio City Music Hall. His music has reached non Spanish-speaking countries like Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Israel and Russia. During the 1990s, after several hits, his career began to decline as his voice started to falter due to alcoholism and unknown health issues. José has also forged a career as an actor, starring in movies like Gavilán o Paloma and Perdóname Todo.
  
  wn.com/José_José
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  José López Portillo
  José López Portillo y Pacheco (June 16, 1920 – February 17, 2004) was the 51st President of Mexico from 1976 to 1982.
  Born in Mexico City, López Portillo studied Law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) before beginning his political career with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1959. He held several positions in the administrations of his two predecessors before being appointed to serve as finance minister under Luis Echeverría, a close friend, from 1973 to 1975.
  López Portillo undertook an ambitious program to promote Mexico's economic development with revenues stemming from the discovery of new petroleum reserves in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco by Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the country's publicly owned oil company.
  López Portillo undertook actions which were highly controversial with respect to the international banking establishment. One of his last actions as president, announced during his annual State of the Nation address on September 1, 1982, was to order the nationalization of the country's banking system.
  
  wn.com/José_López_Portillo
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  Jozef Murgaš
  Jozef Murgaš (English Joseph Murgas) (17 February 1864 – 11 May 1929) was a Slovak inventor, architect, botanist, painter, patriot, and Roman Catholic priest. He contributed to wireless telegraphy and help develop mobile communications and wireless transmission of information and human voice.
  Murgaš was nicknamed the Radio Priest and deemed a Renaissance man.
  Murgaš was born in Tajov (Tajó), Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (now Slovakia). He studied theology in Prešporok (Pressburg, present Bratislava) (1880–82), Esztergom (1882–84), and in Banská Bystrica, where he graduated in 1888. From his youth he was bright, skillful and good at painting and electrotechnology: The vice-head of the school in Esztergom allowed him to use the physics room for experiments, and the Slovak painters B. Klemens and Dominik Skutecký noticed his talent for painting.
  After priestly ordination in 1888, Murgaš worked as a curate. On Skutecký's initiative, Murgaš was accepted at a painting school in Budapest, where he studied from 1889-90. He also studied painting in Munich from 1890-93. He attended both schools while working. He painted sacral pieces and Slovak landscapes and Slovak personalities. It was due to his strong patriotism he exhibited during holidays in the 1890s that he was not allowed to finish his painting studies and had to work as a curate in changing places in the Kingdom of Hungary: in Chrenovec (Nyitratormás), Slovenská Ľupča (Zólyomlipcse), Dubová (Cseres) and in Lopej (Lopér). In Lopej, he painted a large sacral picture of St. George, which is still on the church altar of the village.
  
  wn.com/Jozef_Murgaš
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  Juan de Mariana
  Juan de Mariana, also known as Father Mariana (1536 – 17 February 1624), was a Spanish Jesuit priest, Scholastic, historian, and member of the Monarchomachs.
  Juan de Mariana was born in Talavera, Toledo, Spain. He studied at the Complutense University of Alcalá de Henares, and was admitted at the age of seventeen into the Society of Jesus. In 1561 he went to teach theology in Rome, reckoning among his pupils Robert Bellarmine, afterwards cardinal; then passed into Sicily; and in 1569 he was sent to Paris, where his expositions of the writings of Thomas Aquinas attracted large audiences. In 1574, owing to ill health, he obtained permission to return to Spain; the rest of his life being passed at the Jesuits' house in Toledo in vigorous literary activity. He died in Madrid.
  Mariana's great work, Historiae de rebus Hispaniae, first appeared in twenty books at Toledo in 1592; ten books were subsequently added (1605), bringing the work down to the accession of Charles V in 1519, and in a still later abstract of events the author completed it to the accession of Philip IV in 1621. It was so well received that Mariana was induced to translate it into Spanish (the first part in 1601; completed, 1609; English translation by J. Stevens, 1699).
  
  wn.com/Juan_de_Mariana
• Julia McKenzie
  Julia McKenzie (born 17 February 1941) is an English actress, singer and theatre director. She is best known for her performance in Fresh Fields, but to current television audiences, she may be better known for her role as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple. McKenzie has also appeared on the stage in both the West End and on Broadway, including in several Stephen Sondheim musicals.
  She was born Julia Kathleen McKenzie on 17 February 1941, in Enfield, Middlesex, England, the daughter of Kathleen Rowe and Albion McKenzie.
  In London's West End her performing credits include Guys and Dolls as Miss Adelaide (1982) and Sweeney Todd as Mrs. Lovett (1994), winning the Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a Musical for each.
  For her role in Woman in Mind, she received the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress. She has also appeared in Follies as Sally at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1987and Into the Woods as the Witch at the Phoenix Theatre in 1990. She appeared in Side By Side By Sondheim in the West End in 1976 and on Broadway in 1977,and was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for her performance.
  
  wn.com/Julia_McKenzie
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  Jurga Ivanauskaitė
  Jurga Ivanauskaitė (14 November 1961 – 17 February 2007) was a Lithuanian writer.
  She was born in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union. Studying at the Vilnius Art Academy, her first book was The Year of the Lilies of the Valley, published in 1985. She subsequently published six novels, a children's book and a book of essays. Her works have been translated into several languages, including English, Latvian, Polish, Russian, German, and Swedish.
  After her visits in the Far East, she became an active supporter of the Tibet liberation movement.
  She died from the soft tissue sarcoma in Vilnius at the age of 45 and is interred in the Antakalnis Cemetery.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Jurga_Ivanauskaitė
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  Karl Ernst von Baer
  Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer, Edler von Huthorn (Russian: Карл Эрнст фон Бэр) also known in Russia as Karl Maksimovich Baer (Russian: Карл Макси́мович Бэр, 28 February [O.S. 17 February] 1792 – 28 November [O.S. 16 November] 1876) was an Estoniannaturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, a founding father of embryology, explorer of European Russia and Scandinavia, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a co-founder of the Russian Geographical Society and the first President of the Russian Entomological Society.
  Karl Ernst von Baer was born into a Baltic German noble family in the Piep estate, Wierland, Estonia, as a Knight by birthright. Many of his ancestors had come from Westphalia. He was educated at the Knight and Cathedral School in Reval (Tallinn) and the Imperial University of Dorpat (Tartu), each of which he found lacking in quality education. In 1812, during his tenure at the university, he was sent to Riga to aid the city after Napoleon's armies had laid siege to it. As he attempted to help the sick and wounded, he realized that his education at Dorpat had been inadequate, and upon his graduation he notified his father that he would need to go abroad to "finish" his education. In his autobiography his discontent with his education at Dorpat inspired him to write a lengthy appraisal of education in general, a summary that dominated the content of the book. After leaving Tartu, he continued his education in Berlin, Vienna, and Würzburg where Döllinger introduced him to the new field of embryology.
  
  wn.com/Karl_Ernst_von_Baer
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  Karl Jenkins
  Karl William Pamp Jenkins, CBE (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh musician and composer.
  Jenkins was born and raised in the Gower village of Penclawdd, in the county of Swansea, South Wales. His father, who was a local schoolteacher, chapel organist and choirmaster, gave him his initial musical instruction. Karl Jenkins attended Gowerton Grammar School.
  Jenkins began his musical career as an oboist in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He went on to study music at Cardiff University, and then commenced postgraduate studies in London at the Royal Academy of Music, where he also met his wife and musical collaborator, Carol Barratt. He studied with Alun Hoddinott.
  For the bulk of his early career Jenkins was known as a jazz and jazz-rock musician, playing baritone and soprano saxophones, keyboards and oboe, an unusual instrument in a jazz context. He joined jazz composer Graham Collier's group and later co-founded the jazz-rock group Nucleus, which won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1970.
  
  wn.com/Karl_Jenkins
• Kathleen Freeman
  Kathleen Freeman (February 17, 1919 – August 23, 2001) was an American film, television, and stage actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed tart maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors, almost invariably to comic effect.
  Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois. She began her career as a child, dancing in her parents' vaudeville act. After a stint studying music at UCLA, she went into acting full time, working on the stage, and finally entering films in 1948. She was a founding member, in 1946, of the Circle Players at The Circle Theatre, now known as El Centro Theatre.
  Freeman's most notable early role was an uncredited part in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain, as Jean Hagen's articulate diction coach Phoebe Dinsmore. In 1954, Freeman played receptionist Miss Seely for lawyer Adam Calhorn Shaw (Edmund Purdom) in Athena. Beginning with the 1955 film Artists and Models, Freeman became a favorite foil of Jerry Lewis, playing opposite him in 11 films. These included most of Lewis's better known comedies, including The Disorderly Orderly as Nurse Higgins, The Errand Boy as the studio boss's wife, and especially The Nutty Professor as Millie Lemon. Over 30 years later, she made a small cameo appearance in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, a sequel to the remake of the Lewis film.
  
  wn.com/Kathleen_Freeman
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  Kathryn Grayson
  Kathryn Grayson (February 9, 1922 - February 17, 2010) was an American actress and operatic soprano singer.
  From the age of twelve, Grayson trained as an opera singer. She was under contract to MGM by the early 1940s, soon establishing a career principally through her work in musicals. After several supporting roles, she was a lead performer in such films as Thousands Cheer (1943), Anchors Aweigh (1945) with Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, and Show Boat (1951) and Kiss Me Kate (1953) (both with Howard Keel).
  When film musical production declined, she worked in theatre, appearing in Camelot (1962–1964). Later in the decade she performed in several operas, including La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld and La traviata.
  She was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the daughter of Charles E. Hedrick and Lillian Grayson Hedrick (1897–1955). Charles was a building contractor-realtor.
  Lillian was of British descent and Charles was of German and Sicilian descent.
  
  wn.com/Kathryn_Grayson
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  Kelly Carlson
  Kelly Lee Carlson (born February 17, 1976) is an American actress and model. She is best known for her role as Kimber Henry on Nip/Tuck.
  Carlson is originally from Bloomington, Minnesota, and attended the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota. In addition to acting, she has also modeled, including ad campaigns with Miller Lite, Rembrandt, and Oliver Peoples sunglasses. She appeared in the August 2004 issue of Maxim magazine and on the cover of the October issue of Stuff Magazine.
  She is a spokesperson for the Smile Network, a Minnesota-based humanitarian organization that provides reconstructive surgeries and related health care services to impoverished children and young adults in developing countries. An enthusiastic Equestrian rider since the age of 7, Carlson lobbied for a bill to prevent both inhumane transport of American horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada as well as roundups of wild horses by government authorities in January 2010.
  Carlson started out in theater, performing in productions of Vanities, Cheaters, Girls Guide to Chaos, Charlotte's Web and Can't Trust the Mate^{[citation needed]}. She also appeared as an extra in the film 3000 Miles to Graceland. In 2003, Carlson booked a guest role in the pilot of the FX series Nip/Tuck. Her character, Kimber Henry, quickly became popular with audiences, and she appeared in several episodes of the first and second seasons, eventually becoming a regular in the show's third season, remaining with the series until it wrapped in March 2010.
  
  wn.com/Kelly_Carlson
• Kenta Kamakari
  Kenta Kamakari (鎌苅 健太, Kamakari Kenta^?, born on February 17, 1984 in Osaka Prefecture) is a Japanese actor, voice actor and singer, famous for his role as Ryo Shishido in the Prince of Tennis Musicals. He was hospitalized on April 21, 2007 and was unable to play the role of Minami Itsuki in Musical Air Gear vs. Bacchus Super Range Remix and appear in Dream Live 4 ~Extra~. As he mentioned in his blog, as of February 2008 he is completely recovered and will start working again. He is the leader and lead vocals for the J-rock band Cocoa Otoko that debuted on 2010.
  
  wn.com/Kenta_Kamakari
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  Kevin Rudolf
  Kevin Rudolf (born February 17, 1983) is an American rock singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer signed to Cash Money Records. His breakthrough song was his 2008 debut single "Let It Rock" featuring Lil Wayne, which was certified Triple Platinum, and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #5 on the UK Singles Chart, #3 on the Australian Singles Chart, and #2 on the Canadian Hot 100. His second studio album To the Sky features the platinum hit single "I Made It" featuring Lil Wayne, Jay Sean, and Birdman which peaked at 21 on the US Hot 100 and number 11 on the Digital Singles Billboard Chart. Rudolf has won three BMI awards.
  In 2001, Rudolf got his first break with the release of self-written pop record Binocular by Maverick Records under the pseudonym Binocular. The lead track, "You", was featured on the TV series Smallville. A song not included on the album, a cover of "Maybe You're Gone" by Danny Scherr, played over the end credits of 20th Century Fox movie The Girl Next Door.
  
  wn.com/Kevin_Rudolf
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  Klemi Saban
  Rahamim Saban, (born February 17, 1980 in Netanya), commonly known as Klemi Saban, is an Israeli football defender who plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
  Klemi began his career in Maccabi Netanya and then played for several teams - Hapoel Tel Aviv, Hapoel Petah Tikva and Maccabi Haifa- in Israel before joining Romanian club Steaua Bucureşti on June 28, 2006.
  Saban was signed by Steaua Bucureşti in June 2006, and was set to become the first Israel to play in the Romanian Divizia A. But he ended up staying on the bench for Steaua's league opener and did not make his league debut until August 5, 2006. By then, Kobi Nachtailer had already become the first Israeli to play in the league because he started his club's (FC Vaslui) first match of the season.
  His club debut came earlier though when he featured in a UEFA Champions League qualifying match against ND Gorica. Saban was responsible for Steaua's last goal of the match as he was tripped up in the penalty area and the official gave Steaua a penalty kick that sealed a 3-0 victory for them.
  
  wn.com/Klemi_Saban
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  Konstantin Bogaevsky
  Konstantin Fyodorovich Bogaevsky (Russian: Константин Фёдорович Богаевский, 24 January [O.S. 12 January] 1872-17 February 1943) was a Russian painter notable for his Symbolist landscapes.
  Konstantin Bogaevsky was born in the Eastern Crimean city of Feodosiya (currently Ukraine) to an old Italian-German family of the Genoese extraction on 24 January [O.S. 12 January] 1872. He took first lessons in art from Ivan Aivazovsky.
  In 1891-1897 he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in the class of Arkhip Kuindzhi. The art of young Konstantin was not popular with the Academy and he was even at some stage temporarily discharged from the Academy for "lack of talent". Despite this, Kuindzhi always had a high respect for his pupil and protected him. In 1898 Konstantin traveled to Italy and France where he became acquainted with works of Claude Lorrain, whom he proclaimed as his true teacher. His first exhibition was in Moscow in 1898.
  Since 1900 Bogaevsky works in Feodosiya. The main theme of his works became the symbolist landscapes of a non-existent land (known to his friends as Bogaevia) that he saw only in his dreams. Konstantin Bogaevsky became a popular painter after Maximilian Voloshin published a series of essays titled Konstantin Bogaevsky. Voloshin highly praised the symbolism of Bogaevsky's paintings. Contemporaries often drew parallel between Bogaevsky and Nicholas Roerich.
  
  wn.com/Konstantin_Bogaevsky
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  Krzysztof Wielicki
  Krzysztof Wielicki (born January 5, 1950 in Szklarka Przygodzicka, municipality Ostrzeszów, Poland) is a Polish retired alpine and high-altitude climber. He is the fifth man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse in the winter. He is a member of The Explorers Club.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Krzysztof_Wielicki
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  Larry the Cable Guy
  Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), best known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, country music artist, voice artist, and former radio personality.
  He is one of the members of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, a comedy troupe which also includes Bill Engvall, Ron White, and Jeff Foxworthy (with whom he has starred on Blue Collar TV).
  Whitney has released seven comedy albums, of which three have been certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies. In addition, he has starred in three Blue Collar Comedy Tour-related movies, as well as in the films Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Delta Farce, and Witless Protection. He is widely known for voicing Mater in the Cars franchise. Whitney's catchphrase "Git-R-Done!" is also the title of his book.
  On January 26, 2010, the TV channel History announced that it was ordering a series starring Whitney called Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, in which he would explore the country and immerse himself in different lifestyles, jobs, and hobbies. The first episode of the series aired on February 8, 2011.
  
  wn.com/Larry_the_Cable_Guy
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  Lars Göran Petrov
  Lars Göran Petrov, better known simply as LG Petrov, is a Macedonian singer, born 17 February 1972. He is best known for his work with the band Entombed. In 1991 he was forced to quit Entombed, due to personal problems. He then did the vocals for Comecon's debut album Megatrends in Brutality. In 1993, he returned to Entombed and has been with the band ever since. He also played drums in Morbid with Per Yngve "Dead" Ohlin in its original line up. Lars Göran also works for a moving company in Stockholm, Sweden.
  Although mostly known for his brutal and aggressive death metal delivery, he has on occasion also sung in a controlled clean baritone, as can be heard in Entombed's cover of Stillborn's "Albino Flogged In Black" as well as the cover of Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra's "Some Velvet Morning".
  In 2008, he did guest vocals for the track "Guardians of Asgaard" on Amon Amarth's album Twilight of the Thunder God.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Lars_Göran_Petrov
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  Lee Strasberg
  Lee Strasberg (November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the non-profit Actors Studio, in New York City, considered "the nation's most prestigious acting school". In 1969, Strasberg founded the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York City and in Hollywood to teach the work he pioneered.
  He is considered the "father of method acting in America," according to author Mel Gussow, and from the 1920s until his death in 1982 "he revolutionized the art of acting by having a profound influence on performance in American theater and movies". From his base in New York, he trained several generations of theatre and film's most illustrious talents, including Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and director Elia Kazan.
  
  wn.com/Lee_Strasberg
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  Leevi Madetoja
  Leevi Antti Madetoja (17 February 1887, Oulu – 6 October 1947, Helsinki) was a Finnish composer.
  Born in Oulu, he was the son of Antti Madetoja and Anna Hyttinen. His father emigrated to the United States to earn money for the family, but died of tuberculosis by the Mississippi river, never having seen his son.
  Madetoja studied music in Helsinki (1906–1910), Paris (1910–1911), Vienna and Berlin (1911–1912). In 1913, he married the writer Hilja Onerva Lehtinen (1882–1972), who wrote under the pseudonym L. Onerva.
  His music is strongly influenced by the traditional music of his home region, Ostrobothnia. His three symphonies are based on the legacy of Sibelian and Russian romanticism, Gallic clarity and folk elements.
  The sombre Symphony Nº 2 was written during the civil war and could be described as a war symphony. Another fine work written in the same year is the elegant piano piece Kuoleman Puutarha (Garden of Death), dedicated to his brother, who had died during the war. His finest works are considered the opera The Ostrobothnians, the Third Symphony, Comedy Overture, the ballet Okon Fuoko, and his songs for male choir. His inspiration slowly dried up, though a fully scored fourth symphony was reportedly lost when his briefcase was stolen at a Paris railroad station in 1938. He was planning a violin concerto at the time he died, aged 60, from exhaustion, overwork and heart disease.
  
  wn.com/Leevi_Madetoja
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  Lefty Gomez
  Vernon Louis "Lefty" Gomez (November 26, 1908 – February 17, 1989) was an American left-handed major league pitcher who played in the American League for the New York Yankees between 1930 and 1942. Considered one of the great pitchers of the day, Gomez was a seven-time All-Star and a five-time World Series Champion with the Yankees. He was also known for his colorful personality and humor throughout his career and life.
  Gomez was born in Rodeo, California. His father, Francisco Gomez, had been born in California to a Spanish father, Juan Gomez, and a Portuguese mother, Rita. His mother, Lizzie Herring, was an American of Welsh-Irish descent. He played sandlot baseball in Oakland while attending Richmond High School. It was during that timeframe that he was recruited by the San Francisco Seals. The New York Yankees purchased Lefty from the Seals for an estimated $39,000.
  A 20-game winner four times and an All-Star every year from 1933 to 1939, Gomez led the league twice each in wins, winning percentage and ERA, and three times each in shutouts and strikeouts. In the historic first major league All-Star Game (July 6, 1933), Gomez not only was the winning pitcher for the American League, but also drove in the first run of the game. This was out of character for him, as he was, even by the standards of pitchers, notorious for poor hitting. "I never broke a bat until I was 73 years old," he said. "And that was from backing the car out of the garage." His career OPS+ of -7 is the fifth-worst in baseball history among players with at least 1,000 plate appearances. [2] Gomez holds the record for the most innings pitched in a single All-Star game (six, in 1934).
  
  wn.com/Lefty_Gomez
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  Leszek Cichy
  Leszek Cichy is a Polish mountaineer,geodesist, financier, and entrepreneur. He was born in Pruszków, Poland on November 14, 1951. He is best known for making the first winter ascent of Mount Everest together with Krzysztof Wielicki in 1980 which established the winter ascent record of 8,848 meters. He was also the first Polish climber to complete the Seven Summits and a number of other prestigious climbs.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Leszek_Cichy
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  Lola Montez
  Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, Countess of Landsfeld (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez, was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a "Spanish dancer", courtesan and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Countess of Landsfeld. She used her influence to institute liberal reforms. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Switzerland, France and London, returning to her work as an entertainer and lecturer. For a time she visited Australia.
  In his 1996 biography of Lola Montez, author Bruce Seymour revealed that Eliza(beth) Oliver (Lola's mother) was the daughter of Charles Silver Oliver, a former High Sheriff of Cork and member of Parliament for Kilmallock in County Limerick; his residence was Castle Oliver. Eliza Oliver was his youngest child. In December 1818, Ensign Edward Gilbert arrived with his regiment, the 25th Regiment and met Eliza Oliver; they were married on 29 April 1820. Little Eliza was born the following February, which refutes persistent rumors that her mother was pregnant with her at the time of the wedding. At the time of the first printing of Seymour's book the author could only speculate upon the child's birthdate, and "Lola Montez, a Life" was released before an accurate date had been established; the later paperback printing includes the newly discovered information. The young family made their residence at King House in Boyle, County Roscommon until early 1823, when they journeyed to Liverpool, thence departing for India on 14 March.
  
  wn.com/Lola_Montez
• Lommán of Trim
  Lommán mac Dalláin (fl. 5th—early 6th century) was a saint and patron of Trim, Co. Meath in Ireland.
  Trim (Ath Truimm) was the foremost church in the petty kingdom of the Cenél Lóegairi, originally belonging to a cadet branch of that dynasty. In the early 8th century, however, the patronage of the church came under serious strain as power shifts occurred within the main ruling branch. Between the early 8th and mid-9th century, descendants of Colmán mac Duib Duin ruled the monastery. The cadet branch appears to have negotiated the position of the saint, turning to St Patrick's church at Armagh for mediation. By way of compromise, Lommán was drawn into the dossier of St Patrick as someone biologically related and subordinate to that saint. An 8th-century text in the Book of Armagh first attests to Lommán's new status. It states that through his mother, Lommán was a kinsman of the saint as well as of a number of other local saints of the 5th century, including Munis (buried in Forgney) and Mo Genóc (Mugenóc) of Cell Duma Glind (Kilglyn). According to the foundation story, Lommán joined St Patrick on his voyage to Ireland, landing at the estuary of the Boyne (according to Muirchú, at Inber Colpthai), and continued in his ship as far as Trim, where he founded the monastery.
  
  wn.com/Lommán_of_Trim
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  Loreena McKennitt
  Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.
  McKennitt was born in Morden, Manitoba of Irish and Scottish descent to parents Jack (died 1992; a livestock dealer) and Irene McKennitt (1931-2011; a nurse). She moved to Stratford, Ontario in 1981, where she still resides.
  When Loreena was young she wanted to become a veterinarian but she found that music chose her rather than she it. Developing a passion for Celtic music, she learned to play the Celtic harp and began busking at various places, including St. Lawrence Market in Toronto in order to earn money to record her first album.
  McKennitt's first album, Elemental, was released in 1985, followed by To Drive the Cold Winter Away (1987), Parallel Dreams (1989), The Visit (1991), The Mask and Mirror (1994), A Winter Garden (1995), The Book of Secrets (1997), An Ancient Muse (2006), A Midwinter Night’s Dream (2008), and The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2010). All of her work is released under her own label, Quinlan Road.
  
  wn.com/Loreena_McKennitt
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  Lou Diamond Phillips
  Lou Diamond Phillips (born Lou Diamond Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is an American film, television, and stage actor and director. His breakthrough came when he starred in the film La Bamba. He earned a supporting actor Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Stand and Deliver and a Tony Award nomination for his role in The King and I. Other notable films in which Phillips has starred include Courage Under Fire, Che, and Love Takes Wing.
  Outside of acting, he has notably finished 186th in the 2009 World Series of Poker World Championships "No Limit Texas hold 'em" main event.
  Phillips was born as Lou Diamond Upchurch at the Subic Bay U.S. Naval Station in Zambales, Philippines, the son of Lucita Aranas and Gerald Upchurch, an officer in the United States Navy. His father was an American of Scots-Irish and one-quarter Cherokee descent, and his mother, a native of Candelaria, is a Filipino of Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and Hawaiian descent.
  Phillips was named after Marine legend Leland "Lou" Diamond. After his father died, he took his stepfather's surname "Phillips" as his own.
  
  wn.com/Lou_Diamond_Phillips
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  Louis Marchand
  Louis Marchand (2 February 1669 – 17 February 1732) was a French Baroque organist, harpsichordist, and composer. Born into an organist's family, Marchand was a child prodigy and quickly established himself as one of the best known French virtuosi of his time. He worked as organist of numerous churches and, for a few years, at the French court. Marchand had a violent temperament and an arrogant personality, and his life was filled with scandals, publicized and widely discussed both during his lifetime and after his death. Despite his fame, few of his works survive to this day, and those that do almost all date from his early years. Nevertheless, a few pieces of his, such as the organ Grand dialogue in C and Fond d'orgue in E minor, have been lauded as classic works of the French organ school.
  The composer was born in Lyon. Évrard Titon du Tillet, writing in 1732, described Marchand's father as a "mediocre organist". The son, however, was a child prodigy. According to the same source, Louis became organist of the Nevers Cathedral when he was just 14 years old; Titon du Tillet also states that ten years later, at the age of 24, Marchand obtained a similar position at the Auxerre Cathedral, but contemporary sources seem to indicate that the biographer was wrong, and Marchand settled in Paris before he turned 20. He married a Parisian, Marie Angélique Denis, in 1689, and worked as organist in numerous churches until 1707–8, when he became one of the King's organists at the court. Between 1713 and 1717 Marchand went on a long concert tour of Germany; after he returned, he settled in Paris once again and worked as organist at Église des Cordeliers until his death, augmenting his income with teaching.
  
  wn.com/Louis_Marchand
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  Louisa Lawson
  Louisa Lawson (née Albury) (17 February 1848 — 12 August 1920) was an Australian poet, writer, publisher, suffragist, and feminist. She was the mother of the poet and author Henry Lawson.
  Louisa Lawson was born on 17 February 1848 at Guntawang Station near Gulgong, New South Wales, the daughter of Henry Albury and Harriet Winn. She was the second of 12 children in a struggling family, and like many girls at that time left school at 13. On 7 July 1866 aged 18 she married Niels Larsen (Peter Lawson), a Norwegian sailor, at the Methodist parsonage at Mudgee, New South Wales. He was often away gold mining or working with his father-in-law, leaving her on her own to raise four children — Henry 1867, Charles 1869, Peter 1873 and Gertrude 1877, the twin of Tegan who died at eight months. Louisa grieved over the loss of Tegan for many years and left the care of her other children to the oldest child, Henry. This led to ill feelings on Henry's part towards his mother and the two often fought. In 1882 she and her children moved to Sydney where she managed boarding houses.
  
  wn.com/Louisa_Lawson
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  Luc Robitaille
  Luc Robitaille (born February 17, 1966) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. During his 19-season National Hockey League (NHL) career, Robitaille won a Stanley Cup in 2001–02 with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, but is most known for his fourteen seasons, over three different stints, with the Los Angeles Kings. He served as Kings team captain during the 1992–93 and 2005–06 seasons. Robitaille retired after the 2005–06 season as the highest-scoring left winger in NHL history and the holder of several Kings franchise records, as well as numerous Kings playoff records.
  Robitaille was drafted by the Kings in the ninth round (171st overall) of the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. Many hockey experts expected Robitaille to be drafted late in the draft due to his poor skating ability. Robitaille himself has stated that he had only had contact with one NHL team during his junior career - the Kings. He happened to be attending the '84 draft (in the stands), and later introduced himself to first year Kings general manager Rogie Vachon.
  
  wn.com/Luc_Robitaille
• Marc Lawrence
  Marc Lawrence (December 17, 1909 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence.
  Lawrence was born as Max Goldsmith in New York City, the son of a Polish Jewish mother, Minerva Norma (née Sugarman), and a Russian Jewish father, Israel Simon Goldsmith. He participated in plays in school, then attended the City College of New York. He married novelist and screenwriter Fanya Foss, with whom he had two children; she died on December 12, 1995. Lawrence died of heart failure on November 28, 2005 at the age of 95. He was buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Westwood, California. His son, Michael Lawrence, is a writer and artist based on the Greek island of Hydra, whose book, My Voyage In Art, details his meetings with various of his father's actor friends; while at UCLA he befriended the singer-songwriter James Douglas "Jim" Morrison. His daughter, actress Toni Lawrence, was once married to actor Billy Bob Thornton and starred in his film "Daddy's Girl".
  
  wn.com/Marc_Lawrence
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  Margaret Truman
  Mary Margaret Truman Daniel (February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008), also known as Margaret Truman or Margaret Daniel, was an American singer who later became a successful writer. The only child of US President Harry S. Truman, she was "a witty, hard-working Midwestern girl with singing talent who was neither particularly pretty nor terribly plain."
  Born in Independence, Missouri, she was christened Mary Margaret Truman (for her aunt Mary Jane Truman and maternal grandmother Margaret Gates Wallace) but was called Margaret from early childhood.
  She attended school in Independence until her father's 1934 election to the U.S. Senate, after which her education was split between schools in Washington, D.C. and Independence. In 1942, she matriculated at George Washington University, where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi and earned a B.A. in History in 1946. In June 1944, she christened the battleship USS Missouri at Brooklyn Navy Yard; in 1986 she spoke at the ship's recommissioning.
  On April 21, 1956, Truman married New York Times reporter (and later editor) Clifton Daniel in Independence; he died in 2000. They had four sons:
  
  wn.com/Margaret_Truman
• Marios Kaperonis
  MedalSilver at World Union Amateur Boxing Tournament{2004 Russia}
  }{MedalGold 1998-1999,2000-2001,2003-2004 at Championchip Amateur Boxing of Greece Marios Kaperonis (born 17 February 1983) is a male amateur Boxer from Greece. He lost in the first round of 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's lightweight division (– 60 kg) to eventual silver medalist Amir Khan from Great Britain.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Marios_Kaperonis
• Marta Romero
  Marta Romero (born February 17, 1928) is an actress and singer, who was one of the pioneers in Puerto Rican television.
  Romero was born in barrio Machuelo Abajo of the city of Ponce, on the south coast of Puerto Rico. She is considered by many as a "natural performer" because she never took singing or acting lessons.^{[citation needed]} In 1943, when she was fifteen years old, she made her debut on radio station WPAB. In 1945, she became the lead singer of the orchestra Mingo & His Hoopie Kids from Ponce. In 1950, Romero became a member to the group Las Damiselas (The Ladies), as the lead singer, with composer Sylvia Rexach. In this vocal group, she also sang with Lucy Boscana, then a young singer, and later an actress.
  Her debut in television was in 1956, in Telemundo. Romero starred in over 25 soap operas such as La Divina Infiel (The Divine Unfaithful) in 1962. Her leading man during those times, was the late Spanish actor Ricardo Palmerola. Soap operas were performed live, at those times, since video tape didn't yet exist. Among other soap operas in which she participated were, Cuatro Mujeres (Four Women), La sombra del otro (The Shadow of the Other) in 1966; La infamia (The Infamy) in 1967; Cuando los Hijos Condenan (When the Children Condemn) in 1968, and Entre la Espada y la Cruz (Between the Spade and the Cross) with Cuban actor Jose Yedra", among others. In 1975, she made her last appearance in a telenovela, performing in Pueblo Chico (Small Town).
  
  wn.com/Marta_Romero
• Martha Henry
  Martha Henry, CC (born February 17, 1938, Detroit, Michigan) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actress, who is best known for her appearances at the Stratford Festival.
  Martha Henry grew up in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills and attended Kingswood School (today Cranbrook Kingswood School).
  She was an early graduate from the National Theatre School in Montreal, and became a leading actress at the Stratford Festival, appearing in leading roles from the late 1960s until the early 1980s. During these years she won acclaim in several roles including Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1969), Isabella in Measure for Measure (1976), Olga in Three Sisters (1976), and Paulina in The Winter's Tale (1978).
  She and a team of three other directors (Urjo Kareda, Pam Brighton, and Peter Moss) were hired to lead Stratford's 1981 season after the resignation of Robin Phillips. The team was dismissed a few months later causing Henry and some other Stratford veterans to work away from the Festival for several years.
  
  wn.com/Martha_Henry
• Martyn Bennett
  Martyn Bennett (February 17, 1971 – January 30, 2005) was a Scottish musician who was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He was influential in the evolution of modern Celtic fusion, a blending of traditional Celtic and modern music.
  He began playing the Great Highland Bagpipes at the age of 10, and by the time he was 12 he was winning prizes at piping competitions in Scotland. He then took up violin, piano and composing at the age of 15 at the City of Edinburgh Music School, continuing his studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 1990. He was a member of the traditional music and dance group Drumalban in his early years, along with his mother and many friends.
  In 1993, just before graduating, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which he related to the suffocating and stressful environment of the classical world where "enjoyment of the music [...] was out-weighed by the pressure to succeed." In 1994, he began to spend more time with his first musical love, folk and traditional, and it was not much later that he started to experiment with electronica. He performed at the world premiere party for the film Braveheart.
  
  wn.com/Martyn_Bennett
• Mary Ann Mobley
  Mary Ann Mobley (born February 17, 1938) is a former Miss America, actress, and television personality.
  After serving her reign as Miss America 1959, Mobley embarked on a career in both film and television. She has been active in many charitable causes and was awarded the Outstanding Young Woman of the Year Award in 1966 by Lady Bird Johnson.
  Mobley was crowned Miss America 1959, the first Mississippian to achieve this honor, winning the national talent award.
  Mobley joined her husband, Gary Collins, as co-host of the 1989 Miss America pageant.
  She was a member of Chi Omega sorority at the University of Mississippi. and in 1981 was inducted into the University of Mississippi Alumni Hall of Fame.
  She married actor Gary Collins in 1967. They have one child, a daughter, Mary Clancy Collins.
  In an interview with a scuba diving magazine, Mobley described herself as an "avid diver" who holds certification as a scuba diver.
  Mary Ann Mobley was treated in 2009 for Stage 3 breast cancer and is currently in remission.
  
  wn.com/Mary_Ann_Mobley
• Matthew Tilghman
  Matthew Tilghman (February 17, 1718 – May 4, 1790) was an American planter and Revolutionary leader from Maryland, who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1776.
  Matthew was born on the family plantation, The Hermitage, near Centreville in Queen Anne's County, Maryland. He was educated through private tutoring before moving to Talbot County on the Eastern Shore (of Chesapeake Bay). Tilghman married Anne Lloyd (1723–1794) on April 6, 1741. The couple took up residence on his plantation, known as Rich Neck.
  Tilghman's first public service was as a Justice of the Peace for Talbot County. In 1751 he was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates. He would serve there through the remainder of its service to the Colony, although in 1760 and 1761 he represented Queen Anne's County. (Maryland, like several other colonies, permitted a representative to be elected by any district in which he owned property.) He was elected the Speaker of the House from 1773 to its end in 1775.
  
  wn.com/Matthew_Tilghman
• 
  Maurice Papon
  Maurice Papon (French pronunciation: [moʁis papɔ̃]; September 3, 1910 – February 17, 2007) was a French civil servant, leading the police in major prefectures and in Paris during the Nazi Occupation of France and into the 1960s. Forced to resign because of allegations of abuses, he became an industrial leader and Gaullist politician. In 1998 he was convicted of crimes against humanity for his participation in the deportation of more than 1600 Jews to concentration camps during World War II when he was secretary general for police in Bordeaux.
  Papon was known to have tortured insurgent prisoners (1954–62) as prefect of the Constantinois department during the Algerian War. He was named chief of the Paris police in 1958. On October 17, 1961 he ordered the severe repression of a peaceful pro-National Liberation Front (FLN) demonstration against a curfew which he had imposed. What became known as the Paris massacre of 1961 left between one hundred and three hundred dead at the hands of the police, with many more wounded. That same year, Papon was personally awarded the Legion of Honour by French President Charles de Gaulle, whose government was struggling to retain the French colony.
  
  wn.com/Maurice_Papon
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  Meaghan Jette Martin
  Meaghan Jette Martin (born February 17, 1992) is an American actress and singer, who is known for her role as Tess Tyler in the Disney Channel original movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. She starred in the now canceled ABC Family television series 10 Things I Hate About You as Bianca Stratford, and was the main character Jo in the movie Mean Girls 2.
  Martin was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and has two brothers and one sister. She started modeling at age five. Martin also appeared in several community theater productions in Las Vegas such as Peter Pan and performed for her Showteam and later made her professional theater debut in a Los Angeles production of 13. She appeared in several television commercials such as for Cabbage Patch Kids and Barbie.
  Martin made her television debut in 2006, with the television pilot Cooking Rocks! It was followed by roles in programs such as Nickelodeon’s Just Jordan and CBS’s Close to Home, as well as a guest stint in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. She was eventually cast as the lead antagonist in the Disney Channel original movie, Camp Rock, which also stars Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers.
  
  wn.com/Meaghan_Jette_Martin
• 
  Michael Bay
  Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing high-budget action films characterized by their fast edits, stylistic visuals and substantial practical special effects. His films, which include The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the Bad Boys and Transformers series, have grossed over three billion dollars world-wide. He is co-founder of commercial production house The Institute, a.k.a. The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness. He is co-chair and part-owner of the digital effects house Digital Domain. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, a production house which has remade horror movies including Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
  Michael Bay was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. He was raised by his adoptive parents Harriet, a bookstore owner/child psychiatrist, and Jim, a CPA. Bay's grandfather was Russian. His cousin, Susan Bay, is the wife of Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy. He attended the exclusive Crossroads School, in Santa Monica, California. Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's 8mm camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Bay
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  Michael Jordan
  Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
  After a three-season career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Washington Wizards.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Jordan
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  Michael Lepond
  Michael Anthony LePond III (born February 17, 1966 in Newark, New Jersey) is the bass guitar player of the North American progressive metal band Symphony X, and also is the bassist for Dead on Arrival, a heavy metal band from New York. The group issued an album - Alive and Kickin’ - on the independent Polo label in 1996. He can be heard on all Symphony X releases since and including V: The New Mythology Suite. He also used to play in a New Jersey band called Rattlebone, which opened for many national acts and released a six-song album themselves in 1997.
  Michael LePond was born in Newark, New Jersey. When he was 13 years old, he went to see Kiss in concert and was heavily influenced by the band and - specifically - bassist Gene Simmons. He bought some basic equipment (a Univox bass and a 150 watt amplifier) and took lessons for a year. He started listening to other bass players like Geddy Lee (Rush) that influenced his style.
  In 1998 he met Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo through a mutual friend and was invited to audition since original bassist Thomas Miller had left the band. He got the spot and has remained with the band ever since.
  
  wn.com/Michael_Lepond
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  Mike Awesome
  Michael Lee Alfonso (January 24, 1965 – February 17, 2007), better known by his ring name Mike Awesome, was an American professional wrestler best known in America for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and in World Wrestling Federation and also in Japan for his work with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling under the name The Gladiator. Mike Awesome was a two-time World Heavyweight Champion.
  Alfonso moved on to Japan, joining Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in September 1990 and using the name The Gladiator. In 1993, he joined forces with Ricky Fuji, Big Titan, and Dr. Luther in the original Team Canada stable; the stable disbanded in 1994.
  In 1993, Alfonso appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) for a short period (as "Awesome" Mike Awesome) before returning to FMW. In 1994, the Gladiator captured his first title, teaming with Big Titan to defeat Atsushi Onita and Katsutoshi Niyama in the finals of the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship Tournament. They lost the title that April, but Awesome won them again with new partner Mr. Pogo in October. In 1995, he joined the group, Lethal Weapon, reuniting with Ricky Fuji. As the Gladiator, he faced and defeated Hayabusa for his first major singles title, the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship in September 1995, but was forced to vacate it due to a legitimate injury the next February. In May 1996 he won the title for a second time, then unified it with the FMW Independent Heavyweight Championship after defeating W*ING Kanemura in that December. The next August, teaming with Hisakatsu Oya and Mr. Gannosuke he won the vacated FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag-Team Titles, holding all three belts at once, but within a month lost all three during a feud with Masato Tanaka.
  
  wn.com/Mike_Awesome
• Mike Whitmarsh
  Michael John "Mike" Whitmarsh (May 18, 1962 – February 17, 2009) was an American volleyball player, who won the silver medal in the men's inaugural beach volleyball tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics, partnering Mike Dodd. He was born in San Diego, California, graduated from Monte Vista High School in nearby Spring Valley, and then attended the University of San Diego. Throughout his career he earned over $1.5 million, as well as 28 titles.
  The 6' 7" Whitmarsh played college basketball at the University of San Diego and was drafted by the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers in the fifth round in 1984. He also narrowly missed making the roster of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and played professionally in Germany for three years before abandoning basketball in favor of beach volleyball. Transitioning from the indoor hard court to the soft sand of beach volleyball (which is often played under hot and humid conditions) was not easy, and he developed a reputation for cramping late in tournaments. His leg cramps were so bad that he often required an I.V. to rehydrate and equalize his chemical balance.
  
  wn.com/Mike_Whitmarsh
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  Mo Yan
  Mo Yan (Chinese: 莫言; pinyin: Mò Yán) (born February 17, 1955) is a modern Chinese author, described as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirated of all Chinese writers". He is known in the West for two of his novels which were the basis of the film Red Sorghum. He has been referred to as the Chinese answer to Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller. He is currently represented by the Hong Kong based Peony Literary Agency
  His works have been translated into more than a dozen languages, including English, German, French and Norwegian.
  Mo Yan was born in the Shandong province to a family of farmers. He left school during the Cultural Revolution to work in a factory that produced oil. He joined the People's Liberation Army at age twenty, and began writing while he was still a soldier, in 1981. Three years later, he was given a teaching position at the Department of Literature in the Army's Cultural Academy.
  "Mo Yan", meaning "don't speak" in Chinese, is a pen name. His real name is Guan Moye (simplified Chinese: 管谟业; traditional Chinese: 管謨業; pinyin: Guǎn Móyè). In a public speech delivered in Open University of Hong Kong (broadcasted in ATV International, 2008-12-28 11:00), he said this pen name was chosen when he wrote his first novel. He was well known since he was small to be a frank person in speech, which was not quite welcomed in Mainland China. Therefore, he chose this pen name to remind himself not to speak too much.
  
  wn.com/Mo_Yan
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  Molière
  Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, (French pronunciation: [mo.ljɛːʁ]; baptised January 15, 1622 – February 17, 1673) was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière's best-known works are Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope), L'École des femmes (The School for Wives), Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur, (Tartuffe or the Hypocrite), L'Avare (The Miser), Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman).
  Born into a prosperous family and having studied at the Collège de Clermont (now Lycée Louis-le-Grand), Molière was well suited to begin a life in the theatre. Thirteen years as an itinerant actor helped him polish his comic abilities while he began writing, combining Commedia dell'arte elements with the more refined French comedy.
  Through the patronage of a few aristocrats, including Philippe I, Duke of Orléans – the brother of Louis XIV – Molière procured a command performance before the King at the Louvre. Performing a classic play by Pierre Corneille and a farce of his own, Le Docteur amoureux (The Doctor in Love), Molière was granted the use of salle du Petit-Bourbon near the Louvre, a spacious room appointed for theatrical performances. Later, Molière was granted the use of the Palais-Royal. In both locations he found success among the Parisians with plays such as Les Précieuses ridicules (The Affected Ladies), L'École des maris (The School for Husbands) and L'École des femmes (The School for Wives). This royal favor brought a royal pension to his troupe and the title "Troupe du Roi" (The King's Troupe). Molière continued as the official author of court entertainments.
  
  wn.com/Molière
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  Mori Ōgai
  Mori Ōgai (森 鷗外 / 森 鴎外^?, February 17, 1862 – July 8, 1922) was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. Gan (雁, The Wild Geese^?, (1911–13)) is considered his major work.
  Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province (present-day Shimane prefecture). His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain. As the eldest son, it was assumed that he would carry on the family tradition; therefore he was sent to attend classes in the Confucian classics at the domain academy, and took private lessons in rangaku, and in the Dutch language.
  In 1872, after the Meiji Restoration and the abolition of the domains, the Mori family relocated to Tokyo. Mori stayed at the residence of Nishi Amane, in order to receive tutoring in the German language, which was the primary language for medical education at the time. In 1874, he was admitted to the government medical school (the predecessor for Tokyo Imperial University's Medical School), and graduated in 1881 at the age of 19, the youngest person ever to be awarded a medical license in Japan. It was also during this time that he developed an interest in literature, reading extensively from the late-Edo period popular novels, and taking lessons in Chinese poetry and literature.
  
  wn.com/Mori_Ōgai
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  Myles Standish
  Myles Standish (c. 1584 – October 3, 1656; sometimes spelled Miles Standish) was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor for Plymouth Colony. One of the Mayflower passengers, Standish played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception. On February 17, 1621, the Plymouth Colony militia elected him as its first commander and continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his life. Standish served as an agent of Plymouth Colony in England, as assistant governor, and as treasurer of Plymouth Colony. He was also one of the first settlers and founders of the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts.
  A defining characteristic of Standish's military leadership was his proclivity for preemptive action which resulted in at least two attacks (or small skirmishes) on different groups of Native Americans—the Nemasket raid and the Wessagusset massacre. During these actions, Standish exhibited considerable courage and skill as a soldier, but also demonstrated a brutality that angered Native Americans and disturbed more moderate members of the Colony.
  
  wn.com/Myles_Standish
• Natascha Kampusch
  Natascha Maria Kampusch (born 17 February 1988 in Vienna) is known for her abduction at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998. Kampusch was held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil for more than eight years, until she escaped on 23 August 2006. The media attention later led to her giving selected interviews, writing an autobiography (3,096 Days, published September 2010) and also signing a contract with Austrian channel Puls 4 for her own talk show, which had its premiere on 1 June 2008 but only ran for three episodes.
  Kampusch was raised by her mother Birgitta Sirny (née Kampusch) and her father Ludwig Koch, in Vienna, Austria. Her early life with her mother was reportedly not a happy one, according to Ludwig Adamovich, head of a special commission looking into possible police failures in the investigation of the kidnapping. He claimed that "the time Kampusch was imprisoned might have been better for her than what she experienced before", a statement absolutely refuted by Birgitta Sirny, who threatened to sue the commission chief over his remarks.
  
  wn.com/Natascha_Kampusch
• Neil Lomax
  Neil Vincent Lomax (born February 17, 1959) is a former American football quarterback.
  Lomax was a standout college player at Portland State University, going from fifth-string freshman quarterback on partial scholarship to emergency starter to NCAA legend. By the end of his college career, Neil Lomax held 90 NCAA records, including one game where he threw for seven touchdown passes in a single quarter.
  He was drafted fifth by the-then St. Louis Cardinals in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft. Despite his college heroics, he had an up-and-down 9-year career for some very mediocre Cardinals teams, displaying brilliance in his two Pro Bowl years (1984 and 1987), but also occasionally playing poorly enough to be benched.
  He threw for 4614 yards in 1984, good for 20th place all time for most passing yards in a season.
  He was forced to retire before the 1990 season due to a nagging leg problem that was later diagnosed as a severely arthritic hip. In 1991, he underwent hip replacement surgery.
  
  wn.com/Neil_Lomax
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  Nestor Chylak
  Nestor George Chylak, Jr. (pronounced /ˈtʃaɪlæk/; May 11, 1922 – February 17, 1982) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the American League from 1954 to 1978.
  He was born in Olyphant, Pennsylvania of Ukrainian descent, and attended the University of Scranton, where he studied engineering. During World War II, he served in the Army in Europe; in the Battle of the Bulge he was wounded by shrapnel from an exploding shell and was hospitalized for eight weeks with an injury that nearly cost him his sight. He earned both the Silver Star and Purple Heart during his service. After the war's end, he began umpiring amateur baseball in 1946, and returned briefly to college. He first worked in the minor leagues in 1947, reaching the American League seven years later.
  He umpired in three ALCS, including the first one played (1969, 1972, 1973), serving as crew chief in 1969 and 1973, and in five World Series (1957, 1960, 1966, 1971, 1977), serving as the crew chief in 1971 (in which he called balls and strikes in the decisive Game 7) and 1977. He also worked in six All-Star Games: 1957, 1960 (both games), 1964, 1973 and 1978, calling balls and strikes in the second 1960 game and in 1973. After retiring from the field in 1978, he became an assistant league supervisor of umpires. Among his noteworthy games were Sandy Koufax's final game in the 1966 Series; "Ten Cent Beer Night" [1] in Cleveland in 1974, where it was necessary for him to declare a forfeit due to constant fighting which spread onto the field and which saw Chylak hit over the head with a chair; and the first major league game ever played in Toronto in 1977, during a snowstorm at Exhibition Stadium, for which he was the home plate umpire.
  
  wn.com/Nestor_Chylak
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  Nguyen Tien Minh
  Nguyễn Tiến Minh, born February 17, 1983 in Ho Chi Minh City, is a male badminton player from Vietnam.
  Introduced to badminton by his father at the early age of 10, Minh was immediately captivated by the sport and its graceful movements. The interest soon developed into a passion which led to Minh's crucial decision in 2001 when the athlete was 18 years old: to take on the path of becoming a professional badminton player instead of carrying on his education as his family wished. The young man's determination soon demonstrated its fruitful aspects when Minh was recruited into the national team in the same year. However, Minh's career did not become well known nation-wide until 2002 when he, at the age of 19, victoriously defeated the long time national champion, Phu Cuong Nguyen, and seized the gold medal for the men single category.
  Nevertheless, despite all of Minh's painstaking endearment and awe-inspiring progress, the badminton player was receiving a salary of less than 150 US dollars a month, as most Vietnamese athletes were at the time. Now, after 9 years of contributing to the nation's sport team, while his ranking has been progressing significantly and rapidly, Minh's income has only been increased by around 50 dollars! This fact further contributes to the wonder of Minh's never ceasing improvement and to the spectacle of his flaming spirit, considering the premium and professional conditions the world's top players are being trained in. These athletes, with incomes much higher than that of Minh's, normally have specially assigned specialists to look after their every aspect, such as diet, injuries, endurance training, etc., not to mention all the top ranking sporting facilities provided for by the government. On the other side of the scale, Minh has been trained in an environment with nothing but poor equipments and has to rely mostly on his family's financial support, the cherished effort of his few coaches, and the quiet contribution of his team mates.
  
  wn.com/Nguyen_Tien_Minh
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  Nicolas Baudin
  Nicolas-Thomas Baudin (17 February 1754 – 16 September 1803) was a French explorer, cartographer, naturalist and hydrographer.
  Baudin was born a commoner in Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré. At the age of fifteen he joined the merchant navy, and at twenty joined the French East India Company. He then joined the French navy and served in the Caribbean as an officer bleu during the American War of Independence.
  In 1785 Baudin was captain of the Caroline taking Acadian settlers from Nantes to New Orleans. In New Orleans he was contracted by local merchants to take a cargo of wood, salted meat, cod and flour to Mauritius, which he did in the Josephine (also called Pepita), departing New Orleans on 14 July 1786 and arriving at Ile de France (Mauritius) on 27 March 1787. In the course of the voyage, the Josephine had called at Cap Francais in Haiti to make a contract to transport slaves there from Madagascar; while there he also encountered the Austrian botanist Franz Josef Maerter, who apparently informed him that another Austrian botanist, Franz Boos, was at the Cape of Good Hope awaiting a ship to take him to Mauritius. The Josephine called at the Cape and took Boos on board. At Mauritius, Boos chartered Baudin to transport him and the collection of plant specimens he had gathered there and at the Cape back to Europe, which Baudin did, the Josephine arriving at Trieste on 18 June 1788. The Imperial government was contemplating organizing another natural history expedition, to which Boos would be appointed, in which two ships would be sent to the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of India, the Persian Gulf, Bengal, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Cochin China, Tongking, Japan and China. Baudin had been given reason to hope that he would be given command of the ships of this expedition.
  
  wn.com/Nicolas_Baudin
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  Nita Naldi
  Nita Naldi (November 13, 1894 – February 17, 1961) was an American silent film actress. She was usually cast in the role of the "femme fatale"/"vamp", a persona first popularized by actress Theda Bara.
  Born Mary Dooley in New York City into a working class Irish family in 1894, the daughter of Julia (Cronin) and Patrick Dooley. She was named for her great aunt, Mary Nonna Dunphy, who founded Academy of the Holy Angels in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which young Mary Dooley attended in 1910. Her father left the family in 1910, and her mother died in 1915. Left with the care of two teenage siblings Naldi began to seek work. She took odd jobs including artist modeling and cloak model. Eventually she entered vaudeville with her brother Frank. By 1918 she debuted on Broadway as a chorus girl at the Winter Garden in "The Passing Show of 1918".
  This led to more stage jobs and soon Naldi found herself in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919. At this time she changed her name to Nita Naldi. Naldi was a homage to a childhood friend Florence Rinaldi. She continued working on Broadway and after a well received performance in "The Bonehead" was offered a stint with well known producer William A. Brady. Brady cast her in his play "Opportunity" in 1920.
  
  wn.com/Nita_Naldi
• Norman Pace
  Norman Pace (born 17 February 1953 in Dudley, West Midlands) is an English actor and comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace with his friend and comic partner Gareth Hale. Former teachers, their comedy partnership has fronted several television programmes, most notably Hale and Pace, Pushing Up Daisies, h&p@bbc and Jobs for the Boys.
  He grew up in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire. He attended the Magnus Grammar School (now called the Magnus C of E School). He then went to Avery Hill College, now the Avery Hill Campus of the University of Greenwich, in Eltham where he gained a BEd in 1975.
  As straight actors, they also fronted the original TV dramatisation of Dalziel and Pascoe; and in 1989 guest-starred together in the Doctor Who serial Survival. Also in 1989, Hale and Pace won the Golden Rose of Montreux. In 2007 they appeared in the Christmas Special of Extras, called The Extra Special Series Finale, playing themselves.
  Recently, Norman Pace has taken a direction towards theatre and has starred in 'Chicago' (Adelphi), 'Breakfast with Jonny Wilkinson' and Our Man in Havana at the Nottingham Playhouse. Currently, (summer 2010) he is appearing as the detective in a touring production of Peter Gordon comedy 'Murdered to Death'.
  
  wn.com/Norman_Pace
• Orrin Tucker
  Robert Orrin Tucker (February 17, 1911 – April 9, 2011) was an American bandleader born in St. Louis, Missouri, whose theme song was "Drifting and Dreaming". His biggest hit was "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" (1939), sung by vocalist "Wee" Bonnie Baker.
  Tucker and his orchestra remained active until the 1990s, when health problems forced him to retire. In 2003, Tucker was interviewed about his passion for music and his long career as a bandleader by the NAMM oral history program [1]. He died on April 9, 2011, aged 100.
  
  wn.com/Orrin_Tucker
• Oskar Seidlin
  Oskar Seidlin (February 17, 1911 – December 11, 1984); German-born American literary scholar, poet, and writer of children’s stories. He is also said to have co‑authored several detective novels or Kriminalromane in collaboration with Dieter Cunz and Richard Plant (1910–1998, his lover) under the collective pen‑name of Stefan Brockhoff.
  
  wn.com/Oskar_Seidlin
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  Otto Stern
  Otto Stern (17 February 1888 – 17 August 1969) was a German physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.
  Stern was born into a Jewish family (father Oskar Stern and mother Eugenia née Rosenthal) in Sohrau (now Żory) in Upper Silesia, the German Empire's Kingdom of Prussia (now in Poland). He studied at Breslau, now Wrocław in Lower Silesia.
  Stern completed his studies at the University of Breslau in 1912 with a doctor's degree in physical chemistry. He then followed Albert Einstein to Charles University in Prague and in later to ETH Zurich. Stern received his Habilitation at the University of Frankfurt in 1915 and in 1921, he became a professor at the University of Rostock, which he left in 1923 to work at the newly founded Institut für Physikalische Chemie at the University of Hamburg.
  After resigning from his post at the University of Hamburg in 1933 because of the Nazis' Machtergreifung (seizure of power), he became professor of physics at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and later professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
  
  wn.com/Otto_Stern
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  Paris Hilton
  Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American businesswoman, potential future heiress, producer and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton (founder of Hilton Hotels). Born in New York City and raised in both California and New York, Hilton began a modeling career as a teenager when she was with Donald Trump's modeling agency, T Management. Her hard-partying lifestyle and rumoured short-lived relationships with Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar de la Hoya led her to earn a position as a daily fixture in entertainment news — gossip-section Page Six, of the New York Post often includes articles about Hilton. Being known as a socialite, Hilton was hailed by the media as "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. She went on to make cameo appeareances in Zoolander (2001), Wonderland and The Cat in the Hat (both 2003).
  Hilton gained significant notoriety for her participation in a sex tape, which was released in November 2003, shortly before the premiere of the television reality series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood best friend Nicole Richie. The show was a massive hit for the FOX network, premiering with 13 million viewers, and brought Hilton and co-star Richie to an international recognition. She then released her 2004 tongue-in-cheek autobiography called Confessions of an Heiress: A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose, she landed a supporting role in the 2005 horror film House of Wax, and recorded the 2006 music album Paris. She starred in the reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF which was filmed in 2008 and also resulted in a second season. The show proved to be a success and was branched out to 2009's Paris Hilton's British Best Friend and Paris Hilton’s Dubai BFF. Hilton was in 2008's Repo! The Genetic Opera, where her work gained critical acclaim.
  
  wn.com/Paris_Hilton
• Patricia Routledge
  Katherine Patricia Routledge, CBE (born 17 February 1929) is an English character comedy actress and singer. She is best known for her role as character Hyacinth Bucket (supposedly pronounced "Bouquet") in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and Hetty Wainthropp in the British television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. In addition to her roles in British television, she has a long and successful career in musical theatre, as well as in film.
  Katherine Patricia Routledge was born in Tranmere, Birkenhead to parents Catherine and Isaac Routledge. Her father was a haberdasher, and, during WWII, the family lived weeks at a time in the basement of her father's shop. She was educated at Mersey Park Primary School, Birkenhead High School, now a state-funded Academy school, and the University of Liverpool. At Liverpool she graduated with Honours in English Language and Literature and was not on a path to pursue an acting career. She was, however, involved in the school's Dramatic Society where she worked closely with the academic Edmund Colledge who both directed and acted in several of the society's productions. It was Colledge who persuaded her to pursue an acting career. After graduating from Liverpool, she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and launched her acting career at the Liverpool Playhouse.
  
  wn.com/Patricia_Routledge
• Paul Meger
  Paul Carl Meger (born February 17, 1929 in Watrous, Saskatchewan) is a retired Canadian ice hockey forward.
  Meger played his entire National Hockey League career with the Montreal Canadiens. His career would last from 1950 to 1955. During the 1953 season, he would win the Stanley Cup.
  Left-winger Paul Meger played over 200 games for the Montreal Canadiens in the 1950s. He was a creative offensive player whose skating ability made him a solid two-way asset.
  Born in Watrous, Saskatchewan on February 17, 1929, Meger was a junior star with the OHA's Barrie Flyers. He scored 26 goals as a rookie pro with the AHL's Buffalo Bisons in 1949-50 then joined the Habs for two post-season contests. That summer, he was named to the AHL second also team and presented the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as the league's top rookie. After scoring 34 goals in 46 games for Buffalo the next year, Meger was summoned by Montreal. He played solidly and helped the club reach the Stanley Cup finals. He also earned an AHL first team all-star selection for his outstanding work for Buffalo prior to his recall.
  
  wn.com/Paul_Meger
• Philip Wiegratz
  Philip Wiegratz (born February 17, 1993) is a German child actor.
  Wiegratz is best known for his 2005 portrayal of the greedy Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He nonchalantly attended a casting call with no expectations of landing any particular part, but caught the attention of a casting director and was placed on a shortlist for the role of Augustus. Wiegratz returned for several callbacks and eventually landed the part, which marked his English-language film debut and also required him to wear a fatsuit instead of getting fat on his own terms. He performed his own stunts in the scenes of Augustus falling into the river in Wonka's Chocolate Room.
  That same year, he also appeared in Es ist ein Elch entsprungen (international title A Christmas Carol), adapted from the Andreas Steinhöfel storybook of the same name.
  In 2006, Wiegratz starred in the eponymous film version of Cornelia Funke's Die Wilden Hühner as a member of an all-boys group called the Pygmies, and returned for a sequel the following year. Both pictures were commercial successes, and he and several co-stars were guests on the German children's television program Ki.Ka Live on April 2, 2007.
  
  wn.com/Philip_Wiegratz
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  Philippe Candeloro
  Philippe Candeloro (born 17 February 1972) is a French figure skater who medalled at the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.
  Philippe Candeloro was born in Courbevoie, in France, the youngest of four children. His father, Luigi, was a mason, and, a few years after Philippe's birth, built a family home in the Parisian suburb of Colombes.
  Candeloro's early tastes ran more to action heroes than athletics, he too began to foster an interest in sports. At first, he liked swimming and elastic springboard. In 1979, at age seven, Candeloro began taking weekly skating lessons. He displayed natural talent, taking to the ice with flair while his friends fell. During one of his first lessons, trainer André Brunet noted Candeloro's potential and invited him to increase his skating practices. At first, he participated in the village's hockey team but quickly veered into figure skating. He stole one of his first pairs of skates. His mother paid for them when the theft was discovered.
  Within a few years of beginning his skating career, Candeloro found himself on the fast track with the French figure skating federation. He was invited to the summer skating training camp at Font-Romeu, which would become an annual event for him. When he was 10, the French Federation offered him a place at the prestigious national training center in Paris, INSEP. Candeloro refused this invitation, opting instead to continue training in Colombes with Brunet. At the age of 16, he left school to concentrate full time on his training.
  
  wn.com/Philippe_Candeloro
• Quorthon
  Quorthon (born Thomas Börje Forsberg February 17, 1966, Stockholm, died c. June 7, 2004, Stockholm) was a Swedish musician. He was a multi-instrumentalist and the founder and songwriter of the pioneering Swedish black metal band Bathory. He is also credited with creating the Viking metal genre. He composed the music and wrote the lyrics on all of Bathory's albums.
  Quorthon formed Bathory in 1983 when he was 17 years old, after briefly playing in the Oi!-band Stridskuk. He recorded his early albums together with the help of his father, Börje Forsberg, the head of the Swedish record label Tyfon Grammofon, who also released most of his albums on the Tyfon imprint Black Mark. The first album was recorded in the garage of famed schlager writer Peter Himmelstrand, dubbed Studio Heavenshore.
  Around this time (in the mid-late 80's) live performances by Bathory were rare. Albums from this period helped the then-burgeoning black metal sub-genre, and rare photographs of the band helped in part to define its image. Quorthon at this time claimed to have stressful experiences dealing with over-zealous fans, receiving letters written in blood and dead/mutilated animals in the post, amongst other things. This behaviour, along with Bathory's image and style of music, cemented Quorthon's unfortunate image, as he put it, as "the baby-eating, blood-drinking God of the bat-cave" in the popular imagination as well as popular metal press, much to Quorthon's disgust and anger.
  
  wn.com/Quorthon
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  Raf Vallone
  Raffaele "Raf" Vallone (17 February 1916 – 31 October 2002) was an Italian footballer, actor and an international film star.
  Born in Tropea, Calabria, the son of a lawyer, Vallone attended Liceo classico Cavour in Turin, and studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Turin and entered his father's law firm. He played professional Football at a young age, playing in Serie A for Torino. He won the Coppa Italia with his team in season 1935-1936. Subsequently, he became the editorial head of the culture section of L'Unità, then the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party, and also a film and drama critic for the Turin newspaper La Stampa. During World War II, Vallone served with the Communist resistance.
  His first film appearance was as a sailor in We the Living (1942), but Vallone was not interested in an acting career. Nevertheless, he was cast as a soldier competing with Vittorio Gassman for the love of Silvana Mangano in Riso amaro (Bitter Rice) (1949). The film became a neo-realist classic and Vallone was launched on an international career. In 2001 he published his autobiography, L'alfabeto della memoria, with Gremese (Rome).
  
  wn.com/Raf_Vallone
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  Ralphie May
  Ralphie O. May (born February 17, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian.
  May was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but raised in Clarksville, Arkansas. When he was seventeen years old, he won a contest to open for comedian Sam Kinison, whom he considered his idol. Kinison suggested he move to Houston, Texas to further develop his comedy routine. May then studied at the Performing Arts in Houston and graduated. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment.
  In 2003, May was chosen to participate in the first season of Last Comic Standing. He finished in second place in the competition, with Dat Phan winning first place. After that, he started appearing in numerous comedy shows like The Wayne Brady Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 2005, he was the only white comedian to perform on The Big Black Comedy Show, which also featured Mo'Nique, Rodman, and Vince Morris.
  In 2005, May released his comedy album, Just Correct. Since then, he has recorded four Comedy Central specials: Girth of a Nation (2006), Prime Cut (2007), Austin-tatious (2008), and Too Big To Ignore (2012). He has also appeared on films like For Da Love of Money.
  
  wn.com/Ralphie_May
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  Randy Shilts
  Randy Shilts (August 8, 1951 – February 17, 1994) was a pioneering gay American journalist and author. He worked as a freelance reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations.
  Born August 8, 1951 in Davenport, Iowa, Shilts grew up in Aurora, Illinois, with five brothers in a politically conservative, working-class family. He majored in journalism at the University of Oregon, where he worked on the student newspaper, the Oregon Daily Emerald, becoming an award-winning managing editor. During his college days, he came out publicly as a gay man at age 20, and ran for student office with the slogan "Come out for Shilts."
  Shilts graduated near the top of his class in 1975, but as an openly gay man, he struggled to find full-time employment in what he characterized as the homophobic environment of newspapers and television stations at that time. After several years of freelance journalism, he was finally hired as a national correspondent by the San Francisco Chronicle in 1981, becoming "the first openly gay reporter with a gay 'beat' in the American mainstream press." Coincidentally, AIDS, the disease that would later take his life, first came to nationwide attention that same year and soon Shilts devoted himself to covering the unfolding story of the disease and its medical, social, and political ramifications.
  
  wn.com/Randy_Shilts
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  Raphaël Ibañez
  Raphaël Ibañez (born 17 February 1973 in Saugnac-et-Cambran, Landes) is a retired French rugby union footballer. A hooker, he was also a former captain of the France national team.
  Ibañez began his playing career in his home town of Dax before moving to Perpignan and Castres.
  After his first international retirement following the 2003 World Cup, he moved to Saracens. In 2005 he moved to Wasps on a two-year deal. In the first match of the following season, he was made captain as replacement for the injured Lawrence Dallaglio.
  He was also heavily responsible for London Wasps' win in the 2007 Heineken Cup final, playing in the same side as fellow Six Nations captain Phil Vickery. Wasps beat long-time rivals Leicester at Twickenham in former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio's last match, and Ibanez scored one of Wasps's tries.
  Ibañez continued to play for Wasps until suffering a series of what ultimately proved to be career-ending head injuries in late 2008. On 28 February 2008, Wasps announced that Ibañez and the club had agreed on a contract extension that would see him serve as a specialist forwards coach in the London Wasps Academy, as well as play for the senior side, during the 2008-09 season. On 5 August 2008 Ibanez was named as successor to Lawrence Dallaglio to take over the captaincy at London Wasps
  
  wn.com/Raphaël_Ibañez
• Rashid Minhas
  Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas or Rashid Minhas Shaheed, NH, (Urdu: راشد منہاس) (February 17, 1951 – August 20, 1971) was a Pilot Officer in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) during the 1971 Pakistan-India War. Minhas, a newly commissioned officer at that time, is the only PAF officer to receive the highest valour award, the Nishan-e-Haider. He is also the youngest person and the shortest-serving officer to have received this award. He is remembered for his death in 1971 in a jet trainer crash while struggling to regain the controls from a defecting pilot: Matiur Rahman.
  Rashid Minhas was born on February 17, 1951, in karachi. A member of the established Minhas clan of Rajput, he was born to a family that had settled in Gurdaspur from Jammu and Kashmir. After the creation of Pakistan, the family migrated there and lived near Sialkot. Minhas spent his early childhood in Lahore. Later, the family shifted to Rawalpindi. Minhas had his early education from St Mary's Cambridge School Rawalpindi. Later his family shifted to Karachi. Minhas was fascinated with aviation history and technology. He used to collect different models of aircraft and jets. He studied from Saint Mary's Cambridge School, Murree Road, Rawalpindi and completed his O Levels at the age of 16. He also attended St Patrick's High School, Karachi and then attended Karachi University where he studied military history and aviation history.
  
  wn.com/Rashid_Minhas
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  Ray Barretto
  Ray Barretto (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was a Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican jazz musician.
  Barretto (whose surname is really "Barreto"; a mistake at the time Ray's birth certificate was filed gave his last name its formal spelling) was born in New York City of Puerto Rican descent. His parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico in the early 1920s, looking for a better life. He was raised in Spanish Harlem and at a very young age was influenced by his mother's love of music and by the jazz music of musicians such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
  In 1946, when Barretto was 17 years old, he joined the Army. While stationed in Germany, Barretto met Belgian vibist Fats Sadi, who was working there. However, it was when he heard Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" with Cuban percussionist, Chano Pozo, that he realized his true calling in life.
  In 1949, when Barretto returned home from military service, he started to visit clubs and participated in jam sessions, where he perfected his conga playing. On one occasion Charlie Parker heard Barretto play and invited him to play in his band. Later, he was asked to play for Jose Curbelo and Tito Puente, for whom he played for four years. Barretto developed a unique style of playing the conga and soon he was sought by other jazz band leaders. Latin percussionists started to appear in jazz groups with frequency as a consequence of Barretto's musical influence.
  
  wn.com/Ray_Barretto
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  Rebecca Adlington
  Rebecca "Becky" Adlington, OBE (born 17 February 1989), is an English and British freestyle swimmer. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 400 m and 800 m, breaking the 19 year-old world record of Janet Evans in the 800 m final. Adlington is Britain's first Olympic swimming champion since 1988, the first British swimmer to win two Olympic gold medals since 1908 and Great Britain's most successful Olympic swimmer in 100 years.
  Adlington was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, where she attended The Brunts School. She started swimming with Sherwood Colliery Swimming Club, and was selected for the Nottinghamshire County Swim Squad (Nova Centurion) where she currently trains. She still swims in local swimming leagues for Nottingham Leander Swimming Club, taking part in the National Speedo 'B' Final in May 2010. Adlington's great uncle is former Derby County goalkeeper Terry Adlington.
  Adlington represented Great Britain in the 2008 Summer Olympics, competing in the 400 m and 800 m freestyle swimming events. She was also scheduled to swim in the 4×200 m freestyle relay but was rested in the heat and the team failed to qualify for the final. In the heats of the 400 m freestyle, she broke the Commonwealth record with a time of 4:02.24. On 11 August 2008 she won an Olympic gold medal in the same event, with a time of 4:03.22, beating Katie Hoff of the United States in the last 20 m. She was the first woman to win swimming gold for Great Britain since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960. She was the first British swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Olympic Games since Henry Taylor won three in 1908.
  
  wn.com/Rebecca_Adlington
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  Red Barber
  Walter Lanier "Red" Barber (February 17, 1908 – October 22, 1992) was an American sportscaster.
  Barber, nicknamed "The Ol' Redhead", was primarily identified with radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball, calling play-by-play across four decades with the Cincinnati Reds (1934–38), Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–1953), and New York Yankees (1954–1966). Like his fellow sports pioneer Mel Allen, Barber also gained a niche calling college and professional football in his primary market of New York City.
  Barber was born 1908 in Columbus, Mississippi. He was a distant relative of poet Sidney Lanier and writer Thomas Lanier Williams. The family moved to Sanford, Florida in 1918 and, at the age of 21, he hitchhiked to Gainesville and enrolled at the University of Florida, majoring in education. During his first year he worked at various jobs including part-time janitor at the University Club. There in January 1930 Barber got his start in broadcasting.
  An agriculture professor had been scheduled to appear on WRUF, the university radio station, to read a scholarly paper over the air. When the professor's absence was discovered minutes before the broadcast was to begin, janitor Barber was called in as a substitute. Thus the future sportscaster's first gig was reading "Certain Aspects of Bovine Obstetrics". After those few minutes in front of a microphone, Barber decided to switch careers. He became WRUF's director and chief announcer and covered Florida football games that autumn. Then he dropped out of school to focus on his radio work. After four more years at WRUF he landed a job broadcasting the Cincinnati Reds on WLW and WSAI when Powel Crosley, Jr., purchased the team in 1934.
  
  wn.com/Red_Barber
• Rene Russo
  Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American film actress, musician and former model.
  Russo was born in Burbank, California, the daughter of Shirley (née Balocca), a factory worker and barmaid, and Nino Russo, a sculptor and car mechanic who left the family when Rene was two. Her father and maternal grandfather were of Italian descent. Russo grew up with her sister, Toni, and their single mother. She attended Burroughs High School (where her classmates included director Ron Howard), but eventually dropped out in the tenth grade. To help her family, she began taking a variety of part-time jobs including working in an eyeglass factory, and as a movie cashier.
  Russo started a modelling career after allegedly being spotted at a 1972 Rolling Stones concert by John Crosby, an agent from International Creative Management. With his encouragement, Russo applied to, and was signed by, Ford Modeling Agency, and went on to appear in magazine covers for Vogue, Mademoiselle, and Cosmopolitan, as well as advertisements for perfume and cosmetics.
  
  wn.com/Rene_Russo
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  Rene Syler
  René Syler (born February 17, 1963) cohosted CBS News' The Early Show from October 2002, when it debuted in its four-anchor format, until she left the program in December 2006. She has interviewed First Lady Laura Bush, former President Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senator John McCain and NASA’s first female shuttle commander, Eileen Collins, as well as celebrities including Melissa Etheridge and Prince.
  Syler was born at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and grew up near Sacramento, California. She graduated from Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks, California, and California State University, Sacramento in 1987 with a degree in psychology.
  Syler began her career in journalism as a weekend reporter at KTVN-TV in Reno, Nevada from 1987 to 1989. She then became a weekend anchor at KOLO-TV until 1990, when she moved to Birmingham, Alabama to become the weekend anchor at WVTM-TV. In 1992 she became the morning and noon anchor at WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas. From 1997 to 2002 she anchored newscasts at KTVT, a CBS-owned station in Dallas. From 2002 – 2006 Rene was an anchor on CBS News' The Early Show .
  
  wn.com/Rene_Syler
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  Richard Karn
  Richard Karn (born February 17, 1956) is an American actor and game show host. He is most well known for his co-starring role as Al Borland in the 1990s sitcom Home Improvement and his tenure as the host of Family Feud during the 2000s.
  Karn was born Richard Karn Wilson in Seattle, Washington. Karn's father, Gene, was a Seabee who served in World War II. Richard graduated from Roosevelt High School and the University of Washington, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Karn also gained drama experience in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival.
  After earning his Drama degree in 1979, Karn packed up and headed to New York City. After less than one week, he was hired to do a commercial for Michelob beer that was featured during the 1980 Super Bowl. When he joined the Screen Actors Guild, he was informed there was already a Richard Wilson, so he dropped his last name.
  In 1989, his wife Tudi convinced Karn that they should move to Los Angeles. He found a place for them to live by managing an apartment complex, and catered events at a Jewish synagogue on the side. After receiving a traffic citation, Karn attended a traffic school and sat beside an agent who told him about casting for the new television show called Home Improvement. The role of Al Borland had already been given to Stephen Tobolowsky, but when filming was scheduled, Tobolowsky was busy with another movie and the role had to be recast. Karn was a guest star in the pilot episode but became a regular cast member when the show was picked up by the network.
  
  wn.com/Richard_Karn
• Rick Majerus
  Rick Majerus (born February 17, 1948) is an American college basketball coach, and the men's basketball head coach at St Louis University. He coached previously at Marquette University (1983–1986), Ball State University (1987–1989), the University of Utah (1989–2004), Majerus' most successful season came at Utah in the 1997-98 season, when the Utes finished as NCAA national runners-up.
  Majerus graduated from Marquette University High School in 1966 and then attended Marquette University, where he tried out as a walk-on in the 1967 season. He did not play for Marquette, but stayed on as a student assistant. He graduated in 1970 with a degree in history. He began coaching eighth-graders at St. Sebastian Grade School in Milwaukee, then coached freshmen boys at Marquette University High School. He was an assistant coach with the Marquette Warriors for 12 years under mentor Al McGuire, until 1977, and under Hank Raymonds until taking over as head coach in 1983. After three years as head coach at Marquette, and a 56-35 record, he became an assistant coach with the National Basketball Association's Milwaukee Bucks for the 1986–87 season. He coached at Ball State during the 1987–88 and 1988–89 seasons, finishing with a record of 43–17.
  
  wn.com/Rick_Majerus
• 
  Roman Emperor
  The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period (starting at about 27 BC). The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor. If a man was "proclaimed emperor" this normally meant he was proclaimed augustus, or (for generals) imperator (from which English emperor ultimately derives). Several other titles and offices were regularly accumulated by emperors, such as caesar, princeps senatus, consul and Pontifex Maximus. The power of emperors was generally based on the accumulation of powers from republican offices and the support of the army.
  Roman emperors refused to be considered "kings", instead claiming to be leaders of a republic, however nominal. The first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically Republican, his successor, Tiberius, could not convincingly make the same claim. Nonetheless, the Republican institutional framework (senate, consuls, magistracies etc.) was preserved until the very end of the Western Empire.
  
  wn.com/Roman_Emperor
• Ron Goodwin
  Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 1925 – 8 January 2003) was a British composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron and Operation Crossbow.
  Born in Plymouth, Devon, Goodwin learned to play the piano and trumpet from the age of five which allowed him to join the school band. When he was nine, the family moved to Harrow, London, where he attended Willesden County School and Pinner County Grammar School, in Middlesex. From there he went on to study the trumpet in London at the Guildhall School of Music.
  Whilst working as a copyist, he formed his own orchestra in his spare time and began arranging and conducting recordings for over fifty artists, which resulted in more than 100 chart successes. He wrote his first feature film score for Whirlpool, with screenplay by Lawrence P. Bachmann. After Bachmann became executive producer at MGM-British Studios in 1959, Goodwin composed and conducted the music for most of its productions, as well as working for other film studios.
  
  wn.com/Ron_Goodwin
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  Rowdy Gaines
  Ambrose ("Rowdy") Gaines IV (born February 17, 1959 in Winter Haven, Florida) is a former American swimmer, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member, Olympic three-time gold medalist, and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He is currently the chief fundraiser for USA Swimming as well as a swimming analyst for television networks ESPN and NBC including coverage of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, his fourth as a TV commentator.
  Born in Winter Haven, Florida, Rowdy unsuccessfully tried other sports during his teen-age years but turned to swimming as a Winter Haven High School junior where he improved quickly and was offered a swimming scholarship to Auburn University. At Auburn he became a five-time NCAA champion under the training of former Stanford University and Auburn head swimming coach Richard Quick. During one four-year period, Gaines held eleven World Records and, had the United States not boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, he would have been a favorite to win multiple medals at the event. After graduating from Auburn in 1981, where he is often cited as the most famous and intelligent student athlete to ever attend Auburn University, he stopped swimming for several months, thinking he had missed his opportunity to be an Olympic medalist, but was urged to resume swimming by his father. When Gaines qualified at the 1984 Olympic trials, his times were not particularly impressive and he was not expected to place at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. He won the 100 meter freestyle off a very good start and swam the anchor leg for both the US gold medal-winning 4 × 100-meter freestyle and 4 × 100-meter medley teams.
  
  wn.com/Rowdy_Gaines
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  Ruth Rendell
  Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, (born 17 February 1930), who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an English crime writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries.
  In addition to police procedurals starring her most iconic creation, Chief Inspector Wexford, Rendell writes psychological crime novels exploring such themes as romantic obsession, misperceived communication, the impact of chance and coincidence, and the humanity of the criminals involved. Among such books are A Judgement In Stone, The Face of Trespass, Live Flesh, Talking to Strange Men, The Killing Doll, Going Wrong and Adam and Eve and Pinch Me. Many credit her and close friend P. D. James for upgrading the entire genre of whodunit, shaping it more into a whydunit. Rendell's protagonists are often socially isolated, suffer from mental illness, and/or are otherwise disadvantaged; she explores the adverse impacts of their circumstances on these characters as well as on their victims.
  
  wn.com/Ruth_Rendell
• 
  Sadegh Hedayat
  Sadegh (also spelled as Sadeq) Hedayat (in Persian: صادق هدایت; February 17, 1903, Tehran — 4 April 1951, Paris, France) was Iran's foremost modern writer of prose fiction and short stories.
  Hedayat was born to a northern Iranian aristocratic family in Tehran and was educated at Collège Saint-Louis (French catholic school) and Dar ol-Fonoon (1914–1916). In 1925, he was among a select few students who travelled to Europe to continue their studies. There, he initially went on to study engineering in Belgium, after a year he gave this up to study architecture in France. While there, he gave up architecture to pursue dentistry. In this period he became acquainted with Therese, a Parisian with whom he had a love affair. In 1927 Hedayat attempted suicide by throwing himself into the river Marne, however he was rescued by a fishing boat. After four years in France and Belgium, he finally surrendered his scholarship and returned home in the summer of 1930 without receiving a degree. In Iran he held various jobs for short periods.
  
  wn.com/Sadegh_Hedayat
• Sadha
  Sadhaf Mohammed Syed (born 17 February 1984), better known as Sadha, is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films. Her most notable films include Jayam, Anniyan and Unnale Unnale.
  Sada was born to a Marathi Muslim family in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. She attended school at Ratnagiri Sacred Hearts Convent and then went to Mumbai to continue her studies until she became an established actress.
  Sada appeared in the Tamil movie Anniyan, which is her most successful movie to date. Since then, she has appeared in a number of films across movie industries in India, in different languages including Monalisa in Kannada and Click in Hindi. She was a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show Netru, Indru, Naalai alongside many performers.
  
  wn.com/Sadha
• Samuel Bayer
  Samuel David Bayer (born February 17, 1965) is an American commercial, music video and film director, and cinematographer.
  Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. A graduate of New York City’s School of Visual Arts in 1987 with a degree in Fine Arts, he moved to Los Angeles in 1991, and became a popular director during the alternative rock era.
  He has shot and directed videos for The Strokes, Nirvana, Hole and Green Day. Bayer claims that the reason he was chosen to direct "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was because his test reel was so bad. Bayer won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction in 2005 and 2007.
  Several of Bayer's commercials have won the Clio. Clients include Coca-Cola, Toyota, Intel, Cadillac, Acura, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Pepsi Cola, Lincoln Aviator, Sony, The U.S. Army and Jeep. His Nike spot won an Association of Independent Commercial Producers Award for Best Direction in 1997.
  New Line Cinema and Platinum Dunes selected Bayer to helm their remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. In March 2010, he announced this will be his only NOES film. He announced his follow-up project will either be the original film Fiasco Heights or an unannounced comic book adaptation.
  
  wn.com/Samuel_Bayer
• 
  SaRenna Lee
  SaRenna Lee (born February 17, 1971) is an American big-bust adult model and stripper.
  During most of the 1990s Lee appeared as a model in hundreds of adult-oriented magazines that were published both in the USA and in Europe. From 1993 through 1996 she toured as a featured headliner at strip clubs throughout the United States. Starting in 2002, SaRenna took time away from her career to start a family.
  Lee has done no acknowledged male-female hardcore pornography, however she has done several explicit lesbian films. She has also featured in numerous nude photo shoots.
  Lee acted in a mainstream B-movie, the suspense anthology thriller Evil Streets (1998), directed by Terry Wickham. In the film, Lee plays Misty, a stripper who is stalked by an obsessed fan.
  
  wn.com/SaRenna_Lee
• Sasha Pieterse
  Sasha Pieterse (born February 17, 1996) is an American film and television actress. She is known for her role as Amanda Strazzulla on Heroes, and as Alison DiLaurentis on ABC Family's TV series Pretty Little Liars, which first premiered in June 2010.
  Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and raised in Las Vegas before moving to Los Angeles, Sasha Embeth Pieterse grew up around show business. Her parents were both professional dance partners who performed all over the world, and Pieterse loved being on stage with them. She soon met with an agent who quickly signed her to acting, and she's been busy acting and modeling ever since. At 6 years old, Sasha Pieterse got her start in television, co-starring as "Buffy" on The WB comedy series Family Affair. In 2004, she appeared in Stargate SG-1 and House. In 2005, she appeared in her first film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl cast as Marissa "Ice Princess" and also in a short-lived series called Wanted with her former Family Affair co-star, Gary Cole. In 2009 Pieterse was cast as Alison DiLaurentis in the TV series Pretty Little Liars based on the book series by Sara Shepard. Being only 14 at the time, she is the youngest actress on the show, all her co-stars being in their early to mid 20s.
  
  wn.com/Sasha_Pieterse
• Scott Williamson
  Scott Ryan Williamson (born February 17, 1976, in Fort Polk North, Louisiana) is a right-handed relief pitcher in the Miami Marlins organization. He has played for the Cincinnati Reds (1999–2003), Boston Red Sox (2003-2004), Chicago Cubs (2005–2006), San Diego Padres (2006), and the Baltimore Orioles (2007). After a lightning-fast start: going from college to the major leagues in two years, with just five appearances at the Triple-A level and winning National League Rookie of the Year honors, Williamson's career tailed off in the mid-2000s as he suffered repeated injuries and spent long stretches on the disabled list.
  Williamson attended Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas. In his senior year he posted a 0.68 ERA and was named district MVP. In college, Williamson played for first Tulane University and then Oklahoma State University. With the latter, he earned Big 12 first-team honors during the 1996-1997 school year. Williamson entered the draft after the season was over and was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 9th round, 276th pick overall.
  
  wn.com/Scott_Williamson
• 
  Shmuel Yosef Agnon
  Shmuel Yosef Agnon (Hebrew: שמואל יוסף עגנון‎), (July 17, 1888 – February 17, 1970) was a Nobel Prize laureate writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction. In Hebrew, he is known by the acronym Shai Agnon (ש"י עגנון). In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon.
  Agnon was born in Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Ukraine). He later immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, and died in Jerusalem, Israel.
  His works deal with the conflict between the traditional Jewish life and language and the modern world. They also attempt to recapture the fading traditions of the European shtetl (village). In a wider context, he also contributed to broadening the characteristic conception of the narrator's role in literature. Agnon shared the Nobel Prize with the poet Nelly Sachs in 1966.
  Agnon was born Shmuel Yosef Halevi Czaczkes in Buczacz (Polish spelling, pronounced Buchach) or Butschatsch (German spelling), Galicia (then within the Austro-Hungarian Empire), now Buchach, Ukraine. Officially, his date of birth on the Hebrew calendar was 18 Av 5648 (July 26), but he always said his birthday was on the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av, the Ninth of Av.
  
  wn.com/Shmuel_Yosef_Agnon
• 
  Siegbert Tarrasch
  Siegbert Tarrasch (5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
  Tarrasch was born in Breslau (Wrocław), Prussian Silesia. Having finished school in 1880, he left Breslau to study medicine in Halle. Later he lived most of his life with his family in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and later in Munich. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish, converted to Christianity in 1909, and a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I. Yet he faced antisemitism in the early stages of Nazism.
  Tarrasch was a highly esteemed chess writer. It was Tarrasch who wrote in his Preface to The Game of Chess (1931) the often repeated line:
  
  
  A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the aging Steinitz in tournaments, (+3-0=1), but refused an opportunity to challenge for the world title in 1892 because of the demands of his medical practice. Soon afterwards, in St. Petersburg in 1893, Tarrasch drew a hard-fought match against Steinitz' challenger Mikhail Chigorin (+9-9=4) after leading most of the way. He also won four major tournaments in succession: Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, Dresden 1892, and Leipzig 1894.
  
  wn.com/Siegbert_Tarrasch
• Stacey McClean
  Stacey McClean (born 17 February 1989 in Bispham, Blackpool, Lancashire) is an English solo singer. She was in S Club spin-off band, S Club 8 and in 2009 took part in the sixth series of The X Factor.
  In 2001 McClean auditioned to perform with the popular pop band, S Club (then S Club 7) on their 2002 Carnival Tour. She won a part in the S Club Juniors, aged 12 years old. In 2002 the group released four singles and guest starred in Viva S Club.
  After S Club split up in 2003, 19 Entertainment decided to keep S Club Juniors going, so they were renamed S Club 8 and released a further three songs. In 2004, McClean, along with the other members of S Club 8, appeared in the children's musical television comedy I Dream, which was filmed in Spain. The programme lasted for thirteen episodes, from 22 September to 13 December 2004, and was broadcast on BBC One. S Club 8 disbanded in 2004.
  In 2009, McClean auditioned for The X Factor in Manchester, singing the Christina Aguilera song "Ain't No Other Man". Her audition was shown on the 100th episode of the show, screened on 19 September 2009. She made it through to boot camp, then after the first task of singing with other acts she made it into the top 50 acts, where she had to sing a solo performance to reach the final 24.
  
  wn.com/Stacey_McClean
• Stefan Jarosch
  Stefan Jarosch (born 17 February 1984 in Böblingen) is a former professional German footballer.
  Jarosch, a former German U-20 international, made five appearances for SV Wacker Burghausen in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga and 78 for SSV Jahn Regensburg in the 3. Liga during his playing career.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Stefan_Jarosch
• Steve Bechler
  Steven Scott Bechler (November 18, 1979 – February 17, 2003) was a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 2002.
  Steve Bechler died of heatstroke at the beginning of spring training with the Orioles in 2003. An autopsy performed by Dr. Joshua Perper concluded that that "the toxicity of ephedra played a significant role" in his death, along with "'abnormal liver function and mild hypertension', his weight problem and the fact that he was not used to south Florida's warm weather". He was using the supplement ephedra, against the advice of his trainer, and probably had not eaten in two days in an effort to lose weight. Bechler was married and the couple was expecting a child. A small scholarship fund was set up in his memory.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Steve_Bechler
• Sunshine Parker
  Sunshine Parker (June 10, 1927 – February 17, 1999) was an American actor. He was born as Lloyd Olen Parker in Lawn, Texas.
  He is best-known for his roles as Emmet in Road House and Edgar Deems in Tremors. He typically plays minor roles as either a "bum" or an "old codger/geezer" stock character.
  Sunshine Parker died on February 17, 1999 in Burbank, California of pneumonia at the age of 71.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Sunshine_Parker
• 
  Symphony X
  Symphony X /ˌsɪmfəni ˈɛks/ is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey. Founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo, their albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community. They also have achieved more commercial success with the 2007 album Paradise Lost; the band's 2011 album Iconoclast is the highest chart position and the most first-week sales in the band's history.
  In early 1994 Michael Romeo (ex-Phantom's Opera, ex-Gemini) recorded a studio album entitled The Dark Chapter, which featured himself and keyboard player Michael Pinnella. The tape attracted a fair share of attention, particularly in Japan. He then recruited bassist Thomas Miller, drummer Jason Rullo, and vocalist Rod Tyler. Their self-titled debut album was recorded in the same year, and released to a positive reception in Japan by the now-extinct record company Zero Corporation Label. The band's second studio album, The Damnation Game, followed six months later. Singer Rod Tyler had left the band by then and was replaced by current singer Russell Allen.
  
  wn.com/Symphony_X
• 
  Taylor Hawkins
  Oliver Taylor Hawkins (born February 17, 1972 in Fort Worth, Texas) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters. Prior to joining the band in 1997, he was the touring drummer for Alanis Morissette on her Jagged Little Pill and Can't Not tours, as well as the drummer in the progressive experimental band called Sylvia which, after changing their name to Anyone, went on to sign with Roadrunner Records. His cousin, Kevin Harrell, introduced him to Dave Grohl after camping with him for several weeks in the Ozarks. Hawkins would eventually become the drummer for Grohl's band, Foo Fighters. He was voted "Best Rock Drummer" in 2005 by the UK drumming magazine, Rhythm.
  In 2004, Hawkins formed his own side project, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, in which he plays drums and sings.
  After leaving the Orange County-based band Sylvia (later emerging as ANYONE), he joined up as drummer for Sass Jordan, which in turn he left to act as drummer for Alanis Morissette. He has appeared in Morissette's videos for "You Oughta Know" and "You Learn".
  
  wn.com/Taylor_Hawkins
• 
  Thelonious Monk
  Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered one of the giants of American music. Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70.
  His compositions and improvisations are full of dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists, and are consistent with Monk's unorthodox approach to the piano, which combined a highly percussive attack with abrupt, dramatic use of silences and hesitations. This was not a style universally appreciated; poet and jazz critic Philip Larkin dismissed Monk as 'the elephant on the keyboard'.
  Monk's manner was idiosyncratic. Visually, he was renowned for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. He was also noted for the fact that at times, while the other musicians in the band continued playing, he would stop, stand up from the keyboard and dance for a few moments before returning to the piano.
  
  wn.com/Thelonious_Monk
• 
  Thomas Jefferson
  Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 (April 2, 1743 O.S.) – July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). At the beginning of the American Revolution, Jefferson served in the Continental Congress, representing Virginia. He then served as a wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781). Just after the war ended, from mid-1784 Jefferson served as a diplomat, stationed in Paris, initially as a commissioner to help negotiate commercial treaties. In May 1785, he became the United States Minister to France. He was the first United States Secretary of State (1790–1793) during the administration of President George Washington. Upon resigning his office, with his close friend James Madison he organized the Democratic-Republican Party. Elected Vice-President in 1796, under his opponent John Adams, Jefferson with Madison secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which attempted to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.
  
  wn.com/Thomas_Jefferson
• 
  Tobias Mayer
  Tobias Mayer (17 February 1723 – 20 February 1762) was a German astronomer famous for his studies of the Moon.
  He was born at Marbach, in Württemberg, and brought up at Esslingen in poor circumstances. A self-taught mathematician, he earned a living by teaching mathematics while still a youth. He had already published two original geometrical works when, in 1746, he entered J.B. Homann's cartographic establishment at Nuremberg. Here he introduced many improvements in mapmaking, and gained a scientific reputation which led (in 1751) to his election to the chair of economy and mathematics at the University of Göttingen. In 1754 he became superintendent of the observatory, where he worked until his death in 1762.
  
  wn.com/Tobias_Mayer
• Todd Harvey
  Todd Douglas Ross Harvey (born February 17, 1975 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a former professional ice hockey forward. He was selected in the first round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, 9th overall, by the Dallas Stars, following a successful junior career, which included being the captain of the Canadian team at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
  Harvey grew up in the small town of Sheffield, Ontario and played his minor hockey for the Beverly Bandits of the OMHA before playing Jr.B. hockey at age 14 for the Cambridge Winterhawks. He spent two seasons playing Jr.B. in the OHA before being selected 1st overall in the 1991 OHL Priority Selection by the Detroit Jr. Red Wings of the OHL.
  Although a first round selection, Harvey was never able to live up to the offensive expectations that accompanied his draft position. His intense style of hockey and smallish frame lead to numerous injuries, and after three seasons in Dallas, and a brief stint with the New York Rangers, Harvey was dealt to the San Jose Sharks, where he played a key role as a checking forward and an agitator. In his fifth season with the Sharks, Harvey was sent to the minors, and allowed to leave as a free agent.
  
  wn.com/Todd_Harvey
• Tommy Edwards
  Tommy Edwards (February 17, 1922 — October 22, 1969) was a singer and songwriter. His biggest-selling record was with the multi-million-selling song, "It's All in the Game."
  Born Thomas Edwards in Richmond, Virginia, Edwards was an R&B singer most remembered for his 1958, Billboard No. 1, "It's All in the Game." He sang his hit song on The Ed Sullivan Show, on 14 September 1958. The song was composed by the then-future U.S. Vice-President, Charles G. Dawes in 1912, as "Melody in A Major," with lyrics written in 1951 by Carl Sigman. Edwards originally recorded and charted the song in 1951, but it only climbed to # 18 on the chart. The better-known 1958 version was on the same record label (MGM) and backed by the same orchestra leader (Leroy Holmes), but with a different arrangement more suited to the rock and roll-influenced style of the time. As well as topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the song also got to number one on the R&B chart, and in the UK Singles Chart. The single sold over 3.5 million copies globally, earning gold disc status. The gold disc was presented in November 1958. He had a more modest hit with the follow-up, "Love is All We Need," which climbed to #15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
  
  wn.com/Tommy_Edwards
• Tommy Moe
  Thomas S. "Tommy" Moe (born February 17, 1970) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from the United States. An Olympic gold and silver medalist, he specialized in the speed events of downhill and super G. Moe retired from international competition after the 1998 season and lives in Wilson, Wyoming, and serves as an ambassador of skiing at nearby Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
  Born in in Missoula, Montana, Moe learned to ski and race at The Big Mountain near Whitefish, where his father was a member of the ski patrol. Moe refined his skills as a teenager in Alaska at Alyeska, near Anchorage, where he attended the Glacier Creek Ski Academy. He joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1986 at age 16.
  Moe made his international debut at age 18 at the 1989 World Championships in Vail, Colorado, where he placed 12th in the downhill competition. He made his World Cup debut in March 1990.
  In a surprising performance in 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway, Moe became the first American male skier to win 2 medals in a single Winter Olympics, with a gold in the downhill and silver in the super-G at Kvitfjell. At the time Moe was a resident of Alaska; after his Olympic victories his father was shown on television waving the Alaska state flag.
  
  wn.com/Tommy_Moe
• Tuesday Knight
  Tuesday Lynn Knight (born February 17, 1969) is an American actress. The daughter of composer Baker Knight, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Kristen Parker in the 1988 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Also an accomplished musician, Tuesday recorded the song "Nightmare," used during the film's opening credits. She appears as herself in the 1994 Wes Craven film Wes Craven's New Nightmare as well as the 2010 film Sex and the City 2.
  In 1987, Knight appeared as Val on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She has also appeared in a number of television movies. Knight has made guest appearances various on TV series, including Fame (1984), The Facts of Life, Law & Order, and The X Files. She was also a series regular on the short-lived 1992 Aaron Spelling prime time soap opera 2000 Malibu Road.
  Knight, along with most of the Elm Street franchise alumni, is featured in a documentary, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, about New Line Cinema’s hit movie series. The documentary is directed by Daniel Farrands and Andrew Kasch, produced by Thommy Hutson, and was hosted by Elm Street veteran Heather Langenkamp. The documentary wove the tale of how one of the most successful horror genre franchises came to be. It came out in May 2010.
  
  wn.com/Tuesday_Knight
• Ulric Neisser
  Ulric Gustav Neisser (December 8, 1928 – February 17, 2012) was a German-born, American psychologist and member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was a significant figure in the development of cognitive science and the shift from behaviorist to cognitive models in psychology.
  Born in Kiel, Germany, he moved with his family to the United States in 1933. Neisser earned a bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1950, a Master’s at Swarthmore College, and a doctorate from Harvard's Department of Social Relations in 1956. He then taught at Brandeis and Emory universities, before establishing himself at Cornell.
  The modern growth of cognitive psychology received a major boost from the publication in 1967 of the first, and most influential, of his books: Cognitive Psychology.
  
  wn.com/Ulric_Neisser
• Valentino Mazzia
  Valentino D. B. Mazzia (February 17, 1922 – March 10, 1999) was an American physician who served as chairman of the department of anesthesiology at the New York University School of Medicine and was a pioneer in the forensic analysis of deaths occurring during surgical procedures. He testified in many criminal cases about the use and presence of anesthesia products in cases of death.
  Mazzia was born on February 17, 1922 in New York City and graduated from City College of New York in 1943. He attended New York University School of Medicine earning his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1950. He was on the faculty of Cornell University Medical School in the 1950s as chaired the anesthesiology department at New York University starting in the 1960s.
  Starting in 1961, he worked at the New York City Medical Examiner's Office under Drs. Michael Baden and Milton Helpern. Baden credited Mazzia with going on to "create the specialty of forensic anesthesiology" describing how Mazzia would go "to the scene, which was the operating room, to see if something went wrong", closing off the room for investigation and basing his judgments on his findings on the spot. He left the medical examiner's office in the early 1970s. He then spent two years as director of anesthesiology at Los Angeles County-Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital and practiced medicine in California and Nevada.
  
  wn.com/Valentino_Mazzia
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  Valeria Mazza
  Valeria Raquel Mazza (born February 17, 1972) Is an Argentine supermodel
  She was born in Paraná, Entre Rios, and discovered when she was only 16 years old by hairstylist Roberto Giordano. She rose to fame in 1996 when she appeared on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover with Tyra Banks, Guess and presented the San Remo Music Festival in Italy. Mazza has also appeared on the covers of Glamour, ELLE, and Vogue.
  On May 9, 1998 Mazza married businessman Alejandro Gravier, with whom she has four children: sons Balthazar (b. May 29, 1999), Tiziano (b. March 12, 2002), Benicio (b. February 23, 2005) and daughter Taína (b. April 22, 2008).
  In 2008, the Federal Tax Administration of Argentina (Adminstración Federal de Ingresos Públicos de Argentina - AFIP) initiated an investigation that sent the model and her husband to court for alleged tax evasion for an amount of 7 million ARS (Argentine pesos). Gravier was also sent to court by the owner of the Baring Brothers bank, for suspected irregularities in 2007.
  
  wn.com/Valeria_Mazza
• 
  Voortrekkers
  The Voortrekkers (Afrikaans and Dutch for pioneers, literally "those who trek ahead", "fore-trekkers") were emigrants during the 1830s and 1840s who left the Cape Colony (British at the time, but founded by the Dutch) moving into the interior of what is now South Africa. The Great Trek consisted of a number of mass movements under a number of different leaders including Louis Tregardt, Hendrik Potgieter, Sarel Cilliers, Pieter Uys, Gerrit Maritz, Piet Retief and Andries Pretorius.
  The Voortrekkers mainly came from the farming community of the Eastern Cape although some (such as Piet Retief) originally came from the Western Cape farming community while others (such as Gerrit Maritz) were successful tradesmen in the frontier towns. Some of them were wealthy men though most were not as they were from the poorer communities of the frontier. It was recorded that the 33 Voortrekker families at the Battle of Vegkop lost 100 horses, between 4,000 and 7,000 cattle, and between 40,000 and 50,000 sheep.^{[citation needed]} These figures appear greatly exaggerated.^{[citation needed]} Other members of the trekking parties were of Trekboer stock who came from a life of semi-nomadic herding; yet others were employees, many of whom had been slaves only a few years earlier.
  
  wn.com/Voortrekkers
• Wally Pipp
  Walter Clement Pipp (February 17, 1893 – January 11, 1965) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball, now best remembered as the man who lost his starting role to Lou Gehrig at the beginning of Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games.
  After playing 12 games with the Detroit Tigers in 1913, Pipp graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1914. The Chicago-born Pipp then joined the New York Yankees for the 1915 season, and would play 136 or more games for them every season until 1925 (except 1918, when his playing was curtailed by injury), hitting .282 with a little power, even after the end of the "dead ball" era. Pipp did lead the American League with 12 home runs in 1916, and again with 9 in 1917. Pipp was the first Yankee to win a home run title. Pipp scouted and asked Miller Huggins to sign young Lou Gehrig from Columbia University, whom Pipp personally helped develop as a young first baseman.
  On June 2, 1925, Pipp was removed from the Yankees' starting lineup and replaced with Gehrig. While many stories over the years have said Pipp sat out the game due to a headache, others suggest Yankee manager Miller Huggins may have actually benched Pipp and other veterans in order to "shake up" the slumping lineup. A month later, Pipp received a skull fracture when he was hit by a practice pitch from Charlie Caldwell, an event that had also been mistakenly linked to his initial benching. Pipp was later traded to the Cincinnati Reds before the 1926 season.
  
  wn.com/Wally_Pipp
• 
  Wilfrid Laurier
  Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier (20 November 1841 – 17 February 1919) was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911.
  Canada's first francophone prime minister, Laurier is often considered one of the country's greatest statesmen. He is well known for his policies of conciliation, expanding Confederation, and compromise between French and English Canada. His vision for Canada was a land of individual liberty and decentralized federalism. He also argued for an English-French partnership in Canada. "I have had before me as a pillar of fire," he said, "a policy of true Canadianism, of moderation, of reconciliation." And he passionately defended individual liberty, "Canada is free and freedom is its nationality," and "Nothing will prevent me from continuing my task of preserving at all cost our civil liberty." Laurier was also well regarded for his efforts to establish Canada as an autonomous country within the British Empire, though he supported the continuation of the British Empire if it was based on "absolute liberty political and commercial".
  
  wn.com/Wilfrid_Laurier
• Willi Kronhardt
  Willi Kronhardt (born 17 February 1969 in Tokarevka, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is a German football manager and former player.
  Kronhardt made 68 appearances in the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga during his playing career.
  
  
  
  wn.com/Willi_Kronhardt
• William Bickerton
  William Bickerton (January 15, 1815 – February 17, 1905) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement after the 1844 succession crisis. In 1862, Bickerton became the founding president of the church now known as The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), which is one of many churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830.
  Bickerton was born in Kyloe, Ancroft Parish, Northumberland, England, the seventh of eleven children of Thomas Bickerton and Isabella Hope. As an infant, he was not baptized until February 4, 1816, which has resulted in some sources misreporting that Bickerton was born in 1816. Bickerton immigrated to the United States and became a coal miner.
  Bickerton was not a Latter Day Saint during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. Rather, he was a practising Methodist who was converted to the faith by Sidney Rigdon in 1845. Following Smith's death in 1844, a number of Latter Day Saint leaders, including Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang, claimed to be Smith's rightful successor to lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which Smith had founded in 1830 as the Church of Christ.
  
  wn.com/William_Bickerton
• William Roussel
  Meyhna'ch (born William Roussel on February 17, 1976), who also goes under the alias Melancholic Lord of Torments, is the man behind the one-man bands Mütiilation and Satanicum Tenebrae.
  Meyhna'ch was once a member of the notorious French circle "Les Légions Noires," the "Black Legions." He contributed to projects from 1994 to 1996, when he was expelled for undisclosed reasons; it has been suggested (and rumors abound) that drug addiction was the problem, but this may be difficult to verify, as with many matters relating to the Black Legions. During his time in the group, he produced the magazine The Black Plague - First Chapter (And Maybe Last One), in which he interviewed some of the members and bands from the circle at the time (1995).
  In 1999, Meyhna'ch returned to the music scene. He first formed the band Malicious Secrets in 1999, his first foray back into the scene since 1996. From 2000 until 2004 he fronted Gestapo 666, and started the band Hell Militia in 2001.
  Meyhna'ch's most recent project goes by the name of O.D. Sanctus. He has released two demo versions of their songs on their Myspace page.
  
  wn.com/William_Roussel
• Wong Choong Hann
  Wong Choong Hann (simplified Chinese: 黄综翰; traditional Chinese: 黃綜翰; pinyin: Huáng Zònghàn; born February 17, 1977 in Kuala Lumpur) is a professional Malaysian badminton player.
  He currently resides in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur.
  Wong Choong Hann's career began with the 1991 Malaysia Open. The first tournament he won was the 1997 Dutch Open. He represented Malaysia in 2002, where Malaysia emerged runners-up to Indonesia in the Thomas Cup championships.
  In 2003, Wong Choong Hann reached the World Championships finals. In a thrilling three-game match between the veterans (both he and his opponent were above 24 years old then), he eventually lost out to the champion from China, Xia Xuanze.
  Wong Choong Hann played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics in men's singles, defeating Przemysław Wacha of Poland in the first round. In the round of 16, Choong Hann was defeated by Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia.
  The lowlight of his career occurred during the 2006 Thomas Cup where he injured himself by snapping an Achilles tendon while playing in a quarter final match against South Korea, he is required to rest for almost 6 months. He made a comeback to the sport in the Asian Games later in 2006 but was clearly far from his best form.
  
  wn.com/Wong_Choong_Hann
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  Wu Zetian
  Wu Zetian (simplified Chinese: 武则天; traditional Chinese: 武則天; pinyin: Wǔ Zétiān, Mandarin pronunciation: [ù tsɯ̯ʌ̌ tʰi̯ɛ́n]) (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao (武曌), often referred to as Tian Hou (天后) during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu (武后, Wǔ Hòu) in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant (Huangdi). As de facto ruler of China first through her husband and her sons from 665 to 690, not unprecedented in Chinese history, she then broke all precedents when she founded her own dynasty in 690, the Zhou (周) (interrupting the Tang Dynasty), and ruled personally under the name Sacred and Divine Empress Regnant (聖神皇帝) and variations thereof from 690 to 705. Her rise and reign has been criticized harshly by Confucian historians but has been viewed in a different light after the 1950s.
  Wu was born in Lizhou (利州) (modern day Guangyuan City in Sichuan Province) in 624, the seventh year of Emperor Gaozu of Tang’s reign. In the same year, a total eclipse of the Sun was visible across China. Her father Wu Shihuo was engaged in the timber business and the family was relatively well off. During the final years of Emperor Yang of Sui, Li Yuan (李淵) (who would go on to become Emperor Gaozu of Tang), whilst holding appointments in both Hedong and Taiyuan, Li stayed in the Wu household many times and became close to the Wu family. After Li Yuan overthrew Emperor Yang, he was generous to the Wu family, providing them with money, grain, land and clothing. Once the Tang Dynasty became established, Wu Shihou held a succession of senior ministerial posts including governor of Yangzhou, Lizhou and Jingzhou (荊州) (modern day Jiangling County, Hubei Province).
  
  wn.com/Wu_Zetian
• Yvonne Romain
  Yvonne Romain (born Yvonne Warren, 17 February 1938, London) is a British film and television actress of the late 1950s and 1960s.
  This raven-haired former photographic model was a graduate of the Italia Conti Academy and from the age of twelve appeared in children's shows and repertory. She started appearing in British films in her late teens. Her exotic, dark looks and 38-22-36 figure saw her often cast in supporting roles as Italian or Spanish maidens in war films and comedies. However, it is for her roles in numerous British horror films that she is perhaps most remembered. She enjoyed parts in Corridors of Blood (1958), where she starred alongside Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, and also in Circus of Horrors (1960). She was also to star in the later Devil Doll (1964), about a malevolent ventriloquist's dummy.
  However, Romain is probably best known for The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) where she starred with Oliver Reed in his first major role. In the movie, Romain plays a mute servant girl who spurns the advances of the sadistic Marques. She is thrown into a prison cell with a deranged beggar, who proceeds to rape her. As a result, she later gives birth on Christmas Day to future lycanthrope Leon (Reed), though the effort kills her.
  
  wn.com/Yvonne_Romain
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  Zein Isa
  Several claims of honor killing in the United States have been documented.
  An article in the Spring 2009 edition of Middle East Quarterly argues that the United States is far behind Europe in acknowledging that honor killings are a special form of domestic violence, requiring special training and programs to protect the young women and girls most subject to it. The article suggests that the fear of being labeled culturally insensitive prevents US government officials and the media from both identifying and accurately reporting these women's murders as "honor killings" when they occur. Failing to accurately describe the problem makes it more difficult to develop public policies to address it.
  Mainstream Islam condemns honor killings, and leaders of the American Muslim community have unanimously condemned the practice. Members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations have condemned all honor killings as well as specific incidents. Many Muslim leaders in the US say that Islam does not promote honor killings and that the practice stems from sexism and tribal behavior that predates the religion. "You're always going to get problems with chauvinism and suppressing vulnerable populations and gender discrimination," says Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
  
  wn.com/Zein_Isa
• Zina Bethune
  Zina Bethune (February 17, 1945 – February 12, 2012) was an American actress, dancer, and choreographer.
  Bethune was born in New York City, the daughter of Ivy (née Vigder), an actress (born June 1, 1918, Sevastopol, Russia) and William Charles Bethune, a sculptor and painter who died in 1950 when Zina was five years old. Zina began her formal ballet training aged six at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet. By age 14 she was dancing with the New York City Ballet. As a child performer, she also appeared in several American daytime television dramas, including a stint as the first "Robin Lang" on The Guiding Light from May 1956 to April 1958. Bethune played President Franklin D. Roosevelt's daughter in Sunrise at Campobello in 1960.
  She starred as "The Girl" alongside Harvey Keitel in Martin Scorsese's first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door. That movie was commercially released in 1967, although much of it (including Bethune's acting parts) was filmed in 1965 for Scorsese's film project at New York University. She was also featured on the CBS TV series The Nurses (1962–65), and other series, including Kraft Television Theatre (with Martin Huston in the series finale), Route 66, The Judy Garland Show, Pantomime Quiz, Hollywood Squares, Young Dr. Malone, and Dr. Kildare.
  
  wn.com/Zina_Bethune