SQL multiple column ordering

How can I sort by multiple columns in SQL and in different directions. column1 would be sorted descending, and column2 ascending.

ORDER BY column1 DESC, column2

This sorts everything by column1 (descending) first, and then by column2 (ascending, which is the default) whenever the column1 fields for two or more rows are equal.

The other answers lack a concrete example, so here it goes:

Given the following People table:

 FirstName |  LastName   |  YearOfBirth
----------------------------------------
  Thomas   | Alva Edison |   1847
  Benjamin | Franklin    |   1706
  Thomas   | More        |   1478
  Thomas   | Jefferson   |   1826

If you execute the query below:

SELECT * FROM People ORDER BY FirstName DESC, YearOfBirth ASC

The result set will look like this:

 FirstName |  LastName   |  YearOfBirth
----------------------------------------
  Thomas   | More        |   1478
  Thomas   | Jefferson   |   1826
  Thomas   | Alva Edison |   1847
  Benjamin | Franklin    |   1706

SELECT  *
FROM    mytable
ORDER BY
        column1 DESC, column2 ASC