Portal:Biography

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A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.

Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography.

An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter. (Full article...)

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Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

Image 1

Poe in 1849

Edgar Allan Poe (né Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living by writing alone, which resulted in a financially difficult life and career.

Poe was born in Boston and was the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Poe. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and when his mother died the following year, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but he was with them well into young adulthood. He attended the University of Virginia, but left after a year due to a lack of money. He quarreled with John Allan over the funds for his education and his gambling debts. In 1827, having enlisted in the United States Army under an assumed name, he published his first collection, Tamerlane and Other Poems, credited only to "a Bostonian". Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement after the death of Allan's wife in 1829. Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declared a firm wish to become a poet and writer, and parted ways with Allan. (Full article...)
Image 2

McGill in her laboratory, 1942

Frances Gertrude McGill (November 18, 1882 – January 21, 1959) was a Canadian forensic pathologist, criminologist, bacteriologist, allergologist and allergist. Nicknamed "the Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan" for her deductive skills and public fame, McGill influenced the development of forensic pathology in Canadian police work and was internationally noted for her expertise in the subject.

After completing her medical degree at the University of Manitoba in 1915, McGill moved to Saskatchewan, where she was hired first as the provincial bacteriologist and then as the provincial pathologist. She worked extensively with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local police forces for more than thirty years, and was instrumental in establishing the first RCMP forensic laboratory. She directed the RCMP laboratory for three years, and trained new RCMP recruits in forensic detection methods. After retiring in 1946, McGill was appointed Honorary Surgeon for the RCMP by the Canadian Minister of Justice, becoming one of the first official female members of the force, and she continued to act as a consultant to the RCMP until her death in 1959. (Full article...)
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Francis Ignatius Neale (June 3, 1756 – December 20, 1837), also known as Francis Xavier Neale, was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who led several academic and religious institutions in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. He played a substantial role in the Jesuit order's resurgence in the United States.

Born to a prominent Maryland family, Neale was educated at the Colleges of Bruges and Liège, where he was ordained a priest. When Neale returned to the United States in 1788, he became the pastor of the church at St. Thomas Manor, where he aligned himself with the rural clergy in opposing Bishop John Carroll's founding of Georgetown College, believing it would draw resources away from the Jesuits' rural manors. He would conflict with Carroll over various issues for much of his life. (Full article...)
Image 4
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد الرابع), known as Muhammad IV, (14 April 1315 – 25 August 1333) was the ruler of the Emirate of Granada on the Iberian Peninsula from 1325 to 1333. He was the sixth sultan of the Nasrid dynasty, succeeding to the throne at ten years old when his father, Ismail I (r. 1314–1325), was assassinated.

The initial years of his reign were marked by conflict among his ministers, who vied for control of the young sultan's government. This escalated into a civil war between the party of the vizier Muhammad ibn al-Mahruq and that of the powerful commander of the Volunteers of the Faith, Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula. Uthman declared Muhammad's uncle, Muhammad ibn Faraj, as a rival sultan and secured support from Alfonso XI of Castile (r. 1312–1350), Granada's Christian neighbour to the north. Muhammad IV requested help from Abu Said Uthman II (r. 1310–1331) of the Marinid Sultanate in Morocco and gave him territories in the Iberian Peninsula, including Ronda, Marbella, and Algeciras, probably in exchange for Marinid troops. The civil war ended in 1328 when Muhammad, who despite his youth had begun taking a more active role in government, reconciled with Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula, and ordered Ibn al-Mahruq assassinated; the pretender Muhammad ibn Faraj was sent to North Africa. In 1329 he appointed his childhood tutor Abu Nuaym Ridwan as the hajib (chamberlain), outranking his other ministers; this was the first time the title appeared in the Emirate of Granada. (Full article...)
Image 5

Godsmack performing at Rock im Park in 2019. From left to right: Robbie Merrill, Sully Erna, Shannon Larkin, and Tony Rombola.

Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Sully Erna, bassist Robbie Merrill, lead guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its formation, Godsmack has released eight studio albums, one EP (The Other Side), four DVDs, one compilation album (Good Times, Bad Times... Ten Years of Godsmack), and one live album (Live & Inspired).

The band has released three consecutive number-one albums (Faceless, IV and The Oracle) on the Billboard 200. The band also has 25 top ten rock radio hits, including 18 songs in the top five, and 12 at #1. The band's seventh album, When Legends Rise was released on April 27, 2018. Their eighth and final album Lighting Up the Sky was released on February 24, 2023. (Full article...)
Image 6
A pre-World War I advertisement introduced G Washington's Coffee to the public. Advert from The New York Times, February 23, 1914.

George Constant Louis Washington^[I] (May 20, 1871 – March 29, 1946) was a Belgian inventor and businessman. He is best remembered for his improvement of an early instant coffee process and for the company he founded to mass-produce it, the G. Washington Coffee Company.

An emigrant from his native Belgium, he arrived in the New York area in 1897. He dabbled in several technical fields before hitting upon manufacturing an adapted version of the nascent instant coffee, during a sojourn in Central America in 1906 or 1907. He began selling his coffee in 1909 and founded a company to manufacture it in 1910. Based in New York and New Jersey, his company prospered and became an important military supplier during World War I. The company's products were also advertised in New York newspapers and on the radio. The success of his company made Washington wealthy, and he lived in a mansion in Brooklyn and then moved to a country estate in New Jersey in 1927. In that same year, he lost a dispute with the tax authorities. Washington was married and had three children. (Full article...)
Image 7

Hanna in 1977

William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator, voice actor, and occasional musician who is best known for co-creating Tom and Jerry and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph Barbera, he also founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

Hanna joined the Harman and Ising animation studio in 1930 and steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna met Joseph Barbera. In 1957, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, creating or producing programs such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear. In 1967, Hanna-Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time, the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors. (Full article...)
Image 8

Portrait by W. & D. Downey, 1900s

Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.

The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Edward, nicknamed "Bertie", was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years. During his mother's reign, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He married Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863, and the couple had six children. As Prince of Wales, Edward travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother. (Full article...)
Image 9
The Museum of the Manchester Natural History Society c. 1850, in which Hannah Beswick's mummified body was displayed

Hannah Beswick (1688 – February 1758), of Birchin Bower, Hollinwood, Oldham, Greater Manchester, was a wealthy woman who had a pathological fear of premature burial. Following her death in 1758, her body was embalmed and kept above ground, to be periodically checked for signs of life.

The method of embalming was not recorded, but it probably involved replacing the blood with a mixture of turpentine and vermilion. The body was then put in an old clock case and stored in the house of Beswick's family physician, Dr Charles White. Beswick's apparently eccentric will made her a local celebrity, and visitors were allowed to view her at White's house. (Full article...)
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Sir John Minsterworth (died 1377) was a fourteenth-century English knight from Gloucestershire, who fought in the Hundred Years' War and was executed by King Edward III for treason. Nothing is known of his upbringing (even, for example, when he was knighted or by whom) but he first comes to prominence during the 1370 invasion of France. The war, under the command of the King's son, Edward the Black Prince, was going poorly and had only recently restarted after a nine-year truce. Minsterworth was part of a force sent to relieve the English command in France under the nominal leadership of Sir Robert Knolles, whom contemporaries praised for his military acumen. Landing in the north, Knolles and Minsterworth carved their way to the west of France. There, divisions among the leaders—which may have been present before the campaign began—erupted into mutiny.

Minsterworth may have despised Knolles for his reputation and status, and with others split from Knolles's main force. Much of that force was destroyed in December 1370 by the French army at the Battle of Pontvallain. Minsterworth and a breakaway force made their way to Brittany despite frequent ambushes and French raids, and eventually—albeit seeing most of the remnant of his army massacred on the Breton shore—to England. There he attempted to blame Knolles for the disaster, and although Minsterworth's former commander was found culpable of many of the military mishaps that had occurred, Minsterworth did not escape blame either. (Full article...)
Image 11

Healy in 1882

Patrick Francis Healy (February 27, 1834 – January 10, 1910) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was an influential president of Georgetown University, becoming known as its "second founder". The university's flagship building, Healy Hall, bears his name. Though he considered himself and was widely accepted as White, Healy was posthumously recognized as the first Black American to earn a Ph.D., as well as the first to enter the Jesuit order and to become the president of a predominantly White university.

Healy was born in Georgia to a family that produced many Catholic leaders. His mother was one-eighth Black and his father was a White Irish emigrant. Under Georgia law, Healy's father technically owned his wife and children as slaves. Healy and his siblings were sent north by their father to be educated at the College of the Holy Cross, and Healy continued his higher education in Belgium at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he received his doctorate in philosophy in 1864. He returned to America and started as the chair of philosophy at Georgetown University. (Full article...)
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Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 1894 – 17 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published musical works. He is best known as a composer of songs and other vocal music; he also achieved notoriety in his lifetime through his unconventional and often scandalous lifestyle.

As a schoolboy at Eton College, Heseltine met the British composer Frederick Delius, with whom he formed a close friendship. After a failed student career in Oxford and London, Heseltine turned to musical journalism, while developing interests in folk-song and Elizabethan music. His first serious compositions date from around 1915. Following a period of inactivity, a positive and lasting influence on his work arose from his meeting in 1916 with the Dutch composer Bernard van Dieren; he also gained creative impetus from a year spent in Ireland, studying Celtic culture and language. On his return to England in 1918, Heseltine began composing songs in a distinctive, original style, while building a reputation as a combative and controversial music critic. During 1920–21 he edited the music magazine The Sackbut. His most prolific period as a composer came in the 1920s, when he was based first in Wales and later at Eynsford in Kent. (Full article...)
Image 13

Æthelflæd (from The Cartulary and Customs of Abingdon Abbey, c. 1220)

Æthelflæd (c. 870 – 12 June 918) ruled as Lady of the Mercians in the English Midlands from 911 until her death in 918. She was the eldest child of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith.

Æthelflæd was born around 870 at the height of the Viking invasions of England. By 878, most of England was under Danish Viking rule – East Anglia and Northumbria having been conquered, and Mercia partitioned between the English and the Vikings – but in that year Alfred won a crucial victory at the Battle of Edington. Soon afterwards the English-controlled western half of Mercia came under the rule of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, who accepted Alfred's overlordship. Alfred adopted the title King of the Anglo-Saxons (previously he was titled King of the West Saxons like his predecessors) claiming to rule all Anglo-Saxon people not living in areas under Viking control. In the mid-880s, Alfred sealed the strategic alliance between the surviving English kingdoms by marrying Æthelflæd to Æthelred. (Full article...)
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Louis Rwagasore (Kirundi: Ludoviko Rwagasore; 10 January 1932 – 13 October 1961) was a Burundian prince and politician, who served as the second prime minister of Burundi for two weeks, from 28 September 1961 until his assassination on 13 October. Born to the Ganwa family of Burundian Mwami (king) Mwambutsa IV in Belgian-administered Ruanda-Urundi in 1932, Rwagasore was educated in Burundian Catholic schools before attending university in Belgium. After he returned to Burundi in the mid-1950s he founded a series of cooperatives to economically empower native Burundians and build up his base of political support. The Belgian administration took over the venture, and as a result of the affair his national profile increased and he became a leading figure of the anti-colonial movement.

He soon thereafter became involved with a nationalist political party, the Union for National Progress (UPRONA). He pushed for Burundian independence from Belgian control, national unity, and the institution of a constitutional monarchy. Rwagasore sought to bring UPRONA mass appeal across different regions, ethnicities, and castes, and under him the party maintained a leadership balanced between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis, though the latter were usually favoured for more important positions. The Belgian administration disliked UPRONA and initially attempted to stifle Rwagasore's activities, placing him under house arrest in 1960 during municipal elections. (Full article...)
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Five Go Down to the Sea? were an Irish post-punk band from Cork, active between 1978 and 1989. Vocalist and lyricist Finbarr Donnelly, guitarist Ricky Dineen and brothers Philip (bass) and Keith "Smelly" O'Connell (drums) formed the band as Nun Attax while teenagers. They became known for Donnelly's absurdist, surreal lyrics and stage presence, Dineen's angular guitar and their Captain Beefheart-style rhythm section. The group changed their name to Five Go Down to the Sea? after moving to London in 1983. Their line-up has at times included guitarists Mick Finnegan, Giordaí Ua Laoghaire, Mick Stack, and the cellist Úna Ní Chanainn.

Dineen was influenced by bands such as the Mekons and the Fire Engines and wrote most of the riffs. After achieving a following in Ireland in the early 1980s, they changed their name in 1983 and recorded the Knot a Fish EP. Five Go Down to the Sea? moved to London later that year, where they developed a live following. Although they never secured a recording contract for an album, they released further EPs. They found no commercial success or manager; in 1985, disillusioned with the music scene, they split up. Donnelly and Dineen re-formed in 1988 as Beethoven, and released the EP Him Goolie Goolie Man, Dem the following year. Their re-formation was short-lived, as Donnelly drowned accidentally on 18 June 1989, aged 27. (Full article...)

More featured articles

Did you know... - show different entries

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... that according to artist Tetsuya Nomura, Vanille's attire took inspiration from the Himba people of Namibia?
... that writer Profira Sadoveanu and her novelist father Mihail once had to take turns defending their home against attacks by the Iron Guard?
... that the musician Bou went from being fired from an IT apprenticeship for producing beats during company time to having songs rank on the UK Singles Chart?
... that during the 1960s and 1970s, American artist Robert Bauer painted figures that were a mixture of 20th-century avant-garde funk and 17th-century Dutch realism?
... that Portrait of a Creole Woman with Madras Tignon fetched nearly $1 million at auction despite questions about both its artist and subject?
... that Governor Miguel Barbosa Huerta said that his predecessor's death in office was a punishment from God – and then died in office himself?
... that today the Bishop of Edinburgh plays a ceremonial role at the coronation of Charles III and Camilla as a representative of the Walker Trustees?
... that before discovering a rudimentary audio workstation on his mother's phone, the French musician Lewis OfMan wanted to be a perfumer?
... that Bill Shearer, a leader of the segregationist George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign, also advocated for ballot access for the Socialist Workers Party?

General images

The following are images from various biography-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Eminent Victorians set the standard for 20th century biographical writing, when it was published in 1918. (from Biography)
Image 2A scene from the Baburnama (from Autobiography)
Image 3Einhard as scribe (from Biography)
Image 4Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote Confessions, the first Western autobiography ever written, around 400. Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne, 17th century. (from Autobiography)
Image 5James Boswell wrote what many consider to be the first modern biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson, in 1791. (from Biography)
Image 6Cover of the first English edition of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, 1793 (from Autobiography)
Image 7John Foxe's The Book of Martyrs, was one of the earliest English-language biographies. (from Biography)
Image 8Third volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson (from Biography)

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Selected portrait

Image 1
Mary of Teck
Photo credit: Bain News Service
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of King George V as well as the Empress of India. Before her accession, she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall and Princess of Wales. By birth, she was a princess of Teck, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, with the style Her Serene Highness. To her family, she was informally known as May, after her birth month. Queen Mary was known for setting the tone of the British Royal Family, as a model of regal formality and propriety, especially during state occasions. She was the first Queen Consort to attend the coronation of her successors. Noted for superbly bejewelling herself for formal events, Queen Mary left a collection of jewels now considered priceless.
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Image 2
Aminah Cendrakasih
Photograph credit: Tati Studio; restored by Chris Woodrich
Aminah Cendrakasih (born 29 January 1938) is an Indonesian actress. She started in films in her teens, her first starring role being in 1955. She continued acting into her seventies, appearing in almost 120 feature films during her career, as well as in several television roles. In 2012, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bandung Film Festival, and received another at the 2013 Indonesian Movie Awards.
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Image 3
Sri Mulyani Indrawati
Photo: the International Monetary Fund
Sri Mulyani Indrawati is an Indonesian economist who served for five years as Minister of Finance of Indonesia before being selected as managing director of the World Bank. In 2011 she was ranked as the 65th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.
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Image 4
John Henry Newman
Painting: John Everett Millais
John Henry Newman (1801–90) was a British cleric and leader in the Oxford Movement, a group of Anglicans who wished to return the Church of England to many Catholic beliefs and forms of worship traditional in the medieval times. In 1845 Newman converted to Catholicism, eventually rising to cardinal.
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Image 5
Golda Meir
Photo credit: Marion S. Trikosko, U.S. News & World Report
A portrait of Golda Meir from 1973, during her tenure as Prime Minister of Israel. She was the first (and, to date, only) female Prime Minister of Israel, and was the third female Prime Minister in the world, as well as one of the founders of the State of Israel. Born as Golda Mabovitz, she chose her Hebrew name "Meir" upon her appointment as Foreign Minister in 1956. As Prime Minister, Meir oversaw a tumultuous period in Israeli history, with the War of Attrition, Operation Wrath of God, and the Yom Kippur War, all happening during that time.
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Nataliya Gotsiy
Photo credit: Peter Duhon
Ukrainian fashion model Nataliya Gotsiy modeling for Cynthia Rowley, Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week. She was the winner of the Ford Supermodel of the World 2004 search. She has appeared on the cover of French Elle and Italian Marie Claire and modeled for Behnaz Sarafpour, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries van Noten, Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood, among others.
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Image 7
Ada Lovelace
Painting: Alfred Edward Chalon
Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on using Charles Babbage's planned mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine, and as such she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
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Image 8
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Photo credit: NASA
Elizabeth II is the Queen regnant of sixteen independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though she holds each crown and title separately and equally, she is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom. She is currently the second longest serving head of state in the world.

The 16 countries of which she is Queen are known as Commonwealth Realms, and their combined population is over 129 million. In practice she herself wields almost no political power in any of her realms.
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Image 9
Alexz Johnson
Photo: Epitome Pictures
Alexz Johnson (b. 1986) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress, best known for roles as Jude Harrison in the CTV series Instant Star (character shown here), Annie Thelan in the Disney Channel series So Weird, and as Erin Ulmer in the 2006 horror film Final Destination 3. Her album Voodoo was released in 2010.
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Image 10
Lucy Arbell
Photograph credit: Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden
Lucy Arbell (8 June 1878 – 21 May 1947), was a French mezzo-soprano whose operatic career was largely centred in Paris. Her career was particularly associated with the composer Jules Massenet, who created a number of operatic roles for her before his death in 1912. This carte de visite of Arbell was created by the French photographer Nadar.
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Image 11
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
Image credit: The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was a 19th-century French sculptor and painter who sought to inject movement and spontaneity into his works. This engraving, done to commemorate him after his death, shows his sculpture Flore below him, and others of his works above. In his time, some of his works, particularly La Danse, were criticised as indecent, but today his sculptures are exhibited in major museums of art worldwide.
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Image 12
Dilma Rousseff
Photo: Agência Brasil
Dilma Rousseff is a Brazilian economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil, holding the position from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She was the first woman to hold the office. Previously she was Chief of Staff to the President of Brazil, serving under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from 2005 to 2010. The daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur, she is an economist by training and co-founder of the Democratic Labour Party. She served as Da Silva's Minister of Energy and became Chief of Staff after José Dirceu's resignation amidst scandal. She was elected the presidency in a run-off election on 31 October 2010.
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Image 13
Donald Pleasence
Photo: Allan Warren; Restoration: Peter Weis
Donald Pleasence (1919–1995) was a British film, television and stage actor best known for his roles in You Only Live Twice, where he played James Bond's arch-enemy Dr Blofeld, and The Great Escape, where he drew upon his experience in a German POW camp. He was nominated four times for the Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor in a Broadway play, and made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to the acting profession by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
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Image 14
Al Grey
Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden
Al Grey (June 6, 1925 – March 24, 2000) was an American jazz trombonist who was known for his plunger-mute technique. After serving in World War II, he joined Benny Carter's band, then the bands of Jimmie Lunceford, Lucky Millinder, and Lionel Hampton. In the 1950s, he was a member of the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie before forming his own bands in the 1960s. This photograph by William P. Gottlieb shows Grey still performing into the 1980s.
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Image 15
Daniel O'Connell
Image: Alfred Hoffy; Restoration: Lise Broer
An image of Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847), captioned "The Champion of Liberty". O'Connell was an Irish political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation—the right for Roman Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for over 100 years—and repeal of the Act of Union which combined Ireland and Great Britain. King George III had disallowed Catholics from sitting in Parliament, saying that it would breach his coronation oath to act as protector of Protestantism. Through O'Connell's efforts, Catholic Emancipation was finally passed by Parliament on 24 March 1829.
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On this day – August 19

Births

1631 - John Dryden, English poet (d. 1700)
1646 - John Flamsteed, English astronomer (d. 1719)
1743 - Madame du Barry, French courtesan (d. 1793)
1871 - Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (d. 1948)
1883 - Coco Chanel, French clothing designer (d. 1971)
1902 - Ogden Nash, American poet (d. 1971)
1919 - Malcolm Forbes, American publisher (d. 1990)
1921 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991)
1946 - Bill Clinton, American president
1969 - Matthew Perry, Canadian actor (d. 2023)

Deaths

AD 14 - Augustus, (pictured) Roman Emperor (b. 63 BC)
1580 - Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (b. 1508)
1662 - Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1623)
1819 - James Watt, Scottish inventor (b. 1736)
1929 - Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (b. 1872)
1959 - Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
1968 - George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904)
1977 - Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (b. 1890)
1994 - Linus Pauling, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace (b. 1901)
2001 - Donald Woods, South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist (b. 1933)

More of today's anniversaries...

In the news

13 February 2024 – Estonia–Russia relations: Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas is reportedly placed on the Russian Interior Ministry's register of wanted people due to the country's removal of Soviet War Memorials, making Kallas the first known government leader to be added to a wanted list by Russian authorities. (The Guardian)
4 February 2024 – 66th Annual Grammy Awards: Taylor Swift wins Album of the Year for Midnights, becoming the first artist to win the award four times. She also announces the release of a new album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19. (Variety)
27 January 2024 –: Venezuela's Supreme Court ratifies a ban from seeking any political office for 15 years on María Corina Machado, opposition leader backed by the United States. (Le Monde) (The Economist)
24 January 2024 –: The Constitutional Court of Thailand acquits former Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat for owning shares in the defunct media company iTV, thereby allowing Limjaroenrat to resume serving as a Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives. (AP)
23 January 2024 –: North Korea demolishes the Arch of Reunification in Pyongyang after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ruled out peaceful reunification with South Korea. (NDTV); The Senate of the Philippines' committee on women conducts a public hearing regarding the alleged abuses within the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Three women, two Ukrainian nationals and one Filipino, accuse church leader Apollo Quiboloy of sexually abusing them. (CNN Philippines)

Updated: 6:33, 14 February 2024

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Quote of the week

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't."

— Richard Bach

In Illusions, 1977

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Biography}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.