1626) Van Heflin

Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin Jr. (1908 – 1971). American theatre, radio, and film actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man. Heflin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Johnny Eager (1942). He also had memorable roles in Westerns such as Shane (1953), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and Gunman's Walk (1958).

Heflin was the grandfather of actor Ben O'Brien and actress Eleanor O'Brien. He was also the uncle of Marta Heflin and Mady Kaplan, both actresses, and director Jonathan Kaplan. 

 

- "If you prefer your leading men to be conventionally handsome and “by-the numbers” actors, then Heflin, with his unruly red hair and restless protruding eyes, probably won’t appeal." https://filmstruck.tumblr.com/.../fall-in-love-with-van...

 

 

1625) Clive Sinclair

Sir Clive Sinclair (July 1940 - September 2021). English inventor. Perhaps most famous for the much-loved Sinclair Spectrum home computer. He was also an early pioneer of electric vehicles with his Sinclair C5.

After spending several years as assistant editor of Instrument Practice, Sinclair founded Sinclair Radionics Ltd in 1961. He produced the world's first slimline electronic pocket calculator (the Sinclair Executive) in 1972. Sinclair then moved into the production of home computers in 1980 with Sinclair Research Ltd, producing the Sinclair ZX80 (the UK's first mass-market home computer for less than £100) and in the early 1980s, the ZX81, ZX Spectrum and the Sinclair QL. Sinclair Research is widely recognised for its importance in the early days of the British and European home computer industry, as well as helping to give rise to the British video game industry.
Sinclair also had several commercial failures, including the Sinclair Radionics Black Watch wristwatch, the Sinclair Vehicles C5 battery electric vehicle, and the Sinclair Research TV80 flatscreen CRT handheld television set. The failure of the C5, along with a weakened computer market, forced Sinclair to sell most of his companies by 1986. Through 2010, Sinclair concentrated on personal transport, including the A-bike, a folding bicycle for commuters which was small enough to fit in a handbag. He also developed the Sinclair X-1, a revised version of the C5 electric vehicle, which never made it to the market.
Sinclair was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1983 Birthday Honours for his contributions to the personal computer industry in the UK.

1624) Peter Beneson

Peter Benenson (born Peter James Henry Solomon; 1921 – 2005). British barrister, human rights activist and the co-founder, in 1961, of the human rights group Amnesty International along with Seàn MacBride.

Benenson was born in London to a large Jewish family, the only son of British-born Harold Solomon and Russian-born Flora Benenson. His father, an army officer, died from a long-term injury when Benenson was nine, and he was privately tutored by W. H. Auden before attending Eton College. He took his mother's maiden name of Benenson acceding to his dying grandfather’s wishes, the Russian financier Grigori Benenson (1860–1939).

 

- "He was also inordinately modest (rejecting honours, save for belatedly accepting an honorary fellowship of his Oxford college, Balliol), as well as engagingly eccentric, with a twinkle in his eye and a crop of red hair." https://www.theguardian.com/.../dec/04/features.magazine97