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Peacock, Thomas Love

(Encyclopedia)Peacock, Thomas Love, 1785–1866, English novelist and poet. He was employed by the East India Company from 1819 to 1856, serving as its chief examiner the final 20 years. Peacock's novels, comic and...

Bogarde, Sir Dirk

(Encyclopedia)Bogarde, Sir Dirk dûrk bōˈgärd [key], 1921–99, English film actor, b. Hampstead as Derek Niven Van den Bogaerde. In his early career Bogarde played romantic leads in such films as So Long at the...

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

(Encyclopedia)Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, American architectural firm founded in 1936 in New York City by Louis Skidmore (1897–1962), Nathaniel A. Owings (1903–84), and John O. Merrill (1896–1975). The firm...

Stoneman, George

(Encyclopedia)Stoneman, George, 1822–94, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Busti, N.Y. As commander of Fort Brown, Tex., in Feb., 1861, he refused to obey the order of General Twiggs to surrender to Tex...

Vandervelde, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Vandervelde, Émile āmēlˈ vändĕrvĕlˈdə [key], 1866–1938, Belgian statesman and Socialist leader. He entered parliament in 1894, and served in many cabinets, notably as minister of justice (1...

Behrens, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Behrens, Peter pāˈtər bāˈrəns [key], 1868–1940, German architect, influential in Europe in the evolution of the modern architectural style. He established before World War I a predominantly ut...

Simon's Town

(Encyclopedia)Simon's Town or Simonstown sīˈmənztoun [key], town, now part of City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, Western Cape prov., SW South Africa, on False Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a...

Lee, Spike

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Spike (Shelton Jackson Lee), 1957–, African-American filmmaker, b. Atlanta, Ga. As a student at New York Univ., he won recognition with his gradu...

Reiner, Carl

(Encyclopedia) Reiner, Carl, 1922-2020, American comedian, television producer, actor, and film director, b. Bronx, N.Y. The son of a watchmaker, Reiner initially wo...

Cimmerians

(Encyclopedia)Cimmerians sĭmērˈeənz [key], ancient people of S Russia of whom little is actually known. They are mentioned in Homer, but they emerge into history only in the 8th cent. b.c. when they were driven...