Akabusi was born an Igbo prince in Nigeria, but taken to England as a child, where he went into care when his mother returned to Nigeria. He spent time in a children's home and also had mul... [more]
Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in California. Her parents divorced when she was a young child and she and her brother were sent by their father to live with his mother i... [more]
Anstis began broadcasting while still a comprehensive school-boy in Northampton, where he was born (also representing his county in rugby and cricket). He got a degree in marketing and psyc... [more]
When their parents divorced and abandoned them, Baca, aged two, and his siblings were sent to live with grandparents. By the time he was five his mother had been murdered by her second husb... [more]
Bach was born in Eisenach, the eighth and last child of Johann Ambrosius and Maria Elisabeth Bach. His mother died in 1694 and his father in 1695. The nine-year-old orphan and his brother J... [more]
Bayard and his siblings were adopted by their uncle, John Bubenheim Bayard, when their father died. From 1797 to 1803 he was a member of the US House of Representatives from Delaware, fr... [more]
Laden and Laleh Bijani were born joined at the head, to a poor farming family in Shiraz, Iran. The family had 11 children and were unable to care for them. They remained in hospital for som... [more]
Bird is the founder of The Big Issue, the magazine produced and sold by the homeless in Britain. He was one of six sons of a poor London family. After his parents were evicted from their... [more]
Brown and his twin brother, born in a Miami ghetto, were adopted at six weeks of age by a single woman. He was hyperactive as a child and labeled a slow learner. After high school he bec... [more]
Cain's birth-father is Japanese-Irish and his mother is white; he identifies himself as Japanese, but has never had any contact with his father. His parents were divorced before he was b... [more]