Joseph (Old Testament Character)

NAME Joseph (Hebrew: יוֹסֵף, Yosef), later given the Egyptian name Zaphnath-Paaneah by Pharaoh.

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Joseph is one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. He is best known for his "coat of many colors," his ability to interpret prophetic dreams, and his rise from a Hebrew slave and prisoner to become the Vizier of Egypt, the second most powerful man in the land. He is celebrated for saving Egypt and his own family from a seven-year famine and for his ultimate act of forgiveness toward the brothers who sold him into slavery.

BIRTH Date of birth unknown. According to the biblical chronology, Joseph was born in Paddan Aram (Aram-Naharaim), identified with the region of present-day Harran, Turkey, where his father Jacob was living in the household of his uncle Laban. He was the eleventh of Jacob's twelve named sons, and the first child of Rachel, Jacob's most beloved wife, who had previously been unable to conceive. Rachel named him Joseph, saying, "God has taken away my reproach" (Genesis 30:23–24). (1) 

FAMILY BACKGROUND Joseph was the son of the patriarch Jacob (also called Israel) and his wife Rachel.

His maternal grandparents were Laban (Rachel's father) and his paternal grandparents were Isaac and Rebecca; his great-grandparents were Abraham and Sarah, founding figures of the Hebrew nation. 

Jacob had twelve sons altogether, by four different women: his wives Leah and Rachel, and their respective handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph's ten older half-brothers were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, and Zebulun. He had one full younger brother, Benjamin, also born to Rachel, and at least one half-sister, Dinah. 

Jacob's favoritism toward Joseph — born in his old age by his favorite wife — created deep family tensions that would shape the rest of Joseph's life. (2) 

CHILDHOOD Joseph grew up in the land of Canaan among his large and frequently quarrelsome family. His father Jacob showed conspicuous favoritism toward him from an early age: because Joseph was born when Jacob was an old man, and because he was the son of the beloved Rachel, Jacob singled him out for special treatment. This favoritism was most visibly expressed in the giving of the famous coat of many colors — an elaborate, ornate garment that signified Joseph's elevated standing in the family above his older half-brothers. Jacob also assigned Joseph the sensitive role of monitoring his brothers — reporting back to his father on their conduct — a task that made him deeply unpopular. 

As a teenager, Joseph had two remarkable prophetic dreams: in the first, his brothers' sheaves of grain bowed to his; in the second, the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed to him — images implying his future dominance over his entire family. When he shared these dreams, his brothers' jealousy reached its breaking point. (3)

Children of Jacob sell their brother Joseph, by Konstantin Flavitsky, 1855.

EDUCATION No formal education is described in the biblical text. However, Joseph clearly acquired considerable administrative, linguistic, and intellectual skills — he became proficient in Egyptian and was capable of managing the grain stores of an entire empire. (

His father Jacob, a former herder and trader, would have given him a thorough grounding in Hebrew oral tradition, family history, and religious practice; Jacob's lineage traced back to Abraham and included knowledge of God's covenant with the Israelites. 

Joseph's extraordinary ability to interpret dreams was understood not as a learned skill but as a direct gift from God: when Pharaoh's court magicians and wise men failed to interpret the royal dreams, Joseph told Pharaoh plainly, "It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace" (Genesis 41:16). (1)

CAREER RECORD 1890 BC (approx.): Joseph served as the personal steward to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. He was given full authority over Potiphar's entire household and estate. 

1880 BC (approx.): Following a false accusation by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph was imprisoned. While in jail, he was promoted by the warden to oversee all other prisoners and the facility's daily operations. 

1877 BC (approx.): Joseph was summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. After successfully predicting seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, he was appointed Vizier (Prime Minister) of Egypt.

1870 BC (approx.): During the Great Famine, Joseph managed the national grain reserves, selling food to both Egyptians and foreign nations, which effectively brought the entire wealth and land of Egypt under Pharaoh’s direct control. 

APPEARANCE The biblical text does not describe Joseph's physical features in detail, but his striking attractiveness is implied at several points. Potiphar's wife "cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me" (Genesis 39:7), suggesting compelling physical presence. In Islamic tradition, his handsomeness is emphasized more explicitly: the Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said, "One half of all the beauty God apportioned for mankind went to Joseph and his mother; the other one half went to the rest of mankind."  In the Eastern Orthodox tradition he is called "Joseph the All-Comely," a title reflecting both physical and spiritual beauty. 

FASHION Joseph's most famous garment is, of course, his legendary coat of many colors (Hebrew: ketonet passim, כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים), given to him by his father Jacob as a visible symbol of his special status within the family. The coat was an elaborate, ornate garment — possibly long-sleeved or multi-paneled — that set Joseph apart from his brothers and functioned as a mark of authority and parental favoritism. (3) 

The biblical story of Joseph and his coat of many colors is found in Genesis 37. Joseph's father Jacob was particularly proud of him because he was born when Jacob was an old man, and made him an elaborate coat of many colors to signify his important standing in the family. The coat was probably made of wool — the Bible contains many references to wool, and woolen fabrics were the predominant textile of the ancient Near East in this period. (2) 

When Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, they tore the coat, dipped it in goat's blood, and presented it to Jacob as false evidence that his son had been killed by a wild animal (Genesis 37:31–33).  

Joseph's Bloody Coat Brought to Jacob by Diego Velázquez, 1630.

Upon his appointment as Vizier of Egypt, Joseph was clothed in fine Egyptian linen and given a gold chain by Pharaoh (Genesis 41:42), marking his transformation from Hebrew slave to Egyptian grandee. (

CHARACTER Joseph is consistently portrayed as a man of exceptional integrity, moral courage, and resilience. His refusal to sleep with Potiphar's wife — even at the cost of his freedom — is presented as emblematic of his fundamental character: "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9). 

His capacity for forgiveness is perhaps his most celebrated quality: when he finally revealed himself to the brothers who had sold him into slavery, his first words were not of anger but of reassurance — "And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life" (Genesis 45:5). (1) 

Joseph wept openly and repeatedly throughout the narrative — when he saw his brother Benjamin, when he finally revealed himself, when he embraced his father — suggesting a man of deep emotional warmth beneath his administrative composure. 

Jewish tradition regards him as a near-perfect figure of wisdom, loyalty, and compassion; in the Midrash, he is described as faithfully applying the teachings of his father Jacob even in the alien environment of Egypt. 

SPEAKING VOICE Joseph was evidently a commanding and eloquent speaker: he addressed Pharaoh with sufficient confidence and persuasiveness to be immediately appointed second-in-command of Egypt (Genesis 41:37–41). 

He was fluent in Egyptian — he spoke to his brothers through an interpreter so they would not know he understood Hebrew, and only revealed himself by speaking to them directly in their own language (Genesis 42:23; 45:4). His ability to operate in two languages at the highest level of Egyptian court life attests to considerable linguistic and rhetorical skill.

SENSE OF HUMOUR The biblical narrative does not record any jokes or comic observations by Joseph. However, his elaborate multi-stage deception of his brothers — planting his silver divination cup in Benjamin's sack, insisting he is a spy, returning their silver to their money bags — has a distinctly playful, almost theatrical quality, as though he was testing and teasing them as much as formally assessing their character. Jewish tradition interprets these episodes as morally purposeful tests, but there is a decided wryness to Joseph's conduct — concealing his identity while weeping privately, watching his brothers squirm, and eventually breaking down in the most dramatic of revelations. 

RELATIONSHIPS Jacob (father). The central emotional relationship of Joseph's life. Jacob's unconcealed preference for Joseph above all his other sons — expressed most vividly in the gift of the coat of many colors — shaped both Joseph's destiny and the family dynamics that led to his enslavement. Their reunion after more than twenty years apart was, by any account, overwhelming: Jacob declared he could now die in peace (Genesis 46:30). Joseph nursed Jacob through his final illness, ensured his burial in the ancestral cave of Machpelah, and honored his every wish. 

Rachel (mother). Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife and Joseph's mother, died giving birth to Joseph's younger brother Benjamin (Genesis 35:16–19). Joseph therefore grew up without his mother. 

Brothers. Joseph had ten older half-brothers (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, and Zebulun) and one full younger brother (Benjamin). His relationship with the half-brothers was catastrophically broken by their act of selling him into slavery; his relationship with Benjamin remained warm and close throughout. The reconciliation with the half-brothers — after years of distance and concealment — is one of the most emotionally complex scenes in all of scripture. 

Asenath (wife). Joseph married Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (Heliopolis), as arranged by Pharaoh at the time of his appointment as Vizier (Genesis 41:45). She bore him two sons: Manasseh ("God has made me forget all my trouble") and Ephraim ("God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction") (Genesis 41:50–52). (1)

Joseph meets Asenath (1490s painting) Yair Haklai

Potiphar's wife. Joseph's most hostile relationship. She repeatedly attempted to seduce him; his consistent refusal led her to accuse him of rape, a charge that cost him his freedom (Genesis 39:7–20). In later Islamic and Jewish tradition she was named Zuleikha and her story became an elaborate literary sub-genre in its own right.

MONEY AND FAME Joseph began his Egyptian career with nothing — a foreign slave with no legal standing. By his appointment as Vizier he controlled, in effect, the economy of the most powerful nation in the ancient world. During the famine years he accumulated virtually all of Egypt's money, livestock, and land for Pharaoh, creating a tax system that persisted for generations (Genesis 47:14–26). (

Joseph lived in considerable personal splendor: Pharaoh's own signet ring, fine linen, a gold chain, and a chariot placed him among the very highest Egyptian elite (Genesis 41:42–43).

He was effectively the second most famous and powerful man in Egypt during the famine years — directing the affairs of a nation while his true identity remained unknown to those closest to him. 

FOOD AND DRINK Food and its management are central to Joseph's entire career. His interpretation of Pharaoh's famine dream led directly to the greatest food storage and distribution operation in the ancient Near East. During the seven years of plenty he ensured Egyptian granaries were filled beyond measure — "as the sand of the sea" (Genesis 41:49). 

Below, Joseph gave orders to his servants to fill their sacks with wheat: illuminated Bible by Raphaël de Mercatelli, Ghent, late 15th century.

When his brothers first came to Egypt to buy grain, Joseph hosted them at his own table; the Egyptians, however, could not dine at the same table as Hebrews, whom they considered unclean, so the brothers were served separately (Genesis 43:32). Joseph's silver cup — the famous prop of his trap for Benjamin — was used by him for divination, a practice associated in the ancient world with liquids and their patterns (Genesis 44:5; 44:15). 

MUSIC AND ARTS Joseph's story inspired one of the most popular musicals in theatre history — Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, first performed in March 1968 at Colet Court school in Hammersmith, London. The work began as a 15-minute "pop cantata" for a school choir before expanding into a full-length West End and Broadway production. (4)

LITERATURE Joseph's story has generated an extraordinarily rich literary afterlife. The most celebrated literary adaptation is Thomas Mann's four-volume novel Joseph and His Brothers (1933–1943), widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of 20th-century fiction. 

The 13th-century Cistercian monk Jean de Limoges wrote Somnium morale Pharaonis, a fictional exchange of letters between Joseph, Pharaoh, and other characters. (

Anita Diamant's 1997 novel The Red Tent, focused on Joseph's half-sister Dinah, also features Joseph as a secondary character. 

 In Islam, the Quranic Surah Yusuf is considered literary perfection — "the best of stories." (

The 2019 novel Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness by Stephen Mitchell retells the story in midrashic form, exploring Joseph as a flawed and evolving human being. 

NATURE Joseph spent his early life as a shepherd in the pastoral landscapes of Canaan, tending flocks and reporting on his brothers in the fields. 

His dreams are saturated with natural imagery: sheaves of wheat, fat and lean cattle, fruitful and blighted ears of grain — all drawn from an agrarian world where the natural cycle of growth and famine was a matter of life and death. 

Joseph's dream of grain

PETS As a shepherd in his youth, Joseph would have been constantly surrounded by sheep and goats. In Egypt, he would have been familiar with the sacred status of cats and the use of hunting dogs by the nobility.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS As a youth, Joseph practiced animal husbandry and shepherding. In his Egyptian life, his "hobbies" appeared to be administrative—he was a master of logistics and organizational systems.

SCIENCE AND MATHS Joseph's management of Egypt's grain reserves during the seven years of plenty, followed by the distribution of those reserves during seven years of famine, represents one of the most impressive feats of large-scale resource management and forward planning in the ancient world. He was essentially applying what we might today call economic forecasting: predicting supply shortfalls years in advance and building strategic reserves to mitigate their impact. The fiscal system he introduced — taxing a fifth of all produce on government-owned land — was in effect a practical application of proportional taxation, and the Bible notes it remained operative until the time of Moses (Genesis 47:26). 

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Joseph's life is built around a core theological conviction: that what appears to be human evil is, within God's larger plan, purposeful and ultimately redemptive. His most quoted declaration — "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20) — is one of the most succinct statements of providential theology in all of scripture. 

Joseph is regarded by Jewish tradition as the ancestor of the Messiah "Mashiach ben Yosef." 

In the Christian patristic tradition he was widely read as a typological precursor of Christ — sold for silver, unjustly condemned, exalted to high authority, and acting as a savior to his people. John Chrysostom described Joseph's suffering as "a type of things to come"; John Calvin wrote that "in the person of Joseph, a lively image of Christ is presented." 

In Islam, Joseph is a prophet (nabi), and the Quran's Surah Yusuf is the only chapter of the Quran dedicated to a single complete narrative. 

RISE TO POWER IN EGYPT Joseph's career trajectory was unusual, even by Biblical standards.

At seventeen, he was dispatched by his father Jacob to check on his brothers, who were looking after sheep near Dothan. This seemed a perfectly reasonable errand, unless you happened to know that the brothers in question already disliked Joseph with a depth and enthusiasm normally reserved for tax inspectors and rival football supporters. Jacob's favouritism had not helped, and Joseph's habit of recounting dreams in which everyone eventually bowed down to him had somehow failed to improve family relations.

The brothers initially considered murder, which rather suggests that family counselling was not yet a developed profession. In the end they settled for throwing Joseph into a pit and selling him to passing merchants for twenty pieces of silver. It was, from Joseph's perspective, one of those days that had started badly and then gathered momentum.

Transported to Egypt, he was sold to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard. Joseph proved remarkably competent and soon found himself running the entire household. Unfortunately, efficiency was not enough to protect him from Potiphar's wife, who attempted to seduce him. Joseph refused, largely because he believed some things mattered more than convenience. This was admirable but, as is often the case with admirable behaviour, it turned out not to be immediately rewarding. Potiphar's wife accused him of attempted rape and Joseph was thrown into prison.

There, astonishingly, he was promoted again.

One begins to suspect that if Joseph had somehow found himself imprisoned in a dungeon at the bottom of the sea, he would shortly have been appointed Assistant Director of Underwater Operations.

The prison governor put him in charge of the other inmates. While there he met Pharaoh's chief cup-bearer and chief baker, both of whom had managed to upset the king. Joseph interpreted their dreams. The cup-bearer would be restored to favour; the baker would be executed. Both predictions came true with impressive accuracy, though only one recipient found the news encouraging.

Joseph asked the restored cup-bearer to put in a good word for him with Pharaoh. The cup-bearer promptly forgot. Not for a few days or weeks, but for two years. This is one of the Bible's more reassuring reminders that human beings have always been human beings.

Then Pharaoh began having disturbing dreams involving skinny cows eating fat cows and shrivelled ears of grain swallowing healthy ones. None of his advisers could explain them. At this point the cup-bearer's memory suddenly returned, no doubt accompanied by a moment of intense embarrassment.

Joseph was summoned. He explained that Egypt would experience seven years of abundance followed by seven years of devastating famine. More importantly, he proposed a practical solution. Pharaoh was impressed by this rare combination of spiritual insight and administrative competence and appointed Joseph as his Vizier, second only to himself in authority.

Joseph was thirty years old.

One day he had been forgotten in prison; the next he was wearing fine linen, sporting a gold chain, carrying Pharaoh's signet ring and answering to the rather magnificent Egyptian name Zaphnath-Paaneah. Life can be surprisingly dramatic when God is writing the script.

During the seven good years Joseph organised grain storage on a colossal scale. He married Asenath and became father to two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Then the famine arrived exactly as predicted.

Soon people from across the region were travelling to Egypt for food. Joseph oversaw the entire operation, effectively running one of history's largest emergency relief programmes. The administrative details were complex, involving grain, money, livestock, land and taxation. It was not glamorous work, but then saving civilisation rarely is.

Eventually Joseph's brothers arrived from Canaan seeking grain.

They did not recognise him. This was perhaps understandable. The last time they had seen him he had been a teenager at the bottom of a pit. Finding him as ruler of Egypt would not have been most people's first guess.

Joseph recognised them immediately and subjected them to a series of tests designed to discover whether they had changed. At last, unable to contain himself any longer, he revealed his identity.

The resulting emotional scene was spectacular. Joseph wept so loudly that people outside the room heard him. It is one of Scripture's most moving reunions, and also one of its least dignified.

He invited the entire family—seventy people in all—to settle in Egypt, where they were given the fertile region of Goshen.

Not long afterwards Joseph was reunited with his father. More than twenty years had passed since Jacob had believed him dead. Their embrace is one of those moments where even the most determined cynic tends to become unexpectedly interested in something elsewhere in the room.

After Jacob died, Joseph arranged an elaborate burial in Canaan. He continued serving Egypt while caring for his extended family, reassuring the same brothers who had once sold him that he had no intention of taking revenge.

Joseph eventually died at the age of 110, having lived long enough to see his great-grandchildren.

Looking back over his life, one is struck by how often disaster turned out not to be the end of the story. Pits became pathways. Prisons became promotions. Betrayals became reconciliations.

Which is not to say that Joseph enjoyed the process. It merely suggests that God has a curious habit of accomplishing remarkable things with circumstances that appear, at first glance, to be complete disasters. 

POLITICS As Vizier of Egypt, Joseph was one of the most powerful political figures of his era. He held three simultaneous titles of office: "father to Pharaoh," "lord of all his house," and "ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Genesis 45:8) — a threefold description that corresponds precisely to the threefold division of a vizier's responsibilities as understood in Egyptian administrative records. 

Joseph wielded Pharaoh's own signet ring, giving him the authority to seal royal documents and govern in the king's name. 

SCANDAL The most dramatic scandal of Joseph's life was his false accusation of attempted rape by Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:7–20). Her repeated attempts to seduce him had been consistently refused; enraged, she used his abandoned garment as false evidence, and Joseph was imprisoned without trial. 

 In Jewish tradition, Potiphar privately doubted his wife's account — Abravanel notes she had made similar accusations against other servants before — and petitioned Pharaoh to spare Joseph's life rather than execute him. 

The garment, in a painful irony, echoes the fate of the coat of many colors: in both cases, a piece of clothing was used to deceive a powerful man about Joseph's fate. 

Joseph in prison, by Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, 17th century.

MILITARY RECORD While Joseph was not a soldier, as Vizier he would have had oversight of the state's security and the "Captain of the Guard." His rise to power was a civil and administrative appointment rather than a military one.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Joseph survived extraordinary physical and psychological hardships: being thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, transported across the Sinai desert to Egypt, and imprisoned for a substantial period. He appears to have maintained his health and composure throughout — he was described as rising to positions of trusted responsibility in both Potiphar's household and in prison. 

Joseph lived to the remarkable age of 110 years, surviving to see his great-grandchildren — a lifespan that in the ancient Near Eastern tradition symbolized a life of exceptional fullness and divine blessing.  (5) 

HOMES Joseph was born in Paddan Aram (modern Turkey) and grew up in Canaan, in the household of his father Jacob. 

As Potiphar's superintendent he lived within Potiphar's Egyptian estate, possibly in or near Memphis or the capital of the day (Genesis 39:1–6).  He spent an indeterminate period in an Egyptian prison, where he nonetheless rose to an administrative role. (

Upon becoming Vizier Joseph would have occupied official state residences appropriate to the second-in-command of Egypt. 

In his old age, his entire family was settled by his arrangement in the fertile province of Goshen, in the eastern Nile Delta region of Egypt (Genesis 45:10; 47:11). 

TRAVEL Joseph's life involved remarkable geographical mobility — unusual for the ancient world.  He was born in Paddan Aram (modern Turkey), grew up in Canaan, was transported by slave traders across the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, spent years in an Egyptian prison, and then, as Vizier, administered a territory covering the entire Nile Valley. 

Joseph led a great ceremonial funeral procession from Egypt back to Canaan to bury his father Jacob in the cave of Machpelah — a journey that attracted the attention of the local Canaanite population, who named the mourning place "Abel Mizraim" (Genesis 50:7–11). 

DEATH Joseph died in Egypt at the age of 110 years — an age considered in the ancient Near Eastern tradition to signify a perfectly complete and divinely favored life.  He had lived to see his great-grandchildren, and the children of his son Manasseh's son Machir were "brought up upon Joseph's knees" (Genesis 50:23). 

Before he died, he made the children of Israel swear an oath: "God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence" (Genesis 50:25).  His body was embalmed in the Egyptian manner and placed in a coffin in Egypt. 

The oath was honored: when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt in the Exodus, he took Joseph's bones with him (Exodus 13:19), and they were ultimately buried at Shechem in a parcel of ground purchased by Jacob from the sons of Hamor — a site traditionally identified with Joseph's Tomb near the modern city of Nablus in the West Bank (Joshua 24:32). 

Joseph's Tomb in Shechem Tom Miller https://www.flickr.com/

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Joseph's story has inspired an enormous range of adaptations across theatre, film, and television. 

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968 onward): The musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, originally a 15-minute school cantata performed at Colet Court, Hammersmith, on March 1, 1968, grew into a long-running West End and Broadway show. It opened on Broadway at the Royale Theatre on January 27, 1982. (6) 

It was adapted as a television film in 1999, starring Donny Osmond as Joseph, with Joan Collins and Richard Attenborough. (7)

Joseph (1995): A made-for-television film starring Paul Mercurio as Joseph, with Ben Kingsley as Potiphar, Lesley Ann Warren as Potiphar's wife, and Martin Landau as Jacob. 

Joseph: King of Dreams (2000): A direct-to-video DreamWorks animated musical film, with Ben Affleck providing the speaking voice of Joseph. 

The Story of Jacob and Joseph (1974 film): Joseph portrayed by Tony Lo Bianco.

The Story of Joseph and His Brethren (1961 film): Joseph played by Geoffrey Horne. 

The Ballad of Little Joe (2003): A VeggieTales children's retelling set in the American West. 

Prophet Joseph (Yousuf-e Payambar, 2008–2009): A popular Iranian television series based on the Quranic account. 

José do Egito (2013): A Brazilian miniseries on RecordTV, with Ângelo Paes Leme as the adult Joseph. 

The Red Tent (2014 TV miniseries): Joseph appears as a secondary character, portrayed by Will Tudor. 

ACHIEVEMENTS Served as Vizier of Egypt — second-in-command of the most powerful ancient civilization of his era — having arrived in Egypt as a penniless foreign slave. 

Designed and implemented a grain storage and distribution system that saved Egypt and surrounding nations from starvation during a seven-year famine. 

Introduced a tax and land reform system that shaped Egyptian fiscal law for generations (Genesis 47:26). 

Reunited his family after more than twenty years of separation, resettled them in Egypt, and preserved the lineage that would eventually become the Twelve Tribes of Israel. 

Became the founding ancestor of two Israelite tribes — the Tribe of Manasseh and the Tribe of Ephraim — through his sons, whom Jacob adopted as his own heirs (Genesis 48:5). 

Regarded as a prophet in Islam and a prefiguration of Christ in Christian theology — one of very few Old Testament figures to hold significant sacred status across all three Abrahamic faiths. 

His life narrative, spanning Genesis 37–50, is the longest and most novelistically developed story of any individual in the entire Pentateuch.

Sources: (1) Wikipedia — Joseph (Genesis) (2) Encyclopaedia of Trivia — Coat (3) Christianity.com — Joseph's Coat of Many Colors (4) YouTube — The Early Days: Making of Joseph (Lloyd Webber/Rice) (5) Bible Gateway — Genesis 50:22–26 (Death of Joseph) (6) Playbill — Original Broadway Production of Joseph (7) PBS SoCal — Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Lyndon B. Johnson

NAME Lyndon Baines Johnson.

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Johnson was famous for becoming President after Kennedy’s assassination and for driving through major civil rights and anti-poverty legislation. He was also known for his extraordinary legislative skill in the Senate and for the “Johnson Treatment,” his famously intense, physically close style of persuasion.

BIRTH Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, near Stonewall, Texas. He was born into a farming family in the Texas Hill Country, and his early life in rural Texas remained central to his self-image throughout his career.

FAMILY BACKGROUND He was the son of Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. and Rebekah Baines Johnson. His father had been involved in Texas politics, and that political background helped shape Johnson’s own ambitions from an early age.

CHILDHOOD Johnson grew up in a rural setting and experienced the pressures of poverty at first hand. Biographers often note that those early hardships influenced his later concern with education, opportunity, and government action on behalf of ordinary people.

With his trademark cowboy hat‍—‌age seven

EDUCATION Johnson attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College, now Texas State University, and graduated in 1930. While a student he taught Mexican-American children, an experience that broadened his understanding of poverty and strengthened his commitment to public service.

CAREER RECORD 1928 Paused his studies to teach Mexican-American children at Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas, using his own salary to buy volleyballs and softball bats for them. 

1930 Taught at Pearsall High School in Pearsall, Texas, and afterward took a position as a teacher of public speaking at Sam Houston High School in Houston. 

1931 Entered political service as a congressional aide to Texas Representative Richard M. Kleberg. 

1935 Appointed Texas director of the National Youth Administration. 

1937, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat, representing Texas's 10th congressional district. (1), (2)

1948 Elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas, famously winning the Democratic primary by just 87 votes. 

1955 Became Senate Majority Leader, serving as the youngest Democratic leader in Senate history to hold the position. (1), (2)

1961-1963 Served as the 37th Vice President of the United States under John F. Kennedy. (1), (2)

1963-1969 Served as the 36th President of the United States.

APPEARANCE Standing 6 feet 3.5 inches tall, Johnson was a imposing, broad-shouldered figure with large ears, slicked-back hair, and prominent features. His height, broad frame, and habit of leaning in close during conversation made him look every inch the dominant political operator he was. (2)

Official portrait, 1964

FASHION He generally dressed in plain, dark business suits and wore little that suggested vanity or flair. His appearance was more about authority and practicality than elegance, and he rarely seemed concerned with fashion for its own sake. (2)

CHARACTER Johnson was intense, driven, and famously hard to resist once he had made up his mind. He worked relentlessly, could be brusque or bullying, and often mixed charm with menace in pursuit of his goals. (3)

SPEAKING VOICE His speaking voice was a strong Texas drawl, used with great theatrical force. Johnson could shift from warm and persuasive to loud and intimidating in an instant, and that voice was one of the key instruments of his political power.

SENSE OF HUMOUR His sense of humour was earthy, rough, and often politically tactical. He liked teasing, mock outrage, and practical jokes, but his humour could also be aggressive and embarrassing rather than merely playful. (4)

RELATIONSHIPS Johnson married Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor in Austin, Texas on November 17, 1934. 

Lady Bird Johnson inherited money and built enough wealth through smart investments, especially in broadcasting. She was one of the first presidential wives to become a millionaire in her own right before her husband entered the White House.

She was a crucial partner in his political rise, and their marriage became one of the defining personal relationships of his public life.

Lady Bird Johnson working in her office

Together they had two daughters, Lynda Bird and Luci Baines. 

Johnson was a competitive womanizer, and whenever people mentioned Kennedy's many affairs, LBJ would bang the table and declare that he had more women by accident than Kennedy ever had on purpose. (4)

MONEY AND FAME Johnson cultivated the image of a man who understood money, debt, and hard work, even when he was one of the most powerful figures in America. Fame came to him first in Congress and then on a national scale, but he never entirely shed the habits of a Texas operator who thought in practical, local terms. (2)

Lyndon Johnson was famously frugal. Even as President, White House tapes recorded him asking a photographer to take his family portraits for free, saying he was a poor man living on a paycheck and had a great deal of debt. In truth, Johnson was quite wealthy, but he did receive the portraits for free. (2)

The White House press corps would make jokes at Johnson's frugality, regarding his habit of turning off all lights in the White House when the rooms were not in use. (4)

FOOD AND DRINK Johnson liked robust, straightforward food rather than refinement, and he especially enjoyed vegetables from his Texas background. Accounts of his White House years often mention his fondness for simple Southern and Texan dishes. (1)

Johnson loved his vegetables. Spinach was one of his favorites, which he loved in a light soufflé. He brought okra from his Texas ranch to Washington D.C. so kitchen staff could make pickled okra. 

Lyndon Johnson had a weakness for pop and had a soda tap installed in the Oval Office. He had a particular weakness for Fresca, a citrus-flavored soft drink introduced by Coca-Cola. (4)

MUSIC AND ARTS Johnson was not a notable patron of the arts in the traditional sense, but he understood the power of television and spectacle better than most politicians of his era. His presidency came at a moment when media performance mattered enormously, and he adapted quickly to that reality. (2)

LITERATURE Johnson was an immensely practical reader who prioritized political biographies, news briefs, and legislative analyses over leisure fiction or classic literature.

NATURE Johnson remained deeply attached to Texas land, ranch life, and the Hill Country landscape. Even at the height of his power, he measured much of life against the realities of his ranch and the world he had grown up in. (1)

PETS The Johnson White House was home to several dogs, including the well-known beagles Him and Her, and Yuki, a mixed-breed dog that became a family favourite. Their presence helped soften the image of a president who was otherwise seen as forceful, demanding, and often intimidating.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS He enjoyed hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and inspecting livestock across his sprawling Texas acreage. (6)

Johnson enjoyed driving fast, showing off his vehicles, and using his ranch as a place to display his larger-than-life personality. (4)

SCIENCE AND MATHS The Johnson years coincided with major federal support for science, education, and the technological ambitions of the 1960s.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Johnson’s outlook was pragmatic rather than philosophical, but it had a moral core rooted in opportunity, dignity, and public action. His Great Society ideal suggested a belief that government could and should improve lives, even if his methods were often raw and unsentimental. (2)

 Johnson was raised in a Baptist family, but as a teenager he became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), which remained his denominational home church throughout his life. He regarded the First Christian Church in Johnson City, Texas as his “home church.” (7)

PRESIDENCY Lyndon B. Johnson became president in the least enviable way imaginable: John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Johnson, who had been vice president for less than three years, suddenly found himself in the Oval Office with a grieving nation staring at him. He completed Kennedy's term and then, in 1964, ran for the presidency in his own right, defeating Republican Barry Goldwater with extraordinary ease. Johnson won 61.1 percent of the popular vote on November 3, 1964—the largest share ever achieved by a presidential candidate since 1820, when the electoral system was still operating under rather different conditions and the opposition had largely decided that turning up was optional.

Just five days after Kennedy's assassination, Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress. His November 27 speech was an important moment in a country still trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. Rather than allowing grief and anger to paralyse the nation, Johnson called for unity and urged Congress to continue the work of progress that Kennedy had championed. It was an early demonstration of Johnson's considerable political skill: he could take an atmosphere of national trauma and turn it into an argument for getting things done, which was rather like attempting to steer a battleship through a bathtub, but he managed it.

Johnson was also acutely aware that the modern presidency was increasingly a television performance, whether presidents liked it or not. So when it came time to deliver his 1965 State of the Union address, he decided to move it into prime time, abandoning the traditional midday slot in favour of the hour when the largest possible television audience could watch. It was a small change with enormous consequences, helping establish the televised State of the Union as the major political spectacle it remains today. The nation, after all, was going to hear what the president had to say—and Johnson clearly preferred that it happen when people were actually awake.

POLITICS Johnson was one of the most effective politicians in 20th-century America, especially in Congress. He mastered the Senate through discipline, pressure, deal-making, and a near-unmatched grasp of procedure, and his leadership style changed the balance of power inside Washington. (3)

SCANDAL President Lyndon Johnson was known for his vulgar behavior. He would burp, pick his nose, and scratch his crotch in front of people. He would also openly urinate in front of others, including in front of a reporter at his ranch. Johnson also harassed women about their weight and looks. (4)

His career was shadowed by controversy, including complaints about his rough tactics, accusations surrounding the 1948 Senate race, and the moral and political backlash tied to Vietnam. His private conduct also drew criticism, with many accounts describing him as vulgar, overbearing, and shamelessly intrusive in social settings. (2)

MILITARY RECORD Johnson briefly served in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II and saw the Pacific at close range as an observer on bomber missions. 

Johnson was supposed to be an observer on the Wabash Cannonball, a B-26 bomber in the South Pacific in June 1942. Before takeoff, LBJ left the plane to relieve himself. By the time he returned, his seat was taken, so he couldn't get back on. The Wabash wound up crashing, killing everyone on board. Johnson boarded another B-26 bomber instead, which survived an attack by enemy aircraft, earning him the Silver Star. (2) 

Johnson as a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy Reserve in March 1942

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Johnson worked 18- to 20-hour days without breaks and was absent of any leisure activities. (4)

He suffered a severe, near-fatal heart attack in July 1955 while serving in the Senate, which forced him to stop heavy chain-smoking temporarily, though his punishing work schedule and poor health habits persisted throughout his lifetime. He later worried that his body might not sustain another presidential term. (1)

HOMES His best-known home was the LBJ Ranch near Stonewall, Texas, where he returned after leaving the White House. He also lived at the White House in Washington, D.C., but the ranch remained his emotional centre and the place most strongly associated with his later years.

TRAVEL Johnson traveled internationally for diplomatic summits and military inspections, including high-profile wartime visits to American troops stationed in South Vietnam

Back at Johnson's ranch in Texas, several visitors had the frightening experience of being driven by the president at close to 100 miles an hour down country roads, whilst he drank scotch whisky from an old plastic cup. The notoriously frugal Johnson often washed and reused plastic cups. (2)

Johnson owned an amphibious car (an Amphicar) which he would use to prank his guests by driving down a steep incline straight into a lake while screaming about brake failure. (4)

DEATH Citing the growing division within the country over the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson decided not to seek re-election in 1968. Once his time as president ended in January 1969, Johnson went back to Texas to live on his ranch in Stonewall. 

One reason Johnson did not run for re-election was he had become more worried about his failing health and was concerned that he might not live through another four-year term. In 1967, he secretly commissioned an actuarial study that predicted he would die at 64 and thus may not make it through a second term. 

True enough, Johnson died at his ranch on January 22, 1973, at the age of 64 after having a heart attack. He passed away two days after what would have been the end of his second term. 

The day before his death, Johnson had learned that peace was at hand in Vietnam. 

His funeral took place at the National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., followed by burial at the Johnson family cemetery near his ranch in Texas. A memorial wreath remains a focal point at President Johnson's grave in Texas.

President Lyndon B. Johnson, his father, and his grandfather all died of heart failure at the age of 64. (4)

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Johnson has been depicted in numerous books, historical documentaries, films, and stage plays, notably portrayed by Bryan Cranston in All the Way, Liev Schreiber in The Butler and Woody Harrelson in LBJ.  His life remains a major subject for screen and print because it combines civil rights triumph, legislative mastery, and the burden of the Vietnam War in one highly dramatic political career.

ACHIEVEMENTS President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964, which was intended to prohibit segregation in public places. Johnson said it would "close the springs of racial poison." 

His major accomplishments also include passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, creating Medicare and Medicaid, launching the War on Poverty, and overseeing major advancements in the U.S. space program.

SOURCES (1) Miller Center (2) Britannica (3) U.S. Senate (4) Encyclopedia of Trivia (5) The White House (6) New York Times (7) Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Boris Johnson

NAME Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. In public he is almost always simply “Boris Johnson,” a first‑name brand built on unruly hair, elaborate metaphors and a carefully cultivated air of endearing chaos. 

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Boris Johnson is an American‑born British journalist, author and Conservative politician, best known for serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party.  Before reaching Downing Street he was famous as a Telegraph columnist, editor of The Spectator and the flamboyant, gaffe‑prone Mayor of London, later becoming the most recognisable public face of the Vote Leave campaign and of Brexit itself. 

BIRTH  Johnson was born in a clinic on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City on June 19, 1964. At the time his English father, Stanley Johnson, was studying economics at Columbia University, and his mother, painter Charlotte Fawcett (later Charlotte Wahl), was the daughter of Sir James Fawcett, a prominent barrister and international lawyer. 

At birth, he was notably delivered with such an exceptionally thick, shock of bright blonde hair that other patients in the ward were reportedly invited into the room by nurses to admire the newborn child.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Stanley Johnson went on to careers in the Civil Service, the World Bank and European institutions, as well as writing books on politics and the environment, so Boris grew up in a household where global affairs and public service were normal topics of conversation. 

On his mother’s side he inherited both artistic temperament and legal pedigree: Charlotte’s father, Sir James Fawcett, was an influential figure in international law, while Charlotte herself worked as a painter, adding a bohemian streak to the Johnson family background. 

He has three younger siblings – Rachel, Jo and Leo.

CHILDHOOD Boris' childhood involved frequent moves for his father’s work, spells of deafness caused by “glue ear” requiring grommet operations, and what family accounts describe as a quiet, studious manner underneath the later clowning. 

In 1980 his parents divorced; his mother moved into a flat in Notting Hill, west London, where Boris and his siblings spent much of their time, acquiring a more settled, scruffier West London base after years of movement. 

EDUCATION Johnson attended the European School in Brussels, gaining early exposure to continental politics and befriending future wife Marina Wheeler while his father worked in the Belgian capital. 

He then went to Ashdown House preparatory school in East Sussex, followed by Eton College, where he was a King’s Scholar and began to shape the “Boris” persona – clever, slightly anarchic and permanently on the verge of forgetting his homework. 

In 1983 Johnson went up to Balliol College, Oxford, to read Classics – ancient literature and philosophy. He failed at his first attempt to become President of the Oxford Union, succeeded on his second, and graduated in 1987 with an upper second‑class degree, having impressed as much with performance as with scholarship. 

CAREER RECORD 1987 Through family connections Johnson joined The Times in London as a graduate trainee journalist. He was fired after fabricating a quote about the archaeological discovery of King Edward II’s palace and attributing it to Colin Lucas, his godfather – an early example of colourful invention trumping accuracy. 

1988–1994 Johnson moved to The Daily Telegraph, working first on the leader‑writing desk and later as Brussels correspondent. 

1994 He returned to London as assistant editor and chief political columnist at The Daily Telegraph. His column won praise and a Commentator of the Year award at the What the Papers Say awards. 

1997 Johnson was selected as the Conservative Party’s candidate for Clwyd South in north Wales, then a solid Labour seat. He won 9,091 votes – 23% of the total – and lost.

1999–2005 Conrad Black offered Johnson the editorship of The Spectator, a weekly conservative magazine. Under his editorship The Spectator thrived in circulation and influence, though its reputation was tinged by scandals and Johnson’s habit of juggling multiple jobs and complicated private life; he was dismissed in 2005 by new chief executive Andrew Neil. 

2001–2008 Following Michael Heseltine’s retirement, Johnson stood as Conservative candidate for Henley, a safe Tory seat in Oxfordshire, and won with a majority of around 8,500 votes at the 2001 election. As MP he combined Westminster work with editing The Spectator and cultivating a media‑friendly “Boris” image. 

2004 Michael Howard appointed Johnson shadow minister for the arts, later reassigning him to higher education. In November 2004 Howard sacked him from the front bench for failing to tell the truth about newspaper claims regarding his private life.

2008–2016 Johnson was elected Mayor of London in May 2008 and re‑elected in 2012. As mayor he introduced the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme (“Boris bikes”), oversaw the 2012 Summer Olympics, promoted various regeneration projects and banned alcohol on much of London’s public transport,

2015–2023 In May 2015 Johnson was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He stood down as Mayor in 2016 but continued as MP; he would hold the Uxbridge seat until his resignation from Parliament in June 2023 following the Privileges Committee report. 

2016–2018, Johnson became a leading figure in the Vote Leave campaign for the 2016 European Union membership referendum, fronting slogans and appearances that were central to the Brexit narrative. In July 2016 Theresa May appointed him Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; he resigned in July 2018 in protest at her Brexit proposals. 

2019–2022 Johnson succeeded Theresa May as Conservative leader and Prime Minister on July 24, 2019. Initially heading a minority government reliant on the DUP, he called a general election for December 12, 2019, campaigned on “get Brexit done,” and led the Conservatives to their biggest victory since 1987, with 43.6% of the vote and an overall majority of about 80 seats.

2022 On July 7, 2022, after a cascade of ministerial resignations, he announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister.

2023 On June 9, 2023, Johnson resigned as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip after a Privileges Committee report concluded that he had “knowingly or recklessly” misled Parliament over lockdown‑breaking gatherings in Downing Street during the COVID‑19 pandemic. 

APPEARANCE Boris Johnson is instantly recognisable: pale, mop‑like blond hair that seems permanently tousled, a slightly rumpled suit and an expression that oscillates between eager schoolboy and baffled professor. 

He is stocky rather than athletic, and after his serious bout of COVID‑19 he often appeared heavier and more tired in photographs and television clips, adding a touch of world‑weariness to the previously bounding image. 

Official portrait, 2019

FASHION Johnson’s wardrobe is standard Westminster: dark suits, pale shirts, conventionally patterned ties. The difference lies in how he wears them – ties askew, jackets creased and hair defiantly refusing to cooperate – a style that underscores his cultivated “anti‑slick” persona. 

As Mayor and Prime Minister he willingly donned hi‑vis jackets, hard hats and cycling gear for photo opportunities, happily presenting himself in costumes that suggested hands‑on energy, even as his career had mostly taken place in newsrooms and committee rooms. 

CHARACTER Biographers and colleagues describe Johnson as charismatic, quick‑witted and adept at charming audiences, but also as opportunistic, ruthlessly ambitious and notably relaxed about strict adherence to facts and rules when these conflict with his goals. 

SPEAKING VOICE Johnson’s speaking voice is upper‑middle‑class English, punctuated by Latin tags, classical references and flamboyant metaphors, delivered in a slightly rambling style with mumbles, digressions and sudden emphatic phrases. 

He uses self‑deprecating jokes, mock bafflement and theatrical pauses to sidestep difficult questions, which makes him entertaining on television and at the despatch box, though sometimes at the expense of straightforward clarity. 

SENSE OF HUMOUR Humour sits at the centre of the Boris persona. He delights in absurd comparisons, verbal slapstick and physical gags – most memorably dangling from a zip‑line waving Union flags during the London Olympics, gamely turning mishap into performance. 

This comic style has served him well on panel shows and in public speeches, but critics suggest that the constant joking can act as a shield, deflecting attention from the seriousness of the issues and from his own responsibility for them. 

RELATIONSHIPS Johnson married sculptor Allegra Mostyn‑Owen in 1987; the marriage between two privileged Oxford graduates effectively ended soon afterwards and was dissolved in 1993.

Later in 1993 he married barrister Marina Wheeler, daughter of journalist Sir Charles Wheeler and Dip Singh; they had four children – Lara Lettice, Milo Arthur, Cassia Peaches and Theodore Apollo – and shared roots at the European School in Brussels. Reports of affairs, including a daughter with arts consultant Helen Macintyre and a relationship with American entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri, contributed to their separation and divorce proceedings announced in 2018.

By 2019 Johnson was living with political activist Carrie Symonds, who had worked for the Conservative Party since 2009 and on his 2012 mayoral campaign. Their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson was born on April 29, 2020, and they married in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on May 29, 2021, held under COVID‑era restrictions and with relatively low‑key publicity for such a high‑profile couple. 

Symonds and Boris Johnson on Commonwealth Day, March 2020 By 10 Downing Street -

MONEY AND FAME Johnson’s earnings have long come from multiple sources: newspaper columns, books, speeches and, during his years in office, his parliamentary and ministerial salaries. 

His fame has made him a sought‑after figure for paid appearances, but has also invited scrutiny over donations, loans and the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment, reinforcing his image as someone for whom money and politics mix in complex ways.

FOOD AND DRINK Johnson’s eating habits lean firmly towards the hearty and comforting rather than the monkish. A much‑quoted food diary has him starting the day with leftover birthday cake from the fridge, working his way through generous helpings of sausages and bangers‑and‑mash, and keeping up his energy with liberal quantities of Diet Coke. 

On the campaign trail and in office he has often been photographed consuming the standard props of British political life – pints, mugs of tea and pub‑style snacks – and after his serious brush with COVID‑19 he cheerfully blamed his condition on being “too fat,” announcing bursts of virtue in the form of low‑carb diets, early‑morning runs and a strict embargo on late‑night cheese and chocolate.

During the pandemic, food and drink became politically charged in Downing Street: the Partygate saga centred on gatherings where wine and snacks were enjoyed during lockdown, events which ultimately did his premiership far more harm than any official banquet.

MUSIC AND ARTS With a painter mother and a classical education, Johnson has long been comfortable around the arts; as Mayor of London he presided over a city whose cultural life was thriving and acted as a high‑visibility cheerleader during the 2012 Olympics and other events.

Asked during the 2019 election campaign who his favorite group was, Johnson replied: “Look this is either The Clash or The Rolling Stones, and mainly I listen to The Rolling Stones nowadays, so you can make of that what you will” – a neat mix of punk edge and classic rock respectability.

LITERATURE Johnson studied Classics at Oxford and built a literary persona around ancient texts and classical references, dropping Latin phrases and quoting Homer or Pericles in a way that suggests the essayist as much as the modern politician.

He has written biographies and popular histories, including a well‑known book on Winston Churchill, alongside thousands of newspaper columns; his prose is energetic and often very funny, though his casual attitude to factual precision has attracted robust criticism. 

NATURE As Mayor of London Johnson promoted cycling and some urban environmental schemes, arguing for greener transport even as his city struggled with traffic and air‑quality issues. 

As Prime Minister he committed the UK to long‑term net‑zero carbon targets, but his overall environmental record has been judged mixed, with climate pledges occasionally overshadowed by short‑term political and economic choices. 

PETS Johnson’s most famous pet is Dilyn, a Jack Russell cross adopted in 2019, who became a regular sight in Downing Street photographs, sometimes charming and sometimes destructive in equal measure. Stories of Dilyn chewing furniture and misbehaving in the garden helped humanise the Johnson‑Symonds household, giving picture editors something lighter to feature amid heavier political headlines. 

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Johnson is an enthusiastic cyclist and was frequently photographed riding around London, both as Mayor and later as Prime Minister, cultivating an image of a leader on two wheels rather than behind tinted windows. 

In a 2019 TalkRadio interview Johnson revealed a more sedentary hobby: he likes to make models of buses from old wooden wine crates and paint happy passengers on board, a piece of trivia that immediately became part of the Boris Johnson mythology. 

SCIENCE AND MATHS Although Johnson’s academic training is in Classics rather than science or mathematics, his premiership was dominated by scientific and statistical concerns, especially during the COVID‑19 pandemic, when infection rates, R‑numbers and vaccine data became daily topics of government briefings. 

His government’s relationship with scientific advisers was sometimes contested – critics accused him of delays and mixed messaging – but the relatively rapid rollout of COVID‑19 vaccines in the UK was widely regarded as one of his administration’s more successful undertakings. 

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Johnson has described himself as a “One‑Nation Tory,” signalling a preference for a broad, centrist Conservatism that aims to keep the country together rather than appeal only to one faction of the electorate. 

On religion he once compared his Christian faith to Virgin radio reception in the Chilterns – patchy and easily lost – and has more recently denied being a “serious, practicing Christian,” placing himself among those who are culturally Anglican but not notably devout. 

PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson became Prime Minister on July 24, 2019, inheriting a country that had spent the previous three years arguing about Brexit with the sort of determined stamina normally reserved for family rows over Monopoly. He replaced Theresa May at a moment when the Conservative government was surviving by the narrowest of margins, propped up by a confidence-and-supply deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party. Parliament, meanwhile, had become so deadlocked that watching debates from the public gallery was rather like watching several hundred people trying to reverse a double-decker bus through a revolving door.

Convinced that the only way out was to ask the electorate to settle the matter, Johnson called a snap general election for December 12, 2019. His campaign revolved around a slogan of almost monk-like simplicity: "Get Brexit Done." It proved remarkably effective. Constituencies across northern England and the Midlands—the so-called "Red Wall," which had been Labour territory for so long that many residents probably assumed it came with the geology—switched to the Conservatives in unprecedented numbers.

The result was the Conservatives' biggest election victory since Margaret Thatcher's landslide in 1987. They won 43.6% of the popular vote and secured an overall majority of 80 seats, giving Johnson the parliamentary muscle he had previously lacked. The Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was swiftly ratified, and on January 31, 2020 the United Kingdom formally left the European Union, bringing one chapter of modern British politics to a close after years of drama, delay and enough procedural votes to keep generations of constitutional scholars happily occupied.

If Johnson imagined that Brexit would be the defining challenge of his premiership, history had other ideas. Within weeks, the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, transforming the priorities of governments everywhere. Instead of steering Britain through its post-EU future, much of his remaining time in office was consumed by lockdowns, vaccines, emergency spending and the extraordinary business of trying to manage a once-in-a-century public health crisis while reassuring a nation that had already had quite enough excitement for one decade.

POLITICS Johnson’s politics mix free‑market instincts, social‑liberal rhetoric and a strong Eurosceptic streak. He became one of the leading figures in the Vote Leave campaign, writing and speaking in support of Brexit in a way that was central to the referendum’s outcome. 

He has described himself as more socially liberal than many Conservative colleagues, yet his stance on issues such as immigration and cultural identity also appealed strongly to traditional Conservative voters and disillusioned ex‑Labour supporters.

SCANDAL Scandals have punctuated Johnson’s career: his early dismissal from The Times for inventing a quote; his sacking from the Conservative front bench for misleading Michael Howard about an affair; and his diplomatic gaffes and controversial comments during his time as Foreign Secretary. 

The Partygate affair was the most damaging. The Privileges Committee found that he had “knowingly or recklessly” misled Parliament about lockdown‑breaking gatherings in Downing Street, leading to his resignation as party leader and Prime Minister and eventually to his departure from the Commons. 

MILITARY RECORD Johnson has no personal military service record; his path led from elite schools to journalism and politics without a detour via barracks or battlefields. 

As Prime Minister, however, he played a key role in defence and foreign policy, most notably backing strong military and economic support for Ukraine after Russia’s full‑scale invasion in 2022, casting it as a pivotal struggle for Western values.

Johnson walks on a street of war-hit Kyiv along with Zelenskyy by President Of Ukraine from Україна 

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Johnson’s health became a matter of national concern in March 2020, when he tested positive for COVID‑19 and his condition deteriorated sufficiently for him to be admitted to intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. He later said that hospital staff had prepared to announce his death, and he publicly thanked doctors Nick Price and Nick Hart for saving his life. 

After his recovery he spoke about the need to lose weight and improve fitness, linking his illness to longstanding issues with diet and exercise, although his public image remains that of a man more likely to be seen jogging reluctantly than training seriously. 

HOMES Johnson’s childhood involved numerous moves between the United States, Brussels and various parts of England as his father’s work changed, producing a peripatetic upbringing with more addresses than most children could easily remember. 

After his parents’ divorce he spent much time at his mother’s flat in Notting Hill, while later in life he lived in London and Oxfordshire – including a farmhouse near Thame while MP for Henley – and then in the official residences associated with the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister. 

TRAVEL Thanks to Stanley Johnson’s European and international roles, Boris grew up travelling widely, experiencing both the USA and continental Europe at close quarters, which gave him a cosmopolitan background that sits interestingly alongside his later Euroscepticism. 

As Brussels correspondent, Foreign Secretary and then Prime Minister he spent significant time shuttling between capitals and summits, with travel ranging from EU meetings to G7 gatherings; occasionally his off‑the‑cuff remarks abroad drew as much attention as the official communiqués. 

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Johnson has been a media fixture since the 1990s, particularly through repeated guest appearances on BBC’s Have I Got News For You, where his combination of rumpled hair and quick humour made him a star turn and helped turn “Boris” into a household name. 

He has been profiled in documentaries, long‑form articles and biographies – such as Sonia Purnell’s Just Boris – and after leaving office he remains a favourite subject for political commentary, podcasts and retrospectives on the Brexit era. 

ACHIEVEMENTS Supporters credit Johnson with several major achievements: making The Spectator profitable and lively; introducing London’s cycle‑hire scheme and fronting a successful 2012 Olympics; securing a decisive election mandate to implement Brexit; and overseeing one of Europe’s quicker COVID‑19 vaccine rollouts. 

Critics point to the scandals, constitutional turbulence and frayed public trust left in his wake, yet few would deny that he has been one of the most consequential – and most quotable – British politicians of the early 21st century, supplying abundant material for trivia, biography and future historians alike. 

Sources: (1) Wikipedia (2) Encyclopaedia of Trivia (3) Encyclopaedia Britannica (4) Biography.com (5) EBSCO Research Starters (6) BBC News – His rise, fall, rise, fall and rise (7) BBC News – Final curtain on a dramatic career? (8) CNN – Boris Johnson Fast Facts (9) The Guardian – The 10 ages of Boris Johnson (10) BBC News – What’s his track record? (11) Museum of the Prime Minister (12) UK Parliament – Parliamentary career (13) Encyclopaedia of Trivia (14) Daily Express – Severely deaf and subdued child (15) Harper’s – Straight Talk Express (bus models interview) (16) Wikipedia – Mayoralty of Boris Johnson (17) YouTube – Boris Johnson says he makes models of buses (18) PBS – Timeline of Boris Johnson’s career (19) VICE – “I Ate Like Boris Johnson for a Week” (20) Reuters – “Britain’s Johnson says he was too fat when fighting COVID” (21) Daily Express – “Boris Johnson weight loss: PM shares diet plan”

Andrew Johnson

NAME Andrew Johnson

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Andrew Johnson was the seventeenth President of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He is famous for presiding over the chaotic initial years of the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War, and for becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. (1)

BIRTH He was born in a log cabin in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808. 

Johnson's birthplace and childhood home Mikehelms at English Wikipedia

FAMILY BACKGROUND His father, Jacob Johnson, worked as a town constable, sexton, and porter. 

His mother was Mary "Polly" McDonough, who worked as a weaver and washerwoman. 

In January 1812, when Andrew was three years old, Jacob rescued three men from drowning in a frozen pond, but the physical exertion severely damaged his health; he suffered a fatal heart attack shortly after while ringing the town bell. Polly Johnson was left as a penniless widow and became the sole support of the family. (2)

CHILDHOOD Following his father's death, Andrew grew up in extreme poverty. Unable to afford school, his mother bound Andrew and his brother William as indentured apprentices to a local tailor, James Selby, when Andrew was around ten years old. Unhappy with his harsh treatment and lacking personal freedom, Andrew ran away after a few years. Selby published a newspaper advertisement offering a $10 reward for the return of the runaway boys, but they were never caught. (3)

EDUCATION Andrew Johnson was the only U.S. president who never attended school for even a single day. He was largely self-taught, learning the basics of the alphabet from fellow workers in the tailor shop. He was later taught to write and perform basic arithmetic by his wife, Eliza McCardle, after they married. (4)

CAREER RECORD 1826 Moved to Greeneville, Tennessee, and opened his own tailor shop, which became a hub for local political debate.

1829 Elected alderman of Greeneville, beginning a steady political rise.

1835 Elected to the Tennessee state legislature.

1843 Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving five consecutive terms.

1853 Elected Governor of Tennessee, serving two terms.

1857 Elected to the U.S. Senate.

1862 Appointed Military Governor of Tennessee by President Lincoln.

1865 Became Vice President, then succeeded to the presidency on April 15 following Lincoln's assassination.

1865–1869 Served as the 17th President of the United States.

APPEARANCE Johnson was of medium height, standing at 5 feet 10 inches, with a sturdy, broad-shouldered build. He possessed dark, deep-set eyes, a prominent jaw, a severe expression, and thick, dark hair that grayed as he aged. His stern countenance often gave him an intimidating, unyielding appearance. (5) 

Johnson, c. 1870–1875

FASHION As the only professional tailor ever to become president, Johnson was highly meticulous about his wardrobe. He wore only suits that he had cut and hand-stitched himself. Even while serving in high public office, he frequently visited local tailor shops during his travels to socialize and inspect the quality of the craftsmanship. (5)

CHARACTER Johnson was a man of immense physical courage, intense stubbornness, and fierce pride. Born into poverty, he harbored a lifelong resentment toward the wealthy Southern planter aristocracy, positioning himself as a champion of the "common white man." His unyielding, combative nature made him highly resistant to compromise, a trait that ultimately fueled his political downfalls. (5)

SPEAKING VOICE Johnson possessed a powerful, booming speaking voice that was well-suited for outdoor stump speaking. While he was a forceful and highly persuasive orator on the campaign trail, his speeches could become excessively passionate, repetitive, and combative when he was challenged by a crowd. (5)

His most infamous public speech—a slurred, rambling address at his vice-presidential inauguration—became a lasting embarrassment. (6)

SENSE OF HUMOUR Johnson was notoriously humorless, grim, and intensely serious. Observers frequently remarked that he rarely smiled or laughed, viewing political life as a constant battleground that required unrelenting vigilance rather than levity. 

RELATIONSHIPS On May 17, 1827, Johnson married sixteen-year-old Eliza McCardle in Greeneville, Tennessee. Eliza proved to be his most valuable supporter, tutoring him in writing and mathematics while quietly managing their household. 

The couple had five children: Martha, Charles, Mary, Robert, and Andrew Jr. 

Eliza suffered from tuberculosis, which left her an invalid during her husband's presidency, forcing their eldest daughter, Martha, to act as the official White House hostess. (7)

Locket portraits of Andrew and Eliza (McCardle) Johnson, created 1840s

MONEY AND FAME Through his diligent work as a tailor and savvy investments in real estate and municipal bonds in Greeneville, Johnson overcame his impoverished origins to become a wealthy landowner. By the time he reached the presidency, he had secured substantial financial independence, though he always maintained the frugal habits of his youth. (2)

FOOD AND DRINK Johnson's favorite dish was reportedly Hoppin' John, a hearty Southern staple of black-eyed peas, rice, onions, and bacon or salt pork, traditionally eaten for good luck on New Year's Day. He was known for preferring plain, hearty fare over the elaborate French-style dining favored by some of his predecessors and successors. (8)

While not a chronic alcoholic, he was known to drink whiskey, which he occasionally used for medicinal purposes. His reliance on alcohol famously backfired at his vice-presidential inauguration in March 1865. Weakened by a recent bout of typhoid fever, he drank a large quantity of whiskey to bolster his strength, resulting in a highly slurred, incoherent, and publicly embarrassing inaugural address. (2)

MUSIC AND ARTS Johnson showed very little personal interest in the fine arts, classical music, or theater. He viewed such pursuits as frivolous indulgences of the wealthy class that he so deeply distrusted. (5)

LITERATURE His reading habits were highly utilitarian. Rather than reading fiction or poetry, he focused almost exclusively on historical biographies, political essays, and constitutional law, using books primarily as tools to sharpen his political arguments. (4)

NATURE Having lived most of his life in the mountainous region of East Tennessee, Johnson appreciated rugged outdoor landscapes. However, he viewed nature primarily through the lens of agriculture and small-scale farming, advocating for policies that allowed poor settlers to claim and cultivate wild land. (4)

PETS Johnson kept no official presidential pets, but during the isolating months of his 1868 impeachment trial, he befriended a family of white mice living in his White House bedroom, feeding them flour and grain from his own mill business and leaving out water for them each night. He affectionately called them "the little fellows," even as his daughter Martha, the White House hostess, tried to exterminate them with cats, traps, and poison. (9)

Image by Chat GBT

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Johnson had virtually no interest in sports or recreational hobbies. His primary escape from political stress was returning to his tailor bench, where he found great therapeutic value in the quiet, precise work of cutting and sewing fabric. (5)

SCIENCE AND MATHS While Johnson lacked formal training in the sciences, he was highly competent in practical mathematics, a skill he developed through tailoring measurements and managing his personal business accounts. (2)

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Johnson was one of only three U.S. presidents, along with Jefferson and Lincoln, to have no formal religious affiliation. He occasionally attended Methodist services with his wife Eliza and admired the Baptist faith for its democratic structure, while also respecting Catholic services for their egalitarian treatment of worshippers regardless of wealth. Johnson held an almost sacred reverence for the U.S. Constitution, once declaring he intended to "stand by the Constitution, as the chief ark of our safety, as the palladium of our civil and religious liberty." (10) (11) 

PRESIDENCY Andrew Johnson’s presidency was less a period of government than a prolonged family argument conducted with the volume turned all the way up. The Civil War had ended, the nation was exhausted, and Congress wanted to rebuild the South on new terms. Johnson, however, believed the Southern states had never truly left the Union and therefore deserved a remarkably forgiving welcome home. Former Confederates were soon regaining political rights, while the newly freed slaves received precious little in the way of federal protection—a bit like rebuilding a house and forgetting to install the doors.

Congress, particularly the Radical Republicans, regarded this as a spectacularly bad idea and set about opposing him with the enthusiasm of men trying to stop someone backing a carriage into a lake. Johnson responded by wielding the veto pen as though it were a personal hobby. He rejected 29 bills, more than any president before him. Congress, unimpressed, overrode 15 of those vetoes, which remains the American record. In effect, Johnson and Congress spent four years engaged in a constitutional tug-of-war in which neither side trusted the other with so much as a wheelbarrow.

One lasting success did emerge from the turmoil. In 1867, Johnson's administration completed the purchase of Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million, a deal negotiated by his Secretary of State, William H. Seward. Critics at the time mocked the acquisition as "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox," convinced the United States had spent a small fortune on an enormous freezer inhabited chiefly by snow, bears, and the occasional puzzled seal. As it turned out, Alaska contained vast reserves of gold, oil, timber, and other natural resources, making it one of the most profitable real estate bargains in history—a useful reminder that yesterday's folly has an irritating habit of becoming tomorrow's masterstroke.

The result was a presidency defined not by grand achievements but by relentless conflict. Johnson insisted he was preserving the Union; his opponents insisted he was surrendering the fruits of victory. History has generally concluded that if Reconstruction was a difficult and delicate operation, Andrew Johnson approached it with the bedside manner of a man attempting surgery with a coal shovel.

POLITICS Politically, Johnson was a strict Jeffersonian Democrat who strongly championed states' rights, the interests of small farmers, and a literal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. His deep-seated racism guided his policy decisions, as he consistently argued that the United States was meant to be a government "for white men" and actively opposed granting voting rights or federal protection to African Americans. (5)

When Tennessee and ten other Southern states seceded, Johnson was the only sitting senator from a seceding state to remain in the U.S. Congress, a stance that made him a Union hero and led to his selection as Lincoln's 1864 running mate as a War Democrat. (3)

SCANDAL Johnson was at the center of the greatest constitutional crisis of his era. On February 24, 1868, he became the first U.S. President to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The primary charge stemmed from his attempt to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in defiance of the Tenure of Office Act, a law Congress had passed over his veto specifically to protect cabinet members. During his subsequent trial in the Senate, Johnson avoided removal from office by a margin of just one vote, as the final tally fell one short of the required two-thirds majority. Later that year, he failed to secure the Democratic nomination for the 1868 presidential election. (4)

Illustration of Johnson's impeachment trial in the United States Senate, by Theodore R. Davis

MILITARY RECORD While he never served as a combat soldier, Lincoln appointed him as a Brigadier General of Volunteers in 1862 so he could serve as the Military Governor of occupied Tennessee. In this high-stakes role, he successfully maintained Union control of Nashville, suppressed confederate sympathizers, and began rebuilding the state's infrastructure. (4)

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Johnson possessed a remarkably tough constitution, but the extreme stress of his political career took a heavy physical toll. He survived a severe case of cholera in 1873, and suffered from kidney stones and chronic muscular pain throughout his later years. (5)

HOMES Johnson's primary residence was a two-story brick home on Main Street in Greeneville, Tennessee, known as the Homestead, which he purchased in 1851. During the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the house as a headquarters and hospital, leaving it damaged, and Johnson and his family renovated it after returning from Washington in 1869. Today, the Homestead, his earlier home, his original tailor shop, and his grave site are preserved together as the Andrew Johnson National Historic Site. (12)

The Homestead by Brian Stansberry

TRAVEL Unlike many of his wealthy political contemporaries, Johnson never traveled to Europe. His travel was entirely domestic, largely consisting of political trips between Tennessee and Washington, D.C. 

His most famous trip was his disastrous "Swing Around the Circle" speaking tour in 1866, where his highly combative, ad-libbed speeches to hostile crowds severely damaged his political standing. (5), 

DEATH While visiting his daughter near Elizabethton, Tennessee, Johnson suffered a severe stroke. He died on July 31, 1875, at the age of 66. In accordance with his explicit final wishes, his body was wrapped in an American flag, and his personal copy of the U.S. Constitution was placed beneath his head as a pillow. (3)

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Johnson has been portrayed in various historical films and television dramas focusing on the Civil War and Reconstruction. Notably, he was portrayed by Van Heflin in the 1942 biographical film Tennessee Johnson, which presented a highly sympathetic view of his presidency. 

ACHIEVEMENTS His most significant achievement as president was the acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867. Negotiated by his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, for $7.2 million, the purchase added over 580,000 square miles of resource-rich territory to the United States. 

In addition, when Southern states seceded in 1861, Johnson achieved lasting historical distinction as the only sitting U.S. Senator from a seceding state to remain fiercely loyal to the Union. 

Sources: (1) Wikipedia – Andrew Johnson (2) National Park Service – Andrew Johnson (3) Encyclopedia of Trivia (4) Britannica (5) White House Historical Association (6) History.com (7) National Park Service – Eliza Johnson (8) The Talbot Spy (9) (Presidential Pet Museum (10) Miller Center (11) God and Country (12) National Park Service - Homestead