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100 Great Welsh Women
''100 Great Welsh Women'' is a collection of short biographies of prominent women from Wales, or of Welsh origin, published in 2001 by Terry Breverton. It covers women from all walks of life, including athletes, actresses, saints, singers and queens. Background ''100 Great Welsh Women'' was written by Terry Breverton and published in 2001. Breverton is a historian who has written more than 20 books. The books are typically on subjects related to Wales and include ''100 Great Welshmen'', ''An A-Z of Wales and the Welsh'', ''The Secret Vale of Glamorgan'' and ''The Book of Welsh Saints''. Content and style The book opens with a biography of the 5th–6th century Saint Almedha and ends with the 19th century Jane Williams. The book includes biographies of Tracy Edwards, yachtswoman, who in 1997 traveled in four days across the Atlantic with a 10-woman crew; Petula Clark, the popular singer; Megan Lloyd George, the politician and feminist; Queen Elizabeth I of England; Bette Davi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae ( résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality. Biographical works are usually non-fiction, but fiction can also be used to portray a person's life. One in-depth form of biographical coverage is called legacy writing. Works in diverse media, from literature to film, form the genre known as biography. An authorized biography is written with the permission, cooperation, and at times, participation of a subject or a subject's heirs. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, sometimes with the assistance of a collaborator or ghostwriter. History At first, bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helena (empress)
Flavia Julia Helena ''Augusta'' (also known as Saint Helena and Helena of Constantinople, ; grc-gre, Ἑλένη, ''Helénē''; AD 246/248– c. 330) was an '' Augusta'' and Empress of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. She was born in the lower classes''Anonymus Valesianus'1.2 "Origo Constantini Imperatoris". traditionally in the Greek city of Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor, which was renamed Helenopolis in her honor, though several locations have been proposed for her birthplace and origin. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True Cross. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and Anglican Communion revere her as a saint, and the Lutheran Church commemorates her. Early life Sources agree that Helena was a Greek, probably from Asia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meic Stephens
Meic Stephens (23 July 1938 – 2 July 2018) was a Welsh literary editor, journalist, translator, and poet. Birth and education Meic Stephens was born on 23 July 1938 in the village of Treforest, near Pontypridd, Glamorgan. He was educated at Pontypridd Boys' Grammar School and then studied at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, graduating in 1961, at the University of Rennes, Brittany, and the University College of North Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd. Career From 1962 to 1966 he taught French at Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire. In Merthyr Tydfil he established the Triskel Press and in 1965 he began the periodical, ''Poetry Wales''. He learnt Welsh as an adult, and became a member of the Welsh Language Society ( cy, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Cymraeg) and of Plaid Cymru. After working for the '' Western Mail'' for almost a year, from 1967 to 1990 Stephens was literature director of the Welsh Arts Council. Before retiring he was professor of Welsh Writing in English at the Unive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election, elected Member of Parliament for Finchley (UK Parliament constituency), Finchley in 1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther Williams
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco. While in the city, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic gold-medal winner and ''Tarzan'' star Johnny Weissmuller. Williams caught the attention of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts at the Aquacade. After appearing in several small roles, and alongside Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film and future five-time co-star Van Johnson in ''A Guy Named Joe'', Williams made a series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals", which featured elaborate performances with synchronised swimming and diving. Every year from 1945 to 1949, Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. She was originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, but her career prospects improved greatly following her portrayal of Nora Charles in ''The Thin Man'' (1934). Born in Helena, Montana, Loy was raised in rural Radersburg during her early childhood, before relocating to Los Angeles with her mother in her early adolescence. There, she began studying dance, and trained extensively throughout her high school education. She was discovered by production designer Natacha Rambova, who helped facilitate film auditions for her, and she began obtaining small roles in the late 1920s, mainly portraying vamps. Her role in ''The Thin Man'' helped elevate her reputation as a versatile actress, and she reprised the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Quant
Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a British fashion designer and fashion icon. She became an instrumental figure in the 1960s London-based Mod and youth fashion movements. She was one of the designers who took credit for the miniskirt and hotpants. Ernestine CarterBarbara Burmaaccessed 12 July 2012 "Carter, Ernestine Marie (1906–1983)" profile, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 31 December 2014. wrote: "It is given to a fortunate few to be born at the right time, in the right place, with the right talents. In recent fashion there are three: Chanel, Dior, and Mary Quant." Early life Quant was born on 11 February 1930 in Blackheath, London, the daughter of Welsh teachers. Her parents, Jack and Mildred Quant, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laura Ashley
Laura Ashley (née Mountney; 7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s, expanding the business into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. The Laura Ashley style is characterised by Romantic designs – often with a 19th-century rural feel – and the use of natural fabrics. Early life Ashley was born at her grandmother's home, 31 Station Terrace, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. She was raised in a civil service family as a Strict Baptist. The chapel she attended in Dowlais (Hebron) was Welsh language and although she could not understand it, she loved it, especially the singing. Educated at Marshall's School in Merthyr Tydfil until 1932, she was then sent to the Elmwood School, Croydon. She was evacuated back to Wales aged 13, but with so many World War II evacuees there were no school places left and she attended Aberdare Secretarial School. In 1942, at age 16, she left ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siân Phillips
Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips (born 14 May 1933), known professionally as Siân Phillips ( ), is a Welsh actress. She has performed the title roles in Ibsen's ''Hedda Gabler'' and George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan''. Early life Phillips was born on 14 May 1933 in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, Glamorgan, Wales, the daughter of Sally (''née'' Thomas), a teacher, and David Phillips, a steelworker who became a policeman. She is a Welsh-speaker: in the first volume of her autobiography ''Private Faces'' (1999) she notes that she spoke only Welsh for much of her childhood, learning English by listening to the radio. Phillips attended Pontardawe Grammar School and originally was known there as Jane, but her Welsh teacher called her Siân, the Welsh form of Jane. Later she took up English and philosophy at University College Cardiff. Phillips graduated from the University of Wales in 1955. She entered the RADA with a scholarship in September 1955, the same year as Diana Rigg and Glen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton, and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character, Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own, as well as for fainting at the sight of the Elgin Marbles in London. The Sarah Siddons Society, founded in 1952, continues to present the Sarah Siddons Award annually in Chicago to a distinguished actress. Background The 18th-century marked the 'emergence of a recognisably modern celebrity culture' and Siddons was at the heart of it. Portraits depicted actresses in aristocratic dress, the recently industrialised newspapers spread actresses' names and images and gossip about their private lives spread through the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels: ''Adam Bede'' (1859), ''The Mill on the Floss'' (1860), ''Silas Marner'' (1861), ''Romola'' (1862–63), ''Felix Holt, the Radical'' (1866), ''Middlemarch'' (1871–72) and '' Daniel Deronda'' (1876). Like Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, she emerged from provincial England; most of her works are set there. Her works are known for their realism, psychological insight, sense of place and detailed depiction of the countryside. ''Middlemarch'' was described by the novelist Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people"Woolf, Virginia. "George Eliot." ''The Common Reader''. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1925. pp. 166–76. and by Martin Amis and Julian Barnes as the greatest novel in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nest Ferch Rhys
Nest ferch Rhys (c. 1085 – c. 1136) was the daughter of Rhys ap Tewdwr, last King of Deheubarth in Wales, by his wife, Gwladys ferch Rhiwallon ap Cynfyn of Powys. Her family is of the House of Dinefwr. Nest was the wife of Gerald de Windsor (c. 1075 – 1135), Constable of Pembroke Castle and son of the Constable of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, by whom she was the ancestress of the FitzGerald dynasty. Nest had two younger brothers, Gruffydd ap Rhys and Hywel, and, possibly, an older sister named Marared, as well as several older illegitimate half-brothers and half-sisters. After their father's death in battle in 1093, "the Kingdom of the Britons fell" and was overrun by Normans. Nest's younger brother Gruffydd was spirited into Ireland for safety; their brother Hywel may have been captured by Arnulf de Montgomery, along with their mother, unless, as appears likelier, their mother was captured with Nest; their fate is unknown. Two older brothers, illegitimate sons of Rhys, one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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