Louis-Philippe of France

Louis-Philippe was the last king to rule France, reigning from 1830 to 1848. During the July Revolution of 1830, he was made lieutenant general of the …

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Louis-Philippe of France

Mario Lemieux

Lemieux is considered one of the greatest players in National Hockey League history. As center for the Pittsburgh Penguins, he won two Stanley Cup titles and frequently vied with Wayne Gretzky for scoring titles in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is one of only nine players to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame without the mandatory three-year post-retirement waiting period. What are the nicknames given to him by the media?

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Mario Lemieux

Buster Keaton

Keaton was one of silent cinema’s greatest actors and filmmakers. The acrobatic skill and deadpan expression that characterized his comedic style emerged from his days in vaudeville, and at the height of his career, he rivaled fellow comic actor Charlie Chaplin in popularity. Though Keaton is remembered mainly for his early roles in silent films such as The General, he made a comeback as a supporting actor with a cameo appearance in what Academy Award-winning, 1950 film noir?

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Buster Keaton

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Vaughan was one of America’s most influential electric blues guitarists. His unique sound was created with the use of heavy strings, and his style drew frequent comparisons to that of Jimi Hendrix. Vaughan’s 1989 album In Step won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and in 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named him the seventh greatest guitarist of all time. His career was tragically cut short when he died in a helicopter crash in 1990. What was Vaughan’s “first wife”?

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Stevie Ray Vaughan

Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century for his success in securing India’s independence from British rule through non-violent civil disobedience. …

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Mohandas Gandhi

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Rumi was a great Persian poet and Sufi mystic. His Masnavi-ye Manavi is a six-volume poem regarded by many Sufis as second in importance only to the Qur’an and is often called “Qur’an-e Farsee,” meaning “The Persian Qur’an.” Rumi’s influence spread to Persian-speakers in Afghanistan, central Asia, Turkey, and beyond. His followers founded the Mevlevi order, whose members use dancing and music as part of their spiritual method and are popularly known by what name?

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Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi

Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes was a Spanish author best known for Don Quixote de la Mancha, his novel about an aging “knight.” A superb burlesque of the popular romances of chivalry, the work was an enormous success and has had an indelible effect on the development …

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Miguel de Cervantes

Georges Clemenceau

Clemenceau was a French journalist and statesman whose politics brought him into conflict with Napoleon III’s government. After spending several years in the US, he returned to France and became mayor of Montmartre. In 1880, he began publishing La Justice, which became the primary organ of Parisian …

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Georges Clemenceau

Thomas Nast

Nast, a US caricaturist and cartoonist, is considered the father of American political cartooning. During the Civil War, Harper’s Weekly published the first of Nast’s serious political cartoons. His stylized, clever, and forceful illustrations attracted much attention and earned accolades from President Lincoln. His cartoons were also instrumental in breaking up the corrupt NYC Tweed Ring. Nast revived the use of what symbols in his depictions of the US Democratic and Republican parties?

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Thomas Nast

Dmitri Shostakovich

Although Shostakovich was the most popular Soviet composer of his generation, he was denounced several times by the authorities and had his work banned during his lifetime. He used traditional forms in his music, which is accessibly tonal, yet distinctly 20th century. His response to life in the USSR has been the subject of much political and musical debate. What was Stalin’s opinion of Shostakovich’s compositions?

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Dmitri Shostakovich

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