Mary Queen of Scots

Leonardo da Vinci

ABOUTRenaissance artist, inventor, polymath, musician, and architect who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper and drew the iconic Vitruvian Man. He also devised such futuristic technology as tanks, concentrated solar power, and adding machines, and spearheaded some vital breakthroughs in anatomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics.

BEFORE FAMEHe became an apprentice of the artist, Andrea di Cione or Verrocchio, at the age of 14, who at the time was known as one of the greatest artists of the age. He was classified a master by the Guild of St. Luke when he was 20.

TRIVIAHis sketches of flying machines, while nonfunctional, stand as examples of scientific thought and creativity, making da Vinci the ideal Renaissance Man.

FAMILY LIFEHis parents, the peasant Caterina and the notary Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, had him out of wedlock. He was charged with sodomy in 1476, leading to long-held rumors about his sexual orientation.

ASSOCIATED WITHHe and Michelangelo Buonarroti both defined Renaissance art.

Pablo Picasso

ABOUT20th-century painter and sculptor who co-founded the Cubist movement and co-invented several new styles of art, including constructed sculpture, collage, and the plastic arts.

BEFORE FAMEHe displayed an artistic talent for realism during his youth, but his style changed in the early 1900s, leading him to create cubist works such as Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907 and Guernica in 1937.

TRIVIAHis artistic life was divided into several periods: the Blue Period from 1901 until 1904; the Rose Period from 1904 until 1906; the African-influenced Period from 1907 until 1909; Analytic Cubism from 1909 until 1912; and Synthetic Cubism from 1912 until 1919.

FAMILY LIFEHis name on his baptism certificate reads: Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Crispiniano de la Santasima Trinidad and was intended to honor several family members as well as patron saints. He was involved with many different women over the course of his life and was the father of four children: Paulo, Maya, Claude and Paloma Picasso.

ASSOCIATED WITH

He and printmaker enri Matisse had an intensely competitive friendship during the 20th century.

Calvin Klein

ABOUTFashion designer recognized revolutionizing men's underwear. He is known for his red carpet runway looks and ready-to-wear accessory lines.

BEFORE FAMEHe enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, but never graduated.

FAMILY LIFEHe had a daughter named Marci in 1966 with his first wife, Jayne.

ASSOCIATED WITHHe made a cameo appearance on Tina Fey's show, 30 Rock.

Mary Queen of Scots

ABOUT Became Queen of Scotland when she was only 6 days old because she was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland. She was imprisoned and forced to abdicated her thrown in 1567.

BEFORE FAMEShe was born prematurely and she spent most of her childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents.

TRIVIAHer own cousin, Queen Elizabeth, had her tried and executed for treason.

FAMILY LIFE In 1558, she married the Dauphin of France, Francis.

ASSOCIATED WITHAfter an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled southwards seeking the protection of her first cousin once removed, Queen Elizabeth I.

Steven Moffat

ABOUTCo-created the BBC's update of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock. He became the head writer and executive producer of Doctor Who in 2009.

BEFORE FAMEnHe was a high school English teacher, which he used as an inspiration for Chalk. Chalk was an example of his many sitcoms that drew on his personal life.

TRIVIAHe wrote the 2007 drama series Jekyll, which was an update of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

FAMILY LIFEHis first marriage ended in divorce, an experience that inspired his sitcom Joking Apart. His courtship and remarriage to television producer Sue Vertue provided the basis for Coupling.

ASSOCIATED WITHHe co-wrote The Adventures of Tintin, a 2011 big-screen vehicle directed by Steven Spielberg.

James Wilson

ABOUTOne of the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of the Independence. He was one of the original justices appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court of the United States.

BEFORE FAMEHe studied at several universities in Scotland before moving to the U.S. and getting his degree from the College of Philadelphia.

TRIVIAHis deep background in law made him one of the most crucial Framers of the Constitution, and though he didn't agree with all of the document, he pushed hard for its adoption.

FAMILY LIFEHe was one of seven children born in Presbyterian farming family in Carskerdo, Scotland.

ASSOCIATED WITHHe was nominated to the Supreme Court by George Washington.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 827