Famous dead historical figures
Exploring biographies
Watch: What is a biography?
A biography is a non-fiction text about someone's life.
Biographies are true pieces of text, based on fact, so biographers (the people who write biographies) have to do a lot of research.
Bbc biography famous Top tip! People loved watching plays. Not for acting but because he was, and still is, one of the best known writers in the English language. In he wrote his final play - The Two Noble Kinsmen.They use websites, letters, photographs, diaries and newspapers to help them.
Because biographies are written by someone else, they are written in the third person(//).
They are usually written in chronological order (the order in which events actually happened).
For example, watch this clip.
It gives a biography of the scientist Marie Curie.
Watch: Biography of Stephen Hawking
Even though biographers do lots of research, they can only guess at what it was like to be that person, or the thoughts and feelings the person had.
If the person they want to write about, or anyone who knew them, is still alive, biographers sometimes carry out an interview to ask lots of questions about the person's life.
Here's another biography of a scientist, this time Professor Stephen Hawking.
Who are biographies about?
Often biographies are about people who are famous because of something they have done.
Scientists, artists, sports stars or world leaders often have biographies written about them.
But you don't have to be famous to have a biography written about you. You just need to have a life story that someone else could find interesting or want to find out about.
People in the future will be interested in lives being led right now!
Biographies should be based on fact.
How many facts do you remember about the biographies of Marie Curie and Stephen Hawking? Try this true or false quiz to find out!
Time to become a biographer! Write a short biography of someone you are interested in.
It could be a famous person from history, a sports star, a scientist or an artist.
It could even be your favourite TV star!
1. Make a list of questions. Aim for at least eight.
2. Look for information in books or online.
3. Write up your biography.
Bbc biography famous people Elsewhere on the web. Shakespeare moved to London, and became a rather famous actor there. But years ago, people could only watch stories acted in front of them on the streets or in theatres. For example: What kind of person was she?Aim to write about three to five paragraphs ( to words in total).
Top tip!
You could use subheadings like ‘Early years’ or ‘Achievements’ to split up information.
Don’t forget to write in the third person, in chronological order and to stick to the facts!
You could illustrate the biography with your own drawings when you’ve finished.
The video clip biography of Marie Curie tells you a lot about her - but there's still more to find out!
Click on the image to the right to see a fact sheet that contains extra information about Marie Curie.
Using what you know from the video and the new facts in the sheet, write a biographical paragraph (around 8 sentences) about Marie Curie's life that begins with these words:
Top tip!
Remember, biographies should be written in chronological order and in the third person.
Use time prepositions to help you order your writing, for example:
, , , ,
Challenge!
Is there anything else you’d still like to know about Marie Curie?
Write down your questions. For example:
Look online or in information books to find out the answers to your questions.
Ask for help from an adult when looking online so you can find the information you need most effectively.