Bob Hope
(b. 29 May 1903)
Comedian, born in London and moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents to the USA in 1907. After some years on the stage as a dancer and comedian, he made his first film appearance in The Big Broadcast of 1938 singing Thanks for the Memory, which became his signature tune. In partnership with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, he appeared in the highly successful Road to ... comedies (1940--52), and in many others until the early 1970s. During World War 2 and the Korean and Vietnam Wars he spent much time entertaining the troops in the field. For these activities and for his continued contributions to the industry he was given a special Academy Award on five occasions.

Ronald Reagan
(b. 6 Feb 1911)
Actor and politician. President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and 1959-1960. Elected governor of California in 1966 and re-elected in 1970. 40th president of the United States (1981-1989). Survived assassination attempt some two months into his first term as President.

Pope John Paul II
(b. 18 May 1920)
Karol Wojtyla was elected pope on 16 October 1978, becoming the Catholic Church's first non-Italian pontiff in over 450 years and history's first Slavic pope. He took the name John Paul II, a nod to his predecessor, John Paul I , whose term lasted only one month. John Paul II became known particularly for his globetrotting ways and for increasing the international presence of the papacy; by the year 2000 he had visited more than 100 countries worldwide.

Stephen Hawking
(b. 8 Jan 1942)
Theoretical physicist, born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, SC England, UK. He studied at Oxford, then spent his career in Cambridge, holding a chair there from 1977. His work has been concerned with cosmology in a variety of aspects, dealing with black holes, singularities, and the "big bang' theory of the origin of the universe. His popular writing is also notable, especially A Brief History of Time (1988). The achievement is all the more noteworthy because since the 1960s he has suffered from a neuromotor disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, causing extreme physical disability; he communicates with the aid of a computer.

Allen Iverson
(b. 7 June 1975)
Basketball player. Allen Iverson is one of the NBA's most exciting players, and one of the best basketball players in the world. He has won the MVP regular season award, the All-Star MVP, the Rookie of the Year award, and two scoring championships.

John Wooden
(b. 14 Oct 1910)
Basketball coach; born in Martinsville, Ind. He was a three-time All-American guard on Purdue University's basketball teams (1930--32). During his career as coach at the University of California: Los Angeles (1948--75), his teams won a record ten National Collegiate Athletic Association championships, seven of them consecutively (1967--73). He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 1977 an annual award was established in his name to honor the outstanding college basketball player-student of the year.

Chuck Berry
(b. 18 Oct 1926)
Singer, musician, and composer. Chuck Berry is considered among the most influential figures in the development of rock and roll music. He was discovered in Chicago in 1955 when he sat in on a recording session with the legendary blues singer, Muddy Waters. Waters introduced Berry to Chess Records magnate Leonard Chess, who offered Berry a contract. Berry's first recording, Maybelline, was an instant hit. Berry's career knew one of its better years in 1958, when Sweet Little Sixteen, Johnny B. Goode, Reelin' and Rockin', Around and Around, Beautiful Delilah, and several other songs made the top 100 chart in the United States.

Stan Lee
(b. 28 Dec 1922)
Singer, musician, and composer. Chuck Berry is considered among the most influential figures in the development of rock and roll music. He was discovered in Chicago in 1955 when he sat in on a recording session with the legendary blues singer, Muddy Waters. Waters introduced Berry to Chess Records magnate Leonard Chess, who offered Berry a contract. Berry's first recording, Maybelline, was an instant hit. Berry's career knew one of its better years in 1958, when Sweet Little Sixteen, Johnny B. Goode, Reelin' and Rockin', Around and Around, Beautiful Delilah, and several other songs made the top 100 chart in the United States.

Pervez Musharraf
(b. 11 Aug 1943)
General Pervez Musharraf, the second of three brothers was born in Dehli on August 11,1943. Rose to the rank of General on October 7, 1998 and was appointed Chief of the Army Staff. He was given additional charge of Chairman Joint Chiefs Staff Committee on April 9, 1999. Since October 12, 1999, when the military took over the government in Pakistan, he has been performing duties as the Chief Executive of the country. Assumed the office of President of Pakistan for an indefinite period on June 20, 2001.

Hamid Karzai
(b. 24 Dec 1957)
Afghan politician, was elected interim president in a landslide during June 2002 loya jirga, or grand council, of 1,500 delegates. He'll serve until general elections in 2004. He promptly assembled a cabinet, selecting representatives from Afghanistan's many ethnic groups. Karzai's enormous popularity in the West led to the infusion of both financial assistance and troops to the war-ravaged country. However, his grasp on power within the country remains somewhat tenuous, with warlords maintaining tight regional control. He narrowly averted an assassination attempt in September 2002.

George Mikan
(b. 18 June 1924)
Basketball player; born in Joliet, Ill. He was a three-time All-American at DePaul University (1944--46) before playing center for the Minneapolis Lakers (1948--56), where he averaged 22.6 points per game over nine years. One of the National Basketball Association's first superstars, he led the Lakers to five titles in six years and was instrumental in establishing professional basketball in the U.S.A. In 1967 he became the first commissioner of the American Basketball Association. He was voted "the greatest player in the first half-century" by the Associated Press and was elected to basketball's Hall of Fame in 1959.

Justin Timberlake
(b. 31 Jan 1981)
Timberlake rose to fame in the late 90s as a member of vocal group 'N Sync, with whom he enjoyed a string of bestselling singles and albums. Timberlake became the most prominent member of the group owing to his personal relationship with Britney Spears, although by the time he launched his solo career in late 2002 the celebrity couple had endured a very public split.

Queen Elizabeth II
(b. 21 Apr 1926)
Queen of the United Kingdom and head of the Commonwealth, born in London, England on April 21, 1926, the first child of The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, she became Princess Elizabeth in 1936 when her father succeeded to the throne. On November 20, 1947, Princess Elizabeth married Lt. Philip Mountbatten, who became His Royal Highness the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Her coronation took place on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey. In June 2002, England celebrated Elizabeth's 50 years on the throne with a Golden Jubilee celebration.

Ernie Banks
(b. 31 Jan 1931)
Baseball hall of famer. Ernie Banks delighted Wrigley Field fans with his long home runs, steady fielding and cheerful disposition. "Mr. Cub" belted 512 home runs, five times hitting over 40 in a single season. After smashing a record five grand slams in 1955, he belted 47 round-trippers in 1958, the most ever by a National League shortstop. He also became the first National Leaguer to win the MVP Award in consecutive years (1958 to 1959). Banks' love for the game is still exemplified by his signature phrase, "Let's play two!"

Keith Richards
(b. 18 Dec 1943)
Famed blues/rock guitarist Keith Richards was born on December 18, 1943 in Dartford, England and began playing in bands as a teenager. In 1962 he formed the Rolling Stones with childhood friend Mick Jagger, launching the "World's Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Band." During his long career with the Stones, Richards remained a critical part of the group, writing many songs and giving the group its distinct sound with his blues-tuned guitar, often played with only five strings.

Courtney Love
(b. 9 July 1964)
Daughter of well-known therapist, Linda Carroll and publisher Hank Harrison. She started the band Hole in 1989 and married Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana three years later. When Cobain committed suicide in 1994, Love was left to take care of their one daughter, Frances Bean, alone. Both her acting and musical careers have taken off since that time. Live Through This, Hole's second album, went platinum soon after Cobain's death and she has since appeared in numerous films including Feeling Minnesota (1996), Basquiat (1996), People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), for which Love was nominated for a Golden Globe, and Man on the Moon (1999).

Hunter S. Thompson
(b. 18 July 1936)
Journalist, writer, editor. Born July 18, 1936 in Louisville, Kentucky. Thompson is best known as a proponent of "new journalism", a form of writing that engages the subjectivity of its author and often includes fictional elements to dramatize real occurences. Thompson produced a stream of outrageous books, including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), which was made into a film starring Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro in 1998; and Generations of Swine (1988). At the end of the 1980s he contributed a weekly column to the San Francisco Examiner.

Bob St. Clair
(b. 18 Feb 1931)
Football player. Born in San Francisco in 1931. Selected 3rd overall in 1953 NFL draft. Started in five Pro Bowls during Hall of Fame career with the San Francisco 49ers.

Monte Irvin
(b. 25 Feb 1919)
Baseball player. One of the finest African-American players in the years preceding integration, Monte Irvin fashioned a career of dual excellence in both the Negro leagues and the major leagues. A high-average hitter with some power, he provided the most potent bat in a Newark Eagles lineup that also included legends Willie Wells, Biz Mackey, and Mule Suttles. The well-spoken and dignified Irvin crossed the color line in 1949 and was a key contributor to two Giants pennant-winners, batting .458 in the 1951 World Series.

Otto Graham
(b. 6 Dec 1921)
Football player; born in Waukegan, Ill. A tailback at Northwestern, he switched to T-quarterback as a professional. In a career that lasted only ten years, he was named all-league nine times. He led the Cleveland Browns to four straight All-America Football Conference championships (1946--49) and three National Football League titles (1950, 1954--55). A smooth ball-handler and determined leader, he was his league's top passer six times.

Eminem
(b. 17 Oct 1972)
Rapper and actor. Marshal Mathers III (aka Eminem) came out of left field to dominate the rap music scene before making the inevitable transition into film in the semi-autobiographical drama 8 Mile. 2000's The Marshal Mathers LP was the first rap album ever to be nominated for Album of the Year honors at that year's Grammys.

Bob Feller
(b. 3 Nov 1918)
Baseball pitcher; born in Van Meter, Iowa. One of the fastest throwing pitchers in baseball history, the right-hander won 266 games and pitched three no-hitters in 18 seasons with the Cleveland Indians (1936--56); during 1942--44, he served in the U.S. Navy. Nicknamed "Rapid Robert," he was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in 1962.

Stan Musial
(b. 21 Nov 1920)
Baseball player; born in Donora, Pa. During his 22-year career as a first baseman/outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals (1941--63), he posted a lifetime batting average of .331, hit 475 home runs, and won the league Most Valuable Player award three times (1943, 1946, 1948). Nicknamed "Stan the Man," he was one of baseball's greatest and most consistent players. On retiring he served as general manager, then senior vice-president of the St. Louis Cardinals and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.

Elie Wiesel
(b. 30 Sept 1928)
Writer; born in Sighet, Romania. When he was 16, the Jews of his town were taken to Nazi concentration camps. The rest of his family died at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, but he managed to survive. He settled in the U.S.A. in 1956. His life was devoted to writing and speaking about the Holocaust, with the aim of making sure that it is never forgotten; he was one of the principal forces behind establishing the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. His first novel, Night (1956) is based on his experiences in the death camps. Other novels include Dawn (1961) and Jews of Silence (1967). In 1986 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a "messenger to mankind."

Ray Charles
(b. 23 Sept 1930)
Singer, pianist, composer; born in Albany, Ga. He lost his sight (from glaucoma) when he was six and attended a school for the blind where he learned to read and write music in braille and play piano and organ. He left school and began playing music to earn a living, moving to Seattle, Wash., in 1947. After some hits on Swing Time Records, he switched to Atlantic Records in 1952 and began to develop a rougher blues and gospel style. He recorded I've Got a Woman in 1955 with an arrangement of horns, gospel-style piano, and impassioned vocals that led to the gospel-pop and soul music of the 1960s and to his hit What'd I Say (1959).