Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Pyle, Howard

(Encyclopedia)Pyle, Howard, 1853–1911, American illustrator and writer, b. Wilmington, Del., studied at the Art Students League, New York City. His illustrations appeared regularly in Harper's Weekly, and in many...

Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor

(Encyclopedia)Lloyd George, David, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor do͞oˈēvôr [key], 1863–1945, British statesman, of Welsh extraction. Lloyd George was a brilliantly eloquent, forceful, and creative statesman...

Burroughs, John

(Encyclopedia)Burroughs, John, 1837–1921, American naturalist and author, b. Roxbury, N.Y.; son of a farmer. He was a journalist, a treasury clerk in Washington, and a bank examiner, before settling in 1874 on a ...

Kemal, Yaşar

(Encyclopedia)Kemal, Yaşar or Yashar, 1923–2015, Turkish novelist, b. Kemal Sadik Gögçeli. His rural childhood was marked by poverty and trauma; at a mosque at age five he witnessed his father's murder and was...

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

(Encyclopedia)Korngold, Erich Wolfgang, 1897–1957, American composer of film and concert music and opera, b. Brünn, Austria-Hungary (now Brno, Czech Republic). He began composing ballet music and operas in his t...

fool

(Encyclopedia)fool or court jester, a person who entertains with buffoonery and an often caustic wit. In all countries from ancient times and extending into the 18th cent., mental and physical deformity provided am...

Banksy

(Encyclopedia)Banksy, pseud. of an English graffiti artist, c.1974–, probably b. Bristol. He painted on walls, bridges, and the like in Bristol and London in the 1990s before he began to use (c.2000) stencils and...

Wolfe, James

(Encyclopedia)Wolfe, James, 1727–59, British soldier. After a distinguished record in European campaigns, he was made (1758) second in command to Jeffery Amherst in the last of the French and Indian Wars. Through...

Keith, George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Keith, George Keith Elphinstone, Viscount 1746–1823, British admiral. After serving as a captain in the American Revolution and early French Revolutionary Wars, he was appointed (1795) vice admiral....

Heath, Sir Edward Richard George

(Encyclopedia)Heath, Sir Edward Richard George, 1916–2005, British statesman. Educated at Oxford, he served in the Royal Artillery during World War II, rising to the rank of colonel. He was elected to Parliament ...