Household names sharing a birthday with Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ son

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds’ son shares a birthday with some illustrious company.

From influential musicians and sports stars, to household names in the worlds of showbiz and popular culture, April 29 boasts an impressive roster of those turning another year older on this date.

Here are a few of them:

Sir Malcolm Sargent
Sir Malcolm Sargent

Sir Malcolm Sargent, born 1895
Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was born in Ashford, Kent, and would become one of the country’s foremost composers. His career included stints as conductor for the likes of the Royal Choral Society and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and he was once said to have continued conducting an orchestra through a World War Two air raid siren, telling patrons they would be safer inside the building than on the streets. He was affectionately known as “Flash Harry” and died aged 72 in 1967.

DUKE ELLINGTON
DUKE ELLINGTON

Duke Ellington, born 1899
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was, alongside the likes of Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane, a pioneer of the American jazz scene. The talented composer and pianist was perhaps best known for Take The A Train and In A Sentimental Mood, and was credited with influencing and defining the Big Band revolution. He died in 1974, aged 75.

UK Theatre Awards – London
UK Theatre Awards – London

Anita Dobson, born 1949
The London-born actress is remembered for the role of EastEnders barmaid Angie Watts during the 1980s. The 1986 Christmas Day EastEnders episode, in which Angie divorced Den, remains the most watched UK TV soap broadcast of all time, with more than 30 million viewers. The former Strictly Come Dancing contestant has also starred on the West End, and enjoyed modest chart success off the back of her EastEnders celebrity by releasing the song Anyone Can Fall In Love, based on the long-running soap’s theme tune. She is married to Queen guitarist Brian May.

The 85th Academy Awards – Press Room – Los Angeles
The 85th Academy Awards – Press Room – Los Angeles

Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, born 1957
The Anglo-Irish Academy Award-winning method actor removed himself from the limelight in 2017, enhancing his reputation for being fiercely private by announcing his retirement from showbiz. Sir Daniel is well known for his powerful performance as Hawkeye in 1992’s The Last Of The Mohicans, and received best actor Oscars for My Left Foot (1990), There Will Be Blood (2008) and for his portrayal of the former US president in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2013). The son of former poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon, he made his screen debut as a teenager in Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) before moving onto a number of memorable period drama roles. He was knighted in 2014 for services to drama.

Phil Tufnell, born 1966
The Hertfordshire-born former cricketer is one of a number of high-profile English sports stars to have made a successful transition from one field of entertainment to another. Tufnell established himself as one of the best spin bowlers in the country but problems on and off the field habitually held back his progress, as he infuriated colleagues with his antics. He went on to win the 2003 series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, earning a legion of new fans with his comedic persona, which helped to cement his place as a fixture on the light entertainment circuit. He dabbles in punditry and can often be seen as a team captain on BBC series A Question of Sport.

57th Cannes Film Festival
57th Cannes Film Festival

Uma Thurman, born 1970
The American actress is well known for her role as The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series, although she received widespread acclaim – and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination – for playing gangland wife Mia Wallace in 1994’s Pulp Fiction. More recently, she moved into television acting, including as a recurring character in US supernatural series Chambers.

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