Portal:Biography

The Biography Portal

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 unauthorized biography is one written without such permission or participation. 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

Major General Frank Berryman in 1944

Lieutenant General Sir Frank Horton Berryman, (11 April 1894 – 28 May 1981) was an Australian Army officer who served as a general during the Second World War. The son of an engine driver, he entered Duntroon in 1913. His class graduated early after the First World War broke out, and he served on the Western Front with the field artillery. After the war, he spent nearly twenty years as a major.

Berryman joined the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 4 April 1940 with the rank of full colonel, and became General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) of the 6th Division. He was responsible for the staff work for the attacks on Bardia and Tobruk. In January 1941, Berryman became Commander, Royal Artillery, 7th Division, and was promoted to brigadier. During the Syria-Lebanon campaign, he commanded "Berryforce". He returned to Australia in 1942, becoming Major General, General Staff, of the First Army. Later that year, he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff under the Commander in Chief, General Sir Thomas Blamey, who brought him up to Port Moresby to simultaneously act as chief of staff of New Guinea Force. Berryman was intimately involved with the planning and execution of the Salamaua–Lae campaign and the Huon Peninsula campaign. In November 1943 he became acting commander of II Corps, which he led in the Battle of Sio. In the final part of the war, he was Blamey's representative at General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's headquarters and the Australian Army representative at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. (Full article...)
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Giovanni Antonio Grassi (anglicized as John Anthony Grassi; 10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest and Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in Europe and the United States, including Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome.

Born in the Republic of Venice, Grassi was a promising student of mathematics and the natural sciences, especially astronomy. He completed his studies at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, in the Russian Empire, in 1804 and was appointed rector of the Institute for Nobles. The following year, he was ordered to replace the last remaining Jesuit missionary in China; this began a five-year journey across Europe in which he was ultimately unable to secure passage to the distant country. He instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England. (Full article...)
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As lady mayoress of Reigate in 1913

Margaretta "Etta" Louisa Lemon (née Smith; 22 November 1860 – 8 July 1953) was an English bird conservationist and a founding member of what is now the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

She was born into an evangelical Christian family in Kent, and after her father's death she increasingly campaigned against the use of plumage in hatmaking which had led to billions of birds being killed for their feathers. She may have been part of the Fur, Fin and Feather Folk with Eliza Phillips in Croydon and Catherine Victoria Hall in London in 1889, which two years later merged with Emily Williamson's Manchester-based Society for the Protection of Birds (SPB), also founded in 1889. The new organisation adopted the SPB title, and the constitution for the merged society was written by Frank Lemon, who became its legal adviser. Etta married Frank Lemon in 1892, and as Mrs Lemon she became the first honorary secretary of the SPB, a post she kept until 1904, when the society became the RSPB. (Full article...)
Image 4

A statue of Felix (1885) at St Peter Mancroft, Norwich

Felix of Burgundy (died 8 March 647 or 648), also known as Felix of Dunwich, was the first bishop of the kingdom of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom. Almost all that is known about him comes from the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed by the English historian Bede in about 731, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Bede wrote that Felix freed "the whole of this kingdom from long-standing evil and unhappiness".

Felix came from the Frankish kingdom of Burgundy, and may have been a priest at one of the monasteries in Francia founded by the Irish missionary Columbanus—he may have been Bishop of Châlons, before being forced to seek refuge elsewhere. Felix travelled from Burgundy to Canterbury, before being sent by Archbishop Honorius of Canterbury to Sigeberht of East Anglia's kingdom in about 630 (travelling by sea to Babingley in Norfolk, according to local legend). Upon his arrival in East Anglia, Sigeberht gave him a see at Dommoc, possibly at Walton, Suffolk near Felixstowe, or Dunwich in Suffolk. According to Bede, Felix helped Sigeberht to establish a school in his kingdom "where boys could be taught letters". (Full article...)
Image 5

Ruins of Lydford Castle, which was in William's custody

William of Wrotham or William de Wrotham (died c. 1217) was a medieval English royal administrator and clergyman. Although a late 13th-century source says that William held a royal office under King Henry II of England (reigned 1154–1189), the first contemporary reference to William is in 1197, when he became responsible for, among other things, the royal tin mines. He also held ecclesiastical office, eventually becoming Archdeacon of Taunton, and served King John of England as an administrator of ecclesiastical lands and a collector of taxes.

William's main administrative work was naval. He was in charge of the royal fleet in the south of England in 1205, and was one of those responsible for the development of Portsmouth as a naval dockyard. He continued to be involved in naval matters until 1214 or later, but by 1215 he had joined the First Barons' War against John. After John's death in 1216, William returned to the royalist cause. He probably died in late 1217. Known to a contemporary chronicler as one of John's "evil advisers", William is said by modern historians to have had a "special responsibility for ports, customs, and the navy", and was "keeper of ports", a forerunner of the office of First Lord of the Admiralty. (Full article...)
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Messager in 1921

André Charles Prosper Messager (French: [mɛsaʒe]; 30 December 1853 – 24 February 1929) was a French composer, organist, pianist and conductor. His compositions include eight ballets and thirty opéras comiques, opérettes and other stage works, among which his ballet Les Deux Pigeons (1886) and opéra comique Véronique (1898) have had lasting success; Les p'tites Michu (1897) and Monsieur Beaucaire (1919) were also popular internationally.

Messager took up the piano as a small child and later studied composition with, among others, Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré. He became a major figure in the musical life of Paris and later London, both as a conductor and a composer. Many of his Parisian works were also produced in the West End and some on Broadway; the most successful had long runs and numerous international revivals. He wrote two operatic works in English, and his later output included musical comedies for Sacha Guitry and Yvonne Printemps. (Full article...)
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Ruth in 1920

George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", he began his MLB career as a star left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members.

At age seven, Ruth was sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a reformatory where he was mentored by Brother Matthias Boutlier of the Xaverian Brothers, the school's disciplinarian and a capable baseball player. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play Minor League baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs, a feat unusual for any player in the dead-ball era. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with the Red Sox, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919 with 29. (Full article...)
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Tool performing in 2022

Tool is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1990. It consists of vocalist Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor, who replaced founding member Paul D'Amour in 1995. Tool has won four Grammy Awards, performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping charts in several countries.

The band has released five studio albums, one EP and one box set. They emerged with a heavy metal sound on their first studio album, Undertow (1993), and became a dominant act in the alternative metal movement with the release of their follow-up album Ænima in 1996. The group's efforts to combine musical experimentation, visual arts, and a message of personal evolution continued with Lateralus (2001) and 10,000 Days (2006), gaining critical acclaim and international commercial success. Their fifth studio album Fear Inoculum was released on August 30, 2019, to widespread critical acclaim. Prior to its release, the band had sold more than 13 million albums in the US alone. (Full article...)
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Henry Washington Sawyer III (December 23, 1918 – July 31, 1999) was an American lawyer, civil rights activist and politician. Born in Philadelphia, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, afterwards returning to the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Sawyer worked as a corporate lawyer but is best known for his advocacy of civil liberties, especially in First Amendment cases. In Abington School District v. Schempp and Lemon v. Kurtzman, he successfully argued cases on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union before the Supreme Court of the United States that became the basis for all modern Establishment Clause jurisprudence. Sawyer also pursued civil rights causes in Philadelphia and in the South during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Originally a Republican, he was elected as a Democrat to serve a four-year term on the Philadelphia City Council, where he worked for civil service reform and to increase the amount of public art in the city. (Full article...)
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Brigadier General Sir Raymond Lionel Leane, (12 July 1878 – 25 June 1962) was an Australian Army officer who rose to command the 48th Battalion then 12th Brigade during World War I. For his performance during the war, Leane was described by the Australian Official War Historian Charles Bean as "the foremost fighting leader" in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and "the head of the most famous family of soldiers in Australian history", among other accolades. After the war, he served as Commissioner of the South Australia Police from 1920 to 1944, for which he was knighted.

A businessman and part-time Citizen Forces officer before the war, Leane was commissioned into the AIF and led a company of the 11th Infantry Battalion at the landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, on 25 April 1915. He rose to temporarily command his battalion, and was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), awarded the Military Cross, twice mentioned in despatches and wounded three times during the Gallipoli campaign. After returning to Egypt, the AIF was re-organised, and Leane was appointed as the commanding officer of the newly formed 48th Battalion, which soon after was transported to the Western Front in France and Belgium. Important battles that the 48th were involved in under his command included the Battle of Pozières in 1916, and the First Battle of Bullecourt and First Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. During the latter battle, he was severely wounded. During 1916–1917, he was mentioned in despatches three more times, was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George and awarded a bar to his DSO. (Full article...)
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Squadron Leader Pentland in New Guinea, c. 1943

Alexander Augustus Norman Dudley "Jerry" Pentland, (5 August 1894 – 3 November 1983) was an Australian fighter ace in World War I. Born in Maitland, New South Wales, he commenced service as a Lighthorseman with the Australian Imperial Force in 1915, and saw action at Gallipoli. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps the following year, rising to captain. Credited with twenty-three aerial victories, Pentland became the fifth highest-scoring Australian ace of the war, after Robert Little, Stan Dallas, Harry Cobby and Roy King. He was awarded the Military Cross in January 1918 for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty" on a mission attacking an aerodrome behind enemy lines, and the Distinguished Flying Cross that August for engaging four hostile aircraft single-handedly.

Pentland served in the fledgling Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and later the Royal Air Force, before going into business in 1927. His ventures included commercial flying around the goldfields of New Guinea, aircraft design and manufacture, flight instruction, and charter work. In the early 1930s, he was employed as a pilot with Australian National Airways, and also spent time as a dairy farmer. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, he re-enlisted in the RAAF, attaining the rank of squadron leader and commanding rescue and communications units in the South West Pacific. Perhaps the oldest operational pilot in the wartime RAAF, Pentland was responsible for rescuing airmen, soldiers and civilians, and earned the Air Force Cross for his "outstanding courage, initiative and skill". He became a trader in New Guinea when the war ended in 1945, and later a coffee planter. Retiring in 1959, he died in 1983 at the age of eighty-nine. (Full article...)
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Original members, 2006 (L–R: Nathan Foley, Charli Robinson, Kellie Crawford, Kathleen de Leon Jones and Tim Harding)

Hi-5 were an Australian children's musical group formed in 1998 in association with the children's television series of the same name. Helena Harris and Posie Graeme-Evans created the television series for the Nine Network, which premiered in 1999. The group were made up of five performers who entertained and educated preschool children through music, movement and play. Kellie Crawford, Kathleen de Leon Jones, Nathan Foley, Tim Harding and Charli Robinson were the founding members. By the end of 2008, all of the original line-up had left, and the group's membership changed several more times after that. They collectively starred in several television series, released albums, and performed on worldwide tours. The television series features puppet characters Chatterbox and Jup Jup, who were included in the group's live stage shows.

Hi-5 were one of Australia's highest paid entertainment groups, placing in the Business Review Weekly's annual list several times, earning an estimated A$18 million in 2007. As employees of the brand, once owned by the Nine Network, the members of Hi-5 did not hold equity. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified their albums as double platinum (It's a Party), platinum (Jump and Jive with Hi-5, Boom Boom Beat, It's a Hi-5 Christmas) and gold (Celebrate). Four of them reached the top 10 on the ARIA Albums Chart; It's a Party (number four, July 2000), Boom Boom Beat (number three, August 2001), It's a Hi-5 Christmas (number four, December 2001) and Hi-5 Hits (number ten, July 2003). By 2004, the original line-up had received three Logie Television Awards for Most Outstanding Children's Program and five consecutive ARIA Music Awards for Best Children's Album. (Full article...)
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Fuller, c. 1900-10

Melville Weston Fuller (February 11, 1833 – July 4, 1910) was an American politician, attorney, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his tenure on the Supreme Court, exhibited by his tendency to support unfettered free enterprise and to oppose broad federal power. He wrote major opinions on the federal income tax, the Commerce Clause, and citizenship law, and he took part in important decisions about racial segregation and the liberty of contract. Those rulings often faced criticism in the decades during and after Fuller's tenure, and many were later overruled or abrogated. The legal academy has generally viewed Fuller negatively, although a revisionist minority has taken a more favorable view of his jurisprudence.

Born in Augusta, Maine, Fuller established a legal practice in Chicago after graduating from Bowdoin College. A Democrat, he became involved in politics, campaigning for Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential election. During the Civil War, he served a single term in the Illinois House of Representatives, where he opposed the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. Fuller became a prominent attorney in Chicago and was a delegate to several Democratic National Conventions. He declined three separate appointments offered by President Grover Cleveland before accepting the nomination to succeed Morrison Waite as chief justice. Despite some voicing objections over his political past, Fuller was confirmed by the Senate in 1888. He served as chief justice until his death in 1910, gaining a reputation for collegiality and able administration. (Full article...)
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Ramsey as England manager in November 1969

Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he represented the England national team and captained the side, but he is best known for his time as England manager from 1963 to 1974, which included guiding them to victory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Knighted in 1967 in recognition of the World Cup win, Ramsey also managed his country to third place in the 1968 European Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship. As a player, Ramsey was a defender and a member of England's 1950 World Cup squad.

Ramsey was born and raised in a quiet Essex village. He showed sporting promise from an early age and, after serving in the British Army during the Second World War, embarked on a football career, primarily as a right-back. He was considered a rather slow but accomplished player with a tremendous grasp of the tactical side of the game. Nicknamed "The General", he played for England 32 times between 1948 and 1953, captaining the side three times, scoring three times and appearing in the 1950 World Cup. He played his club football for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur and was part of the Tottenham side that won the English League championship in the 1950–51 season. (Full article...)
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Shaw in 1911

George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s to his death and beyond. He wrote more than sixty plays, including major works such as Man and Superman (1902), Pygmalion (1913) and Saint Joan (1923). With a range incorporating both contemporary satire and historical allegory, Shaw became the leading dramatist of his generation, and in 1925 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Born in Dublin, in 1876 Shaw moved to London, where he struggled to establish himself as a writer and novelist, and embarked on a rigorous process of self-education. By the mid-1880s he had become a respected theatre and music critic. Following a political awakening, he joined the gradualist Fabian Society and became its most prominent pamphleteer. Shaw had been writing plays for years before his first public success, Arms and the Man in 1894. Influenced by Henrik Ibsen, he sought to introduce a new realism into English-language drama, using his plays as vehicles to disseminate his political, social and religious ideas. By the early twentieth century his reputation as a dramatist was secured with a series of critical and popular successes that included Major Barbara, The Doctor's Dilemma, and Caesar and Cleopatra. (Full article...)

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... that many North Carolina Farmers' Union members left the organization as a result of leader Henry Quincy Alexander's opposition to American entry into World War I?
... that after becoming a religious leader of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Slaybebtikud united the tribes and established himself as their sole leader?
... that Javanese rebel leader Diponegoro partly blamed his sexual infidelity for his defeat at the Battle of Gawok?
... that Mabel MacFerran Rockwell was the only female engineer to work on designing the electrical systems for Hoover Dam?
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... that in 1976, Carmen Valero became the first female track and field athlete to represent Spain at the Olympics?

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

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Selected portrait

Image 1
Brian Nankervis
Photo: John O'Neill; edit: JJ Harrison
Brian Nankervis (b. 1956), an Australian comedian and writer, shown here during a live performance. Nankervis rose to popularity while playing Raymond J. Bartholomeuz on Hey Hey It's Saturday; since 2005 he has been a host of the gameshow RocKwiz.
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Image 2
Frédéric Chopin
Photo credit: Louis-Auguste Bisson
The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, often incorrectly described as a daguerreotype. It is believed to have been taken in 1849 during the degenerative stages of his tuberculosis, shortly before his death. Chopin, a Polish pianist and composer of the Romantic era, is widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential, admired and prolific composers for the piano. He moved to Paris at the age of twenty, adopting the French variant of his name, "Frédéric-François", by which he is now known.
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Image 3
Sitting Bull
Photo credit: D.F. Barry
Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man. He is notable in American and Native American history in large part for his major victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against Custer's 7th Cavalry, where his premonition of defeating them became reality. Even today, his name is synonymous with Native American culture, and he is considered to be one of the most famous Native Americans in history. Years later, he also participated in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, where he frequently cursed audiences in his native tongue as they applauded him.
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Buffalo Bill
Photo credit: Moffett
William Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill, was one of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, and mostly famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes. He got his nickname for supplying Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with bison meat, having won the name from Bill Comstock in a bison killing contest. In addition to his documented service as a soldier during the Civil War and as Chief of Scouts for the Third Cavalry during the Plains Wars, Cody claimed to have worked many jobs, including as a trapper, bullwhacker, "Fifty-Niner" in Colorado, a Pony Express rider in 1860, wagonmaster, stagecoach driver, and even a hotel manager, but it's unclear which claims were factual and which were fabricated for purposes of publicity.
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Image 5
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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Tōyō Miyatake
Photo credit: Ansel Adams
Portrait of Tōyō Miyatake (1896–1979) by Ansel Adams, 1943. Miyatake was a Japanese American internee and camp photographer at Manzanar War Relocation Camp during World War II. A studio photographer prior to his internment, Miyatake started taking photos at Manzanar with an improvised camera fashioned from parts he smuggled into the camp. His activity was discovered after nine months, but camp director Ralph Merritt supported the endeavor and allowed him to have his stored studio equipment shipped to the camp. Miyatake met and befriended Adams at the camp and in 1979 they published a book together, Two Views of Manzanar.
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Ksenia Semenova
Photo: Bolshoi Sport
Ksenia Semenova (b. 1992) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She was the 2007 World Champion on the uneven bars. At the 2008 European Championships, she was a member of the silver-medal-winning Russian team, as well as champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam. She followed this up by winning the all-around championship at the 2009 European Championships and was part of the gold-medal Russian team at the 2010 European and 2010 World Championships. Injuries have prevented her from competing since then.
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Image 8
George IV
Artist: Sir Thomas Lawrence
An oil on canvas portrait of George IV of the United Kingdom as the Prince Regent, by Sir Thomas Lawrence. In 1814, Lord Stewart, who had been appointed ambassador in Vienna and was a previous client of Thomas Lawrence, wanted to commission a portrait by him of the Prince Regent. He arranged that Lawrence should be presented to the Prince Regent at a levée. Soon after, the Prince visited Lawrence at his studio in Russell Square. Lawrence wrote to his brother that: To crown this honour, [he] engag'd to sit to me at one today and after a successful sitting of two hours, has just left me and comes again tomorrow and the next day.
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Image 9
Edward VI of England
Artist: Unknown, probably of the Flemish School
A portrait of Edward VI of England, when he was Prince of Wales. He is shown wearing a badge with the Prince of Wales's feathers. It was most likely painted in 1546 when he was eight years old, during the time when he was resident at Hunsdon House. Edward became King of England, King of France and Edward I of Ireland the following year. He was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first ruler who was Protestant at the time of his ascension to the throne. Edward's entire rule was mediated through a council of regency. He died at the age of 15 in 1553.
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Image 10
Robin Hunicke
Photo: Charlie Chu
Robin Hunicke (b. 1973) is an American video game designer and producer who worked for several companies before establishing her own, Funomena, in 2011. She also supports independent game development.
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Image 11
Cary Grant
Photograph: RKO publicity photographer; Edit: Chris Woodrich
Actor Cary Grant (1904–86) in a publicity photo for Suspicion (1940). Known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanor and "dashing good looks", Grant is considered one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men. During his 34-year career he acted in over 50 films, including The Eagle and the Hawk, Bringing Up Baby, and North by Northwest.
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Image 12
Knut Steen
Photo: Nina Aldin Thune
Knut Steen (1924–2011) was a Norwegian sculptor based in Italy. Born in Oslo, Steen is best known for his work on the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts with the Danish sculptor Per Palle Storm. There is a museum dedicated to his work located in Sandefjord.
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Image 13
K. T. Thomas
Photograph credit: Augustus Binu
K. T. Thomas (born 30 January 1937) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, known for his strong opinions on Indian socio-political matters. He was selected as a district and sessions judge in 1977, and became a judge of the Kerala High Court in 1985. A decade later, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, on which he served until retiring in 2002. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 2007 for services in the field of social affairs.
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Image 14
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 15
Vincent van Gogh
Painting credit: John Russell
Vincent van Gogh is an oil-on-canvas portrait by Australian painter John Russell, dated 1886. It depicts Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, who became lifelong friends with Russell after meeting him at Fernand Cormon's atelier in Paris, which they both attended. Painted in a realist and academic manner, the portrait shows hints of the impressionist techniques with which they began experimenting in the latter half of the 1880s. It is the earliest of three portraits painted of Van Gogh by his contemporaries, the other two being Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's Portrait of Vincent van Gogh (1887) and Paul Gauguin's The Painter of Sunflowers (1888). Van Gogh seems to have been particularly attached to Russell's portrait, which Russell gifted to him as a mark of their friendship. The painting passed from Van Gogh to his brother Theo and then to their family; it is now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
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On this day – July 19

Births

1834 - Edgar Degas, (pictured) French painter (d. 1917)
1860 - Lizzie Borden, American accused murderess (d. 1927)
1893 - Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian poet (d. 1930)
1898 - Herbert Marcuse, German-born philosopher (d. 1979)
1922 - George McGovern, U.S. Presidential candidate (d. 2012)
1924 - Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (d. 2005)
1941 - Vikki Carr, American singer
1947 - Brian May, English guitarist (Queen)
1960 - Atom Egoyan, Canadian filmmaker
1965 - Stuart Scott, American sportscaster (d. 2015)
1984 - Adam Morrison, American basketball player

Deaths

1814 - Captain Matthew Flinders, English explorer of Australia (b. 1774)
1947 - Aung San, Burmese nationalist (assassinated) (b. 1915)
1965 - Syngman Rhee, first President of South Korea (b. 1875)

Recent days: July 18 – July 17 – July 16

More of today's anniversaries...

In the news

11 July 2025 – Ecuadorian security crisis: Los Choneros gang leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar agrees to a request of Ecuador's National Court for extradition to the United States to face trial for drug trafficking and arms smuggling. (CNN) (Reuters)
10 July 2025 –: In a case concerning regulations requiring the South African athlete Caster Semenya to decrease her natural testosterone levels to be allowed to participate in the female category, the European Court of Human Rights finds that Switzerland violated her right to a fair hearing, requiring the case to be sent back to Swiss courts. (ECHR) (CNN)
8 July 2025 – Treatment of women by the Taliban: The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants against Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Taliban official Abdul Hakim Haqqani over alleged persecution of girls, women and the LGBTQ+ community. (AP)
1 July 2025 – China–Philippines relations: The Chinese government sanctions former Philippine Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino, barring him from entering China, citing his conduct on China-related issues. (Reuters)
26 June 2025 – Ecuadorian conflict: Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa announces the recapture of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, the leader of the Los Choneros cartel and Ecuador's most wanted criminal, in Manta, Manabí Province, after he disappeared from a prison last year. (DW)
21 June 2025 – Belarus–United States relations, Human rights in Belarus: Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko pardons several opposition figures, including opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski, following a deal brokered by U.S. special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg. (Politico)

Updated: 21:05, 18 July 2025

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— Steven Wright

From I Have a Pony, Warner Bros. Records CD (1985)

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