Portal:Biography

The Biography Portal

A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description or account 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 its subject, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter. (Full article...)

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

Image 1

Ely Cathedral

Richard Barre (c. 1130 – c. 1202) was a medieval English justice, clergyman, and scholar. He was educated at the law school of Bologna and entered royal service under King Henry II of England, later working for Henry's son and successor Richard I. He was also briefly in the household of Henry's son Henry the Young King. Barre served the elder Henry as a diplomat and was involved in a minor way with the king's quarrel with Thomas Becket, which earned Barre a condemnation from Becket. After King Henry's death, Barre served as a royal justice during Richard's reign and was one of the main judges from 1194 to 1199. After disagreeing with him earlier in his career, Barre was discharged from his judgeship during John's reign as king. Barre was also archdeacon of Ely and the author of a work of biblical extracts dedicated to one of his patrons, William Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England. (Full article...)
Image 2

Bell with Women's Air Training Corps in 1941

Mary Teston Luis Bell (3 December 1903 – 6 February 1979) was an Australian aviator and founding leader of the Women's Air Training Corps (WATC), a volunteer organisation that provided support to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during World War II. She later helped establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), the country's first and largest women's wartime service, which grew to more than 18,000 members by 1944.

Born Mary Fernandes in Tasmania, Bell married a RAAF officer in 1923 and obtained her pilot's licence in 1927. Given temporary command of the WAAAF on its formation in 1941, she was passed over as its inaugural director in favour of corporate executive Clare Stevenson. Bell refused the post of deputy director and resigned, but subsequently rejoined and served until the final months of the war. She and her husband later became farmers. Nicknamed "Paddy", Bell died in 1979, aged seventy-five. (Full article...)
Image 3

Crean on the Endurance Expedition, February 1915

Thomas Crean (Irish: Tomás Ó Cuirín; c. 16 February 1877 – 27 July 1938) was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer who was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving (AM).

Crean was a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Robert Falcon Scott's 1911–1913 Terra Nova Expedition. This saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen and ended in the deaths of Scott and his party. During the expedition, Crean's 35-statute-mile (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal. (Full article...)
Image 4

Sjafruddin in 1947

Sjafruddin Prawiranegara (EYD: Syafruddin Prawiranegara; 28 February 1911 – 15 February 1989) was an Indonesian statesman and economist. He served in various roles during his career, including as head of government in the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia (acting president of Indonesia), as Minister of Finance in several cabinets, and as the first Governor of Bank Indonesia. Sjafruddin later became the prime minister of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia, a shadow government set up in opposition to the country's central government.

Originating from Banten with Minangkabau ancestry, Sjafruddin became active in politics after his education in law. By 1940, he was working at a tax office, and joined the nationalist movements during the Japanese occupation period (1942–1945). Due to his closeness to the revolutionary leader Sutan Sjahrir, he was appointed finance minister in the Republican government during the Indonesian National Revolution (1945–1949). In this capacity, he lobbied for and distributed the Oeang Republik Indonesia, a predecessor currency to the Indonesian rupiah. Despite his socialist views, he joined the Islamic Masyumi party. In December 1948, a Dutch offensive captured the Indonesian revolutionary leaders including President Sukarno, resulting in Sjafruddin activating contingency plans and forming the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia on 22 December. For seven months in West Sumatra, he became the head of government of Indonesia, allowing the government to continue functioning and ensuring continued resistance. (Full article...)
$Image 5Vesna Vulović (Serbian Cyrillic: Весна Вуловић, pronounced [ʋêsna ʋûːloʋitɕ]; 3 January 1950 – 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who survived the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 metres (33,330 feet; 6.31 miles). She was the sole survivor of JAT Flight 367 after an explosion tore through the baggage compartment on 26 January 1972, causing it to crash near Srbská Kamenice, Czechoslovakia (now part of the Czech Republic). Air safety investigators attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. The Yugoslav authorities suspected that émigré Croatian nationalists were to blame, but no one was ever arrested.Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalized for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Vulović made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. She had little to no memory of the incident and had no fear of flying in the aftermath of the crash. Despite her willingness to resume work as a flight attendant, Jat Airways (JAT) gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts, feeling her presence on flights would attract too much publicity. Vulović became a celebrity in Yugoslavia and was deemed a national heroine. (Full article...)$
Image 5
Vesna Vulović (Serbian Cyrillic: Весна Вуловић, pronounced [ʋêsna ʋûːloʋitɕ]; 3 January 1950 – 23 December 2016) was a Serbian flight attendant who survived the highest fall without a parachute: 10,160 metres (33,330 feet; 6.31 miles). She was the sole survivor of JAT Flight 367 after an explosion tore through the baggage compartment on 26 January 1972, causing it to crash near Srbská Kamenice, Czechoslovakia (now part of the Czech Republic). Air safety investigators attributed the explosion to a briefcase bomb. The Yugoslav authorities suspected that émigré Croatian nationalists were to blame, but no one was ever arrested.

Following the bombing, Vulović spent days in a coma and was hospitalized for several months. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, broken legs, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis. These injuries resulted in her being temporarily paralyzed from the waist down. Vulović made an almost complete recovery but continued to walk with a limp. She had little to no memory of the incident and had no fear of flying in the aftermath of the crash. Despite her willingness to resume work as a flight attendant, Jat Airways (JAT) gave her a desk job negotiating freight contracts, feeling her presence on flights would attract too much publicity. Vulović became a celebrity in Yugoslavia and was deemed a national heroine. (Full article...)
Image 6

Qantas Captain Lester Brain in the 1930s

Lester Joseph Brain, AO, AFC (27 February 1903 – 30 June 1980) was a pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive. Born in New South Wales, he trained with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) before joining Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (Qantas) as a pilot in 1924. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1929, after locating the lost aircraft Kookaburra in northern Australia. Having risen to Chief Pilot at Qantas by 1930, he was appointed Flying Operations Manager in 1938. As a member of the RAAF reserve, Brain coordinated his airline's support for the Australian military during World War II. He earned a King's Commendation for his rescue efforts during an air raid on Broome, Western Australia, in 1942, and was promoted to wing commander in 1944.

Seeing little prospect for advancement at Qantas once the war had ended, Brain left to join the fledgling government-owned domestic carrier Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) in June 1946. Appointed its first General Manager, he swiftly built up the organisation to the stage where it could commence scheduled operations later in the year. By the time he resigned in March 1955, TAA was firmly established as one half of the Commonwealth government's two-airline system. After his departure from TAA, Brain became Managing Director of de Havilland Aircraft in Sydney, before joining the board of East-West Airlines as a consultant in January 1961. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 1979 and died in June the following year, aged seventy-seven. (Full article...)
Image 7

Ayres and child

Alice Ayres (12 September 1859 – 26 April 1885) was an English nursemaid honoured for her bravery in rescuing the children in her care from a house fire. Ayres was a household assistant and nursemaid to the family of her brother-in-law and sister, Henry and Mary Ann Chandler. The Chandlers owned an oil and paint shop in Union Street, Southwark, then just south of London, and Ayres lived with the family above the shop. In 1885, a fire broke out in the shop, and Ayres rescued three of her nieces from the burning building, before falling from a window and suffering fatal injury.

Britain, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, experienced a period of great social change in which the rapidly growing news media paid increasing attention to the activities of the poorer classes. The manner of Ayres's death caused great public interest, with large numbers of people attending her funeral and contributing to the funding of a memorial. Shortly after her death, she underwent what has been described as a "secular canonisation", being widely depicted in popular culture and, although very little was known about her life, widely cited as a role model. Various social and political movements promoted Ayres as an example of the values held by their particular movement. The circumstances of her death were distorted to give the impression that she was an employee willing to die for the sake of her employer's family, rather than for children to whom she was closely related. In 1902, her name was added to the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice and in 1936 a street near the scene of the fire was renamed Ayres Street in her honour. (Full article...)
Image 8

Portrait c. 1870–1880

James Baird Weaver (June 12, 1833 – February 6, 1912) was an American politician in Iowa who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and two-time candidate for President of the United States. He joined the Republicans, opposed slavery, and served as an officer in the Union army during the Civil War, but after 1876 he switched to the Greenbacks, then the Populists, and finally the Democrats. He trained as a lawyer. Late in his career he served as mayor of Colfax, Iowa. He wrote A Call to Action: An Interpretation of the Great Uprising, Its Source and Causes published in 1892 when he was a Populist Party candidate for the U.S. presidency, he later wrote a history of Jasper County, Iowa.

Born in Ohio, he moved to Iowa as a boy when his family claimed a homestead on the frontier. He became politically active as a young man and was an advocate for farmers and laborers. He joined and quit several political parties in the furtherance of the progressive causes in which he believed. After serving in the Union Army in the American Civil War, Weaver returned to Iowa and worked for the election of Republican candidates. (Full article...)
Image 9

Captain Roy Dowling, 1945

Vice Admiral Sir Roy Russell Dowling, (28 May 1901 – 15 April 1969) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). He served as Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), the RAN's highest-ranking position, from 1955 until 1959, and as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC), forerunner of the role of Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, from 1959 until 1961.

Born in northern New South Wales, Dowling entered the Royal Australian Naval College in 1915. After graduating in 1919 he went to sea aboard several Royal Navy and RAN vessels, and later specialised in gunnery. In 1937, he was given command of the sloop HMAS Swan. Following the outbreak of World War II, he saw action in the Mediterranean theatre as executive officer of the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Naiad, and survived her sinking by a German U-boat in March 1942. Returning to Australia, he served as Director of Plans and later Deputy Chief of Naval Staff before taking command of the light cruiser HMAS Hobart in November 1944. His achievements in the South West Pacific earned him the Distinguished Service Order. (Full article...)
Image 10

Nadezhda Sergeyevna Alliluyeva (Russian: Надежда Сергеевна Аллилуева; 22 September [O.S. 9 September] 1901 – 9 November 1932) was the second wife of Joseph Stalin.

She was born in Baku to a friend of Stalin, a revolutionary, and was raised in Saint Petersburg. Having known Stalin from a young age, they married when she was 17 and had two children. Alliluyeva worked as a secretary for Bolshevik leaders, including Vladimir Lenin and Stalin, before enrolling at the Industrial Academy in Moscow to study synthetic fibres and become an engineer. She had health issues, which had an adverse impact on her relationship with Stalin. She also suspected he was unfaithful, which led to frequent arguments with him. On several occasions, Alliluyeva reportedly contemplated leaving Stalin, and after an argument, she fatally shot herself early in the morning of 9 November 1932. (Full article...)
Image 11

Al-Shehri in July 2001

Wail Mohammed al-Shehri (Arabic: وائل الشهري, romanized: Wāīl ash-Shehrī; or Alshehri; July 31, 1973 – September 11, 2001) was a Saudi school teacher and terrorist hijacker for al-Qaeda. He was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11, which was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of the September 11 attacks.

Wail al-Shehri was an elementary school teacher from Khamis Mushait in the Asir region of Saudi Arabia. In early 2000, he traveled to Medina to seek treatment for mental problems. He and his younger brother Waleed traveled to Afghanistan in March 2000 and joined an Al-Qaeda training camp. The brothers were chosen, along with others from the same region of Saudi Arabia, to participate in the September 11 attacks. Once selected, al-Shehri returned to Saudi Arabia in October 2000 to obtain a clean passport, then returned to Afghanistan. In March 2001, he recorded his last will and testament on video. (Full article...)
Image 12

Engraving of Elizabeth Raffald, from her cookery book

Elizabeth Raffald (née Whitaker; 1733 – 19 April 1781) was an English author, innovator and entrepreneur.

Born and raised in Doncaster, Yorkshire, Raffald went into domestic service for fifteen years, ending as the housekeeper to the Warburton baronets at Arley Hall, Cheshire. She left her position when she married John, the estate's head gardener. The couple moved to Manchester, Lancashire, where Raffald opened a register office to introduce domestic workers to employers; she also ran a cookery school and sold food from the premises. In 1769 she published her cookery book The Experienced English Housekeeper, which contains the first recipe for a "Bride Cake" that is recognisable as a modern wedding cake. She is also possibly the inventor of the Eccles cake. (Full article...)
Image 13

James Longstreet (January 8, 1821 – January 2, 1904) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War and was the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his "Old War Horse". He served under Lee as a corps commander for most of the battles fought by the Army of Northern Virginia in the eastern theater, and briefly with Braxton Bragg in the Army of Tennessee in the western theater.

After graduating from the United States Military Academy in West Point, Longstreet served in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War. He was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec, and during recovery married his first wife, Louise Garland. Throughout the 1850s, he served on frontier duty in the American Southwest. In June 1861, Longstreet resigned his U.S. Army commission and joined the Confederate Army. He commanded Confederate troops during an early victory at Blackburn's Ford in July and played a minor role at the First Battle of Bull Run. (Full article...)
Image 14
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), known professionally as the Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the East Coast hip-hop and gangsta rap traditions, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive, laidback lyrical delivery, offsetting his lyrics' often grim content. His music was semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality but also of debauchery and celebration.

Wallace was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. In 1993, he became the first artist to sign with Sean Combs's Bad Boy Records and gained recognition for his guest appearances on other artists' singles. His debut studio album, Ready to Die (1994), received acclaim and included the successful singles "Juicy", "Big Poppa", and "One More Chance". Ready to Die made Wallace the central figure of East Coast hip-hop and helped restore its prominence at a time when the West Coast was dominating the genre. In 1995, Wallace was named Rapper of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards, and with his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A.—which included longtime friends like Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease—released the album Conspiracy. (Full article...)
Image 15

The mudfish legs on this figure of an Edo leader may represent Ohen's paralysis.

Ohen was the eighth Oba ('king') of the Kingdom of Benin, reigning from c. 1334 to c. 1370. He succeeded Udagbedo and was succeeded by his eldest son, Egbeka. Historical writings, oral traditions, and ritual performances associate Ohen's reign with palace conflict, disability, guild reforms, and the development of Benin ceremonial traditions. Benin court art depicts mudfish-legged royal figures that are often associated with Ohen, although scholars have also interpreted the motif more broadly as an image of divine kingship, Olokun-linked power, royal dependence on elite support, and warning against the abuse of monarchical authority. According to traditional accounts, Ohen became paralysed after many years on the throne and concealed his condition from the court by arranging for attendants to carry him into council chambers before chiefs arrived. His disability was discovered by the Iyase, a leading military chief, whose subsequent execution reportedly provoked unrest that ended in Ohen's death by stoning. Oral traditions and later scholarship connect these events with ideas about divine kingship, legitimacy, and political tensions involving the Ogiamiẹn lineage.

Several modern studies associate Ohen's reign with the reorganisation of palace guilds, especially weaving guilds connected to the royal court. Traditions also credit him with establishing the Olokun shrine at Urhonigbe and link his reign to ritual practices preserved in annual Iguẹ ceremonies. Stories surrounding his relationship with a woman named Elẹrẹ, together with accounts of secret journeys across the Ikpoba River, are connected in oral traditions to the origins of the Ekoko n'Utẹ masquerade festival. (Full article...)

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Did you know... - show different entries

... that the earliest distinguished ancestor of the Tudors served as a diplomat, judge, and military leader to Llywelyn Fawr of Gwynedd?
... that an Indonesian artist collective hired a gravestone maker to help teach sculpture?
... that forensic scientist Luke S. May was nicknamed "America's Sherlock Holmes" for his work as an investigator?
... that the American electronic artist Ships In The Night makes synthwave music with melodies inspired by bird songs, church bells, and trains?
... that a profile of artist Mark Hearld said his "wrens and squirrels, field mice and owls" help a child care about the planet better than telling them it is burning?
... that The 20/20 Experience World Tour made Justin Timberlake the highest-grossing solo touring artist of 2014?
... that last year, Pope Francis simplified the book for papal funerals?
... that a building in Boston was named after slain US president John F. Kennedy, after which one writer stated: "the building mocks the martyred president. It does not memorialize him"?
... that the stern of the wrecked freighter William C. Moreland was used in the construction of another ship?
... that Todung Sutan Gunung Mulia founded a printing house after President Sukarno banned the importation of Indonesian-language Bibles?
... that Indonesian ambassador Niniek Kun Naryatie initially wanted to resign as a diplomat after giving birth to her first child, but her husband convinced her not to do so?
... that actor Xavier Molyneux worked as an event paramedic between his acting roles?

General images

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

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

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Selected portrait

Image 1
Peter Oliver (painter)
Portrait: Peter Oliver
An 8.8-centimetre (3.5 in) tall self-portrait of the English miniaturist Peter Oliver (1594–1648). He often worked with watercolours.
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Image 2
Al Grey
Photograph credit: William P. Gottlieb; restored by Adam Cuerden
Al Grey (June 6, 1925 – March 24, 2000) was an American jazz trombonist who was known for his plunger-mute technique. After serving in World War II, he joined Benny Carter's band, then the bands of Jimmie Lunceford, Lucky Millinder, and Lionel Hampton. In the 1950s, he was a member of the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie before forming his own bands in the 1960s. This photograph by William P. Gottlieb shows Grey still performing into the 1980s.
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Image 3
Frederick Douglass
Photo credit: George K. Warren
American abolitionist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer Frederick Douglass, shown here in 1879. Born a slave, Douglass was one of the most prominent figures in African American history and a formidable public presence. He was a firm believer in the equality of all people, whether black, female, American Indian, or recent immigrant. He was fond of saying, "I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong."

February is Black History Month in the United States and Canada.
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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.
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Image 5
Marguerite de Navarre
Engraver: John James Hinchliff; Restoration: Adam Cuerden
An engraving of Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), the queen consort of King Henry II of Navarre, from an 1864 English edition of the Heptaméron, a collection of her own short stories. She was a patron of humanists and reformers, and as the older sister of King Francis I of France, Marguerite held tremendous influence in France, so much so that French historian Jules Michelet called her the "Mother" of the French Renaissance and American scholar Samuel Putnam called her the "First Modern Woman".
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Image 6
L-to-R: Allan Pinkerton, Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand
Photo credit: Alexander Gardner
Allan Pinkerton (left), President Abraham Lincoln (center), and Major General John A. McClernand (right). This photo was taken not long after the Civil War's first battle on northern soil in Antietam, Maryland, on October 3, 1862. Pinkerton was the head of Union Intelligence Services at the time. He also, allegedly, foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. His wartime work was critical in Pinkerton's development, which he later used to pioneer the American private detective industry when he formed the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
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Image 7
Fridtjof Nansen
Photo: Henry Van der Weyde; Restoration: Smalljim/PLW
Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a record northern latitude of 86°14′ during his North Pole expedition of 1893–96. Although he retired from exploration after his return to Norway, his techniques of polar travel and his innovations in equipment and clothing influenced a generation of subsequent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. In 1922 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on behalf of the displaced victims of the First World War and related conflicts.
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Image 8
Walt Whitman
Photograph: George C. Cox; restoration: Adam Cuerden
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass (first published in 1855, but continuously revised until Whitman's death), which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
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Image 9
Wayne Gretzky
Photo credit: Håkan Dahlström
Ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky, as a member of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL) in 1997. Gretzky, nicknamed "The Great One", is widely considered the best hockey player of all time. Upon his retirement in 1999, he held forty regular-season records, fifteen playoff records, and six All-Star records. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season—a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 15 NHL seasons, 13 of them consecutively. He is the only player to have his number (99) officially retired by the NHL for all teams.
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Image 10
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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Image 11
Sitting Bull
Photo credit: D.F. Barry
Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man. He is notable in American and Native American history in large part for his major victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn against Custer's 7th Cavalry, where his premonition of defeating them became reality. Even today, his name is synonymous with Native American culture, and he is considered to be one of the most famous Native Americans in history. Years later, he also participated in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, where he frequently cursed audiences in his native tongue as they applauded him.
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Image 12
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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Image 13
Nataliya Gotsiy
Photo credit: Peter Duhon
Ukrainian fashion model Nataliya Gotsiy modeling for Cynthia Rowley, Spring 2007 New York Fashion Week. She was the winner of the Ford Supermodel of the World 2004 search. She has appeared on the cover of French Elle and Italian Marie Claire and modeled for Behnaz Sarafpour, Christian Lacroix, Diane von Furstenberg, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries van Noten, Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Vivienne Westwood, among others.
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Image 14
Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir
Photo credit: Underwood and Underwood
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (left) and nature preservationist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, stand together on Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park. In the background can be seen Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. During this trip in 1903, Muir convinced Roosevelt to add Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove to the park, which had been established in 1890.
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Image 15
Louis Pasteur
Photograph: Nadar; restoration: Chris Woodrich
Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. He reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and created the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. His medical discoveries provided direct support for the germ theory of disease and its application in clinical medicine. Together with Ferdinand Cohn and Robert Koch, he is regarded as one of the three main founders of bacteriology.
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On this day – October 20

Births

1632 - Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (d. 1723) (pictured)
1882 - Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1956)
1890 - Jelly Roll Morton, American composer (d. 1941)
1931 - Mickey Mantle, baseball player (d. 1995)
1935 - Jerry Orbach, American actor (d. 2004)
1958 - Viggo Mortensen, American actor
1971 - Snoop Dogg, American rapper

Deaths

1740 - Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)
1926 - Eugene Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate (b. 1855)
1936 - Anne Sullivan, American teacher (b. 1866)
1964 - Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (b. 1874)
1990 - Joel McCrea, American actor (b. 1905)
1994 - Burt Lancaster, American actor (b. 1913)

More of today's anniversaries...

In the news

19 October 2026 – Shakahola Forest incident: A Kenyan court convicts Good News International Ministries leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie of murdering 190 children and an adult whose deaths were linked to starvation in Shakahola Forest. (Reuters)
16 October 2026 – 2026 anti-CEC protests: Cockroach Janta Party leader Abhijeet Dipke is detained in Delhi, India, ahead of the party's planned march. (BBC News)
15 October 2026 –: Northern Irish politician and former Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson is sentenced to 15 years in prison for child sexual abuse and rape. The offences occurred between 1985 and 2008. (AP) (BBC News)
15 October 2026 – 2026 Swedish government formation: The Riksdag votes against the appointment of Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson to repeat as Prime Minister of Sweden. Last 28 September, Andersson already returned her mandate to explore forming a new government. (Anadolu Agency)
13 October 2026 – Murder of Tupac Shakur: The Clark County District Court in Nevada, United States, sentences former Crips gang leader Duane "Keffe D" Davis to a minimum of 40 years in prison for orchestrating the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. (AFP via France 24) (DW)
10 October 2026 – 2026 Il Lombardia: In cycling, French cyclist Paul Seixas wins the 120th edition of the Giro di Lombardia in Italy, becoming the youngest person to do so. (NBC Sports) (The Guardian)

Updated: 1:05, 20 October 2026

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Quote of the week

"Know that however ugly the parts appear
the whole remains beautiful...
... the wholeness of life and things, the divine beauty
of the universe. Love that, not man
Apart from that, or else you will share man's pitiful confusions,
or drown in despair when his days darken."

— Robinson Jeffers

In The Answer, 1936

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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.