December 24 - Births

Births

• 3 BC – Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
• 1166 – King John of England (d. 1216)
• 1389 – John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)
• 1475 – Thomas Murner, German writer (d. c. 1537)
• 1508 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)
• 1588 – Constance of Austria, queen of Poland (d. 1631)
• 1609 – Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (d. 1683)
• 1635 – Mariana of Austria, second wife of king Philip IV of Spain (d. 1696)
• 1698 – William Warburton, English Bishop of Gloucester (d. 1779)
• 1724 – Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (d. 1811)
• 1745 – Benjamin Rush, doctor and Founding Father of the United States (d. 1813)
• 1754 – George Crabbe, British poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
• 1761 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831)
• 1784 – Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1803)
• 1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)
• 1809 – Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)
• 1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter (d. 1873)
• 1812 – Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal, German jurist (d. 1894)
• 1818 – James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)
• 1822 – Matthew Arnold, British poet (d. 1888)
• 1837 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)
• 1843 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (d. 1886)
• 1845 – King George I of Greece (d. 1913)
• 1867 – Kantarō Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
• 1868 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
• 1879 – Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Consort to Christian X (d. 1952)
• 1879 – Émile Nelligan, Quebec poet (d. 1941)
• 1880 – Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children's book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann (d. 1939)
• 1881 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
• 1886 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (d. 1962)
• 1887 – Louis Jouvet, French actor and producer (d. 1951)
• 1893 – Harry Warren, American composer and lyricist (Chattanooga Choo Choo – I Only Have Eyes for You) (d. 1981)
• 1893 – Ruth Chatterton, American actress (d. 1961)
• 1894 – Georges Guynemer, French aviator (d. 1917)
• 1895 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier (d. 1978)
• 1896 – Jens Oliver Lisberg, Faroese law student, designer of the Flag of the Faroe Islands (d. 1920)
• 1898 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1967)
• 1898 – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (d. 1959)
• 1900 – Joey Smallwood, Canadian politician, Premier of Newfoundland (d. 1991)
• 1903 – Ava Helen Pauling, American human rights activist (d. 1981)
• 1904 – Joseph Moses Juran, American industrial engineer and philanthropist (d. 2008)
• 1905 – Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)
• 1906 – Franz Waxman, German film composer (d. 1967)
• 1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist (d. 1989)
• 1910 – Fritz Leiber, American writer (d. 1992)
• 1910 – Max Miedinger, typeface designer, famous for creating Helvetica in 1957. (d. 1980)
• 1914 – Ralph Marterie, American trumpet player and big band leader (d. 1978)
• 1914 – Herbert Reinecker, German writer (d. 2007)
• 1920 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
• 1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)
• 1923 – George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)
• 1923 – Michael DiBiase, American wrestler (d. 1969)
• 1924 – Lee Dorsey, American singer (d. 1986)
• 1924 – Grigory Kriss, Russian Olympic champion fencer
• 1924 – Mohammed Rafi, Indian actor and playback singer (d. 1980)
• 1926 – Paul Buissonneau, French-born Quebec theatre director
• 1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, American author
• 1930 – Robert Joffrey, American choreographer (d. 1988)
• 1931 – Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (d. 2008)
• 1931 – Ray Bryant, American jazz pianist and composer
• 1932 – On Kawara, Japanese conceptual artist
• 1934 – Stjepan Mesić, president of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement and president ofCroatia
• 1937 – Félix Miéli Venerando, Brazilian football player
• 1938 – Bobby Henrich, American baseball player
• 1938 – Valentim Loureiro, Portuguese politician, and former football chairman of Boavista F.C. and Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional
• 1941 – John Levene, British actor
• 1943 – Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
• 1944 – Daniel Johnson, Jr., Quebec politician, Premier of Quebec
• 1944 – Mike Curb, American musician, record company executive and politician
• 1944 – Oswald Gracias, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bombay
• 1944 – Barry Chuckle, British comedian
• 1945 – Lemmy, British singer, bassist (Motörhead)
• 1945 – Nicholas Meyer, American author
• 1945 – Steve Smith, Canadian Comedian, The New Red Green Show, Duct Tape Forever
• 1946 – Brenda Howard, American bisexual activist (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Jeff Sessions, American politician
• 1947 – Kevin Sheedy, coach of Australian Football League club Essendon FC
• 1948 – Frank Oliver, New Zealand rugby player
• 1949 – Randy Neugebauer, American politician
• 1949 – Warwick Brown, Australian racing driver
• 1950 – Dana Gioia, American poet
• 1951 – John D'Acquisto, baseball player
• 1952 – Christopher Buckley, American author and political commentator
• 1953 – François Loos, French politician
• 1954 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician
• 1955 – Grand L. Bush, American actor
• 1955 – Clarence Gilyard, American actor
• 1957 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
• 1957 – Diane Tell, Quebec singer
• 1958 – Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese drummer (d. 2008)
• 1958 – Paul Pressey, American basketball player
• 1958 – Gene Sperling, American economist and government official
• 1959 – Keith Deller, British darts player
• 1959 – Anil Kapoor, Indian actor
• 1960 – Glenn McQueen, American animator (d. 2002)
• 1960 – Carol Vorderman, British television presenter
• 1961 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
• 1961 – Jay Wright, American basketball coach
• 1963 – Jay Bilas, American basketball analyst
• 1963 – Mary Ramsey, American singer (10,000 Maniacs)
• 1963 – Caroline Aherne, British comedienne, writer and actress
• 1964 – Mark Valley, American actor
• 1965 – Millard Powers, American musician, songwriter, record producer, grammy nominated recording engineer, and member of Counting Crows.
• 1966 – Diedrich Bader, American actor
• 1967 – Mikhail Shchennikov, Russian race walker
• 1968 – Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model (d. 2008)
• 1968 – Doyle Bramhall II, American guitarist
• 1968 – Marleen Renders, Belgian athlete
• 1969 – Brad Anderson, American professional wrestler
• 1969 – Mark Millar, Scottish comic book writer
• 1969 – Sean Michael, South African actor
• 1969 – Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party
• 1970 – Amaury Nolasco, American actor
• 1970 – Will Oldham, American singer and songwriter
• 1971 – Giorgos Alkaios, Greek singer
• 1971 – Christopher Daniels, American professional wrestler
• 1971 – Sascha Fischer, German rugby player
• 1971 – Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer
• 1971 – Oro, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 1993)
• 1972 – Alvaro Mesen, Costa Rican footballer
• 1972 – Klaus Schnellenkamp, German-Chilean author
• 1973 – Eddie Pope, American soccer player
• 1974 – Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
• 1974 – Ryan Seacrest, American television host
• 1974 – Thure Lindhardt, Danish actor
• 1976 – Yuri Korean singer
• 1978 – Yıldıray Baştürk, Turkish footballer
• 1978 – Carlson Twins, Kyle and Lane Carlson, American fashion models
• 1978 – Warren Tredrea, Australian rules footballer
• 1978 – Tonedeff, American rapper
• 1979 – Chris Hero, American professional wrestler
• 1980 – Tomas Kalnoky, Czech musician (Streetlight Manifesto)
• 1981 – Shane Tuck, Australian rules footballer
• 1981 – Dima Bilan, Karachay-Russian pop artist
• 1982 – Aiba Masaki, Japanese singer and actor
• 1982 – Robert Carmine, American singer
• 1983 – Ansver Oksman, Finnish visual artist
• 1985 – Alexey Dmitriev, German ice hockey player
• 1985 – David Ragan, American race car driver
• 1986 – Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007 from Japan
• 1986 – Kyrylo Fesenko, Ukrainian basketball player
• 1987 – Jane Summersett, American ice dancer
• 1992 – Melissa Suffield, English actress
• 2000 – Ethan Bortnick, child musician