Gary S. Becker (1930 - 2014)

Nobel Prize Winning Economist, Author. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 for his work regarding microeconomics in relation to human behavior. Born in a Pennsylvania mining town, his father was a small business owner, Gary’s family relocated to Brooklyn, New York during his youth. He attained a Bachelor […]

Robert Maupin “Iceberg Slim” Beck (1918 - 1992)

Author. Wrote under the pseudonym ‘Iceberg Slim.’ (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Children:  Camille Mary Beck (1964 – 2010)* *Calculated relationship

Louise Bechtel (1894 - 1985)

Noted Children’s Author. Spent many years of devotion to editing, writing and lecturing about children’s books. Winner of three Newberry Medals. Best known for her books “The Brave Bantum” and “Mr. Peck’s Pets.” (bio by: Laurie)

Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986)

French writer, philosopher, feminist. She has come to be seen as the mother of post-1968 feminism. Philosophical writings linked to Sartrian existentialism. Best known for her work The Second Sex (1949) which contained detailed analysis of women’s oppression. Other major works: The Guest (1943); Memoires d’une jeune fille rangŽe (1958).

Joseph Beaumont (1616 - 1699)

Poet, Chaplain to King Charles II, and Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge. A Royalist and High-Church Anglican, Beaumont was among the group of scholars ejected from their positions at Cambridge in 1644 for refusing to accept the “Solemn League and Covenant” demanded by Parliament. Returning to his native village of Hadleigh, he composed Psyche, or […]

Francis Beaumont (1970 - 1616)

Dramatist, Poet. The younger half of the English playwrighting team of Beaumont and Fletcher, famed for their tragicomedies, a hybrid genre they successfully revived on the Jacobean stage. Their work foreshadowed and influenced later Restoration drama. Among the dozen or so plays attributed to them are “The Woman Hater” (1606), “Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding” […]

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732 - 1799)

Musician, politician, inventor, spy, arms dealer and playwright (‘The Barber of Seville’ and ‘The Marriage of Figaro’) Cause of death: Complications connected with lengthy heavy-drinking. Apoplexy

John Owen Beaty (1890 - 1961)

Educator and Author. Wrote several books, most important being “An Introduction to Poetry,” “Swords in the Dawn,” and “The Iron Curtain Over America.” (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Spouse:  Josephine Powell Beaty (1896 – 1982)*  Children:  Richard Davis Beaty (1928 – 2005)* *Calculated relationship

Piaras Beaslai (1881 - 1965)

Irish author, playwright, biographer and translator. born in Liverpool (England). Fought in the Easter Rising of 1916; later director of publicity for IRA  before dedicating himself to literature. (bio by: David Conway)

Mary Beard (1876 - 1958)

Historian.  Family links:  Spouse:  Charles Beard (1874 – 1948)

Charles Beard (1874 - 1948)

Historian.  Family links:  Parents:  William Henry Harrison Beard (1840 – 1907)  Mary J. Payne Beard (1843 – 1921)  Spouse:  Mary Beard (1876 – 1958)*  Sibling:  Clarence H. Beard (1869 – 1924)*  Charles Beard (1874 – 1948) *Calculated relationship

Sylvia Beach (1887 - 1962)

Literary Folk Figure. A noted book-seller, she is remembered as the hub of the ‘Lost Generation’ of Parisian expatriates during the 1920s and 1930s. Born Nancy Woodbridge Beach to a long line of Presbyterian ministers, she chose the name “Sylvia” for reasons of her own, was raised in Baltimore and in New Jersey, moved to […]

Farzad Bazoft (1958 - 1990)

Journalist. Born in Iran, Bazoft moved to the United Kingdom and became a reporter for the British newspaper The Observer. While investigating an explosion at an arms factory in Baghdad, Iraq, he was arrested for spying. Despite promises of a fair trial by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Bazoft was given a one-day, behind-closed-doors trial. He […]

William Baziotes (1912 - 1963)

American Abstract Expressionist Painter. Founded The Subjects of the Artist school in New York. Today his works can be seen in the Guggenheim Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Massachusetts, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. (bio by: Laurie)

Mikola Bazhan (1904 - 1983)

Writer and poet.

Félix Bayón (1970 - 2006)

Author, Journalist. He was born in Cádiz, Andalucia, Spain. He developed a prolific career as journalist for the newspaper “El País” from his foundation. Also, he worked for “Le Monde” and “Diario de Málaga.”  As a writer, he is best remembered for his book “Adosados,” whic he adapted to the cinema. His script won awards […]

Clifford Bax (1886 - 1962)

Author and playwright.Born in Knightsbridge, London, England.  Educated at Slade and Heatherly Art School.  Edited Orpheus, a theosophical magazine, and the Golden Hind, a literary magazine.  He married twice.  From his first marriage he had a daughter.  From his second he had two stepsons, both killed in WWII.  He published, edited or collaborated on 42 […]

Nina Bawden (1925 - 2012)

Author. Born Nina Mary Mabey, she wrote more than 40 books and was best-known for her novel “Carrie’s War” (1973), based on her World War II childhood experiences in England. As a young woman she studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford, before publishing her early novels about adult gothics and mysteries in 1950s. By […]

L. Frank Baum (1856 - 1919)

Author and Journalist. Lyman Frank Baum (who used “Frank” as his Christian name throughout his life) showed a remarkable inclination for journalism from an early age, publishing his own small newspaper and stamp-collecting magazine while still in his teens. He would run several small publications through his adult life, taking jobs with newspapers like the […]

Eduard von Bauernfeld (1802 - 1890)

Playwright.  He helped broaden the scope of 19th Century German-language theatre.  His farces and comedies of manners offered thinly-veiled social and political satires of his era,  written in an offhand,  almost flippant style to get around the censors.  The most popular included “The Dear Protocol” (1831),  “The Confessions” (1834),  “The Middle Class and the Romantics” […]

John Bauer (1882 - 1918)

Swedish Artist and Illustrator. Acclaimed for describing the world of elves, trolls and the mystique of the Nordic fairy tales. From 1907-1910 and 1912-1915 he illustrated a Swedish annual Christmas book for children, called “Bland tomtar och troll” (Among Elves and Trolls). That title has become synonumous with his pictures more than the contents of […]

Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

French Poet. Known as “the father of modern criticism.” Charles Baudelaire was born in Paris, where he lived most of his life. His father was a sixty-year-old ex-priest and widower when he married his mother orphan who was twenty-six. His father died in 1827. His stepfather, who became a senator, died in 1857. Baudelaire worshipped […]

Jean-Dominique Bauby (1952 - 1997)

Author.  Born and raised in Paris,  he was a journalist for French Elle magazine and became its editor-in-chief in 1991.  Nicknamed “Jean-Do” by his friends,  he was a noted bon vivant and a fixture of fashionable Parisian society.  In December 1995,  at the age of 43,  Bauby suffered a massive stroke which left him completely […]

Katharine Lee Bates (1859 - 1929)

Poetess, Author, Educator. The author of the lyrics to “America the Beautiful”, she was born in the town of Falmouth on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod, and her father died only a month after her birth from a spinal tumor. A precocious child, it has been related that “Katie” helped her mother survive the first years of […]

H. E. Bates (1905 - 1974)

Author. A prolific writer of novels, short stories, non-fiction, and children’s books, he is probably best remembered for his novels “Love for Lydia” (1952), “The Darling Buds of May” (1958, the first of the five ‘Pop Larkin’ series of novels), and his short-story series “My Uncle Silas” (1939). Many of his stories depict life in […]

Gilbert Henderson Bates (1836 - 1917)

Folk Figure,  Author. During the Civil War he was a Sergeant in the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. In 1868 his radical Republican neighbor told him anti-Union feeling meant no representative of the United States was safe in the former Confederacy. Bates, a Democrat, wagered he could walk unscathed through the southern states while carrying an […]

Denzil Batchelor (1906 - 1969)

Batchelor was a general sports journalist, leading cricket writer & broadcaster. (bio by: Connie Nisinger) Cause of death: Heart attack

Hamilton Basso (1904 - 1964)

Author. Among his popular works are “The World from Jackson Square,” “The Green Room,” and “The View from Pompey’s Head.” (bio by: Laurie)

Giorgio Bassani (1916 - 2000)

Author. Born in Bologna, Italy, into a Jewish family. He published his first book, “Una Città di Pianura” (1940),  under a pseudonym because of Mussolini’s anti-Semitic policies,  and was active as an anti-fascist fighter during World War II.  Bassani is best remembered for his novel “Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini”,  which earned him the Viareggio Award. […]

Dr Jonas Basanavicius (1851 - 1927)

Lithuanian Statesman. He was the patriarch of the Lithuanian National Movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the first signer of the Lithuanian Declaration of Independence (1918). A physician by profession, Basanavicius was a prolific writer who rallied the Lithuanian nation to national consciousness which resulted in Lithuanian independence being achieved. His […]