Portal:Biography

The Biography Portal

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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...)

Featured biographies –

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

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  New River Massacre

  
  William Cooley (1783–1863) was one of the first American settlers, and a regional leader, in what is now known as Broward County in the state of Florida. His family was killed by Seminoles in 1836, during the Second Seminole War. The attack, known as the "New River Massacre", caused immediate abandonment of the area by whites.
  
  Cooley was born in Maryland, but little else is known about his life prior to 1813, when he arrived in East Florida, a province of Spanish Florida, as part of a military expedition. He established himself as a farmer in the northern part of the province before moving south, where he traded with local Indians and continued to farm. During the period in which the region was transferred from Spanish to U.S. governance, he sided with natives in a land dispute against a merchant who had received a large grant from the King of Spain and was evicting the Indians from their lands. Unhappy with the actions of the Spanish, he moved to the New River area in 1826 to get as far as possible from the Spanish influence. (Full article...)
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  Mackay in 1941

  
  Lieutenant General Sir Iven Giffard Mackay, KBE, CMG, DSO & Bar, VD (7 April 1882 – 30 September 1966) was a senior Australian Army officer who served in both world wars.
  
  Mackay graduated from the University of Sydney in 1904 and taught physics there from 1910 until 1914, when he joined the Australian Imperial Force shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. He served with the 4th Infantry Battalion at Gallipoli, where he distinguished himself in hand-to-hand fighting at the Battle of Lone Pine. In April 1916, he assumed command of the 4th Infantry Battalion on the Western Front and led it at the Battle of Pozières, Battle of Bullecourt and Battle of Broodseinde. He was promoted to brigadier general in June 1918, and led the 1st Infantry Brigade at the Battle of Hazebrouck, the Battle of Amiens and in the attack on the Hindenburg Line. (Full article...)
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  Sjafruddin in 1947

  
  Sjafruddin Prawiranegara (EYD: Syafruddin Prawiranegara; 28 February 1911 – 15 February 1989) was an Indonesian statesman and economist. He served in various roles during his career, including as head of government in the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia, as Minister of Finance in several cabinets, and as the first Governor of Bank Indonesia. Sjafruddin later became the prime minister of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia, a shadow government set up in opposition to the country's central government.
  
  Originating from Banten with Minangkabau ancestry, Sjafruddin became active in politics after his education in law. By 1940, he was working at a tax office, and joined the nationalist movements during the Japanese occupation period (1942–1945). Due to his closeness to the revolutionary leader Sutan Sjahrir, he was appointed finance minister in the Republican government during the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949). In this capacity, he lobbied for and distributed the Oeang Republik Indonesia, a predecessor currency to the Indonesian rupiah. Despite his socialist views, he joined the Islamic Masyumi party. In December 1948, a Dutch offensive captured the Indonesian revolutionary leaders including President Sukarno, resulting in Sjafruddin activating contingency plans and forming the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia on 22 December. For seven months in West Sumatra, he became the head of government of Indonesia, allowing the government to continue functioning and ensuring continued resistance. (Full article...)
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  Sir Aubrey Melford Steed Stevenson, PC (17 October 1902 – 26 December 1987), usually known as Sir Melford Stevenson, was an English barrister and, later, a High Court judge, whose judicial career was marked by his controversial conduct and outspoken views.
  
  After establishing a legal career in the field of insolvency, Stevenson served during the Second World War as a Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Armed Forces. He was subsequently Judge Advocate at the 1945 war crimes trial of former personnel of the German submarine U-852 for their actions in what became known as the Peleus affair. In 1954 Stevenson represented the government of British Kenya during Jomo Kenyatta's unsuccessful appeal against his conviction for membership of the rebel organisation Mau Mau. Later that year he represented the litigants in the Crichel Down affair, which led to changes in the law on compulsory purchase. In 1955 he defended Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed for murder in the United Kingdom. He was deeply distressed by the execution of Ellis, for whom there had been no defence in law, but whom Home Secretary Gwilym Lloyd George was expected to reprieve. Two years later, Stevenson took part in the unsuccessful prosecution of John Bodkin Adams for the murder of Edith Alice Morrell. (Full article...)
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  Gerhard von Kügelgen's portrait of Friedrich, c. 1808, Hamburger Kunsthalle

  
  Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his allegorical landscapes, which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".
  
  Friedrich was born in the town of Greifswald on the Baltic Sea in what was at the time Swedish Pomerania. He studied in Copenhagen until 1798, before settling in Dresden. He came of age during a period when, across Europe, a growing disillusionment with materialistic society was giving rise to a new appreciation of spirituality. This shift in ideals was often expressed through a reevaluation of the natural world, as artists such as Friedrich, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable sought to depict nature as a "divine creation, to be set against the artifice of human civilization". (Full article...)
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  Charles Stewart, PC (August 26, 1868 – December 6, 1946) was a Canadian politician who served as the third premier of Alberta from 1917 until 1921. Born in Strabane, Ontario, in then Wentworth County (now part of Hamilton), Stewart was a farmer who moved west to Alberta after his farm was destroyed by a storm. There he became active in politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1909 election. He served as Minister of Public Works and Minister of Municipal Affairs—the first person to hold the latter position in Alberta—in the government of Arthur Sifton. When Sifton left provincial politics in 1917 to join the federal cabinet, Stewart was named his replacement.
  
  As premier, Stewart tried to hold together his Liberal Party, which was divided by the Conscription Crisis of 1917. He endeavoured to enforce prohibition of alcoholic beverages, which had been enshrined in law by a referendum during Sifton's premiership, but found that the law was not widely enough supported to be effectively policed. His government took over several of the province's financially troubled railroads, and guaranteed bonds sold to fund irrigation projects. Several of these policies were the result of lobbying by the United Farmers of Alberta (UFA), with which Stewart enjoyed good relations; even so, the UFA was politicized during Stewart's premiership and ran candidates in the 1921 election. Unable to match the UFA's appeal to rural voters, Stewart's government was defeated at the polls and he was succeeded as premier by Herbert Greenfield. (Full article...)
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  Thorpe at Doha GOALS Forum 2012

  
  Ian James Thorpe AM (born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along with fellow swimmer Emma McKeon. With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics, held in his hometown of Sydney.
  
  At the age of 14, Thorpe became the youngest male ever to represent Australia, and his victory in the 400 metre freestyle at the 1998 Perth World Championships made him the youngest-ever individual male World Champion. After that victory, Thorpe dominated the 400 m freestyle, winning the event at every Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships until his break after the 2004 Olympics in Athens. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person to win six gold medals in one World Championship. Aside from 13 individual long-course world records, Thorpe anchored the Australian relay teams, numbering the victories in the 4 × 100 m and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relays in Sydney among his five relay world records. His wins in the 200 m and 400 m and his bronze in the 100 m freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics made him the only male to have won medals in the 100–200–400 combination. He acquired the nickname "Thorpedo" because of his speed in swimming. Thorpe announced his retirement from competitive swimming in November 2006, citing waning motivation; he made a brief comeback in 2011 and 2012. (Full article...)
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  Leyland in 1932

  
  Maurice Leyland (20 July 1900 – 1 January 1967) was an English international cricketer who played 41 Test matches between 1928 and 1938. In first-class cricket, he represented Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1920 and 1946, scoring over 1,000 runs in 17 consecutive seasons. A left-handed middle-order batsman and occasional left-arm spinner, Leyland was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1929.
  
  Born in Harrogate, Leyland came from a cricketing family. After playing locally, he made his Yorkshire debut in 1920, and appeared intermittently in the following two seasons. Although not statistically successful, he impressed judges at the club, and was a regular member of the team from 1923. He steadily improved over the following seasons to reach the fringes of the England team and made his Test debut in 1928 against the West Indies. That winter, he toured Australia – a controversial decision as he replaced the famous batsman Frank Woolley – and scored a century in his only Test of the series. He remained in the side until 1930, but a loss of form in the next two seasons called his place into question. He recovered by scoring 1,000 runs in August 1932 to secure his inclusion in the team to tour Australia in 1932–33. (Full article...)
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  Brigadier General Kenneth N. Walker

  
  Brigadier General Kenneth Newton Walker (17 July 1898 – 5 January 1943) was a United States Army aviator and a United States Army Air Forces general who exerted a significant influence on the development of airpower doctrine. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor in World War II.
  
  Walker joined the United States Army in 1917, after the American entry into World War I. He trained as an aviator and became a flying instructor. In 1920, after the end of the war, he received a commission in the Regular Army. After service in various capacities, Walker graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1929, and then served as an instructor there. He supported the creation of a separate air organization that is not subordinate to other military branches. He was a forceful advocate of the efficacy of strategic bombardment, publishing articles on the subject and becoming part of a clique known as the "Bomber Mafia" that argued for the primacy of bombardment over other forms of military aviation. He advanced the notion that fighters could not prevent a bombing attack. He participated in the Air Corps Tactical School's development of the doctrine of industrial web theory, which called for precision attacks against carefully selected critical industrial targets. Shortly before the United States entered World War II, Walker became one of four officers assigned to the Air War Plans Division, which was tasked with developing a production requirements plan for the war in the air. Together, these officers devised the AWPD-1 plan, a blueprint for the imminent air war against Germany that called for the creation of an enormous air force to win the war through strategic bombardment. (Full article...)
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  Charles Holden, 1946

  
  Charles Henry Holden FRIBA MRTPI RDI (12 May 1875 – 1 May 1960) was an English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the University of London's Senate House. He created many war cemeteries in Belgium and northern France for the Imperial War Graves Commission.
  
  After working and training in Bolton and Manchester, Holden moved to London. His early buildings were influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, but for most of his career he championed an unadorned style based on simplified forms and massing that was free of what he considered to be unnecessary decorative detailing. Holden believed strongly that architectural designs should be dictated by buildings' intended functions. After the First World War, he increasingly simplified his style and his designs became pared-down and modernist, influenced by European architecture. He was a member of the Design and Industries Association and the Art Workers' Guild. He produced complete designs for his buildings including the interior design and architectural fittings. (Full article...)
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  Kevin O'Halloran (3 March 1937 – 5 July 1976) was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s who won a gold medal in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.
  
  The first Western Australian to win Olympic gold, O'Halloran learnt to swim in his hometown of Katanning. He moved to Perth to attend secondary schooling at Guildford Grammar School, where he became more committed to swimming. Competitive swimming was not well developed in Western Australia; races were held in muddy river pools. So in late 1955, O'Halloran moved to the east coast to support his attempt to qualify for the Olympics. His new coach, Frank Guthrie, overhauled his training regimen, and within a year O'Halloran had reduced his times by approximately ten percent. He gained Olympic selection in the relay and the 400-metre freestyle. O'Halloran led off the Australian quartet on the way to a new world record, before placing sixth in the 400-metre. (Full article...)
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  Irataba, c. 1864

  
  Irataba (Mohave: eecheeyara tav [eːt͡ʃeːjara tav], also known as Yara tav, Yarate:va, Arateve; c. 1814 – 1874) was a leader of the Mohave Nation, known as a mediator between the Mohave and the United States. He was born near the Colorado River in present-day Arizona. Irataba was a renowned orator and one of the first Mohave to speak English, a skill he used to develop relations with the United States.
  
  Irataba first encountered European Americans in 1851, when he assisted the Sitgreaves Expedition. In 1854, he met Amiel Whipple, then leading an expedition crossing the Colorado. Several Mohave aided the group, and Irataba agreed to escort them through the territory of the Paiute to the Old Spanish Trail, which would take them to southern California. Noted for his large physical size and gentle demeanor, he later helped and protected other expeditions, earning him a reputation among whites as the most important native leader in the region. (Full article...)
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  John Jordan Crittenden (September 10, 1787  – July 26, 1863) was an American statesman and politician from the U.S. state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and twice served as United States Attorney General in the administrations of William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. He was also the 17th governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislature. Although frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the U.S. presidency, he never consented to run for the office.
  
  During his early political career, Crittenden served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and was chosen as speaker on several occasions. With the advent of the Second Party System, he allied with the National Republican (later Whig) Party and was a fervent supporter of Henry Clay and opponent of Democrats Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. (Full article...)
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  Portrait of Lady Saigō, Hōdai-in, Shizuoka, Japan

  
  Lady Saigō (西郷局 or 西郷の局 Saigō no Tsubone, 1552 – 1 July 1589), also known as Oai, was one of the concubines of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the samurai lord who unified Japan at the end of the sixteenth century and then ruled as shōgun. She was also the mother of the second Tokugawa shōgun, Tokugawa Hidetada. Her contributions were considered so significant that she was posthumously inducted to the Senior First Rank of the Imperial Court, the highest honor that could be conferred by the Emperor of Japan.
  
  During their relationship, Lady Saigō influenced Ieyasu's philosophies, choice of allies, and policies as he rose to power during the late Sengoku period, and she thus had an indirect effect on the organization and composition of the Tokugawa shogunate. Although less is known of her than some other figures of the era, she is generally regarded as the "power behind the throne", and her life has been compared to a "Cinderella story" of feudal Japan. (Full article...)
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  Jagger at BST Hyde Park in 2022

  
  Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer, songwriter, actor, filmmaker, and dancer. He is the front man and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones.
  
  Jagger has written most of the band's songs alongside lead guitarist Keith Richards; their songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in history, and they continue to collaborate musically. His career has spanned over six decades, and he has been widely described as one of the most popular and influential front men in the history of rock music. His distinctive voice and energetic live performances, along with Richards' guitar style, have been the Rolling Stones' trademark throughout the band's career. Jagger gained notoriety for his romantic involvements and illicit drug use, and has often been portrayed as a countercultural figure. (Full article...)

Did you know... -

• ... that Church Clothes 4 deals with Christian hip hop artist Lecrae's faith deconstruction and reconstruction?
• ... that musician John Mayer dismissed Taylor Swift's "Dear John" as "cheap songwriting"?
• ... that Pope Pius IX gave the monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey permission to brew Saint Vincent Beer?
• ... that Glyn Johns was the recording engineer for Led Zeppelin's debut album, the Beatles' Get Back Sessions, and the Rolling Stones album Let It Bleed?
• ... that writer Eliza Bland Smith Erskine Norton married two different men who both lost an arm in battle?
• ... that Gaylord Perry admitted that he had cheated in baseball in his autobiography Me and the Spitter?
• ... that Paul Dini was a writer for both the animated television series Batman: The Animated Series and the video game series Batman: Arkham?
• ... that in 1968, actor Ludovic Antal recited a Romanian nationalist poem in front of tourists from Soviet Moldavia, causing them to flee for their bus for fear of a "provocation"?
• ... that American artist Inez Demonet created watercolors of facial injuries for the War Department?
• ... that at age 12, Shaylee Mansfield became the first deaf actor to be credited alongside the voice actors for a signed performance in an animated production?
• ... that Eudoro Galindo, who was nearly elected Vice President of Bolivia, was also a three-time national fencing champion and a two-time Bolivarian Games bronze medallist?
• ... that Desmond Young's biography of Erwin Rommel was criticised for portraying him as a "blue-eyed god who could do no wrong"?

General images

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

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  Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote Confessions, the first Western autobiography ever written, around 400. Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne, 17th century. (from Autobiography)

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  A scene from the Baburnama (from Autobiography)

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  Cover of the first English edition of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, 1793 (from Autobiography)

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  Third 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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  John Foxe's The Book of Martyrs, was one of the earliest English-language biographies. (from Biography)

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  Einhard as scribe (from Biography)

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  James Boswell wrote what many consider to be the first modern biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson, in 1791. (from Biography)

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  Eminent Victorians set the standard for 20th century biographical writing, when it was published in 1918. (from Biography)

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Get involved

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Selected portrait

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  Raden Saleh

  Painting: Friedrich Carl Albert Schreuel

  Raden Saleh (1811–1880) was a Romantic painter of Arab-Javanese ethnicity from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Born in Semarang, in 1829 he was sent to the Netherlands to study portraiture and landscape painting under artists such as Cornelis Kruseman and Andreas Schelfhout. Upon returning to Java in 1851, Saleh focused predominantly on the day-to-day lives of the Javanese, although he also completed his magnum opus, The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro, in this period.
  
  This painting, though long thought to be a self-portrait, is now attributed to Friedrich Carl Albert Schreuel, a German artist whom Saleh knew during his time in Europe.
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  Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati

  Artwork credit: Jan van Eyck

  The Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati is an oil-on-oak-panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, dating to the 1430s. It is of considerable interest to art historians because van Eyck's preliminary drawing survives. The work depicts Niccolò Albergati, an Italian cardinal and a diplomat working under Pope Martin V, as a visibly ageing cleric, his face seamed with deep lines below the eyes; it is accompanied by notes on the colours to be used in the final painting. A comparison between this drawing and the portrait shows that van Eyck changed several details, such as the depth of the shoulders, the lower curve of the nose, the depth of the mouth and the size of the ear. The finished painting hangs at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, while the drawing is in the collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
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  Louis Pasteur

  Photograph: Nadar; restoration: Chris Woodrich

  Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His medical discoveries provided direct support for the germ theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine. Together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, he is regarded as one of the three main founders of bacteriology.
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  Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana of the Netherlands

  Photo credit: Bain News Service

  Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands with her daughter and successor Princess Juliana, circa 1914. Wilhelmina was queen regnant from 1890 to 1948, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Outside the Netherlands she is primarily remembered for her role in the Second World War, in which she proved to be a great inspiration to the Dutch resistance, as well as a prominent leader of the Dutch government in exile. Juliana became queen regnant in 1948 after her mother's abdication and ruled until her own abdication in 1980, succeeded by her daughter, Beatrix.
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  Jeremy Doyle

  Photo: Sport the Library

  Jeremy Doyle (1983–2011) was an Australian wheelchair basketball player. Left paraplegic after a car accident, he was classified as a 1 point player. While representing his country Doyle won two gold medals, first at the 2009 Paralympic World Cup and again at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship.
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  Wayne Gretzky

  Photo credit: Håkan Dahlström

  Ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, as a member of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1997. Gretzky, nicknamed "The Great One", is widely considered the best hockey player of all time. Upon his retirement in 1999, he held forty regular-season records, fifteen playoff records, and six All-Star records. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season—a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 15 NHL seasons, 13 of them consecutively. He is the only player to have his number (99) officially retired by the NHL for all teams.
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  Enoch Powell

  Photograph: Allan Warren

  Enoch Powell (1912–98), a professor of Ancient Greek by age 25 and brigadier during World War II, took up politics in the late 1940s and in the 1960s was selected for several cabinet positions. In 1968, he gave the "Rivers of Blood" speech about the dangers of immigration to the United Kingdom and of proposed anti-discrimination legislation.
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  Maxim Gorky

  Photo: Herman Mishkin; Restoration: Fallschirmjäger

  Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) was a Russian political activist and writer who helped establish the Socialist Realism literary method. This portrait dates from a trip Gorky made to the United States in 1906, on which he raised funds for the Bolsheviks. During this trip he wrote his novel The Mother.
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  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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  L-to-R: Allan Pinkerton, Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand

  Photo credit: Alexander Gardner

  Allan Pinkerton (left), President Abraham Lincoln (center), and Major General John A. McClernand (right). This photo was taken not long after the Civil War's first battle on northern soil in Antietam, Maryland on October 3, 1862. Pinkerton was the head of Union Intelligence Services at the time. He also, allegedly, foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. His wartime work was critical in Pinkerton's development, which he later used to pioneer the American private detective industry when he formed the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
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  Ida B. Wells

  Photograph: Mary Garrity; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, and an early leader in the civil rights movement. Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells and her family were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Despite losing her parents to yellow fever when she was sixteen, Wells attended Fisk University and became a teacher. Politically active since her youth, she also became a writer on race issues and campaigned against lynching; in this latter capacity she published two influential pamphlets and traveled throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Wells also helped establish the National Association of Colored Women and the National Afro-American Council.
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  Javier Solana

  Photo credit: א

  Dr. Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Secretary-General of both the Council of the European Union (EU) and the Western European Union (WEU). This photograph shows him as he is discussing with students of RWTH Aachen University, one day before receiving the International Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen.
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  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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  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

  Photo: International Monetary Fund

  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (b. 1954) is the current Finance Minister of Nigeria. An economist who earned her degrees at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, she also served as a managing director of the World Bank, and Foreign Minister of Nigeria. She is credited with bringing increased transparency to her country's government, as well as helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating.
• 
  Walt Whitman

  Photograph: George C. Cox; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass (first published in 1855, but continuously revised until Whitman's death), which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

On this day – November 30

Births

• 1667 - Jonathan Swift, Irish writer and satirist (d.1745)
• 1835 - Mark Twain, American writer (d. 1910)
• 1874 - Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965) (pictured)
• 1929 - Dick Clark, American television host (d. 2012)
• 1965 - Ben Stiller, American actor and writer

Deaths

• 1900 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)
• 1996 - Tiny Tim, American entertainer (b. 1932)
• 2003 - Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1906)

In the news

26 November 2023 – 2023 Booker Prize

Irish writer Paul Lynch wins the Booker Prize for his novel Prophet Song. (AFP via RFI)

17 November 2023 – 2023 Israel–Hamas war

An Israeli airstrike kills Ahmad Bahar, a senior leader in Hamas who served as the vice president of the Palestinian Legislative Council. (Times of Israel)

15 November 2023 – APEC United States 2023

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold talks in San Francisco, California, United States, their first meeting in over a year. The talks are described as being positive with "real progress" being made on key issues such as drug trafficking and artificial intelligence. (Reuters)

14 November 2023 – Mali War

The Malian Armed Forces recapture the town of Kidal from Tuareg separatist forces, according to junta leader Assimi Goïta. (AFP via France 24)

13 November 2023 – Philippine drug war

A Regional Trial Court grants bail to opposition leader and former Senator Leila de Lima on her last drug case, ending her six years in detention. (CNN)

13 November 2023 – 2023 Polish parliamentary election

Poland 2050 leader Szymon Hołownia is elected as Marshal of the Sejm. (AFP via Le Monde)

Updated: 6:33, 30 November 2023

Quote of the week

"Blue Moon, now I'm no longer alone,
without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own."

— Lorenz Hart

Blue Moon, 1934

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• 1937 tour of Germany by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
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• Sid Barnes with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
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• Don Bradman with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Caroline Brady (philologist)
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• Political career of John C. Breckinridge
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• Momčilo Đujić
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• Domitian
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• Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick
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• Alec Douglas-Home
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• Marjory Stoneman Douglas
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• Neal Dow
• Roy Dowling
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• Montague Druitt
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• Vance Drummond
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• Du Fu
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• Killing of Muhammad al-Durrah
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• Edmund Evans
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• Exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England
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• Five Go Down to the Sea?
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• Death of Kevin Gately
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• Vincent van Gogh
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• Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet
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• Debora Green
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• Yuzuru Hanyu Olympic seasons
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• Thomas Hardy (Royal Navy officer, died 1732)
• Benjamin Harrison
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• Fairfax Harrison
• George Harrison
• Phil Hartman
• Francis Harvey
• Dominik Hašek
• Lindsay Hassett with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Anne Hathaway
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• Eric A. Havelock
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• Canadian drug charges and trial of Jimi Hendrix
• Death of Jimi Hendrix
• Jimi Hendrix
• Henry I of England
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• Patrick Henry
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• Herman the Archdeacon
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• Herbie Hewett
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• Hi-5 (Australian group)
• Hilary of Chichester
• Clem Hill
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• Lynn Hill
• William Hillcourt
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• Marie Sophie Hingst
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• Jack Hobbs
• Robert Howard Hodgkin
• Philip Seymour Hoffman
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• Charles Holden
• Les Holden
• Tom Holland
• Disappearance of Natalee Holloway
• Stanley Holloway
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• Gustav Holst
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• E. W. Hornung
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• Juwan Howard
• C. D. Howe
• Robert Howe (Continental Army officer)
• Cedric Howell
• Hu Zhengyan
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• Caesar Hull
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• Josh Hutcherson
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• Joaquim José Inácio, Viscount of Inhaúma
• Ine of Wessex
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• Ismail I of Granada
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• Hattie Jacques
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• Jesus
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• John Edward Brownlee as Attorney-General of Alberta
• John, King of England
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• Keith Johnson (cricket administrator)
• Ken "Snakehips" Johnson
• Magic Johnson
• Early life of Samuel Johnson
• Samuel Johnson
• Andrew Johnston (singer)
• David A. Johnston
• Angelina Jolie
• Murder of Dwayne Jones
• George Jones (RAAF officer)
• Peter Jones (missionary)
• Michael Jordan
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• Josquin des Prez
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• Joy Division
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• James Joyce
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• Ted Kaczynski
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• Dimple Kapadia
• Kareena Kapoor Khan
• Sonam Kapoor
• Abdul Karim (the Munshi)
• Robert Kaske
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• J. R. Kealoha
• Maynard James Keenan
• Fred Keenor
• David Kelly (weapons expert)
• Susi Kentikian
• Jomo Kenyatta
• Johannes Kepler
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• Khalid ibn al-Walid
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• Elwyn Roy King
• Bruce Kingsbury
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• The Kinks
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• John Knox
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• Manuel I Komnenos
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• Sandy Koufax
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• Christopher C. Kraft Jr.
• Theodora Kroeber
• Walter Krueger
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• Nodar Kumaritashvili
• Kyla (Filipino singer)
• Leah LaBelle
• Lady Gaga
• Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
• Ruby Laffoon
• Nestor Lakoba
• Mathew Charles Lamb
• Daniel Lambert
• Osbert Lancaster
• Kenesaw Mountain Landis
• Franklin Knight Lane
• Cosmo Gordon Lang
• Angela Lansbury
• George Lansbury
• LaRouche criminal trials
• Brie Larson
• Harold Larwood
• Theodore II Laskaris
• Lat (cartoonist)
• Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale
• Laurence of Canterbury
• Jennifer Lawrence
• Ursula K. Le Guin
• John Le Mesurier
• Lê Quang Tung
• William D. Leahy
• John Leak
• Raymond Leane
• Louis Leblanc
• Faith Leech
• Vivien Leigh
• Émile Lemoine
• Etta Lemon
• Suzanne Lenglen
• Vladimir Lenin
• John Lennon
• Dan Leno
• Helmut Lent
• John Lerew
• Harriet Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville
• Albert Levitt
• David Lewis (Canadian politician)
• Maurice Leyland
• Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná
• Li Rui
• Lie Kim Hok
• Marcel Lihau
• Ernst Lindemann
• Trevor Linden
• Lindow Man
• Ray Lindwall with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Tara Lipinski
• Little Tich
• Marie Lloyd
• Stefan Lochner
• Angel Locsin
• Kellie Loder
• Carl Hans Lody
• Huey Long
• James B. Longacre
• William de Longchamp
• James Longstreet
• Joseph A. Lopez
• Lorde
• Prince Louis of Battenberg
• Courtney Love
• Jim Lovell
• Edward Low
• James Russell Lowell
• Sam Loxton
• Sam Loxton with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan
• Shannon Lucid
• Steve Lukather
• Glynn Lunney
• Luo Yixiu
• Roberto Luongo
• Witold Lutosławski
• Marcus Ward Lyon Jr.
• Douglas MacArthur's escape from the Philippines
• James Whiteside McCay
• Douglas MacArthur
• Charlie Macartney
• George Macaulay
• Angus Lewis Macdonald
• John A. Macdonald
• Gregor MacGregor
• Iven Mackay
• William Lyon Mackenzie
• Aeneas Mackintosh
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• James Madison
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• Gustav Mahler
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• Malcolm X
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• Haane Manahi
• Manchester Mummy
• Nelson Mandela
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• John Manners (cricketer)
• Olivia Manning
• Shaylee Mansfield
• Marcian
• Margaret (singer)
• Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil
• Clements Markham
• John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
• Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
• Francis Marrash
• Jack Marsh
• Bob Marshall (wilderness activist)
• Thomas R. Marshall
• Billy Martin
• Martinus (son of Heraclius)
• Marwan I
• Mary II of England
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• Herbert Maryon
• Evelyn Mase
• George Mason
• Jules Massenet
• Frank Matcham
• Empress Matilda
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• William Matthews (priest)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• Maximian
• Murray Maxwell
• Jimmy McAleer
• Early life and military career of John McCain
• John McCain
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• Paul McCartney
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• Barbara McClintock
• James B. McCreary
• Lanny McDonald
• Frank McGee (ice hockey)
• Frances Gertrude McGill
• John McGraw
• William McGregor (football)
• William McKinley
• Lesley J. McNair
• Frank McNamara (RAAF officer)
• H. C. McNeile
• Harry McNish
• William McSherry
• Ian Dougald McLachlan
• Alan McNicoll
• Ian Meckiff
• Ezra Meeker
• Jacobus Anthonie Meessen
• Megadeth
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• Manon Melis
• Mellitus
• Danie Mellor
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Menkauhor Kaiu
• Ulf Merbold
• Mercury Seven
• Meshuggah
• André Messager
• Olivier Messiaen
• Metallica
• Bob Meusel
• August Meyszner
• Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident
• Simonie Michael
• Khalid al-Mihdhar
• Military service of Ian Smith
• Harvey Milk
• Keith Miller with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Kylie Minogue
• John Minsterworth
• Nancy Mitford
• Muhammad I of Granada
• Arthur Mold
• Emery Molyneux
• Marilyn Monroe
• Madeline Montalban
• Pierre Monteux
• Claudio Monteverdi
• George Moore (novelist)
• James Moore (Continental Army officer)
• Julianne Moore
• Fred Moosally
• Emanuel Moravec
• Howie Morenz
• Sandra Morgan
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• Olive Morris
• Edwin P. Morrow
• Meinhard Michael Moser
• Benjamin Mountfort
• Mozart in Italy
• Mu'awiya I
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• Muhammad II of Granada
• Muhammad III of Granada
• Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid
• Muhammad IV of Granada
• Rani Mukerji
• Mukhtar al-Thaqafi
• Samuel Mulledy
• Thomas F. Mulledy
• Baron Munchausen