Joseph Alois Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, was born on 16 April, Holy Saturday, 1927 at Marktl am Inn, Diocese of Passau (Germany)and was baptised on the same day. He was the third and youngest child of Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a police officer, and Maria Ratzinger. His father, belonged to an old family of farmers from Lower Bavaria of modest economic …

Phineas Taylor Barnum, (July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Although Barnum was also an author, publisher, philanthropist, and for some time a politician, he said of himself, “I am a …

Pernessa Seele — Pernessa C. Seele was born on 15 Oct 1954. She is an immunologist and the CEO and founder of Balm in Gilead, Inc., a religious-based organization that provides support to people with AIDS and their families, as well as working for prevention of HIV and AIDS. In 1989 she initiated the Harlem Week of Prayer, with 50 …

Oprah Winfrey — Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her multi-award-winning talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the “Queen of All Media”, she …

Norman Mailer — Norman Kingsley Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007) was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, filmmaker, actor and political activist. His first novel was The Naked and the Dead, published in 1948. His best work was widely considered to be The Executioner’s Song, which was published in 1979, and for which he won one of …

William Morris was an eminent Victorian, born in 1834. He had a many-sided career as poet, artist, manufacturer and socialist. At Oxford he began a life-long friendship with Edward Burne-Jones, the painter and designer, who subsequently introduced him to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet and painter, and a leader of the Pre-Raphaelites. At one time Morris intended to enter the …

Mark Tully — Sir William Mark Tully, (Order of the British Empire) OBE (born 1935 in Calcutta, India) is the former Chief of Bureau, BBC, New Delhi. He worked for BBC for a period of 30 years before resigning in July 1994. He held the position of Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi for 20 years. Since 1994 he has been …

MC Mary Kom (Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom) was born on 1st March 1983 and was brought up in a poor family. It is impossible to imagine that Mary Kom would one day rise and become a World Boxing Champion. Her family background speaks a lot of how Mary overcame hardship and inconveniences and created a name for herself in the arena …

Luciano Pavarotti (12 October 1935 – 6 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of …

Everyone needs salt to stay alive: It’s absolutely essential to our system, and found in most of the foods we eat. Britain alone produces ounce is used up! In fact, we need salt so much that when a group of criminals in Sweden were once given the choice to do without salt for a month, as an alternative to capital …