Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

88 results found

Johnson, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Boris (Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson), 1964–, British political leader, b. New York City, grad. Oxford (1986). While at Oxford Johnson was president of the prestigious Oxford Union deb...

Artzybasheff, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Artzybasheff, Boris ärtsĭbäˈshĕf [key], 1899–1965, American draftsman, illustrator, writer, and cartoonist, b. Kharkiv, Russia (now in Ukraine); son of Mikhail Petrovich Artzybashev. In 1919 he...

Karloff, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Karloff, Boris kärˈlôf, –lŏf [key], 1887–1969, Anglo-American actor, b. Dulwich, England; his original name was William Henry Pratt. A distinguished character actor with a superb speaking voic...

Boris III

(Encyclopedia)Boris III, 1894–1943, czar of Bulgaria (1918–43), son of Czar Ferdinand, on whose abdication he succeeded to the throne. He ruled constitutionally until 1934, then set up a military dictatorship u...

Blacher, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Blacher, Boris bläˈkhər [key], 1903–75, Estonian-German composer, b. Yingkou, China. Blacher lived for six years in Siberia. He studied in Berlin and in 1953 became the director of the West Berli...

Tadić, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Tadić, Boris, 1958–, Serbian political leader, president of Serbia (2004–), b. Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina). A student activist while attending Belgrade Univ., Tadić join...

Becker, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Becker, Boris, 1967–, German tennis player, b. Leimen, West Germany (now Germany). Noted for his powerful, often acrobatic serve-and-volley game, he gained notice in 1985 when, at 17, he became the ...

Spassky, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Spassky, Boris, 1937–, Soviet chess champion. A child prodigy, he became an international master at the age of 16 and in 1955, at age 18, he became an international grand master. Subsequently in int...

Pilnyak, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Pilnyak, Boris əndrāˈyəvĭch vôˈgou [key], 1894–1937?, Russian novelist and short-story writer. Pilnyak first attracted wide attention with his novel The Naked Year (1921, tr. 1928), a loosely...

Vian, Boris

(Encyclopedia)Vian, Boris bôrēsˈ vyäN [key], 1920–59, French novelist. He patterned his literary style on that of terse American crime fiction. His best-known work is J'irai cracher sur vos tombes [I will spi...

Browse by Subject