actressBorn: 6/28/1948Birthplace: Memphis, Tennessee Academy Award-winning film, stage and television character actress whose films include Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (…
(Encyclopedia) Bacon, Francis, 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b. London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon,…
(Encyclopedia) Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751–1816, English dramatist and politician, b. Dublin. His father, Thomas Sheridan, was an actor and teacher of elocution and his mother, Frances Sheridan…
athleteBorn: 12/20/1886Birthplace: Healdsburg, Calif. Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss entered the United States tennis championships in 1909 and won every event in which she entered—women's singles,…
writerBorn: July 6, 1954Birthplace: Little Falls, Minnesota With recurring characters and themes, Louise Erdrich's fiction is steeped in the American Indian cultures of North Dakota, where she was…
actressBorn: 5/14/1969Birthplace: Melbourne, Australia Born to a Texan father and an Australian mother, the Blanchett was 10 years old when her father died. A student of economics and fine arts at…
(Encyclopedia) Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it…
(Encyclopedia) philatelyphilatelyfĭlătˈəlē [key], collection and study of postage stamps and of materials relating to their history and use. Collecting stamps began soon after the first postage stamp…
(Encyclopedia) Leopold I, 1790–1865, king of the Belgians (1831–65); youngest son of Francis Frederick, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After serving as a page at the court of Napoleon I and as a…
(Encyclopedia) Arundel, Thomas Howard, earl of, 1585–1646, first great English art collector and patron of arts. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he married a goddaughter of Queen Elizabeth…