Explore 4728 historical events from 1940–1949.
Robin Douglas Leach was a British-American entertainment reporter and writer from London. After beginning his career as a print journalist, first in Britain and then in the United …
Robin Leach, English journalist and television host (died 2018)
Benjamin Lewis Jones was an American actor, writer, politician, and businessman best known for his role as Cooter Davenport in The Dukes of Hazzard. Jones also served for four year…
Ben Jones, American actor and politician (died 2026)
William Orville DeWitt Jr. is an American businessman who is currently the principal owner, managing partner and chairman of the St. Louis Cardinals, a professional baseball franch…
William DeWitt, Jr., American businessman
John Robert Thompson Jr. was an American professional basketball player and college basketball coach for the Georgetown Hoyas men's team. He became the first African-American head …
John Thompson, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2020)
Sergei Donatovich Dovlatov was a Soviet journalist and writer. Internationally, he is one of the most popular Russian writers of the late 20th century.
Sergei Dovlatov, Russian-American journalist and author (died 1990)
Marilena de Souza Chaui is a Brazilian philosopher and Professor of Modern Philosophy in the University of São Paulo. She is a scholar of Baruch Spinoza and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. …
Marilena de Souza Chaui, Brazilian philosopher and academic
Kenneth Smith Harrelson, nicknamed "the Hawk" due to his distinctive profile, is an American former professional baseball player and television announcer. He played in Major League…
Ken Harrelson, American baseball player and sportscaster
Ramesh Kumar Sethi is a former Kenyan cricketer who represented East Africa in one first-class match and three One-Day Internationals in the 1975 World Cup.
Ramesh Sethi, Kenyan cricketer and coach
Roger Law is a British caricaturist, ceramicist and one half of Luck and Flaw, creators of the popular satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image.
Roger Law, English illustrator
Dame Monica Margaret Mason is a former ballet dancer, teacher, and director of The Royal Ballet. In more than a half-century with the company, she established a reputation as a ver…
Monica Mason, South African ballerina and director
Bernard Sanders is an American politician and activist serving as the senior United States senator from Vermont, a seat he has held since 2007. He is the longest-serving independen…
Bernie Sanders, American politician
Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde is an Indian former police officer and politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan …
Sushilkumar Shinde, Indian lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of Andhra Pradesh
David Murray Dryden was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, who created and first used the modern goaltending mask, consisting of fibreglass and a cage. From 1962 to 198…
Dave Dryden, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2022)
Syed Abid Ali was an all-rounder Indian cricketer who was a lower-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler. He played an important role in Indian cricket in the 1960s and '70s.
Syed Abid Ali, Indian cricketer
Otis Ray Redding Jr. was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul musi…
Otis Redding, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 1967)
Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie was an American computer scientist. He created, together with long-time colleague Ken Thompson, the Unix operating system, C programming language, and B …
Dennis Ritchie, American computer scientist, created the C programming language (died 2011)
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, historian of science, and one of the most widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould …
Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and author (died 2002)
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood was an English conductor, harpsichordist, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority o…
Christopher Hogwood, English harpsichord player and conductor, founded the Academy of Ancient Music (died 2014)
Minnijean Brown-Trickey is an American political figure who was a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of nine African American teenagers who integrated Little Rock Central High…
Minnijean Brown-Trickey, Civil Rights activist and Little Rock Nine member
Tadao Ando is a Japanese architect. Self-taught, he is known for his unique integration of architecture and landscape. Architectural historian Francesco Dal Co described his work …
Tadao Ando, Japanese architect and academic, designed Piccadilly Gardens
David Clayton-Thomas was a British-Canadian musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears.
David Clayton-Thomas, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2026)
Ahmet Necdet Sezer is a Turkish statesman and judge who served as the president of Turkey from 2000 to 2007. Previously, he was president of the Constitutional Court of Turkey from…
Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish judge and politician, 10th President of the Republic of Turkey
Gunpei Yokoi , sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and video game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known as the original desig…
Gunpei Yokoi, Japanese video game designer, invented Game Boy (died 1997)
Bruce Hyde was an American educator and actor. He was professor of communication studies at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. His academic work mainly focused on ontology, s…
Bruce Hyde, American actor and academic (died 2015)