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Tower of London

(Encyclopedia)Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal res...

Thorvaldsen, Albert Bertel

(Encyclopedia)Thorvaldsen or Thorwaldsen, Albert Bertel both: älˈbĕrt bĕrˈtəl tôrˈvälsən [key], 1770–1844, Danish sculptor, b. Copenhagen. In 1797 he went to Rome, where he shared with Canova the leader...

Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Blok, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich əlyĭksänˈdər əlyĭksänˈdrəvĭch blôk [key], 1880–1921, Russian poet, considered the greatest of the Russian symbolists. As the leading disciple of Vladimir S...

Yamoussoukro

(Encyclopedia)Yamoussoukro yäməso͞oˈkrō [key], city (1990 est. pop. 100,000), designated capital of Côte d'Ivoire, S central Côte d'Ivoire. A small town of less than 20,000 people until the late 1970s, Yamou...

Roosevelt, Eleanor

(Encyclopedia)Roosevelt, Eleanor (Anna Eleanor Roosevelt) rōˈzəvĕlt [key], 1884–1962, American humanitarian, b. New York City. The daughter of Elliott Roosevelt and niece of Theodore Roosevelt, she was an act...

Alexander, king of Serbia

(Encyclopedia)Alexander (Alexander Obrenović) ōbrĕˈnəvĭch [key], 1876–1903, king of Serbia (1889–1903), son of King Milan. He succeeded on his father's abdication. Proclaiming himself of age in 1893, he t...

Farron, Julia

(Encyclopedia)Farron, Julia, 1922–2019, English ballerina, b. Joyce Margaret Farron-Smith. She studied at the Vic-Wells Ballet School, joined the company (now the Royal Ballet) in 1936, and, as the company's youn...

Fletcher, John

(Encyclopedia)Fletcher, John, 1579–1625, English dramatist, b. Rye, Sussex, educated at Cambridge. A member of a prominent literary family, he began writing for the stage about 1606, first with Francis Beaumont, ...

Astor, William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Astor, William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount, 1848–1919, American-British financier, b. New York City, educated in Germany and in Italy and at the Columbia law school; son of John Jacob Astor (1822–...

McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold

(Encyclopedia)McClintock, Sir Francis Leopold, 1819–1907, British arctic explorer. As a lieutenant in the navy he was assigned to his first arctic service in 1848, when Sir James Clark Ross went in search of the ...