February 26 birthdays
1802 VICTOR HUGO French writer
Hugo was a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and dramatist and wrote in a variety of genres. His most famous novels outside France are Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre-dame.
1829 LEVI STRAUSS American clothing designer
Born in Germany, Strauss travelled to American with his mother and two sisters at the age of 18. Strauss founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm, Levi Strauss & Co, began in 1853.
1878 PAULINE MUSTERS Dutch woman
Born in Ossendrecht, Musters is recognised by Guinness World Records as the shortest woman ever recorded, standing just 61cm tall. She died in New York City at the age of 17.
1880 LIONEL LOGUE
Australian speech therapist
Born in Adelaide, Logue was a speech and language therapist and amateur stage actor. While practising in London, Logue assisted the Duke of York (the future King George VI) manage a stammer. The story is told in the 2010 film The King’s speech.
1932 JOHNNY CASH American musician
Born to poor cotton farmers in Arkansas, Cash rose to fan in the rockabilly scene in Memphis, Tennessee. He has sold more than 90 million albums worldwide. Cash’s career was dramatised in the 2005 biopic Walk The Line.
1945 PETER BROCK Australian racing driver
Brock was most associated with Holden, but also raced BMW, Ford, Volvo, Porsche and Peugeot cars during his career. He won the Bathurst 1000 nine times and the Sandown 500 nine times. brock died after an accident at the Targa West rally in 2006.
1950 HELEN CLARK
New Zealand prime minister Clark served as the 37th
prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 until 2008. She was New Zealand’s fifth longestserving prime minister and the second woman to hold the office. Clark later became the first woman to head the UN Development Programme.