Harold Williams (1876 - 1928)

Harold Whitmore Williams (6 April 1876 – 18 November 1928) was a New Zealand journalist, foreign editor of The Times and polyglot who is considered to have been one of the most accomplished polyglots in history. He is said to have known over 58 languages, including English, and Old Irish. He "proved to know every language of the Austrian Empire", Hungarian, Czech, Albanian, Serbian, Rumanian, Swedish, Basque, Turkish, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Coptic, Egyptian, Hittite, and other dialects.