17 June: today's birthdays

• Alfonso Bialetti - Italian inventor and entrepreneur. In 1933 he invented the famous Caffettiera Moka Express
• Thomas Haden Church - American actor
• William Crookes - English chemist and physicist
• Charles Eames - American architect and designer married to Ray Eames (born Bernice Alexandra Kaiser)
• Maurits Cornelis Escher - Dutch graphic artist. He drew Drawing Hands and Ascending and Descending
• Charles Gounod - French composer
• Jordan Henderson - English professional footballer, born Jordan Brian Henderson 
• François Jacob - French biologist
• Antonio Luis Jiménez Garcés - Chilean soccer player
• Greg Kinnear - American actor. He starred in As Good as It Gets and Little Miss Sunshine
• Ken Loach - English film director. He directed the film The Wind That Shakes the Barley 
• Barry Manilow - American singer-songwriter. Mandy and Copacabana were two of his hits
• Eddy Merckx - Former Belgian racing cyclist, the greatest of all time, born Edouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx 
• Michel Pastoureau - French historian, anthropologist, and author 
• Daniel Schacter - American psychologist
• Igor' Stravinskij (Igor Stravinsky) - Russian-born, first naturalized French later American, composer
• Lee Tamahori - New Zealand filmmaker. He directed Once Were Warriors and, James Bond series, Die Another Day
• Matteo Thun - Italian architect and designer
• Venus Williams - American tennis player, one of the greatest worldwide. She is the sister of Serena Williams