Which Battle of 1813 is also called the Battle of The Nations?

Battle of Leipzig 1813 : Battle of Nations : Napoleon : Schlacht : Bataille Battle of Leipzig 1813. "Yesterday the monstrous masses battled with one another. It was a spectacle such as has not been seen for 1.000 of years." - General von Gneissenau "... the Colossus [Napoleon] fell like an oak tree in a storm." - General Blucher . . . . Fighting along the Pleisse River. > . . . . Allies� attacks on Wachau. > . . . . General Drouot "The Monk" and his . . . . 100 guns on Gallows Hill. > . . . . Grand charge of Murat's 10,000 cav. > . . . . Uhlans vs Cuirassiers. > . . . . The Young Guard in action. > . . . . Macdonald > . . . . Allies' reaction to Napoleon's offensive. > . . . . The Russian and Austrian grenadiers. > . . . . Heroics of Maison's young soldiers. > . . . . Fight in the University Wood. > . . . . Allied cavalry's counterattack. > . . . . Blucher vs Marmont (Round 1). > . . . . Blucher vs Marmont (Round 2). > . . . . Phenomenal cavalry charge gave Blucher . . . . victory > . . . . The French retreat. > . . . . "I must admit that the Poles . . . . repeatedly beat off the Russian assaults . . . . even though heavily outnumbered." > . . . . Russian hussars routed Arrighi's cav. . . . . and came almost up to Leipzig. > . . . . The arrival of Bennigsen's army. > . . . . In Napoleon's headquarters. > . . . . Along the Pleisse River: fight for Dolitz. > . . . . Macdonald and Sebastiani. > . . . . "The courage and ferocity shown . . . . by both sides in the battle of . . . . Probstheida was truly unique..." > . . . . The treachery of the Saxons. > . . . . In the suburbs. > . . . . to be a Marshal of France. > . . . . Night withdrawal. > . . . . Allies' assaults on the Halle Gate. > . . . . Allies' assaults on the Grimma Gate. > . . . . Death of French marshal. > "One should not believe but they [Allies] are really attacking me." - Napoleon at Leipzig "The decisive hour has now arrived for France. This evening we must either win or all die !" - French General Maison to his young soldiers "The French [and Polish] resistance [along the Pleisse River] here had been desperate; their bodies lay thickly in the rubble of the houses in the roads and among the barricades of the bridge." The mass of French, Italian, Polish, and Saxon cavalry set off at a trot across the battlefield and then gradually sped up. The front ranks boiled forward, hooves drummed up chunks of soil. ... The leading echelons of French cuirassiers and hussars arrived at a short distance from where Allied monarchs stood. Schwarzenberg was anxious about their safety and asked them to leave. The Tsar refused. Barclay de Tolly mounted fourth attack on Probstheida. He directed four infantry divisions and some Prussian troops against the village. Behind them marched two grenadier divisions led by Raievski, The Hero of Borodino. It was a furious assault. Anxious Napoleon directed the powerful Guard artillery forward and then personally led the Middle Guard against the enemy. The Allies were thrown out of the village. "Following this heavy handed repulse, no more Allied assaults were mounted against Probstheida." - S. Bowden Allies' repeated assaults on the village of Schonefeld were for the French like being on the receiving end of a jackhammer. They were attacked by infantry and cavalry and cannonaded by 200 guns. Approx. 30.000 French, Polish, and Italian troops were stranded in Leipzig and fought desperately to escape. The dramatic scenes reminded crossing of the Beresina River in 1812 in Russia. "The effects of the Allied victory at Leipzig were truly momentous. It had smashed Napoleon's stranglehold on Europe for good ..." - Digby-Smith On Nov 1, the Old Guard was drawn up at Frankfurt and Napoleon was cheered lustily. This was the last Vive l'Empereur ! ever heard in Germany. The Battle of Leipzig Monument. This collosal monument is Germany's largest. It has a 91-metre-high observation platform. During the period of communist rule in East Germany, the government of the GDR was unsure whether it should allow the monument to stand. Leipzig was the largest


"What is the title of the poem which begins ""The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck?"

the boy stood on the burning deck The explosion of L'Orient during the Battle of the Nile By English painter George Arnald (1763-1841). The poem 'Casabianca' was written by Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans. It starts out with the well known line, "the boy stood on the burning deck". The story relates to an extraordinary incident of devotion and heroism witnessed during the Battle of the Nile. It was on the evening of July 28 of 1798 that the English naval squadron under Lord Nelson sailed in. They had caught the French fleet at anchor and unprepared. The French flagship was the L'Orient and it soon found itself flanked by English ships attacking from both sides. A fierce battle was soon raging and the flashes of 2000 guns lit up the ships in the gathering darkness. L'Orient was caught by the English broadsides and was set ablaze. It was then that the English sailors saw an amazing sight. There on that burning deck they saw a boy standing alone.  He was Cassabianca, the 12 year old son of one of the ship's officers. There he stood, alone at his post. He was surrounded by flames and facing the astonished English foe. Soon afterwards the fire reached the powder magazine deep down in the hold. The boy perished when the whole ship erupted in a massive explosion. The sound of Lï¿½Orient blowing up was heard at Rosetta 20 miles away. And the glow of the fireball was seen in Alexandria. It was an enormous explosion of a magnitude rarely seen back in those times. The English sailors stood in awe at what they had just witnessed. For some twenty minutes the guns were silent. The English officers and men were absolutely horrified at the carnage that had taken place. They sent a ship to rescue the survivors from the water. About 70 French sailors were saved. The account of that boy who stood on that burning deck was told and retold. Eventually it passed on into legend. The story remains a classic example of devotion and faithful service. And the poem continues to serve as a source of inspiration and wonder for many throughout Christendom. That boy who stayed at his post on that burning deck has not been forgotten. And the story of his heroic stand is remembered right up to the present day. Casabianca The boy stood on the burning deck Whence all but he had fled; The flame that lit the battle's wreck Shone round him o'er the dead. Yet beautiful and bright he stood, As born to rule the storm; A creature of heroic blood, A proud, though childlike form. The flames roll'd on...he would not go Without his father's word; That father, faint in death below, His voice no longer heard. He call'd aloud..."Say, father, say If yet my task is done!" He knew not that the chieftain lay Unconscious of his son. "Speak, father!" once again he cried "If I may yet be gone!" And but the booming shots replied, And fast the flames roll'd on. Upon his brow he felt their breath, And in his waving hair, And looked from that lone post of death, In still yet brave despair; And shouted but one more aloud, "My father, must I stay?" While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud The wreathing fires made way, They wrapt the ship in splendour wild, They caught the flag on high, And stream'd above the gallant child, Like banners in the sky. There came a burst of thunder sound... The boy-oh! where was he? Ask of the winds that far around With fragments strewed the sea. With mast, and helm, and pennon fair, That well had borne their part; But the noblest thing which perished there Was that young faithful heart. Author: Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans


Which 19th Century Prime Minister was surnamed Lamb?

History of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne - GOV.UK GOV.UK William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne Whig 1835 to 1841, 1834 to 1834 Born 24 November 1848, Brocket, Herts Dates in office 1835 to 1841, 1834 to 1834 Political party Dissenters' Marriage Bill 1836: legalised civil marriage outside of the Church Interesting facts The city of Melbourne in Australia is named after him. He extensively tutored a young Queen Victoria in the ways of politics. “It is impossible that anybody can feel the being out of Parliament more keenly for me than I feel it for myself. It is actually cutting my throat. It is depriving me of the great object of my life.” Viscount Melbourne had 2 lives – the first as the cuckolded husband in one of the most scandalous affairs of the 19th century, and the second as senior statesman and mentor to Queen Victoria. Born William Lamb, in 1805 he succeeded his elder brother as heir to his father’s title. Now known as Lord Melbourne, he married Lady Caroline Ponsonby. It was a marriage which was to cause him no small amount of grief. He first came to general notice for reasons he would rather have avoided, when his wife had a public affair with poet Lord Byron. The resulting scandal was the talk of Britain in 1812. In 1806 he was elected to the Commons as the Whig MP for Leominster, where he served from 1806 to 1812, and from 1816 to 1829, before joining the House of Lords on his father’s death. He was Secretary for Ireland from 1827 to 1828, and Home Secretary from 1830 to 1834, during which time he cracked down severely on agricultural unrest. Lady Caroline Ponsonby-Lamb was not a typical politician’s wife. The daughter of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough, and the granddaughter of the 1st Earl Spencer, she was born in 1785. Lady Caroline married Lord Melbourne, in 1805. After 2 miscarriages, she gave birth to their only child, George Augustus Frederick, in 1807, and was devoted to him. He was epileptic and mentally handicapped and had to be cared for almost constantly. In 1812, Caroline read Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and declared: “If he was as ugly as Aesop, I must know him.” On meeting Byron that summer, she famously noted in her diary that he was “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. They began an affair which lasted until 1813, but even after it finished Lady Caroline’s obsession with the poet continued. She published a novel, Glenarvon, in 1816 containing obvious portraits of herself, her husband, Byron and many others. Embarrassed and disgraced, Melbourne decided to part from his wife, though the formal separation did not occur until 1825. Lady Caroline died in 1828, aged 42, her death hastened by drink and drugs. Lord Melbourne, not yet Prime Minister, was by her bedside. On Grey ’s resignation in 1834, King William IV appointed Lord Melbourne as the Prime Minister who would be the “least bad choice”, and he remained in office for 7 years, except for 5 months following November 1834 when Sir Peel was in charge. Without any strong political convictions, he held together a difficult and divided Cabinet and sustained support in the House of Commons through an alliance of Whigs, Radicals and Irish MPs. He was not a reformer (although the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 did make sure that the growing middle class secured control of local government), but he was efficient in keeping order, raising taxes and conducting foreign policy. Lord Melbourne also had a close relationship to the monarch. He was Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister, and she trusted him greatly. Their close relationship was founded in his responsibility for tutoring her in the world of politics and instructing her in her role, but ran much deeper than this suggests. Queen Victoria came to regard Lord Melbourne as a mentor and personal friend, and he was given a private apartment at Windsor Castle. Later in his premiership, his support in Parliament declined and in 1840 it grew difficult to hold the Cabinet together. His unpopular and scandal-hit term ended in August 1841, when he resigned after a series of


Tom Jones sang the title song of which Bond film?

Tom Jones — Thunderball — Listen, watch, download and discover music for free at Last.fm tom jones The original main title theme to Thunderball was entitled "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," and composed by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. The title was taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Barry had thought he couldn't write a song about a vague "Thunderball" term or the story of the film, so his song was a description of the character of James Bond. The song was originally recorded by… read more Don't want to see ads? Subscribe now Similar Tracks


The Bactrian Camel is named after a region in which country?

Lady Wildlifes Bactrian Camel  To see pictures of animals click the blue dot.. Facts and Knowledge: The Bactrian camel is the only truly wild, two humped camel in the world.  It lives in the Gobi Desert and, like one humped camel, it can go for long periods without water. the Bactrian camel is named after the part of the region it inhabits, Bactrian, on the Afghan Soviet border. the first camels appeared in North America 40 - 50 million years ago, descended  from an animal the size of a small dog.  They migrated to Europe and Asia two million years ago and became nearly extinct in their original habitat. Breeding: In the wild, Bactrian camels mate in February. The males chase off young animals in order to have success to the females.  Mating takes place while the camels are sitting down, but the females give birth in the standing position a year and a month later.  A single young is born.  Within several days, it can walk perfectly with the ambling gait that is characteristic of the adult camel. The females nurse the young for 5 years until they reach sexual maturity.  Young males are then driven out to form bachelor herds; young females remain with their mothers.  Older wales return to the herd during mating season but are often driven out by younger, rival males. Food & Feeding: The Like domestic cows, camels are ruminants, that is, they feed and then regurgitate the food and chew it again.  This is also called chewing cud.  able to survive on extremely sparse vegetation, they eat the tough grass, herbs, thin branches, and foliage of scrubs that grow in their arid environment.  They search for food in t he morning and evenings and chew their cud in the afternoon. The camel can tolerate great variations in its body temperature, from 86º F to 105º F, and therefore loses little water through camels can go for long periods without water., they do not actually store it in their humps.  The humps are, in fact, reserves of fat that are converted into water when the camel becomes dehydrated. Camel  & Man:  It is thought that the Bactrian camel was domesticated by man as early as 2,000 BC it is presumed to be a descendant of the feral camel.  At the end of the nineteenth century, Bactrian camels were discovered in the Lobnor Desert in China by the Russian Explorer, Nikolai Przewalski's, and it was established that, in its natural state, the Bactrian camel is truly a wild, rather than domesticated, animal. The camel is also an important source of wool, milk, meat, and fuel in the desert.. Habitat:: Once found over a vast range in Asia, Bactrian camels now inhabit only Mongolia's remote Gobi Desert. they are specially adapted to cope with the extremes of climate found in this regions.  They form small groups of six to twenty animals that are led by a mature male. Young males spend most of their time wandering alone.  Within their habitat, the camels may be found in desert, semi desert, grassy steppes and mountainous regions up to 6,500 feet.  In the summer, they are most likely to be found in dry valleys and on nearby hills.  During the winter, they frequent dried up creek and stream beds and oases. Key Facts: Sizes, Weight, breeding, lifestyle, related Species Height to shoulder: 6 ft Height to hump :  Up to 7 ft. Weight : Up to 7 ft Length: 11 - 12  ft, including tail (21 - 25 foot long) Breeding:


Henry McCarty was the real name of which wild western character?

Rare Photo of Billy the Kid Worth $5 Million Rare Photo of Billy the Kid Worth $5 Million (KDAT-TV) By Greg Richter   |   Wednesday, 14 Oct 2015 04:50 PM Close       A   A    A rare photograph of Billy the Kid and members of his outlaw gang has been appraised at $5 million, the Los Angeles Times reports . It was bought in a Fresno junk store five years ago for $2. The 4-by-5-inch tintype has been dubbed the "Holy Grail of Western Americana." It is only the second known photograph of Henry McCarty, who was better known as William H. Bonney and by his nickname, Billy the Kid. The photo was taken in 1878 and shows the notorious outlaw playing croquet with members of his gang, the Lincoln County Regulators, and family. The photograph was authenticated over a one-year period by numismatic firm Kagin’s Inc. The process will be the subject of a National Geographic Channel show airing Sunday. "When we first saw the photograph, we were understandably skeptical — an original Billy the Kid photo is the Holy Grail of Western Americana," Kagin's senior numismatist David McCarthy said, the Times reports. "We had to be certain that we could answer and verify where, when, how and why this photograph was taken." But a team assembled finally determined the photo was real. In addition to Billy the Kid's tell-tale slouch and grin, a member of the authentication team flew to New Mexico and found the site where to photo was taken. It was a 15-minute walk from the home of John Tunstall, who was Billy the Kid's mentor. "The historical importance of a photograph of Billy the Kid alongside known members of his gang and prominent Lincoln County citizens is incalculable — this is perhaps the single most compelling piece of Western Americana that we have ever seen," said Kagin's President Donald Kagin. "Billy the Kid is incredibly famous," McCarthy told ABC News . "[But] he wasn't shooting people all the time. He had friends he cared about. He had women he chased. It [the photograph] opens up the idea about the humanity of a character like Billy the Kid." Related Stories:


What is the English alternative name for the Ruenzori mountain range in East Africa?

Rwenzori Mountains : Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering : SummitPost     The Rwenzori Mountains are located on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although the isolated volcanoes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya are taller, they are the highest range of mountains in Africa with the highest summit of Mt. Stanley reaching 5109 meters. When the peaks were first explored at the end of the 19th century, there were six separate massifs that held glaciers on their flanks. At this point, the number has dwindled down to just three, with one of those holding only tattered remnants of its earlier glaciation. The peaks found in this range are not as shear or as individually spectacular as those seen in the Himalaya, the Andes or even the Alps. However, there is something about the range: its perpetual mists, the wild plants that seem better suited for some otherworldly science fiction fantasy than anywhere that is actually real, the rime encrusted glaciers less than 50 kilometers from the equator, its long and fabled history or the difficulty of access and frequent political instability around it that make this place one of the world's greatest treasures. It was the place that I had wanted to visit above all others for many many years. When after thirty years I finally did reach it, and even stood on its summit, I was reminded of the transient nature of our access by an almost immediate electric humming on the rather fanciful summit sign (found on many of the highest peaks) that forced an immediate retreat back down to lower slopes. Geology Unlike the higher peaks of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Kenya, the Rwenzori Mountains are a fault block mountain range that has formed due to the rifting that has taken place in East Africa over the past 10 million years. Most of the rocks of the range are metamorphic in nature, largely gneisses in the northern and southern parts of the range, and a metamorphosed igneous rock, amphibolite, among the high central peaks. During the last ice age, glaciers extended far down the slope, and I have read that even the Nyabitaba Hut at 2600 meters is built on a moraine from a long retreated glacier. A hundred years ago, the Duke of Abruzzi and others encountered much more extensive glaciation than currently seen, with six glaciated peaks and reports of ice avalanches tumbling off of the higher peaks of the range such as Mt. Baker, through the perpetual mists. Three massifs have lost their ice entirely. Currently, that peak only has a few minor remnant glaciers (in 2004), and Mt. Speke a single remaining glacier of any consequence. Only Mt. Stanley still boasts extensive glaciation. Recent studies indicate that the ice may be entirely gone by the year 2025. Click here and here for information. The information for this section is from Wielochowski, 1989. History   Mt. Emin. The cairn left by the Duke of Abruzzi can be seen on the summit As early as the time of the Ancient Greeks, there were tales of mountains of snow and ice forming the source of the Nile River. Aeschylus talked of "Egypt nurtured by snows" and Arstotle noted 'Mountains of Silver, the source of the Nile' in the fourth century B.C. Ptolemy labeled these mountains in the correct location as “Lunae Montes” (The Mountains of the Moon) in his map published some 1800 years ago. According to the expedition account of the Duke of Abruzzi, this was actually a translation error from the name “white mountains”, but the name has stuck through the millennia. Despite the legends, the existence of these mountains was not confirmed outside of Central Africa until the arrival of Henry Morton Stanley . In 1876 he first glimpsed the range, then in 1888 he noticed what he first thought to be a cloud then later realized was the slopes of a mountain covered with snow. For a number of years explorers attempted to reach the peaks but were always turned back from the highest summits by the thick vegetation, bad weather, disease, or lack of time. In 1889, G. W. Stairs reached over 3000 meters on Mt. Emin but never got beyond


Which painter used his neighbours in the village of Cookham as the subjects of many of his works?

A retrospective of painter Stanley Spencer | Books | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close One of Stanley Spencer's formative experiences, growing up in Cookham, was being taken by his mother to the comfortable, cosy Wesleyan chapel along the village street. One by one, the familiar, everyday figures of the village gave themselves up to intense religious experience, flopping down on the floor of the chapel, becoming "Entirely Sanctified". Though he knew he must not watch, the boy could not help imagining the shapes they were making on "the sacred piece of ground", a small patch of hard linoleum, while they were "coming to the Lord". The local grocer would become "more intensely a grocer" as he lay there "crumpled, his face turned up in a wonderful ecstasy". The Wesleyan chapel, once the place of such startling transformation scenes, has been the Stanley Spencer Gallery since 1962, a uniquely local tribute to an artist in the Berkshire village in which he lived and worked. When the gallery reopens next month after a year's refurbishment, there will be a new exhibit: the pencil drawing Ecstasy in a Wesleyan Chapel, made in 1937 as a study for a painting Spencer did not pursue. On the left there were to be "pews with us in them". Stanley was the eighth of nine surviving Spencer children, who appear in many of his paintings. On the right, Wesleyan souls are being transported off to glory. Spencer used to refer to his grand visionary paintings as his "queer ones". Ecstasy might well have been the queerest of them all. For what other English artist has one place been so important? Not even Samuel Palmer's Shoreham has quite the significance of Stanley Spencer's Cookham. He was born there in 1891 and moved back into the same house on the high street, Fernlea, shortly before his death in 1959. His self-identification with the village was so obvious to his fellow students at the Slade that they called him "Cookham", not altogether kindly. Like a homing pigeon he went back and back and back, and the tenor of village life, the "unhappeningness" of it, the slow seasonal rhythms, the recurring, low-key, local ceremonies and events, gave shape to the peculiar combination of the literal and visionary that characterises Stanley Spencer's art. His retentiveness was extraordinary. Decades later, he could retrieve and rework the visual details of a late Victorian childhood in a village whose further reaches seemed "as remote as the Milky Way". Cookham was still a small and isolated place, an island surrounded by flowery water meadows, the highly coloured lushness re-evoked in Spencer's 1930s landscape Bellrope Meadow. In winter, the village was often cut off by floods, and at worst people would retreat to the upper rooms of their houses, dependent on neighbours to deliver food by boat. Loaves of bread stuck on poles ascended to the bedroom windows. Spencer thrived on such sweetly bizarre scenes. An infant voyeur, he would peer through iron gates and over rooftops, describing later how this childhood curiosity had fuelled "his artistic and creative needs". When I wrote the introduction to the catalogue for the British Council's 1997 Stanley Spencer exhibition in Washington, I was banned from using the word "homely", a term that has pejorative meanings in the US. This was a dilemma. How to avoid the word that best expresses the essence of Spencer, the artist who found spiritual qualities in the most mundane and workaday of things? Where William Blake was aware of heavenly voices in the next room, Stanley Spencer was susceptible to visions of holiness along the Cookham lanes. For him, heaven was indeed "a part of Widbrook Common". A prime time for visitations came after a swim in Odney Weir. He and his brother Gilbert felt certain that the shepherds watched their flocks in the field below Cliveden Wood. Just how innocent was Spencer? To see him as an unschooled primitive, a Home Counties Alfred Wallis, would be absolutely wrong. He trained at the Slade, then the leading London art school, in a pre-first world war generation that included Edwa


From which disease did Oliver Cromwell die?

Oliver Cromwell - Faq 8 What do we know about Cromwellï¿½s health? What caused his death in September 1658? We know very little about Cromwellï¿½s health during his early life, before the 1640s. Such information as we do possess about this period in Cromwellï¿½s life generally comes from accounts written much later, once he had become famous and infamous. These accounts are often clearly biased against Cromwell and their colourful stories ï¿½ such as one that in early adulthood Cromwell had pestered his doctor in Huntingdon, repeatedly calling him out day and night to attend him as he lay ï¿½melancholy in his bedï¿½, fearing death and suffering from strange dreams or visions that he would one day become the most powerful man in the kingdom ï¿½ are best taken with a pinch of salt. However, there is contemporary evidence that in 1628, while he was in London serving as an MP, he consulted one of the greatest doctors of the day, Sir Theodore Mayerne. In his surviving notebook, Mayerne recorded a variety of symptoms, including coughing, excess phlegm and digestive problems, together with ï¿½valde melancholicusï¿½. Other accounts of the young Cromwell suggest that he was prone to wearing a cloth around his neck, perhaps indicative of some sort of throat or chest problems.  We know far more about Cromwellï¿½s health during the 1640s and 1650s, drawn from his own letters and from other strictly contemporary accounts of those who saw and met him. Cromwell appears to have been in good health throughout the 1640s, travelling great distances and campaigning vigorously in England and Wales. He seems to have been fit and healthy and enjoying robust health at this time. Although some sources suggest that he sustained a neck wound at Marston Moor and had to leave the field for a time to get it dressed, we hear nothing of this in Cromwellï¿½s own letters of summer 1644, and any wound must have been minor and healed completely ï¿½ later portraits do not show obvious scars there or anywhere else on the visible parts of Cromwellï¿½s body. Indeed, the only health problem which we know troubled Cromwell during the 1640s was his occasional suffering from boils and abscesses, including one particularly nasty attack early in 1647, which incapacitated him for a time. He continued to be troubled by ï¿½imposthumesï¿½ from time to time during the 1650s. During the 1640s and the 1650s Cromwell was clearly troubled on occasion by the turn of events, deeply disappointed and disillusioned by military, political or religious developments, unsure what he should do or what God wanted him to do. At such times, Cromwell tended to draw into himself, to keep his own counsel and to ï¿½wait upon the Lordï¿½. Conversely, there were times when he came across as a man of boundless energy, acting quickly, firmly and decisively, confident that he was doing the right thing. Later accounts sometimes suggest that he also became elated, on an emotional high, in the wake of major military victories, laughing excessively, his eyes sparkling, acting almost as if he was drunk. There is no doubt that Cromwell was an emotional man and that his emotions could swing quite dramatically and visibly between highs and lows, between an utter despondency from which God alone could save him to elation and euphoria when he believed that he was doing Godï¿½s will and that God had given him victory and success. In consequence, Cromwell has sometimes been described as a manic depressive, though that seems to be stretching the evidence and straining to make a case. For much of the 1640s and 1650s Cromwell was neither euphoric and manic nor gloomy and depressed, but instead was working steadily at his military, administrative and political tasks, tackling his workload in a perfectly balanced way. He does not come across as someone who could fairly be described in medical terms as mentally ill or emotionally disturbed.  It is clear that Cromwellï¿½s physical health declined significantly during the final decade of his life. The first sign of this, and perhaps the source of many later problems


From which disease did Robert the Bruce die?

King Robert the Bruce of Scotland | Britroyals Name: King Robert the Bruce of Scotland Father: Robert de Brus Mother: Marjory Countess of Carrick Relation to Elizabeth II: 19th great-grandfather House of: Bruce Born: July 11, 1274 at Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire Ascended to the throne: February 10, 1306 aged 31 years Crowned: March 27, 1306 at Scone Abbey, Perthshire Married:(1) Isabella of Mar, 1295 Married:(2) Elizabeth de Burgh, 1302 Children: Marjorie, David, John, Matlida, Margaret plus several illegitimate Died: June 7, 1329, at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, aged 54 years, 10 months, and 26 days Buried at: Dunfermline Abbey (body) and Melrose Abbey (heart) Succeeded by: his son David After Balliol�s abdication in 1296 Scotland was without a monarch for 10 years and ruled remotely by King Edward I of England. Scots national resistance developed into a war of independence in which William Wallace and then Robert Bruce played a leading role. Wallace won a victory over the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297 and proclaimed himself Guardian of Scotland. The following year Edward invaded Scotland again and defeated William Wallace at Falkirk. Wallace went underground but was captured and in 1305, tried and hung in London. In 1298 Robert Bruce took over the title of Guardian of Scotland and, having killed his rival John Comyn, claimed the throne as the great-great grandson of David I and in 1306 had himself crowned king at Scone as Robert I. Independence was made easier by the death of Edward I as he set out to claim back Scotland. Bruce set about removing the English from Scotland and by early 1314 Stirling was the only castle in English hands. An English army sent to break the siege was routed by Bruce�s smaller Scottish force at Bannockburn in June 1314. Six year later in 1320 Bruce and the Scottish nobles issued the Declaration of Arbroath asserting Scottish Independence �For as longs as one hundred of us shall remain alive we shall never in any wise consent to submit to the rule of the English, for it is not for glory that we fight � but for freedom alone.�. However, a truce with Edward II of England failed to stop hostilities which continued until Edward II was deposed in 1327. The Treaty of Edinburgh between Robert I and Edward III in 1328 recognised Scotland's independence, ending the 30 years of Wars of Independence. Edward agreed to the marriage of Robert Bruce�s son David to his younger sister Joan daughter of Edward II. Robert Bruce died at his house in Cardross a year later of a serious illness described by some as leprosy. Timeline for King Robert the Bruce of Scotland Year


"In the film ""Goldfinger"" what was the name of Shirley Eaton's character, fatally painted in gold?"

Shirley Eaton - Biography - IMDb Shirley Eaton Biography Showing all 19 items Jump to: Overview  (4) | Mini Bio  (1) | Spouse  (1) | Trivia  (7) | Personal Quotes  (4) | Salary  (2) Overview (4) 5' 7" (1.7 m) Mini Bio (1) Long before Bea Arthur , Estelle Getty and company showed up in 80s TV households, Hollywood had, in effect, its own original "Golden Girl"...literally...in the form of stunning British actress Shirley Eaton. Although she found definitive cult stardom in 1964 with her final golden moment in a certain "007" film, Shirley was hardly considered an "overnight success". For nearly a decade, she had been out and about uplifting a number of 1950s and early 1960s British dramatic films and slapstick farce. Shirley became quite a sought-after actress internationally but, by the end of the decade, the dark-browed blonde beauty intentionally bade Hollywood and her acting career a fond and permanent farewell. She has never looked back. Born in Edgware, Middlesex, England on January 12, 1937 (some references incorrectly list her birth year as 1936), Shirley Jean Eaton began on stage as a youth, making her debut at age 12 in "Set to Partners" (1949) and following it up the following year with Benjamin Britten 's "Let's Make an Opera". Her first on-camera work was on TV in 1951, but it didn't take long before the pretty teen began to provide fleeting, decorative interest on film. Under contract to Alexander Korda in her early career, she found an encouraging break with minor parts in such comedies as Doctor in the House (1954) and The Love Match (1955). She quickly rose to co-star status in the droll features, Panic in the Parlor (1956), Three Men in a Boat (1956), Your Past Is Showing (1957) and Doctor at Large (1957), while appearing opposite such top stars as Peter Sellers and Dirk Bogarde , among others. Upon Korda's death in 1956, Shirley briefly joined the Rank Organization. Every once in awhile, she relished playing a fetching villainess in a drama, such as in The Girl Hunters (1963) when not playing it straight as the beautiful foil caught up in some of Britain's finest madcap farces, which included the highly popular "Carry On" movies. Trained also in ballet and voice, Shirley was afforded a great chance to sing and dance with the film, Life Is a Circus (1960), and managed to grace the BBC as well in a few of their musical formats of the 1950s. Shirley's career hit international status, of course, when she played "Jill Masterson", one of a bevy of beauties linked to titular archvillain Gert Fröbe in the film, Goldfinger (1964). And like many of the Bondian girls before and since, her character dearly paid for her furtive romantic clinches with Sean Connery 's magnetic "James Bond". Shirley's memorable 24-karat gold death scene (she was found by Bond, painted head to toe in gold paint, and had "died of skin suffocation"), became the eye-catching draw for the movie. The image was splattered everywhere -- on movie posters, in press junkets and in publicity campaigns. Despite the formidable attention the movie received in the form of Honor Blackman 's high-kicking "Pussy Galore" character and Shirley Bassey 's famous rendition of the title song playing the airwaves, it was Eaton's gilded visuals that became THE iconic image of not only the movie but the whole "007" phenomena. In its wake, Hollywood beckoned and Shirley immediately won a number of female leads in melodrama, crime yarns, war stories and rugged adventures. Adding to the mesmerizing Ivan Tors scenery in such movies as Rhino! (1964) and the underwater epic, Around the World Under the Sea (1966), she appeared opposite some of Hollywood best-looking and talented leading men, including Harry Guardino and Robert Culp of the afore-mentioned Rhino! (1964), and Hugh O'Brian in the classic whodunnit, Ten Little Indians (1965). During this highly productive time, her co-stars ranged from comedy legend Bob Hope in Eight on the Lam (1967) to horror icon Christopher Lee in The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968). Shirley's film career ended with her participation as "Sumur


Jack Point is a character in which Gilbert & Sullivan opera?

The Yeomen of the Guard strongly sung by the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company | von Bachtrack für Rezensionen von klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballet- und Tanzvorstellungen The Yeomen of the Guard strongly sung by the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company ****1 Von Peter Connors , 28 Juli 2016 For a week before the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera’s Company’s annual festival in Harrogate they are presenting three of their productions in their old home of the Buxton Opera House . There are further performances in three more venues in August and September. They began with The Yeomen of the Guard, and a very fine beginning it was. © Buxton Opera Festival https://bachtrack.com/files/43292-dsc-0051--2-.jpg510340 By 1888 Gilbert and Sullivan was an established, popular and financially profitable brand, with many successful shows behind the partnership. Tensions between composer and librettist were growing, however. Sullivan had ambitions for “grander” music. He refused to work on another “topsy-turvy” plot and Gilbert obliged with a drama set in Tudor England, then as now a favourite historical period.  Much of the mock-Tudor dialogue is stilted and ungainly, but some of The Yeomen of the Guard’s lyrics showed Gilbert at his best and the work had a real heart and it inspired Sullivan to some of his finest music. There was none of Gilbert’s usual topical satire but in order to retain the comic element Gilbert made one of the main characters a jester, but Jack Point is a tragic jester who dies of a broken heart. The National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company is in many ways the heir to the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company which presented the works from the time of their composition until 1982 and so can justifiably claim to be following a tradition dating back to the nineteenth century. This production was therefore a traditional one with no updating or clever attempts at “relevance”, though it avoided merely copying what has been done before. One good contemporary visual joke was added early in Act 2 (I won’t give it away for those who are yet to see the show). Otherwise the text was given straight, with the addition of the couplets for Yeomen in the First Act Finale which are normally omitted. There were many fine touches in the production, notably Fairfax pulling Elsie away from the dying Jack Point, nicely emphasising Fairfax’s callousness. © Buxton Opera Festival https://bachtrack.com/files/43293-p1450124--2-.jpg510340 This performance had some of the best singing I have heard in G&S. Nick Sales as Colonel Fairfax was a fine and powerful tenor who convinced us that his two ballads were fine arias indeed. Jane Harrington as Elsie Maynard had a beautiful, Italianate soprano voice and her first act solo just after her secret marriage “’Tis done! I am a bride” was a highlight. Even more impressive was Bruce Graham’s Wilfred Shadbolt, the “head jailor and assistant tormentor” whose strong and rich baritone and excellent comic timing made a grotesque suitor to Phoebe. He was the star of the performance. Despite the programme, Wilfred’s song which was cut before the first performance was not reinstated. It would have been good to have heard Graham sing it. Pauline Birchall was a commanding presence with a smooth contralto and very clear diction as Dame Carruthers, the “housekeeper to the Tower”. Martin Lamb was a solid Sergeant Meryll and Fiona McKay as Phoebe had a pleasing mezzo. In the small role of Sir Richard, the Lieutenant of the Tower, Brendan Collins had an imposing bass voice that I hope to hear more of in future. The only weakness was Richard Gauntlett’s Jack Point. His voice failed to carry and it was often hard to make out his words. In his duets with Wilfred and Elsie he came out second best. His voice blended well with the other performers in the quartet towards the end, however, and his acting carried the audience to the heartfelt conclusion. The chorus of ten men and ten women made a crucial contribution and filled the Opera House. The National Gilbert & Sullivan Orchestra under David Steadman accompanie


David Cameron represents which parliamentary constituency?

David Cameron of the Conservative party - bio PARLIAMENT LINK View Parliament profile Bio David William Donald Cameron (/ˈkæm(ə)rən/; born 9 October 1966) is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party. He represents Witney as its Member of Parliament (MP). Cameron studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Brasenose College, Oxford, gaining a first-class honours degree in 1988. He was described by his tutor, Professor Vernon Bogdanor, as "one of the ablest" students he has ever taught, with "moderate and sensible Conservative" political views. While at Oxford he was a member of the Bullingdon Club. He then joined the Conservative Research Department and became Special Adviser to Norman Lamont, and then to Michael Howard. He was Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications for seven years. Cameron first stood for Parliament in Stafford in 1997. He ran on a Eurosceptic platform, breaking with his party's then-policy by opposing British membership of the single European currency, and was defeated by a swing close to the national average. His first successful attempt to become an MP was in the 2001 general election for the Oxfordshire constituency of Witney. He was promoted to the Opposition front bench two years later, and rose rapidly to become head of policy co-ordination during the 2005 general election campaign. With a public image of a youthful, moderate candidate who would appeal to young voters, he won the Conservative leadership election in 2005. In the 2010 United Kingdom general election held on 6 May, the Conservatives won 306 seats in a hung parliament. After five days of negotiation, Cameron formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems). Cameron leads the first coalition government of the United Kingdom since the Second World War. The 43-year-old Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier. Cameron's premiership has been marked by the ongoing effects of the late-2000s financial crisis leading to a large deficit in government finances, which his government has emphasised the need to reduce through austerity measures. His administration has introduced large-scale changes to welfare, immigration policy, education and healthcare, by introducing the Welfare Reform Act of 2012, the Education Act of 2011, the Health and Social Care Act of 2012 and a range of immigration reforms from 2010 onwards, culminating in the Immigration Act of 2014. In 2011, Cameron became the first British Prime Minister to 'veto' an EU treaty. His government introduced a nationwide referendum on voting reform in 2011, a Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum in 2013, agreed to a Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, legalised same-sex marriages in England and Wales, met the United Nations target of spending at least 0.7% of GNI on aid to developing countries and promised an 'In/Out' Referendum on the European Union in 2017, after a period of renegotiation, if the Conservatives are re-elected with an outright majority.


New face of Chechen capital — RT News New face of Chechen capital Published time: 6 Oct, 2011 01:34 Edited time: 6 Oct, 2011 09:06 Get short URL "Grozny City" complex of tall buildings (RIA Novosti / Said Tzarnaev) / RIA Novosti Just a few years ago Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, lay in ruins following years of fighting that blighted the city during the 1990s. Fast forward to the present day, though, and an attractive modern city stands where there used to be only rubble. Tags Investment , Anniversary , Russia , Travel , Politics , History , War witness , Modernization , Construction A big celebration took place last night in the Chechen Republic’s capital, with massive celebrations marking City Day. But there is more than one just day of shows to impress visitors to Grozny. The city has gone through a massive transformation since being devastated by two conflicts against extremists in the 1990s. Just 10 years have passed and Grozny has gone from a ruined battlefield to a glamorous city. Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov is known far beyond his hometown. He is viewed as an authoritarian ruler in the West, but is an effective manager by many fellow Chechens. And he is ambitious. His vision is to raise devastated Grozny from the ashes and make it the “Dubai of the Caucasus”. “I never thought it would be possible in such a short amount of time,” says local resident Magomed Magomedov. “What’s happened is some kind of miracle, I can’t believe my eyes.” The proudest achievement is Grozny City – a complex of international class hotels and business centers.  When they were first proposed there was a lot of skepticism as to whether they would ever be built. Many people thought it was just a pipedream. But today, five gleaming towers are at the heart of the reconstruction of Grozny and a symbol of the city’s recovery following the destruction wrought at the beginning of the millennium. But Kadyrov wants to do more than just put up buildings. He is aiming to raise the city's profile on a global scale. Since the start of the year he has attempted to grab the world's attention by inviting stars from the world of sport and show business to spend time in Grozny. “We've opened a stadium, a youth centre, an ice palace, and a few cinemas, so people don't see other places on TV and think it's better there than here. On the contrary, we want people to come to us,” says Ramzan Kadyrov. It is not the first time Grozny has been rocked by large scale events. In May, legendary footballers Diego Maradona and Luis Figo took part in the grand opening of the city’s stadium. Before that other international starts like Roberto Carlos came to the region. Some 10 years ago it would have been hard to believe that such glamorous and high profile events could take place on Chechen soil. Now it has almost become a tradition. Chechnya has seen massive progress, but there are still challenges. Terrorism remains a big problem here with attacks taking place on a regular basis. But locals are putting their hope in investment. They believe if Chechnya attracts more money from outside and the quality of life continues to improve, eradicating terrorism will no longer seem like “mission impossible”.


"Which Pre-Raphaelite artist painted ""The Death of Ophelia""?"

Ophelia and the Pre-Raphaelites • Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood Ars Longa Vita Brevis Ophelia and the Pre-Raphaelites Ophelia is a captivating character, one that inspired many of the Pre-Raphaelites and other Victorian artists. For those unfamiliar with Ophelia, she is Hamlet’s innocent  young love interest in one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays ( Hamlet ). Hamlet loved Ophelia – but after his meeting with the ghost of his father (Act I) he feels compelled to set their love aside in order to focus on avenging his father’s murder. Poor Ophelia is unaware of Hamlet’s motives or his inner turmoil. He chooses not to express his sense of betrayal (and who can blame him for feeling betrayed when his uncle murdered his father and then married his mother, Queen Gertrude ). Ophelia is perplexed and hurt by Hamlet’s madness — and when Hamlet kills Ophelia’s father ( Polonius ) in an irrational fit, Ophelia is herself driven to insanity. Picking flowers and singing songs, Ophelia accidentally drowns. Perhaps the most famous painting of Ophelia is by John Everett Millais , using Elizabeth Sidda l as a model. Siddal took great pains to pose as Ophelia: “Miss Siddal had a trying experience whilst acting as a model for Ophelia. In order that the artist might get the proper set of the garments in water and the right atmosphere and aqueous effects, she had to lie in a large bath filled with water, which was kept at an even temperature by lamps placed beneath. One day, just as the picture was nearly finished, the lamps went out unnoticed by the artist, who was so intensely absorbed in his work that he thought of nothing else, and the poor lady was kept floating in the cold water till she was quite benumbed. She herself never complained of this, but the result was that she contracted a severe cold, and her father wrote to Millais, threatening with an action of 50 lbs. for his carelessness. Eventually the matter was satisfactorily compromised. Millais paid the doctor’s bill, and Miss Siddal, quickly recovering, was none the worse for her cold bath.” — The son of the artist, John Guille Millais , describing the incident. (For more on the painting by Millais, see the Ophelia page on my site LizzieSiddal.com . On this site, see Ophelia’s Flowers . Ophelia by Millais Dante Gabriel Rossetti chose to portray Ophelia in a different way, drawing inspiration from the passages I’ve transcribed below:


Who was elected by the Apostles to replace Judas?

Was Matthias or Paul God's choice to replace Judas as the 12th apostle? Was Matthias or Paul God's choice to replace Judas as the 12th apostle?   Subscribe to our Question of the Week : Question: "Was Matthias or Paul God's choice to replace Judas as the 12th apostle?" Answer: With Judas having betrayed Christ and then committing suicide, the 11 remaining disciples decided to replace Judas with a new 12th apostle (Acts 1:16-20). The requirements were that the man had to have been with them the entire time of Jesus’ ministry, and to have been a witness of the resurrection and ascension (Acts 1:21-22). The 11 disciples proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (possibly the same person as Barnabas), and Matthias (Acts 1:23). The 11 disciples then prayed for the Lord’s direction (Acts 1:24-25), and then cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias (Acts 1:26). But, was this the Lord’s choice? Some propose that Paul, not Matthias, was God’s choice for the 12th apostle. They argue that Jesus had told the apostles to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) and that casting lots is not how the disciples should have made the decision. They also point out that Matthias is never again mentioned in the New Testament, while Paul obviously became very prominent in the early Christian church. So, are they correct that Paul, not Matthias, was God’s choice to be Judas’ replacement as the 12th apostle? The New Testament nowhere condones or condemns the way the apostles made the decision in Acts 1. Casting lots was a biblically allowed method of making a decision (Proverbs 16:33). And, while Matthias is never again mentioned in the New Testament, the same can be said for most of the other 11 apostles. Church history records that Matthias died as a martyr for Christ, as did all of the other apostles, except John. Yes, Paul was definitely more prominent than Matthias, but Paul was more prominent than any of the 12 apostles, except for perhaps Peter and John. Also, Paul would not have been qualified based on the apostles’ criteria (Acts 1:21-22). So, a conclusive biblical case cannot be made for the 11 apostles’ choice of Matthias being invalid. Further, God is sovereign. If it was not His sovereign will for Matthias to be chosen, Matthias would not have been chosen. It could be argued that, while it was God’s sovereign will (what He ordained) for Matthias to be chosen, it was God’s perfect will (what He desired) for the apostles to wait for Paul. But, this would be pure speculation, as, again, the Bible nowhere condemns Matthias being chosen for the 12th apostle. So, what name will be written on the 12th foundation in the heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14)? The Bible does not explicitly say, but it likely will be Matthias. Ultimately, though, we will have to wait to find out.


Sanditon was the novel left uncompleted at the time of the death of which author?

9780140431025: Lady Susan, the Watsons, Sanditon (Penguin Classics) - AbeBooks - Austen, Jane: 0140431020 About this title Collecting three lesser-known works by one of the nineteenth century's greatest authors, Jane Austen's "Lady Susan", "The Watsons" and "Sanditon" is edited with an introduction by Margaret Drabble in "Penguin Classics". These three short works show Austen experimenting with a variety of different literary styles, from melodrama to satire, and exploring a range of social classes and settings. The early epistolary novel "Lady Susan" depicts an unscrupulous coquette, toying with the affections of several men. In contrast, "The Watsons" is a delightful fragment, whose spirited heroine Emma Watson finds her marriage opportunities limited by poverty and pride. Written in the last months of Austen's life, the uncompleted novel "Sanditon", set in a newly established seaside resort, offers a glorious cast of hypochondriacs and speculators, and shows an author contemplating a the great social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution with a mixture of scepticism and amusement. Margaret Drabble's introduction examines these three works in the context of Jane Austen's major novels and her life, and discusses the social background of her fiction. This edition features a new chronology. Jane Austen (1775-1817) was extremely modest about her own genius but has become one of English literature's most famous women writers. Austen began writing at a young age, embarking on what is possibly her best-known work, "Pride and Prejudice", at the age of 22. She was also the author of "Sense and Sensibility", "Persuasion", "Northanger Abbey" and "Mansfield Park". If you enjoyed "Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon", you may like Charlotte Bronte's "Tales of Angria", also available in "Penguin Classics". "In ["Sanditon"] she exploits her greatest gifts, her management of dialogue and her skill with monologue. The book feels open and modern ...as vigorous and inventive as her earlier work". (Carol Shields). "synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. From the Publisher: This book is in Electronic Paperback Format. If you view this book on any of the computer systems below, it will look like a book. Simple to run, no program to install. Just put the CD in your CDROM drive and start reading. The simple easy to use interface is child tested at pre-school levels. Windows 3.11, Windows/95, Windows/98, OS/2 and MacIntosh and Linux with Windows Emulation. Includes Quiet Vision's Dynamic Index. the abilty to build a index for any set of characters or words. About the Author: Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on July 18, 1817. As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives. Margaret Drabble is recipient of many prestigious awards for her writing, which includes works of nonfiction as well as numerous novels. Margaret Drabble is recipient of many prestigious awards for her writing, which includes wo


The plays 'The Barber of Seville' and 'Marriage of Figaro' were written by whom?

Figaro | French literary character | Britannica.com French literary character Listen: Rossini, Gioachino: Figaro’s cavatina Figaro’s cavatina from The Barber of Seville (1816) by Gioachino Rossini. Figaro, comic character, a barber turned valet, who is best known as the hero of Le Barbier de Séville (1775; The Barber of Seville ) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784; The Marriage of Figaro ), two popular comedies of intrigue by the French dramatist Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais . They are now best known in their operatic versions by Gioachino Rossini ( 1816 ) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ( 1786 ), respectively. In the earlier play, Figaro, in the role of barber, is instrumental in the successful wooing of Rosine by Count Almaviva . In the later play, Figaro attempts to keep his future wife from the clutches of his master, Almaviva, who wants to seduce her. Because they portray the abuse of power by aristocrats and related themes, both plays were censored. As a result, the character of Figaro—adroit, irrepressible, insubordinate—has accrued much symbolic value over the centuries. His name was adopted by a leading French newspaper, Le Figaro . Beaumarchais’s last play, La Mère coupable (first performed 1792; “The Guilty Mother”), is the third play in the Figaro trilogy and also features Figaro, but that play is seldom revived, and the operas adapting that play are, likewise, rarely performed. Learn More in these related articles:


Who played the Ringo Kid in the 1938 film 'Stagecoach'?

Stagecoach Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 22 December 2016 8:51 AM, PST NEWS 101 out of 122 people found the following review useful: A great western which enables multiple interpretations from New York City 30 April 2005 John Wayne is "The Ringo Kid" in this John Ford-directed parable of outcasts traveling towards various kinds of figurative and literal redemption/salvation. On a surface level, the basic plot is disarmingly simple--a motley crew of eight takes a stagecoach from Tonto to Lordsburg, trying to avoid Geronimo and his Apaches on the way. They are having their own problems with the U.S. government and are thus likely to attack. The stagecoach bounces from outpost to outpost while the relationships of its passengers evolve, helping each other to "find themselves" and (usually) providing hope of some kind of new life. The Ringo Kid has been wrongly accused of a crime and is on his way to Lordsburg to avenge both the false accusations and more importantly, the murder of his father and brother. Dallas (Claire Trevor) is implied to be a prostitute, and so is ostracized from Tonto (which means "stupid", "foolish" or "daft" in Spanish) by a self-stylized matronly moral majority. Doc Boone (Thomas Mitchell) is far more concerned with getting drunk than being a doctor, and is partially ostracizing himself from Tonto. Hatfield (John Carradine) is a "gambler gentleman" with a shady reputation and a false identity. Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt) is trying to get to her husband, who is in the military; she's in a surprisingly "secret" physical state. Samuel Peacock, whom everyone keeps mistaking for a reverend, is in the alcohol business and just wants to get back east to get back to his business. Henry Gatewood is a crooked banker trying to flee before his questionable dealings are discovered. And the stagecoach drivers consist of a lovable buffoon, Buck (Andy Devine) and the most forthright, straight arrow of the bunch, Marshal Curly Wilcox (George Bancroft). Even though Stagecoach remains tightly focused on its wilderness road trip, that might seem like a large stable of characters to shape into a taut plot. Ford, working from script by Dudley Nichols and Ben Hecht, based on a short story, "Stage to Lordsburg", by Ernest Haycox (which itself bears a relation to Guy de Maupassant's "Boule de Suif", 1880), keeps the proceedings in check by only giving us the information we need to explore the evolving relationships, and only focusing on each character when they're important to the plot. This results in a few of the characters being functionally absent for extended lengths of time, but Ford can so easily establish a "deep" character with a minimum of screen time that the absences are not a detriment. The principal focus, of course, is between Ringo and Dallas, as on a significant level, Stagecoach becomes a romance. They're initially brought together via their mutual ostracization, even among the ostracized, which gives them an immediate bond beyond their physical attraction towards one another. Wayne and Trevor are both fantastic in their roles, avoiding the occasional overacting by some other performers. But this is a film where it's difficult to count the slight overacting as a flaw, as it was more of a stylistic tendency of the genre during this period and it provides a nice counterbalance to Wayne and Trevor. Stagecoach is also famous for its setting. Much of the film was shot in Utah's Monument Valley, along authentic stagecoach "roads". The (beautiful) starkness of the desert is often taken as a symbolic trip through a kind of purgatory for the characters, where they're left alone with their souls, their only connection being their small group, to contemplate their pasts and futures. Whether we choose to read something along those lines into the film or not, Monument Valley is at least a captivating presence in the film, although for me, the cinematography could have been better technically, especially considering that Stagecoach was made at the same time as The Wizard of Oz (1939). Ford's famous tendency to do only o


'Ophidian' refers to which kind of creatures?

Ophidian | Article about ophidian by The Free Dictionary Ophidian | Article about ophidian by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/ophidian Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Medical , Financial , Wikipedia . Snake, river, 1,038 mi (1,670 km) long, NW United States, the chief tributary of the Columbia; once called the Lewis River. The Snake rises in NW Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park, flows through Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, then S and W into Idaho and northwest to its junction with the Henrys Fork River. The combined stream runs southwest, then northwest, crossing southern Idaho through the Snake River plain; there are several notable falls. The Snake makes a bend into Oregon and turns north to form the Idaho-Oregon and Idaho-Washington lines (receiving several tributaries, including the Boise and Salmon rivers), then turns at Lewiston, Idaho (at the mouth of the Clearwater River), and flows generally west to join the Columbia River near Pasco, Wash. Hell's Canyon is the greatest of the Snake's many gorges and one of the deepest in the world. Extending c.125 mi (200 km) N along the Oregon-Idaho line, it reaches a maximum depth of c.7,900 ft (2,410 m). The Snake was explored by the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803–6) and was of major importance in U.S. expansion into the Pacific Northwest. The river is a major source of electricity, having numerous hydroelectric power plants. The upper and middle courses of the Snake and its tributaries are much used for irrigation by private projects (one of the most notable being at Twin Falls) and by projects of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, including the Minidoka project, the Boise project, the Palisades project, and the Owyhee project. Four navigation and hydroelectric power projects along the lower Snake provide slack water navigation from the mouth of the Snake 140 mi (225 km) upstream to Lewiston, Idaho. The projects are linked with the navigation system on the Columbia River. The late 1990s brought efforts to restore portions of the river by removing gravel and establishing new islands. snake, common name for an elongated, limbless reptile of the order Squamata, which also includes the x lizards lizard, a reptile of the order Squamata, which also includes the snake. Lizards form the suborder Sauria, and there are over 3,000 lizard species distributed throughout the world (except for the polar regions), with the greatest number found in warm climates. ..... Click the link for more information. . Most snakes live on the ground, but some are burrowers, arboreal, or aquatic; one group is exclusively marine. In temperate climates they hibernate. They are generally solitary in their habits, although they may congregate in places offering food or shelter, and large numbers may hibernate together. Snakes range in length from about 4 in. (10 cm) to over 30 ft (9 m). Most are protectively colored. Characteristics Anatomy Snakes constitute the suborder Serpentes (or Ophidia). In most snakes limbs are entirely lacking, but a few have traces of hind limbs. The skin, which is covered with horny scales, is shed, usually several times a year. The extremely long, narrow body is associated with distinctive internal features. The number of vertebrae is much larger than in most vertebrates, paired internal organs are arranged linearly rather than side by side, and only one lung is developed, except in members of the boa family, which have two lungs. The jaws of snakes are loosely jointed and extremely flexible. The pointed, backward-curved teeth are fused to the supporting bones of the head. There are no ears or movable eyelids; the eyes are covered by transparent "spectacles," or ocular scales. Snakes have good vision. They do not hear airborne sound waves, but can perceive low-frequency vibrations (100–700 Hz) transmitted from the ground to the bones of the skull. A chemosensory organ opens into the roof of the mouth; it receives stimuli from the forked tongue that constantly tastes the surroundings as the animal moves along. Snakes have no l


Michael Caine won his first Oscar for his role in which film?

Michael Caine - Filmbug Michael Caine   Michael Caine Michael Caine is one of the film industry's most esteemed actors, with a career spanning over half a century and encompassing more than 100 films and a myriad of acting honors. A twotime Academy Award winner, Caine won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Woody Allen 's Hannah and Her Sisters, for which he also received Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations. He took home his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Lasse Hallstrï¿½m's The Cider House Rules, also winning a Screen Actors Guild Award and earning Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations. In addition, Caine has garnered four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, the first coming in 1966 for the title role in Alfie, for which he also received a Golden Globe nomination and a New York Film Critics Award. He earned his second Oscar nod, as well as a Golden Globe nomination and an Evening Standard Award, for the part of Milo Tindle in 1972's Sleuth, opposite Laurence Olivier . His role in Educating Rita brought him his third Oscar nomination, as well as Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards. He gained his latest Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations for his work in 2002's The Quiet American, for which he also won a London Film Critics Circle Award. Caine previously won Golden Globe and London Film Critics Circle Awards and received a BAFTA Award nomination, all for Best Supporting Actor, for Little Voice. He won his latest London Film Critics Circle Award for his performance in Christopher Nolan 's period drama The Prestige. It was his second film for the director following their collaboration on the 2005 hit Batman Begins, in which Caine played Bruce Wayne's butler and confidant, Alfred. In 2008, he reprised the role of Alfred in Nolan's blockbuster The Dark Knight. Caine was born Maurice Micklewhite in South London in 1933 and developed an interest in acting at an early age. Upon his discharge from the Queen's Royal Regiment and Royal Fusiliers in 1953, he began pursuing his career. Taking his stage name from the title The Caine Mutiny, he toured Britain in a variety of plays and began appearing in British films and television shows. In 1964, Caine landed his first major film role as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead in Zulu. The following year, he starred in the hit thriller The Ipcress File, earning his first of 37 BAFTA Award nominations for his portrayal of secret agent Harry Palmer. However, it was his Oscar-nominated performance in the seminal sixties film Alfie that catapulted Caine to international stardom. During the late 1960s, he went on to star in 11 films, including The Ipcress File sequels, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain; Gambit, earning a Golden Globe nomination; Hurry Sundown; Woman Times Seven; Deadfall; The Magus; The Italian Job; and Battle of Britain. Over the next two decades, Caine starred in more than 40 films, including Robert Aldrich 's Too Late the Hero; X, Y and Zee, opposite Elizabeth Taylor ; John Huston 's The Man Who Would Be King; Harry and Walter Go to New York; Richard Attenborough 's A Bridge Too Far; the Neil Simon comedy California Suite; Brian De Palma 's Dressed to Kill; John Huston's Victory; Sidney Lumet 's Deathtrap; Stanley Donen's Blame It on Rio; John Frankenheimer 's The Holcroft Covenant; Neil Jordan 's Mona Lisa; and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. Since then, Caine has starred in such films as Noises Off, Blood and Wine, Quills, Miss Congeniality, Austin Powers: Goldmember, and Lasse Hallstrï¿½m's Secondhand Lions. His more recent film work includes Gore Verbinski 's The Weather Man, Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men, the 2007 remake of Sleuth, the title role in the independent film Harry Brown, and reuniting with Christopher Nolan in 2010's smash hit Inception. He also appears in the upcoming Journey 2: Mysterious Island for New Line/Warner Bros. Also an author, Caine wrote an autobiography entitled What's It All About?, as well as Acting on Film, a book based on a series of lectur


"Who wrote the novel ""Les Miserables""?"

SparkNotes: Les Misérables: Context Les Misérables Table of Contents Plot Overview Victor Hugo was born in 1802 in the French town of Besançon. His father was a general in Napoléon’s army, and much of his childhood was therefore spent amid the backdrop of Napoléon’s campaigns in Spain and in Italy. At the age of eleven, Hugo returned to live with his mother in Paris, where he became infatuated with books and literature. By the time he was fifteen, he had already submitted one poem to a contest sponsored by the prestigious French Academy. Hugo wrote prolifically in all genres, but his plays proved to be his earliest critical and commercial successes. France’s 1830 July Revolution opened Hugo’s creative floodgates, and he began producing a steady stream of work, most notably the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831). Hugo also began to cultivate his interest in politics and was elected to France’s National Assembly after the revolution of 1848. As Hugo grew older, his politics became increasingly leftist, and he was forced to flee France in 1851 because of his opposition to the monarch Louis Napoléon. Hugo remained in exile until 1870, when he returned to his home country as a national hero. He continued to write until his death in 1885. He was buried with every conceivable honor in one of the grandest funerals in modern French history. Hugo remains one of the most popular and respected authors in French literature. His writings were cultural fixtures throughout the nineteenth century, and he quickly emerged as one of the leaders of the Romantic movement in literature. Hugo also developed his own brand of imaginative realism, a literary style that combines realistic elements with exaggerated symbolism. In this style, each character represents a significant social issue of the time. Indeed, political concerns dominate much of Hugo’s writing, and he used his work to champion causes such as universal suffrage and free education. Hugo believed that the modern writer had a mission to defend the less fortunate members of society. Though he often drew criticism for his politics, his passion for documenting injustice ultimately led to widespread praise for both his literary and social achievements. Hugo began writing Les Misérables twenty years before its eventual publication in 1862. His goals in writing the novel were as lofty as the reputation it has subsequently acquired; Les Misérables is primarily a great humanitarian work that encourages compassion and hope in the face of adversity and injustice. It is also, however, a historical novel of great scope and analysis, and it provides a detailed vision of nineteenth-century French politics and society. By coupling his story of redemption with a meticulous documentation of the injustices of France’s recent past, Hugo hoped Les Misérables would encourage a more progressive and democratic future. Driven by his commitment to reform and progress, Hugo wrote Les Misérables with nothing less than a literary and political revolution in mind. Les Misérables employs Hugo’s style of imaginative realism and is set in an artificially created human hell that emphasizes the three major predicaments of the nineteenth century. Each of the three major characters in the novel symbolizes one of these predicaments: Jean Valjean represents the degradation of man in the proletariat, Fantine represents the subjection of women through hunger, and Cosette represents the atrophy of the child by darkness. In part, the novel’s fame has endured because Hugo successfully created characters that serve as symbols of larger problems without being flat devices. More Help


Which horse racing bet entails a series of a multiple of 5 selections?

BoyleSports Horse Racing – Betting / Free Bets / Results / Tips / Odds / Download / Mobile / App BoyleSports Horse Racing – Betting / Free Bets / Results / Tips / Odds / Download / Mobile / App Sitemap BoyleSports Horse Racing – Betting / Free Bets / Results / Tips / Odds / Download / Mobile / App BoyleSports Horse Racing – Betting / Free Bets / Results / Tips / Odds / Download / Mobile / App. BoyleSports Horse Racing provides a comprehensive range of horse racing betting markets for punters to bet on. BoyleSports Horse Racing offers free bets for new customers. Bet with BoyleSports Racing. Great odds on all Horse Racing events at BoyleSports.com. Join now, bet £/€10, if it loses, get a £/€5 free bet.   BoyleSports Horse Racing Features & Markets Ireland. Horse racing meetings in Ireland. UK. Horse racing meetings in United Kingdom. Hot Picks Racing Specials BoyleSports Horse Racing Bet Types Single: A Single is one bet on one selection. Your selection must be successful to have a return Double: A Double is one bet on two selections in different events. Both selections must be successful to have a return Treble: A Treble is one bet on three selections in different events. All three selections must be successful to have a return Trixie: A Trixie consists of four bets on three selections in different events i.e. 3 doubles and 1 treble. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. Remember a €1/£1 trixie costs €4/£4. Patent: A Patent consists of seven bets on three selections in different events i.e 3 singles, 1 on each selection, 3 doubles and 1 treble. One or more selections must be successful to have a return. Remember a €1/£1 patent costs €7/£7. Fourfold Accumulator: A fourfold accumulator is one bet on four selections in different events. All four selections must be successful to have a return. Yankee: A Yankee consists of eleven bets on four selections in different events i.e. 6 Doubles, 4 Trebles and 1 fourfold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A €1/£1 Yankee costs €11/£11. Lucky 15: A Lucky 15 is similar to a yankee but also has singles. It consists of fifteen bets on four selections in different events i.e. 4 singles, 6 doubles, 4 trebles and 1 fourfold accumulator. One or more selection must be successful to have a return. If you only have one winner then Boylesports will double the price of that selection (only applies to Horse/Greyhound Racing Lucky 15s placed online. Void selections do not count as losers. Bonus applies to win part of each-way bets only.) A €1/£1 Lucky 15 costs €15/£15. Fivefold Accumulator: A fivefold accumulator is one bet on five selections. All five selections must be successful to have a return. Super Yankee: (sometimes called a Canadian) A Super Yankee consists of twenty-six bets on five selections i.e. 10 doubles, 10 trebles, 5 fourfold accumulators and 1 fivefold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return A €1/£1 super Yankee costs €26/£26. Lucky 31: A Lucky 31 is similar to a super-yankee but also has singles. It consists of thirty-one bets on five selections in different events i.e. 5 singles, 10 doubles, 10 trebles 5 fourfold accumulators and one fivefold accumulator. One or more selection must be successful to have a return. A €1/£1 Lucky 31 costs €31/£31. Sixfold Accumulator: A sixfold accumulator is one bet on six selections. All six selections must be successful to have a return. A Heinz: A Heinz consists of fifty-seven bets on six selections i.e. 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfold accumulators, 6 fivefold accumulators, and 1 sixfold accumulator. Two or more selections must be successful to have a return. A €1/£1 Heinz costs €57/£57. Sevenfold Accumulator: A sevenfold accumulator is one bet on seven selections. All seven selections must be successful to have a return. Lucky 63: A Lucky 63 is similar to a Heinz but also has singles. It consists of sixty-three bets on six selections in different events i.e. 6 singles, 15 doubles, 20 trebles, 15 fourfold accumulators,


Which disease used to be called infantile paralysis?

Definition of Infantile paralysis (polio) Definition of Infantile paralysis (polio) Take the ADHD Quiz Infantile paralysis (polio): Infantile paralysis is an old synonym for poliomyelitis, an acute and sometimes devastating viral disease. Man is the only natural host for poliovirus. The virus enters the mouth and multiplies in lymphoid tissues in the pharynx and intestine. Small numbers of virus enter the blood and go to other sites where the virus multiplies more extensively. Another round of viremia (virus in the bloodstream) leads to invasion of the central nervous system (CNS), the spinal cord and brain, the only sites seriously struck by the virus. In polio , there is inflammation of the central nervous system, especially the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and the brainstem (the portion of the brain between the cerebral hemispheres and spinal cord). Polio can be a minor illness, as it is in 80-90% of clinical infections, chiefly in young children, and not involve the CNS. Symptoms are slight fever , malaise, headache , sore throat , and vomiting 3-5 days after exposure. Recovery occurs in 24-72 hours. This is termed the abortive type of polio. Polio as a major illness may or may not be paralytic. Symptoms usually appear without prior illness, particularly in older children and adults, 7-14 days after exposure. Symptoms are fever, severe headache, stiff neck and back, deep muscle pain , and sometimes areas of hyperesthesia (increased sensation) and paresthesia (altered sensation). There may be no further progression from this picture of viral meningitis or there be loss of tendon reflexes and weakness or paralysis of muscle groups. Recovery is complete in the abortive and nonparalytic forms of polio. In paralytic polio, about 50% of patients recover with no residual paralysis, about 25% are left with mild disabilities, and the remaining patients have severe permanent disability. The greatest return of muscle function occurs in the first 6 months, but improvement may continue for up to 2 years. Physical therapy is the most important part of treatment of paralytic polio during convalescence. The ideal strategy with polio is clearly to prevent it by immunization against poliovirus. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) had polio and worked with the National Foundation/March of Dimes to raise money to combat this once-fearsome scourge. Last Editorial Review: 6/14/2012


Who is the current presenter of Radio 4s 'Desert Island Discs'

Desert Island deja vu: Listeners' anger as castaways keep reappearing on Radio 4's 'island' - always with something to plug | Daily Mail Online Desert Island deja vu: Listeners' anger as castaways keep reappearing on Radio 4's 'island' - always with something to plug More than 100 celebrities who have returned to the popular programme The Radio 4 show has been accused of recycling its guests comments Return trip: Current presenter Kirsty Young Desert Island Discs famously strands its castaways on a tropical isle for ever – unless they come back to plug something else. The BBC Radio 4 programme is increasingly recycling its supposedly abandoned guests, much to the annoyance of fans. The trend came to light last week after Hugh Laurie, star of US medical drama House, appeared on the show for the second time. Laurie, who is also a critically acclaimed singer, is among more than 100 celebrities who have returned. They include Sir David Attenborough, who has racked up four appearances, and Sir David Frost, Sir Terry Wogan and Michael Crawford, who have each taken part three times. Listeners complained after the interview last weekend. One user tweeted: ‘Is this #desertislanddiscs with Hugh Laurie a new one? Is he being stranded for a second time?’ Ian Leslie, who works on Radio 4’s Before They Were Famous, responded: ‘Hugh Laurie has been on Desert Island Discs twice. I didn’t even know that was allowed.’ Presenter Kirsty Young made no reference to the 54-year-old having appeared on the show in 1996. She did, however, raise the subject of Laurie’s second album, which had been released just weeks earlier. In the previous edition, presented by Sue Lawley, Laurie, then 36, spoke about how uneasy he was with feeling happy. He said: ‘If things are going too well, I start to worry.’ By contrast, his comments last weekend were those of a contented man. He said: ‘I am not at all grumpy. I have mistakenly allowed this picture to take hold. I am actually a very sunny individual.’ RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Laurie’s interview also followed guest spots on other BBC programmes, including The One Show and Graham Norton, to promote his new album. Venerable programme: Sir David Attenborough celebrating 70 years of the show last year with Kirsty Young Sir David Attenborough made his fourth appearance in January last year. His interview came a few weeks after the release of a book and DVD follow-up to his smash hit series Frozen Planet, which had just finished its run. Young made no reference to the star’s three previous stints on the programme, which came in 1957, 1979 and 1988. Sir Terry Wogan’s third time on the show came just six weeks after his book, Wogan’s Ireland, was published in hardback. The revelation that so many people are making repeat appearances to plug products will reinforce fears that the programme is no longer the prestigious platform it once was. Back for more: Sir Terry Wogan, left, came back on the show for the third time after his book came out in hardback while Hugh Laurie, right, appeared last week promoting his new album Sir Michael Parkinson, who presented the show from 1986 to 1988, said that although many of the guests had always tried to promote their projects, the overall tone  had changed. He said: ‘Getting an invitation to Desert Island Discs was like getting the CBE. Culture is broader now and the notion of the BBC is different now. It is much more populist than it ever was, whereas in the old days it was terribly snotty-nosed.’ Derek Drescher, who produced the show from 1976 to 1986, said there was less variety in the guests now and that the show had become celebrity-obsessed. He added: ‘It doesn’t seem to me that they are covering the wide range of people that they used to.’ A spokesman for the BBC said: 'On occasion we invite castaways to make a repeat appearance on Desert Island Discs because we consider their lives, careers and achievements have moved on considerably since the first interview. 'Kirsty Young’s interview with Hugh Laurie was 17 years after his appearance with Sue Lawley an


The Primrose League referred to the supporters of which Prime Minister?

Primrose Day | Article about Primrose Day by The Free Dictionary Primrose Day | Article about Primrose Day by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Primrose+Day Primrose Day April 19 Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, novelist, and twice prime minister of England, died on this day in 1881. When he was buried in the family vault at Hughenden Manor, near High Wycombe, Queen Victoria came to lay a wreath of primroses, thought to be his favorite flower, on his grave. Two years later the Primrose League was formed to support the principles of Conservatism which Disraeli had championed. The organization's influence ebbed after World War I, but Primrose Day is remembered in honor of Disraeli and his contribution to the Conservative cause. SOURCES: OxYear-1999, p. 163 (c) Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: April 19, 2023 References in periodicals archive ? Others are historic, such as Primrose Day, which today marks the passing of former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. and Parkinson's Awareness Week April 16 - 22 is National Bread WeekApril 19 is National Garlic Dayand Primrose Day April 20 is Record Store Day April 21 is National Drive It Day April 21 - 27 is Great British Beef Week and National Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) Awareness Week April 22 - 28 is National Allergy Week, National Stationery Week, National Stop Snoring Week, Orchid Male Cancer Awareness Week and Wallace and Gromit's Big Breakfast April 23 is World Book Night April 29 is UNESCO International Dance Day April 29 - May 5 is RSPCA Week and Save The Children Week


Who composed the incidental music to Ibsen's play 'Peer Gynt'?

The Story Behind Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt - Classic FM Classic FM Guides Now Playing Schedule The Story Behind Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) wrote his five-act allegorical drama Peer Gynt in 1867 while living in Italy. It tells the story of the downfall and subsequent redemption of a Norwegian peasant anti-hero. Unlike Ibsen’s previous dramas, it was written in verse and wasn’t originally intended for stage performance. However, in 1874, Ibsen changed his mind and wrote to his friend and compatriot Edvard Grieg to ask if he would compose the music for a production of the play. Flattered to have received the invitation, Grieg agreed at once, but doubt soon set in.  Much as he admired the drama as a literary work, Grieg found composing for it a difficult task. “Peer Gynt progresses slowly,” he wrote to a friend in August 1874, “and there is no possibility of having it finished by autumn. It is a terribly unmanageable subject.”  As work continued, Grieg began to be drawn into the drama and, as his wife noted, “the more he saturated his mind with the powerful poem, the more clearly he saw that he was the right man for a work of such witchery and so permeated with the Norwegian spirit”. The music was completed in the autumn of 1875, and the play’s lavishly staged premiere took place on February 24, 1876 in the Mollergaden Theatre, Christiania (now Oslo), with the orchestra conducted by Grieg himself. Though a triumphant success, the performance prompted the composer to complain bitterly that the Swedish management of the theatre had given him specifications as to the duration of each number and its order: “I was thus compelled to do patchwork… In no case had I opportunity to write as I wanted… Hence the brevity of the pieces,” he said. When Peer Gynt was revived in Copenhagen in 1885, Grieg took the opportunity to re-orchestrate much of the music. For both this and a subsequent revival in 1902, he added new pieces. The score was published in 1908, a year after Grieg died, with 23 individual numbers lasting a total of nearly 90 minutes. Not surprisingly, given the length of both drama and incidental music, full-scale productions are rarely mounted and the original score with soloists, chorus and melodrama is far less well known than the two suites that Grieg assembled in 1888 and 1893. Second to Grieg’s Piano Concerto, the Peer Gynt Suite No.1 is the composer’s most popular work, and of its four movements Morning and In The Hall Of The Mountain King are among the most loved of all short orchestral compositions. Hear it on:


The Collegiate Church of St Peter, also known as Westminster Abbey, is an example of what type of place of worship falling under the direct jurisdiction of the British monarch?

Westminster Abbey : definition of Westminster Abbey and synonyms of Westminster Abbey (English) 1291494 [1] Location of Westminster Abbey in United Kingdom Greater London The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster , London , United Kingdom , located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster . It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English , later British and later still (and currently) monarchs of the Commonwealth realms . The abbey is a Royal Peculiar and briefly held the status of a cathedral from 1540 to 1550. Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster , as established by Royal charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1560, which created it as the Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster and a Royal Peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the Sovereign. The members of the Chapter are the Dean and four residentiary canons, assisted by the Receiver General and Chapter Clerk. One of the canons is also Rector of St Margaret's Church , Westminster, and often holds also the post of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons . In addition to the Dean and canons, there are at present two full-time minor canons, one precentor , the other succentor. The office of Priest Vicar was created in the 1970s for those who assist the minor canons. Together with the clergy and Receiver General and Chapter Clerk, various lay officers constitute the college, including the Organist and Master of the Choristers , the Registrar, the Auditor, the Legal Secretary, the Surveyor of the Fabric, the Head Master of the Choir School , the Keeper of the Muniments and the Clerk of the Works, as well as 12 lay vicars, 10 choristers and the High Steward and High Bailiff. There are also 40 Queen's Scholars who are pupils at Westminster School (the School has its own Governing Body). Those who are most directly concerned with liturgical and ceremonial matters are the two minor canons and the organist and Master of the Choristers. Contents   History   North Entrance of Westminster Abbey According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, the Abbey was first founded in the time of Mellitus (d. 624), Bishop of London, on the present site, then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island) ; based on a late tradition that a fisherman called Aldrich on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to be quoted to justify the gifts of salmon from Thames fishermen that the Abbey received in later years. In the present era, the Fishmonger's Company still gives a salmon every year. The proven origins are that in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan , assisted by King Edgar , installed a community of Benedictine monks here.   1042: Edward the Confessor starts rebuilding St. Peter's Abbey Between 1042 and 1052 King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey in order to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Norman Romanesque style. It was not completed until around 1090 but was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before the Confessor's death on 5 January 1066. [2] The next day he was buried in the church, and nine years later his wife Edith was buried alongside him. [3] His successor, Harold II , was probably crowned in the Abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. [4] The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry . Increased endowments supported a community increased from a dozen monks in Dunstan's original foundation, to about eighty monks. [5]   1245: Henry III starts construction of the present church Construction of the present church was begun in 1245 by Henry III [6] who had selected the site for his burial.   A layout plan dated 1894 The abbot and monks, in proximity to the royal Palace of Westminster, the seat of government from the later 12th centur


Name the last ruling house of Imperial Germany?

Hohenzollern Hohenzollern House of Battenberg(Mountbatten) Top Surnames The purpose of this project is to display a list of all ruling members of the house of Hohenzollern. Region of Zollern, Nuremberg, Ansbach, Kulmbach and Bayreuth, (Franconia and Bavaria, Germany) Frederick I 1061 - 1125 (son of Burhard) Frederick II 1125 - 1145 (son of Frederick I) Burkhard II 1145 - 1150 (son of Frederick I) Gotfried of Zimmern 1150 - 1160 (son of Frederick I) Frederick III/I 1160 - 1200, (son of Frederick II]) also Burgrave of Nuremberg) Frederick I/III 1192-1200 (also count of Zollern) Frederick II/IV 1204-1218 (son of Frederick I/III, also count of Zollern) Conrad I/III 1218-1261/1262 (son of FredrickI/III, also count of Zollern) John I(Johann I) 1297-1300 (son of Frederick III) Frederick IV 1300-1332 (son of Frederick III) John II 1332-1357 (son of Frederick III) Frederick V 1357-1398 (son of John II) At Frederick V's death on 21 January 1398, his lands were partitioned between his two sons:' John III/I 1398-1420 (son of Frederick V, also Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach) Frederick VI/I 1420-1427, (son of Frederick V, also Elector of Brandenburg and Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach) After John III/I's death on 11 June 1420, the two principalities were briefly reunited under Frederick VI/I From 1412 Frederick VI became Margrave of Brandenburg as Frederick I and Elector of Brandenburg as Frederick I. From 1420, he became Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Upon his death on 21 September 1440, his territories were divided between his sons: Frederick II , Elector of Brandenburg Albert III , Elector of Brandenburg and Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach From 1427 onwards the title of Burgrave of Nuremberg was absorbed into the titles of Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Frederick I/III William "the Great Elector" (Friedrich Wilhelm I) 1640-1688 (son of George William I, also Elector of Brandenburg) Frederick IV/II/I (Friedrich I) 1688-1701 (son of Friedrich Wilhelm I,also Elector of Brandenburg and King in Prussia) From 1701 the title of Duke of Prussia was attached to the title of King in and of Prussia. Kings in Prussia (1701–1772) In 1701 the title of King in Prussia was granted, without the Duchy of Prussia being elevated to a Kingdom within the Holy Roman Empire. From 1701 onwards the titles of Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg were always attached to the title of King in Prussia. Frederick I/II/IV 1701-1713 (also Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg) Frederick II the Great (Friedrich "der grosse") 1740–1786 (son of Frederick William I, also King in Prussia) In 1772 the Duchy of Prussia was elevated to a kingdom. Kings of Prussia (1772–1918) In 1772 the title of King of Prussia was granted with the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia. From 1772 onwards the titles of Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg were always attached to the title of King of Prussia Frederick II the Great (Friedrich "der grosse") 1740–1786 (son of Frederick William I, before Elector of Brandenburg) Frederick William II 1786–1797 (nephew of Frederick the great) Frederick William III 1797–1840 (son of Frederick William II) Frederick William IV 1840–1861 (son of Frederick William III) Wilhelm I 1861–1888 (brother of Frederick William) Frederick III 1888-1888 (son of William I) Wilhelm II 1888–1918 (son of Frederick III) In 1871 the Kingdom of Prussia was a constituting member of the German Empire. German Kings and Emperors (1871–1918) In 1871 the German empire was proclaimed. With the accession of Wilhelm I to the newly-established imperial German throne, the titles of King of Prussia, Duke of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg were always attached to the title of German Emperor. William I(Wilhelm I) 1871-1888 (also King of Prussia) Frederick III(Friedrich III) 1888-1888 (son of William I, also King of Prussia) William II 1888-1918 (Son of Frederick III, also King of Prussia) In 1918 the German empire was abolished and replaced by the Weimar Republic. Line of Succession (1918 to Present) Prince Georg Friedr