December 31, 1946

1946Roy Greenslade, English journalist and academic^[†]

Roy Greenslade is a British author and freelance journalist, and a former professor of journalism. He worked in the UK newspaper industry from the 1960s onwards. As a media commentator, he wrote a daily blog from 2006 to 2018 for The Guardian and a column for London's Evening Standard from 2006 to 2016. Under a pseudonym, Greenslade also wrote for the Sinn Féin newspaper An Phoblacht during the late 1980s whilst also working on Fleet Street. In 2021, it was reported in The Times newspaper, citing an article by Greenslade in the British Journalism Review, that he supported the bombing campaign of the Provisional IRA. Following this revelation, Greenslade resigned as Honorary Visiting Professor at City, University of London.

1946Bryan Hamilton, Northern Irish footballer and coach^[†]

Bryan Hamilton is a Northern Irish former professional football player and manager. He gained 50 caps for Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1980, and later managed the national team for four years. He later became Technical Director at Antigua Barracuda F.C.

1946Raphael Kaplinsky, South African international development academic^[†]

Raphael Malcolm Kaplinsky is an Honorary Professor at the Science Policy Research Unit and an Emeritus Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. In 2024 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He was an active and well-known opponent to Apartheid in South Africa during the 1960s, and played a leading role in 1968 in the Mafeje affair. Kaplinsky was not allowed to return to his country of birth until Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, after which he played an active role in policy development at the national and regional levels. He spent the bulk of his professional career at the University of Sussex where he led research programmes on industrial and technology policy and on Global value chain. He led and participated in a number of Advisory Missions to governments in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.

1946Pius Ncube, Zimbabwean archbishop^[†]

Pius Alick Mvundla Ncube served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, until he resigned on 11 September 2007. Widely known for his human rights advocacy, Ncube was an outspoken critic of former President Robert Mugabe while he was in office.

1946Lyudmila Pakhomova, Russian ice dancer (died 1986)^[†]

Lyudmila Alekseyevna Pakhomova was a Russian ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With her husband Aleksandr Gorshkov, she was the 1976 Olympic champion, one of the oldest female figure skating Olympic champions.

1946Cliff Richey, American tennis player^[†]

George Clifford Richey Jr. is an American former amateur and professional tennis player who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Richey achieved a highest singles ranking of World No. 6 and reached at least the quarterfinal stage of the singles event at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

1946Eric Robson, Scottish journalist and author^[†]

Eric Bell Robson is a Scottish television broadcaster, author and documentary film maker who has lived for most of his life in Cumbria, where he has a sheep farm. For many years he was the main presenter of Brass Tacks.

1946Nigel Rudd, English businessman, founder of Williams Holdings^[†]

Sir Nigel Rudd, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. In 1982, he founded Williams Holdings, a company which went on to become one of the largest industrial holding companies in the United Kingdom until its demerger in November 2000, creating Chubb plc and Kidde plc. He became the non-executive chairman of Kidde plc until December 2003. He currently presides as chairman of BBA Aviation PLC.