Anniversaries 26 January

Birth

Claude Adrien Helvétius8

French philosopher 1715–1771

William Henry Ashurst (judge)12

English judge 1725–1807

David Seth Doggett2

American bishop 1810–1880

David Jewett Waller, Sr.3

Pennsylvanian minister and civic leader 1815–1893

Mary Mapes Dodge5

Children's writer, novelist, poet, editor 1831–1905

Wynford Dewhurst9

British artist 1864–1941

Alfred Cochrane2

English cricketer 1865–1948

Kees van Dongen3

Dutch painter 1877–1968

Douglas MacArthur50

U.S. Army general of the army, field marshal of the Army of… 1880–1964

Roy Chapman Andrews2

American explorer, adventurer and naturalist 1884–1960

Edward Sapir10

American linguist and anthropologist 1884–1939

Eric Mervyn Lindsay1

Irish astronomer 1907–1974

Louis Zamperini9

Italian-American middle distance runner 1917–2014

Nicolae Ceaușescu13

General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party 1918–1989

Philip José Farmer52

American science fiction writer 1918–2009

Akio Morita47

Japanese businessman 1921–1999

Reese Palley13

1922–2015

Paul Newman38

American actor and film director 1925–2008

Jules Feiffer2

American cartoonist, screenwriter and playwright 1929

Assar Lindbeck1

Swedish economist 1930

Ivan Van Sertima1

British Africanist in New Jersey 1935–2009

Igor Aleksander9

scientist 1937

Angela Davis55

American political activist, scholar, and author 1944

Michael Marmot4

Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health 1945

Barbara Kruger6

American artist 1945

Jeremy Rifkin18

American economist 1945

Christopher Hampton5

British playwright, screenwriter and film director 1946

Jonathan Carroll19

novelist, short story writer 1949

Jack Youngblood2

American football player, defensive end, Pro Football Hall … 1950

Jörg Haider2

Austrian politician 1950–2008

Lucinda Williams3

American rock, folk, blues, and country music singer, songw… 1953

Anders Fogh Rasmussen6

former Prime Minister of Denmark and NATO secretary general 1953

Björn Andrésen2

actor, musician 1955

Eddie Van Halen3

Dutch-American rock musician 1955

Ellen DeGeneres93

American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress 1958

Kenan Malik6

English writer, lecturer and broadcaster 1960

Nick Flynn6

American writer 1960

Daniele Luttazzi1

Italian comedian 1961

Wayne Gretzky1

Canadian ice hockey player 1961

José Mourinho50

Portuguese association football player and manager 1963

Anita Nair1

Indian writer 1966

Ellen Schreiber35

American writer 1967

Cyia Batten2

American actress 1972

Shannon Hale109

American fantasy novelist 1974

Meghan O'Rourke3

American writer 1976

Death

Muhammad al-Baqir30

fifth of the Twelve Shia Imams 677–733

Edward Jenner3

English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination 1749–1823

Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey4

British politician 1773–1850

Thomas Lovell Beddoes2

English poet, dramatist and physician 1803–1849

Gérard de Nerval3

French Romantic poet 1808–1855

Edward G. Robinson6

Romanian American actor 1893–1973

Lewis Mumford75

American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology,… 1895–1990

Lucky Luciano1

Italian-American mobster 1897–1962

Witold Doroszewski4

Lexicographer and linguist 1899–1976

Peter Marshall3

American preacher 1902–1949

James Cameron (journalist)10

British journalist 1911–1985

A. E. van Vogt7

Canadian writer 1912–2000

Bear Bryant4

American college football coach 1913–1983

Hal Draper1

American activist 1914–1990

Louis Auchincloss1

Lawyer, novelist, historian, essayist 1917–2010

Raymond Williams12

philosopher 1921–1988

Walter F. Buckley36

American sociologist 1922–2006

Geoffrey Burbidge1

British astronomer 1925–2010

Clare Fischer48

American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader 1928–2012

Al McGuire1

American basketball player and coach 1928–2001

Tam Dalyell3

Scottish politician 1932–2017

Kobe Bryant32

American basketball player 1978–2020