Richard Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor, with a magnetic stage presence and incomparable voice. His notable movies include The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Richard Burton November 10, 1925 – August 5, 1984
His Oscar-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront gave Marlon Brando one of the classic lines in movie history: "You don't understand. I coulda' had class. I coulda' been a contender. I could've been somebody..." Budd Schulberg March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009
One of the best known and loved English actors of theatre, film and television, his self-deprecating manner could not disguise a formidable talent whose performances carried force and authenticity... Alec Guinness April 2, 1914 – August 5, 2000
The Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress, nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", was known for her signature hat outfit that she wore in her American films. She died from a fatal heart attack aged just 46. Carmen Miranda February 9, 1909 – August 5, 1955
American astronaut Neil Armstrong #botd was the first person to walk on the Moon, stepping on to the lunar surface in July 1969...
"When you make motion pictures, each is a life unto itself. When you finish, there's an understanding, a realization, that we'll never be assembled this way again..." — John Huston #botd With Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall filming Key Largo
Marilyn on the set of the unfinished film Something’s Got to Give in the summer of 1962... Marilyn Monroe June 1, 1926 – August 4, 1962
Greta Gerwig #botd — "A filmmaker of uncanny ambition and artistic intent. This became clear with her solo directorial debut Lady Bird. It earned her an Oscar nomination for best director, only the fifth time a woman had been nominated in the category." — Chloe Malle
"A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense'..." Barack Obama #botd
Four-time Miles Franklin Award-winner, Australian novelist Tim Winton #botd has been twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He draws inspiration from landscape and place. "Place comes first. If the place isn't interesting to me, then I can't feel it..."
"Music is life itself. What would this world be without good music? No matter what kind it is." Louis Armstrong #botd
"Ida had more knowledge of camera angles and lenses than almost any director I've worked with..." — Archie Stout, cinematographer. Ida Lupino — actress, director, screenwriter February 4, 1918 – August 3, 1995
"I love my past, I love my present..." Colette January 28, 1873 - August 3, 1954
“We can never cease to be ourselves..." Joseph Conrad December 3, 1857 – August 3, 1924
Mathieu Kassovitz #botd (who directed several episodes) as Guillaume Debailly, codename 'Malotru', and Zineb Triki as Nadia El Mansour, in Le Bureau des Légendes. Le Figaro called it the best television series ever made in France...
“All of James Dean's movies had a profound effect on my life, my work, and all of my generation. He transcended cinema acting.” Martin Sheen #botd
"Tony Bennett #botd made a high art out of being the very best kind of singer – not only in the good-humoured optimism of his big, expansive sound, or his gratitude for life’s lucky breaks, but also in an unquenchable appetite for sharing good songs..." — John Fordham
Experience the powerful work of Ana Mendieta, who died in 1985 in New York City at the age of 36, and whose legacy changed the course of contemporary art. London's Tate Modern July 15, 2026 – January 17, 2027
The relentless UK heatwaves are turning ‘green and pleasant’ land brown...
The American writer and visual artist is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation. William Burroughs February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997
Metropolis, the expressionist epic by Fritz Lang, the Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked in Germany and later the United States. Fritz Lang December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976
The French resistance fighter turned film-maker had an instinctive sympathy for the outsider, and remodelled the crime thriller into something studied, cool and subversive… Jean-Pierre Melville October 20, 1917 – August 2, 1973
On the publication of her first novel The House of the Spirits in 1982, Isabel Allende #botd was recognised as a significant new voice in the literary landscape. In 2014 Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour.
Peter O'Toole #botd took the film world by storm in 1962 as the eponymous hero of David Lean's Oscar-winning epic, Lawrence of Arabia. A man of great wit and intellect, the breadth of his ability, on stage and screen, was matched by the depth of his commitment to his work...
The American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin #botd garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 English-language novels.
"I never enjoyed my work more than when I worked with William Powell. He was a brilliant actor, a delightful companion, a great friend..." Myrna Loy #botd
Edward Bawden | Ives Farm, Essex Linocut in colours, 1956 Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
Daughter of Jean-Louis Trintignant, the French film and stage actress appeared in over 30 movies in her 36-year career. She was nominated for France's most prestigious acting honour, the César Award, five times. Marie Trintignant January 21, 1962 – August 1, 2003
