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handkerchief

(Encyclopedia)handkerchief. In classical Greece pieces of fine perfumed cotton, known as mouth or perspiration cloths, were often used by the wealthy. From the 1st cent. b.c., Roman men of rank used an oblong cloth...

Holiday, Billie

(Encyclopedia)Holiday, Billie, 1915–59, American singer, b. Baltimore. Her original name was Eleanora Fagan. She began singing professionally in 1930, and after performing with numerous bands—especially those o...

Acton, Sir John Francis Edward

(Encyclopedia)Acton, Sir John Francis Edward, 1736?–1811, Neapolitan statesman of British origin, b. Besançon, France. Called upon by Queen Marie Caroline and King Ferdinand IV of Naples (later Ferdinand I of th...

Onassis, Jacqueline Bouvier

(Encyclopedia)Onassis, Jacqueline Bouvier bo͞oˈvē-āˌ, bo͞ovyāˈ [key], 1929–94, b. Southampton, N.Y. Of a socially prominent family, she worked (1951–53) as a journalist and photographer before marrying ...

Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Nelson, Horatio Nelson, Viscount, 1758–1805, British admiral. The most famous of Britain's naval heroes, he is commemorated by the celebrated Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square, London. Upon the ...

Lee, Ang

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Ang äng [key], 1954–, Taiwanese filmmaker. Lee is one of the few directors who have achieved commercial and critical success in Asia and the United States, and is also unusual in the wide rang...

warship

(Encyclopedia)warship, any ship built or armed for naval combat. The forerunners of the modern warship were the men-of-war of the 18th and early 19th cent., such as the ship of the line, frigate, corvette, sloop of...

Bowles, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bowles, Paul, 1910–99, American writer and composer, b. New York City. He studied in Paris with Virgil Thomson and Aaron Copland and composed (1930s–40s) a number of modernist operas, ballets, son...

Zeffirelli, Franco

(Encyclopedia)Zeffirelli, Franco frängˈkō zāf-fērĕlˈlē [key], 1923–2019, Italian opera, stage, and film director and designer, b. Florence as Gianfranco Corsi Zeffirelli. Zeffirelli had his first successe...

Lee, Peggy

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Peggy, 1920–2002, American singer and songwriter, b. Jamestown, N.D., as Norma Deloris Egstrom. Lee became famous for her singular voice—sexy, subtle, simultaneously smoky and cool—and her ...