John Sirica

Profession: US Federal Judge

Nationality:

Why Famous: For his role in the trials stemming from the Watergate scandal.

He did not believe the Watergate burglars claim that they had acted alone and persuaded or coerced most of them to implicate the men who had arranged the break-in.

Eventually Sirica ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over his recordings of White House conversations dooming his presidency.

For his role in Watergate, Sirica was named Time magazine's person of the year in 1973.

Born: March 19, 1904
Birthplace: Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Star Sign: Pisces

Died: August 14, 1992 (aged 88)