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Shute, Nevil

(Encyclopedia)Shute, Nevil (Nevil Shute Norway), 1899–1960, English novelist, b. Ealing, Middlesex, grad. Oxford, 1922. After serving in World War I, he was manager of a construction company until 1938. He fought...

Pea Ridge

(Encyclopedia)Pea Ridge, chain of hills, NW Ark., where the Civil War battle of Pea Ridge (or Elkhorn Tavern) was fought Mar. 6–8, 1862. Earl Van Dorn, leading a large Confederate command, which included Sterling...

Bairnsfather, Bruce

(Encyclopedia)Bairnsfather, Bruce bârnzˈfäᵺər [key], 1888–1959, English illustrator and author, b. India. He served with the British forces in World War I and created the cartoon character “Old Bill” to...

Port Royal Sound

(Encyclopedia)Port Royal Sound, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, between St. Helena and Parris islands to the north and Hilton Head Island to the south, in S S.C.; it receives the Broad River. The sound was named in 1562...

Barbie, Klaus

(Encyclopedia)Barbie, Klaus, 1913–91, Nazi war criminal known as the “Butcher of Lyons.” As Gestapo chief in Lyons, France (1942–44), he was responsible for the deaths of French Resistance members and thous...

Thomson, Mortimer Neal

(Encyclopedia)Thomson or Thompson, Mortimer Neal, 1831–75, American journalist and humorist who used the pseudonym Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P.B., b. Riga, N.Y. He joined the staff of the New York Tribune in 185...

Nestor, in Greek mythology

(Encyclopedia)Nestor nĕsˈtər [key], in Greek mythology, wise king of Pylos; son of Neleus and father of Antilochus. In the Iliad, Nestor went with the Greeks to the Trojan War, and although he had lived three ge...

Viet Minh

(Encyclopedia)Viet Minh vēĕtˈ mĭn [key], officially Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh [League for the Independence of Vietnam], a coalition of Communist and nationalist groups that opposed the French and the Japanese ...

Vitry-le-François

(Encyclopedia)Vitry-le-François vētrēˈ-lə-fräNswäˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 17,483), Marne dept., NE France, on the Marne River. Textiles and earthenware are the chief manufactures. The town was founded by Fr...

Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron, 1881–1964, British field marshal. He served in the South African War and World War I and in 1939 became commander of the British forces in Egypt. He led the...