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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  Albert Pierrepoint (/ˈpɪərpɔɪnt/; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
  
  Pierrepoint was born in Clayton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His family struggled financially because of his father's intermittent employment and heavy drinking. Pierrepoint knew from an early age that he wanted to become a hangman, and was taken on as an assistant executioner in September 1932, aged 27. His first execution was in December that year, alongside his uncle Tom. In October 1941 he undertook his first hanging as lead executioner. (Full article...)
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  Stefani performing with No Doubt in 2015

  
  Gwen Renée Stefani (/stəˈfɑːni/; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
  
  During the band's hiatus, Stefani embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was a critical and commercial success. It spawned six singles, including "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", "Hollaback Girl", and "Cool". "Hollaback Girl" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while also becoming the first US download to sell one million copies. In 2006, Stefani released her second studio album, The Sweet Escape. Among the singles were "Wind It Up" and "The Sweet Escape", the latter of which was number three on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart of 2007. Her third solo album, This Is What the Truth Feels Like (2016), was her first solo album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Her fourth solo album and first full-length Christmas album, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, was released in 2017 and charted 19 tracks on Billboard's Holiday Digital Song Sales component chart in the United States. Stefani has released several singles with Blake Shelton, including "Nobody but You" (2020), which reached number 18 in the US. (Full article...)
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  Brigadier Neil Hamilton Fairley

  
  Brigadier Sir Neil Hamilton Fairley, KBE, CStJ, FRACP, FRCP, FRCPE, FRS (15 July 1891 – 19 April 1966) was an Australian physician, medical scientist, and army officer who was instrumental in saving thousands of Allied lives from malaria and other diseases.
  
  A graduate of the University of Melbourne, Fairley joined the Australian Army Medical Corps in 1915. He investigated an epidemic of meningitis that was occurring in Army camps in Australia. While with the 14th General Hospital in Cairo, he investigated schistosomiasis (then known as bilharzia) and developed tests and treatments for the disease. In the inter-war period he became renowned as an expert on tropical medicine. (Full article...)
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  Portrait labelled "AUGUSTINUS" from the mid-8th century Saint Petersburg Bede, though perhaps intended as Gregory the Great.

  
  Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century – most likely 26 May 604) was a Christian monk who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founding figure of the Church of England.
  
  Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to Christianize King Æthelberht and his Kingdom of Kent from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Kent was likely chosen because Æthelberht commanded major influence over neighbouring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in addition to his marriage to Bertha, a Frankish princess, who was expected to exert some influence over her husband. Before reaching Kent, the missionaries had considered turning back, but Gregory urged them on, and in 597, Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury. (Full article...)
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  Colossal granite statue of Atlanersa from his Osiris-Dedwen temple at Jebel Barkal, now in the National Museum of Sudan

  
  Atlanersa (also Atlanarsa) was a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, reigning for about a decade in the mid-7th century BC. He was the successor of Tantamani, the last ruler of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, and possibly a son of Taharqa or less likely of Tantamani, while his mother was a queen whose name is only partially preserved. Atlanersa's reign immediately followed the collapse of Nubian control over Egypt, which witnessed the Assyrian conquest of Egypt and then the beginning of the Late Period under Psamtik I. The same period also saw the progressive cultural integration of Egyptian beliefs by the Kushite civilization.
  
  Atlanersa may have fathered his successor Senkamanisken with his consort Malotaral, although Senkamanisken could also be his brother. He built a pyramid in the necropolis of Nuri, now conjecturally believed to be Nuri 20 and may also have started a funerary chapel in the same necropolis, now called Nuri 500. Atlanersa was the second Nubian king to build a pyramid in Nuri after Taharqa. Excavations of his pyramid produced many small artefacts which are now on display in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, US. Atlanersa's most-prominent construction is his temple to the syncretic god Osiris-Dedwen in Jebel Barkal called B700, which he finished and had time to only partially decorate. This suggests that he died unexpectedly. The temple entrance was to be flanked with two colossal statues of the king, one of which was completed and set in place and is now in the National Museum of Sudan. (Full article...)
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  Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have been translated into ninety languages. As of June 2019, Blyton held 4th place for the most translated author. She wrote on a wide range of topics, including education, natural history, fantasy, mystery, and biblical narratives. She is best remembered today for her Noddy, Famous Five, Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers, and Malory Towers books, although she also wrote many others, including the St. Clare's, The Naughtiest Girl, and The Faraway Tree series.
  
  Her first book, Child Whispers, a 24-page collection of poems, was published in 1922. Following the commercial success of her early novels, such as Adventures of the Wishing-Chair (1937) and The Enchanted Wood (1939), Blyton went on to build a literary empire, sometimes producing fifty books a year in addition to her prolific magazine and newspaper contributions. Her writing was unplanned and sprang largely from her unconscious mind; she typed her stories as events unfolded before her. The sheer volume of her work and the speed with which she produced it led to rumours that Blyton employed an army of ghost writers, a charge she vigorously denied. (Full article...)
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  PT-32, one of the four PT-20 class motor torpedo boats involved in the first part of the journey

  
  
  On 11 March 1942, during World War II, General Douglas MacArthur and members of his family and staff left the Philippine island of Corregidor and his forces, which were surrounded by the Japanese. They traveled in PT boats through stormy seas patrolled by Japanese warships and reached Mindanao two days later. From there, MacArthur and his party flew to Australia in a pair of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, ultimately arriving in Melbourne by train on 21 March. In Australia, he declared, "I came through and I shall return".
  
  MacArthur was a well-known and experienced officer with a distinguished record in World War I, who had retired from the United States Army in 1937 and had become a defense advisor to the Philippine government. He was recalled to active duty with the United States Army in July 1941, a few months before the outbreak of the Pacific War between the United States and the Empire of Japan, to become commander of United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), uniting the Philippine and United States Armies under one command. (Full article...)
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  James William Humphreys (7 January 1930 – September 2003) was an English businessman and criminal who owned a chain of adult book shops and strip clubs in London in the 1960s and 1970s. He was able to run his business through the payment of large bribes to serving police officers, particularly those from the Obscene Publications Branch (OPB) of the Metropolitan Police. His diaries—which detailed meetings he had held with police officers, the venues of the meetings and the amounts of bribes paid—provided evidence for the investigation by anti-corruption officers of the Metropolitan Police.
  
  Humphreys became involved in petty crime early in life, and was first arrested at the age of 15. The severity of his crimes increased over time and, in March 1958, he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment after using explosives to open a safe and steal £8,260 in money and postal orders. On his release he opened a strip club in Soho, the centre of London's sex industry. As Humphreys expanded his business and moved into other areas of the sex industry—sex shops and book shops selling obscene material—he had to bribe an increasing number of officers to be able to operate. (Full article...)
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  Portrait from studio of Godfrey Kneller, 1714

  
  George I (George Louis; German: Georg Ludwig; 28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Electorate of Hanover within the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover.
  
  Born in Hanover to Ernest Augustus and Sophia of Hanover, George inherited the titles and lands of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg from his father and uncles. In 1682, he married his cousin Sophia Dorothea of Celle, with whom he had two children; he also had three daughters with his mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg. George and Sophia Dorothea divorced in 1694. A succession of European wars expanded George's German domains during his lifetime; he was ratified as prince-elector of Hanover in 1708. As the senior Protestant descendant of James VI and I, his great-grandfather, George inherited the British throne following the deaths in 1714 of his mother, Sophia, and his second cousin Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Jacobites attempted, but failed, to depose George and replace him with James Francis Edward Stuart, Anne's Catholic half-brother. (Full article...)
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  Groves in 1948

  
  Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (17 August 1896 – 13 July 1970) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project, a top secret research project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II.
  
  The son of a U.S. Army chaplain, Groves lived at various Army posts during his childhood. In 1918, he graduated fourth in his class at the United States Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned into the United States Army Corps of Engineers. In 1929, he went to Nicaragua as part of an expedition to conduct a survey for the Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal. Following the 1931 earthquake, Groves took over Managua's water supply system, for which he was awarded the Nicaraguan Presidential Medal of Merit. He attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1935 and 1936, and the Army War College in 1938 and 1939, after which he was posted to the War Department General Staff. Groves developed "a reputation as a doer, a driver, and a stickler for duty". In 1940 he became special assistant for construction to the Quartermaster General, tasked with inspecting construction sites and checking on their progress. In August 1941, he was appointed to create the gigantic office complex for the War Department's 40,000 staff that would ultimately become the Pentagon. (Full article...)
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  Official RAAF portrait of Sir Colin Hannah

  
  Air Marshal Sir Colin Thomas Hannah, KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB (22 December 1914 – 22 May 1978) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and a Governor of Queensland. Born in Western Australia, he was a member of the Militia before joining the RAAF in 1935. After graduating as a pilot, Hannah served in Nos. 22 and 23 Squadrons from 1936 to 1939. During the early years of World War II, he was the RAAF's Deputy Director of Armament. He then saw action in the South West Pacific as commander of No. 6 Squadron and, later, No. 71 Wing, operating Bristol Beaufort bombers. By 1944, he had risen to the rank of group captain, and at the end of the war was in charge of Western Area Command in Perth.
  
  Hannah commanded RAAF Station Amberley, Queensland, in 1949–50, and saw service during the Malayan Emergency as senior air staff officer at RAF Far East Air Force Headquarters, Singapore, from 1956 to 1959. His other post-war appointments included Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1961 to 1965, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Operational Command from 1965 to 1967, and AOC Support Command from 1968 to 1969. In January 1970, he was promoted to air marshal and became Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), the RAAF's senior position. Knighted in 1971, Hannah concluded his three-year appointment as CAS a year early, in March 1972, to become Governor of Queensland. He attracted controversy in this role after making comments critical of the Federal government of the day, and the British government refused to agree to his term being extended. Hannah retired in March 1977, and died the following year. (Full article...)
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  Tōru Takemitsu (武満 徹, pronounced [takeꜜmitsɯ̥ toːɾɯ]; 8 October 1930 – 20 February 1996) was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.
  
  He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. He was also a founding member of the Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop) in Japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century. (Full article...)
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  Mathew Charles "Matt" Lamb (5 January 1948 – 7 November 1976) was a Canadian spree killer who, in 1967, avoided Canada's then-mandatory death penalty for capital murder by being found not guilty by reason of insanity. Abandoned by his teenage mother soon after his birth in Windsor, Ontario, Lamb had an abusive upbringing at the hands of his step-grandfather, leading him to become emotionally detached from his relatives and peers. He developed violent tendencies that manifested themselves in his physical assault of a police officer at the age of 16 in February 1964, and his engaging in a brief shoot-out with law enforcement ten months later. After this latter incident he spent 14 months, starting in April 1965, at Kingston Penitentiary, a maximum security prison in eastern Ontario.
  
  Seventeen days after his release from jail in June 1966, Lamb took a shotgun from his uncle's house and went on a shooting spree around his East Windsor neighborhood, killing two strangers and wounding two others. He was charged with capital murder, which under the era's Criminal Code called for a mandatory death penalty, but he avoided this fate when the court found, in January 1967, that he had not been sane at the time of the incident. He was committed for an indefinite time in a psychiatric unit. Over the course of six years in care at Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre's Oak Ridge facility he displayed a profound recovery, prompting an independent five-man committee to recommend to the Executive Council of Ontario that he be released, saying that he was no longer a danger to society. The Council approved Lamb's release in early 1973 on the condition that he spend a year living and working under the supervision of one of Oak Ridge's top psychiatrists, Elliot Barker. (Full article...)
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  Filatov in 2010

  
  Nikita Vasilyevich Filatov (Никита Васильевич Филатов; born May 25, 1990) is a Russian former professional ice hockey left winger who played in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Prior to 2012, Filatov played in North America for the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL).
  
  At the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Filatov was selected sixth overall by the Blue Jackets. Filatov was the top-ranked European skater by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. Filatov played two seasons with the Blue Jackets organization. During the 2009–10 season, Filatov was unhappy with his situation in Columbus and was loaned to CSKA Moscow for the remainder of the season. At the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, the Blue Jackets then traded him to Ottawa in exchange for a third-round draft pick. In December 2011, the Senators loaned Filatov to CSKA Moscow for the balance of the 2011–12 season. The following season, Filatov signed with Salavat Yulaev. The Senators chose not to tender Filatov a qualifying offer, making him a free agent. (Full article...)
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  Sumitro in 1954

  
  Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (EVO: Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo 29 May 1917 – 9 March 2001) was an Indonesian statesman and one of the country's most influential economists. He held ministerial positions under Presidents Sukarno and Suharto intermittently between 1950 and 1978. During his career in government, Sumitro served as Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Research in five different cabinets. He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia.
  
  Born into a Javanese family, he studied economics at the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and remained there throughout World War II. Returning to Indonesia after the war, he was assigned to the country's diplomatic mission in the United States, where he sought to raise funds and garner international attention in the struggle against Dutch colonialism. After the handover of sovereignty as a result of the 1949 Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference, in which he took part, he joined the Socialist Party and became Minister for Trade and Industry in the Natsir Cabinet. He implemented the protectionist Benteng program, and developed an economic plan which aimed for national industrialization. Sumitro further served as finance minister in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Wilopo and Burhanuddin Harahap during the Sukarno era. During the 1950s, Sumitro favoured foreign investment, an unpopular position at that time which brought him into conflict with Nationalists and Communists. (Full article...)

Did you know... -

• ... that Lucy Salani is considered the only known Italian transgender person to survive the Nazi concentration camps?
• ... that British communist leader Trevor Carter was the stage manager for the first British-Caribbean carnival, held in St Pancras Town Hall?
• ... that episodes of Angel, Lost, and The Office inspired the writer of The Flash series finale?
• ... that the parliamentary sign-language interpreter could not make out what South African MP Joan Fubbs tried to say in her tribute to President Cyril Ramaphosa?
• ... that rebel leader Sam Magara was killed when he ventured into a city to visit a dentist?
• ... that Shawnee leader Kekewepelethy used Daniel Boone as an intermediary in a prisoner exchange?
• ... that artist Bernard Walter Evans' Bolton Abbey in the Snow was painted outdoors in "something like Arctic conditions"?
• ... that Moenadi was reportedly offered the post of Governor of Central Java during a flight?
• ... that American educator Gilbert Eastman, who acted in and wrote American Sign Language plays, won an Emmy Award in 1993?
• ... that Carrie Jenkins Harris, the North American writer who died in 1903, should not be confused with Carrie Jenkins Harris, the North American writer and editor who died in 1903?
• ... that when reggae musician Bob Marley was arrested in London for cannabis possession, he falsely told the police he lived in Collingham Gardens?
• ... that artist Joan Brigham is best known for her work with steam?

General images

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

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

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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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  A scene from the Baburnama (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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Get involved

For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Biography-related articles, see WikiProject Biography.

Selected portrait

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  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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  Jeff Dunham

  Photograph: Richard Mclaren

  American ventriloquist and stand-up comedian Jeff Dunham with his puppet "Achmed the Dead Terrorist". Dunham, whose puppets Time magazine has described as "politically incorrect, gratuitously insulting and ill tempered", uses Achmed to satirize terrorists.
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  Frank Sinatra

  Photo: William P. Gottlieb

  American singer Frank Sinatra (1915–98) in 1947, at the Liederkrantz Hall in New York. Sinatra began his career in 1935, reaching unprecedented success after being signed by Columbia Records in 1943. After a lull in the late 1940s, his career regained new vigor in the 1950s.
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  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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  Frances Densmore

  Photo: Harris & Ewing; Restoration: Michel Vuijlsteke

  Frances Densmore (left) and Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief during a recording session for the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1916. Densmore (1867–1957) was an American ethnographer and ethnomusicologist who worked to document the music of Native Americans in the United States and its use in their cultures. She helped preserve their culture in a time when white settlers were encouraging Native Americans to become Americanized.
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  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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  Stephen Merchant

  Photo: Carolyn Djanogly

  Stephen Merchant (b. 1974) is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, with whom he co-wrote and co-directed the popular British sitcom The Office, co-hosts The Ricky Gervais Show, and co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in Extras.
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  Chandos portrait

  Artist: Attributed to John Taylor

  The Chandos portrait is a famous painting believed to depict William Shakespeare, and is named after James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, who owned the portrait. It has not been possible to solve the question of who painted the portrait or whether it really depicts Shakespeare. However, in 2006 the National Portrait Gallery in London concluded that the Chandos portrait was the most likely to be a representation of Shakespeare.
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  Alice Paul

  Photograph credit: Harris & Ewing; restored by Adam Cuerden

  Alice Paul was an American suffragist, feminist, and women's-rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote. Along with Lucy Burns and others, she strategized events such as the Woman Suffrage Procession and the Silent Sentinels as part of the successful campaign that resulted in the amendment's passage on August 18, 1920. This photograph of Paul was taken in 1915 by the Harris & Ewing photographic studio in Washington, D.C.
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  Morgan Pressel

  Photograph: Keith Allison; Edit: Brandmeister

  American professional golfer Morgan Pressel, who first qualified for the Women's Open at age 12. Pressel had her first victory in the Kraft Nabisco Championship in 2007. She made her first professional hole-in-one, an eagle, at that year's Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic.
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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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  Francisco Goya

  Painting: Vicente López y Portaña

  Francisco Goya (1746–1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. This portrait was completed when Goya was 80 years old.
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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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  Mark Twain

  Photo credit: Unknown

  A portrait of American writer Samuel Clemens, best known by his pen name Mark Twain, in his later years. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain enjoyed immense public popularity, and his keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. Fellow author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature".
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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.

On this day – September 27

Births

• 1389 - Cosimo de Medici, ruler of Florence (d. 1464)
• 1722 - Samuel Adams, American revolutionary leader (d. 1803)
• 1824 - William "Bull" Nelson, American Civil War general (d. 1862)
• 1871 - Grazia Deledda, Italian writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1936)
• 1894 - Lothar von Richthofen German pilot (d. 1922)
• 1918 - Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer, Nobel laureate (d. 1984)
• 1934 - Wilford Brimley, American actor (d. 2020)
• 1942 - Alvin Stardust, English singer (d. 2014)
• 1947 - Meat Loaf, American singer (d. 2022) (pictured)
• 1972 - Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
• 1978 - Jon Rauch, American baseball player
• 1980 - Asashoryu, Mongolian sumo wrestler

Deaths

• 1917 - Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
• 1921 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
• 1960 - Sylvia Pankhurst, English suffragette (b. 1882)
• 1965 - Clara Bow, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1975 - Jack Lang, Australian politician (b. 1876)
• 1996 - Mohammad Najibullah, President of Afghanistan (b. 1947)

In the news

16 March 2022 – China–United States relations, Chinese espionage in the United States

Prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department accuse five people working on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security of conspiring to spy on and intimidate several dissidents living in the United States, such as the father of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu, and Tiananmen Square protest leader and current congressional candidate Xiong Yan. The department says it is the first time that federal elections in the country have been interfered with in this manner. Three have been arrested while two remain at large. (The Guardian) (BBC News)

15 March 2022 –

Burkinabè architect Diébédo Francis Kéré wins the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize, becoming the first African and black person to do so. (The Guardian)

11 March 2022 – Protests against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny renews calls for anti-war and anti-Putin protests in cities across Russia. (Reuters)

11 March 2022 –

Gabriel Boric is sworn-in as President of Chile, becoming the youngest person to serve as President. (Reuters)

10 March 2022 – 2022 South Korean presidential election

Conservative opposition leader Yoon Suk-yeol is confirmed as the winner of yesterday's presidential election with 48.59% of the vote. He will take office as President of South Korea on May 10. (BBC News)

8 March 2022 – Aftermath of the 2021 United States Capitol attack

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is indicted on conspiracy charges of obstructing the U.S. Congress during the January 6 attack at the United States Capitol. (Politico)

Updated: 1:33, 20 March 2022

Quote of the week

"When are you people going to learn? It's not about who's right or wrong. No denomination's nailed it yet, and they never will because they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter what you have faith in, just that you have faith. Your hearts are in the right place, but your brains need to wake up. I have issues with anyone who treats faith as a burden instead of a blessing. You people don't celebrate your faith; you mourn it."

— Kevin Smith

Said by the character Serendipity in Dogma

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• 1937 tour of Germany by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
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• Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield
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• Atlanersa
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• Sid Barnes with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Natalie Clifford Barney
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• Basiliscus
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• Billy Bates (baseball)
• Arnold Bax
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• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the Belyayev circle
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• James E. Boyd (scientist)
• Juan Davis Bradburn
• Bessie Braddock
• Guy Bradley
• William O'Connell Bradley
• Don Bradman
• Don Bradman with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Caroline Brady (philologist)
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• Lester Brain
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• John C. Breckinridge
• Political career of John C. Breckinridge
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• Clarence 13X
• Dudley Clarke
• Rebecca Clarke (composer)
• Clement of Dunblane
• Cleopatra
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• Cleopatra Selene of Syria
• Frances Cleveland
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• Henry Clifford, 10th Baron Clifford
• Kim Clijsters
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• Coenwulf of Mercia
• Adrian Cole (RAAF officer)
• Paul Collingwood
• A. E. J. Collins
• Martha Layne Collins
• Michael Collins (astronaut)
• Bert Combs
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• Constantine II of Scotland
• Constantine III (Western Roman emperor)
• Learie Constantine
• Constantine (son of Basil I)
• Constantine (son of Theophilos)
• Henry Conwell
• William Cooley
• Calvin Coolidge
• Bradley Cooper
• Gary Cooper
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• Edward Drinker Cope
• William de Corbeil
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• Corinna
• Walter de Coutances
• Stan Coveleski
• Walter de Coventre
• Noël Coward
• William Cragh
• Ian Craig
• Stephen Crane
• Thomas Cranmer
• Jack Crawford (cricketer)
• O. G. S. Crawford
• Tom Crean (explorer)
• Dick Cresswell
• Thomas Crisp
• John J. Crittenden
• Ben Crosby
• C. R. M. F. Cruttwell
• Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope
• Urse d'Abetot
• Roderic Dallas
• Damageplan
• Edward Dando
• Edward Thomas Daniell
• Richard Dannatt
• Charles Darwin
• Homer Davenport
• Phillip Davey
• David I of Scotland
• Elizabeth David
• David (son of Heraclius)
• Harold Davidson
• Randall Davidson
• Russell T Davies
• S. O. Davies
• George Andrew Davis Jr.
• Jefferson Davis
• Emily Davison
• John Day (printer)
• Claude Debussy
• Frederick Delius
• Annie Dove Denmark
• Bill Denny
• Tom Derrick
• Joseph Desha
• Hermann Detzner
• Deusdedit of Canterbury
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Emily Dickinson
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• Diocletian
• Walt Disney
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• D. Djajakusuma
• Djedkare Isesi
• Sumitro Djojohadikusumo
• Momčilo Đujić
• Steve Dodd
• Charles Domery
• Domitian
• Walter Donaldson (snooker player)
• Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick
• James A. Doonan
• John Doubleday (restorer)
• Alec Douglas-Home
• John Douglas (English architect)
• Marjory Stoneman Douglas
• Theodore Komnenos Doukas
• Neal Dow
• Roy Dowling
• Rupert Downes
• Nick Drake
• Uroš Drenović
• Tom Driberg
• Montague Druitt
• Peter Drummond (RAF officer)
• Vance Drummond
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• Du Fu
• Charles Duke
• Tim Duncan
• Bud Dunn
• Kirsten Dunst
• Don Dunstan
• Pavle Đurišić
• Killing of Muhammad al-Durrah
• Bob Dylan
• Eadbald of Kent
• Eadred
• Eadwig
• Ealdred (archbishop of York)
• Eardwulf of Northumbria
• John Early (educator)
• Tom Eastick
• Brian Eaton
• Charles Eaton (RAAF officer)
• Isabelle Eberhardt
• Ecgberht, King of Wessex
• Adam Eckfeldt
• Edgar, King of England
• Edmund I
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• Edward III of England
• Edward VI
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• Edward the Elder
• Duncan Edwards
• Henry Edwards (entomologist)
• Monroe Edwards
• Michael Francis Egan
• Jürgen Ehlers
• Edward Elgar
• Elizabeth I
• Elizabeth II
• Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
• Thomas Ellison
• Ray Emery
• William Hayden English
• Antiochus XI Epiphanes
• Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover
• Thomas Erpingham
• William Etty
• Demetrius III Eucaerus
• Leonhard Euler
• Antiochus X Eusebes
• David Evans (RAAF officer)
• Edmund Evans
• Hiram Wesley Evans
• Peter Evans (swimmer)
• Exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England
• Neil Hamilton Fairley
• Fakhr al-Din II
• Family of Gediminas
• Richie Farmer
• Ray Farquharson
• Adolfo Farsari
• Gabriel Fauré
• Guy Fawkes
• William Feiner
• Felix of Burgundy
• Bob Feller
• Percy Fender
• Benedict Joseph Fenwick
• Enoch Fenwick
• Hughie Ferguson
• Enrico Fermi
• Kathleen Ferrier
• Georges Feydeau
• Richard Feynman
• Nikita Filatov
• Millard Fillmore
• Anna Lee Fisher
• John FitzWalter, 2nd Baron FitzWalter
• Pain fitzJohn
• Five Go Down to the Sea?
• Ian Fleming
• Ernie Fletcher
• Murder of Yvonne Fletcher
• Theoren Fleury
• Howard Florey
• Gilbert Foliot
• Eunice Newton Foote
• Joseph B. Foraker
• Wendell Ford
• George Formby
• George Formby Sr
• Georg Forster
• Terry Fox
• Eduard Fraenkel
• Rakoto Frah
• Anne Frank
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• Frederick the Great
• Frederick III, German Emperor
• Robin Friday
• Caspar David Friedrich
• Florence Fuller
• Margaret Fuller
• Melville Fuller
• Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg
• Fuzuli (poet)
• Dave Gallaher
• Ronnie Lee Gardner
• James A. Garfield
• Robert Garran
• James Garrard
• Ragnar Garrett
• William Garrow
• Ben Gascoigne
• Death of Kevin Gately
• Jacob Gens
• Geoffrey (archbishop of York)
• George I of Great Britain
• George I of Greece
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• George III
• George IV
• George V
• George VI
• Prince George of Denmark
• Eddie Gerard
• Gerard (archbishop of York)
• Lisa del Giocondo
• Bobby Gibbes
• Stella Gibbons
• Josiah Willard Gibbs
• William Gibson
• John Gielgud
• W. S. Gilbert
• Adam Gilchrist
• Arthur Gilligan
• Nicolo Giraud
• Hannah Glasse
• John Glenn
• Harry Glicken
• Prince William, Duke of Gloucester
• Glycerius
• Stanley Goble
• Godsmack
• Robert Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley
• Vincent van Gogh
• Emma Goldman
• Michael Gomez
• E. Urner Goodman
• George Gosse
• George H. D. Gossip
• Arthur Gould (rugby union)
• Mckenna Grace
• Chris Gragg
• Otto Graham
• Percy Grainger
• Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange
• Margaret Macpherson Grant
• Ulysses S. Grant
• Giovanni Antonio Grassi
• John de Gray
• El Greco
• Horace Greeley
• Charles Green (Australian soldier)
• Debora Green
• Stanley Green
• Herbert Greenfield
• Lady Gregory
• Wayne Gretzky
• Jane Grigson
• Joseph Grimaldi
• Rufus Wilmot Griswold
• Orval Grove
• Leslie Groves
• Rhys ap Gruffydd
• Bryan Gunn
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• Maggie Gyllenhaal
• H.D.
• Al-Hafiz
• James P. Hagerstrom
• Richard Hakluyt
• John Richard Clark Hall
• Ayumi Hamasaki
• Wally Hammond
• Amir Hamzah
• Valston Hancock
• Winfield Scott Hancock
• Learned Hand
• Mark Hanna
• William Hanna
• Colin Hannah
• Yuzuru Hanyu Olympic seasons
• William Hardham
• Warren G. Harding
• Donald Hardman
• Thomas Hardy (Royal Navy officer, died 1732)
• Benjamin Harrison
• Eric Harrison (RAAF officer)
• Fairfax Harrison
• George Harrison
• Phil Hartman
• Francis Harvey
• Dominik Hašek
• Lindsay Hassett with the Australian cricket team in England in 1948
• Anne Hathaway
• Simon Hatley
• Eric A. Havelock
• Richard Hawes
• Ethan Hawke
• John Hay
• Rutherford B. Hayes
• Frank Headlam
• George Headley
• Patrick Francis Healy
• Charles Heaphy
• Reginald Heber
• Princess Helena of the United Kingdom
• John L. Helm
• William Hely
• Ernest Hemingway
• Paul Henderson
• Canadian drug charges and trial of Jimi Hendrix
• Death of Jimi Hendrix
• Jimi Hendrix
• Henry I of England
• Henry II of England
• Henry III of England
• Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
• Henry (bishop of Finland)
• Patrick Henry
• Thierry Henry
• George Went Hensley
• Katharine Hepburn
• Herman the Archdeacon
• George Herriman
• Edmund Herring
• Herbie Hewett
• Joe Hewitt (RAAF officer)
• Georgette Heyer
• Peter Heywood
• Hi-5 (Australian group)
• Hilary of Chichester
• Clem Hill
• Damon Hill
• Lynn Hill
• William Hillcourt
• Bernard Hinault
• Thomas C. Hindman
• George Hirst
• Garret Hobart
• Jack Hobbs
• Robert Howard Hodgkin
• Philip Seymour Hoffman
• Ima Hogg
• James Hogun
• Charles Holden
• Les Holden
• Tom Holland
• Disappearance of Natalee Holloway
• Stanley Holloway
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
• Gustav Holst
• Imogen Holst
• Lou Henry Hoover
• Michael Hordern
• Kenneth Horne
• Rogers Hornsby
• E. W. Hornung
• Brian Horrocks
• Nicholas Hoult
• House of Plantagenet
• Margaret Lea Houston
• Art Houtteman
• Juwan Howard
• C. D. Howe
• Robert Howe (Continental Army officer)
• Cedric Howell
• Hu Zhengyan
• Ludwig Ferdinand Huber
• Thomas J. Hudner Jr.
• Robert Hues
• Paterson Clarence Hughes
• Caesar Hull
• James Humphreys (pornographer)
• Josh Hutcherson
• Anne Hutchinson
• Len Hutton
• Hygeberht
• Jarome Iginla
• Fanny Imlay
• Joaquim José Inácio, Viscount of Inhaúma
• Ine of Wessex
• Charles Inglis (engineer)
• Harold Innis
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• Irataba
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• Ismail I of Granada
• Hastings Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay
• Israel the Grammarian
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• Andrew Jackson
• Archie Jackson
• Janet Jackson
• John Francis Jackson
• Michael Jackson
• Mike Jackson (British Army officer)
• Hattie Jacques
• Mick Jagger
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• Douglas Jardine
• Peter Jeffrey (RAAF officer)
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• Jesus
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• Dobroslav Jevđević
• Muhammad Ali Jinnah
• Joan of Arc
• Jocelin of Glasgow
• Joehana
• Scarlett Johansson
• John Edward Brownlee as Attorney-General of Alberta
• John, King of England
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• Ian Johnson (cricketer)
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• Keen Johnson
• 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
• Jane Joseph
• Josquin des Prez
• Jovan Vladimir
• Joy Division
• Ernest Joyce
• James Joyce
• Master Juba
• Julian of Norwich
• Justus
• Ted Kaczynski
• Franz Kafka
• Katrina Kaif
• Edgar Kain
• Dimple Kapadia
• Kareena Kapoor Khan
• Sonam Kapoor
• Abdul Karim (the Munshi)
• Robert Kaske
• Masako Katsura
• Panagiotis Kavvadias
• J. R. Kealoha
• Maynard James Keenan
• Fred Keenor
• David Kelly (weapons expert)
• Susi Kentikian
• Jomo Kenyatta
• Johannes Kepler
• Mark Kerry
• Albert Ketèlbey
• Khalid ibn al-Walid
• Shah Rukh Khan
• Hasan al-Kharrat
• Nikita Khrushchev
• Bill Kibby
• Craig Kieswetter
• Harmon Killebrew
• Roy Kilner
• Bart King
• Elwyn Roy King
• Bruce Kingsbury
• Thomas C. Kinkaid
• The Kinks
• Otto Klemperer
• Johann von Klenau
• Nigel Kneale
• John Knox
• Kalki Koechlin
• Manuel I Komnenos
• Tadeusz Kościuszko
• Sandy Koufax
• George Koval
• Christopher C. Kraft Jr.
• Theodora Kroeber
• Walter Krueger
• Nikolai Kulikovsky
• 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
• 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
• Archie MacLaren
• James Madison
• Bernard A. Maguire
• Gustav Mahler
• Miriam Makeba
• Malcolm X
• Garnet Malley
• Haane Manahi
• Manchester Mummy
• Nelson Mandela
• Bob Mann (American football)
• 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
• Mary, Queen of Scots
• Mary of Teck
• Herbert Maryon
• Evelyn Mase
• George Mason
• Jules Massenet
• Frank Matcham
• Empress Matilda
• Lionel Matthews
• William Matthews (priest)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• Maximian
• Murray Maxwell
• Jimmy McAleer
• Early life and military career of John McCain
• John McCain
• Bill McCann
• Paul McCartney
• John McCauley
• 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
• B. Max Mehl
• 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
• Benjamin Morrell
• Arthur Morris
• Olive Morris
• Edwin P. Morrow
• Meinhard Michael Moser
• Benjamin Mountfort
• Mozart in Italy
• Mu'awiya I
• Al-Mu'tadid
• Al-Mu'tasim
• 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
• Douglas Albert Munro
• Murasaki Shikibu
• Alister Murdoch
• Audie Murphy
• Cillian Murphy
• Harry Murray
• Jessie Murray
• Margaret Murray
• Stan Musial
• Al-Musta'li
• Al-Muti'
• R. A. B. Mynors
• Florence Nagle
• Fridtjof Nansen
•