Who was born on February 21?
February 21 is packed with notable birthdays. Explore 100 famous birthdays, sorted by recent English Wikipedia pageviews. Top ranked names include Kelsey Grammer, Jeanne Calment, Rue McClanahan, Mark Kelly, William Baldwin. Filter by actor, musician, athlete, and more — or open any other calendar day.
February 21
100 people
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Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and comedian. He gained fame for his role as the Harvard-educated Boston psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier (1993–2004, and again from 2023–2024). With more than 20 years on air, this is one of the longest-running roles played by a single live-action actor in primetime television history. He has received numerous accolades including a total of six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two Satellite Awards, two People's Choice Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Tony Award. Grammer, having trained as an actor at Juilliard and the Old Globe Theatre, made his professional acting debut as Lennox in the 1981 Broadway revival of Macbeth. The following year, he portrayed Cassio acting opposite Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones in Othello. In mid-1983, he acted alongside Mandy Patinkin in the original off-Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sunday in the Park with George. He has since starred in the leading roles in productions of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, My Fair Lady, Big Fish, and Finding Neverland. In film, he is known for his role as Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast in the superhero films X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and The Marvels (2023). His other roles include Down Periscope (1996), The Pentagon Wars (1998), and Swing Vote (2008). He is also known for his voice roles in Anastasia (1997), Toy Story 2 (1999), and as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons (1990–present). He took guest roles in the sitcoms 30 Rock (2010–2012), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2016), and Modern Family (2017). For his performance as the corrupt mayor in the Starz political series Boss (2011–2012), he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. In early 2010, Grammer returned to Broadway in the musical revival of La Cage aux Folles, where he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In mid-2016, Grammer won a Tony Award for Best Musical as producer of a musical revival of The Color Purple. In early 2019, he starred as Don Quixote in a production of Man of La Mancha at the London Coliseum. In late 2023, The Telegraph described Grammer as one of "the finest actors" of his generation. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 22, 2001.
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Jeanne Calment
Jeanne Louise Calment (French: [ʒan lwiz kalmɑ̃] ; 21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) was a French supercentenarian who is the oldest person in recorded history whose age has been verified, with a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days. Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle. Calment is the only person in history who has been verified to have reached the age of 120 years. According to census records, Calment outlived both her daughter and her grandson. In January 1988, she was widely reported to be the oldest living person in the world. In 1995, at age 120, she was declared to be the oldest person in history with a verified date of birth.
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Rue McClanahan
Eddi-Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American actress, primarily known for her work in television sitcoms. She portrayed Vivian Harmon on Maude (1972–1978), Aunt Fran Crowley on Mama's Family (1983–1984), and Blanche Devereaux on both The Golden Girls (1985–1992) and its spin-off The Golden Palace (1992–1993). For her performance as Blanche Devereaux, McClanahan received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, winning the award in 1987. She was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards for the same role. In 2005, McClanahan appeared on Broadway as Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked.
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Mark Kelly
Mark Edward Kelly (born February 21, 1964) is an American politician and a retired astronaut and naval officer. He is the senior United States senator from Arizona, a seat he has held since 2020. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Kelly flew combat missions during the Gulf War as a naval aviator before being selected as a NASA Space Shuttle pilot in 1996. His identical twin brother, Scott Kelly, also became a NASA astronaut that year. Mark flew his first space mission in 2001 as pilot of STS-108, then piloted STS-121 in 2006, and commanded STS-124 in 2008 and STS-134 (the final mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour) in 2011. In January 2011, Kelly's wife, then-Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords, was shot and nearly killed in an assassination attempt in Arizona. Kelly retired from the Navy and NASA that October. In 2013, Kelly and Giffords founded a nonprofit political action committee, Americans for Responsible Solutions (later merged into Giffords), which campaigned for gun control measures like universal background checks. Kelly was first elected to the Senate in a 2020 special election triggered by the death of Senator John McCain. He defeated incumbent Republican Martha McSally in the general election, becoming the first Democrat to win the seat since 1962. Kelly was reelected to a full term in 2022.
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William Baldwin
William Baldwin (born February 21, 1963) is an American actor and the third of the four Baldwin brothers. He has starred in the films Flatliners (1990), Backdraft (1991), Sliver (1993), Virus (1999), The Squid and the Whale (2005), Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which he portrayed himself, and the Netflix show Northern Rescue (2019). Baldwin is married to singer Chynna Phillips.
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Joe Alwyn
Joseph Matthew Alwyn (born 21 February 1991) is an English actor. Alwyn made his feature film debut as the titular character in Ang Lee's 2016 war drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and has since played roles in films such as The Favourite (2018), Boy Erased (2018), Mary Queen of Scots (2018), Harriet (2019), Catherine Called Birdy (2022), The Brutalist (2024), and Hamnet (2025), as well as the BBC and Hulu drama series Conversations with Friends (2022). Born in Kent and raised in North London, Alwyn developed an interest in acting during his teenage years. He acted in student productions at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and obtained BA degrees in English literature and drama, and acting, from the University of Bristol (2012), and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (2015), respectively. Alwyn worked with American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift on ten of her songs released from 2020 to 2022, including "Exile" and "Betty" from Swift's eighth studio album, Folklore, which won the Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. He won a Trophée Chopard at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and appeared on the 2022 Time 100 Next list of rising stars.
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David Geffen
David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American film producer, record executive, media proprietor, and philanthropist. In music, he co-founded Asylum Records with Elliot Roberts in 1971 before founding Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and co-founding DreamWorks Records (with Mo Ostin, Michael Ostin and Lenny Waronker) in 1996. In film, he founded the Geffen Film Company in 1982 and co-founded DreamWorks SKG with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1994. According to Forbes, Geffen is the wealthiest person in the global entertainment industry; he has an estimated net worth of US$9 billion as of 2024.
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Tyne Daly
Ellen Tyne Daly (; born February 21, 1946) is an American actress whose six-decade career included many leading roles in movies and theater. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work and a Tony Award, and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee. Daly began her career on stage in summer stock in New York City, and made her Broadway debut in the play That Summer – That Fall in 1967. She is best known for her television role as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the CBS police drama Cagney & Lacey (1982–88), for which she won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She also won Emmy Awards for her roles as Alice Henderson in the period drama series Christy (1994–95) and Maxine Gray in the legal drama series Judging Amy (1999–2005). She starred in the Broadway revival of Gypsy (1989), earning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Tony-nominated roles were in Rabbit Hole (2006) and Mothers and Sons (2014). She played Maria Callas, both on Broadway and in London's West End, in the play Master Class (2011–12). Her other Broadway credits include The Seagull (1992) and It Shoulda Been You (2015). Daly made her film debut in John and Mary (1969). She is known for her film roles in The Enforcer (1976), Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015), and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018). She received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female nomination for her role in the Patrick Wang drama A Bread Factory (2018). She portrayed Anne Marie Hoag in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
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Corbin Bleu
Corbin Bleu Reivers ( BLOO; born February 21, 1989) is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the late 1990s before rising to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Chad Danforth in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008). Songs from the films also charted worldwide, with the song "I Don't Dance" peaking inside the Top 70 of the Billboard Hot 100. During this time, he also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Jump In! (2007) and the film To Write Love on Her Arms (2015). He competed in the 17th season of Dancing with the Stars. Bleu has also pursued a music career and his debut album Another Side was released in 2007, which included the hit "Push It to the Limit". The album debuted and peaked at number 36 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, selling 18,000 copies in its first week. His second album, Speed of Light, was released in 2009. He returned to television, starring in the short-lived Ashton Kutcher–produced CW series The Beautiful Life: TBL (2009) and the movie Free Style (2009). He has appeared in the films The Little Engine That Could (2011), Scary or Die (2012), Nurse 3D (2013), Sugar (2013), The Monkey's Paw (2013), Walk. Ride. Rodeo. (2019), Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story (2022), and Camp Hideout (2023). In 2010, Bleu made his Broadway debut as Usnavi in the musical In the Heights. In 2012, he returned to Broadway in the revival of Godspell. In 2013, he was cast as Jeffrey King in the short-lived online revival of the daytime soap One Life to Live. In 2016, Bleu played Ted Hanover in the Broadway company of Holiday Inn, the New Irving Berlin Musical. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Ghostlight Records, to distribute his Holiday Inn soundtrack music, released in 2017. In 2019, he returned to play Bill Calhoun/Lucentio in the Broadway company of Kiss Me, Kate. He subsequently signed a recording contract with Ghostlight Records, to distribute his Kiss Me, Kate soundtrack music, released on June 7, 2019. Bleu later made his West End debut in the European premiere of The Great Gatsby at the London Coliseum as Nick Carraway in April 2025 which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination.
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Anaïs Nin
Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell ( AN-eye-EESS NEEN; French: [ana.is nin]; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the daughter of the composer Joaquín Nin and the classically trained singer Rosa Culmell. Nin spent her early years in Spain and Cuba, about sixteen years in Paris (1924–1940), and the remaining half of her life in the United States, where she became an established author. Nin wrote journals prolifically from age eleven until her death. Her journals, many of which were published during her lifetime, detail her private thoughts and personal relationships. Her journals also describe her marriages to Hugh Parker Guiler and Rupert Pole, in addition to her numerous affairs with men and women, including the psychoanalyst Otto Rank and writer Henry Miller, both of whom profoundly influenced Nin and her writing. In addition to her journals, Nin wrote several novels, critical studies, essays, short stories, and volumes of erotic literature. Much of her work, including the collections of erotica, was published posthumously amid renewed critical interest in her life and work. Nin spent her later life in Los Angeles, California, where she died of cervical cancer in 1977. She was a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976.
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Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876), often known as Santa Anna, was a Mexican general, politician, and caudillo who served as the eighth president of Mexico on multiple occasions between 1833 and 1855. A controversial and pivotal figure in Mexican politics during the 19th century, he has been called an "uncrowned monarch" by some historians who refer to the 30 years after Mexico's independence as the "Age of Santa Anna." Santa Anna is often remembered in Mexico as a vendepatria due to the loss of Mexican territory to the United States during his rule. During the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1821), Santa Anna fought as a royalist officer for over a decade before switching sides to join the insurgency in 1821. He then led a garrison in Veracruz until the final insurgent victory on September 27, 1821. He played a major role in the rise and fall of both the First Mexican Empire and the First Mexican Republic. His long career spanned the Texas Revolution, Pastry War, and the Mexican–American War, as well as the creation of the Centralist Republic of Mexico thru the Siete Leyes in 1835 and later, the Bases Orgánicas, which came into effect in 1843. Throughout his career, Santa Anna frequently switched sides, a pattern that began in the War of Independence and continuously in political conflicts between liberal and conservative factions within Mexico's government. He was instrumental in discarding the liberal Constitution of 1824 in 1835, and in restoring it in 1847. Santa Anna was elected President as a liberal in 1833 and again in 1847, sharing power with the liberal Vice President, Valentín Gómez Farías. In both instances, once in power, Santa Anna switched sides in favor of conservatives and overthrew Farías. Santa Anna was known for his ostentatious and dictatorial style of rule and use of the military to dissolve Mexico's Congress on several occasions. Later in his career, he referred to himself by the honorific title, His Most Serene Highness. Santa Anna's intermittent periods of rule lasted from 1832 to 1855 in which Mexico experienced the loss of Texas, a series of military conflicts during the Mexican–American War, and the Mexican Cession. Santa Anna's leadership during the Mexican-American war and his willingness to fight to the bitter end, prolonged the conflict with historians noting that "more than any other single person it was Santa Anna who denied Polk's dream of a short war." Six years after the war ended, Santa Anna ceded Mexican territory to the United States through the Gadsden Purchase in 1854. In 1855 while serving as President of Mexico, Santa Anna, removed from office by the Plan of Ayutla, went into exile. In 1874, an elderly Santa Anna was allowed to return to Mexico by then President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. In 1876, Santa Anna died in Mexico City.
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Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael Palahniuk (; PAW-lə-nick; Ukrainian pronunciation: [pɐlɐɦˈnʲuk], born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adult coloring books, as well as several short stories. His first published novel, Fight Club, was adapted into a film of the same title.
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Christopher Atkins
Christopher Atkins Bomann (born February 21, 1961) is an American actor and businessman. He starred in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon and played Peter Richards on Dallas (1983–1984).
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Michael McIntyre
Michael Hazen James McIntyre (born 21 February 1976) is a British comedian, writer, and television presenter. In 2012, he was the highest-grossing stand-up comedian in the world. He presents the variety and stand-up comedy show Michael McIntyre's Big Show and the game show The Wheel. McIntyre has fronted his own comedy show Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (2009–2011), featured in three episodes of the stand-up comedy show Live at the Apollo (2007–2009), and judged on the fifth series of the talent competition Britain's Got Talent (2011). McIntyre has performed three times on the Royal Variety Performance, including in 2010 when he became the youngest-ever host. McIntyre has written and performed five stand-up comedy tours: Live & Laughing (2008–2009), Showtime (2012), Happy and Glorious (2015), Michael McIntyre's Big World Tour (2018–2020), and Macnificent (2023–2025).
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Christine Ebersole
Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She has received two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award as well as a nomination for a Daytime Emmy Award. Ebersole made her Broadway debut in the play Angel Street (1975). She won two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for playing a prima donna in the musical revival 42nd Street (2001) and for her dual roles as Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale in the original musical Grey Gardens (2006). She was Tony-nominated for playing a society matron in Dinner at Eight (2003), and Elizabeth Arden in War Paint (2017). On film, she made her film debut with a minor role as an actress in the romantic comedy Tootsie (1982) before portraying Caterina Cavalieri in Academy Award-winning period biographical drama film Amadeus (1984). She has also acted in films such as Mac and Me (1988), Dead Again (1991), Richie Rich (1994), Black Sheep (1996), True Crime (1999), The Big Wedding (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), and Licorice Pizza (2021). On television, she got her start on the soap opera Ryan's Hope (1977–1980) and as a cast member of Saturday Night Live (1981–1982). She earned an Emmy Award nomination for her work in One Life to Live. She has co-starred on the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son (2012–2014), the comedy-drama Royal Pains, the animated series Steven Universe (2018–2019), and the CBS sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola (2019–2024).
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Scott Miller
Scott Andrew Miller (born 21 February 1975) is an Australian convicted drug dealer and former butterfly swimmer who competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics, winning a silver and bronze medal.
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W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden ( WIST-ən HYOO AWD-ən; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, form, and content. Some of his best known poems are about love, such as "Funeral Blues"; on political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939" and "The Shield of Achilles"; on cultural and psychological themes, such as The Age of Anxiety; and on religious themes, such as "For the Time Being" and "Horae Canonicae". Auden was born in York and grew up in and near Birmingham in a professional, middle-class family. He attended various English independent (or public) schools and studied English at Christ Church, Oxford. After a few months in Berlin in 1928–29, he spent five years (1930–1935) teaching in British private preparatory schools. In 1939, he moved to the United States; he became an American citizen in 1946, retaining his British citizenship. Auden taught from 1941 to 1945 in American universities, followed by occasional visiting professorships in the 1950s. Auden came to wide public attention in 1930 with his first book, Poems; it was followed in 1932 by The Orators. Three plays written in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood between 1935 and 1938 built his reputation as a left-wing political writer. Auden moved to the United States partly to escape this reputation, and his work in the 1940s, including the long poems "For the Time Being" and "The Sea and the Mirror", focused on religious themes. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1947 long poem The Age of Anxiety, the title of which became a popular phrase describing the modern era. From 1956 to 1961, he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford; his lectures were popular with students and faculty and served as the basis for his 1962 prose collection The Dyer's Hand. Auden was a prolific writer of prose essays and reviews on literary, political, psychological, and religious subjects, and he worked at various times on documentary films, poetic plays, and other forms of performance. Throughout his career he was both controversial and influential. Critical views on his work ranged from sharply dismissive (treating him as a lesser figure than W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot) to strongly affirmative (as in Joseph Brodsky's statement that he had "the greatest mind of the twentieth century"). After his death, his poems became known to a much wider public through films, broadcasts, and popular media.
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Charlotte Church
Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer; as a young woman, she made a less successful move into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than ten million records worldwide including over five million in the United States. She hosted a Channel 4 comedy chat show, The Charlotte Church Show. Church released her first album in five years, Back to Scratch, on 25 October 2010. Church is a soprano. Church has embraced political activism, supporting Jeremy Corbyn when he led the Labour Party, Plaid Cymru in the Senedd elections, and the cause of Welsh independence.
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Tituss Burgess
Tituss Burgess (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in several Broadway musicals. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020), for which he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He is featured in Schmigadoon! (2023). On the Broadway stage, Burgess originated the roles of Eddie in Good Vibrations, Hal Miller in Jersey Boys, Sebastian in The Little Mermaid and Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the 2009 revival of Guys and Dolls. In 2023, he took over the role of Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! and took over the title role in Oh, Mary! in March 2025.
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Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American filmmaker and actor. He was known for his revisionist approach to the Western genre, employing a visually innovative and explicit depiction of action and violence. His 1969 film The Wild Bunch received two Academy Award nominations and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institute's Top 100 list. His other notable films included Ride the High Country (1962), Major Dundee (1965), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Straw Dogs (1971), The Getaway (1972), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), Cross of Iron (1977), and Convoy (1978). Peckinpah was also known for his contributions to the television series The Rifleman (1958–63) and The Westerner (1960). Peckinpah's films deal with the conflict between values and ideals, as well as the corruption and violence in human society. His characters are often loners or losers who desire to be honorable but are forced to compromise in order to survive in a world of nihilism and brutality. He was given the nickname "Bloody Sam" owing to the violence in his films. His combative personality, along with years of alcohol and drug abuse, affected his professional legacy. The production of many of his films included battles with producers and crew members, damaging his reputation and career during his lifetime.
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John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was an important figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. Originally an evangelical academic at the University of Oxford and priest in the Church of England, Newman was drawn to the high church tradition of Anglicanism. He became one of the more notable leaders of the Oxford Movement, an influential group of Anglicans who wished to restore to the Church of England many Catholic beliefs and liturgical rituals practiced before the English Reformation. In this, the movement had some success. After publishing his Tract 90 in 1841, Newman later wrote: "I was on my death-bed, as regards my membership with the Anglican Church." In 1845, Newman resigned his teaching post at Oxford, left the Church of England and was received into the Catholic Church. He was quickly ordained as a priest and continued as an influential religious leader, based in Birmingham. In 1879, he was created a cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in recognition of his services to the cause of the Catholic Church in England. He was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1854, which later became University College Dublin. Newman was also a prominent writer: his major writings include the Tracts for the Times (1833–1841), his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845), his autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1864), and the Grammar of Assent (1870). In particular, his theory on the development of doctrine has been highly influential on subsequent Catholic theology. Newman's canonization was approved by Pope Francis and took place on 13 October 2019. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIV in 2025 and was also named co-patron of Catholic education, joining Saint Thomas Aquinas.
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Phil Jones
Philip Anthony Jones (born 21 February 1992) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. Although primarily a centre-back, he was also used as a right-back or defensive midfielder. He is currently a first-team coach at Sheffield United. Jones began his career at Blackburn Rovers, he joined Manchester United in 2011, where he spent the vast majority of his senior career. Jones represented England at various levels. He played for the under-19 team in 2009 before making his debut for the under-21 team in 2010. He made his debut for the England senior team in 2011, going on to make 27 appearances. Jones was a part of the England squads for the UEFA Euro 2012, 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2018 FIFA World Cup.
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Douglas Bader
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War, who achieved great success despite loss of the lower part of both his legs after a 1931 air crash, one amputation above the knee and the other below the knee. Resuming flying in 1939 after being re-checked for his flying abilities, he became a front-line fighter leader. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged. Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting aerobatics at low level, he crashed and lost the lower part of both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments. In August 1941, Bader baled out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterwards, he met and was befriended by Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace. Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner-of-war camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army. Bader left the RAF permanently in February 1946 and resumed his career in the oil industry. During the 1950s, a book and a film, Reach for the Sky, chronicled his life and RAF career to the end of the Second World War. Bader campaigned for disabled people and in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1976 was appointed a Knight Bachelor "for services to disabled people". He continued to fly until ill health forced him to stop in 1979. Bader died, aged 72, on 5 September 1982, after a heart attack.
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Steve Francis
Steven D'Shawn Francis (born February 21, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He was selected with the second overall pick of the 1999 NBA draft and was named co-NBA Rookie of the Year (along with Elton Brand) in his first season. He was a three-time NBA All-Star while playing for the Houston Rockets. Francis also played for the Orlando Magic and New York Knicks, finishing his career with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. He was known for his crossover dribble, driving ability, and flashy dunks. He was given the nickname Stevie Franchise.
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Jean-Jacques Burnel
Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with the punk rock band the Stranglers. He is the only original member to remain in the band.
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Barbara Jordan
Barbara Charline Jordan (February 21, 1936 – January 17, 1996) was an American politician, attorney, and educator. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first woman descendant of American slavery elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and one of the first two African Americans elected to the U.S. House from the former Confederacy since 1901, alongside Andrew Young of Georgia. Known for her oratorical abilities, Jordan achieved national fame for her televised opening statement at the House Judiciary Committee hearings during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon. In 1976, she became the first African American, and the first woman, to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention. Together with other African American politicians in the south who were elected after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, she worked to transform the Democratic Party from a party of segregation into a vehicle for increased Black political participation and representation. Following her retirement from Congress, Jordan taught at the University of Texas at Austin, delivered numerous public lectures, remained active in Democratic Party politics, and served as chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous other honors. She was the first African-American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.
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Chespirito
Roberto Mario Gómez y Bolaños (21 February 1929 – 28 November 2014), more commonly known by his stage name Chespirito (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃespiˈɾito], or "Little Shakespeare"), was a Mexican actor, comedian, screenwriter, humorist, director, producer, and author. He is widely regarded as one of the icons of Spanish-speaking humor and entertainment and one of the greatest comedians of all time. He is also one of the most loved and respected comedians in Latin America. He is mostly known by his acting role Chavo from the sitcom El Chavo del Ocho.
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Leeseo
Lee Hyun-seo (Korean: 이현서; born February 21, 2007), known professionally as Leeseo, is a South Korean singer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Ive under Starship Entertainment.
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Georgios Samaras
Georgios Samaras (Greek: Γεώργιος Σαμαράς, pronounced [ˈʝorɣos samaˈras]; born 21 February 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a forward. Samaras started his career at OFI, before moving on to Eredivisie side Heerenveen in 2001. He made his first team debut two years later and after a further three seasons with the club he moved to Premier League club Manchester City for a fee of £6 million in 2006. After Sven-Göran Eriksson took over as manager Samaras fell out of favour with the first team. In January 2008 he was loaned out to Scottish Premier League team Celtic, moving on a permanent basis in the summer. Samaras helped Celtic win Scottish league championships in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014, totalling 74 goals in 249 competitive games. He left the club at the end of his contract in 2014 and returned to the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion, where he featured rarely and had an unsuccessful loan to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. In March 2016, he joined North American Soccer League expansion team Rayo OKC, and when they shut down after one season he signed for Real Zaragoza. He then played for Turkish team Samsunspor before retiring in 2018. Although eligible to play for Australia, because his father Ioannis Samaras was born in Melbourne, Samaras chose to represent his country of birth, Greece. He made his debut in 2006, and became a regular over the next eight years, earning 81 caps and scoring 9 goals. He represented his country at Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup, Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup.
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Erma Bombeck
Erma Louise Bombeck (née Fiste; February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) was an American humorist who achieved great popularity for her newspaper humor column describing suburban home life, syndicated from 1965 to 1996. Fifteen books of her humor have been published; most became bestsellers. Between 1965 and April 17, 1996 – five days before her death – Bombeck wrote over four thousand newspaper columns, using broad and sometimes eloquent humor, chronicling the ordinary life of a Midwestern suburban housewife. By the 1970s, her columns were read semi-weekly by 30 million readers of the nine hundred newspapers in the United States and Canada. Her work stands as a humorous chronicle of middle-class life in America after World War II, among the generation of parents who produced the Baby Boomers.
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James Dean Bradfield
James Dean Bradfield (born 21 February 1969) is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He is known for being the lead vocalist and guitarist for the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. His cousin Sean Moore is also a member.
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Metawin Opas-iamkajorn
Metawin Opas-iamkajorn (Thai: เมธวิน โอภาสเอี่ยมขจร; born 21 February 1999), widely known as Win Metawin (Thai: วิน เมธวิน), is a Thai actor and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2020 with his acting debut in Thai drama 2gether and gained further recognition with his role in F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers. In addition to his work in entertainment, Metawin is a brand ambassador for luxury brands Prada and Tiffany & Co. and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia class of 2023.
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Mirra Alfassa
Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother or La Mère, was a French-Indian spiritual guru, occultist and yoga teacher, and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of equal yogic stature to him and called her by the name "The Mother" or "Shri Maa". Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878 to a bourgeois Sephardi Jewish family from Turkey. In her youth, she traveled to Algeria to practice occultism along with the occultist Max Théon. After returning to Paris, Alfassa guided a group of spiritual seekers. In 1914, she traveled to Pondicherry, India, and met Sri Aurobindo. She identified him as "the dark Asiatic figure" of her visions, and called him Krishna. During this first visit, she helped publish a French version of the periodical Arya, which serialised most of Sri Aurobindo's post-political prose writings. In 1920, after living in Japan for four years, Alfassa returned to Pondicherry where she developed and managed the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In 1943, she started a school in the ashram, and in 1968 she established Auroville, an experimental township dedicated to human unity and evolution. She died in Pondicherry in 1973. A 13-volume biography, Mother's Agenda, written by Satprem (one Alfassa's followers) was published in 1979.
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Abe no Seimei
Abe no Seimei (安倍 晴明; February 21, 921 AD – October 31, 1005) was a Japanese onmyōji, a court official and specialist of Onmyōdō, during the middle of the Heian period. In addition to his prominence in history, he is a legendary figure in Japanese folklore. He has been portrayed in several stories and films. Seimei worked as an onmyōji for emperors and the Heian government, advising on the spiritually correct way to deal with issues. He prayed for the well-being of emperors and the government and advised on various issues. He was also an astrologer and predicted astrological events. He lived a long life of 84 years, free from any major illness, contributing to the popular belief that he had mystical powers. The Seimei Shrine, located in Kyoto, is dedicated to him. The Abeno train station and district in Osaka are named after him, as it is one of the locations where legends place his birth.
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Celia Lovsky
Celia Lovsky (born Cäcilia Josefina Lvovský, February 21, 1897 – October 12, 1979) was an Austrian-American actress. On the original Star Trek she played the Vulcan matriarch T'Pau, and on The Twilight Zone she played the aged daughter of an eternally youthful Hollywood actress.
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Vince Welnick
Vincent Leo Welnick (February 21, 1951 – June 2, 2006) was an American keyboardist and singer-songwriter, best known for playing with the band The Tubes during the 1970s and 1980s and with the Grateful Dead in the 1990s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.
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Bob Rafelson
Robert Jay Rafelson (February 21, 1933 – July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Among his best-known films as a director include those made as part of the company he co-founded, Raybert/BBS Productions, Five Easy Pieces (1970) and The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) as well as acclaimed later films, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) and Mountains of the Moon (1990). Other films he produced as part of BBS include two of the most significant films of the era, Easy Rider (1969) and The Last Picture Show (1971). Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces and The Last Picture Show were all chosen for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. He was also one of the creators of the pop group and TV series The Monkees with BBS partner Bert Schneider. His first wife was the production designer Toby Carr Rafelson.
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Iván Campo
Iván Campo Ramos (born 21 February 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer. Originally a centre-back, he featured in a defensive midfield role in the later years of his career. He played for Real Madrid and four other teams in his country, and is also remembered for his spell in England with Bolton Wanderers. Campo represented Spain in the 1998 World Cup.
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Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca Nurse (née Towne; February 13, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated less than twenty years later. She was the wife of Francis Nurse, and had several children. Rebecca was a well-respected member of the community. She was tried and convicted in the spring and summer of 1692 and executed on July 19. Her married sisters Mary Eastey and Sarah Cloyce were also accused. Mary was convicted and executed, but Sarah managed to survive.
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Carl Czerny
Carl Czerny (; German: [ˈtʃɛʁniː]; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, music educator, and pianist of Czech origin. His music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works and his books of studies for the piano are still widely used in piano teaching. He was one of Ludwig van Beethoven's best-known pupils and would later become one of the main teachers of Franz Liszt.
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Braylon Edwards
Braylon Jamel Edwards (born February 21, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He was a unanimous All-American playing college football for the Michigan Wolverines, winning the Biletnikoff Award in 2004. He is the all-time leader for the University of Michigan in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He was also the first wide receiver in Big Ten Conference history to record three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and only the third to do so in NCAA Division I-A. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the third overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft. He also played in the NFL for the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks.
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Léo Delibes
Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (French: [klemɑ̃ filibɛʁ leo dəlib]; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and operas. His works include the ballets Coppélia (1870) and Sylvia (1876) and the opera Lakmé (1883), which includes the well-known "Flower Duet". Born into a musical family, Delibes enrolled at France's foremost music academy, the Conservatoire de Paris, when he was twelve, studying under several professors including Adolphe Adam. After composing light comic opérettes in the 1850s and 1860s, while also serving as a church organist, Delibes achieved public recognition for his music for the ballet La Source in 1866. His later ballets Coppélia and Sylvia were key works in the development of modern ballet, giving the music much greater importance than previously. He composed a small number of mélodies, some of which are still performed frequently. Delibes had several attempts at writing more serious operas, and achieved a considerable critical and commercial success in 1883 with Lakmé. In his later years he joined the faculty of the Conservatoire, teaching composition. He died at his home in Paris at the age of 54. Coppélia and Sylvia remain core works in the international ballet repertoire, and Lakmé is revived from time to time in opera houses.
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Korechika Anami
Korechika Anami (阿南 惟幾, Anami Korechika; 21 February 1887 – 15 August 1945) was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II who was War Minister during the surrender of Japan.
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Otto Hermann Kahn
Otto Hermann Kahn (February 21, 1867 – March 29, 1934) was a German-born American investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Kahn was a well-known figure, appearing on the cover of Time magazine and was sometimes referred to as the "King of New York". In business, he was best known as a partner at Kuhn, Loeb & Co. who reorganized and consolidated railroads. In his personal life, he was a great patron of the arts, where among things, he served as the chairman of the Metropolitan Opera.
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Leroy Burrell
Leroy Russel Burrell (born February 21, 1967) is an American former track and field athlete, who twice set the world record for the 100 m sprint.
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Bobby Charles
This is an article about the singer-songwriter. For the Maine gubernatorial candidate, see Robert B. Charles Robert Charles Guidry (February 21, 1938 – January 14, 2010), known as Bobby Charles, was an American singer-songwriter.
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Sahle-Work Zewde
Sahle-Work Zewde (Amharic: ሣህለ ወርቅ ዘውዴ; born 21 February 1950) is an Ethiopian diplomat who served as president of Ethiopia from 2018 to 2024, the first woman to hold the office. She was elected as president unanimously by members of the Federal Parliamentary Assembly on 25 October 2018. American business magazine Forbes, on its annual edition of the Forbes list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women, listed Sahle-Work as the 93rd most powerful woman in the world, making her the highest-ranking African woman on the list.
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Joanna la Beltraneja
Joanna of Castile, known as la Beltraneja (28 February 1462 – 12 April 1530), was a claimant to the throne of Castile, and Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Afonso V, her uncle.
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Lucille Bremer
Lucille Bremer (February 21, 1917 – April 16, 1996) was an American film actress and dancer.
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Claudia Jones
Claudia Vera Jones (née Cumberbatch; 21 February 1915 – 24 December 1964) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and activist. As a child, she migrated with her family to the United States, where she became a Communist political activist, feminist and Black nationalist, adopting the name Jones as "self-protective disinformation". Due to the political persecution of Communists in the US, she was deported in 1955 and subsequently lived in the United Kingdom. Upon arriving in the UK, she immediately joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and would remain a member for the rest of her life. In 1958, she founded Britain's first major Black newspaper, the West Indian Gazette (1958-1965), and from 1959 she organised a series of indoor Caribbean carnivals that have been cited as an influence on what became the Notting Hill Carnival, the second-largest annual carnival in the world.
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Michael Slater
Michael Jonathon Slater (born 21 February 1970) is an Australian former professional cricketer and former television presenter. He played in 74 Test matches and 42 One Day Internationals for the Australia national cricket team. He was a part of the Australian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1996 Cricket World Cup.
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Johnny Echols
John Marshall Echols (; born February 21, 1947) is an American songwriter and guitarist, who was a co-founder and the lead guitar player of the psychedelic rock band Love.
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Francis Ronalds
Sir Francis Ronalds (21 February 1788 – 8 August 1873) was an English scientist and inventor, sometimes described as the first electrical engineer. He was knighted for creating the first working electric telegraph over a substantial distance. In 1816 he laid an 8-mile (13 km) length of iron wire between wooden frames in his mother's garden and sent pulses using electrostatic generators. He also created the first electric clock in 1814.
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Ilmari Juutilainen
Eino Ilmari "Illu" Juutilainen (21 February 1914 – 21 February 1999) was a fighter pilot of the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), and the top scoring non-German fighter pilot of all time. The top flying ace of the Finnish Air Force, he led all Finnish pilots in score against Soviet aircraft in World War II (1939–40 and 1941–44), with 94 confirmed aerial combat victories (he himself claimed further kills for a total of 126 victories, but these were unconfirmed) in 437 sorties. He achieved 58 of his victories while flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109G and 34 with a Brewster Buffalo. One of the four double recipients of the Mannerheim Cross 2nd Class, Juutilainen was born in Lieksa, and died in Tuusula. His brother was the Finnish Army Captain Aarne Juutilainen, nicknamed "The Terror of Morocco".
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Donté Greene
Donté Dominic Greene (born February 21, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Syracuse Orange for one year before being selected with the 28th overall pick by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2008 NBA draft.
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Sacha Guitry
Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (French: [gitʁi]; 21 February 1885 – 24 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and followed his father into the theatrical profession. He became known for his stage performances, particularly in boulevardier roles. He was also a prolific playwright, writing 115 plays throughout his career. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered. Probably his best-known wife was Yvonne Printemps to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932. Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have incidental music by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year. The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots. By the time of his death, his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris.
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Charles-Marie Widor
Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the toccata of his fifth organ symphony, which is frequently played as recessional music at weddings and other celebrations. He was the longest-serving organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, a role he held for 63 years (January 1870 – 31 December 1933). He also was organ professor at the Paris Conservatory from 1890 to 1896 (following César Franck) and then he became professor of composition at the same institution, following Théodore Dubois. Widor was a prolific composer, writing music for organ, piano, voice and ensembles. Apart from his ten organ symphonies, he also wrote three symphonies for orchestra and organ, several songs for piano and voice, four operas and a ballet. He was one of the first composers to use the term "symphony" for some of his organ compositions, helped in this by the organs built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
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Raimondo Montecuccoli
Raimondo Montecuccoli (Italian pronunciation: [raiˈmondo monteˈkukkoli]; 21 February 1609 – 16 October 1680) was an Italian-born professional soldier, military theorist, and diplomat, who served the Habsburg monarchy. His military exploits over his five-decade career earned him a reputation as one of the greatest military commanders in history. He is also regarded as the most distinguished military thinker of the early modern period. Experiencing the Thirty Years' War from scratch as a simple footsoldier, he rose through the ranks into a regiment holder and became an important cavalry commander in the late stages. Serving the Habsburgs as war counsellor and envoy, he commanded their troops in the Second Northern War and the Austro-Turkish War of 1663–64 where he scored an impressive victory in the Battle of Saint Gotthard. Afterwards, he became president of the Hofkriegsrat and briefly returned as supreme commander of the Imperial forces during the Franco-Dutch War. Montecuccoli was considered the only commander able to compete with the French general Turenne (1611–1675), and like him, was closely associated with the post-1648 development of linear infantry tactics.
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Kenneth J. Alford
Frederick Joseph Ricketts (21 February 1881 – 15 May 1945) was an English composer of marches for band. Under the pen name Kenneth J. Alford, he composed marches which are considered to be great examples of the art. He was a bandmaster in the British Army, and Royal Marines director of music. Conductor Vivian Dunn called him "The British March King". Alford's frequent use of the saxophone contributed to its permanent inclusion in military bands. His best known work is the "Colonel Bogey March".
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Jake Burns
John "Jake" Burns (born 21 February 1958) is a singer and guitarist, and is best known as the frontman of Stiff Little Fingers, although he has also recorded with Jake Burns and the Big Wheel, 3 Men + Black, and as a solo artist.
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Ron Clarke
Ronald William Clarke (21 February 1937 – 17 June 2015) was an Australian athlete, writer, and the Mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012. He was one of the best-known middle- and long-distance runners in the 1960s, notable for setting seventeen world records.
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Noah Rubin
Noah Rubin (born February 21, 1996) is an American former professional tennis player. He was the Wimbledon junior singles champion in 2014, and a former USTA junior national champion in both singles and doubles. After turning pro in 2015, he won four ATP Challenger titles. Rubin also played college tennis for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the 2014–15 season. Entering the year as the ITA No. 1 ranked college freshman, he finished the season as an All-American and the runner-up in the 2015 NCAA singles championship. Despite only peaking at No. 125 in the world, Rubin became a notable player on the tour for his efforts to advocate for mental health awareness on the ATP Tour and greater pay for lower-ranked professional players. In October 2022, Rubin announced he would retire from tennis and pursue a career as a professional pickleball player. Following limited success on the pickleball tour, he returned to professional tennis in January 2024.
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Eniola Aluko
Eniola "Eni" Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a British-Nigerian football executive, football broadcaster and former professional player, who played as a winger and striker. Aluko has been a broadcaster for live football on ITV, BT Sport, Amazon Prime and Fox Sports in the US, including men's Premier League and Women's Super League matches since 2014. She was the first female footballer to make an appearance on Match of the Day in 2014. She was the first sporting director for Angel City FC of the American National women's soccer league and held the position of sporting director at Aston Villa W.F.C. from January 2020 to June 2021. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Aluko moved to Birmingham in England at 6 months old and made 102 appearances for the England national team from 2004 to 2016. She competed at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China, 2009 UEFA Women's Euro, 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany, 2013 UEFA Women's Euro, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she represented Great Britain for team GB women's football. Aluko played for Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, and Chelsea in England's FA Women's Premier League. She played for Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat, and Sky Blue FC in the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) from 2009 to 2011. After a short stint with Birmingham City in England's new top division, the FA WSL, she signed with Chelsea, where she played from 2012 to 2018. Before retiring in January 2020, Aluko last played for Juventus. Since 2014 she has also provided television commentary on football, including FIFA men's and women's World Cups. In 2023, she joined multi club ownership Mercury/13 group as a founding investor and advisor.
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Harry Stack Sullivan
Herbert "Harry" Stack Sullivan (February 21, 1892 – January 14, 1949) was an American neo-Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who held that "personality can never be isolated from the complex interpersonal relationships in which [a] person lives" and that "[t]he field of psychiatry is the field of interpersonal relations under any and all circumstances in which [such] relations exist". Having studied therapists Sigmund Freud, Adolf Meyer, and William Alanson White, he devoted years of clinical and research work to helping people with psychotic illness.
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Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke
Admiral of the Fleet Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, (21 February 1705 – 17 October 1781) was a Royal Navy officer and politician. As captain of the third-rate HMS Berwick, he took part in the Battle of Toulon in February 1744 during the War of the Austrian Succession. He also captured six ships of a French squadron in the Bay of Biscay in the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in October 1747. Hawke went on to achieve a victory over a French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759 during the Seven Years' War, preventing a French invasion of Britain. He developed the concept of a Western Squadron, keeping an almost continuous blockade of the French coast throughout the war. Hawke also sat in the British House of Commons from 1747 to 1776 and served as First Lord of the Admiralty for five years between 1766 and 1771. In this post, he was successful in bringing the navy's spending under control and also oversaw the mobilisation of the navy during the Falklands Crisis in 1770.
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Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland
Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland KG (21 February 1498 – 24 April 1549), was an English peer and soldier. He was the grandson of Ralph Neville, 3rd Earl of Westmorland, and the father of Henry Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland.
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José María Cano
José María Cano Andrés (born 21 February 1959) is a Spanish visual artist, musician, composer, and record producer. From 1982 to 1998, he was a member and principal composer of the Spanish pop-rock band Mecano. Since 1998, he works primarily in the visual arts.
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Erick Barkley
Erick Barkley (born February 21, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. Born in New York City, raised in the Farragut housing project in Brooklyn, he played high school basketball at Christ the King Regional High School and the Maine Central Institute and college basketball at St. John's University. He was named First Team All-Big East and an All-American honorable mention in 2000. Barkley was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2000, and played for the team for two seasons.
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Arline Judge
Margaret Arline Judge (February 21, 1912 – February 7, 1974) was an American actress and singer who worked mostly in low-budget B movies, but gained some fame for habitually marrying, including two brothers. Judge specialized in playing fairly earthy women of often questionable virtue and was at the peak of her career in her first years in Hollywood, starring in such pre-Code films as The Age of Consent and Sensation Hunters, films often made at poverty row studios. She also played supporting roles in some major releases by the major studios.
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Zdeněk Miler
Zdeněk Miler (Czech pronunciation: [ˈzdɛɲɛk ˈmɪlɛr]; 21 February 1921 – 30 November 2011) was a Czech animator and illustrator best known for his Mole (Krtek or Krteček in original) character and its adventures.
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Peter Gethin
Peter Kenneth Gethin (21 February 1940 – 5 December 2011) was a British racing driver and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One from 1970 to 1974. Gethin won the 1971 Italian Grand Prix with BRM. Born and raised in Surrey, Gethin started his career in sportscar racing, competing in the British Sports Car Championship as a privateer until 1965. He progressed to Formula Three the following year, competing in the French and British Championships before graduating to Formula Two. Gethin won several titles in Formula 5000, prompting McLaren to sign him in 1970 to replace the deceased…
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Tony Martin
Tony Martin (21 February 1942 – 17 January 2013) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born scholar of Africana Studies. From 1973 to 2007 he worked at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and over the course of his career published more than ten books and a range of scholarly articles. Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Martin moved to the United Kingdom, where he studied law at Gray's Inn, London, and then economics at the University of Hull. Relocating to the United States, he completed a PhD on the Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey at Michigan State University in 1973. That…
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Clemence Dane
Winifred Ashton CBE, better known by the pseudonym Clemence Dane (21 February 1888 – 28 March 1965), was an English novelist and playwright.
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Mark Ferguson
Mark Ferguson (born 22 February 1966) is an Australian television news presenter, who currently presents Seven News in Sydney on weeknights. He was previously a senior news presenter with Nine News Sydney.
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Andre Barrett
Andre Rashawd Barrett (born February 21, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Obras Sanitarias of the Liga Nacional de Básquet. He played college basketball for the Seton Hall Pirates.
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Andy Ellis
Andrew Ellis (born 21 February 1984) is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays the position of scrum-half for Rugby New York in Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for the Kobelco Steelers in Japan, the Crusaders in Super Rugby and Canterbury in provincial rugby.
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José Zorrilla
José Zorrilla y Moral (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse θoˈriʎa]) was a Spanish poet and dramatist, who became National Laureate.
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Richard A. Lupoff
Richard Allen Lupoff (February 21, 1935 – October 22, 2020) was an American science-fiction and mystery author, who also wrote humor, satire, nonfiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He was an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and had an equally strong interest in H. P. Lovecraft. He also co-edited the non-fiction anthology All in Color For a Dime (with Don Thompson), which has been described as "the very first published volume dedicated to comic book criticism"; as well as its sequel,…
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Frank Brunner
Frank Brunner (born February 21, 1949) is an American comics artist and illustrator best known for his work at Marvel Comics in the 1970s.
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Heri Joensen
Heri Joensen (Faroese: [ˈheːɹɪ ˈjoːɛnˌsɛn]; born 21 February 1973) is a Faroese musician, notable for being the vocalist for the folk metal band Týr. Heri was born in the Faroe Islands capital of Tórshavn which has had an influence on his song writing. As well as Týr, he has recorded a side project titled Heljareyga.
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Charles Scribner I
Charles Scribner I (February 21, 1821 – August 26, 1871) was an American publisher who, with Isaac D. Baker (1819–1850), founded a publishing company that would eventually become Charles Scribner's Sons.
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Hans Erni
Hans Erni (February 21, 1909 – March 21, 2015) was a Swiss graphic designer, painter, illustrator, engraver and sculptor. Born in Lucerne, the third of eight siblings, to a cabin cruiser engineer, he studied art at the Académie Julian in Paris and later in Berlin, and admired artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. He is known for having illustrated postage stamps, his lithographs for the Swiss Red Cross, his participation on the Olympic Committee as well as his activism. His 1939 works and first major public success was a mural titled Switzerland: "Vacation Land of the People" was…
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Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar
Sir Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (21 February 1894 – 1 January 1955) was an Indian colloid chemist, academic and scientific administrator. The first director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Bhatnagar is revered as the Father of Research Laboratories in India. He was also the first Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). In 1958, to honour his name and legacy, the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) instituted the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for scientists who have made significant contributions in…
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Christina Rees
Christina Rees (born 21 February 1954) is a Welsh politician who served as Member of Parliament for Neath from 2015 to 2024. She is a member of the Labour and Co-operative parties.
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Steve Leo Beleck
Steve Leo Beleck A'Beka (born 10 February 1993) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Beleck began his career at Greek team Panthrakikos, breaking into the first team at age 16. Following a successful second half to the 2009–10 season, Beleck joined Udinese of the Italian Serie A for an undisclosed fee, signing a five-year deal in July 2010. A year later, Beleck returned to Greece, this time joining AEK Athens on a season-long loan. He played regularly, and returned to his parent club at the end of the 2011–12 season. A month after returning to his parent club,…
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Plamen Oresharski
Plamen Vasilev Oresharski (Bulgarian: Пламен Василев Орешарски, born 21 February 1960) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2013 to 2014. Affiliated with the Bulgarian Socialist Party, he previously served as Member of the National Assembly from 2009 to 2013, Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2009 and Deputy Minister of Finance from 1997 to 2001.
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Henrik Dam
Carl Peter Henrik Dam (21 February 1895 – 17 April 1976) was a Danish biochemist and physiologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1943 for joint work with Edward Doisy in discovering vitamin K and its role in human physiology. Dam's key experiment involved feeding a cholesterol-free diet to chickens. He initially replicated experiments reported by scientists at the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC). McFarlane, Graham and Richardson, working on the chick feed program at OAC, had used chloroform to remove all fat from chick chow. They noticed that chicks fed only fat-depleted…
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Tsuyoshi Wada
Tsuyoshi Wada (和田 毅, Wada Tsuyoshi; born February 21, 1981) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) from 2003 to 2011, and 2016 to 2024 for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He also played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2014 to 2015 for the Chicago Cubs. Wada pitched in the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2006 World Baseball Classic for the Japanese national team. He set a Tokyo Big6 Baseball League record with 476 strikeouts during his college career at Waseda University and was the Pacific League Most Valuable…
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Goscombe John
Sir William Goscombe John (21 February 1860 – 15 December 1952) was a Welsh sculptor known for his many public memorials. As a sculptor, John developed a distinctive style of his own while respecting classical traditions and forms of sculpture. He gained national attention with statues of eminent Victorians in London and Cardiff and subsequently, after both the Second Boer War and World War I, created a large number of war memorials. These included the two large group works, The Response 1914 in Newcastle upon Tyne and the Port Sunlight War Memorial which are considered the finest sculptural…
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Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'
Suryakant Tripathi (21 February 1899 – 15 October 1961) was an Indian poet, writer, composer, and sketch artist who wrote in Hindi. He is considered one of the four major pillars of the Chhayavad period in Hindi literature. He is renowned with the epithet Mahāprāṇ and his pen name Nirālā. He possessed a mastery of traditional poetic meters, with many of his compositions adhering to these forms. Additionally, he revolutionised Hindi poetry by pioneering the use of free verse, becoming the first Hindi poet to do so. He demonstrated to readers that poetry could retain its poetic essence and…
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Maurice Bembridge
Maurice Bembridge (21 February 1945 – 2 March 2024) was an English professional golfer. Early in his career he had some success on the British PGA, winning the 1969 News of the World Match Play and the 1971 Dunlop Masters. He would go on to win six times on the British PGA's successor circuit, the European Tour. He also had some success overseas, winning the New Zealand Golf Circuit's Caltex Tournament in 1970 and the Kenya Open three times. Late in his career, Bembridge had some success on the European Senior Tour, winning twice.
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John Haden Badley
John Haden Badley (21 February 1865 – 6 March 1967) was an English author, educator, and founder of Bedales School, which claims to have become the first coeducational boarding public school in England in 1893.
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Jeanne Aubert
Jeanne Aubert (born Jeanne Perrinot; 21 February 1900 – 6 March 1988) was a French singer and actress.
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Arthur Nock
Arthur Darby Nock (21 February 1902 – 11 January 1963) was an English classicist and theologian, regarded as a leading scholar in the history of religion. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1930 until his death.
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Brad Fast
Bradley M. Fast (born February 21, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He spent his amateur career in the British Columbia Hockey League, and was selected in the third round of the 1999 NHL entry draft, 84th overall, by the Carolina Hurricanes. He played in one NHL game for the Hurricanes, scoring a goal, before embarking on a European career.
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Pierre Fulke
Pierre Olof Fulke (born 21 February 1971) is a Swedish professional golfer who played on the European Tour.
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Mattias Tedenby
Mattias Tedenby (born February 21, 1990) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).
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Sethus Calvisius
Sethus Calvisius or Setho Calvisio, originally Seth Kalwitz (21 February 1556 – 24 November 1615), was a German music theorist, composer, chronologer, astronomer, and teacher of the late Renaissance.
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Dorothy Blum
Dorothy Toplitzky Blum (February 21, 1924 – October 1, 1980) was an American computer scientist and cryptanalyst. She worked for the National Security Agency and its predecessors from 1944 until her death in 1980.
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Tang Haochen
Tang Haochen (Chinese: 唐好辰; pinyin: Táng Hǎochén; Mandarin pronunciation: [tʰǎŋ xàʊ ʈʂʰə̌n]; born 21 February 1994) is a former tennis player from China. Tang has won two singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 15 December 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 371. On 15 July 2013, she peaked at No. 211 in the doubles rankings. Playing for China Fed Cup team, Tang has accumulated a win–loss record of 7–7. She qualified for a place in the main draw of the singles event for the 2014 Australian Open when she won the Asia-Pacific Australian Open Wildcard Playoff,…
Who's birthday is it today? — FAQ
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