Top 10 Birthdays

10. April 23, 1888: Georges Vanier. Having lost a leg while serving in World War I, he became a diplomat, and eventually the 1st French-Canadian to be appointed as Governor-General of Canada. The Vanier Cup, the trophy for the championship of Canadian college football, is named for him. Honorable Mention: April 23, 1947: Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. At the start of Northern Ireland's "Troubles" in 1969, just before her 22nd birthday, she was elected to Britain's Parliament, and became a prominent activist for Catholic self-determination in Northern Ireland.   Dishonorable Mention: April 23, 1791: James Buchanan. In 1856, with America falling apart over the issue of slavery, the Democratic Party nominated him for President, mainly because he'd been out of the country and had offended hardly anybody over the last few years. He had served in Pennsylvania's House of Representatives from 1814 to 1816, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1821 to 1831...

Dishonorable Mention: April 18, 1882:  Getúlio Vargas . After losing an election for President of Brazil in 1930, he led a coup that installed him in power, ruling the Estado Novo (New State) until 1945. He regained power in 1951, but a counter-coup led him to commit suicide rather than be taken alive. 10. April 19, 1981: Hayden Christensen.  He played Anakin Skywalker in  Star Wars  Episodes II and III. 9. April 19, 1954: Trevor Francis.  In 1979, the forward was sold by Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest, becoming Britain's 1st  £1 million player. Result? He led Forest to the European Cup in 1979 and 1980. He also won a Coppa Italia with Genoa team Sampdoria in 1985, and a League Cup with Sheffield Wednesday in 1991. He also played in America, helping the Detroit Express win a North American Soccer League Division title in 1978. He played for England in the 1982 World Cup. 8. Honorable Mention: April 19, 1925: Hugh O'Brian.  He starred on the Wes...

10. April 7, 1964: Russell Crowe.  He's been Zeus, Noah, Maximus Decimus Meridius, Robin Hood, Inspector Javert, Dr. John Nash, Captain Jack Aubrey, Dr. Henry Jekyll (and Edward Hyde), Heavyweight Champion Jim Braddock, and Jor-El. As the man himself would say, "Are you not entertained?" 9. April 7, 1954: Tony Dorsett.   The running back won the 1976 Heisman Trophy as he led the University of Pittsburgh to the National Championship. The next year, he won the NFL Rookie of the Year to help the Dallas Cowboys win Super Bowl XII (and also reach, but lose, Super Bowl XIII). He made 4 Pro Bowls, rushed for 12,739 yards, caught 398 passes for 3,554 yards, and scored 90 touchdowns. He and Marcus Allen are the only 2 players to win the Heisman Trophy, the National Championship, and the Super Bowl, and be elected to both the College and the Pro Football Halls of Fame. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 53rd on its list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. In 2010, the NFL Netw...

10. April 6, 1931: Ram Dass. Born Richard Alpert, he helped bring Eastern spirituality, including yoga, to popularity in the West. 9. April 6, 1892: Donald Wills Douglas Sr.  He founded the Douglas Aircraft Company, which created the 1st great American passenger plane, the DC-3; and its military equivalent, the C-47 transport plane. His son, Donald Jr., led the merger with McDonnell Aircraft to form McDonnell-Douglas, to meet the increasing demand for new planes. Somewhat Honorable Mention: April 6, 1890: Anthony Fokker. (Pronounced "FOH-ker.") A pioneer of aviation, the Dutch designer made planes for Imperial Germany in World War I, including the Fokker Triplane made famous by Manfred von Richtofen, a.k.a. the Red Baron. After the war, with Germany forbidden by treaty from building planes, he moved aircraft design forward from his homeland. 8. April 6, 1823: Joseph Medill. He built the Chicago Tribune from a footnote in newspapers into one of the world's best, and wa...

10. April 5, 1920: Arthur Hailey. He wrote Hotel , which became an ABC drama series; and Airport , which inspired 4 disaster films -- 6 if you count the two Airplane! films that spoofed the previous 4. Honorable Mention: April 5, 1917: Robert Bloch. He wrote Psycho , which was turned into Alfred Hitchcock's defining film; and "Wolf in the Fold," the "Jack the Ripper episode" of Star Trek . Honorable Mention: April 5, 1950: Ann C. Crispin. She wrote novels set in the realms of both Star Trek and Star Wars , including biographies of Sarek (Spock's father) and Han Solo (published long before the production of the film Solo: A Star Wars Story, and since contradicted). 9. April 5, 1827: Joseph Lister. A pathologist, he was a pioneer in antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Honorable Mention: April 5, 1649: Elihu Yale.  In 1701, he founded the New College of Connecticut. It was renamed for him: Yale University. Graduates are known as Sons of Old Eli,...

Honorable Mention: April 4, 2012: Grumpy Cat. Real name Tardar Sauce, she lived in the Phoenix suburbs with her master, Tabatha Bundesen. Her brother Bryan posted a picture of the cat online, and she became the subject of Internet memes, known as “Grumpy Cat,” for her birth-defect-caused facial expression. She only lived to be 7 years old. 10. April 4, 1792: Thaddeus Stevens. The Congressman from Pennsylvania was one of the leading abolitionists before the American Civil War. During it, he was Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and helped to finance the Union effort. After it, he was one of the leaders of Reconstruction. Somewhat Honorable Mention: April 4, 1945: Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Known as Dany le Rouge (Danny the Red) for both is hair and his politics, he was a leader of the student protests in Paris in 1968. He later served in the European Parliament with the Green Party, as a European federalist and an environmental activist. The "Somewhat" refers less to...