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The year in birthdays

2026 Milestones: The Famous Birthdays and Big Moments of the Year

Some birthdays arrive with a round number attached. In 2026, a broadcaster who has narrated the natural world for seven decades reaches his century, a generation of film stars born in the year of punk turns 50, and the footballers and pop singers of the mid-1990s cross into their thirties.

This page gathers those milestones in one place. Every name, date of birth and age comes from the same checked records that power our person pages, and the ages update by themselves as each birthday passes during the year.

Below the birthdays you will find the inventions, books and turning points reaching their 50th, 75th and 100th anniversaries, plus a handful of facts about the calendar itself.

Want to know who shares your own birthday? Search famous birthdays by date. Or see the headlines from the day you were born with a personalised birthday newspaper front page.

Famous people reaching milestone ages in 2026

The best-known living people in our database who reach a round-number birthday this year, ordered by how widely they are known. Turning 100 has its own section further down.

Turning 30 in 2026

Born in 1996: the mid-nineties generation of footballers, pop stars and screen actors

See more famous people born in 1996

Turning 40 in 2026

Born in 1986: athletes and musicians who defined the 2000s and 2010s

See more famous people born in 1986

Turning 50 in 2026

Born in 1976, the year Concorde entered service and Apple was founded, this group spans Hollywood, European football and world politics.

Turning 60 in 2026

Born in 1966: a year of film stars, footballers and internet pioneers

See more famous people born in 1966

Turning 70 in 2026

Born in 1956: leaders, actors and sporting greats now in their eighth decade

See more famous people born in 1956

Turning 80 in 2026

Born in 1946: the first year of the post-war baby boom

See more famous people born in 1946

Turning 90 in 2026

Born in 1936: still active, still remembered

See more famous people born in 1936

Famous people turning 100 in 2026

Born in 1926, this group mixes people who are celebrating in person with those whose centenary is marked in memory. Living people are labelled; for people who have died we show the year of death and the birthday they would have reached.

2 living · 10 remembered

Historic anniversaries in 2026

Events, inventions and cultural moments reaching a round-number anniversary this year, with a short note on why each one still matters.

100 years ago: 1926

  1. John Logie Baird demonstrates television

    In his attic workshop in Soho, London, the Scottish inventor showed members of the Royal Institution moving images of a human face. His mechanical system was soon replaced, but it was the first public proof that television worked.

    On this day: 26 January

  2. The first liquid-fuelled rocket flies

    Robert Goddard's rocket rose about 12 metres over a Massachusetts farm and landed after two and a half seconds. The flight was tiny, yet the same principle later carried satellites and astronauts into space.

    On this day: 16 March

  3. The UK General Strike begins

    Around 1.7 million workers stopped work for nine days in support of coal miners facing pay cuts. It was one of the largest industrial disputes in British history and led to the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927, which restricted strikes until 1946.

    On this day: 4 May

  4. Winnie-the-Pooh is published

    A. A. Milne's stories about his son's toy bear, illustrated by E. H. Shepard, became one of the best-loved children's books ever written, and the Hundred Acre Wood was based on Ashdown Forest in Sussex.

    On this day: 14 October

  5. Route 66 is established

    The highway originally ran from Chicago to Los Angeles across eight states. It carried families west during the Dust Bowl and became a lasting symbol of the American road trip.

    On this day: 11 November

75 years ago: 1951

  1. The Ferranti Mark 1 is delivered

    Delivered to the University of Manchester, it was the world's first commercially available general-purpose electronic computer, and it played some of the earliest recorded computer-generated music.

  2. The Treaty of Paris creates the European Coal and Steel Community

    Six countries pooled their coal and steel industries so that war between them would become impractical. The community was the first step towards today's European Union.

    Read about the Treaty of ParisOn this day: 18 April

  3. The Festival of Britain opens

    Six years after the war, the festival on London's South Bank showcased British science, design and the arts. The Royal Festival Hall, built for it, still stands.

    On this day: 3 May

  4. The Catcher in the Rye is published

    J. D. Salinger's novel about the teenage Holden Caulfield gave adolescent alienation a voice and is still one of the most widely read, and most often challenged, books in American schools.

    On this day: 16 July

50 years ago: 1976

  1. Concorde's first passenger flights

    British Airways and Air France launched supersonic services on the same day, from London to Bahrain and from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. For 27 years it was the fastest way to cross the Atlantic.

    On this day: 21 January

  2. Apple Computer is founded

    Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne set up the company to sell Wozniak's Apple I circuit board. It went on to make personal computing, and later the smartphone, a mass-market product.

    On this day: 1 April

  3. The Soweto uprising

    Thousands of Black schoolchildren protested against being taught in Afrikaans, and police opened fire. The killings drew global attention to apartheid, and 16 June is now Youth Day in South Africa.

    Read about the Soweto uprisingOn this day: 16 June

  4. Nadia Comăneci scores the first perfect 10

    The 14-year-old Romanian gymnast's routine on the uneven bars at the Montreal Olympics was so unexpected that the scoreboard could only display it as 1.00.

    Read about the 1976 Summer OlympicsOn this day: 18 July

  5. Viking 1 lands on Mars

    NASA's lander sent back the first clear photographs from the Martian surface and worked for more than six years, laying the groundwork for every Mars rover since.

    On this day: 20 July

Fun facts about 2026

  1. 2026 is a common year of 365 days. It began on a Thursday and ends on a Thursday.

  2. It uses exactly the same calendar as 2015, so a 2015 wall calendar works again this year. The next year to share it is 2037.

  3. There are three Friday the 13ths in 2026: in February, March and November. February and March fall back to back because February has exactly 28 days this year.

  4. Easter Sunday falls on 5 April, and Christmas Day is a Friday.

  5. Chinese New Year on 17 February begins the Year of the Fire Horse, a combination that comes round once every 60 years. In Japan, superstition about the last one, in 1966, led to a drop of about a quarter in births that year.

  6. 4 July 2026 marks 250 years since the American Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776.

  7. On 12 August a total solar eclipse crosses Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain, and much of the UK sees a deep partial eclipse.

  8. It is a big year for sport: the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo (6 to 22 February), the first 48-team FIFA World Cup across Canada, Mexico and the United States (11 June to 19 July) and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (23 July to 2 August).

  9. Our database lists 62 famous people born in 1926; 4 of them are alive to celebrate a 100th birthday in 2026.

  10. 26 famous people in our database were born on 29 February, so 2026 has no birthday date for them on the calendar. Most celebrate on 28 February or 1 March.

Further reading

Reviewed by the Who Shares My Birthday editorial team.

Last reviewed: October 2026