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Westminster Palace

(Encyclopedia)Westminster Palace or Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London. The present enormous structure, of Neo-Gothic design, was built (1840–60) by Sir Charles Barry to replace an aggregation of ancien...

Worcester, Thomas Percy, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Worcester, Thomas Percy, earl of wo͝osˈtər [key], c.1344–1403, English nobleman; brother of Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland. He served with considerable success in the wars in France and ...

Roses, Wars of the

(Encyclopedia)Roses, Wars of the, traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later assoc...

Churchill, Winston, American novelist

(Encyclopedia)Churchill, Winston, 1871–1947, American novelist, b. St. Louis, grad. Annapolis, 1894. He wrote several popular historical novels including Richard Carvel (1899), The Crisis (1901), and The Crossing...

Wallace, Edgar

(Encyclopedia)Wallace, Edgar (Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace), 1875–1932, English novelist and playwright, b. Greenwich. He was the author of more than 150 detective and adventure novels, of which as many as 5 mil...

Tyler, Wat

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, Wat, d. 1381, English rebel. His given name appears in full as Walter; his surname signifies the trade of a roof tiler. He came into prominence as the leader of the rebellion of 1381, known as ...

Crick, Francis Harry Compton

(Encyclopedia)Crick, Francis Harry Compton, 1916–2004, English scientist, grad. University College, London, and Caius College, Cambridge. Crick was trained as a physicist, and from 1940 to 1947 he served as a sci...

Colette

(Encyclopedia)Colette (Sidonie Gabrielle Colette) sēdōnēˈ gäbrēĕlˈ kōlĕtˈ [key], 1873–1954, French novelist. Colette achieved popularity with numerous novels, characterized by sensitive observations—...

Nabis

(Encyclopedia)Nabis näbēˈ [key] [Heb.,=prophets], a group of artists in France active during the 1890s. Paul Sérusier and Maurice Denis were the principal theorists of the group. Outstanding members were Édoua...

Knussen, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)Knussen, Oliver (Stuart Oliver Knussen), 1952–2018, British composer, conductor, and teacher, b. Glasgow, Scotland. A musical prodigy, he began to compose at age 6 and studied with, among others, Gu...