# So, who has he longest biography on Wikipedia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305 "2017-06-18T17:15:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/1 "2017-06-18T17:15:12Z")
And how would you even measure such a thing? Esteemed doper **Fluffy PickleSniffer** just reminded me that today is Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday, so I went over to Wikipedia to find out that he just turned 75. Of course my response was “Will you still need me; will you still feed me, when I’m seventy-five?” But that’s one long-assed biography, and deservedly so! Any other biographies that scroll for, like 40 pages (including references)? Who has the longest? (Queen Elizabeth’s is only half of Sir Paul’s.) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/2 "2017-06-18T17:28:06Z")
Winston Churchill’s wiki article is comfortably longer than McCartney’s. He did have a rather full, long and interesting life. The Roosevelts, T and FD, both have long articles too. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/3 "2017-06-18T17:37:17Z")
I don’t know if you can call it a biography, but “List of compositions by Franz Schubert” is listed as the fifth longest article at [Long pages - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:LongPages) ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/4 "2017-06-18T17:56:09Z")
So, how are you judging how many pages the biographies are? I think I’m missing something obvious. If I go to print, my page count comes at 91 for ol’ Sir Paul, and 110 for Churchill. I looked up J.R.R. Tolkien, one of my faves, and he comes in at 69 by my CTRL+P system - but I’m guessing like I said that I’m missing something obvious, since everyone has different printer settings/margins. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/5 "2017-06-18T18:04:56Z")
That’s why I said “And how would you even measure such a thing?” \ P does nothing for me except bring up a print window. Now, if I go to the “File-\>Print Preview” menu I get 51 pages for Paul. What do the rest of you get? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/6 "2017-06-18T18:07:40Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > That’s why I said “And how would you even measure such a thing?” > > \ P does nothing for me except bring up a print window. Now, if I go to the “File-\>Print Preview” menu I get 51 pages for Paul. > > What do the rest of you get? 44 print pages for McCartney ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/7 "2017-06-18T18:34:08Z")
Paul McCartney wiki bio is 44 print pages (formatted for HP LaserjetPro 400 8.5 x 11" paper portrait mode) Mao Zedong is 45 print pages Jesus is 42 ( I guess the Beatles were right!) Beethoven is 20 Charles Darwin is 29 Issac Newton is 13 Kim Kardashian is 19 Superman is 30 Wonder Woman is 30 Plato is 30 Ronald Reagan is 52 Thomas Jefferson is 44 Elvis Presley is 45 Emperor Hirohito is 20 Prince (musician) is 33 Michael Jackson is 47 Brian Eno is 22 David Bowie is 36 Charles Manson is 14 Nikola Tesla is 37 George w Bush is 59 Barack Obama is 63 Donlad Trump is 59 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/8 "2017-06-18T18:48:46Z")
Probably some cartoon, comic, or SW EU character. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/9 "2017-06-18T19:06:04Z")
So, Obama is in the lead. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/10 "2017-06-18T19:57:28Z")
I get 107 for Mahatma Gandhi. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/11 "2017-06-18T20:18:17Z")
So far as I can tell, it’s Belgian Astronomer [Eric Walter Elst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Walter_Elst), though that is somewhat cheating, as the page is basically a very long list of all the asteroids he’s discovered. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/12 "2017-06-18T20:28:10Z")
The person with the longest biography (as measured by the number of bytes in the article) in Wikipedia is Mary Hanford Ford. No, I never heard of her before either. She has 334,421 bytes in her article. Barack Obama has only 325,111 bytes in his article. Despite that, on my printer the Obama article would be one more page when printed out. I’m not qualified to judge why the count by pages and bytes is so different. I’m going by this article, which has already been mentioned once by Rick Kitchen: > **[Long pages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:LongPages)** > > This page is generated live, and is not based on cached data. > Discuss this special page at Wikipedia talk:Special:LongPages. > See also: > Showing below up to 50 results in range #1 to #50. Here’s Ford’s article: > **[Mary Hanford Ford](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hanford_Ford)** > > Mary Hanford Ford (née Finney; November 1, 1856 – February 2, 1937) was an American lecturer, author, art and literature critic and a leader in the women's suffrage movement. She reached early notoriety in Kansas at the age of 28 and soon left for the Chicago World's Fair. She was taken up by the society ladies of the Chicago area who, impressed with her talks on art and literature at the Fair, helped launch her on a new career, initially in Chicago and then across some States. Along the way she ... Note that about half of the article is footnotes. Another person who has more pages than Ford but less bytes is Archibold Cox. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/13 "2017-06-18T20:31:09Z")
Oh, you’re right. I missed Elst as I looked through the list of longest articles. He has 354,819 bytes in his article. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/14 "2017-06-18T20:38:57Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I don’t know if you can call it a biography, but “List of compositions by Franz Schubert” is listed as the fifth longest article at [Long pages - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:LongPages) “Longest pages” in Wikipedia is misleading, since they measure only by byte count in the source code, and the largest part of that is list formatting. In fact, all of the entries in the top 50 page are basically lists that aren’t all that long when printed. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/15 "2017-06-18T22:28:42Z")
> [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](#): > > I get 107 for Mahatma Gandhi. 8x11 print pages are 53. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/16 "2017-06-18T22:37:52Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The person with the longest biography (as measured by the number of bytes in the article) in Wikipedia is Mary Hanford Ford. No, I never heard of her before either. She has 334,421 bytes in her article. Barack Obama has only 325,111 bytes in his article. Despite that, on my printer the Obama article would be one more page when printed out. I’m not qualified to judge why the count by pages and bytes is so different. I’m going by this article, which has already been mentioned once by Rick Kitchen: > > [Long pages - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:LongPages) > > Here’s Ford’s article: > > [Mary Hanford Ford - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Hanford_Ford) > > Note that about half of the article is footnotes. > > Another person who has more pages than Ford but less bytes is Archibold Cox. The entry reads almost like a week by week recitation of her activities and has 669 footnotes. It looks like someone tried to stuff their dissertation on her into a wiki page. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/17 "2017-06-18T23:13:34Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The entry reads almost like a week by week recitation of her activities and has 669 footnotes. It looks like someone tried to stuff their dissertation on her into a wiki page. Hah, it’s stuffed full of this sort of padding > [@](#): > > In February, after two weeks, she spoke again,[279] and then in another two weeks was in Benton Harbor, Michigan on the Holy Grail topic.[280] By late February a series was run in Dixon, Illinois for the Phidian Art Club,[281] but ended the month in Fort Wayne, Indiana (noting in three days she did three talks in two cities).[282] In March she was back in Fort Wayne[283] and right back to Chicago,[284] and back still again to Fort Wayne.[285] A week later she offered a talk at a benefit in Chicago for a “Charity Hospital”[286] and soon after on Maeterlinck for the Chicago Culture Club.[287] A week later she spoke for the Independent Pen Woman’s Club on her subject of “The Aristocracy of Art”,[288] and then she was in Dixon, Illinois talking on John La Farge.[289] A week later she was talking on “Society and Fiction” at another benefit for the same “Charity Hospital”,[290] and before a program Ford devised for a club in Springfield, Missouri.[291] After a couple weeks she gave a talk at a home on “The Present Day Value of Occultism”.[292] I mean, it seems to be well sourced and all, but… ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/18 "2017-06-18T23:48:08Z")
> [@astro](#): > > 8x11 print pages are 53. Well, I’m doing something wrong then ☹ I just doublechecked myself - set for letter size 8.5" x 11" with default margins and full page print, portrait and 100% size. Either it’s the Chrome browser preview, or it’s because I run a larger font on my webpages - though I didn’t realize that affected the print since I never print webpages, but maybe that’s my problem. Anyway, I wasn’t trying to skew data, sorry. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/19 "2017-06-19T04:23:53Z")
Seems like there is a problem with this question, after an article gets to a certain size it is strongly encouraged that the article be split up into smaller articles. So you’d need to see how many pages are on any sub pages. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-who-has-he-longest-biography-on-wikipedia/789305/20 "2017-06-19T12:05:29Z")
Document lengths are commonly measured by _word-count_ apparently giving equal weight to long and short words alike. Many word-processor apps will display the word count, and _may_ even have sufficient smarts to disregard formatting commands and such. Just cut-and-past a wiki text into your fave word processor and see what you can learn. I’ll leave it to others to figure out whether that should include footnotes, reference lists, photo captions, and such, let alone linked sub-articles.