Born on September 29?

Per Mertesacker

World Cup-winning German defender who played for Arsenal

Did you know? Standing at nearly two metres tall, he was affectionately nicknamed the "Big Friendly German" by fans.

Per Mertesacker (German pronunciation:; born 29 September 1984) is a German football coach and former professional player who played as a centre back. Mertesacker began his senior career after being promoted from the youth ranks at Bundesliga club Hannover 96, making his senior league debut in November 2003.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Michael Kranewitter · CC BY 3.0 at

Andriy Shevchenko

Ukrainian football player who won the 2004 Ballon d'Or

Did you know? He remains the all-time leading goalscorer for the Ukraine national team and later served as their manager.

Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko (Ukrainian: Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, pronounced; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian former football manager and player. Shevchenko is considered one of the greatest strikers of all time and Ukraine's greatest ever player.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Міністерство молоді та спорту України · CC BY 4.0

Bujar Nishani

Albanian politician who served as the country's sixth president

Did you know? Before his presidency, he served his country as both the Minister of Justice and the Minister of the Interior.

Bujar Faik Nishani (Albanian pronunciation:; 29 September 1966 – 28 May 2022) was an Albanian politician who served as President of Albania from 2012 to 2017. Nishani was the youngest person to have been chosen as president of Albania, taking office at the age of 47.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bujar_Nishani_with_Michael_Spindelegger.jpg : Österreichische Außenministerium derivative work: Albinfo · CC BY 2.0

Julia Gillard

Welsh-born Labor politician who became Australia's first female prime minister and gave a famous speech against misogyny

Did you know? She was born in Barry, South Wales, and moved to Australia as a child after being diagnosed with bronchopneumonia.

Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the 13th deputy prime minister from 2007 to 2010.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Dilma Rousseff · CC BY-SA 2.0

Jon Fosse

Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian author and playwright

Did you know? His work is so widely performed that he is often described as the world's most produced living playwright.

Jon Olav Fosse (Norwegian:; born 29 September 1959) is a Norwegian author, translator, and playwright.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Tom A. Kolstad/Det norske samlaget. · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sebastian Coe

Olympic gold medallist runner and former British politician

Did you know? He served as the chairman of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medals at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Lord_Coe_-_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2012.jpg : World Economic Forum derivative work: Connormah ( talk | contr · CC BY-SA 2.0

Masoud Pezeshkian

Heart surgeon and politician serving as the President of Iran

Did you know? He personally performed numerous surgeries on wounded soldiers while serving as a doctor during the Iran-Iraq War.

Masoud Pezeshkian (born 29 September 1954) is an Iranian politician and heart surgeon who has served as the president of Iran since 2024. A member of the reformist faction, he is the oldest person to serve in this position, taking office at the age of 69.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: khamenei.ir · CC BY 4.0

Michelle Bachelet

Paediatrician who served two terms as Chile's first female president and later led UN Women and the UN human rights office

Did you know? A trained paediatrician, she spent time in exile in Australia and East Germany before returning to her home country.

Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (Spanish:; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean physician and politician who served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Government of Chile · CC BY 3.0 cl

Lech Wałęsa

Gdańsk shipyard electrician who led the Solidarity trade union against communism, won the Nobel Peace Prize and became Poland's president

Did you know? He was working as an electrician in a shipyard when he began the strikes that eventually changed Polish history.

Lech Wałęsa (born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, anticommunist dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: MEDEF · CC BY-SA 2.0

Ian McShane

British actor known for starring in Lovejoy and Deadwood

Did you know? His father, Harry McShane, was a professional footballer who played for major clubs such as Manchester United in the 1950s.

Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series Lovejoy (1986, 1991–1994), Al Swearengen in Deadwood (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and Mr.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0

Bill Nelson

Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bill Ingalls · Public domain

Jon Brower Minnoch

Jon Brower Minnoch (September 29, 1941 – September 4, 1983) was an American man who is reported as the heaviest recorded human in history, weighing approximately 1,400 lb (635 kilograms; 100 stone) at his peak.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bothell High School · Public domain

Silvio Berlusconi

Italian media tycoon and AC Milan owner who served as prime minister four times amid many scandals and trials

Did you know? Before entering politics, he spent time performing as a double bass player and singer on Mediterranean cruise ships.

Silvio Berlusconi ( BAIR-luu-SKOH-nee; Italian:; 29 September 1936 – 12 June 2023) was an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: European People’s Party · CC BY 2.0

Jerry Lee Lewis

Rock and roll pioneer known for Great Balls of Fire

Did you know? He was a cousin of the famous television evangelist Jimmy Swaggart and the country musician Mickey Gilley.

Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935 – October 28, 2022) was an American country music and rock and roll pianist, singer, and songwriter. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock 'n' roll's first great wild man".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: photographer:Maurice Seymour, Chicago · Public domain

Samora Moisés Machel

First President of Mozambique and leader of the liberation struggle

Did you know? He trained as a nurse before leaving his job to join the independence movement as a guerrilla fighter.

Samora Moisés Machel (September 29, 1933 – October 19, 1986) was a Mozambican politician and revolutionary who served as the first President of Mozambique from the country's independence in 1975 until his death in the 1986 Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 plane crash which killed 34 people, including several Mozambican…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Department of Defense. American Forces Information Service. Defense Visual Information Center. 1994 · Public domain

Rainer Weiss

Nobel Prize-winning physicist and pioneer in gravitational wave research

Did you know? As a child, he fled Nazi Germany with his family, eventually settling in the United States where he pioneered gravitational wave research.

Rainer Weiss ( WYSSE, German:; September 29, 1932 – August 25, 2025) was a German-American physicist, known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. He was a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct professor at Louisiana State University.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bengt Nyman from Vaxholm, Sweden · CC BY 2.0

Anita Ekberg

Swedish actress and model iconic for her role in La Dolce Vita

Did you know? Before finding fame in cinema, she won the Miss Sweden pageant and competed in the Miss Universe competition in the United States.

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (29 September 1931 – 11 January 2015) was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and curvaceous figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Paramount-photo by Bud Frakes. · Public domain

James Cronin

Particle physicist and Nobel Prize winner

Did you know? He helped lead a project to build the world's largest telescope designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays hitting the Earth's atmosphere.

James Watson Cronin (September 29, 1931 – August 25, 2016) was an American particle physicist. Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment that proved that certain subatomic reactions do not adhere to fundamental symmetry principles.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Markus Pössel ( Mapos ) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Michelangelo Antonioni

Influential Italian director known for Blow-Up and L'Avventura

Did you know? He was an accomplished painter and held exhibitions of his abstract art later in his life.

Michelangelo Antonioni ( AN-toh-nee-OH-nee or an-TOH-; Italian:; 29 September 1912 – 30 July 2007) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and editor.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bibliothèque nationale de France · Public domain

Greer Garson

Oscar-winning actress known for the wartime drama Mrs. Miniver

Did you know? She holds the record for the longest ever acceptance speech at the Academy Awards, lasting over five minutes.

Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was a British and American actress and singer. Known for playing graceful, noble, and dignified women in period and war dramas, she quickly rose to popularity during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Los Angeles Times · CC BY 4.0

Enrico Fermi

Italian-American physicist who built the first nuclear reactor, won the Nobel Prize and worked on the Manhattan Project

Did you know? His colleagues called him The Pope because they believed his scientific calculations and intuition were always right.

Enrico Fermi (Italian:; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian and naturalized-American physicist, renowned for being the creator of the world's first artificial nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and a member of the Manhattan Project.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Department of Energy-Office of Public Affairs, restored by Yann · Public domain

Ludwig von Mises

Austrian economist and philosopher of the free market

Did you know? He escaped the Nazi advance in Europe by travelling through Spain to Lisbon, eventually settling in the United States.

Ludwig Heinrich von Mises (German:; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian and American political economist and philosopher of the Austrian school. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the social contributions of classical liberalism and the central role of consumers in a market economy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ludwig von Mises Institute · CC BY-SA 3.0

Miguel de Unamuno

Spanish philosopher whose Tragic Sense of Life and novels Mist and Abel Sánchez explored existential themes whilst he held the rectorship at Salamanca

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo ( OO-nə-MOO-noh, Spanish:; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher and academic.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Agence de presse Meurisse · Public domain

Elizabeth Gaskell

Victorian novelist known for books such as North and South

Did you know? She wrote the first biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë, which became an important literary work.

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (née Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer, and short story writer. Her novels offer detailed studies of Victorian society, including the lives of the very poor.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: George Richmond · Public domain