Portal:Biography
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Biography (from the Greek words bios (βιος), meaning 'life', and graphein, meaning 'to write') is a genre of literature or film which presents a relatively full account of the most interesting and important events of a notable person's life. While a biography may focus on a fictional person, the term usually refers to non-fiction works. As opposed to summaries of people's lives, such as profiles or curriculum vitae, a biography is a continuous narrative which interprets and explains the person's character, personality, and social context.
Hasekura Tsunenaga was a Japanese samurai and retainer of Date Masamune, the daimyo of Sendai. He led an embassy to Mexico and then Europe between 1613 and 1620 (called the Keichō Embassy), after which he returned to Japan. He was the first-ever Japanese official ambassador to the Americas and arguably Europe, and became the key protagonist in the first recorded instance of Franco-Japanese relations. Although Hasekura's embassy created a strong impression in Europe, it happened at a time when Japan was moving towards the suppression of Christianity, so that European monarchs such as the King of Spain ultimately denied the trading agreements Hasekura had been seeking. Hasekura returned to Japan in 1620 and died of illness a year later, his embassy seemingly ending with few results in an increasingly isolationist Japan. (Read more...)
Alfred McCoy Tyner (born December 11, 1938) is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet, playing with Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. His brother, Jarvis Tyner was the Communist Party USA vice-presidential candidate in 1976. (read more...)
Photo credit: Gisle Hannemyr
- ...that former child actor Richard Eyer, who played the boy who runs "afowl" of the goose in William Wyler's 1956 film Friendly Persuasion, is now an elementary school teacher in Bishop, California?
- ...that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
- ...that after winning three medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics as a 16-year-old, Anita Nall retired from competitive swimming in 2000 due to chronic fatigue syndrome?
List of projects that involve biography articles:
See also: Biographies of living persons
- Academics • Economists • Philosophers • Physicians • Scientists • Warriors •
- Actors • Artists • Authors • Comedians • Consultants • Dancers • Directors • Musicians • Photographers • Playwrights • Writers
- Astronauts • Aviators • Explorers • Mountain climbers
- Business • Computer pioneers • Information Technology • Innovators
- Heads of state • Humanitarians • Journalists • Lawyers • Politicians
- Sportspeople • Baseball players • Basketball players • Football (soccer) players • Olympians
Births
- 1640 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1705)
- 1672 - Tsar Peter I of Russia (d. 1725)
- 1843 - Bertha von Suttner, (pictured) Austrian novelist and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1914)
- 1891 - Cole Porter, American composer and lyricist (d. 1964)
- 1915 - Les Paul, influential American guitarist
- 1916 - Robert McNamara, United States Secretary of Defense and president of the World Bank
- 1961 - Michael J. Fox, Canadian-born actor
- 1963 - Johnny Depp, American actor
- 1978 - Matthew Bellamy, British guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist (Muse)
- 1981 - Natalie Portman, Israeli-born actress
Deaths
- 68 - Nero, Roman Emperor (b. 37)
- 1870 - Charles Dickens, English author (b. 1812)
- 1964 - Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Canadian-born business tycoon and politician (b. 1879)
- 1974 - Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
"Every man desires to live long; but no man would be old."
In Thoughts on Various Subjects
- Write
- Expand stubs: British • American • Japanese • Indian • Pakistan • Australian • French • Canadian • Chinese • Polish • Russian • Turkish • People by nationality...
- Auto racing biography • Basketball biography • English football biography • Ice hockey biography • Track and field athletics • Sportspeople...
- British nobility • Military personnel • Canadian politicians • Australian politicians • British politicians • More politicians...
- Academics • Actors • Artists • Business biography • Mathematicians • Musicians • Television biography • Writers
- Collaborate: Ali
- Create: Articles requested for more than a year - Biographies requested
- Add infoboxes
- Review
- Peer Review: Insane Clown Posse • Jane Elizabeth Hodgson • Paul Koehler • Charlemagne Tower • John Zorn • James C. Duff • Skip Holtz • Dredg • G. Edward Griffin • Tenacious D • Jordanus de Nemore • Johan Arnold Smellekamp • Eros Ramazzotti
- A-class Review: Gregory R. Ball • Milla Jovovich • Gordon Bell (American football) • Jack Clancy • Elmer Gedeon • Dick Rifenburg
- Assess: Assessment requests • Assess an article