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Famous people lessons

Improve your English language skills by reading the biographies and profiles of famous people. Exercises in Word and PDF downloads plus MP3 file for listening are available for each article.

Ingrid Betancourt

Ingrid Betancourt is a Colombian-French politician and formerly the world’s most famous hostage. She was kidnapped in 2002 by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) while campaigning to be president. Read more   
British Council Colombia © Mat Wright    

Nancy Ajram

Nancy Ajram is a Lebanese pop singer. She ranks as the third best-selling female singer in Lebanese history, and has sold over forty million records. Read more

British Council Colombia © Mat Wright    

Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist and songwriter. He was born in 1947 in Rio de Janeiro. In 1970, he quit law school to go travelling around South America, Africa, and Europe. Read more   
British Council Colombia © Mat Wright    

Radovan Karadzic

Radovan Karadzic is a former Bosnian Serb leader. He is currently on trial for war crimes and genocide at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. Read more

British Council Colombia © Mat Wright    

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British Council Beijing © Mat Wright    

Sports articles with English language tasks written by British Council ELT professionals.   

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