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Foyt, A. J.

(Encyclopedia)Foyt, A. J. (Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr.), 1935–, American auto-racing driver, b. Houston. Foyt was the first person to win the Indianapolis 500 race four times (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977). He also won th...

Bodel, Jehan

(Encyclopedia)Bodel, Jehan zhäN bōdĕlˈ [key], b. c.1165, French trouvère of Arras. He is the author of one of the earliest dramas entirely in French, a mystery play entitled Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas (c.1200). ...

Hou Hsiao-hsien

(Encyclopedia)Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1947–, Taiwanese film director, b. Guangdong, China. His first feature film, Cute Girl (1980), and subsequent ones were generally saccharine romances until the semibiographical A Ti...

Rochefort, Victor Henri, marquis de Rochefort-Luçay

(Encyclopedia)Rochefort, Victor Henri, marquis de Rochefort-Luçay vēktôrˈ äNrēˈ rôshfôrˈ märkēˈ də rôshfôrˈ-lüsāˈ [key], 1831–1913, French journalist and politician. The editor of Le Figaro in...

Perrault, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Perrault, Claude pĕrōˈ [key], 1613–88, French architect, scientist, and physician. One of the most eminent French scholars of his time, he advanced the study of anatomy and made other scientific...

Perret, Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Perret, Auguste ōgüstˈ pĕrāˈ [key], 1874–1954, French architect. He left the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris to join the family construction firm with his brother Gustave, and began to exper...

Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de

(Encyclopedia)Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de pyĕr ōgüstăNˈ karôNˈ də bōmärshāˈ [key], 1732–99, French dramatist. Originally a watchmaker, he rose to wealth and position among the nobility. His...

Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas

(Encyclopedia)Boileau-Despréaux, Nicolas nēkôläˈ bwälōˈ-dāprāōˈ [key], 1636–1711, French literary critic and poet. He was the spokesman of classicism, drawing his principles from his contemporaries, a...

Hérold, Louis Joseph Ferdinand

(Encyclopedia)Hérold, Louis Joseph Ferdinand lwē zhôzĕfˈ fĕrdēnäNˈ ārôldˈ [key], 1791–1833, French composer. He composed a number of operas, two of which—Zampa (1831) and Le Pré aux clercs (1832)...

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