Category: Biography
Maximilien de Robespierre Maximilien de Robespierre, (1758-94). French revolutionary and Jacobin leader, known as ‘the Incorruptible’. A lawyer, he became a leader of the radical Jacobin party after the …
Paul Robeson Paul Robeson, (1898-1976). Black US singer and actor. A leading American football player at university, he abandoned his career as a lawyer to become an actor in …
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Andreyevich (1844-1908). Russian composer. Born into a naval family, he studied at the Naval College in St Petersburg; as a composer he was largely self-taught. …
Arthur Rimbaud Arthur Rimbaud, (1854-91). French Symbolist poet. In 1871 he sent some of his work to the poet Verlaine, who invited the young Rimbaud to Paris, paying his …
Rainer Maria Rilke Rainer Maria Rilke, (1875-1926). Austro-German poet, born in Prague. After an unhappy childhood, he studied in Prague and Munich, where he began to write. He then …
Baron Manfred von Richthofen Baron Manfred von Richthofen, (1892-1918). German fighter pilot. Germany’s most famous pilot in World War I, he was known as the Red Baron because of …
Cardinal de Richelieu Cardinal de Richelieu, (1585-1642). French politician and churchman. He rose to power as an adviser to Marie de’ Medici, the mother and regent of Louis XIII …
Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson, (1669-1761). British novelist. He was apprenticed to a printer in 1706 and by 1721 had his own business, later becoming printer to the House of …
