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

Creighton as Bishop of London

Mandell Creighton (/ˈmændəl ˈkraɪtən/; 5 July 1843 – 14 January 1901) was a British historian, Anglican priest and bishop. The son of a successful cabinet-maker in north-west England, Creighton studied at the University of Oxford, focusing his scholarship on the Renaissance Papacy, and then became a don in 1866. He was appointed the first occupant of the Dixie Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge in 1884. The following year, he also was engaged as the founding editor of The English Historical Review, the first English-language academic journal in its field. In these posts, he helped to establish history as an independent academic discipline in England.

In addition to his work as a historian, Creighton had a career in the clergy of the Church of England from the mid-1870s until his death. He served as a parish priest in Embleton, Northumberland, and later, successively, as a canon residentiary of Worcester Cathedral (1885), Bishop of Peterborough (1891) and Bishop of London (1897). His moderation and practicality drew praise from Queen Victoria and won notice from politicians. In later years, he was appointed to various positions of trust, including the Privy Council, and it was widely thought that he would have become Archbishop of Canterbury had his death, at the age of 57, not supervened. (Full article...)
Image 2

Worden in 1971

Alfred Merrill Worden (February 7, 1932 – March 18, 2020) was an American test pilot, engineer and NASA astronaut who was command module pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971. One of the 24 Apollo astronauts to reach the Moon, he orbited it 74 times in the command module (CM) Endeavour.

Worden was born in Michigan in 1932; he spent his early years living on farms and attended the University of Michigan for one year, before securing an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Graduating in 1955, he elected to be commissioned in the United States Air Force, though he had no piloting experience. He proved adept at flying fighter planes, and honed his skills, becoming a test pilot before his selection as a Group 5 astronaut in 1966. He served on the support crew for Apollo 9 and the backup crew for Apollo 12 before his selection for the Apollo 15 crew in 1970, with David Scott as commander and James Irwin as lunar module pilot. (Full article...)
Image 3

Oliver Christian Bosbyshell (January 3, 1839 – August 1, 1921) was Superintendent of the United States Mint at Philadelphia from 1889 to 1894. He claimed to have been the first Union soldier wounded by enemy action in the Civil War, stating that he received a bruise on the forehead from an object thrown by a Confederate sympathizer while his unit was marching through Baltimore in April 1861.

Bosbyshell was born in Mississippi of an old Philadelphia family, residing temporarily in the South, and raised in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Union cause on the outbreak of war. He served in the Union army during the American Civil War with the 25th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment for three months and then the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry for three years. He saw action in several key battles of the Eastern theater and was promoted to the rank of major. He led African American troops during the Battle of the Crater that suffered over 400 casualties. (Full article...)
Image 4

Wilder-Neligan as a lieutenant colonel, returning to Australia in July 1919

Lieutenant Colonel Maurice Wilder-Neligan, (born Maurice Neligan; 4 October 1882 – 10 January 1923), was an Australian soldier who commanded the South Australian-raised 10th Battalion during the latter stages of World War I. Raised and educated in the United Kingdom, he was briefly a soldier with the Royal Horse Artillery in London, after which he travelled to Australia where he worked in Queensland. He enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 20 August 1914 at Townsville, under the name Maurice Wilder, giving Auckland, New Zealand, as his place of birth. A sergeant in the 9th Battalion by the time of the Gallipoli landings of April 1915, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the second highest award for acts of gallantry by other ranks. He was quickly commissioned, reaching the rank of temporary captain before the end of the Gallipoli campaign. During his time at Gallipoli he was wounded once, and formally changed his name to Wilder-Neligan.

Arriving on the Western Front with the substantive rank of captain, he led a "most brilliant" raid on German trenches near Fleurbaix, and although severely wounded in the head, stuck to his command until the operation was successfully completed. For his actions he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), the second highest award for gallantry by officers. When he returned from hospital, he was promoted to major, and was in temporary command of his battalion during the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917. In July, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed to command the 10th Battalion. He led that unit during the Battle of the Menin Road Ridge in September and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1918. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the capture of Merris in July, for which he was awarded a bar to his DSO, again for gallantry. He continued to skilfully lead his battalion throughout the Hundred Days Offensive and up to the Armistice of 11 November. During the war, in addition to decorations already mentioned, he was awarded the French Croix de guerre and was mentioned in despatches five times. (Full article...)
Image 5

Destiny's Child in 2013
Left to right: Kelly Rowland, Beyoncé, Michelle Williams

Destiny's Child was an American girl group formed in Houston, Texas, in 1990. Through the contributions of its principal members—Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, and original members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett—the group is regarded as one of the most influential girl groups in popular music. Known for their vocal harmonies, stage performances, and themes of female empowerment, Destiny's Child played a central role in the girl group resurgence of the 1990s and the emergence of rap-singing, while helping shape contemporary R&B.

The group began their musical career as Girl's Tyme. After years of limited success, the original quartet—Beyoncé, Rowland, Roberson, and Luckett—were signed to Columbia Records in 1996 as Destiny's Child, gaining recognition with the single "No, No, No". They then released their best-selling album, The Writing's on the Wall (1999), which spawned the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name". Despite critical and commercial success, the group was plagued by internal conflict and legal turmoil, as Roberson and Luckett attempted to split from the group's manager, Mathew Knowles, due to his favoritism of his daughter Beyoncé and Rowland. (Full article...)
Image 6

Official portrait for STS-42, 1991

Ulf Dietrich Merbold (German: [ʊlf ˈdiːtrɪç ˈmɛrbɔlt]; born 20 June 1941) is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, becoming the first West German citizen in space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft. Merbold flew on two Space Shuttle missions and on a Russian mission to the space station Mir, spending a total of 49 days in space.

Merbold's father, a Wehrmacht soldier, was imprisoned in NKVD special camp Nr. 2 by the Red Army in 1945 and died there in 1948, and Merbold was brought up in the town of Greiz in East Germany by his mother and grandparents. As he was not allowed to attend university in East Germany, he left for West Berlin in 1960, planning to study physics there. After the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, he moved to Stuttgart, West Germany. In 1968, he graduated from the University of Stuttgart with a diploma in physics, and in 1976 he gained a doctorate with a dissertation about the effect of radiation on iron. He then joined the staff at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research. (Full article...)
Image 7

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 8

Parks in 1956

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her 1955 refusal to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in defiance of Jim Crow racial segregation laws, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. She is sometimes known as the "mother of the civil rights movement".

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up under Jim Crow segregation. She later moved to Montgomery and joined the city's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1943, serving as the organization's secretary. Despite policies designed to disenfranchise Black citizens, Parks successfully registered to vote after three separate attempts between 1943 and 1945. She investigated cases and organized campaigns around cases of racial and sexual violence in her capacity as NAACP secretary, including those of Recy Taylor and Jeremiah Reeves, laying the groundwork for future civil rights campaigns. (Full article...)
Image 9

Bancroft in 2011

Bronwyn Bancroft (born 1958) is an Aboriginal Australian artist, administrator, book illustrator, and among the first three Australian fashion designers to show their work in Paris. She was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, and trained in Canberra and Sydney.

In 1985, Bancroft established a shop called Designer Aboriginals, selling fabrics made by Aboriginal artists, including herself. She was a founding member of Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative. Her artwork is held by the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. She illustrated and written 47; children's books, including Stradbroke Dreamtime by activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal, and books by artist Sally Morgan. Her design commissions include one for the exterior of a Sydney sports centre. (Full article...)
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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 11

Depiction of Matilda in the 12th-century Gospels of Henry the Lion

Empress Matilda (c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud or Athelicia, was Holy Roman Empress as the consort of Emperor Henry V from 1110 until 1125, and was subsequently a claimant to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy (1138–1153). Following the death of her father, King Henry I of England, as his only surviving legitimate child and nominated heir, she asserted her right to the English throne. However, her cousin Stephen of Blois usurped the crown.

Matilda was the eldest child and only surviving daughter of Henry I of England and his first wife, Matilda of Scotland. As a child, she went to Germany where she was married to the future Henry V. She travelled with the emperor to Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned empress in St Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry V had no children, and when he died in 1125, his rival Lothair of Supplinburg claimed the imperial crown. (Full article...)
Image 12
Stella Dorothea Gibbons (5 January 1902 – 19 December 1989) was an English author, journalist, and poet. She established her reputation with her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm (1932), which has been reprinted many times. Although she was active as a writer for half a century, none of her later 22 novels or other literary works—which included a sequel to Cold Comfort Farm—achieved the same critical or popular success. Much of her work was long out of print before a modest revival in the 21st century.

The daughter of a London doctor, Gibbons had a turbulent and often unhappy childhood. After an indifferent school career she trained as a journalist, and worked as a reporter and features writer, mainly for the Evening Standard and The Lady. Her first book, published in 1930, was a collection of poems which was well received, and through her life she considered herself primarily a poet rather than a novelist. After Cold Comfort Farm, a satire on the genre of rural-themed "loam and lovechild" novels popular in the late 1920s, most of Gibbons's novels were based within the middle-class suburban world with which she was familiar. (Full article...)
Image 13

Jackson c. 1920s

Archibald Jackson (5 September 1909 – 16 February 1933), occasionally known as Archibald Alexander Jackson, was an Australian international cricketer who played eight Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1929 and 1931. A teenage prodigy, he played first grade cricket at only 15 years of age and was selected for New South Wales at 17. In 1929, aged 19, Jackson made his Test debut against England, scoring 164 runs in the first innings to become the youngest player to score a Test century.

Renowned for his elegant batting style, he played in a manner similar to the great Australian batsmen Victor Trumper, and Alan Kippax, Jackson's friend and mentor. His Test and first-class career coincided with the early playing years of Don Bradman, with whom he was often compared. Before the two departed for England as part of the 1930 Australian team, some observers considered Jackson the better batsman, capable of opening the batting or coming in down the order. Jackson's career was dogged by poor health; illness and his unfamiliarity with local conditions hampered his tour of England, only playing two of the five Test matches. Later in the year, in the series against the West Indies, Jackson was successful in the first Test in Adelaide, scoring 70 not out before a poor run of form led to his omission from the fifth Test. (Full article...)
Image 14

Henderson in 2019

Paul Garnet Henderson (born January 28, 1943) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A left winger, Henderson played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlanta Flames and five in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Toronto Toros and Birmingham Bulls. He played over 1,000 games between the two major leagues, scoring 376 goals and 758 points. Henderson played in two NHL All-Star Games and was a member of the 1962 Memorial Cup-winning Hamilton Red Wings team as a junior.

Henderson is best known for playing for Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series against the Soviet Union. The series was viewed as a Cold War battle for both hockey and cultural supremacy. Henderson scored the game-winning goal in each of the final three games, the last of which has become legendary in Canada and made him a national hero: it was voted the "sports moment of the century" by The Canadian Press and earned him numerous accolades. Those three wins secured the series for the Canadians by the narrowest of margins. Henderson has twice been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame: in 1995 individually and in 2005 along with all players of the Summit Series team. He was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2013. (Full article...)
Image 15

Solidus bearing the image of Tiberius III

Tiberius III (Greek: Τιβέριος, romanized: Tibérios), born Apsimar (Latin: Apsimarus; Greek: Ἀψίμαρος, romanized: Apsímaros), was Eastern Roman emperor from 698 to 705. Little is known about his early life, other than that he was a droungarios, a mid-level commander, who served in the Cibyrrhaeot Theme. In 696, Tiberius was part of an army sent by Byzantine Emperor Leontius to retake the North African city of Carthage, which had been captured by the Arab Umayyads. After seizing the city, this army was pushed back by Umayyad reinforcements and retreated to the island of Crete. As they feared the wrath of Leontius, some officers killed their commander, John the Patrician, and declared Tiberius the emperor. Tiberius swiftly gathered a fleet and sailed for Constantinople, where he then deposed Leontius. Tiberius did not attempt to retake Byzantine Africa from the Umayyads, but campaigned against them along the eastern border with some success. In 705, former emperor Justinian II, who had been deposed by Leontius, led an army of Slavs and Bulgars from the First Bulgarian Empire to Constantinople, and after entering the city secretly, deposed Tiberius. Tiberius fled to Bithynia, but was captured a few months later and beheaded by Justinian between August 705 and February 706. His body was initially thrown into the sea, but was later recovered and buried in a church on the island of Prote. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

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Selected portrait

Image 1
Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen
Painting credit: Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen
Hendrik van de Sande Bakhuyzen (1795–1860) was a 19th-century Dutch landscape painter and art teacher. He was a prominent contributor to the Romantic period in Dutch art, and his students and children founded the art movement known as the Hague School. He is known for his pastoral scenes (especially paintings of livestock) with detailed landscapes, notably inspired by Golden Age artist Paulus Potter and continuing the Realist tradition of that era. This oil-on-panel self-portrait by Van de Sande Bakhuyzen dates from 1850, and is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
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Image 2
Francisco Goya
Painting: Vicente López y Portaña
Francisco Goya (1746–1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. This portrait was completed when Goya was 80 years old.
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Image 3
Golda Meir
Photo credit: Marion S. Trikosko, U.S. News & World Report
A portrait of Golda Meir from 1973, during her tenure as Prime Minister of Israel. She was the first (and, to date, only) female Prime Minister of Israel, and was the third female Prime Minister in the world, as well as one of the founders of the State of Israel. Born as Golda Mabovitz, she chose her Hebrew name "Meir" upon her appointment as Foreign Minister in 1956. As Prime Minister, Meir oversaw a tumultuous period in Israeli history, with the War of Attrition, Operation Wrath of God, and the Yom Kippur War, all happening during that time.
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Image 4
Robert William Thomson
Image credit: Illustrated London News
The obituary of Robert William Thomson as it appeared in the Illustrated London News on 29 March 1873. Thomson was the inventor of the pneumatic tyre, the elliptic rotary steam engine and locomotive traction engine, the portable steam crane, and numerous other inventions. The obituary preceding his is for Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington.
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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.
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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.
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Image 7
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 8
Jeremy Doyle
Photo: Sport the Library
Jeremy Doyle (1983–2011) was an Australian wheelchair basketball player. Left paraplegic after a car accident, he was classified as a 1 point player. While representing his country Doyle won two gold medals, first at the 2009 Paralympic World Cup and again at the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship.
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Célestine Galli-Marié
Photograph credit: Nadar; restored by Adam Cuerden
Célestine Galli-Marié (1837–1905) was a French mezzo-soprano who is most famous for creating the title role in the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. It was said that, during the opera's 33rd performance on 2 June 1875, Galli-Marié had a premonition of Bizet's death while singing in the third act, and fainted when she left the stage; the composer in fact died that night and the next performance was cancelled due to her indisposition. This photograph by Nadar depicts Galli-Marié as the titular character in Carmen.
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Image 10
Edward VI
Artist: Unknown, probably of the Flemish School
A portrait of Edward VI of England, when he was Prince of Wales. He is shown wearing a badge with the Prince of Wales's feathers. It was most likely painted in 1546 when he was eight years old, during the time when he was resident at Hunsdon House. Edward became King of England, King of France and Edward I of Ireland the following year. He was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first ruler who was Protestant at the time of his ascension to the throne. Edward's entire rule was mediated through a council of regency. He died at the age of 15 in 1553.
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Image 11
Ksenia Semenova
Photo: Bolshoi Sport
Ksenia Semenova (b. 1992) is a Russian artistic gymnast. She was the 2007 World Champion on the uneven bars. At the 2008 European Championships, she was a member of the silver-medal-winning Russian team, as well as champion on the uneven bars and the balance beam. She followed this up by winning the all-around championship at the 2009 European Championships and was part of the gold-medal Russian team at the 2010 European and 2010 World Championships. Injuries have prevented her from competing since then.
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Image 12
Rory Kennedy
Photograph credit: Lyndie Benson
Rory Kennedy (born December 12, 1968) is an American documentary filmmaker and the youngest child of U.S. senator Robert Kennedy and Ethel Skakel. Born six months after the assassination of her father, her life has seen many tragedies. As a director and producer, she has made documentary films that center on social issues such as addiction, nuclear radiation, the treatment of prisoners of war, and the politics of the Mexican border fence. Her films have been featured on many TV networks, and her 2014 documentary Last Days in Vietnam was nominated for an Academy Award.
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Image 13
Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana of the Netherlands
Photo credit: Bain News Service
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands with her daughter and successor Princess Juliana, circa 1914. Wilhelmina was queen regnant from 1890 to 1948, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Outside the Netherlands she is primarily remembered for her role in the Second World War, in which she proved to be a great inspiration to the Dutch resistance, as well as a prominent leader of the Dutch government in exile. Juliana became queen regnant in 1948 after her mother's abdication and ruled until her own abdication in 1980, succeeded by her daughter, Beatrix.
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Image 14
Robin Hunicke
Photo: Charlie Chu
Robin Hunicke (b. 1973) is an American video game designer and producer who worked for several companies before establishing her own, Funomena, in 2011. She also supports independent game development.
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Image 15
Beppe Grillo
Photograph: Niccolò Caranti
Beppe Grillo (b. 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, blogger and political activist who established the Five Star Movement in 2009. Born in Genoa, Grillo became well known as a comic through several television shows in the 1980s, but following jokes which attacked the corruption of the Italian Socialist Party and its leader Bettino Craxi he was banned from television. Grillo continued to tour as a comedian while speaking out against corruption and banking scandals, and in 2005 Time named him a European hero.
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On this day – October 2

Births

1452 - King Richard III of England (d. 1485) (pictured)
1800 - Nat Turner, American leader of slave uprising (d. 1831)
1847 - Paul von Hindenburg, German officer and politician (d. 1934)
1851 - Ferdinand Foch, French soldier (d. 1929)
1869 - Mahatma Gandhi, Indian politician and spiritual leader. (d. 1948)
1871 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1955)
1890 - Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
1904 - Graham Greene, British novelist (d. 1991)
1937 - Johnnie Cochran, American attorney (d. 2005)
1951 - Sting, English musician and actor

Deaths

1764 - William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1968 - Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)
1973 - Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner (b. 1897)
1985 - Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
1987 - Peter Medawar, Brazilian-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1915)

More of today's anniversaries...

In the news

1 October 2026 – Iraqi conflict: Ahmad al-Hamidawi, leader of Kata'ib Hezbollah, announces that the group will suspend military activities in Iraq following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, with the exception of targeting hostile aircraft violating the country's airspace. (Middle East Eye)
1 October 2026 –: Ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir is sent to a military hospital in Khartoum, Sudan, for medical treatment. (Reuters)
30 September 2026 – AI boom: The Tokyo District Court rules that a person's voice can receive protection under publicity rights, in Japan's first case involving alleged audio deepfake, while dismissing actor Kenjiro Tsuda's request to remove already-deleted TikTok videos. (AFP via France 24)
28 September 2026 –: The United States Senate votes 77–22 to pass the Protect College Sports Act, a bill that will establish federal rules governing name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation, NCAA eligibility, and athlete transfers in college sports. (ESPN)
27 September 2026 – China–United States relations: Two giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, arrive at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, U.S., as part of an agreement signed between China and the U.S. during Chinese leader Xi Jinping's state visit last week. (AFP via Dawn) (AP)
25 September 2026 – 2026 Asian Games: In swimming, China's Zhang Zhanshuo becomes the first athlete to win seven gold medals at a single Asian Games, securing his seventh title in the men's 400-metre freestyle with a Games-record time of 3:41.28. (AFP)

Updated: 1:05, 2 October 2026

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Quote of the week

"There is no first world and third world. There is only one world, for all of us to live and delight in."

— Gerald Durrell

Quoted in State of the Ark by Lee Durrell

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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.