Born on January 12?

Emre Can

German international footballer who plays as a versatile midfielder

Did you know? He won a domestic double with Bayern Munich before moving to the Premier League to play for Liverpool.

Emre Can (Turkish pronunciation:; born 12 January 1994) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or centre-back for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, which he captains, and the Germany national team.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Zayn Malik

British singer and former member of the boy band One Direction

Did you know? He originally auditioned for The X Factor as a solo artist before being placed into a group.

Zain Javadd Malik ( MAH-lik; born 12 January 1993), known professionally as Zayn Malik or simply Zayn, is an English singer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: First Access Entertainment · CC BY-SA 3.0

Sergey Karjakin

Russian chess grandmaster and former world title challenger

Did you know? He became a grandmaster at the age of twelve, a record that remained unbroken for nearly two decades.

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster and politician. A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, having qualified for the title at the age of 12 years and 7 months.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Vladimir Barskij · CC BY-SA 3.0

Axel Witsel

Belgian international footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder

Did you know? He has played professionally in several different countries, including high-profile spells in Portugal, Russia, China, Germany, and Spain.

Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel (French pronunciation:; born 12 January 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer for Ligue 1 club Nice. A versatile midfielder, Witsel is known for his defensive intelligence, vision, playmaking ability, ball retention, and capacity to control the tempo of matches.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bryan Berlin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Melanie C

her powerful vocals as Sporty Spice in the Spice Girls and a successful solo career spanning over 130 million record sales

Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), commonly known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer and songwriter. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: The Academy · CC BY 3.0

Hámilton Ricard

Hámilton Ricard Cuesta (Spanish pronunciation:; born 12 January 1974) is a Colombian former footballer who played as a striker.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hande Yener

Influential Turkish pop singer and songwriter

Did you know? Before finding fame, she worked in a department store where she met the singer Sezen Aksu, who helped launch her professional career.

Makbule Hande Özyener (born 12 January 1973), known professionally as Hande Yener, is a Turkish singer and songwriter. She made her debut in the early 2000s, and since then has become a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with numerous songs that topped the music charts.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Emre Yanık · CC BY 2.0

Jeff Bezos

American entrepreneur who founded Amazon in his garage in 1994, later founded Blue Origin and bought The Washington Post

Did you know? He originally considered naming his company Cadabra, but changed it after a lawyer mistook the word for "cadaver" on the phone.

Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( BAY-zohss; né Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American businessman, and the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Seattle City Council from Seattle · CC BY 2.0

Nikolai Noskov

Russian singer and former lead vocalist of Gorky Park

Did you know? He was the lead singer of the first Soviet rock band to have a music video played on MTV in America.

Nikolai Ivanovich Noskov (Russian: Николай Иванович Носков; born 12 January 1956) is a Russian singer and former vocalist of the hard rock band Gorky Park (between 1987 and 1990). He is a five-time winner of the Golden Gramophone Award.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Schekinov Alexey Victorovich · CC BY-SA 3.0

Kirstie Alley

Emmy-winning actress known for the sitcom Cheers and Look Who's Talking

Did you know? Before finding fame as an actress, she moved to Los Angeles to work as a professional interior designer.

Kirstie Louise Alley (January 12, 1951 – December 5, 2022) was an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987–1993), for which she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Kirstie Alley 1994.jpg : Photo by Alan Light derivative work: Bad Randolph ( talk ) · CC BY 2.0

Haruki Murakami

Japanese novelist of Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore, known for dreamlike, surreal fiction

Did you know? He is a dedicated long-distance runner who has completed many marathons and written a book about the sport.

Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹, Murakami Haruki; born January 12, 1949) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ministerio Cultura y Patrimonio from Quito, Ecuador · Public domain

Joe Frazier

Heavyweight boxing champion who first defeated Muhammad Ali

Did you know? He had a successful side career as a soul singer, performing with a group called the Knockouts.

Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944 – November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin’ Joe”, he was known for his strength, durability, formidable left hand, and relentless pressure fighting style.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bill Apter or David Lee Waite · Public domain

Michel Mayor

Astrophysicist who discovered the first planet orbiting a sun-like star

Did you know? The planet he discovered, known as 51 Pegasi b, is a gas giant located roughly fifty light-years from Earth.

Michel Gustave Édouard Mayor (French pronunciation:; born 12 January 1942) is a Swiss astrophysicist and professor emeritus at the University of Geneva's Department of Astronomy. He formally retired in 2007, but remains active as a researcher at the Observatory of Geneva.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: European Space Agency · CC BY-SA 3.0 igo

Ilya Prigogine

Nobel Prize-winning chemist who studied complex and irreversible systems

Did you know? He was an accomplished pianist and seriously considered a career in music before deciding to study science.

Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine (Russian: Илья Романович Пригожин; 25 January 1917 – 28 May 2003) was a Belgian physical chemist of Russian origin, noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown (Keystone - US) · Public domain

P. W. Botha

South African politician who led the country during the apartheid era

Did you know? He was nicknamed the Big Crocodile for his aggressive leadership style and his refusal to apologise for his government's policies.

Pieter Willem Botha, (locally BOOR-tə, Afrikaans pronunciation:; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006) was a South African politician who served as the last Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and as the first executive State President of South Africa from 1984 until his resignation in 1989.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Wie is wie in Suid-Afrika 1963 · Public domain

Luise Rainer

First actor to win two consecutive Academy Awards

Did you know? She lived to be over a hundred years old and reportedly hated the Hollywood studio system, eventually choosing to move back to Europe.

Luise Rainer ( RY-nər, German:; 12 January 1910 – 30 December 2014) was a German-born film actress.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Vandamm Studio · Public domain

Eugenio Montale

Nobel Prize-winning Italian poet and writer

Did you know? He spent years working as a music critic and was later appointed as a senator for life in the Italian parliament.

Eugenio Montale (Italian:; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Kaj Hagman. · Public domain

Hermann Göring

Nazi leader who founded the Gestapo, commanded the Luftwaffe and was sentenced to death at Nuremberg

Did you know? During the First World War, he was a highly decorated fighter pilot and succeeded Manfred von Richthofen as commander of his squadron.

Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; German:; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, aviator, military commander, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which controlled Germany from 1933 to 1945.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Robert Röhr · Public domain

Alfred Rosenberg

Nazi ideologue and developer of racial theories

Did you know? He was born in modern-day Estonia and trained as an architect in Moscow before moving to Germany after the Russian Revolution.

Alfred Ernst Rosenberg (12 January 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi philosopher and convicted war criminal. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart, and he held several important posts in the Nazi government.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: United States Army Signal Corps photographer · Public domain

Abd el-Krim

Moroccan revolutionary who led the Republic of the Rif

Did you know? His innovative guerrilla warfare tactics inspired later revolutionary leaders including Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara.

Mohammed ben Abdelkrim El Khattabi, better known as Abd el-Krim (12 January 1882 – 6 February 1963), was a Moroccan revolutionary, religious, political and military leader and the president of the Republic of the Rif.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Jack London

American adventure writer of The Call of the Wild and White Fang, inspired by his time in the Klondike Gold Rush

Did you know? He was one of the first writers to become a worldwide celebrity and earn a fortune through his fiction.

John Griffith London (né Chaney; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: published by L C Page and Company Boston 1903 · Public domain

Swami Vivekananda

Indian Hindu monk whose speech at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West

Did you know? He received a standing ovation after his opening speech at the first Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: The original uploader was Dziewa at English Wikipedia . · Public domain

Joseph Joffre

French general who served as Commander-in-Chief during World War I

Did you know? His popularity was so great that he was nicknamed Papa Joffre and became a symbol of French resistance against the German invasion.

Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (French:; 12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Unknown author · Public domain

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi

Swiss educational reformer who influenced modern primary schooling methods

Did you know? His philosophy of teaching by head, hand and heart helped to virtually eliminate illiteracy in Switzerland by the mid-19th century.

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi ( pes-tuh-LOT-see; German:; Italian:; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Francisco Javier Ramos · Public domain