Francis Tarkenton (February 3, 1940) is an American former football player. He was the quarterback for the University of Georgia and then played for 18 seasons with the NFL with most of his time with the Minnesota Vikings although he spent four years with the New York Giants as well. After retiring from the sport, he became a commentator for Monday Night Football and co-hosted That’s Incredible! He also is a businessman, owning a software firm and an author with several books to his credit.
Johnston McCulley (February 2, 1883 – November 23, 1858) was an American author. He wrote hundreds of stories, fifty novels, many screenplays for the movies and TV and is best known for the creation of Zorro. He wrote under several pseudonyms while working as a police reporter for The Police Gazette. He began writing for the pulp magazines after WWI. Zorro was “born” in 1919 and is a dashing Robin Hood figure, defending the commoners and indigenous people of California. He outwits officials while saving the downtrodden, leaving behind his trademark signature, a Z written by the tip of his rapier.
Edward Coke (February 1, 1552 – September 3, 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He was considered to be one of the greatest jurists of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and left there to study at the Inner Temple (one of the four Inns of Court or professional associations for barristers and judges in London). He served as the first Solicitor General and as Speaker of the House of Commons. He was then appointed as Attorney General and prosecuted several of the famous cases of the time including the Gunpowder Plot. He was knighted and made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. His judicial acumen influenced the drafters of the US Constitution’s amendments.
Tokugawa Ieyasu (January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder of the first (and last) Japanese shogunate. He seized power of all Japan in 1600 after the Battle of Sekigahara and the Tokugawa Shogunate retained that power until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. His father was a daimyo, a feudal lord, and eventually the son would fight off all other daimyo, consolidate his power base and rule the country for more than two hundred years.
Douglas Carl Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor. He is best known for work with human/computer interaction. While working at his Augmentation Research Center Lab at SRI International, he made all our lives easier. He invented a way to interact with our computers in a more natural way. He invented the mouse, or as he called it, an X-Y position indicator for a display system.
Photo by Michael Hicks from Saint Paul, MN, USA – img_7820, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32789322
Thomas Paine (January 29, 1736 – June 8, 1809) was a philosopher and political activist. He was born in England and had a series of jobs, many of which he quit under questionable circumstances. He tried his hand at business and failed. In early summer of 1774, he moved to London after barely avoiding debtors’ prison. In London, he met Benjamin Franklin who convinced Paine to emigrate to the American colonies, which he did in November 1774. Already a political activist, he continued with his writing Common Sense, a pamphlet which has garnered its author a claim to the title The Father of the American Revolution.
Photo by User: (WT-shared) Shaund at wts wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22906680
Frank Skinner (January 28, 1957) [born Christopher Graham Collins] is an English writer, comedian, actor, and TV and radio presenter. He received the Best Comedy Entertainment Personality award in 2001. He adopted his stage name when he joined the actors’ union, Equity, because there was already a singer called Chris Collins. The name came from his father’s dominoes team. After years of unemployment, he tried stand-up it 1987. It paid off and his career took off from there.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was an Austrian composer of the classical era. He was a prodigy, excelling at keyboard and violin. He composed and performed from the age of five, even for royalty. He moved to Vienna in 1781 where he achieved fame, but not fortune. He died at the young age of 35 and even on his deathbed, attempted to finish his work in progress. He managed to complete over 600 pieces that continue to entertain audiences to this day. His cause of death remains a mystery, much speculated by scholars of today.
Photo by Peter Matthews from New York City, United States – Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, conducted by Michael Tilson-Thomas, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77389451
Douglas MacArthur (January 26, 1880 – April 5, 1964) was an American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s. He played a pivotal role in the Pacific theater during WWII and received the Medal of Honor for his service during the Philippine Campaign. He and his father were the first father/son team to win this honor. MacArthur was one of only five men to be designated as General of the Army.
Photo by Christopher Seloterio – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21228776
Edwin Newman (January 25, 1919 – August 13, 2010) was an American newscaster, journalist, and author, as well as a lover of the English language. He began his broadcasting career in radio working with CBS News and then moved to NBC for the rest of his career spanning 23 years (1961 – 1984). He made regular appearances on the Today show and Meet the Press. His first book was titled Strictly Speaking: Will American be the Death of English?
