Better Business Bureau Any of several U.S., Puerto Rican, and Canadian organizations formed to protect communities from unfair, mis¬ leading, or fraudulent advertising and selling practices. Organized at the local level, Better Business Bureaus investigate and set standards for business practices, receive complaints of improper practices, and conduct educational campaigns alerting the public to methods of deceit and fraud in advertising and selling.
Betti \'bat-te\, Ugo (b. Feb. 4, 1892, Camerino, Italy—d. June 9, 1953, Rome) Italian playwright. He pursued a legal career, serving as a judge and as librarian of the Ministry of Justice in Rome. He wrote three vol¬ umes of poetry, three collections of short stories, and 26 plays. His first play, The Landlady (1927), drew mixed reviews, but later works were more successful. Several were translated into French and English and
performed in Paris, London, and New York City, including Landslide (1933), Corruption in the Palace of Justice (1949), The Queen and the Rebels (1951), and The Fugitive (1953).
Betwa River \'ba-twa\ River, northern India. Rising in western Madhya Pradesh state, it flows northeast 380 mi (610 km) through Uttar Pradesh state into the Yamuna River near Hamirpur. Nearly half its course is unnavi- gable. The Matatila Dam, a joint venture between the two states, is near Jhansi.
Beust \'boist\, Friedrich Ferdinand, count von (b. Jan. 13, 1809, Dresden, Saxony—d. Oct. 24, 1886, Schloss Altenberg, near Vienna, Austria-Hungary) German statesman. A career diplomat in Saxony from 1830, he served as its foreign minister (1849-53) and its interior minis¬ ter (1853-66). Often opposed to Otto von Bismarck, Beust was forced to resign in 1866. Saxony’s ally, the Habsburg emperor Francis Joseph, then appointed him Austrian minister for foreign affairs (1866) and imperial chancellor (1867-71). As chancellor, Beust negotiated the Compromise of 1 867 and helped restore the Habsburgs’ international position. He later served as ambassador to England (1871-78) and France (1878-82).
Beuve, Charles-Augustin Sainte- See C.-A. Sainte-Beuve
Beuys \'bois\, Joseph (b. May 12, 1921, Krefeld, Ger.—d. Jan. 23, 1986, Diisseldorf, W.Ger.) German avant-garde sculptor and performance artist. He served in the German air force in World War II and later stud¬ ied art in Diisseldorf (1947-51); in 1961 he was appointed professor of sculpture at its art academy. In the 1960s he worked with the international group Fluxus, whose emphasis was not on what an artist makes but on his or her personality, actions, and opinions. Beuys’s most famous and con¬ troversial performance was How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare (1965), in which he walked around an art gallery with his face covered in honey and gold leaf, talking to a dead hare about human and animal consciousness. He also became known for sculptural works that utilized fat and layers of felt. He succeeded in creating a popular personal mythol¬ ogy and was one of the most influential artists and teachers of the later 20th century.
Bevan Vbev-onX, Aneurin (b. Nov. 15, 1897, Tredegar, Monmouths¬ hire, Eng.—d. July 6, 1960, Chesham, Buckinghamshire) British politi¬ cian. As a young man, he entered Labour Party politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 1929. He overcame a speech impediment to become a brilliant orator. As minister of health in Clement Attlee’s gov¬ ernment (1945-51), “Nye” Bevan established the National Health Service. He was minister of labour (1951) but resigned in protest against rearma¬ ment expenditures that reduced spending on social programs. A contro¬ versial figure in the Labour Party, he headed its left-wing (Bevanite) group and was the party’s leader until 1955.
Beveridge Vbev-,rij\, Albert J(eremiah) (b. Oct. 6, 1862, Highland county, Ohio, U.S.—-d. April 27, 1927, Indianapolis, Ind.) U.S. senator and historian. He was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1887 and began the practice of law in Indianapolis. Elected as a Republican to the U.S. Sen¬ ate (1900-12), he supported the progressive legislation proposed by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt. In 1912 he broke with the conservative wing of the Republican Party to serve as chairman of the convention that organized the Progressive Party and nominated Roosevelt for president. He subse¬ quently retired from public life to write several historical works, includ¬ ing the four-volume Life of John Marshall (1916-19), which won a Pulitzer Prize.
Beveridge (of Tuggal), William Henry, 1st Baron (b. March 5, 1879, Rangpur, India—d. March 16, 1963, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng.) British economist. He took a lifelong interest in the problem of unem¬ ployment and served as director of labour exchanges (1909-16). He directed the London School of Economics (1919-37), then became mas¬ ter of University College, Oxford (1937-45). Invited by the government to become the architect of the new British welfare state, he helped shape Britain’s social policies and institutions through the Beveridge Report (1942). His books included Insurance for All (1924), Full Employment in a Free Society (1944), and Pillars of Security (1948).
Beverly Hills City (pop., 2000: 33,784), southwestern California, U.S. It is surrounded by the city of Los Angeles and adjoining Hollywood. It was established in 1906 as a residential area called Beverly. The Beverly Hills Hotel was built in 1912. Movie stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks lived there in 1919, beginning the fashion among Hollywood celebrities of building lavish homes in Beverly Hills. Occupying an area
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212 I Bevin ► Bhasa
of 5.7 sq mi (14.8 sq km), the city is crossed by the famous streets of Sunset Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Rodeo Drive.
Bevin, Ernest (b. March 9, 1881, Winsford, Somerset, Eng.—d. April 14, 1951, London) British labour leader and statesman. Active in labour organizations from 1905, he became head of the Dockers’ Union. In 1921 he merged several unions into the Transport and General Workers’ Union, which became the world’s largest trade union, and served as its general secretary until 1940. He was a forceful minister of labour and national service in Winston Churchill’s wartime coalition government (1940-45). As foreign secretary in Clement Attlee’s Labour government (1945-51), he negotiated the Brussels Treaty and helped establish NATO.
Bewick, Thomas (b. Aug. 12, 1753, Cherryburn, Eng.—d. Nov. 8, 1828, Gateshead) British wood engraver. At age 14 he was appren¬ ticed to a metal engraver, with whom he later went into partnership in Newcastle; Bewick remained there most of his life. He rediscovered the technique of wood engraving, which had declined into a reproductive technique, and brought to it brilliant innovations, such as the use of par¬ allel lines instead of cross-hatching to achieve a wide range of tones and textures. He also developed a method of printing gray backgrounds to heighten the effect of atmosphere and space. Some of his finest works are illustrations for books on natural history. He established a school of engraving in Newcastle.
Bezos \'ba-zos\, Jeff(rey P.) (b.
Jan. 12, 1964, Albuquerque, N.M.,
U.S.) U.S. Internet entrepreneur.
Educated at Princeton University, he worked in banking and investment at Bankers Trust and D.E. Shaw & Co. before founding Amazon.com, Inc., in 1995. The Internet company began as a bookseller and later expanded into recorded music, videos, electronic equipment, tools, and other areas, including on-line auctions. Amazon.com became famous for the extraor¬ dinary rise in its stock-market valuation despite continued annual losses—a reflection of investor confidence in the future of on-line retail¬ ing that marked the late 1990s. The company posted its first quarterly profit in January 2002.