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Juncker, Jean-Claude

(Encyclopedia)Juncker, Jean-Claude, 1954–, Luxembourg political leader. A member of the Christian Social People's party, he was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1984. Juncker served as minister of labo...

Winterhalter, Franz Xaver

(Encyclopedia)Winterhalter, Franz Xaver fränts ksävârˈ vĭnˈtərhälˌtər [key], 1806–73, German portrait painter. Most of European royalty sat for him, and his decorative pictures of court figures are in l...

Big Ben

(Encyclopedia)Big Ben, the bell in the Parliament tower (Westminster Palace), London, England. It was named for Sir Benjamin Hall, commissioner of works when the bell was installed in 1856. The name is often used t...

Sarkis, Elias

(Encyclopedia)Sarkis, Elias, 1924–85, president of Lebanon (1976–82). He was governor (1967–76) of Lebanon's central bank and was elected president by parliament during the bitter Lebanese civil war (1975–7...

Sterlitamak

(Encyclopedia)Sterlitamak styĭrlyētəmäkˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 247,000), Bashkortostan, E European Russia, on the Belaya River. It is a port and the center of a chemical complex. Milling and construction equi...

Martens, Wilfried

(Encyclopedia)Martens, Wilfried, 1936–2013, Belgian statesman. A lawyer, Flemish Christian Democrat, and well-respected negotiator, he was president (1965–71) of the youth wing of the Christian People's party a...

Hughes, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Thomas, 1822–96, English author. A lawyer, Hughes eventually became a judge; he was also a Liberal member of Parliament and worked assiduously for social reforms. His novel of school life, T...

Bondfield, Margaret Grace

(Encyclopedia)Bondfield, Margaret Grace, 1873–1953, British political and trade union leader. A Labour member of Parliament (1923–24, 1926–31), she served as secretary to the minister of labor (1924) and, und...

bullbaiting

(Encyclopedia)bullbaiting, 17th-century amusement, particularly popular in England, in which trained dogs (bulldogs) attacked a tethered bull. Bullbaiting, along with bullrunning (in which the bull was run down and...

Rutherford, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Rutherford, Samuel, 1600–1661, Scottish clergyman. His Exercitationes apologeticae pro divina gratia (1636), urging a Calvinist view of grace against Arminianism (see under Arminius, Jacobus), cause...