Elizabeth I of England (1533 - 1603)

Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard. She was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. At birth, Elizabeth was the heiress presumptive to the throne of England. […]

James IV of Scotland (1473 - 1513)

James was the son of James III and Margaret of Denmark, probably born in Stirling Castle. As heir apparent to the Scottish crown, he became Duke of Rothesay. In 1474, his father arranged his betrothal to Princess Cecily of England. His father was not a popular king and faced two major rebellions during his reign. […]

James III of Scotland (1451 - 1488)

James was born to James II of Scotland and Mary of Guelders. His exact date and place of birth have been a matter of debate. Claims were made that he was born in May 1452, or 10 or 20 July 1451. The place of birth was either Stirling Castle or the Castle of St Andrews, […]

James II of Scotland (1430 - 1460)

James I was assassinated on 21 February 1437. The Queen, although hurt, managed to get to her six-year-old son, who was now king. On 25 March 1437, the six-year-old was formally crowned King of Scots at Holyrood Abbey. The Parliament of Scotland revoked alienations of crown property and prohibited them, without the consent of the […]

Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster (1350 - 1403)

Katherine was the daughter of Paon de Roet, a herald, and later knight, who was “probably christened as Gilles”. She had two sisters, Philippa and Isabel (also called Elizabeth) de Roet, and a brother, Walter. Isabel later became Canoness of the convent of St. Waudru’s, Mons, c. 1366. Katherine is generally held to have been […]

Blanche of Lancaster (1345 - 1368)

Blanche was born on 25 March 1345, although the year 1347 has also been suggested. She was the younger daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his wife Isabel de Beaumont. She and her elder sister Maud, Countess of Leicester, were born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lindsey. Maud married Ralph de Stafford and […]

Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (1443 - 1509)

Margaret was born at Bletsoe Castle, Bedfordshire, on 31 May 1443 or 1441. The day and month are not disputed, as she required Westminster Abbey to celebrate her birthday on 31 May. The year of her birth is more uncertain. William Dugdale, the 17th century antiquary, has suggested that she may have been born in […]

Phil Everly (1939 - 2014)

Phil Everly Rock & roll lost one of its supreme harmony singers when Phil Everly, half of the Everly Brothers, died today at the age of 74. According to a report attributed to his wife Patti Everly, the cause was complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Everly was a longtime smoker. Harmony singing had been […]

Lesley Gore (1946 - 2015)

Lesley Gore Lesley Gore, whose No. 1 hit “It’s My Party” kicked off a successful singing career while she was still in high school, has died. She was 68. Her death was confirmed by family friend Blake Morgan, who produced her 2005 album, “Ever Since.” “We loved her and we are very sad. She was […]

Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000)

Jacob Lawrence was born in 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was thirteen when his family, including his sister and brother, moved to New York City. Lawrence was introduced to art shortly after that, when their mother enrolled him in classes at an arts and crafts settlement house in Harlem, in an effort to […]

Charles Schulz (1922 - 2000)

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Schulz grew up in Saint Paul. He was the only child of Carl Schulz, who was born in Germany, and Dena Halverson, who was Norwegian. His uncle called him “Sparky” after the horse Spark Plug in Billy DeBeck’s comic strip, Barney Google.  Schulz loved drawing and sometimes drew his family dog, […]

Jayne Meadows (1919 - 2015)

Jayne Meadows was born Jane Meadows Cotter in 1919 in Wuchang, one of three sections of Wuhan in the Hubei Province (where the Cotter family was relocated after a bomb fell on their home in Wu Chang [clarification needed]; the other two sections are Hanyang and Hankou), the daughter of American Episcopal missionary parents, the […]

Maya Plisetskaya (1925 - 2015)

Maya Mikhaylovna Plisetskaya (Russian: Ма́йя Миха́йловна Плисе́цкая; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet-born ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress, who held Spanish and Lithuanian citizenship. She danced during the Soviet era at the same time as another famed Russian ballerina Galina Ulanova, and in 1960 took over Ulanova’s title as […]

Grace Lee Whitney (1930 - 2015)

Whitney was born Mary Ann Chase in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was adopted by the Whitney family, who changed her name to Grace Elaine. She started her entertainment career as a “girl singer” on Detroit’s WJR radio at the age of fourteen. After she left home, she began to call herself Lee Whitney, eventually becoming […]

Ben E King (1938 - 2015)

Ben E King Ben E. King, the smooth, soulful baritone who led the Drifters on “There Goes My Baby,” “Save the Last Dance for Me” and other hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and as a solo artist recorded the classic singles “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me,” died on Thursday in Hackensack, […]

Fredric Brandt (1949 - 2015)

Fredric Brandt Fredric Sheldon Brandt was an American physician, researcher, lecturer, author, and radio host specializing in cosmetic dermatology. Among the first to use botulinum toxin (“botox”) and fillers, Brandt was noted for his role in the FDA approval of numerous fillers and botulinum toxins for cosmetic use in the United States.  Brandt, who hosted […]

Jean Nidetch (1923 - 2015)

Nidetch was born in Brooklyn, New York, to David Slutsky, a cab driver, and Mae Slutsky, a manicurist. A graduate of Girls’ High School, Nidetch received a partial scholarship to Long Island University but was unable to attend due to a lack of financial resources. Instead, Nidetch enrolled in a business course at City College […]

Suzanne Crough (1963 - 2015)

On The Partridge Family, Crough played Tracy Partridge, the youngest Partridge sibling, who played the tambourine. After The Partridge Family, she made several TV movies and made guest appearances on television shows, including Mulligan’s Stew. Her last credited on-screen role was as Kate in the 1980 TV movie Children of Divorce.  Crough graduated from Los […]

Thomas Becket (1118 - 1170)

Becket was born about 1118, or in 1120 according to later tradition. He was born in Cheapside, London, on 21 December, which was the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle. He was the son of Gilbert Beket and Gilbert’s wife Matilda. Gilbert’s father was from Thierville in the lordship of Brionne in Normandy, and […]

Caroline of Ansbach (1683 - 1737)

Caroline was born on 1 March 1683 at Ansbach, the daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father was the ruler of one of the smallest German states; he died of smallpox at the age of 32, when Caroline was three years old. Caroline and […]

Philippa of Hainault (1314 - 1369)

Philippa was born in Valenciennes in the County of Hainaut, in the Low Countries, a daughter of William I, Count of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland, and Joan of Valois, the granddaughter of Philip III of France. She was one of eight children and the second of five daughters. Her eldest sister Margaret married Emperor Louis […]

Louis VIII of France (1187 - 1226)

In summer 1195, a marriage between Louis and Eleanor of Brittany niece of Richard I of England was suggested for an alliance between Philip II and Richard, but it failed. It is said that the Emperor Henry VI opposed the marriage; and the failure was also a sign that Richard would replace Arthur, younger brother […]

Richard I of England (1157 - 1199)

Richard was born on 8 September 1157, probably at Beaumont Palace, in Oxford, England, son of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was a younger brother of Count William IX of Poitiers, Henry the Young King and Duchess Matilda of Saxony. As the third legitimate son of King Henry II, he […]

Henry the Young King (1155 - 1183)

Little is known of the young prince Henry before the events associated with his marriage and coronation. His mother’s children by her first marriage to Louis VII of France were Marie of France, Countess of Champagne and Alix of France. He had one older brother, William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156), and his younger […]

Grace Kelly (1929 - 1982)

Kelly was born November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, to an affluent family. Her paternal grandparents were Irish and her maternal grandparents were German. Her father, John B. Kelly, Sr., won three Olympic gold medals for sculler. He later founded a brickwork contracting company that became well known on the East Coast. He registered as a […]

Cecil Frances Alexander (1818 - 1895)

Alexander was born in Dublin, the third child and second daughter of Major John Humphreys (of Norfolk, land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn), and Elizabeth (née Reed). She began writing verse in her childhood, being strongly influenced by Dr Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester. Her subsequent religious […]

Mary II of England (1662 - 1694)

Mary, born at St. James’s Palace in London on 30 April 1662, was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York (the future James II & VII), and his first wife, Anne Hyde. Mary’s uncle was King Charles II, who ruled the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland; her maternal grandfather, Edward Hyde, 1st […]

John, King of England (1166 - 1216)

John was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine on 24 December 1166. Henry had inherited significant territories along the Atlantic seaboard—Anjou, Normandy and England—and expanded his empire by conquering Brittany. Henry married the powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine, who reigned over the Duchy of Aquitaine and had a tenuous claim to Toulouse […]

Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1665 - 1714)

Anne was born at 11:39 p.m. on 6 February 1665 at St James’s Palace, London, the fourth child and second daughter of James, Duke of York (afterwards James II and VII), and his first wife, Anne Hyde. Her father was the younger brother of King Charles II, who ruled the three kingdoms of England, Scotland […]

Edward I of England (1239 - 1307)

Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster on the night of 17–18 June 1239, to King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence. Edward is an Anglo-Saxon name, as was not commonly given among the aristocracy of England after the Norman Conquest, but Henry was devoted to the veneration of Edward the Confessor, and decided […]