Explore 1392 historical events from 1940–1949.
Peter Bradford Benchley was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel Jaws and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were…
Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (died 2006)
Irwin Cotler is a retired Canadian politician who was Member of Parliament for Mount Royal from 1999 to 2015. He served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada fr…
Irwin Cotler, Canadian lawyer and politician, 47th Canadian Minister of Justice
Angela Olive Pearce, who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realist, and pic…
Angela Carter, English novelist and short story writer (died 1992)
Emilio Ernest Delgado was an American actor best known for his role as Luis, the Fix-it Shop owner, on the children's television series Sesame Street. He joined the cast of Sesame …
Emilio Delgado, Mexican-American actor (died 2022)
Eric Hilliard "Ricky" or “Rick” Nelson was an American musician and actor. From age eight, he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series The Adventures of Ozzi…
Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 1985)
Cathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille is an American singer-songwriter and keyboardist. A contralto, she is best known as one-half of the 1970s duo Captain & Tennille with her former …
Toni Tennille, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
William Bryan Jordan Jr. was an American art historian who facilitated acquisitions, curated exhibitions, and authored publications on Spanish artists and still life paintings, par…
William B
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter, and the founder of Gracie Films. He co-created the sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and The Simpso…
James L
Arthur Alexander was an American country-soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely u…
Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (died 1993)
Norman Jesse Whitfield was an American songwriter, composer, and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during the 1960s. He has been credited as one of the creators…
Norman Whitfield, American songwriter and producer (died 2008)
Charles Bruce Chatwin was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, In Patagonia (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered him…
Bruce Chatwin, English author (died 1989)
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones,, known as H. Jones, was a British Army officer and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC). He was awarded the VC after being killed in ac…
H
Lainie Kazan is an American actress, singer and classical composer. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere…
Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
Roger Eugene Ailes was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a medi…
Roger Ailes, American businessman (died 2017)
Donald Arvid Nelson is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is second all-time in regular season wins of any coach in NBA history, with 1,335. H…
Don Nelson, American basketball player and coach
Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist who pioneered work on object-oriented programming and windowing graphical user interface (GUI) design. At Xerox PARC he led the de…
Alan Kay, American computer scientist and academic
Reynato Serrano Puno, KGCR is a Filipino jurist. He served as the 22nd chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from December 8, 2006, by President Gloria Macapagal Ar…
Reynato Puno, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 22nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Erico Boyles Aumentado was a former governor, vice governor, and senior provincial board member of Bohol, and congressman and deputy speaker of the Philippine House of Representati…
Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (died 2012)
Johannes Adrianus "Jan" Janssen is a Dutch former professional cyclist. He was world champion and winner of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, the first Dutch rider to win…
Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
Milton Sims "Mickey" Newbury Jr. was an American singer-songwriter. He is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Mickey Newbury, American country/pop singer-songwriter (died 2002)
Frederick Earl "Shorty" Long was an American soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer for Motown's Soul Records imprint. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of…
Shorty Long, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 1969)
Stanley Mikita was a Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 2017, …
Stan Mikita, Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (died 2018)
Sadaharu Oh, also known as Wang Chen-chih, is a Chinese-Japanese former professional baseball player and manager who is currently the chairman of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nipp…
Sadaharu Oh, Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager
Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity, known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as a…
Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)