Anniversaries 12 October

Birth

Edward VI of England5

King of England, Tudor dynasty 1537–1553

Henry More2

British philosopher 1614–1687

Edward Thomson15

American bishop 1810–1870

Josiah Parsons Cooke1

Harvard mineralogist and chemist 1827–1894

Theodore Watts-Dunton4

English literary critic and poet 1832–1914

Émile Banning4

academic, civil servant 1836–1898

Helena Modjeska1

Polish-American actress 1840–1909

Ramsay MacDonald27

British statesman; prime minister of the United Kingdom 1866–1937

Boris Sidis26

American psychiatrist 1867–1923

Ralph Vaughan Williams13

English composer 1872–1958

Aleister Crowley142

poet, mountaineer, occultist 1875–1947

Louis Hémon5

French writer 1880–1913

Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze5

Soviet politician 1886–1937

Edith Stein34

Jewish-German nun, theologian and philosopher 1891–1942

Robert Fitzgerald3

American poet, critic and translator 1910–1985

Charles P. Kindleberger5

American economic historian 1910–2003

Alice Childress1

American playwright and author 1916–1994

Ram Swarup64

Indian historian 1920–1998

Art Clokey5

American animator 1921–2010

Fernando Sabino8

Brazilian writer 1923–2004

Dick Gregory9

American comedian, social activist, social critic, writer, … 1932–2017

Pino Caruso1

Italian actor 1934–2019

Luciano Pavarotti12

Italian operatic tenor 1935–2007

Carolee Schneemann3

American photographer, performance artist, and video artist 1939–2019

James Crumley1

American writer 1939–2008

Ilan Halevi2

Jewish Palestinian journalist, politician 1943–2013

Protima Bedi21

Indian model and dancer 1948–1998

Chen Shui-bian23

Taiwanese politician 1950

Paul Otellini2

former president & CEO of Intel 1950–2017

Trần Đại Quang2

8th President of Vietnam 1956–2018

Mikhail Leontyev2

Russian television pundit 1958

Marco Rizzo3

Italian politician 1959

Deborah Foreman1

American actress 1962

Hirokazu Yasuhara4

Japanese video game designer 1965

Dan Abnett10

British comic book writer, novelist 1965

Saara Kuugongelwa1

Prime Minister of Namibia 1967

Jason Stanley3

American philosopher 1969

Kirk Cameron1

American actor 1970

Bram Cohen2

American programmer, creator of BitTorrent 1975

Bode Miller11

American alpine ski racer 1977

NoViolet Bulawayo2

Zimbabwean writer and educator 1981

Li Wenliang1

Chinese physician known for warning about the coronavirus i… 1986–2020

Ilya Zhitomirskiy1

software developer 1989–2011

Taylor Horn7

American musician and actor 1992

Daniel Larze1

Puerto Rican singer-songwriter (born 2005) 2005

Death

Démosthenés11

ancient greek statesman and orator -384–-322 BC

Robert E. Lee55

Confederate general in the Civil War 1807–1870

Cecil Frances Alexander5

British hymn-writer and poet 1818–1895

Josiah Gilbert Holland16

Novelist, poet, editor 1819–1881

Dinah Craik61

English novelist and poet 1826–1887

Edwin Abbott Abbott87

British theologian and author 1838–1926

Anatole France122

French writer 1844–1924

Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton2

British Army general 1853–1947

Edith Cavell5

British nurse 1865–1915

Max Wertheimer15

Co-founder of Gestalt psychology 1880–1943

Dean Acheson49

Statesman and lawyer 1893–1971

Peter Wessel Zapffe15

Norwegian philosopher, mountaineer, and author 1899–1990

Regina Jonas10

rabbi 1902–1944

Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone8

British judge, politician, life peer and Cabinet minister 1907–2001

Pat Frank1

American writer 1908–1964

Robert Sidney Foster2

British Colonial governor 1913–2005

Pik Botha3

South African politician 1932–2018

Gene Vincent4

American musician 1935–1971

Wilt Chamberlain25

basketball player 1936–1999

Dennis M. Ritchie13

American computer scientist 1941–2011

John Denver8

American singer, songwriter, activist, and humanitarian 1943–1997