Portal:Biography

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Introduction

Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson

A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the 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 his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.

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

An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An autobiography is written by the person himself or herself, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter.

Selected biographies

Sing as Bertha Faye in 1995

Rhonda Ann Sing (February 21, 1961 – July 27, 2001) was a Canadian professional wrestler. After training with Mildred Burke, she wrestled in Japan under the name Monster Ripper. In 1987, she returned to Canada and began working with Stampede Wrestling, where she was their first Stampede Women's Champion. In 1995, she worked in the World Wrestling Federation as the comedic character Bertha Faye, winning the WWF Women's Championship. She also wrestled in World Championship Wrestling to help generate interest in their women's division. Read more...
Portrait of Hugh Stewart, a lieutenant colonel at the time, c. 1916–18

Hugh Stewart, CMG, DSO & Bar, MC (1 September 1884 – 21 September 1934) was an academic, military leader and historian whose work had a major impact in both England and New Zealand.

Born in Scotland, Stewart worked in Russia teaching English after completing his education. He then taught classical studies, firstly at the University of Liverpool in England and then at Canterbury College in Christchurch, New Zealand. During the First World War, he volunteered for service abroad with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He participated in several engagements at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, and was decorated for bravery and leadership. He ended the war as a lieutenant colonel and commanding a battalion of the Canterbury Infantry Regiment, having also briefly led the 2nd Infantry Brigade. Read more...
Ivory in April 2018

Lisa Mary Moretti (born November 26, 1961) is an American former professional wrestler. She is best known for her time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, previously the World Wrestling Federation) between 1999 and 2005 under the ring name Ivory. Moretti began her career and first found national exposure in the independent promotion Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), where she performed as Tina Ferrari from the mid-to-late-1980s. Moretti debuted in the World Wrestling Federation in 1999 as the manager for D'Lo Brown & Mark Henry. She won the WWE Women's Championship twice, before becoming a part of the villainous Right to Censor, a storyline stable of characters with harshly conservative sociopolitical views. This led to her third Women's Championship victory. Overall Ivory is a three time champion in WWE.

In her later years with WWE, she wrestled only sporadically. Moretti did, however, co-host WWE Experience, and served as one of the trainers on WWE Tough Enough. After Moretti left WWE in 2005, she wrestled for Women Superstars Uncensored, winning two other titles, and was also inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame. Moretti also began volunteering at her local animal shelter. In addition, Moretti opened an animal care and grooming facility named Downtown Dog, in her hometown in 2007. Read more...
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (/miːs/ MEESS; German: [miːs]; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright, he is regarded as one of the pioneers of modernist architecture.

Mies was a director of the Bauhaus, a seminal school in modern architecture. After Nazism's rise to power, and with its strong opposition to modernism (leading to the closing of the Bauhaus itself), Mies went to the United States. He accepted the position to head the architectural school at the Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. Read more...
Vojislav Lukačević (Serbian Cyrillic: Војислав Лукачевић; 1908 – 14 August 1945) was a Serbian Chetnik commander in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II. At the outbreak of war, he held the rank of captain of the reserves in the Royal Yugoslav Army.

When the Axis powers invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, Lukačević became a leader of Chetniks in the Sandžak region and joined the movement of Draža Mihailović. While the Chetniks were an anti-Axis movement in their long-range goals and did engage in marginal resistance activities for limited periods, they also pursued almost throughout the war a tactical or selective collaboration with the occupation authorities against the Yugoslav Partisans. They engaged in cooperation with the Axis powers to one degree or another by establishing modi vivendi or operating as auxiliary forces under Axis control. Lukačević himself collaborated extensively with the Italians and the Germans in actions against the Yugoslav Partisans until mid-1944. Read more...
Alexander Alekhine (Russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Але́хин, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Alekhin; pronounced [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲexʲɪn]; October 31 [O.S. October 19] 1892 – March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest chess players of all time.

By the age of 22, Alekhine was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played. In 1921, Alekhine left Soviet Russia and emigrated to France, which he represented after 1925. In 1927, he became the fourth World Chess Champion by defeating José Raúl Capablanca. Read more...
John D. Rockefeller in 1885

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American oil industry business magnate, industrialist, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history.

Rockefeller was born into a large family in upstate New York and was shaped by his con man father and religious mother. His family moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. Rockefeller became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into a business partnership with Maurice B. Clark and his brothers at 20. After buying them out, he and his brother William founded Rockefeller & Andrews with Samuel Andrews, and they concentrated on oil refining rather than drilling. In 1867, Henry Morrison Flagler entered the partnership, and the Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler company grew by taking over local refineries. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870 as an Ohio partnership with William, Flagler, Andrews, Jabez A. Bostwick, and silent partner Stephen V. Harkness. He ran it until 1897. Read more...
Mr. Frank Woodruff Buckles on March 6, 2008

Frank Woodruff Buckles (born Wood Buckles, February 1, 1901 – February 27, 2011) was a United States Army corporal and the last surviving American military veteran of World War I. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at the age of 16 and served with a detachment from Fort Riley, driving ambulances and motorcycles near the front lines in Europe.

During World War II, a month before his forty-first birthday, he was captured by Japanese forces while working in the shipping business, and spent three years in the Philippines as a civilian prisoner. After the war, Buckles married in San Francisco and moved to Gap View Farm near Charles Town, West Virginia. A widower at age 98, he worked on his farm until the age of 105. Read more...
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (/ɡaʊs/; German: Gauß [ˈkaɐ̯l ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈɡaʊs] (listen); Latin: Carolus Fridericus Gauss; (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and sciences. Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum (Latin for "the foremost of mathematicians") and "the greatest mathematician since antiquity", Gauss had an exceptional influence in many fields of mathematics and science, and is ranked among history's most influential mathematicians. Read more...
Jones (left) tussling with Liverpool's Aly Cissokho in 2014

Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his football career with Joe Public in his native Trinidad and Tobago. He moved to W Connection in 2002, and he was a utility player in the Trinidad and Tobago team in 2003 against Finland. In 2004, he joined Southampton, where he was converted to a striker. He was later loaned to Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City during the 2004–05 season.

In 2007, he joined Sunderland for £6 million where he spent three seasons before he signed for Stoke City in August 2010. In his first season at Stoke Jones scored 12 goals and played in the 2011 FA Cup Final. Following the arrival of Peter Crouch in August 2011, Jones struggled to hold down a regular place in the side which saw him score just four more league goals in the next three seasons. In January 2014 he joined Cardiff City in a player-exchange with Peter Odemwingie. Whilst with Cardiff he spent time out on loan at Bournemouth and Al Jazira before moving to Atlanta United in the summer of 2016. Jones decided to retire from football in November 2017. Read more...
Mark Matthews (August 7, 1894 – September 6, 2005) was an American veteran of the Second World War and a Buffalo Soldier. Born in Alabama and growing up in Ohio, Matthews joined the 10th Cavalry Regiment when he was only 15 years old, after having been recruited at a Lexington, Kentucky racetrack and having documents forged so that he appeared to meet the minimum age of 17. While stationed in Arizona, he joined General John J. Pershing's Mexico expedition to hunt down Mexican general Pancho Villa. He was later transferred to Virginia, where he took care of President Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor's horses and was a member of the Buffalo Soldiers' drum and bugle corps. In his late 40s, he served in combat operations in the South Pacific during World War II and achieved the rank of First Sergeant. He was noted as an excellent marksman and horse showman.

Leaving the United States Army a few years before it was integrated, Matthews then took a job as a security guard in Maryland, rising to the rank of chief of the guards and then retiring in 1970. After the war, he told stories of military experiences and grew to become a symbol of the Buffalo Soldiers. In his later years he met with Bill Clinton and Colin Powell and also dedicated a barracks in Virginia in honor of the Buffalo Soldiers. Having experienced excellent health for most of his life, Matthews died of pneumonia at the age of 111 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was recognized as the oldest living Buffalo Soldier as well as the oldest man, and the second-oldest person, in the District of Columbia. Read more...
Michel Aflaq in 1963

Michel Aflaq (Arabic: ميشيل عفلق‎‎, Arabic pronunciation: [miːʃeːl ʕaflaq], 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociologist and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he is considered by several Ba'athists to be the principal founder of Ba'athist thought. He published various books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Battle for One Destiny (1958) and The Struggle Against Distorting the Movement of Arab Revolution (1975).

Born into a middle-class family in Damascus, Syria, Aflaq studied at the Sorbonne, where he met his future political companion Salah al-Din al-Bitar. He returned to Syria in 1932, and began his political career in communist politics. Aflaq became a communist activist, but broke his ties with the communist movement when the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party supported France's colonial policies. Later in 1940 Aflaq and al-Bitar established the Arab Ihya Movement (later renaming itself the Arab Ba'ath Movement, taking the name from Zaki al-Arsuzi's group by the same name). The movement proved successful, and in 1947 the Arab Ba'ath Movement merged with al-Arsuzi's Arab Ba'ath organisation to establish the Arab Ba'ath Party. Aflaq was elected to the party's executive committee and was elected "'Amid" (meaning the party's leader). Read more...
Kahn in 2018

Oliver Rolf Kahn (German: [ˈɔlɪvɐ ˈkaːn]; born 15 June 1969) is a German former football goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team in 1975. Twelve years later, Kahn made his debut match in the professional squad. In 1994, he was transferred to Bayern Munich for the fee of DM4.6 million, where he played until the end of his career in 2008. His commanding presence in goal and aggressive style earned him nicknames such as Der Titan ([deːɐ̯ tiˈtaːn], English: the Titan) from the press and Vol-kahn-o ("volcano") from fans.

Kahn is one of the most successful German players in recent history, having won eight Bundesliga titles, six DFB-Pokals, the UEFA Cup in 1996, the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, both achieved in 2001. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, his individual contributions have earned him a record four consecutive UEFA Best European Goalkeeper awards, as well as three IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper awards, and two German Footballer of the Year trophies. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Kahn became the only goalkeeper in the tournament's history to win the Golden Ball. Kahn placed fifth in both the IFFHS Best Goalkeeper of the 21st Century and Best Goalkeeper of the Past 25 Years elections. Read more...
Meskó during the 2011 NFL season

Zoltán Meskó (/ˈzoʊltɑːn ˈmɛskoʊ/; Hungarian: [ˈmɛʃkoː ˈzoltaːn]; born 6 March 1986) is a former American football punter born in Timișoara, Romania. He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He played college football at Michigan. Born in Romania, Meskó emigrated with his family to the United States and eventually settled in Ohio. There he was discovered as a potential kicker for his school's football team, the Twinsburg Tigers, and became one of the best high school football kickers in the nation, excelling as both a punter and placekicker. After earning top honors in his state, Meskó was recruited by several college football teams. He selected Michigan over several schools including Indiana, Ohio State, and USC.

At Michigan, Meskó did not win the starting job as a punter right away. He redshirted his freshman year and won a battle for the kicking duties on the field in 2006. Meskó then went on to excel on the field as a three-time Ray Guy Award watchlist candidate and off the field as a four-time Academic All-Conference selection. He was also recognized for his character and community service by numerous organizations. As a redshirt junior in 2008, Meskó endured the dynamics of a coaching change, became Michigan's all-time leader in punts and punting yardage, and was named to 2008 All-Big Ten first-team. As a fifth-year senior in 2009, he made a number of preseason All-American teams and achieved the highest punting average of his college career at 44.5 yards per punt. Meskó concluded his season as a 2009 All-Big Ten first-team selection by both the coaches and the media. He was also selected as a first-team Academic All-American and as a second-team All-American by several publications. He holds the career and single-season records for punts and punting yards at Michigan. Read more...
Abū al-Ḥusayn ‘Asākir ad-Dīn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj ibn Muslim ibn Ward ibn Kawshādh al-Qushayrī an-Naysābūrī (Arabic: أبو الحسين عساكر الدين مسلم بن الحجاج بن مسلم بن وَرْد بن كوشاذ القشيري النيسابوري‎; after 815 – May 875) or Muslim Nīshāpūrī (Persian: مسلم نیشاپوری‬‎), commonly known as Imam Muslim, Islamic scholar, particularly known as a muhaddith (scholar of hadith). His hadith collection, known as Sahih Muslim, is one of the six major hadith collections in Sunni Islam and is regarded as one of the two most authentic (sahih) collections, alongside Sahih al-Bukhari. Read more...
Nizar Nayyouf (also Nayuf or Nayouf; Arabic: نزار نيوف‎ born 29 May 1962) is a Syrian journalist, human rights activist, and dissident. He was one of the founding members of the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedom, a banned political organization in Syria, as well as editor-in-chief of صوت الديموقراطيِّةSawt al-Democratiyya . He has criticized the Syrian government for human rights abuses, for which he was arrested and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in 1991, most of which he spent in Mezzeh prison outside Damascus.

While in prison, Nayyouf was confined to isolation cells and tortured on a regular basis, which left him unable to walk. He was also denied cancer treatment unless he would recant his criticism of the government, but refused. On 6 May 2001, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad granted Nayyouf's release on humanitarian grounds on the date of Pope John Paul II's visit to Syria. Nayyouf subsequently moved to France, where he remains politically active and continues to call for democracy in Syria. Read more...
Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his senior partner Calvert Vaux, including Central Park in New York City and Cadwalader Park in Trenton.

Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; Thompson Park in Watertown, New York; Belle Isle Park, in the Detroit River for Detroit, Michigan; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and entire parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; the 735-acre (297 ha) Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, featuring America's first public "wading pool"; the George Washington Vanderbilt II Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Maine, and Stanford University near Palo Alto, California, as well as for The Lawrenceville School; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. In Chicago his projects include: Jackson Park; Washington Park; the Midway Plaisance for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace" boulevard ring; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C., he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building. Read more...
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. Read more...
Gordon William "Doc" Roberts (September 5, 1891 – September 2, 1966) was a Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the Ottawa Hockey Club and Montreal Wanderers of the National Hockey Association (NHA) and the Vancouver Millionaires and Seattle Metropolitans of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). He was a member of the Ottawa team that defended the Stanley Cup in a 1910 challenge; Roberts scored seven goals in two games in his team's victory over the Edmonton Hockey Club. He moved to Montreal in 1910 where he was consistently among the NHA's leading scorers with the Wanderers while also studying medicine at McGill University.

While in Montreal, Roberts attended McGill University where he studied to become a physician. Following his graduation, he settled in British Columbia to begin his medical career. Continuing his hockey career, Roberts joined the Vancouver Millionaires where he was named a PCHA all-star at left wing and led the league in scoring with 43 goals in 1916–17. He retired from hockey in 1918 following a season in Seattle before Vancouver lured him back to the game one year later. Roberts left the sport again in 1920 and his medical career ultimately took him to Oakland, California where he practiced for over 40 years. He was posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971. Read more...
Ted Alford (born February 2, 1971) is a former professional gridiron football wide receiver. After playing college football at Langston University, he played for seven teams in the Canadian Football League (CFL), including the Edmonton Eskimos, BC Lions, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts, and Calgary Stampeders. In his rookie season with the BC Lions, Alford became a consistent starter and was nominated for the Most Outstanding Rookie award. He spent the next several years moving from team to team, playing in only 8 CFL games from 1997 through 2000.

In 2001, Alford joined the Toronto Argonauts and had his most successful season, recording 1,172 receiving yards and being named an East Division all-star. He signed with the Ottawa Renegades in 2002, but returned to the Argonauts shortly afterward. The Argonauts' signing of Alford without notifying the Renegades sparked a controversy regarding a series of unofficial agreements on the signing of another team's practice squad players. Alford went on to finish the 2002 season with the Argonauts. He finished his final CFL season with the Calgary Stampeders in 2004. Read more...

Did you know...

... that Peregrin Saxon was the first Bishop of Bosnia to reside in Bosnia since Ponsa was driven out by heretics a century earlier?
... that contemporary artist Vladimir Kokolia has his own wiki, called Kokopedia?
... that Merian C. Cooper, director of King Kong, destroyed nearly all 5,000 copies of his autobiography Things Men Die For?
... that in 1724, Pope Benedict XIII had to be convinced to accept his election to the papacy by the head of the Dominican Order?
... that H. Rex Lee was the last non-elected Governor of American Samoa?
... that Madeleine Moreau is the only French athlete to win an Olympic medal in diving?
... that although Parmenian is considered by some historians to be the most important Donatist writer of his day, none of his works survive?
... that Russian scientist Natan Yavlinsky was credited as the inventor and developer of the world's first working tokamak?
... that "legendary" Chinese actress Wang Danfeng‎ was invited to attend the inauguration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan?
... that Swedish writer Eva Alexanderson translated works by Umberto Eco, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky?
... that graffiti by artist Heba Amin which appeared in an episode of the television series Homeland included phrases in Arabic such as "Homeland is racist"?
... that President Lyndon B. Johnson credited Agnes E. Meyer with having the most influence over his education policy?

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Selected images

Eminent Victorians set the standard for 20th century biographical writing, when it was published in 1918.
John Foxe's The Book of Martyrs, was one of the earliest English-language biographies.
Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson
James Boswell wrote what many consider to be the first modern biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson, in 1791.
Einhard as scribe

In the news

5 February 2019 – 2019 North Korea–United States Vietnam Summit, North Korea–United States relations: During the State of the Union speech, President Trump announced he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam on February 27 and 28. (USA Today)
2 February 2019 –: Governor of the U.S. state of Virginia Ralph Northam says he will not resign from office because he does not believe that he appears in a controversial photograph from his 1984 medical school yearbook showing one person wearing blackface and another person wearing Ku Klux Klan attire. However, Northam later admits to wearing blackface during the same time period for a dance contest, in order to imitate musician Michael Jackson. (Post and Courier) (The Washington Examiner)
26 January 2019 – 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Crisis in Venezuela, Russia–Venezuela relations: In an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting called by the United States, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells the representatives of each government in attendance to make it known whether their country will support the disputed presidency of Maduro or his contested political rival Juan Guaidó as the leader of Venezuela. (The Washington Post)
23 January 2019 – 2019 Venezuelan protests, 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, United States–Venezuela relations: Opposition leader Juan Guaidó swears himself in as President of Venezuela, with de facto President Nicolás Maduro not recognizing this. (CNN); The United States, Canada and several Latin American nations recognize opposition leader Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela. (Chicago Tribune)
13 January 2019 – Macedonia naming dispute: Alexis Tsipras, leader of SYRIZA in Greece, announces a vote of confidence in his government after Panos Kammenos, leader of the Independent Greeks (ANEL), announces that it will withdraw from the ruling coalition due to opposition to the Prespa agreement. (FT)