"Biographies" (95)
Martin Luther King was a clergyman and one of the most prominent members of the civil rights movement.
He was born of January 15, 1929. He became famous in the 19500 and 1960-es through opposition to racial segregation in the USA. King promoted non-violent methods of opposition such as boycotts or sit-ins.
In 1963 he helped organize March on Washington; the march drew hundreds of thou-sands of civil rights supporters to Washington, D.C., for a mass rally. At this march he delivered his most celebrated speech. He stressed the importance of non-violent protest and described a possible future of racial harmony in the US. He said: "I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply routed in the American dream: I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be charged by the color of their skin but by the content by their character".
After this march Martin Luther King was put into jail; there he wrote his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail" which he addressed to his fellow clergymen. In this letter he defended the civil rights movement, saying that without forceful actions like this march, equal rights for black people would never be gained. He claimed "one who breaks an unjust law must o it openly, lovingly." Such a person, King said, is showing respect for law because he insists that law should be just.
In 1964 Martin Luther King received the Nobel Prize for peace.
He was assassinated by James Earl Ray in 1968. A national holiday each January 15 commemorates his life.
Mark Twain is a famous American writer and a journalist. His real name was Samuel Clemens. He was born in 1835 in Florida. Mark Twain started his literary career rather late. He worked as a journalist in newspapers in Nevada and California during the years of the Civil War. His father died when the boy was only 12 years old. Twain had to start working with his brother. In 1857 he became a sailor on the Mississippi. After the Civil War he worked as a reporter for the "Territorial Enterprise" in Virginia City. His witty style, characterizing all his following works, was formed during his work in that newspaper. Soon after his first stories had been published he received the fame of the first humourist of America. "The Gilded Age", "My Watch", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" appeared during this period in Twain's literary career. The characteristic features of American comical folklore found their place in Twain's creative works. He ignores all the rules of the "true" art and laughs at the European civilization. As the Americans of his times he believes in democratic America, creating a new culture, ignoring all previous experience of mankind. His removal to New York and his marriage to a daughter of a coal tycoon changed a lot in his life. He tried to become a businessman, but ruined himself and had to deliver lectures. In the 1870s he wrote "Life on Mississippi", and in 1885 — "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". "The Prince and the Pauper", and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" were also published during this time. In his works of that period Mark Twain showed racial prejudices, clash of humanism with antihuman materialism of bourgeois world. His works of the period greatly influenced American literature. The last period of his creative work is the time of pamphlet, which became his most favorite genre.
Margaret Thatcher (Margaret Robins) was born in 1925. Her father had a grocer's shop but he was also very interested in local politics. Margaret was a good student and won a scholarship to Oxford to study chemistry. Then she worked as a research chemist until she met and married Denis Thatcher, a successful businessman. Then she decided to study law. She was already involved in politics and gave up law when she was elected to the Parliament in 1959. From 1970 to 1974 she was Secretary of State for Education. In 1975 she became leader of the Conservative Party which was the Opposition. In 1979 she beat the Labour Party and took office as Prime Minister, Britain's first woman Prime Minister.
Thatcher privatized publicly-owned industries and made cuts in state education, hospitals and welfare benefits. In early 's, Britain was facing unemployment, inflation, problems of Northern Ireland. In 1982, Britain became involved in an undeclared war against Argentina in the Falkland Islands. After the victory in the Falklands, she had an image of a strong, authoritative leader. In the 1983 election campaign, she won with a large majority of votes. In 19i she won her third term as Prime Minister defeating the Labour Party which suffered from loss of votes due to the newly formed alliance with Liberal.
On November 22,1990, Mrs. Thatcher resigned. The "Iron Lady" who believed it was her destiny to reshape the British nation shed tears as she made the historic announcement. Three men were candidates for the post of Prime Minister. John Major was to win.
Margaret Thatcher was the longest Prime Minister of the 20th century. Her style and her views appealed to many British people who had lost confidence in the welfare state and in the direction the nation had taken. In some ways she was the first genuine leader the nation had since the time of Churchill.Margaret Thatcher began her career in politics, when she became a Conservative Member of Parliament. in 1979 she was elected as Britain's first woman Prime Minister.
From the start, her autocratic style earned her the nickname of "The Iron Lady". Her abrasive manner has attracted some criticism.During the Falklands War of 1982, however, Margaret Thatcher's militant patriotism found her many supporters, and she became something of a popular hero-figure, much as Winston Churchill had been in the Second World War.
Margaret Thatcher was re-elected Prime Minister in the general elections of 1983 and 1987.
Lewis Carroll was the pen-name of Charles L. Dodgson, the man who wrote a famous book for children "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".
Charles L. Dodgson was born in England in 1832. He got his early education at a public school. Then he became a student at Oxford. Charles studied mathematics and later taught this subject in the same college.
Charles Dodgson had no family, but he loved children very much. He often visited his friend, who had a large family. There were three little girls in the family. One of them Alice, was four years old. Dodgson liked Alice very much and he often told her interesting stories which he made up himself. Charles told Alice Liddell about the adventure of a little girl, and she liked the stories very much.
When Alice Liddell was about ten years old, she asked Charles to write down the stories for her, and he did so. He called the heroine of his book also Alice. This hand-written book had many pictures made by Charles himself. They were not very good pictures but the children liked them.
One day a friend of the Liddells, a writer, came to see the family. He saw the hand-written book made by Charles Dodgson and began to read it with great interest. He read the book to the end and said that it was good and that all the children in England must read it. Charles decided to publish the book but he did not want to do it under his own name. So he took the pen-name of Lewis Carroll. The book came out in 1865 and all the people who read it liked it very much. Later the book was published in the United States, in France and in Germany. The first Russian translation of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" came out in 1923.
In England the book was published very many times during the author's life and you can always find it in the bookshops of today. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is still a favourite children's book.
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer.
His first role was on the sitcom Growing Pains, but his breakthrough film performance came in This Boy's Life. This was quickly followed by What's Eating Gilbert Grape; his performance as the mentally handicapped brother of Gilbert (Johnny Depp) brought him nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. DiCaprio has also been nominated for two BAFTAs, three SAGs, and seven Golden Globes. He is a Golden Globe and a Silver Bear winner.
He gained fame for his role as Jack Dawson in Titanic, and has starred in many other successful films including Romeo + Juliet, Catch Me If You Can, and Blood Diamond, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Another Academy Award nomination came for his role as Howard Hughes in The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese. He has also worked with Scorsese in Gangs of New York, The Departed and Shutter Island.
DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of a former legal secretary, and an underground comic artist and producer of comic books. His parents divorced when he was a year old and he lived mostly with his mother, although his father was around intermittently. During his childhood, DiCaprio was interested in baseball cards, comic books, and frequently visited museums with his father.
DiCaprio's career began with his appearing in several commercials and educational films. He got his break on television in 1990 when he was cast in the short-lived series based on the movie Parenthood. His debut film role was Critters 3, a B-grade horror film, which later went straight to video.
His breakthrough came in 1992, when he beat out hundreds of other boys for the role of Toby Wolff in This Boy's Life, co-starring Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin. The move from "star" to "superstar" came when DiCaprio played Jack Dawson in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic, his popularity skyrocketed, with the media dubbing it "Leo-mania".
In 2002, DiCaprio starred in Gangs of New York (directed by Martin Scorsese) and Catch Me If You Can (directed by Steven Spielberg). Both films were very well received by critics. DiCaprio continued his run with Scorsese in the 2006 film The Departed as Billy Costigan, a smart undercover cop in Boston. His next film was Blood Diamond, released in December 2006.
In 2010, DiCaprio starred in Shutter Island directed by Martin Scorsese, which is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane.
Jules Verne was born in 1828 in France. Young Jules was interested in machinery, sailing and writing. Together with his brother Paul, he explored the river near their home in an old sailboat.
Jules' father was a lawyer and he wanted his son to continue his career. So Jules was sent to Paris to study law. Jules, however, decided soon that his main interest was writing. He joined the club of scientific writers. This group was interested in balloons so Jules soon wrote an adventure story called "Five Weeks in a Balloon". His favourite subject at school was geography, so he wanted to describe in his books as many parts of the world as possible.
Jules Verne's books are still popular now because they are good adventure stories. But in his books Verne also forecast many inventions that we have now. He believed that someday people would have airplanes, submarines, television, dirigibles and powerful weapons.
His most popular books are "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days".
Verne had a notebook where he wrote every idea or bit of information he came across that might be useful for his books. In his study he had a large map of the world with all routes of his heroes marked on it.
During his life, Jules Verne has written more than 50 books. He died at the age of 77.
Joseph Turner, the greatest English romantic landscape painter, was born in Covent Garden, London, on the 23rd of April in 1775. He was the son of a fashionable barber. He started drawing and painting as a small boy. His father used to sell the boy's drawings to his customers. In such a way he earned money which his father paid for his lessons in art. At the age of 14 he entered the Royal Academy School. His water-colours were exhibited at the Royal Academy from the time he was fifteen. At 18 he set up his own studio. Turner worked at first in water colours, then in oils. Between 1802 and 1809 Turner painted a series of sea-pieces, among them "Sun Rising in Mist". The masterpieces of this period are "The Lake of Geneva", "Frosty Morning", "Crossing the Brook", etc. In 1819 Turner got out on his first visit to Italy. During the journey he made about 1500 drawings and the next few inspired by what he had seen. Turner was the master of the air and wind, rain and sunshine, horizon, ships and sea. He dissolved the forms of his landscape in the play of light and shade, he anticipated the work of French Impressionist paintings. During his life Turner painted hundreds of paintings and thousands of water-colours and drawings. On his death Turner's own entire collection of paintings and drawings was willed to the nation and they are in the National and the Tate Galleries.
Jonathan Swift was the greatest of English satirists. His better satire at the contemporary social order in general and an the policy of English government in particular. That's why the Irish people considered Swift the champion in the struggle against the wealthy and freedom of their country.
Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, but he came from English family. His father died at the age of 25, leaving his wife and daughter pennyless. His son was born seven months later after his death. The boy knew little of his mother. He hardly ever saw her, during his childhood. Jonathan was supported by his uncle Godwin. At the age of 6 he was sent to school, which he left at 14. Then he entered a college in Dublin and got his bachelor's degree in 1686.
Popular American writer John Galsworthy was born in 1853. He attended a prestigeous school because his father wanted John to be a lawyer. Thus, John entered the Oxford University. But some time later be told his father about his wish to become a writer.
His literally career began at the age of seventeen when he studied at the Oxford University. His works established him as one of America's leading authors. John Galsworthy wrote some scientific books and such articles as "All about writer", "Thinking about art", "The art and the war". All of them were devoted to the role of art in our life.
"The Forsyte Saga" was published in 1922 in May. It is the most famous work by John Galsworthy. From this novel we get to know about the Forsyte family. The main character is Miss Forsyte. When she was a little girl her mother died, her father had run away with foreign girl. One could not call the Forsyte family united, but its member tried to help each other.
"The Forsyte Saga" was the best work by John Galsworthy. "It was the happiest day in my life", said John to his friends when it was published. But it was very difficult for him to write this novel because to some degree it was his autobiography. "Old Jolyon", for example, is a copy of his father.
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John Constable, one of the greatest landscape painters, was born in Sufford, on June 11, 1776. He was the son of a wealthy miller. He began to take interest in landscape painting while he was at grammar school. His father did not favour art as a profession. As a boy Constable worked almost secretly, painting in the cottage of an amateur painter. His keen artistic interest was such that his father allowed him to go to London in 1795, where he began to study painting. In 1799 Constable entered the Royal Academy School in London. He was the first landscape painter who considered that every painter should make his sketches direct from nature, that is, working in the open air. Constable's art developed slowly. He tried to earn his living by portraits. His heart was never in this and he achieved no popularity. Constable was a realist. He put into his landscape cattle, horses, the people working there. He put the smiling meadows, the sparkle of the sun on rain, or the stormy and uncertain clouds. The most notable works of Constable are "Flatford Mill", "The White Horse", "The Hay Wain", "Waterloo Bridge", "From Whitehall stairs" and others. In England Constable never received the recognition that he felt he was due. The French were the first to acclaim Constable publicly. His influence upon foreign painting schools has been powerful. Constable may truly be considered the father of modern landscape painting.
In the history of English literature Jerome K. Jerome occupies a modest place. He cannot be compared with Dickens, Thackeray, or Bernard Shaw, but he is well known as a writer-humorist not only in his country but in another countries too.
Jerome Klapka Jerome was born in England on May 2, 1859 into the family of ruined businessman. Jerome's childhood was poor and sad. He could not finish school because his father died in 1871 and the boy had to begin working to support his family. First he worked as a clerk. Later he took up teaching journalism and acting. For three years he was an actor and had to play different parts. He had very little money and often went hungry and had no place to sleep.In his free moments Jerome tried to write. He wrote plays, stories and articles, but nothing was published.
His first literary success was a one-act comedy which was performed in the Globe theatre in London in 1886.
In 1889 a collection of his articles was published. They were published as a book under the title The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow. This book became very popular in England, and it was published 105 times in 4 years. In 1889 Jerome's best book Three Men in a Boat also came out.
The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow and Three Men in a Boat made the author famous. The books were translated into many European languages.In the following years Jerome published several books and plays. He went travelling all over Europe and in 1899 he visited St. Petersburg, where he was met with enthusiasm. He knew Russian literature very well.
Jerome K. Jerome also wrote serious books, but the public didn't like them.
He criticized German imperialism and the policy of Britain in China.
Jerome's last book was his autobiography My Life and Time. He died in 1927. The works of Jerome are full of humour and they can't but amuse the reader.
J. D. Salinger is one of the most famous contemporary writers. He was born in 1919 in New York in a well-to-do family. He graduated from the Pennsylvania Military Academy, and also studied at New York and Columbia Universities. During World War II he served in the Army in Europe. His only novel "A Catcher in the Rye" brought him fame. Its main character, teenager Colefield, clearly perceives contradiction between the world of adults and teenagers. The drawbacks of the world of adults can be easily seen by the eyes of a sincere and innocent child. He can't understand the psychology of material success, which rules in the world of grown-ups, and he doesn't want to become an adult. The best stories of Salinger comprised his "Nine Stories". They are based on the ancient Indian poetics. They are characterized by nine human states: erotic, humorous, pathetic, the state of dismay, heroic, fear, horror, surprise and calmness. People are shown in different situations, and their behaviour reveals their inner state. The mood, the feelings, the hint are the most important things in these stories. The author considers the family as the ailment for a person. It should bring up a child in the spirit of love to other people. Salinger's works influenced American students of the 50's and 60's. A powerful movement for civil rights rose in the country. After 1965 Salinger stopped publishing his works.
Maxwell, born in a well-known Scottish family, early showed signs of mathematical talent. At the age of 15 he contributed a piece of original work on the drawing of oval curves to the royal society of Edinburgh. The work was so well done that many refused to believe that such a young boy could be the author. At Cambridge, which he entered in 1856, he graduated the second in his class in mathematics. Maxwell was appointed to his first professorship at Aberdeen in 1859. In 1871 Maxwell was appointed a professor of experimental physics at Cambridge. While at Cambridge he organized the Cavendish Laboratory, named in honour of the eccentric English scientist of the previous century Henry Cavendish. Several decades later the Cavendish Laboratory was to do great work, which was connected with radioactivity. The most important work of Maxwell's life was carried on between 1864 and 1873. He placed into mathematical form the speculations of Faraday concerning magnetic lines of force. Maxwell's theory showed that electricity and magnetism could not exist in isolation. Where there was one, there was the other, so that his work is usually referred to as