Portal:Biography

The Biography Portal

Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects

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

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

An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An unauthorized biography is one written without such permission or participation. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Featured biographies – load new batch

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

Image 1

Colonel John Wilton in Morotai, September 1945

General Sir John Gordon Noel Wilton, (22 November 1910 – 10 May 1981) was a senior commander in the Australian Army. He served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the Army's professional head, from 1963 until 1966, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CCOSC), forerunner of the role of Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, from 1966 until 1970. His eight-year tenure as senior officer of first the Army and then the Australian military spanned almost the entire period of the nation's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Born in Sydney, Wilton entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1927. Owing to lack of opportunity in the Australian military at the time, he took a commission in the British Army following his graduation in 1930. He spent most of the remainder of the decade with the Royal Artillery in India. Wilton returned to Australia on the eve of World War II and was commissioned into the Royal Australian Artillery. He saw action with the 7th Division in Syria and the 3rd Division in New Guinea, earning a mention in despatches in the former campaign and the Distinguished Service Order in the latter. Finishing the war a temporary colonel, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1947. Wilton was posted to Korea in 1953 to take command of the 28th Commonwealth Brigade, leading it in its final action of the war in July. He was raised to Commander of the Order of the British Empire and awarded the US Legion of Merit for his performance in Korea. (Full article...)
Image 2

Portrait by Adolph Menzel, 1854

Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz (3 February 1721 – 8 November 1773) was a Prussian officer, lieutenant general, and among the greatest of the Prussian cavalry generals. He commanded one of the first Hussar squadrons of Frederick the Great's army and is credited with the development of the Prussian cavalry to its efficient level of performance in the Seven Years' War. His cavalryman father retired and then died while Seydlitz was still young. Subsequently, he was mentored by Margrave Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Seydlitz's superb horsemanship and his recklessness combined to make him a stand-out subaltern, and he emerged as a redoubtable Rittmeister (cavalry captain) in the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) during the First and Second Silesian wars.

Seydlitz became legendary throughout the Prussian Army both for his leadership and for his reckless courage. During the Seven Years' War, he came into his own as a cavalry general, known for his coup d'œil, his ability to assess at a glance the entire battlefield situation and to understand intuitively what needed to be done: he excelled at converting the King's directives into flexible tactics. At the Battle of Rossbach, his cavalry was instrumental in routing the French and Imperial armies. His cavalry subsequently played an important role in crushing the Habsburg and Imperial left flank at the Battle of Leuthen. Seydlitz was wounded in battle several times. After the Battle of Kunersdorf in August 1759, he semi-retired to recover from his wounds, charged with the protection of the city of Berlin. He was not healthy enough to campaign again until 1761. (Full article...)
Image 3

Portrait from 1846

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 1809 – 4 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (which includes his "Wedding March"), the Italian and Scottish Symphonies, the oratorios St. Paul and Elijah, the Hebrides Overture, the mature Violin Concerto, the String Octet, and the melody used in the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.

Mendelssohn's grandfather was the Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, but Felix was initially raised without religion until he was baptised aged seven into the Reformed Christian church. He was recognised early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his talent. His sister Fanny Mendelssohn received a similar musical education and was a talented composer and pianist in her own right; some of her early songs were published under her brother's name and her Easter Sonata was for a time mistakenly attributed to him after being lost and rediscovered in the 1970s. (Full article...)
Image 4

The church at Waltham Abbey, where Hugh de Neville was buried

Hugh de Neville (died 1234) was the Chief Forester under the kings Richard I, John and Henry III of England; he was the sheriff for a number of counties. Related to a number of other royal officials as well as a bishop, Neville was a member of Prince Richard's household. After Richard became king in 1189, Neville continued in his service and accompanied him on the Third Crusade. Neville remained in the royal service following Richard's death in 1199 and the accession of King John to the throne, becoming one of the new king's favourites and often gambling with him. He was named in Magna Carta as one of John's principal advisers, and considered by a medieval chronicler to be one of King John's "evil counsellors". He deserted John after the French invasion of England in 1216 but returned to pledge his loyalty to John's son Henry III after the latter's accession to the throne later that year. Neville's royal service continued until his death in 1234, though by then he was a less significant figure than he had been at the height of his powers. (Full article...)
Image 5
Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments, philosophical lyrics, and elaborate live shows, and became a leading progressive rock band.

Pink Floyd were founded in 1965 by Syd Barrett (guitar, lead vocals), Nick Mason (drums), Roger Waters (bass guitar, vocals) and Richard Wright (keyboards, vocals). With Barrett as their main songwriter, they released two hit singles, "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", and the successful debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (all 1967). David Gilmour (guitar, vocals) joined in 1967; Barrett left in 1968 due to deteriorating mental health. While all four members contributed compositions, Waters became the primary lyricist and thematic leader, devising the concepts behind Pink Floyd's most successful albums, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), Wish You Were Here (1975), Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). The musical film based on The Wall, Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982), won two BAFTAs. Pink Floyd also composed several film scores. (Full article...)
Image 6

Portrait of Rădulescu, by Mișu Popp

Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade (also known as Eliade or Eliade Rădulescu; Romanian pronunciation: [ˈi.on (h)eliˈade rəduˈlesku]; 6 January 1802 – 27 April 1872) was a Wallachian, later Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor and politician. A prolific translator of foreign literature into Romanian, he was also the author of books on linguistics and history. For much of his life, Heliade Rădulescu was a teacher at Saint Sava College in Bucharest, which he helped reopen. He was a founding member and first president of the Romanian Academy.

Heliade Rădulescu is considered one of the foremost champions of Romanian culture from the first half of the 19th century, having first risen to prominence through his association with Gheorghe Lazăr and his support of Lazăr's drive for discontinuing education in Greek. Over the following decades, he had a major role in shaping the modern Romanian language, but caused controversy when he advocated the massive introduction of Italian neologisms into the Romanian lexis. A Romantic nationalist landowner siding with moderate liberals, Heliade was among the leaders of the 1848 Wallachian revolution, after which he was forced to spend several years in exile. Adopting an original form of conservatism, which emphasized the role of the aristocratic boyars in Romanian history, he was rewarded for supporting the Ottoman Empire and clashed with the radical wing of the 1848 revolutionaries. (Full article...)
Image 7

Art Houtteman in 1953 with the Detroit Tigers

Arthur Joseph Houtteman (August 7, 1927 – May 6, 2003) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for 12 seasons in the American League with the Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians and Baltimore Orioles. In 325 career games, Houtteman pitched 1,555 innings and posted a win–loss record of 87–91, with 78 complete games, 14 shutouts, and a 4.14 earned run average (ERA).

Known on the sandlot for his pitching motion, Houtteman was signed by scout Wish Egan in 1945 at 17 years of age. He was recruited by major league teams, and joined a Tigers pitching staff that had lost players to injuries and World War II. After moving between the major and minor leagues over the next few years, he was nearly killed in an automobile accident just before the 1949 season. Houtteman rebounded from his injuries and went on to win 15 games that season and made his only All-Star appearance in the following year. (Full article...)
Image 8
Little Tich in 1893

Harry Relph (21 July 1867 – 10 February 1928), professionally known as Little Tich, was a 4-foot-6-inch-tall (137 cm) English music hall comedian and dancer during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was best known for his acrobatic and comedic "Big-Boot Dance", which he performed in Europe and for which he wore boots with soles 28 inches (71 cm) long. Aside from his music hall appearances, he was also a popular performer in Christmas pantomimes and appeared in them annually at theatres throughout the English provinces. He repeated this success in London, where he appeared in three pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, between 1891 and 1893 alongside Dan Leno and Marie Lloyd.

Born in Cudham, Kent, Little Tich began performing aged ten when he developed a dance and tin-whistle act which he showcased at public houses in Sevenoaks. In the early 1880s he formed a blackface act and gained popularity with performances at the nearby Rosherville Pleasure Gardens and Barnard's Music Hall in Chatham. He travelled to London and appeared at the Forester's Music Hall in 1884. Later that year, he adopted the stage name "Little Tich", which he based on his childhood nickname of "Tichborne", acquired through his portly stature and physical likeness to the suspected Tichborne Claimant Arthur Orton. The terms "titchy" or "titch" were later derived from "Little Tich" and are used to describe things that are small. (Full article...)
Image 9

Corporal Jørgen Jensen, August 1918

Jørgen Christian Jensen (15 January 1891 – 31 May 1922) was a Danish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in battle that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces. Jensen emigrated to Australia in 1909, becoming a British subject at Adelaide, South Australia, in 1914. A sailor and labourer before World War I, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in March 1915, serving with the 10th Battalion during the latter stages of the Gallipoli campaign. After the Australian force withdrew to Egypt, Jensen was transferred to the newly formed 50th Battalion, and sailed for France with the unit in June 1916. On the Western Front, he was wounded during the battalion's first serious action, the Battle of Mouquet Farm in August, and only returned to his unit in late January 1917. On 2 April, his battalion attacked the Hindenburg Outpost Line at Noreuil, where his actions leading to the capture of over fifty German soldiers resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross.

In June 1917, the 50th Battalion was involved in the Battle of Messines; the following month, Jensen, now a corporal, was posted to a training unit in the United Kingdom. He returned to his battalion in October, and was promoted to temporary sergeant in November. In March 1918, the German spring offensive was launched, and Jensen fought with his battalion at Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux. Shortly after the fighting at Villers-Bretonneux, Jensen was on patrol when he received a severe head wound, and was evacuated to the United Kingdom, then repatriated to Australia, where he was discharged in Adelaide at the end of the war. He worked as a marine store dealer and married in 1921, but died the following year, having never fully recovered from his war wounds. (Full article...)
Image 10

Hanyu at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, after winning his first Olympic gold medal

Yuzuru Hanyu, a former competitive figure skater from Japan, participated in the Winter Olympic Games three times, winning two gold medals (in 2014 and 2018) and placing fourth in 2022. In 2014, he became the first Asian men's singles skater to win at the Olympics. At 19 years old, he was also the youngest male skater to win the Olympic title since American Dick Button in 1948. In 2018, Hanyu became the first male single skater in 66 years to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals since Button in 1952.

In his three Olympic seasons, Hanyu skated to three different short and free skate programs each, with their background and making being broadly covered by the media. In the first season, 2013–14, he became the first Asian and second skater across all disciplines to win the Olympics, Worlds, and the Grand Prix Final in the same season, after Russian Alexei Yagudin in 2001–02. Hanyu also set two world records in the short program, becoming the first skater to score above 100 points in that competition segment, at the 2014 Winter Olympics. In 2017–18, he set another short program record of 112.72 points, which remained the standing record in the old +3/-3 GOE judging system. At the 2017 Rostelecom Cup, he also landed his first quadruple Lutz jump in competition. In his third and last Olympic season, 2021–22, Hanyu won his sixth national title and went for the quadruple Axel jump for the first time, with his attempt at the Beijing Olympics being the closest in competition up to then. On July 19, 2022, he announced his decision to conclude his competitive figure skating career and turn professional. (Full article...)
Image 11

Mary Martha Sherwood (née Butt; 6 May 1775 – 22 September 1851) was a nineteenth-century English children's writer. Of her more than four hundred works, the best known include The History of Little Henry and his Bearer (1814) and the two series The History of Henry Milner (1822–1837) and The History of the Fairchild Family (1818–1847). Her evangelicalism permeated her early writings, but later works cover common Victorian themes such as domesticity.

Mary Martha Butt married Captain Henry Sherwood and moved to India for eleven years. She converted to evangelical Christianity, opened schools for the children of army officers and local Indian children, adopted neglected or orphaned children, and founded an orphanage. She was inspired to write fiction for the children in the military encampments. Her work was well received in Britain, where the Sherwoods returned in 1816 for medical reasons. She opened a boarding school, edited a children's magazine, and published hundreds of tracts, novels, and other works for children and the poor, which increased her popularity in both the United States and Britain. She died in 1851 in Twickenham, Middlesex. (Full article...)
Image 12

Chaffee in 1964

Roger Bruce Chaffee (/ˈtʃæfiː/; February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was an American naval officer, aviator and aeronautical engineer who was a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program.

Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he became an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Central High School in 1953, and accepted a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship. He began his college education at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he was involved in the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma. He transferred to Purdue University in 1954, continuing his involvement in Phi Kappa Sigma serving as chapter president in 1956 and obtaining his private pilot's license. (Full article...)
Image 13

Sergeant Tom Derrick in June 1944

Thomas Currie "Diver" Derrick, (20 March 1914 – 24 May 1945) was an Australian soldier and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. In November 1943, during the Second World War, Derrick was awarded the Victoria Cross for his assault on a heavily defended Japanese position at Sattelberg, New Guinea. During the engagement, he scaled a cliff face while under heavy fire and silenced seven machine gun posts, before leading his platoon in a charge that destroyed a further three.

Born in the Adelaide suburb of Medindie, South Australia, Derrick left school at the age of fourteen and found work in a bakery. As the Great Depression grew worse he lost his job and moved to Berri, working on a fruit farm before marrying in 1939. In July 1941, Derrick enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force, joining the 2/48th Battalion. He was posted to the Middle East, where he took part in the siege of Tobruk, was recommended for the Military Medal and promoted to corporal. Later, at El Alamein, Derrick was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for knocking out three German machine gun posts, destroying two tanks, and capturing one hundred prisoners. (Full article...)
Image 14
St Edmund, holding a moneybag which he pretends to offer to Sweyn Forkbeard, then kills him with his lance as punishment for his oppressive taxation of the English people, an illustration in Goscelin's version of the Miracles of St Edmund

Herman the Archdeacon (also Hermann the Archdeacon and Hermann of Bury, born before 1040, died late 1090s) was a member of the household of Herfast, Bishop of East Anglia, in the 1070s and 1080s. Thereafter, he was a monk of Bury St Edmunds Abbey in Suffolk for the rest of his life.

Herman was probably born in Germany. Around 1070 he entered Herfast's household, and according to a later source he became the bishop's archdeacon, which was at that time an important secretarial position. He assisted Herfast in his unsuccessful campaign to move his bishopric to Bury St Edmunds Abbey, against the opposition of its abbot, and helped to bring about a temporary reconciliation between the two men. He remained with the bishop until his death in 1084, but he later regretted supporting his campaign to move the bishopric and himself moved to the abbey by 1092. (Full article...)
Image 15

Major General Robert Howe

Robert Howe (/haʊ/; c. 1732 – December 14, 1786) was a Continental Army general from the Province of North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. The descendant of a prominent family in North Carolina, Howe was one of five generals, and the only major general, in the Continental Army from that state. He also played a role in the colonial and state governments of North Carolina, serving in the legislative bodies of both.

Howe served in the colonial militia during the French and Indian War and commanded Fort Johnston at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. He also served as a colonel of Royal Governor William Tryon's artillery during the War of the Regulation. Howe suffered greatly when Tryon, a personal friend, became Governor of New York, and he staunchly opposed Tryon's successor. He became active in organizing efforts within North Carolina and among the American colonies between 1773 and 1775 and was an active member of the North Carolina Provincial Congress. At the outset of the Revolutionary War, Howe was promoted to brigadier general and was heavily involved in actions in the Southern Department, commanding the Continental Army and Patriot militia forces in defeat in the First Battle of Savannah. (Full article...)

More featured articles

Did you know... - show different entries

... that in the 2019 NFC Championship Game, Raheem Mostert became the first person to rush for more than 200 yards and score four touchdowns in an NFL playoff game?
... that the Mercer Art Gallery rediscovered little-known artist Eva Leigh and exhibited her work?
... that Kirk Raymond Jones became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls without safety equipment, then died after going over it again in an inflatable ball?
... that Japanese actor Kouhei Higuchi prepared for his role on the television drama adaptation of My Personal Weatherman by learning from a weather forecaster?
... that several science fiction critics praised "Rock Diver", the first short story by American writer Harry Harrison, for its compelling take on technology for passing through matter?
... that actor Bridger Zadina became a national champion llama exhibitor when he was 11 years old?
... that Julia Marden was the first known person to create a Wampanoag twined turkey-feather mantle since European contact 400 years earlier?
... that the English actor Jude Law is actually named David, a result of his parents naming their children after their best friends?
... that educational writer Ștefan Tita gave Romanian students impractical advice on mending damaged bark with bandages of dirt?
... that comic book artist Barry Windsor-Smith wrote, drew, inked, and lettered every page of his graphic novel Monsters by himself?
... that singer Barbara Mandrell thought that when she saw Maureen McCormick play her in her biographical film, "all [she was] going to be able to think about is Marcia Brady"?
... that LGBTQ activist Alexey Davydov became the first person to be charged with violating Russia's 2013 anti-gay law after he displayed a sign that read "being gay is normal" at a children's library?

General images

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

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

Need help?

Do you have a question about Wikipedia biographical content that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk.

Get involved

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

Selected portrait

Image 1
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.
More selected portraits
Image 2
Enrico Caruso
Photo: Bain News Service; Restoration: Michel Vuijlsteke
Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) was an Italian tenor who was one of the most famous male opera singers in history. He sang to great acclaim at major opera houses around the world, and spent 18 consecutive seasons as the lead tenor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He was one of the first major classical vocalists to make numerous recordings (more than 260), and his 1902 recording of "Vesti la giubba" was the first to sell over a million copies. His records sold so well that the Collector's Guide to Victor Records asks, "Did the phonograph make Caruso, or did Caruso make the phonograph?"
More selected portraits
Image 3
Antanas Smetona
Photo from: National Museum of Lithuania
A portrait of Antanas Smetona, the first President of Lithuania, a signatory to the Act of Independence of Lithuania, as well as the last President before the country's occupation by the Soviet Union in World War II. During his second term, he expanded the powers of the office and became an authoritarian head of state. Prior to the Soviet invasion, Smetona proposed armed resistance, but was overruled by his army. He fled the country, eventually emigrating to the United States. Smetona died in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1944. His remains are currently buried in Chardon, Ohio.
More selected portraits
Image 4
Sri Mulyani Indrawati
Photo: the International Monetary Fund
Sri Mulyani Indrawati is an Indonesian economist who served for five years as Minister of Finance of Indonesia before being selected as managing director of the World Bank. In 2011 she was ranked as the 65th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.
More selected portraits
Image 5
R. J. Palacio
Photograph credit: Rhododendrites
R. J. Palacio (born July 13, 1963) is an American author and graphic designer. During her career, she has designed hundreds of book covers, including for both fiction and non-fiction works. She is also the author of several novels for children, including the best-selling Wonder, which has won several awards. Palacio is seen here signing a book at the 2019 BookCon convention in New York City.
More selected portraits
Image 6
Aminah Cendrakasih
Photograph credit: Tati Studio; restored by Chris Woodrich
Aminah Cendrakasih (born 29 January 1938) is an Indonesian actress. She started in films in her teens, her first starring role being in 1955. She continued acting into her seventies, appearing in almost 120 feature films during her career, as well as in several television roles. In 2012, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bandung Film Festival, and received another at the 2013 Indonesian Movie Awards.
More selected portraits
Image 7
Sonia Sotomayor
Photograph: Steve Petteway
Sonia Sotomayor is an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. She was nominated in 2009 by President Barack Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic and the third woman to be appointed to the Court.
More selected portraits
Image 8
Billy Strayhorn
Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden
Billy Strayhorn (November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967) was an American jazz composer, pianist, lyricist, and arranger, best remembered for his long-time collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington that lasted nearly three decades. Though classical music was Strayhorn's first love, his ambition to become a classical composer went unrealized because of the harsh reality of a black man trying to make his way in the world of classical music, which at that time was almost completely white. He was introduced to the music of pianists like Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson at age 19, and the artistic influence of these musicians guided him into the realm of jazz, where he remained for the rest of his life. This photograph of Strayhorn was taken by William P. Gottlieb in the 1940s.
More selected portraits
Image 9
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.
More selected portraits
Image 10
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.
More selected portraits
Image 11
Lillian Gish
Photo credit: Bain News Service
A portrait of Lillian Gish from 1921. Gish was one of the first female movie stars, called "The First Lady of the Silent Screen", starting in 1912 and continuing to appear in films until 1987. The American Film Institute named Gish 17th among the greatest female stars of all time and awarded her a Life Achievement Award, making her the only recipient who was a major figure in the silent era. Remarkably, she never won an Academy Award for her work, although she did receive a Special Academy Award in 1971.
More selected portraits
Image 12
Agnes Milowka
Photo: James Axford
Agnes Milowka (1981–2011) was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for extending cave systems across Australia and in Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. She participated in National Geographic and Discovery Channel expeditions. Her passion led her to act as a stunt double on Andrew Wight's feature film Sanctum and to participate in shooting real scenery in Mount Gambier caves, where she drowned just a few weeks after the movie's premiere.
More selected portraits
Image 13
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.
More selected portraits
Image 14
Peter Levy
Photo credit: John Byford
Peter Levy (b. 1955) is a British television and radio presenter, currently host of the BBC regional news programme Look North, broadcast from Hull to East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. He also hosts The Peter Levy Show on BBC Radio Humberside. Born in South West England, Levy moved to Yorkshire in his teens. After a stint in London as an actor, during which time he appeared on Man About the House, he returned to Yorkshire in 1975 to become a disc jockey before joining Look North in 1987.
More selected portraits
Image 15
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.
More selected portraits

edit

On this day – April 10

Births

1778 - William Hazlitt, English writer (d. 1830)
1794 - Matthew Perry, American commodore (d. 1858)
1847 - Joseph Pulitzer, American journalist and publisher (d. 1911) (pictured)
1932 - Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor (d. 2015)
1936 - John Madden, American football coach and broadcaster (d. 2021)

Deaths

1882 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (b. 1828)
1919 - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary (b. 1879)
1966 - Evelyn Waugh, English writer (b. 1903)

More of today's anniversaries...

In the news

8 April 2025 – 2024 Democratic Republic of the Congo coup attempt, Democratic Republic of the Congo–United States relations: Three U.S. citizens have their sentences for attempting a coup against the Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi in 2024 commuted and are extradited back to the United States. They were previously sentenced to death along with 34 others for the failed attempt that killed six people, including the coup's leader Christian Malanga. (NPR)
7 April 2025 – Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: A Pakistan Army raid on a Pakistani Taliban militant hideout in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, kills nine militants, including a high-profile Taliban leader who coordinated recent attacks on Pakistani military facilities in the region. (AP)
2 April 2025 – War on drugs in Ecuador: A court in New York City indicts José Adolfo Macías Villamar, the leader of the organized crime syndicate Los Choneros, on seven counts of drug trafficking, conspiracy, arms trafficking, and illegal drug distribution in the United States. Villamar is not currently in U.S. custody. (AP)
28 March 2025 – Arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu: Turkish authorities detain Mehmet Pehlivan, a lawyer representing opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu in the ongoing investigation, and later release him. (Reuters)
27 March 2025 – Crime in Peru: The home of Luis Villanueva, leader of the Workers' General Confederation of Peru (CGTP), is damaged by an explosive device. Business associations condemned the attack and increased demands on the government to strengthen the fight against organized crime. (La Vanguardia)
26 March 2025 – Sudanese civil war: Sudanese military leader and Transitional Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan declares the liberation of Khartoum from RSF forces after two years of fighting. (France 24)

Updated: 21:05, 10 April 2025

edit

Quote of the week

"Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory."

— Benjamin Disraeli

In Contarini Fleming, 1832

Archive – More from Wikiquote

edit

Related portals

Recognized content

Note: This page is automatically updated.

Purge server cache

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