EARLY LIFE Charles Dickens was born at Landport, in Portsea, on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay-Office, and was temporarily on duty in the neighborhood when Charles was born. His name was John Dickens. He spent time in prison for debts. But, even when he was free he lacked…
Chiang Kai-shek, also known as Chiang Chung-cheng, was the son of a middle-class wine merchant who lived in the village of Chikow in Chekiang Province. When he was fourteen years old, following the Chinese custom of that time, he was arranged to be marry by his mother (the bride’s name is not mentioned). His bride…
Shortly after Charles Lindbergh landed, he was swarmed by 25, 000 Parisians who carried the wearied pilot on their shoulders. They were rejoicing that Charles Lindbergh, the American aviator who flew the first transatlantic flight, had just landed at Le Bourget field in France. Having just completed what some people called an impossible feat, he…
Cleopatra Vll was born in 69 BC, in Alexandria, Egypt. Despite what people say today, that she was glamorous and beautiful, she was far from it. She is shown on ancient coins with a long hooked nose and masculine features. Although she was not beautiful she was clearly a very seductive woman, and she used…
Davy was born in 1786 in Greene County, Tennessee. He went to school at 13 years old. But he didn’t like school. He ran away to the woods for 2 1/2 years to avoid being punished for missing days. Davy Crockett’s father was from Ireland and he married Rebecca Crockett. They had three boys and…
Daniel Webster contributed a large portion of the Civil War. To begin, he was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire on January 18, 1782. His parents were farmers so many people didn’t know what to expect of him. Even though his parents were farmers, he still graduated from Dartmouth College in 1801. After he learned to…
Eamon de Valera, although born in New York City, in the United States of America, devoted his life to help the people of Ireland. As he once said it, “If I wish to know what the Irish want, I look into my own heart.” De Valera loved Ireland and its people with a deep and…
Constantine the Great (about AD274-337), Roman emperor (306-37), the first Roman ruler to be converted to Christianity. He was the founder of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), which remained the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until 1453. Constantine the Great was born Flavius Valerius Constantinus at Nis, in what is now Serbia, son of the…
Donatello (1386-1466) was a master of sculpture in bronze and marble and was one of the greatest Italian Renaissance artists of his time. A lot is known about his life and career but little is known about his character and personality. He never married and seems to be a man of simple tastes. Patrons often…
Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, was born in Brooklyn, New York, November 8, 1897. After surviving the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, the Day family moved into a flat in Chicago’s South Side. It was a big step down in the world made necessary because John Day was out of work. Day…
Edward Theodore was born on August 27, 1906, to Augusta and George Gein in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Eddie was the 2nd of two children. Eddie’s mother was a fanatically religious women, who was determined to raise the boys according to her strict moral code. Eddie’s mother repeatedly warned her sons of the immorality and looseness…
Emilie du Chatelet was born in Paris on December 17, 1706 and grew up in a household where marriage was the only way one could improve their place in society. During her early childhood, Emilie began to show such promise in the area of academics that soon she was able to convince her father that…
Born September 7, 1963, Eric “Eazy-E” Wright’s early reputation on the streets of Compton, California, was a hustler eager to apply his street knowledge to his legitimate game. He dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, but refused that to interrupt his success. In the late `80’s he turned to rap music. Along…
Very little is known of the father of geometry, also known as Euclid. Records show that he lived somewhere around 300 B.C., but that date is sketchy. He was a Greek mathematician and is probably best known for his work Elements. Since little is known about the personal life of Euclid, it is difficult to…
Evangelista Torricelli was born October 15th, 1608 in what is now known as Faenza, Italy. Little information is known about his early years of life. In 1624 he entered the Jesuit College of Faenza, then moved on to the Collegio Romano in Rome. Here his talents and intellect were recognized and he was then moved…
In 1949 the most familiar scene in Argentina was the one played out almost daily at the Ministry of Labor in Buenos Aires. There, under the glare of camera lights, a former radio star and movie actress, now the most powerful woman in South America, would enter her office past a crush of adoring, impoverished…
CHILDHOOD Born in Richland Center, in southwestern Wisconsin, on June 8, 1867 (Sometimes reported as 1869) Frank Lincoln Wright (Changed by himself to Frank Lloyd Wright) was raised in the influence of a welsh heritage. The Lloyd-Jones family, his mother’s side of the family, had great influence on Mr. Wright throughout his life. The family…
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is known as one of the most important American writers of his time. He wrote about the troubling time period in which he lived known as the Jazz Age. During this era people were either rich or dreamt of great wealth. On September 24, 1896, he was born in St. Paul,…
George Washington seems today a figure larger than life itself…..almost as he was when he was a familiar person in the halls, homes, shops, and bars of 18th-century city Williamsburg. On Duke of Gloucester Street, in the Raleigh Tavern’s Apollo Room, or the Governor’s Palace Gardens, his powerful frame and his nice attitude..his presence….drew to…
George Frederick Handel was born on February 24, 1685 in Halle, Germany. One of the greatest composers of the late baroque period (1700-50) and, during his lifetime, perhaps the most internationally famous of all musicians. Handel was born February 24, 1685, in Halle, Germany, to a family of no musical distinction. His own musical talent,…
