Gillian Lynne

Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (died 2018)

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Born: February 20, 1926
Died: July 1, 2018
Zodiac sign: Pisces
Birth year: 1926

About Gillian Lynne

Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne (née Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-running shows in Broadway history, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. At age 87, she was made a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 New Year Honours List. The New London Theatre, where the original West End production of Cats played, was officially renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre in 2018. This made Lynne the first non-royal woman to have a West End theatre named after her. Lynne's gift for dancing was discovered by a doctor.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Gillian Lynne was born

Gillian Lynne was born in 1926. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1926

#1 song"Bye Bye Blackbird"
Top movieThe General (Buster Keaton)
Best-selling bookThe Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentGertrude Ederle swims the English Channel
Top headlineA.A. Milne publishes Winnie-the-Pooh
Technology milestoneFirst demonstration of television
Defining fadFlagpole sitting
Notable inventionPop-up toaster
World population2.01 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
U.S. population117.4M

1926 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Gillian Lynne's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1926	2026
Gas	$0.23	$3.45/gal
Average home	$6,000	$435,000
Average income	$3,620	$67,500
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.02	$0.73
Population	117.4M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.