Portal:Biography

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The Biography Portal

Biography (from the Greek words bios (βιος), meaning 'life', and graphein, meaning 'to write') is a genre of literature or film which presents a relatively full account of the most interesting and important events of a notable person's life. While a biography may focus on a fictional person, the term usually refers to non-fiction works. As opposed to summaries of people's lives, such as profiles or curriculum vitae, a biography is a continuous narrative which interprets and explains the person's character, personality, and social context.

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Featured biography

James "Jim" Bowie (April 10, 1796 – March 6, 1836), a nineteenth-century American pioneer and soldier, played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo. Countless stories of him as a fighter and frontiersman, both real and fictitious, have made him a legendary figure in Texas history. Born in Kentucky, Bowie spent most of his life in Louisiana, where he was raised and later worked as a land speculator. His rise to fame began in 1827 on reports of the Sandbar Fight, which also began the widespread popularity of the Bowie knife. Bowie's reputation was cemented by his role in the Texas Revolution. His fame in Texas grew following his failed expedition to find the lost San Saba mine, where his small party repelled an attack by a large Indian raiding party. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Bowie joined the Texas militia, leading forces at the Battle of Concepcion and the Grass Fight. In January 1836, he arrived at the Alamo, where he commanded the volunteer forces until an illness left him bedridden. Bowie died with the other Alamo defenders on March 6. Despite conflicting accounts of the manner of his death, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate" accounts maintain that he died in his bed after emptying his pistols into several Mexican soldiers. (Read more...)

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Selected portrait

The only known photograph of Frédéric François Chopin (IPA: [fʁedeʁik fʁɑ̃swa ʃɔpɛ̃]), (March 1, 1810¹ – October 17, 1849). Chopin was a Polish piano composer of the Romantic period, widely regarded as one of the most famous, influential and prolific composers for piano, and Poland's most significant composer. (read more...)

Photograph believed to have been taken by Louis-Auguste Bisson in 1849.

¹Some sources give February 22, for an explanation see here.

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Did you know...

• ...that former child actor Richard Eyer, who played the boy who runs "afowl" of the goose in William Wyler's 1956 film Friendly Persuasion, is now an elementary school teacher in Bishop, California?
• ...that 1985 NCAA hurdling champion Thomas Wilcher won the Michigan High School Athletic Association team track & field championship three consecutive times, both as an athlete and a coach?
• ...that after winning three medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics as a 16-year-old, Anita Nall retired from competitive swimming in 2000 due to chronic fatigue syndrome?

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WikiProjects

See also: Biographies of living persons

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On this day - July 24

Births

• 1725 - John Newton English cleric and hymnist (d. 1807)
• 1783 - Simón Bolívar, (pictured) South American liberator (d. 1830)
• 1878 - Lord Dunsany, Irish writer (d. 1957)
• 1895 - Robert Graves, English author (d. 1985)
• 1897 - Amelia Earhart, American aviator (disappeared 1937)
• 1963 - Karl Malone, American basketball player
• 1964 - Barry Bonds, baseball player
• 1969 - Jennifer Lopez, American actress and inger
• 1975 - Torrie Wilson, American wrestler
• 1982 - Anna Paquin, Canadian-born actress
• 1990 - Daveigh Chase, American actress

Deaths

• 1862 - Martin Van Buren, eighth President of the United States (b. 1782)
• 1974 - James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
• 1980 - Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor (b. 1925)

Recent days: July 23 – July 22 – July 21

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