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Welcome to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

==================================================

*   Over **63,000** biographies, **75 million** words, **12,000 portraits** of significant, influential or notorious figures who shaped British history – [perform advanced search](/search?q=&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true)

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Featured 

### [Shireen Nishat Akbar (1944–1997)](/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-65700)

[](/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-65700)

The educationist Shireen Nishat Akbar developed a series of ambitious community arts projects that encouraged south Asian groups throughout Britain to visit museums and observe the relevance of the collections to their own lives.

[Find out more](/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-65700)

Featured 

### [Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow (1929–2020)](https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000381578)

[](https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-90000381578)

The educationist, race relations campaigner, and public servant Dame Jocelyn Anita Barrow was a leading advocate for multicultural education and in 1981 became the first Black woman governor of the BBC.

[Find out more](https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000381578)

### [What’s New: March 2025](https://www.oxforddnb.com/newsitem/879/whats-new-march-2025)

This month’s update adds one new article surveying 75 South Asian lives in the _Oxford DNB_ over the past 400 years; and one updated article that reviews 297 Black lives, ranging over fifteen centuries.

[Read the introduction](https://www.oxforddnb.com/newsitem/879/whats-new-march-2025)

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#### MARCH 13, 2025

### [What’s New: March 2025](/newsitem/879/whats-new-march-2025)

Welcome to the 120th update of the _Oxford DNB_, which adds one new article and one updated article, surveying 75 South Asian and 297 Black lives in the _Oxford DNB_, ranging over fifteen centuries.

#### FEBRUARY 13, 2025

### [What’s New: February 2025](/newsitem/872/whats-new-february-2025)

Welcome to the 119th update of the _Oxford DNB_ which comprises four new and nine updated articles, adding the lives of eight women and men active from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, accompanied by two new portrait likeness.

#### JANUARY 9, 2025

### [What’s New: January 2025](/newsitem/866/whats-new-january-2025)

Welcome to the 118th update of the _Oxford DNB_, featuring the lives of operatic and theatre singers. This update adds biographies of seven women and men, accompanied by one new portrait likeness. The update also includes 82 updated Reference Lists, and identifies over 1,500 biographical anniversaries in 2025.

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date: 21 March 2025

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