Famous people Biographies

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

 

     Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809 and died April 15, 1865. He was the sixteenth president of the United States of America serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Largely self educated, Lincoln served as a militia captain from Illinois in the Black Hawk war and became a lawyer, Illinois state legislator, and a member of the House of Representatives before becoming President. A renowned orator and story teller, Lincoln gained a national profile during the Lincoln Douglas Debates of 1858 in which he discussed the immorality of slavery and the slave trade. The debates were part of the election campaign for United States Senator from Illinois which his opponent, Stephen A. Douglas, eventually won. However, the debates led to Lincoln's Read More..

ADOLF HITLER

     Hitler did not do particularly well in school, leaving formal education in 1905. Unable to settle into a regular job, he drifted. He wished to become an artist but was rejected from the Academy in Vienna.          Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in the small Austrian town of Braunau to Alois Hitler who later became a senior customs official and his wife Klara, who was from a poor peasant family.At primary school, Hitler showed great intellectual potential and was extremely popular with fellow pupils as well as being admired for his leadership qualities. However, competition at secondary school  Read More..

WINSTON CHURCHILL

     Some didn't give his marriage to Clementine more than six months, yet it lasted 56 years. Her tact, support and advice soothed his temper, and helped win the war.                                                                                                    The son of Lord Randolph Churchill and the American heiress Jennie Jerome, Churchill graduated from Sandhurst, but resigned his cavalry commission to become a correspondent during the Boer War. He provided reports to the Daily Telegraph and published books 'The Story of the Malakland Field Force (1898) and 'The River War' (1899).                                                                In 1900 he was elected to Parliament as a Conservative, but switched in 1904 to the Liberal Party.  Read More..

QUEEN ELIZABETH II 

       In 2012 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, having spent 60 years on the throne. This makes The Queen the second longest reigning British monarch, after her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.                                                                                            Her Majesty is 38th in direct line of descent from Egbert (c. 775-839), King of Wessex from 802 and of England 827 to 839.                Christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, she is the elder daughter of King George VI  Read More..

QUEEN VICTORIA

      Queen Victoria is Britain's longest reigning monarch, on the throne for 64 years.                                                                              Alexandrina Victoria Wettin, of the Royal House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was the daughter of Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III, and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield.     Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. She was fifth in line to the throne after  Read More..

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

     Franklin D Roosevelt was the US President famous for his New Deal who hid his disability from the world and didn't live to see the Allies' victory over Germany in WWII.                                                                                        Roosevelt was born into a moderately wealthy family. He did not excel at school but did well and attended Harvard University.                                          It was at Harvard that Roosevelt met his cousin, Eleanor, whom he fell in love with and they were married in 1905, against his mother’s wishes.                  After Harvard, Roosevelt attended Columbia University Law School. He practiced law for some years but nurtured a desire to enter politics. In 1910, Roosevelt stood as a democrat for the New Read More..

JOSEF STALIN

A look at the 20th century's most evil dictators, whose monstrous personalities and single party rule ran parallel and affected millions of lives in the first half of last century.    Born Josif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, Stalin was a nickname.                    Born to illiterate peasant parents, he became involved with Socialism, Lenin's ideas about the importance of centralism and a strong revolutionary party. His practical experience made him useful in Lenin's Bolshevik party before the 1917 Revolution.Stalin spent the years after the revolution secretly increasing his power as general secretary. After Lenin's death in 1924, underhand machinations and alliances meant that, by 1928, Read More..

SADDAM HUSSEIN

       His portrait covered buildings all over Iraq as a reminder of his powerful grip. But Saddam Hussein was eventually made to pay for his crimes against humanity.                                                                      Saddam Hussein has the dubious distinction of being the best-known Middle Eastern dictator. He ruled Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow and capture by a US-led coalition, in 2003.                                      Born to a peasant family near Tikrit, the teenage Saddam immersed himself in the anti-British, Arab nationalist ideology of the day. Failing to complete high school, Saddam joined the Ba'ath Party in Baghdad, who were plotting to assassinate  Read More..

OSAMA BIN LADEN

    Born in 1957, into a wealthy family, at school and university he joined the Muslim Brotherhood.                                                                When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, he collected money and supplies for the Afghan resistance, the mujahideen.                                He made further trips, and joined the fighting. As a wealthy Saudi, he stood out and acquired a following, and other Arabs joined the Afghan Muslims. He organised a guesthouse Read More..

THE QUEEN MOTHER

      Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon’s parents moved in royal circles and, as a girl, Elizabeth played with the children of British king George V. Eventually Elizabeth's father became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, bringing the family an official title.

The Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was born on 4 August 1900. She was the fourth  Read More..

MAHATMA GANDHI

      Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, more commonly known as ‘Mahatma’ (meaning ‘Great Soul’) was born in Porbandar, Gujarat, in North West India, on 2nd October 1869, into a Hindu Modh family. His father was the Chief Minister of Porbandar, and his mother’s religious devotion meant that his upbringing was infused with the Jain pacifist teachings of mutual tolerance, non-injury to living beings and vegetarianism.                                                                              Born into a privileged caste, Gandhi was fortunate to receive a comprehensive education, but proved a mediocre student. In May 1883, aged 13, Gandhi was married to Kasturba Makhanji, a girl also aged 13, through the arrangement of their respective parents, as is customary in India. Read More..

NELSON MANDELA

        A towering figure in 20th century history, Nobel Laureate Nelson Mandela showed how wisdom and patience can triumph over bigotry and brute force. Truly the Father of a Nation.                                        Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was the son of one of South Africa's leading dignitaries, Chief Henry Mandela of the Tembu Tribe, and it was as a young law student that he became involved in political opposition to the white minority regime. Joining the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942, he co-founded its more dynamic Youth League two years later.  The 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party led to the apartheid system of racial  Read More..

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR

         Martin Luther King, Jr’s father was a minister. He attended Booker T. Washington High School, and went to Morehouse College at fifteen to study Sociology.                                                                                                      In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951. King also received a PhD in systematic theology at Boston University.                                            In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.                                                                              In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastorale Read More..

Source: http://www.history.co.uk