Portal:Biography

A page from the first edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, published in 1563
Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Cover of the first English publication, J. Parson's, London, 1793

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. (Full article...)

Featured biographies

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Painting of Bruce by John Michael Wright, c. 1664

Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (c. 1630 – 1710), was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes. As a key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May and Sir Roger Pratt.

Bruce was a merchant in Rotterdam during the 1650s, and played a role in the Restoration of Charles II in 1659. He carried messages between the exiled king and General Monck, and his loyalty to the king was rewarded with lucrative official appointments, including that of Surveyor General of the King's Works in Scotland, effectively making Bruce the "king's architect". His patrons included John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, the most powerful man in Scotland at that time, and Bruce rose to become a member of Parliament, and briefly sat on the Scottish Privy Council. (Full article...)
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Official portrait, c. 1946

Keen Johnson (January 12, 1896 – February 7, 1970) was an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Kentucky, serving from 1939 to 1943; being the only journalist to have held that office. After serving in World War I, Johnson purchased and edited the Elizabethtown Mirror newspaper. He revived the struggling paper, sold it to a competitor and used the profits to obtain his journalism degree from the University of Kentucky in 1922. After graduation, he became editor of The Anderson News, and in 1925, he accepted an offer to co-publish and edit the Richmond Daily Register.

In 1935, Johnson was chosen as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. He was elected and served under Governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler from 1935 to 1939. He had already secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1939 when Chandler resigned and elevated Johnson to governor so that Johnson could appoint Chandler to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of M. M. Logan. He went on to win a full gubernatorial term in the general election, defeating Republican King Swope. Johnson's desire to expand the state's social services was hampered by the financial strain imposed on the state by the outbreak of World War II. Nevertheless, he ran a fiscally conservative administration and took the state from being $7 million in debt to having a surplus of $10 million by the end of his term. (Full article...)
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Bueckers with UConn in 2022

Paige Madison Bueckers (/ˈbɛkərz/ BEH-kərz; born October 20, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the UConn Huskies of the Big East Conference.

Nicknamed "Paige Buckets", Bueckers attended Hopkins High School in Hopkins, Minnesota and was ranked as the number one recruit in her class by ESPN, receiving national high school player of the year honors. In her first season at UConn, Bueckers became the first freshman to earn a major national women's college player of the year award, winning all four for which she was eligible. She led UConn to the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA tournament and set program records for assists by a freshman and single-game assists. Bueckers missed most of her sophomore season with a left knee injury but led her team to the national championship game. She was ruled out for her junior season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Bueckers returned in the following season, being named a unanimous first-team All-American for a second time and leading the Huskies to the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA tournament. (Full article...)
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E. W. Hornung

Ernest William Hornung (7 June 1866 – 22 March 1921) was an English author and poet known for writing the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. Hornung was educated at Uppingham School; as a result of poor health he left the school in December 1883 to travel to Sydney, where he stayed for two years. He drew on his Australian experiences as a background when he began writing, initially short stories and later novels.

In 1898 he wrote "In the Chains of Crime", which introduced Raffles and his sidekick, Bunny Manders; the characters were based partly on his friends Oscar Wilde and his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, and also on the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, created by his brother-in-law, Arthur Conan Doyle. The series of Raffles short stories were collected for sale in book form in 1899, and two further books of Raffles short stories followed, as well as a poorly received novel. Aside from his Raffles stories, Hornung was a prodigious writer of fiction, publishing numerous books from 1890, with A Bride from the Bush to his 1914 novel The Crime Doctor. (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 Nicaraguan 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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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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Official portrait, 1956

Fakih Usman (alternatively spelled as Faqih Usman; [faˈkɪh ʊsˈman]; 2 March 1904 – 3 October 1968) was an Indonesian Islamic leader and politician of the Masyumi Party. He twice served as the Minister of Religious Affairs under the cabinets of Abdul Halim and Wilopo from January until September 1950, and again from 1952 until 1953. In his early years, Fakih was criticized by conservative Muslims for his involvement with the modernist Islamic Muhammadiyah organization, though he is remembered fondly by the group. Born to a merchant and his wife in Gresik, Dutch East Indies, Fakih studied with his father and at a series of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) until the 1920s.

In 1925 he became involved with the Muhammadiyah, rising quickly through the leadership until he became the head of the Surabaya branch in 1938. He was also active in local politics, in 1937, he became the treasurer of the Indonesian Islamic Assembly. He continued to be involved in politics and Islamic groups during the Japanese occupation and the ensuing national revolution. Following the end of the war, he was appointed Minister of Religious Affairs. As a minister, he oversaw educational and institutional reform, growing in prominence within the Muhammadiyah. He also served as deputy chairman of the organization under several different leaders before being chosen as its chairman in late 1968. He died several days later. (Full article...)
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Taylor during his time with the Portage Lakes Hockey Club in 1905

Frederick Wellington "Cyclone" Taylor (June 23, 1884 – June 9, 1979) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and civil servant. A cover-point and rover, he played professionally from 1906 to 1922, and is acknowledged as one of the first stars of the professional era of hockey. Taylor was recognized as one of the fastest skaters and most prolific scorers, winning five scoring championships in the PCHA. He won the Stanley Cup twice, with Ottawa in 1909 and Vancouver in 1915, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947.

Born and raised in Southern Ontario, Taylor moved to Manitoba in 1906 to continue his hockey career. He quickly departed to play in Houghton, Michigan, and spent two years in the International Hockey League, the first openly professional hockey league in the world. He returned to Canada in 1907 and joined the Ottawa Senators, spending two seasons with the team. During those years, Taylor was often spoken of in the same stature as baseball's Ty Cobb, and in 1909, when Taylor signed with the Renfrew Creamery Kings, the pair were the highest paid athletes in their respective sports. Taylor moved to Vancouver in 1912 to play for the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), where he played for the remainder of his career until 1922. In the 1918 Stanley Cup Finals, Taylor scored 9 goals in the series, setting an NHL-era Stanley Cup Finals record that remains unbroken. (Full article...)
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Dunst in 2016

Kirsten Caroline Dunst (/ˈkɪərstən/; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the anthology film New York Stories (1989) and has since starred in several film and television productions. She has received several awards including nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Golden Globe Awards.

Dunst first gained recognition for her role as child vampire Claudia in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also had roles in her youth in Little Women (1994) and Jumanji (1995). Dunst transitioned to leading roles in teen films of 1999, the satires Dick and Drop Dead Gorgeous and the Sofia Coppola-directed drama The Virgin Suicides. After leading the cheerleading film Bring It On (2000), she gained wider attention for her role as Mary Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). Her career progressed with a supporting role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), followed by a lead role in Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown (2005), and as Marie Antoinette in Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006). (Full article...)
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Eadwig in the early fourteenth-century Genealogical Roll of the Kings of England

Eadwig (also Edwy or Eadwig All-Fair, c. 940 – 1 October 959) was King of England from 23 November 955 until his death in 959. He was the elder son of Edmund I and his first wife Ælfgifu, who died in 944. Eadwig and his brother Edgar were young children when their father was killed trying to rescue his seneschal from attack by an outlawed thief on 26 May 946. As Edmund's sons were too young to rule he was succeeded by his brother Eadred, who suffered from ill health and died unmarried in his early 30s.

Eadwig became king in 955 aged about fifteen and was no more than twenty when he died in 959. He clashed at the beginning of his reign with Dunstan, the powerful Abbot of Glastonbury and future Archbishop of Canterbury, and exiled him to Flanders. He later came to be seen as an enemy of monasteries, but most historians think that this reputation is unfair. In 956, he issued more than sixty charters transferring land, a yearly total unmatched by any other European king before the twelfth century, and this is seen by some historians as either an attempt to buy support or rewarding his favourites at the expense of the powerful old guard of the previous reign. (Full article...)
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Jackson in 1988

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a four decade career, his world record music achievements and publicized personal life made him a global figure. Jackson's songs, stages and fashion proliferated visual performance for singers in pop music. His innovations changed the music video as an art form and popularized street dance moves including the moonwalk, which he named, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean.

As part of the Jackson family, Michael at age six made his public debut in 1964 with his older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5 (later known as the Jacksons). The Jackson 5 signed with Motown in 1968 and achieved worldwide success with Michael as lead singer. Jackson began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown and recorded multiple successful singles. He became a global solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall. His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. He helped popularize MTV and continued to innovate with videos for his albums Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995), and Invincible (2001). Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, while Bad was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. (Full article...)
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John George Diefenbaker (/ˈdiːfənbeɪkər/ DEE-fən-bay-kər; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was a Canadian politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Canada, from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an election victory, doing so three times, although only once with a majority of the seats in the House of Commons.

Diefenbaker was born in the small town of Neustadt in Southwestern Ontario. In 1903, his family migrated west to the portion of the North-West Territories that would soon become the province of Saskatchewan. He grew up in the province and was interested in politics from a young age. After service in World War I, Diefenbaker became a noted criminal defence lawyer. He contested elections through the 1920s and 1930s with little success until he was finally elected to the House of Commons in 1940. (Full article...)
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Arms of Sir Robert de Umfraville, KG: Gules a cinquefoil within an orle of eight crosses pattée or.

Sir Robert de Umfraville KG, Lord of Redesdale (c. 1363 – 1437) was a knight in late-medieval England who took part in the later stages of the Hundred Years' War, particularly against Scotland. The de Umfraville family had been influential in northeast England for centuries and also held major estates in Yorkshire. His ancestors were mormaers of Angus, and his nephew married into the Percies, a powerful local marcher family with whom de Umfraville was closely associated. Much of Sir Robert's career continued on the same path as his ancestors, being primarily focused on defending the border with Scotland, which had been in a state of near-permanent warfare since the late thirteenth century.

Robert de Umfraville fought under three English kings. Beginning his career under Richard II, he probably fought at the Battle of Otterburn with Henry "Hotspur" Percy in 1388. After Richard was deposed by Henry IV in 1399, de Umfraville loyally served the new Lancastrian regime, waging both offensive and defensive military operations against the Scots. Where necessary, he was also an effective diplomat, taking part in many embassies to Scotland and negotiating treaties. With the exception of Henry V's resumption of the Hundred Years' War in 1415—when de Umfraville travelled with the king to France, where he may have taken part in the Battle of Agincourt—all his military activity was on the Scottish border. He was famed for his martial prowess; one contemporary chronicler, John Hardyng, who was in de Umfraville's service, lauded him as the perfect knight. De Umfraville's successes in the north attracted praise and reward from the king. One campaign deep into Scottish territory resulted in his destroying Peebles and its market; he brought back so much booty that he was popularly nicknamed "Robin Mendmarket". (Full article...)
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A small box of hippopotamus ivory inscribed with the royal titulary of Merenre Nemtyemsaf, Musée du Louvre

Merenre Nemtyemsaf (meaning "Beloved of Ra, Nemty is his protection") was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, fourth king of the Sixth Dynasty. He ruled Egypt for six to 11 years in the early 23rd century BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of his predecessor Pepi I Meryre and queen Ankhesenpepi I and was in turn succeeded by Pepi II Neferkare who might have been his son or less probably his brother. Pepi I may have shared power with Merenre in a co-regency at the very end of the former's reign.

Merenre's rule saw profound changes in the administration of the southern provinces of Egypt, with a marked increase in the number of
provincial administrators and a concurrent steep decline in the size of the central administration in the capital Memphis. As a consequence the provincial nobility became responsible for tax collection and resource management, gaining in political independence and economic power. This led to the first provincial burials for the highest officials including viziers, governors of Upper Egypt and nomarchs.
Several trading and quarrying expeditions took place under Merenre, in particular to Nubia where caravans numbering hundreds of donkeys were sent to fetch incense, ebony, animal skins, ivory and exotic animals. Such was the interest in the region that Merenre had a canal dug to facilitate the navigation of the first cataract into Nubia. Trade with the Levantine coast for lapis lazuli, silver, bitumen, and tin took place while quarrying for granite, travertine and alabaster took place in the south and in the Eastern Desert. (Full article...)
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The figure of the Old Testament King David shown killing a lion on the St Andrews Sarcophagus is thought to represent King Óengus. The figure is dressed as a Roman emperor of Late Antiquity and wears a fibula like that of the Emperor Justinian on the mosaic at San Vitale, Ravenna.

Óengus son of Fergus (Pictish: *Onuist map Vurguist; Old Irish: Óengus mac Fergusso, lit. 'Angus son of Fergus'; died 761) was king of the Picts from 732 until his death in 761. His reign can be reconstructed in some detail from a variety of sources. The unprecedented territorial gains he made from coast to coast, and the legacy he left, mean Óengus can be considered the first king of what would become Scotland.

Wresting power from his rivals, Óengus became the chief king in Pictland following a period of civil war in the late 720s. (Full article...)