Richard Saul Wurman is an architect and graphic designer. He is considered a pioneer in the practice of making information understandable. He has written and designed over 80 books and created the TED conferences (with which he is no longer...

Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King". Born in Tupelo, M...

Gone with the Wind is an American novel by Margaret Mitchell that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. It relates the story of a rebellious Georgia woman, named Scarlett O'Hara, and her travails with friends, family, and lovers in the midst of t...

The Spanish Civil War was the result of complex political differences between the Republicans — supporters of the government of the day, the Second Spanish Republic, mostly subscribing to electoral democracy and ranging from centrists to th...

Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Many critics described his music as operatic, nicknaming him "the Caruso of R...

Mikhail Tal was a Soviet Latvian chess Grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion (from 1960 to 1961). Widely regarded as a creative genius and the best attacking player of all time, Tal played in a daring, combinatorial style. His...

Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. He is the oldest surviving former world champion. Spassky won the Soviet Chess Championship twice outri...

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling any further than his pantry or his cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep on...

LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German zeppelin. It and its sister-ship LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II were the largest aircraft ever built. In its second year of service, it was destroyed by a fire while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchest...

“Guernica, the oldest town of the Basque provinces and the center of their cultural traditions, was almost completely destroyed by the rebels in an air attack yesterday afternoon. The bombing of the undefended town far behind the front line...

Scott began his feature film directing career with The Duellists, which brought him the Jury Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. His second film was the breakthrough hit Alien which won an Academy Award® for Special Effects. This was fo...

Philip Glass is an Academy Award-nominated American composer. His music is frequently described as minimalist, though he prefers the term theatre music. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late-20th century and is...

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of...

Saddam Hussein was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. Saddam formally rose to power in 1979, although he had been the de facto head of Iraq for several years prior. He suppressed s...

The original radio broadcast of Orson Welles' famous radio adaptation of H. G. Wells' classic novel The War of the Worlds was performed by Mercury Theatre on the Air as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938. The live broadcast frightened...