Jean Van Hamme

Belgian author

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Born: January 16, 1939
Age in 2026: 87
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Birth year: 1939

About Jean Van Hamme

Jean Van Hamme is a Belgian novelist and comic book writer. He has written scripts for a number of Belgian/French comic series, including Histoire sans héros, Thorgal, XIII and Largo Winch. Van Hamme's main breakthrough came in 1977, when he created the Viking hero Thorgal for Grzegorz Rosiński, a relatively unknown Polish comic artist. The duo won major awards in the French and Belgian comic book industry. In 1976, Van Hamme became a full-time writer, and in the next few years he published seven novels and some movie scripts, e.g. for Diva.

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

Jean Van Hamme timeline

1976In 1976, Van Hamme became a full-time writer, and in the next few years he published seven novels and some movie scripts, e.g. for Diva.
1977Van Hamme's main breakthrough came in 1977, when he created the Viking hero Thorgal for Grzegorz Rosiński, a relatively unknown Polish comic artist.

The world when Jean Van Hamme was born

Jean Van Hamme was born in 1939. 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 1939

#1 song"Over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland
Top movieGone with the Wind
Best-selling bookThe Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentLou Gehrig delivers his "Luckiest Man" farewell speech
Top headlineGermany invades Poland — World War II begins
Technology milestoneFirst regular television broadcasts in the US (NBC)
Defining fadThe Wizard of Oz mania
Notable inventionNylon stockings
World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population130.9M

1939 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Jean Van Hamme's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1939	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,200	$435,000
Average income	$2,900	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.30	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	130.9M	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. 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.