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Victorian style

(Encyclopedia)Victorian style, in British and American architecture, an eclectic mode based on the revival of older styles, often in new combinations. Although the style is named after the reign (1837–1901) of Qu...

Gower, John

(Encyclopedia)Gower, John gouˈər, gôr [key], 1330?–1408, English poet. He was the best-known contemporary and friend of Chaucer, who addressed him as “Moral Gower,” at the end of Troilus and Criseyde. Appa...

Fairbanks, Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Fairbanks, Douglas, 1883–1939, American movie actor, b. Denver. From 1901 to 1914, Fairbanks appeared on stage in light comedies. In 1915 he began making movies, becoming the swashbuckling hero of h...

Wertmüller, Lina

(Encyclopedia)Wertmüller, Lina, 1928–2021, Italian film director, b. Archangela as Felice Assunta Wertmüller von Elgg Spañol von Braucich. In the 1970s she becam...

Leary, Timothy Francis

(Encyclopedia)Leary, Timothy Francis, 1920–96, American psychologist and educator, b. Springfield, Mass.; B.A., Univ. of Alabama, 1943; M.A., Washington State Univ.; Ph.D., Univ. of California at Berkeley, 1950. ...

Defoe, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Defoe or De Foe, Daniel dĭfōˈ [key], 1660?–1731, English writer, b. London. He was nearly sixty when he turned to writing novels. In 1719 he published his famous Life and Strange Surprising Adv...

Dickinson, Emily

(Encyclopedia)Dickinson, Emily, 1830–86, American poet, b. Amherst, Mass. She is widely considered one of the greatest poets in American literature. Her unique, gemlike lyrics are distillations of profound feelin...

Naipaul, V. S.

(Encyclopedia)Naipaul, V. S. (Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul) nīpôlˈ [key], 1932–2018, English writer, b. Chaguanas, Trinidad; grad. University College, Oxford, 1953. Naipul, whose family descended from Ind...

Labouchere, Henry du Pré

(Encyclopedia)Labouchere, Henry du Pré lăˌbo͞oshârˈ [key], 1831–1912, British politician and journalist. Following diplomatic service (1854–64), he sat in the House of Commons (1880–1906) as a Radical. ...

Sedgwick, Adam

(Encyclopedia)Sedgwick, Adam, 1785–1873, English geologist. He was a professor at Cambridge from 1818. His most important work was a study, made with R. I. Murchison, of the rock formation of Devonshire, which th...