MacLennan \m3-'klen-3n\, (John) Hugh (b. March 20, 1907, Glace Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Can.—d. Nov. 7, 1990, Montreal, Que.) Canadian novelist and essayist. He was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford Uni¬ versity and earned a doctorate at Princeton, then taught at McGill Uni¬ versity (1951-81). His novels include Barometer Rising (1941), Two Solitudes (1945), The Watch That Ends the Night (1959), and Voices in Time (1980). He won five Governor-General’s awards for his fiction and nonfiction. He is regarded as the first major English-speaking novelist to use Canadian themes.
Macleod \m9-'klaud\, J(ohn) J(ames) R(ickard) (b. Sept. 6, 1876, Cluny, near Dunkeld, Perth, Scot.—d. March 16, 1935, Aberdeen) Scot¬ tish physiologist. He taught in U.S., Canadian, and Scottish universities, becoming noted for his work on carbohydrate metabolism. With Frederick Banting and Charles Best he discovered insulin, an achievement for which he and Banting shared a Nobel Prize in 1923.
Macmillan, Daniel and Alexander (respectively b. Sept. 13, 1813, Isle of Arran, Buteshire, Scot.—d. June 27, 1857, Cambridge, Cam¬ bridgeshire, Eng.; b. Oct. 3, 1818, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scot.—d. Jan. 26, 1896, London?) Scottish booksellers and publishers. Apprenticed to a bookseller in Scotland at age 11, Daniel worked for London booksellers from 1837 to 1843. In 1843 he and his brother Alexander founded Mac¬ millan & Co., a successful bookshop in Cambridge that began publish¬ ing textbooks in 1844 and novels in 1855. After Daniel’s death, Alexander expanded the firm’s list and founded Macmillan’s Magazine (1859-1907), a literary periodical, and from 1869 Nature, still a leading scientific jour¬ nal. He established offices abroad and published many important Victo¬ rian writers. Long led by Daniel’s descendants, the company grew into one of the largest publishing firms in the world.
Macmillan, Harold in full Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st earl of Stockton, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (b. Feb. 10, 1894, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 29, 1986, Birch Grove, Sussex) British prime minister (1957-63). He served in the House of Commons (1924-29, 1931-64) and held posts in Winston Churchill’s wartime coalition govern¬ ment. After the war he served as minister of housing (1951-54), minister of defense (1954), foreign secretary (1955), and chancellor of the Exche¬ quer (1955-57). In 1957 he became prime minister and leader of the Con¬ servative Party. He worked to improve relations with the U.S. and visited Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1959. Domestically, Macmillan sup¬ ported Britain’s postwar social programs. His government began to lose popularity in 1961 because of a wage freeze and other deflationary mea¬ sures and a Soviet espionage scandal involving John Profumo, secretary of state for war. He championed membership in the European Economic Com¬ munity, though Britain’s membership application was vetoed in 1963 by Charles de Gaulle. Demands for a new party leader led to his resignation in 1963. He wrote a series of memoirs (1966-75) and served as chair (1963— 74) of his family’s publishing house, Macmillan & Co.
MacMillan, Sir Kenneth (b. Dec. 11, 1929, Dunfermline, Fife, Scot.—d. Oct. 29, 1992, London, Eng.) British dancer and choreographer. After studies at the Sadler’s Wells ballet school, he danced with its bal¬ let companies from 1946. He cho¬ reographed his first work,
Somnambulism, in 1953 and fol¬ lowed that with Danses concertantes (1955). His ballet Romeo and Juliet (1965) made an international impact.
He was ballet director of the German Opera in Berlin (1966-69). In 1970 he was appointed director of the Royal Ballet; in 1977 he resigned to become its principal choreographer.
His other successful ballets included Anastasia (1971), Manon (1974), and Isadora (1981).
MacNeice, Louis (b. Sept. 12,
1907, Belfast, Ire.—d. Sept. 3, 1963,
London, Eng.) British poet and play¬ wright. He published his first book of poetry, Blind Fireworks (1929),
L_
M
N
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1162 I Macon ► Madagascar
L_
N
while studying at Oxford. In the 1930s he became known as one of a group of socially committed young poets that included W.H. Auden, C. Day-Lewis, and Stephen Spender. His volumes include Autumn Journal (1939) and The Burning Perch (1963). He wrote and produced radio verse plays for the BBC, notably The Dark Tower (1947), with music by Ben¬ jamin Britten. Among his prose works are Letters from Iceland (1937; with Auden) and The Poetry ofW.B. Yeats (1941).
Macon Vma-ksnV City (pop., 2000: 97,255), central Georgia, U.S. A fort was built near the site, and in 1806 a settlement grew up around it. Macon was laid out across the river in 1823, and it annexed the settlement in 1829; the town was named for Nathaniel AAacon. During the American Civil War, it was a Confederate supply depot. A distribution centre in an agricultural region, it is the site of several institutions of higher learning and Robins Air Force Base, as well as the birthplace of the poet Sidney Lanier (1842-81).
Macon, Dave orig. David Harrison Macon (b. Oct. 7, 1870, Smart Station, Warren county, Tenn., U.S.—d. March 22, 1952, Readyville, Tenn.) U.S. country music singer and banjo player. He grew up in Nashville, where his parents ran a hotel that catered to traveling performers. He was in the mule business for 20 years; after the trucking industry put him out of business, he became a professional musician. Per¬ forming as Uncle Dave Macon, he entertained audiences with his jovial folk tunes, such as “Go Long Mule,” and energetic showmanship. He is considered the first individual to become a star of the Grand Ole Opry, and he was an Opry regular from the mid-1920s until his death.
Macon, Nathaniel (b. Dec. 17, 1758, Edgecombe, N.C.—d. June 29, 1837, Warren county, N.C., U.S.) U.S. politician. He fought in the Ameri¬ can Revolution and served in the North Carolina legislature (1781-85). Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1791-1815), he served as speaker (1801-07) and was a leading Anti-Federalist. In the Senate (1815— 28) he continued to support states' rights and opposed legislation to strengthen the central government.
Macphail, Agnes Campbell (b. March 24, 1890, Grey county, Ont., Can.—d. Feb. 13, 1954, Toronto) Canadian politician. Originally a schoolteacher, she entered politics to represent the farmers in her region. In 1921, the first year women could vote in national elections in Canada, she was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as its first female member; she served until 1940. She advocated prison reform and wom¬ en’s rights as well as a protective tariff. She was the first female Canadian delegate to the League of Nations. Elected to the Ontario legislature (1943- 45, 1948-51), she sponsored the province’s first equal-pay legislation.
Macquarie \mo-'kwar-e\, Lachlan (b. Jan. 31, 1761, Ulva, Argyllshire, Scot.—d. July 1, 1824, London, Eng.) British soldier and colonial governor. He served with the British army in North America, Europe, the West Indies, and India; in 1809 he was appointed governor of New South Wales, Australia, where he replaced the corrupt military corps that had overthrown the previous governor, William Bligh. He began a program of public works construction and town planning that gave opportunities to Emancipists (freed convicts), established the colony’s currency, and encouraged exploration and settlement. His policy favour¬ ing Emancipist agriculture angered the large landowners and sheep farm¬ ers (Exclusionists), and he was recalled in 1821.
Macquarie Harbour \m9-'kwar-e\ Inlet of the Indian Ocean, west¬ ern Tasmania, Australia. It is 20 mi (32 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide. Visited in 1815 by Capt. James Kelly, it was named after Lachlan Mac¬ quarie, governor of New South Wales. Its coast was the site of a penal colony 1821-33.
Macready \m9-'kre-de\ / William (Charles) (b. March 3,1793, Lon¬ don, Eng.—d. April 27, 1873, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) English actor-manager. He made his debut in 1810, and by 1820 he was famous for his performances as Hamlet, Lear, and Macbeth. As theatre manager of London’s Covent Garden (1837—39) and Drury Lane (1841^43), he introduced reforms such as full rehearsals, historically accurate costumes and sets, and a reversion to the original Shakespeare texts. He toured the U.S. in 1826, 1843, and 1848-49; his last tour ended with the Astor Place riot, caused by partisans of Edwin Forrest. He retired from the stage in 1851. His diary provides a view of 19th-century theatrical life.