midshipman, title used in the Royal Navy from about 1660 for “young gentlemen” in training at sea to qualify for service as commissioned officers. Continental and U.S. navies adopted the title and system. The equivalent French title is aspirant, and the Spanish is guardia marina. In the early 21st

King’s Lynn, town and seaport, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough, administrative and historic county of Norfolk, eastern England. The town lies along the estuary of the River Ouse (or Great Ouse) as it enters The Wash, a shallow North Sea inlet. In 1204 a royal charter established Lynn as a free

King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, borough (district), administrative and historic county of Norfolk, eastern England. The borough is bounded by the North Sea to the north and its shallow bay, The Wash, to the northwest. The low-lying area straddles on the west a small part of the Fens, a vast, fertile,

Ralph Fiennes: …Sutton Hoo in England, and The King’s Man, an action film centering on a spy agency. The following year Fiennes starred as an egotistical chef in The Menu (2022), which combines satire with horror.

King’s Men, English acting company that adopted the name the King’s Men after it came under the patronage of James I in 1603. Its previous name, dating to the 1590s, was the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Considered the premier theater company in Jacobean England, it included William Shakespeare as its

missus dominicus, officials sent by some Frankish kings and emperors to supervise provincial administration. Used sporadically by Merovingian and early Carolingian rulers, the missi became a normal part of the administrative machinery under Charlemagne (reigned 768–814). From about 802 onward

Kingsport, city, Sullivan county, northeastern Tennessee, U.S., on the Holston River, near the Virginia border, about 90 miles (145 km) northeast of Knoxville. The area was settled in the late 1700s when entrepreneur William King founded a boatyard along the river. The region was part of the

Kerch: …and burial mounds, notably the King’s Mound. Later a part of the Roman Empire, Panticapaeum suffered severely from barbarian invasions and was devastated by the Huns in 375 ce. After a checkered history, it was ceded by the Mongols to the Genoese in 1318. It was then known as Korchev…

Copenhagen: The contemporary city: …former center of the city, Kongens Nytorv (“King’s New Square”), laid out in the 17th century. Buildings there include the Thott Palace (now the French Embassy) and the Charlottenborg Palace (now the Royal Academy of Fine Arts), both of the 17th century, and the Royal Theatre, built in 1874.

paprika: A sharper Hungarian variety, Koenigspaprika, or king’s paprika, is made from the whole pepper.

ancient Iran: Artaxerxes I to Darius III: …request, and dictate the so-called King’s Peace of 387–386 bc. Once again the Greeks gave up any claim to Asia Minor and further agreed to maintain the status quo in Greece itself.

Théâtre de l’Hôtel de Bourgogne: …company in Paris, known as Les Comédiens du Roi (“the King’s Players”), established itself in the theatre about 1610. The Comédiens enjoyed considerable success and gradually assumed full-time use of the theatre. They were without an important rival until 1634, when a second theatre, the Théâtre du Marais, was built…

Kingsport, city, Sullivan county, northeastern Tennessee, U.S., on the Holston River, near the Virginia border, about 90 miles (145 km) northeast of Knoxville. The area was settled in the late 1700s when entrepreneur William King founded a boatyard along the river. The region was part of the

Eton College: …history, Eton names about 14 King’s Scholars, or Collegers, each year, for a schoolwide total of 70. The selection is based on the results of a competitive examination open to boys between 12 and 14 years of age. King’s Scholars are awarded scholarships ranging from 10 to 100 percent of…

boarding school: History of boarding schools across the world: In the United Kingdom, the King’s School in Canterbury traces its history back to 597 ce, though little is known with certainty about its earliest days; its history is better known from 1541, when it was reestablished under Henry VIII and its current name began to be used. It…

asphodel: Yellow asphodel, or king’s spear (Asphodeline lutea), has fragrant yellow flowers and is grown as a landscaping plant.

George VI: …captured in the motion picture The King’s Speech (2010), which depicts his long-term relationship with the unconventional Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue and climaxes with the king’s inspiring live radio address on September 3, 1939, as Britain entered World War II.

Western architecture: Construction in iron and glass: The cloth mill at King’s Stanley, Gloucestershire (1812–13), is more convincing as an iron-frame building. Fully fireproof and avoiding the use of timber, it is clad in an attractive red-brick skin with Venetian windows and angle quoins. Leading Regency architects even used cast-iron construction members in major public buildings…

Robert Z. Leonard: Later films: …his best film in years, The King’s Thief (1955), a costume drama starring David Niven and Ann Blyth. That film turned out to be Leonard’s last at MGM. His last two films were the Italian production Beautiful but Dangerous (1955; La donna più bella del mondo) with Gina Lollobrigida and…

orpiment: …a very fine grade called king’s yellow, which was used until cadmium yellow (principally cadmium sulfide) became available.

boarding school: History of boarding schools across the world: Canada’s oldest boarding school, the King’s-Edgehill School, was founded as King’s Collegiate School in 1788 in Windsor, Nova Scotia. It was the first school in Canada to receive royal assent, granted by George III in 1789. The school was created in the wake of the American Revolution to ensure that…

Martin Scorsese: Films of the 1990s: GoodFellas, Cape Fear, and Casino: (especially by Sharon Stone, Alan King, James Woods, Don Rickles, and Dickie Smothers). Kundun (1997) followed; it was a respectful, handsomely mounted biography of the 14th Dalai Lama that proceeded at a stately pace, unspooling through the remarkable events of his life, commencing with the Dalai Lama’s discovery as…

Albert King was an American blues musician who created a unique string-bending guitar style that influenced three generations of musicians. He was one of 13 children born to an itinerant Mississippi preacher and his wife. When he was eight years old, his widowed mother moved the family to eastern

Angus King is an American politician who was elected as an Independent to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and began representing Maine in that body the following year. He previously served as governor of the state (1995–2003). In 2024 King won reelection against Republican Demi Kouzounas and two other

Angus King is an American politician who was elected as an Independent to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and began representing Maine in that body the following year. He previously served as governor of the state (1995–2003). In 2024 King won reelection against Republican Demi Kouzounas and two other

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician, an associate of Charles Babbage, for whose prototype of a digital computer she created a program. She has been called the first computer programmer. Lovelace was the daughter of famed poet Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke Byron, who legally separated two

B.B. King was an American guitarist and singer who was a principal figure in the development of blues and from whose style leading popular musicians drew inspiration. King was reared in the Mississippi Delta, and gospel music in church was the earliest influence on his singing. To his own

Ben E. King was an American rhythm and blues singer who was the leader of the vocal group the Drifters in the late 1950s and early ’60s. He later earned acclaim as a solo artist with several hit singles, most notably “Stand by Me” (1961). King’s early childhood was spent in North Carolina, where he

golf: The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA): Pat Daniel, Betsy King, Patty Sheehan, Juli Inkster, and Laura Davies were among the top players of the 1980s and ’90s. By the turn of the century, when the annual purse for LPGA events had increased to more than $37 million per year, the tour was dominated…

Billie Jean King is an American tennis player whose influence and playing style elevated the status of women’s professional tennis beginning in the late 1960s. In her career, she won 39 major titles, competing in both singles and doubles. King was athletically inclined from an early age. She first

B.B. King was an American guitarist and singer who was a principal figure in the development of blues and from whose style leading popular musicians drew inspiration. King was reared in the Mississippi Delta, and gospel music in church was the earliest influence on his singing. To his own

Carol Weiss King was an American lawyer who specialized in immigration law and the defense of the civil rights of immigrants. King graduated from Barnard College in New York City in 1916 and entered New York University Law School. In 1917 she married George C. King, an author. She graduated from

Carole King is an American songwriter and singer (alto) who composed a string of hit songs in the 1960s and ’70s and was one of the most prolific female musicians in the history of pop music. King’s mother, Eugenia Gingold, an actress and theater critic, was the source of her early music education.

Clarence King was an American geologist and mining engineer who organized and directed the U.S. Geological Survey of the 40th parallel, an intensive study of the mineral resources along the site of the proposed Union Pacific Railroad. In 1863 King set out from the eastern seaboard, by foot and on

Coretta Scott King was an American civil rights activist who was the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. Coretta Scott graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and in 1951 enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. While working toward a degree in voice, she met Martin

epic: Chansons de geste: The Cycle of the King consists of the songs in which Charlemagne himself is a principal figure.

Don King is an American boxing promoter known for his flamboyant manner and outrageous hair styled to stand straight up. He first came to prominence with his promotion of the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of

Don King is an American boxing promoter known for his flamboyant manner and outrageous hair styled to stand straight up. He first came to prominence with his promotion of the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of

Bataan Death March: Lead-up to the march: Edward (“Ned”) King, U.S. commander of all ground troops on Bataan, surrendered his thousands of sick, enervated, and starving troops on April 9, 1942. The siege of Bataan was the first major land battle for the Americans in World War II and one of the…

Ernest Joseph King was an American admiral who was commander in chief of U.S. naval forces and chief of naval operations throughout most of World War II. He masterminded the successful U.S. military campaign against Japan in the Pacific. King graduated from the United States Naval Academy at

Frank King was an American comic-strip artist who created Gasoline Alley, a long-popular comic strip notable for its sympathetic picture of small-town life. After working as a cartoonist for the Minneapolis Times from 1901 to 1905, King moved to Chicago, where he attended the Chicago Academy of

Franklin Hiram King was an American agricultural scientist, inventor of the cylindrical tower silo. He also invented a gravity system of ventilation for dairy barns that was widely used until electrically powered blowers became commonly available. King worked for the Wisconsin Geological Survey

Charles Barkley: In 2023–24 Barkley and Gayle King hosted the evening talk show King Charles on CNN. Beginning with his years as a player, Barkley was never shy about expressing his opinions—often with a large dose of humor—which helped him create a persona that transcended the basketball world.

new religious movement: Scientific NRMs: UFO groups and Scientology: …the Aetherius Society, organized by George King, maintained that space aliens held the key to the salvation both of the planet as a whole and of every individual on Earth.

epic: Chansons de geste: The Cycle of the King consists of the songs in which Charlemagne himself is a principal figure.

Gregory King was an English genealogist, engraver, and statistician, best known for his Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Condition of England, 1696, first published in 1801, which gives the best available picture of England’s population and wealth at the end of

Henry King was an English poet and Anglican bishop whose elegy for his wife is considered one of the best in the English language. Educated at Oxford, King received numerous and remunerative preferments. A friend and an executor of the estate of John Donne, his poetry was as much influenced by Ben

Henry King was an American film director who was a respected craftsman known for his versatility. His more than 100 movies, many of which focused on Americana, included westerns, literary adaptations, and historical dramas. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) King acted

Milky Way Galaxy: Globular clusters: The American astronomer Ivan R. King, for instance, derived dynamical models that fit observed stellar distributions very closely. He finds that a cluster’s structure can be described in terms of two numbers: (1) the core radius, which measures the degree of concentration at the centre, and (2) the…

Weehawken: …estate of New York banker James Gore King, was the scene in July 1804 of the duel in which Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded by Aaron Burr; a bronze bust of Hamilton marks the site. The semicircular wall surrounding the Hamilton monument was built by King to protect his guest,…

Robert O’Hara Burke: …and by Charles Gray and John King. The four reached northern Australia in February 1861 but could not penetrate the swamps and jungle scrub that lay between them and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

murder of James Byrd, Jr.: …truck by three white men—John William King, Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Shawn Allen Berry.

Gang of Four: The principal members were Jon King (b. June 8, 1955, London, England), Andy Gill (b. January 1, 1956, Manchester–d. February 1, 2020), Hugo Burnham (b. March 25, 1956, London), and Dave Allen (b. December 23, 1955, Kendal, Cumbria).

Larry King was an American talk-show host whose easygoing interviewing style helped make Larry King Live (1985–2010) one of CNN’s longest-running and most popular programs. King grew up in Brooklyn, where he remained for several years after high-school graduation to help support his mother, who had

Gerald Ford was the 38th president of the United States (1974–77), who, as 40th vice president, had succeeded to the presidency on the resignation of President Richard Nixon, under the process decreed by the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution, and thereby became the country’s only chief

continental landform: The geomorphic concepts of Penck and King: …(1953) championed with variations by Lester C. King of South Africa. Both retained some Davisian devices, including peneplain, graded stream, and base-level control of erosion surfaces in Penck’s case and the latter two in King’s. Each thought that tectonic uplift punctuated the erosion cycle by initiating renewed stream incision, and…

W.L. Mackenzie King was the prime minister of Canada (1921–26, 1926–30, 1935–48) and leader of the Liberal Party, who helped preserve the unity of the English and French populations of Canada. Mackenzie King, as he is usually called, was the son of John King and Isabel Grace Mackenzie, daughter of

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was fundamental to that movement’s success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in

Mervyn King is a British economist who served as governor of the Bank of England (BOE; 2003–13). King, the son of a railway clerk, grew up in modest circumstances. His intelligence and drive took him to King’s College, Cambridge, where he earned a degree in economics in 1969. After studying at

Mervyn King is a British economist who served as governor of the Bank of England (BOE; 2003–13). King, the son of a railway clerk, grew up in modest circumstances. His intelligence and drive took him to King’s College, Cambridge, where he earned a degree in economics in 1969. After studying at

Meir Kahane was an American-born Israeli political extremist and rabbi who campaigned for self-protection of Jews. The grandson and son of rabbis, Kahane joined a paramilitary, right-wing youth movement in 1946. He earned a B.A. from Brooklyn College (1954), an L.L.B. from New York Law School

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was fundamental to that movement’s success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in

Moira Shearer was a Scottish ballerina and actress best known for her performance as the suicidal ballerina in the ballet film The Red Shoes (1948). Shearer studied at the Sadler’s Wells (later the Royal Ballet) School and with Nicholas Legat in London, danced with the International Ballet in 1941,

Barbara Ann Scott was a Canadian figure skater who was the first citizen of a country outside Europe to win a world championship in skating (1947). (Read Scott Hamilton’s Britannica entry on figure skating.) Scott won the Canadian women’s championship from 1944 to 1946 and in 1948 and the North

Stephen King: Personal life and honors: …two sons, Joe Hill and Owen King, who are novelists. With Owen King he wrote Sleeping Beauties (2017), in which women become wrapped in cocoons when they fall asleep.

King Island: …was named in 1801 for Philip Gidley King, third governor of New South Wales. Scarcely settled before 1900, it now makes up a local government area. Mixed livestock farming (dairy and beef cattle) and crop growing are pursued on a broad central and narrower northern belt. Scheelite (tungsten ore), mined…

Alligator Rivers: …explored in 1818–20 by Captain Phillip Parker King, who named them in the belief that the crocodiles infesting their lower swampy, jungle-fringed reaches were alligators (actually, alligators are not indigenous to Australia). The South Alligator rises in the hills near El Sherana, a now-abandoned mining base for uranium, and follows…

King, Queen, Knave, novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first published in Russian in 1928 as Korol, dama, valet. With this novel Nabokov began his career-long obsession with gamesmanship, wordplay in several languages, and multiple surreal images and characterizations. The image of a deck of playing cards

Regina King is an American actress and director who was known for her depth and versatility, earning acclaim for both comedic and dramatic roles. King’s father was an electrician and her mother a special education teacher; they divorced when she was a child. While still young, King took acting

Regina King is an American actress and director who was known for her depth and versatility, earning acclaim for both comedic and dramatic roles. King’s father was an electrician and her mother a special education teacher; they divorced when she was a child. While still young, King took acting

King Ranch: …King Ranch was established by Richard King, a steamboat captain born in 1825 in Orange county, New York. Drawn to Texas by the Mexican War (1846–48), King piloted a steamer on the Rio Grande. After the war he bought his own steamer and went into partnership with Captain Mifflin Kenedy,…

B.B. King was an American guitarist and singer who was a principal figure in the development of blues and from whose style leading popular musicians drew inspiration. King was reared in the Mississippi Delta, and gospel music in church was the earliest influence on his singing. To his own

Rufus King was a Founding Father of the United States who helped frame the federal Constitution and effect its ratification. An active Federalist senator and able diplomat, he ran unsuccessfully for vice president (1804, 1808) and for president (1816). After graduating from Harvard in 1777, he

Stephen King is an American novelist and short-story writer whose books are credited with reviving the genre of horror fiction in the late 20th century. King is the second of two sons born to Donald and Nellie Ruth (née Pillsbury) King. His parents separated when he was very young. King and his

Stephen King is an American novelist and short-story writer whose books are credited with reviving the genre of horror fiction in the late 20th century. King is the second of two sons born to Donald and Nellie Ruth (née Pillsbury) King. His parents separated when he was very young. King and his

Timothée Chalamet: Breakthrough in Call Me by Your Name and other films from the late 2010s: Chalamet starred in Netflix’s The King (2019), based on William Shakespeare’s Henriad cycle, and he reunited with Gerwig, playing Laurie in her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (2019).

Thomas King is a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, screenwriter, and photographer who is a Member of the Order of Canada and was nominated for the Governor General’s Awards. He is often described as one of the finest contemporary Aboriginal writers in North America. The son of a Greek mother

cloning: Early cloning experiments: Briggs and Thomas J. King, who used DNA from embryonic cells of the frog Rana pipiens to generate cloned tadpoles. In 1958 British biologist John Bertrand Gurdon successfully carried out nuclear transfer using DNA from adult intestinal cells of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Gurdon was awarded…

Dick Turpin: …1735 went into partnership with Tom King, a well-known highwayman, whom he accidentally killed while firing at a constable (or, by some accounts, an innkeeper). To avoid arrest he finally left Essex for Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, where he set up under an assumed name (John Palmer) as a horse dealer.…

juju: …did its celebrities, most notably Tunde King and Ayinde Bakare. King is credited not only with coining the term juju—in reference to the sound of a small, Brazilian tambourine-like drum that was used in his ensemble—but also with making the first recording of juju music in 1936. A year later…

coordination compound: History of coordination compounds: …he and his American student Victor L. King resolved (split) [CoCl(NH3)(en)2]Cl2 into its optical isomers (see below Enantiomers and Diastereomers) in 1911, Werner received the 1913 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The zenith of his quarter-century experimental achievements was attained with his resolution of the completely inorganic tetranuclear compound,

W.L. Mackenzie King was the prime minister of Canada (1921–26, 1926–30, 1935–48) and leader of the Liberal Party, who helped preserve the unity of the English and French populations of Canada. Mackenzie King, as he is usually called, was the son of John King and Isabel Grace Mackenzie, daughter of

Wiremu Kīngi was a Māori chief whose opposition to the colonial government’s purchase of tribal lands led to the First Taranaki War (1860–61) and inspired the Māori resistance throughout the 1860s to European colonization of New Zealand’s fertile North Island. After leading his Te Atiawa tribe from

W.L. Mackenzie King was the prime minister of Canada (1921–26, 1926–30, 1935–48) and leader of the Liberal Party, who helped preserve the unity of the English and French populations of Canada. Mackenzie King, as he is usually called, was the son of John King and Isabel Grace Mackenzie, daughter of

William Rufus de Vane King was the 13th vice president of the United States (1853) in the Democratic administration of Franklin Pierce. Although elected and sworn in as vice president, he did not live to perform any of the official duties of that office. After graduating from the University of

ecofeminism: Origins of ecofeminism: …scholars cite the feminist theorist Ynestra King as the cause of that popularization. In 1987 King wrote an article titled “What Is Ecofeminism?” that appeared in The Nation. There she challenged all Americans to consider the ways in which their belief systems allow for the exploitative use of the earth…

Balfour Report: …Canada in 1926 in the King-Byng Affair, in which Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King challenged the powers of Governor General Julian Byng in the context of a heated federal election campaign. It revolved around Byng’s refusal to honour King’s request that he dissolve Parliament and call for fresh…

King–Crane Commission, commission appointed at the request of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 to determine the attitudes of the inhabitants of Syria and Palestine toward the post-World War I settlement of their territories. The commission, formed when

Kingaroy, town, southeastern Queensland, Australia, in the South Burnett area. It originated in 1886 as Kingaroy Paddock, deriving its name from the Aboriginal term kingerroy, meaning “red ant,” and was proclaimed a shire in 1912. The area’s rich, red soils yield an important peanut (groundnut)

kingbird, (genus Tyrannus), any of 13 species of birds of the family Tyrannidae noted for their pugnacity. Although only about 20 cm (8 inches) long, a kingbird will chase birds as large as a crow or a hawk; it will even ride on the larger bird’s back and peck at its head. Kingbirds are gray above

marsh marigold, (Caltha palustris), perennial herbaceous plant of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) native to wetlands in Europe and North America. It is grown in boggy wild gardens. The stem of a marsh marigold is hollow, and the leaves are kidney-shaped, heart-shaped, or round. The glossy

biogeographic region: Endemism: Major regions (kingdoms and realms) are still determined as those that have the most endemics or, stated another way, those that share the fewest taxa with other regions. As regions are further broken down into subdivisions, they will contain fewer unique taxa.

taxonomy: Division of organisms into kingdoms: …the living world into two kingdoms, Plantae and Animalia, biologists have debated the relationships among all organisms. Most biologists, however, accept the fundamental differences in cell structure that separates the superkingdoms Eukaryota and Prokaryota.

Riyadh: City layout: …a luxury hotel, and the Markaz Al-Mamlakah (“Kingdom Centre”), which offers an expansive complex of office, retail, dining, and accommodation spaces located within and around its landmark tower.

J.G. Ballard: (2000), Millennium People (2003), and Kingdom Come (2006), effectively exposing the foibles of his middle-class characters by documenting their reactions to the violence against a stark backdrop of shopping malls and office parks.

Kingdom Hearts, electronic game released by Japanese game manufacturer SquareSoft (now Square Enix, Inc.) in 2002 for the Sony Corporation’s PlayStation 2 video-game console. Kingdom Hearts joined two popular fantasy universes: the cartoon world of the Disney Company and the world of SquareSoft’s

E.O. Wilson: Kingdom of Ants: José Celestino Mutis and the Dawn of Natural History in the New World (2011; with José M. Gómez Durán) was a brief biography of Spanish botanist José Mutis, with particular emphasis on the ants he encountered while exploring South America.

Frederick Denison Maurice: …the publication of his book The Kingdom of Christ (1838), in which he held the church to be a united body that transcended the diversity and partiality of individual men, factions, and sects. That view—subsequently regarded as presaging the 20th-century ecumenical movement—aroused the suspicions of orthodox Anglicans. Their misgivings were…

Hunter S. Thompson: …Better Than Sex (1994), and Kingdom of Fear (2003). Thompson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Rudolf Otto: Later works.: …Reich Gottes und Menschensohn (1934; The Kingdom of God and Son of Man, 1938). Of the three books, the latter is especially important for glimpses of new insight that seem to point beyond the earlier, more widely acclaimed volume; it renders the hint of ultimacy that appears in present history.