Who created the radio/TV character Count Arthur Strong?

News | Count Arthur Strong | Page 6Count Arthur Strong | Page 6 by Arthur . Steve Delaney has been on the Arthur Strong facebook page to answer some of the concerns voiced by longterm fans of the radio series. Here is an edited transcript of the highlights Marie Graves: r..u goin to tour again arthur.saw you at the regent theatre stoke,laughed till we cried,brilliant Mr S .x Arthur Strong: Will definitely tour again. I love the live stuff. It’s a chance to behave disgracefully again, but not until 2015 I’m afraid. Pretty sure well be back at the Regent too! Marie Graves: love the show Mr .S x Arthur Strong: Love your post Mrs G! Stuart Hammett: funny in parts but it doesn’t come across as Count Arthur Strong. Count Arthur is never wrong and will argue his case and often determined to make several attempts to find the right word. In the sitcom I just see a confused mold mannered elderly bloke Arthur Strong: Well Stuart I’m the guy who knows what Arthur will do and won’t do. Television isn’t radio. What works on the radio will often not work on tv. For the record I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved with the tv series and I love the fact that on tv things can be a little more subtle. On the radio for instance I spent half the episode describing what I was doing to people that couldn’t see what I was doing. That may have seemed like a character trait but it was actually an audio necessity. Don’t get me wrong, I loved working in radio but for me the tv series is a totally natural progression. So sorry if you don’t get it. The bottom line with the radio series was, how many more times could I repeat the format? And what was in it for me in terms of furthering what I do with Arthur? Arthur can’t stand still, he has to develop. You’ve seen two episodes so far and the BBC have paid us the huge compliment of giving us two series to develop the show. It would be nice to be given some time in this twitter/Facebook age in which we live. For better or worse. Here endeth today’s sermon! Stuart Hammett: Don’t get me wrong. I still think its very funny. I don’t expect it to be the same as radio. What I mean Arthur seems to be missing some traits (is that the word?) the way Count Arthur conducts himself. Like last night he called the Internet “Ilfracombe”. utterly brilliant but in the past its hilarious when he makes three attempts and finally gets the right word after cursing himself “oh sod it!”. Or in certain scenarios when he’s in the wrong but will always make out its someone’s else’s fault. a really unique character.  That’s what I was trying to explain Arthur Strong: Okay Stuart I get you now. But….we do have two series to define the tv Arthur and it will be different to the radio Arthur. It has to be. I suppose I’d just like people to stay with the show and be patient. Unfortunately some people expect the show to be all things to all people at once. I don’t think that’s reasonable really. There’s a transition going on. And to reiterate I love the subtle differences in the visual Arthur. It’s like a breath of fresh air to me both as performer and co writer. And I have to say Graham Linehan has brought nothing but freshness and inventiveness to the show. It’s a treat for us to work together. I hope you stay with it but it may be that you remain a fan of the radio work. Stuart Hammett: oh I’ll keep watching without question. Its very rare that I make a point of switching the tv on for myself and last night I did that. So maybe I expect too much but either way CAS is a very unique funny character Paul Carter: If I had ANY complaint at all it would be that TV Arthur doesn’t look old enough… otherwise, I larfed like a drain!! Arthur Strong I can’t help having the physique of an Adonis Paul. It’s a cross I have to bear. Paul Carter me too Arthur, it’s hell Iain Cochrane: Aside from Arthur’s subtle, necessary transitional changes, I think there are one or two unnecessary major ones. His reliance on meat and, more importantly, alcohol have been very underplayed which is strange given how central to the radio Arthur these commodities are.


Which cruise liner capsized off the island of Giglio in 2012?

Tourists offered boat tours to see the Costa Concordia cruise liner - Telegraph Italy Tourists offered boat tours to see the Costa Concordia cruise liner For £8 per person, individuals can go on a boat and see the giant cruise liner  close up, which capsized off the island of Giglio, killing 32, in January  2012 Photo: EPA Follow Tourists are being offered boat tours of the rusted, battered hulk of the Costa Concordia, as it undergoes gradual demolition in the Italian port of Genoa. For €10 euros (£8) a head, curious Italians and foreigners can board a boat which takes them within 200 yards of the macabre spectacle. Thirty-two people lost their lives when the giant cruise liner capsized off the island of Giglio in January 2012. The 950ft-long cruise ship was towed away from Giglio in July, after a complex two-year engineering operation in which it was raised, refloated and finally removed from its resting place in shallow water just outside Giglio’s port. The unprecedented salvage effort, which cost more than a billion euros, involved hundreds of engineers, mariners and divers from more than a dozen countries, including Britain. Related Articles Costa Concordia comes home to die 27 Jul 2014 Guides on the boats recount how the Concordia rammed into Giglio on the night of January 13, 2012, during an ill-judged attempt by its captain, Francesco Schettino, to sail close to the island to perform a “salute” for the benefit of passengers and crew. The hour-long tours, which leave Genoa ’s old harbour every afternoon, take visitors to the industrial port of Pra-Voltri, on the outskirts of Genoa, where the Concordia is moored. Passengers are promised an close-up view of the ship, which has giant hollow steel boxes clamped to its sides to give buoyancy. It is expected to take at least two years for the vast ship to be dismantled for scrap. Capt Francesco is on trial in Grosseto, Tuscany, on charges of manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a maritime disaster. He denies all the charges.


Which metal is produced from the ore cinnabar?

Cinnabar: The mercury mineral cinnabar: information and pictures USES Cinnabar is the most common mercury mineral and is the chief ore of that metal . It is mined extensively for the production of mercury. Aesthetic crystals of Cinnabar, especially those from China, are very popular among mineral collectors. Cinnabar has been historically used as a vermilion pigment. NOTEWORTHY LOCALITIES The finest Cinnabar crystals in the form of intensely-red bright transparent crystals come from China at Tongren, Guizhou Province, at the specific deposits of Wanshan, Yanwuping, and Yunchangping. Similar crystals occur nearby at the Chatian mine near Fenghuang, Xiangxi, Hunan Province. Almaden, Ciudad Real, Spain, is probably the most historic (as well as one of the most important) localities for Cinnabar. Specimens from that locality usually massive , but crystals have also been  found, and it has also produced specimens in association with small Native Mercury blobs. Other important deposits include Idria, Slovenia; Rudňany, Slovakia; Nikitovka (Horlivka), Donets'ka Oblast, Ukraine; and Chauvai, Alai Range, Kyrgyzstan. In Mexico, a classic locality is Charcas, San Luis Potosí. The U.S. also contains several important deposits, most notably in the mercury-producing districts of California and Nevada. California deposits include the New Almaden District, Santa Clara Co.; and New Idria and Mount Diablo, Diablo Range, San Benito / Contra Costa Counties. Nevada deposits include the Cahill Mine, Poverty Peak, Humboldt Co.; and Antelope Springs, Pershing Co. Other occurences include Terlingua, Brewster Co., Texas; and Kirby, Pike Co., Arkansas.


Who wrote the memoir Path to Power in 1995?

The Path to Power: Amazon.co.uk: Margaret Thatcher: 9780002550505: Books The Path to Power Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Apple To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. or Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here , or download a FREE Kindle Reading App . Product details Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (12 Jun. 1995) Language: English Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.4 x 6.2 cm Average Customer Review: Product Description From the Back Cover In 'The Downing Street Years' Margaret Thatcher gave her own account of her prime ministership from 1979 to 1990. That book justly became a best-seller all over the world. Now, in 'The Path to Power', she writes for the first time about her personal life, about the formation of her character and values, and about the training and experience which led to the 1979 election victory. It is, if anything, an even more gripping book than its predecessor. She was born and brought up in the modest Lincolnshire market town of Grantham, where her father became mayor. The degree to which she imbibed at his knee the virtues of self-reliance, thrift and respectful neighbourliness is revealed in this book as never before. She went to Oxford, worked as a research chemist, was courted by and married Denis Thatcher; through all these the utter and growing centrality of politics to her mind is here completely evident. Then, at a time when there were no more than a handful of women in the House of Commons, she became an MP, Education Secretary and eventually, in 1975, Leader of the Opposition. She writes explicitly about all of these: about her feelings towards Ted Heath as she sat uncomfortably in his Cabinets, about her rethinking of conservatism under the inspiration of Keith Joseph (throughout the books she points out, with a candour which her detractors may find alarming, occasions on which she was wrong or performed at less than her best), about the Winter of Discontent, the fall of the Callaghan Government and the country which she inherited. 'The economics had gone wrong because something else had gone wrong spiritually and philosophically. The economic crisis was a crisis of the spirit of the nation. 'So a last', she writes of 1979, 'I had my chance, my only chance.' All this would be quite sufficient to make a riveting memoir. But Margaret Thatcher also now writes for the first time, quite openly, about her feelings as she left Downing Street in 1990 and about the course Britain, Europe and the world have taken since then. The magnificent coherence of her moral and political vision, stretching back to Grantham and forward right up to the present day, is brilliantly delineated in this second part of the book. In our uncertain and increasingly rudderless world, here is a woman who knows what she thinks and why she thinks it, a leader as formidable as ever she was during her years in Downing Street. The voice which the world listened to so intently then speaks again now in these pages. Lady Thatcher was leader of the Conservative Party for fifteen years and Prime Minister for eleven and a half. About the Author In 1979 Margaret Thatcher became the first woman British Prime Minister. A decade later she became the first premier for 160 years to win three consecutive general elections. In 1990 she resigned her leadership of an increasingly divided and turbulent government. She is the only PM to have given her name to a branch of political philosophy, and arguably the most important figure in postwar British politics. What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Which driver won the Formula One World Championship in 1964?\

John Surtees - 1964 John Surtees Share Famed as the only World Champion on both two and four wheels, John Surtees rode motorcycles and drove Formula One cars with equal skill and bravery. He made the leap from bikes to cars with surprising ease, though his quick climb to the pinnacle of motorsport was also the result of a great deal of hard effort by a serious-minded driver whose fierce independence ultimately proved to be a handicap. Having won the driving title at Ferrari, he left after a violent argument and was thereafter ill-equipped to win consistently. His family background gave John Surtees a head start on motorcycles. His father Jack, who owned a motorcycle shop in South London, was a three-time British motorcycle sidecar champion. The eldest of three children, John was born on February 11, 1934, and by the time he was 11 he had a bike of his own and could ride and repair it with equal skill. At 16 he left school and became an apprentice engineer at the Vincent motorcycle factory. A year later he competed in his first solo race and won it. In 1955 he became a member of the Norton works team and rode to victory 68 times in 76 races. From 1956 to 1960 he raced 350cc and 500cc bikes for the famed Italian MV Agusta team and won seven world championships.  His transition to becoming a star in cars was nearly as swift. In 1959 the by now famous bike racer was given test drives by eager talent-hunters. In his first single-seater race, at Goodwood in a F3 Cooper entered by Ken Tyrrell, Surtees finished a close second to Jim Clark, then a promising beginner with Team Lotus, whose boss Colin Chapman promptly hired Surtees for the last four races of the 1960 Formula One season. His results - a second place in the British Grand Prix and a near win in Portugal - made Surtees a driver in demand. He stopped racing motorcycles and considered several Formula One offers, including one from Chapman to partner Clark at Team Lotus. Instead, Surtees opted to drive a Cooper in 1961 and a Lola in 1962, neither venture producing much in the way of results. However, his twin strengths of talent and tenacity kept Surtees in the limelight, especially in Italy, where the former MV Agusta star was now invited to lead the country's famous Formula One team. Enzo Ferrari (who had managed a motorcycle racing team in the 1930s) was a great admirer of the passion and fighting spirit shown by Surtees the bike racer, and hired him as his number one Formula One driver for 1963. In that year's German Grand Prix at the mighty Nurburgring a ferocious fight with Jim Clark's Lotus resulted in a first championship win for John Surtees. In Italy, the former motorcycle hero known as 'Son of the Wind' and 'John the Great' was hailed as Ferrari's saviour. Nicknamed 'Big John' in English, he also became 'Fearless John' - particularly in 1964 after he won another brilliant victory at the daunting and dangerous Nurburgring, where he beat Graham Hill in a BRM. With another victory, at Monza, Surtees was in contention for the title. So, too, were his countrymen Hill and Clark, each of whom had also won two races. In their Mexican Grand Prix championship showdown Clark's Lotus was waylaid by an oil leak and Hill's BRM was accidentally shoved out of contention by Lorenzo Bandini's Ferrari, whose team mate finished second to become World Champion.  For John Surtees, the satisfaction of becoming the first World Champion on both two and four wheels was only mitigated by the fact that he had clinched all his bike titles with race victories. Though he would win three more Formula One championship races, there were no more driving titles in his future. To some degree he was a victim of circumstances, though his feisty personality and fierce independence were also factors.  He developed a reputation for being argumentative and cantankerous. Certainly, he said what he thought and did not suffer fools gladly. While most drivers left their aggression in the cockpit, Surtees seemed to keep his 'race face' on, which could be intimidating.  In 1965, when Ferrari's Formula One car


Who was the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate in the USA 2008 Elections?

Vice Presidental Candidates - Election Guide 2008 - The New York Times Topic Page | Blog Posts Senator from Delaware Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s expertise in foreign policy helped raise his standing with Senator Barack Obama, who announced Aug. 24 that Mr. Biden was his choice to be the next vice president of the United States. An Irish Catholic son of Scranton, Pa., the sort of white, working-class city that Mr. Obama is fighting to win this November, Mr. Biden, 66, is in some ways a political elder brother to Mr. Obama: competitive and protective, far more experienced in government and politics, and already a veteran orator when Mr. Obama was still finding his voice. Mr. Biden has at times acted as blunt-speaking provocateur to Mr. Obama, challenging the younger politician’s ideas and assumptions in ways that Mr. Obama said he wants from his running mate. A man of strong and many opinions, with a puckish humor and an inability to say no to Sunday news programs, Mr. Biden also has been satirized as the personification of senatorial windiness, though in the presidential debates of this past year he showed new discipline for keeping his comments succinct. Topic Page | Blog Posts Governor of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s surprising selection on Aug. 29 to be his vice-presidential running mate, took Alaska by surprise, too, not long ago. Though indisputably Alaskan, she rose to prominence by bucking the state's rigid Republican hierarchy, impressing voters more with gumption, warmth and charm than an established record in government. Before Ms. Palin, 44, became Alaska’s first female governor, in 2006, the top line on her political resume was her tenure as mayor of Wasilla, a growing suburb of Anchorage with fewer than 7,000 residents. Ms. Palin jumped into the governor’s race as an outsider calling for reform, taking on the Republican incumbent. Youthful and sympathetic with voters but bluntly critical of her party’s leadership, she won in a landslide and rolled through the general election. Now, after barely 20 months in office in a state that has rarely played much of a role in national politics, Ms. Palin is again challenging expectations, including those of her own party.


Which goddess in Greek Mythology did the Romans identify with Diana?

DIANA, Roman Mythology Index Venus Binding Cupid (detail Diana), by Tiziano Vecelli (Titian) (1485-1576), Italian Renaissance painter An original Italian divinity, whom the Romans completely identified with the Greek Artemis . The earliest trace of her worship occurs in the story about Servius Tullius , who is said to have dedicated to her a temple on the Aventine, on the ides of Sextilis (August.) It is added that, as Diana was the protectress of the slaves, the day on which that temple had been dedicated was afterwards celebrated every year by slaves of both sexes, and was called the day of the slaves (dies servorum; Fest. s. v. servorum dies; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 100; Martial, xii. 67.) Besides that day of the slaves, we hear of no festival of Diana in early times, which may be accounted for by supposing that either she was a divinity of inferior rank, or that her worship had been introduced at Rome without being sanctioned or recognized by the government, that is, by the ruling patricians. The former cannot have been the case, as the goddess was worshipped by the plebeians and the Latins as their patron divinity; for a tradition related that the plebeians had emigrated twice to the Aventine, where stood the temple of Diana (Liv. ii. 32, iii. 51, 54; Sallust, Jug. 31); and the temple which Servius Tullius built on the Aventine was founded for the benefit of the Latin subjects, who assembled and sacrificed there every year. (Dionys. iv. 26; comp. Liv. i. 45; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 4.) The Sabines and Latins, who formed the main stock of the plebeians, were thus in all probability the original worshippers of Diana at Rome. Now we know that the Aventine was first occupied by the conquered Sabines who were transplanted to Rome (Serv. ad Aen. vii. 657; Dionys. iii. 43), and as it is stated that shortly before the decemviral legislation the Aventine was assigned to the plebeians, and that the law ordaining this assignment was kept in the temple of Diana (Dionys. x. 32; Liv. iii. 54), it seems clear that Diana's worship was introduced at Rome by the Sabines and Latins on their becoming plebeians, and that she was worshipped by them in particular without the state taking any notice of her, or ordaining any festival in honour of her. Varro (de L. L. v. 74) moreover expressly attests, that the worship and name of Diana had come from the Sabines. Now, as the religion of the Latins and Sabines did not differ in any essential point from that of the Romans, we may ask what Roman divinity corresponded to the Sabine or Latin Diana? Diana loved to dwell in groves and in the neighbourhood of wells; she inspired men with enthusiasm and madness; she dreaded the very sight of male beings so much, that no man was allowed to enter her temple, and she herself remained a virgin (Horat. Epist. ii. 1. 454; Plut. Quaest. Rom. 3; Fest. s. v. Juvenilia; Augustin, de Civ. Dei, vii. 16); and these characteristics at once show a striking resemblance between Diana and Feronia or Fauna Fatua . This circumstance, and the fact that Diana was the goddess of the moon, also render it easy to conceive how the Romans afterwards came to identify Diana with the Greek Artemis, for Fauna Fatua bore the same relation to Picus and Faunus that Artemis bore to Apollo . (Hartung, Die Relig. der Röm. ii. p. 207, &c.; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, i. p. 367, &c.) [Comp. VIRBIUS .]


In which UK County is the village of Stilton?

Stilton Village Website | About Stilton, Cambridgeshire, UK Thence to Stilton, slowly paced, With no bloome nor blossome graced, With no plums nor apples stored, But smoothen, like an old man’s fore’d. Yet with Innes so well provided, Men are pleased when they have tryde it. Stilton is a large village located in north-west Cambridgeshire, around six miles south west of Peterborough and around 70 miles north of London on the Great North Road – the A1(M). This section of the website provides an insight into the history of the village, and perhaps explains why it has a reputation as a hard-working and hospitable community! The birthplace of Stilton cheese The village gave its name to the world’s best-known cheese, and we celebrate the association with the world-famous Stilton Cheese Rolling event every May Day. Not surprisingly, one of the first questions that visitors ask is “Where’s the cheese factory?” Well, we’re sorry to disappoint you, but there isn’t one….. yet! For more about the history of Stilton cheese go to the Stilton Cheese page . To find out how we’re hoping to rewrite the history, go to the ‘It’s our Cheese!’ page. But there’s a lot more to Stilton than the cheese. On this website you will find a glimpse of some of the more colourful aspects of Stilton’s history, as well as an insight into our village life. Stilton is, above all, a living village. You won’t find “tourist traps”, souvenir shops, or odd characters in period costume, just good honest people living and working together. Happily, we are indeed still “so well provided” with inns. Here you will find a variety of hotels, pubs & restaurants providing excellent accommodation & refreshments, just as they did to those hardy souls who travelled the Great North Road in horse-drawn coaches. Visitor, why not stay and enjoy our hospitality? And when you have refreshed yourself, follow our Village Trail . Walk off an excellent lunch and take a peep back into a bygone age. Picture Stilton as a frenzied bustle of horses, drivers, passengers, blacksmiths and inn-keepers, while travellers of every description made their way along our High Street. If you listen very carefully you may even hear the ghostly sound of Black Bess’s hooves as Dick Turpin makes his escape…. Enjoy Stilton! A place to live, work and play Stilton’s dependence on the main road has been its undoing twice: in the middle of the 19th century when the railway line passed to the east through Holme and Yaxley, and in 1959 when the present A1 bypass was opened. Stilton became a ghost village; businesses disappeared and even the Bell Inn closed and fell into dereliction. But times have changed for the better. The Great North Road which once brought business and visitors straight into the village now provides easy access to one of the most economically important regions of Britain. Residents enjoy excellent road and rail communication to London, Cambridge, the industrial midlands and the agricultural fenlands. As a result, Stilton is today a vibrant community of people from all walks of life. Businesses thrive here and the Bell Inn has become one of the finest inns in the country. In 1962 Tom McDonald of The Talbot and Malcolm Moyer of The Bell, aided and abetted by telephone engineer Fred Linstead, who provided a telegraph pole, cheered up their drinkers by organising the first ever Cheese Rolling along a course on the High Street on Easter Monday. Now it has become an important annual May Day festival, attracting media attention from around the world. The last half-century has seen Stilton grow considerably, with many trim new housing estates, but still retains its village character, with many thriving organisations , pubs and restaurants, an excellent primary school , shops (including a Post Office and pharmacy), playing field , and SCAN , the eagerly-awaited monthly newsletter. Thinking of joining us? As a genuine village community, Stilton offers a wide variety of homes to suit every type of household, from apartments and starter homes, through a range of family homes to some excellent retirement


Which pop group did Zayn Malik leave in March 2015?

Zayn Malik leaving One Direction - CNN.com Zayn Malik leaving One Direction By Todd Leopold , CNN Updated 3:01 PM ET, Thu March 26, 2015 Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: OMG, boy bands *NSYNC – *NSYNC members Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez and Joey Fatone struck gold in the United States with "I Want You Back" in 1998. Before they broke up in 2002, the group established a mega fan base with songs like "No Strings Attached" and "Bye, Bye, Bye." Although they're not together anymore, *NSYNC is as popular as ever; you should've heard the shrieking their reunion at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards caused. Hide Caption 1 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands One Direction has become one of the world's most successful groups. Fans adore Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson. In October, the group broke a chart record held by the Beatles before heading on a hiatus in December. Hide Caption 2 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands Backstreet Boys – In 1996, the Backstreet Boys released their debut album, "Backstreet's Back." "Millennium," "Black & Blue," "Never Gone," "Unbreakable" and "This Is Us" followed. After parting with the group years ago, Kevin Richardson (second from left) rejoined A.J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter and Brian Littrell. In March, they confirmed that they would be doing a limited Vegas residency as well as a new album and tour. Here are some other boy bands to scream over. Hide Caption 3 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands 5 Seconds of Summer – Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin met in the Western Sydney suburbs and played their first gig as 5 Seconds of Summer at a Sydney hotel in 2011. They grew their fan base by posting videos on YouTube, and soon enough, they were opening for One Direction. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2014 and debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard chart. Hide Caption 4 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands Westlife – Though they never made it big in the U.S., boy band Westlife was a huge hit in their native Ireland. They'd sold more than 50 million copies of their albums worldwide by the time they disbanded in 2012. Hide Caption 5 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands Boyzone – Sometimes considered the original Irish boy band, Boyzone was founded in 1993 and won many BRIT and Europe Music Awards. Hide Caption 6 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands New Kids on the Block – Danny Wood, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre and Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block perform live in 2008. The group, which rose to superstardom in the late '80s and early '90s, reunited for 2008's "The Block" and 2011's "NKOTBSB" with the Backstreet Boys. The Kids released their box set "10" in 2013. Hide Caption 7 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands New Edition – Ralph Tresvant, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, Bobby Brown and Johnny Gill of New Edition perform an homage to Michael Jackson during the 2009 BET Awards. The R&B group's albums include 1983's "Candy Girl" and 1988's "Heart Break," among others. Hide Caption 8 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands 98 Degrees – 98 Degrees perform in 1999, made up of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons. The group released three albums, in addition to one Christmas album, between 1997 and 2000. Their latest album, "2.0," arrived in 2013. Hide Caption 9 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands Hanson – Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson of Hanson perform in 2001. The brothers became superstars with their 1997 album "Middle of Nowhere" thanks to a little earworm called "MMMBop." Hide Caption 10 of 17 Photos: OMG, boy bands The Wanted – The Wanted released their self-titled debut album in 2010, and by 2012 their song "Glad You Came" was inescapable. Jay McGuiness, Nathan Sykes, Max George, Siva Kaneswaran and Tom Parker, here after receiving a 2013 People's Choice award, are repped by Justin Bieber's manager Scooter Braun, so they know a thing or two about heartthrobbing. The group has appeared on TV in the E! reality show "The Wanted Life," and the


Who became the first King of a unified Italy in 1861?

Italy Celebrates 150 Years of Unification - Seeker Mar 18, 2011 04:31 PM ET Italy Celebrates 150 Years of Unification Before 1861, Italy was, in the words of the Austrian statesman Metternich, a "mere geographical expression." Italy never saw so many national flags waving in the air as on March 17, 2011. Posted across windows and balconies all over the country, thousands of green, white and red flags celebrated the 150th anniversary of the country’s unification. As a nation-state, Italy is younger than the United States. The home of the ancient Roman empire became a nation as a whole just 150 years ago, on March 17, 1861. On that day, Victor Emmanuel II became the first king of a unified Italy. It was the culmination of the Risorgimento, the movement for independence that for years struggled to free the country from foreign rule and unite several micro-states. Indeed, before 1861, Italy was, in the words of the Austrian statesman Metternich, a "mere geographical expression." The country was just a patchwork of city-states and regions ruled by the pope and a variety of monarchs. Established as a monarchy with a parliamentary government (the Italian Republic was founded in 1946), the new state had its first capital in Turin. Four years later, in 1865, the capital was moved to Florence and then, in 1871, to Rome. A number of events have marked the anniversary, including parades, fireworks, jets streaming green, white and red smoke trails across the sky, and historical re-enactments recalling the campaign of Risorgimental hero Giuseppe Garibaldi to bring Italy's deeply different states together. “Without unity our nation would have been swept away by history,” said Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. Despite heavy rain in many cities, hundreds of thousands celebrated singing the national anthem, “Brothers of Italy,” as green-white-red light projections covered the facade of the main monuments. “From North to South, all proud of the three-color flag,” wrote the daily La Repubblica . The newspaper reported the results of a national poll, which found about 90 percent of Italians are happy about the country’s unification. “It’s a feeling shared everywhere … even among the supporters of the Northern League [whose leader campaigned in the 1990s for the complete secession of “Padania,” north of the Po River]. … Compared with 10 years ago, Italians are feeling more unhappy and divided. But they are convinced that in 10 years the country will be more united, in a still united Europe,” La Repubblica wrote. Italian flags on windows and balconies celebrate Italy's 150th anniversary of unification (Photo: Rossella Lorenzi)


What was the treaty which concluded the War of Spanish Succession in 1713?

War of Spanish Succession | Article about War of Spanish Succession by The Free Dictionary War of Spanish Succession | Article about War of Spanish Succession by The Free Dictionary http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/War+of+Spanish+Succession War of the Spanish Succession (redirected from War of Spanish Succession) Related to War of Spanish Succession: War of Austrian succession Spanish Succession, War of the, 1701–14, last of the general European wars caused by the efforts of King Louis XIV Louis XIV, 1638–1715, king of France (1643–1715), son and successor of King Louis XIII. Early Reign After his father's death his mother, Anne of Austria, was regent for Louis, but the real power was wielded by Anne's adviser, Cardinal Mazarin. ..... Click the link for more information.  to extend French power. The conflict in America corresponding to the period of the War of the Spanish Succession was known as Queen Anne's War (see French and Indian Wars French and Indian Wars, 1689–1763, the name given by American historians to the North American colonial wars between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th cent. ..... Click the link for more information. ). Causes The precarious health of the childless King Charles II Charles II, 1661–1700, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily (1665–1700), son and successor of Philip IV. The last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, he was physically crippled and mentally retarded. ..... Click the link for more information.  of Spain left the succession open to the claims of three principal pretenders—Louis XIV, in behalf of his eldest son, a grandson of King Philip IV of Spain through Philip's daughter, Marie Thérèse, to whom Louis XIV had been married; the electoral prince of Bavaria, Joseph Ferdinand, a great-grandson of Philip IV; and Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, who had married a younger daughter of Philip IV, but claimed the succession in behalf of his son by a second marriage, Archduke Charles (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI Charles VI, 1685–1740, Holy Roman emperor (1711–40), king of Bohemia (1711–40) and, as Charles III, king of Hungary (1712–40); brother and successor of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. Charles was the last Holy Roman emperor of the direct Hapsburg line. ..... Click the link for more information. ). England and Holland were opposed to the union of French and Spanish dominions, which would have made France the leading world power and diverted Spanish trade from England and Holland to France. On the other hand, England, Holland, and France were all opposed to Archduke Charles, because his accession would reunite the Spanish and Austrian branches of the Hapsburg family. Louis XIV, exhausted by the War of the Grand Alliance, sought a peaceful solution to the succession controversy and reached an agreement (1698) with King William III William III, 1650–1702, king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689–1702); son of William II, prince of Orange, stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and of Mary, oldest daughter of King Charles I of England. ..... Click the link for more information.  of England. This First Partition Treaty designated Joseph Ferdinand as the principal heir; in compensation, the French dauphin was to receive territory including Naples and Sicily, and Milan was to fall to Archduke Charles. Spain opposed the partition of its empire, and Charles II responded by naming Joseph Ferdinand sole heir to the entire Spanish Empire. The unexpected death (1699) of Joseph Ferdinand rendered the Anglo-French treaty inoperative and led to the Second Partition Treaty (1700), agreed upon by France, England, and the Netherlands; under its terms, France was to receive Naples, Sicily, and Milan, while the rest of the Spanish dominions were to go to Archduke Charles. The treaty was acceptable to Louis XIV but was rejected by Leopold, who insisted upon gaining the entire inheritance for his son. While the diplomats were still seeking a peaceful solution, Spanish grandees, desiring to preserve territorial unity, persuaded the dying Charles II to name as his


Whom did Idi Amin depose in the 1971 coup in Uganda?

Biography: Idi Amin Dada, the Butcher of Uganda President of Uganda Idi Amin. He seized power after a coup in January 1971 and was driven from Uganda by Tanzanian forces in 1979.  Keystone / Staff/ Hulton Archive/ Getty Images Updated February 28, 2016. Idi Amin Dada, who became known as the 'Butcher of Uganda' for his brutal, despotic rule whilst president of Uganda in the 1970s, is possibly the most notorious of all Africa's post-independence dictators. Amin seized power in a military coup in 1971 and ruled over Uganda for 8 years. Estimates for the number of his opponents who were either killed, tortured, or imprisoned vary from 100,000 to half a million. He was ousted in 1979 by Ugandan nationalists, after which he fled into exile. Date of birth: 1925, near Koboko, West Nile province, Uganda Date of death: 16 August 2003, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia An Early Life Idi Amin Dada was born in 1925 near Koboko, in the West Nile Province of what is now the Republic of Uganda. continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World Deserted by his father at an early age, he was brought up by his mother, a herbalist and diviner. He was a member of the Kakwa ethnic group, a small Islamic tribe that was settled in the region. Success in the King's African Rifles Idi Amin received little formal education: sources are unclear whether or not he attended the local missionary school. However, in 1946 he joined the King's African Rifles , KAR (Britain's colonial African troops), and served in Burma, Somalia, Kenya (during the British suppression of the Mau Mau ) and Uganda. Although he was considered a skilled, and somewhat overeager, soldier, Amin developed a reputation for cruelty - he was almost cashiered on several occasions for excessive brutality during interrogations. He rose through the ranks, reaching sergeant-major before finally being made an effendi, the highest rank possible for a Black African serving in the British army. Amin was also an accomplished sportsman, holding Uganda's light heavyweight boxing championship from 1951 to 1960. A Hint of What was to Come? As Uganda approached independence Idi Amin's close colleague Apolo Milton Obote , the leader of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), was made chief minister, and then prime minister. Obote had Amin, one of only two high ranking Africans in the KAR, appointed as First Lieutenant of the Ugandan army. Sent north to quell cattle stealing, Amin perpetrated such atrocities that the British government demanded he be prosecuted. Instead Obote arranged for him to receive further military training in the UK. A Willing Soldier for the State On his return to Uganda in 1964, Idi Amin was promoted to major and given the task of dealing with an army in mutiny. His success led to a further promotion to colonel. In 1965 Obote and Amin were implicated in a deal to smuggle gold, coffee, and ivory out of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - the subsequent funds should have been channeled to troops loyal to the murdered DRC prime minister Patrice Lumumba, but according to their leader, General Olenga, never arrived. A parliamentary investigation demanded by President Edward Mutebi Mutesa II (who was also the King of Buganda, known colloquially as 'King Freddie') put Obote on the defensive - he promoted Amin to general and made him Chief-of-Staff, had five ministers arrested, suspended the 1962 constitution, and declared himself president. King Freddie was finally forced into exile in Britain in 1966 when government forces, under the command of Idi Amin, stormed the royal palace. Coup d'Etat Idi Amin began to strengthen his position within the army, using the funds obtained from smuggling and from supplying arms to rebels in southern Sudan. He also developed ties with British and Israeli agents in the country. President Obote first responded by putting Amin under house arrest, and when this failed to work, Amin was sidelined to a non-executive position in the army. On 25 January 1971, whilst Obote attended a Commonwealth meeting in Singapore, Amin led a coup d'etat and to


Who was killed in Mexico by Ramon Mercador in 1940?

Forgotten Assassin: Ramón Mercader, The Man Who Murdered Leon Trotsky Forgotten Assassin: Ramón Mercader, The Man Who Murdered Leon Trotsky 02/18/13 AT 10:24 AM Close Lee Harvey Oswald, Gavrilo Princip, Nathuram Godse and Sirhan Sirhan comprise the most famous assassins of political figures in the 20th century. Their murderous acts not only changed history but also guaranteed them everlasting infamy and a kind of immortality. However, some prominent assassins have become forgotten in the mists of time -- one of them was born 100 years ago in Barcelona, Spain. Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río, a Spanish communist and agent for Russia’s notorious NKVD intelligence agency, murdered Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940 under orders from Joseph Stalin. [[nid:1091296]] Trotsky, once one of the most powerful and influential members of the Russian Communist Party and founder and leader of the Red Army, grew dismayed by the rising power of Stalin in the 1920s in the wake of Vladimir Lenin’s death. Sensing a dire threat to his supremacy, Stalin removed Trotsky from power in 1927, forced him out of the party and deported him in 1929 to Turkey, where he remained for four years near Istanbul. After brief (and harried) stays in France and Norway, the heavily guarded Trotsky eventually moved to Mexico, where he continued to oppose Stalin and his policies -- a stance that marked him for death. Trotsky wrote prolifically in Mexico, including a book titled “The Revolution Betrayed,” a vitriolic attack on Stalinism. (This period coincided with the Great Terror in Russia, whereby Stalin purged tens of thousands of former communist party members, including sham trials, imprisonment and execution of many of Trotsky’s former Bolshevik allies.) However, Trotsky’s years in Mexico were not entirely unpleasant -- he and his family resided in the Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City, where he became intimate with married painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. (Trotsky and Frida even had an affair.) But Trotsky was living on borrowed time. Enter Jamie Mercader. Mercader’s Cuban-born mother, Eustaquia María Caridad del Río Hernández, who raised him alone in France, was an ardent communist and fanatical Stalinist who fought in the Spanish Civil War and also worked for the Soviet underground. Caridad hailed from a wealthy and aristocratic landowning family in Cuba, while her husband, Pau Mercader, was a rich Catalan industrialist whom she quickly grew bored with and divorced. (As it turns out, “Mercader” means “merchant” in Catalan.) Growing up in France, Mercader embraced his mother’s ideology, then worked for various leftist organizations in Spain and eventually came to the attention of NKVD recruitment officer Nahum Eitingon, who took him to Moscow to train as a Soviet agent. Mercader’s road to his fateful encounter with Trotsky took some unexpected turns. While studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, he met Sylvia Ageloff, an American friend of Trotsky. As a Soviet spy, Mercader pretended he was Jacques Mornard, the son of a Belgian diplomat and a Trotskyite. Handsome, well-groomed and fluent in French and English, Mercader made a perfect spy for the Soviets. The following year, Mercader followed Ageloff to the U.S., where he assumed the false identity of a Canadian name Frank Jacson. By October 1939, Mercader moved (with his now-lover Ageloff) to Mexico City, where Trotsky and his family were living in exile. Trotsky had already survived prior assassination attempts by other Soviet agents. One of those agents, a man named Pavel Sudoplatov, claimed in his memoirs that, upon receiving the directive to kill Trotsky from Lavrenti Beria, Stalin’s fearsome chief of state security, he selected Mercader to carry out the murder of Trotsky. Using Ageloff as a link, Mercader (as Jacson) befriended Trotsky, pretending to be a sympathizer in order to put the doomed man at ease. Trotsky’s trust in Mercader eventually cost him his life -- on Aug. 20, 1940, Mercader attacked his host with an ice pick, failing to kill him. As Trotsky’s guards seized Me


Whistleberry Farm - Dark Cornish Chickens Contact Us Dark Cornish Chickens The Dark Cornish is a traditional chicken developed purely for great  taste.  To back up, the Cornish/Rock hybrid cross was developed to  meet the demands of the commercial market, and that is the type of chicken  you see in the average store.  Way back when, the Rock was chosen  to contribute its size and fast growth to the hybrid mix.  The  Cornish was chosen to add better flavor.  That hybrid cross, many  generations later, has resulted in a product of breeding so selective and so  specific as to bear no resemblance to any of the original heavy meat breeds  used to produce it.  It can be grown, and we have grown it, on  pasture and without drugs.  The bird of choice here is the  uncompromised original, the Dark Cornish. The Dark Cornish is indeed a small bird.  It is a luxury.   I have been growing them for myself for years.  It  results in a bird a little larger than a Cornish Game Hen, with the  appearance of a plump roaster.  We grow them to about 12 weeks  and they are still small.  They are very active birds, forage as  aggressively as anything I have ever raised, and the worst thing I can say  bout them is that they are very, very hard to catch.  I refer to  them as my feral chickens.  They have great instincts about  avoiding predators, although they are not very nice-natured.  If I  ever go out in the morning and find a red fox dead in the yard, I�ll know  that one of the Dark Cornish got him.  They are expensive to  raise.  You will have a tasty little dinner for two with leftovers,  or for four without anything to put away. A NOTE ON WHAT WE DO NOT RAISE: We do not raise the over-sized,  double-wide birds you see in the grocery store.  Almost all of the  chicken you have ever seen in a supermarket is of one general type, derived  from the Cornish Cross hybrid.  The Cornish Cross is a large  broiler/roaster designed for commercial production, but amazingly adaptable f  or pastured, no-drug rearing.  The controversy over this bird  arises from the fact that it owes its existence to the industry�s desire to  create a creature that could survive the abuses of confinement rearing,  grow at an abnormal rate and be ready for butcher in 6-8 weeks.  It  is not a breed; it will not reproduce true to type.  It the end  point of selective hybridization, and the industry will create more next year from the same hybridization  methods.  It is a food source whose genetics are owned by corporations.  It has been  developed to withstand the cruelty and abuses of the commercial poultry industry.  If is  disappeared tomorrow, those abusive management practices would have to change.  All of that has  led me to be concerned about raising these hybrids, as has the fact that raising them is disapproved of  by people whose opinion I respect, like the folks from the Animal Welfare Institute, and the American  Livestock Breeds Conservancy.  It concerns me even though pasture rearing that bird is an  improvement over buying one in the store, for you and the bird.  On balance, I have decided  against doing so.  In part that is because I have raised them on pasture and concluded that while  they thrived and foraged in a pastured, no-drug environment, their failure to run around like other  chickens suggested that they were not comfortable trying to support their immense bodies on what are after  all, little chicken legs. For more information, please contact  me personally. Nila Robinson


A statue of whom was unveiled in Parliament Square London in 2015?

Gandhi statue unveiled in Parliament Square, London - BBC News BBC News Media playback is unsupported on your device Gandhi statue unveiled in Parliament Square, London 14 March 2015 Last updated at 15:32 GMT The grandson of the Indian independence campaigner Mahatma Gandhi has paid tribute to him at the unveiling of a new statue in London. Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and UK Prime Minister David Cameron were among those attending the ceremony in Parliament Square. Gopal Gandhi said the UK was honouring his grandfather despite his opposition to its rule because his cause was "just" and the fairness of his campaign "set an all-time example."


Who presented Police Five on television?

Shaw Taylor presented Police 5 on Southampton-based TVS (From Daily Echo) Shaw Taylor presented Police 5 on Southampton-based TVS Shaw Taylor 15 comments SHAW Taylor, one of the pioneers of solving crime on TV, has died at the age of 90. Mr Taylor was one of the best-known faces on regional TV in the 1960s to the early 1980s. He presented Police 5 on independent television including Southampton -based TVS, a long-running five-minute show that from 1962 appealed to the public to help solve crimes. The show broadcast an estimated 25,000 appeals to help with police work. It was a forerunner to Crimewatch which has helped snares hundreds of criminals. His catchphrase was “Keep ’em peeled!”, urging the public to be alert to crime, and he recently reported that strangers still shout it at him in the street. In 2014 Channel 5 revived Police 5 with new presenters and, at the age of 89, he appeared on each programme for a short segment. Mr Taylor was born in London and served in the RAF. After the Second World War he worked as a stage and television actor and TV announcer. He wife Ianette predeceased him. He leaves theri son Richard and his partner Shirley Ferrari. He died at his home at Totland on the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.


English Castles - Corfe Castle  Castles of England - Corfe Castle Location Corfe Castle, Dorset, England Description Corfe Castle is situated in the village of Corfe between Swanage and Wareham 4 miles away. The castle occupies a strategic position on a chalk mound in the Purbeck hills inland from the Dorset coastline. The castle and estate, including the village of Corfe covers around 8,000 acres including coastline and the Isle of Purbeck although the castle itself is now in a totally ruinous state. Visitors can still see the defenses, the outer and south west gatehouses with their murder holes, and parts of the battlements including two round towers and an impressive solitary wall and a defensive ditch. Facilities Open to the public all year round from 10am the site offers a tearoom and shop and an interactive exhibition covering the treason and treachery that took place within the castle walls throughout the ages. A self catering cottage sleeping four is also available within the grounds offering views of the surrounding hillside and the castle. History There has been a castle on the site since 900AD but the oldest surviving parts of the current structure date back the 11th century when a stone hall and inner bailey wall were built by William the Conqueror just after 1066. Prior to the 13th century other halls, towers and walls were added and the castle was used as a home to King John as well as a prison and a royal treasure store. He was also responsible for the castle�s refortification and the addition of a west bailey which was similar to one built by Richard the Lionheart at Chateau Gailard. The castle remained in royal hands until the 16th century when Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton her lord Chancellor and he in turn sold it in 1635 to Sir John Bankes. Sir John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I, was away attending to the King when the castle came under siege twice by parliamentary forces so his wife, Lady Mary Bankes, was responsible for defending the castle. The first siege in 1643 lasted six weeks and the second, two years later, lasted over two months. It was during this siege that the castle was betrayed by one of the garrison, captured and destroyed by explosives. Following the fall of the castle the Bankes family chose not to rebuild it but instead built a new house at their other estate in Kingston Lacy leaving the castle abandoned. The locals took advantage of the unwanted masonry, windows, doors and other items to build houses of their own. During the 1980�s the entire Bankes family estate was handed over to the National Trust including the village of Corfe and the castle. During 2006 the National Trust were forced to close the castle for safety reasons and an extensive restoration project began taking three years to complete. Other Castles in the Area


Who has won Best Leading Actor Oscars for his roles in ‘Milk’ and ‘Mystic River’?

Sean Penn - Awards - IMDb Sean Penn Showing all 71 wins and 101 nominations Academy Awards, USA Bill Pohlad INTO THE WILD is a vast journey across America - and deep inside oneself. Writer/director Sean ... More INTO THE WILD is a vast journey across America - and deep inside oneself. Writer/director Sean Penn's sensitive adaptation and expansive direction brilliantly captures the exuberance and idealism of youth - and the danger of pushing love away. The story lives in the eyes of Emile Hirsch, the warm smile of Catherine Keener, and the luminous spirit of Hal Holbrook. INTO THE WILD celebrates the dreamer in all of us - and the danger of dreaming alone. Alliance of Women Film Journalists


Which country staged the final of the 2012 EUFA European Championship?

UEFA Euro 2012 | Football Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia 2016 → The 2012 UEFA European Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA . The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 July 2012, was hosted for the first time by Poland and Ukraine, and was won by Spain , who beat Italy 4–0 in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine. Poland and Ukraine's bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee in 2007. The two host teams qualified automatically while the remaining 14 finalists were decided through a qualifying competition , featuring 51 teams, from August 2010 to November 2011. This was the last European Championship to employ the 16-team finals format in use since 1996 ; from Euro 2016 onward, it will be expanded to 24 finalists. Euro 2012 was played at eight venues, four in each host country. Five new stadiums were built for the tournament, and the hosts invested heavily in improving infrastructure such as railways and roads at UEFA's request. Euro 2012 set attendance records for the 16-team format, for the highest aggregate attendance (1,440,896) and average per game (46,481). Spain became the first team to win two consecutive European Championships, and also three straight major tournaments ( Euro 2008 , 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012). Spain had already gained entry to the 2013 Confederations Cup by winning the 2010 World Cup, so runners-up Italy also qualified. As at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland , both 2012 host nations were eliminated in the group stage. Contents [ show ] Bid process The hosting of the event was initially contested by five bids representing seven countries: Croatia–Hungary, Greece, Italy, Poland–Ukraine, and Turkey. After an initial consideration of the bid data in 2005 by UEFA both the Greek and Turkish bids were eliminated from the process to leave three candidates. This was followed by a second round of the selection process which among other included visits by UEFA to all candidates. On 18 April 2007, the Poland–Ukraine bid was chosen by a vote of the UEFA Executive Committee at a meeting in Cardiff. Poland–Ukraine became the third successful joint bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium–Netherlands ( 2000 ) and Austria–Switzerland ( 2008 ). Their bid received an absolute majority of votes, and was therefore announced the winner, without requiring a second round. Italy, which received the remaining votes, had been considered favourites to win the hosting, but incidents of fan violence and a match fixing scandal were widely cited as factors behind their failure. There were some later alterations from the initial bid plan, regarding the venues, before UEFA confirmed the eight host cities in 2009. During the preparation process in Poland and Ukraine, UEFA repeatedly expressed concern about their preparation to host the event, with different candidates reported as being alternative hosts if they did not improve; however, in the end, UEFA affirmed their selection. Qualification Main article: UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying competition took place in Warsaw on 7 February 2010. Fifty-one teams entered to compete for the fourteen remaining places in the finals, alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine . The teams were divided into nine groups, with the draw using the new UEFA national team coefficient for the first time in order to determine the seedings. As defending champions, Spain was automatically top seeded. The qualifying process began in August 2010 and concluded in November 2011. At the conclusion of the qualifying group stage in October 2011, the nine group winners qualified automatically, along with the highest ranked second placed team. The remaining eight second placed teams contested two-legged play-offs, and the four winners qualified for the finals. Twelve of the sixteen finalists participated at the previous tournament in 2008 . England and Denmark made their return to the Euro, having last participated in 2004 , while Republic


‘All American Prophet’, ‘Baptize Me’ and ‘l am Africa’ are songs from which musical, currently playing at the Prince of Wales theatre?

The Book of Mormon Musical Synopsis Cast & Creative Synopsis “Hello!” do you want to know a little more about the quirky storyline of the show? If so read our The Book of Mormon Musical synopsis below (including songs!) Act I   As the show opens we are introduced to the LDS Church Missionary Training Centre where Elder Kevin Price and his classmates of missionaries-to-be demonstrate their daily attempts to convert the public to Mormonism through door to door campaigns (“HELLO”). Elder Price is looking forward to his two year mission, and prays he will be posted to Orlando, the world of Disney Land. Instead, he and Elder Arnold Cunningham, a nerdy overweight missionary are posted to Uganda (“TWO BY TWO”). At Salt Lake City Airport, spunky Elder Price talks about how he hopes to change the world and make a difference to the people of Uganda, aided somewhat by the incompetent Elder Cunningham (“YOU AND ME (BUT MOSTLY ME)”). The pair arrive in Uganda and are immediately robbed at gunpoint by a local warlord, General Butt-Fucking-Naked. The local villagers and Mafala Hatimbi tell the missionaries about their life living amongst famine, poverty and AIDS as well as the despotic tyrant General. The villagers sing a song (“HASA DIGA EEBOWAI”) to cheer themselves up, but both Elder’s are shocked to hear it translates to “Fuck You, God” in English. With all this blasphemy, it seems that the pair have a lot of hard work on their hands. Hatimbi’s daughter Nabulungi introduces Price and Cunningham to the other local missionaries who have all failed to convert the town to Mormonism. Elder McKinley tells them both that to survive they need to put aside all thoughts and feelings of failing, (as he does with his own homosexual thoughts) and they have to “TURN IT OFF” like a light switch. Price is shocked by this and upset at their prospects, but is comforted by Cunningham (“I AM HERE FOR YOU”). Price is determined to succeed and begins to teach about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint’s Church through song (“ALL AMERICAN PROPHET”). The villagers find Price arrogant and annoying, disregarding his teaching. General Butt-Fucking-Naked arrives to demand the circumcision of all the female natives by the end of the week, killing a random local to stop any form of protest. The villagers despair but Nabulungi is touched by thoughts of paradise and begins to dream (“SAL TLAY KA SITI”). Pressure begins to mount from the Church who are angry with the failed missionary attempts. Price grows angry, abandoning his efforts and requesting a transfer to Orlando. Cunningham reiterates his support for Price (“I AM HERE FOR YOU REPRISE”) although Price turns his back on him as a companion. Nabulungi comforts Cunningham and asks him more about the Book of Mormon (“MAN UP”).


Which Irish-born ballerina, who died aged 102 in 2001, founded the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet?

Dame Ninette de Valois | News | The Guardian Ballet Dame Ninette de Valois Irish-born dancer and choreographer who devoted her life to the creation of British national ballet in the 20th century Mary Clarke and James Monahan Thursday 8 March 2001 21.27 EST Share on Messenger Close On July 13 1996, just before the Royal Ballet School's annual matinée at Covent Garden was about to begin, applause suddenly erupted from one side of the auditorium. "It must be Madam," said those of us who could not see her, and everyone spontaneously rose to applaud the fragile, white-haired figure who had been wheeled to her place at the side of the stalls circle. Madam it was. Dame Ninette de Valois, who has died aged 102, had made it, as she had made it almost every year, to see the student dancers who would carry forward the work she had started so many years ago - the tiny enterprise that was to grow into the whole edifice of the Royal Ballet and its school. Earlier that year, on February 20, she had made it to Covent Garden for the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Royal Opera House in 1946 with her company's production of The Sleeping Beauty. And she had come on stage for a standing ovation, led by the Queen from the royal box. She was also at Sadler's Wells that year for the final gala there, before the demolition of the theatre where her company had started. Far from being sentimental or nostalgic, Dame Ninette, although she never ceased to recognise the vital part which that theatre, thanks to Lilian Baylis, had played in the foundation of British ballet, knew it was time for rebuilding and lent her blessing to the enterprise. She had also travelled on a special train, at the age of 92, to celebrate the relocation of the then Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet to Birmingham when it was time for that company to move on and become the Birmingham Royal Ballet of today. She took a great interest in the reopening of the Sadler's Wells Theatre in October 1998, and of the Royal Opera House in November 1999. Characteristically, she spent her 100th birthday at White Lodge in Richmond Park, the junior school of the Royal Ballet, still mentally alert to all that was going on and applauding, as always, the young dancers of the future. For, as she once wrote, "The work has not been thought out just for the present but for those days, months and years that go to make up the future. In brief there has been planted for you a true heritage. It is your duty to protect this gift - and see that it lives and expands." The gift, of course, was the Royal Ballet. The Royal Ballet was Dame Ninette de Valois's ballet, the Royal Ballet School her school. So she regarded them; and no one disagreed. Without her the 20th-century history of ballet in these islands would have been entirely different. Dame Ninette made British ballet. She had lieutenants, of course, but the generalship was hers, and she alone, in the formative years, was irreplaceable. Latterly she could not scrutinise, all the time, the working of both London and Birmingham companies and the school; but her occasional visitations, her questions and whiplash criticism never ceased to matter greatly. She always aroused awe in those, especially the women, who worked under her. To the last it was Madam's approval that blessed, and her disapproval that damned, a budding project. At any time in her long career, "indomitable" was one of the right adjectives for her, especially in the last decades of her life, when she refused to give in to the arthritis and other ailments that increasingly afflicted her. She was constantly in demand and was obdurately conscientious in meeting that demand. Hindsight may tell us now that in the 1920s Britain was, at last, due for its turn as a centre of ballet. The Diaghilev company, known in London since 1911, had made a particularly big impression here. So had Pavlova. British dancers - Sokolova, Markova, Dolin, De Valois herself - were beginning to be noticeable among Diaghilev's exalted Russians. But this was also a time when the French title worn by Diaghilev's organi


Which English engineer (1907-1996) is usually credited with inventing the jet engine?

BBC Science - Brian Cox: The wonder of British science Brian Cox: The wonder of British science By Professor Brian Cox Scientist and presenter Britons Sir Isaac Newton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Sir Tim Berners-Lee all changed the world through their discoveries and inventions Tyndall's climate message, 150 years on The British Isles are home to just one percent of the world's population and yet our small collection of rocks poking out of the north Atlantic has thrown up world beaters in virtually every field of human endeavour. Nowhere is this more obvious than in science and engineering. Edward Jenner came up with vaccines, Sir Frank Whittle ushered in the jet age and Sir Tim Berners-Lee laid the foundations of the world wide web. Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, George Stephenson, Isambard Kingdom Brunel… the list is gloriously long. What is it about Britain that allowed so many great minds to emerge and flourish? This is a very important question to ask, because science and engineering are not only part of our past - the future of our economy depends to an ever-increasing extent on our continued excellence in scientific discovery and high-tech manufacturing and engineering. The roots of our success can be traced back many centuries. Oxford and Cambridge Universities were formed over 800 years ago. They paved the way for the world's oldest scientific institution, The Royal Society, formed in 1660 by a group including Sir Christopher Wren, professor of astronomy and architect of St Paul's Cathedral in London. How did scientist Rosalind Franklin's photograph change the world? The aim was to pursue a radical idea - that the workings of nature can be best understood by observation and experiment. Any theory or idea about the world should be tested and if it disagrees with observations, then it is wrong. Even today, that's radical, because it means that the opinions of important and powerful people are worthless if they conflict with reality. So central is this idea to science that it is enshrined in The Royal Society's motto: "Take nobody's word for it". Shortly after The Royal Society was formed, Sir Isaac Newton deployed this approach in his great work The Principia, which contains his law of gravity and the foundations of what we now call classical mechanics - the tools you need to work out the forces on bridges and buildings, calculate paths of artillery shells and the stresses on aircraft wings. This was arguably the first work of modern physics. This has become known as the scientific method, and its power can be seen in some unexpected places. During the filming of Science Britannica, I met Capt Jerry Roberts who worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. Bletchley intercepted enemy messages and the captain and his colleagues were given the job of decoding them. He told me the story of his colleague, Bill Tutte, who worked on the 'Tunny" code used by the Nazi high command to send orders to generals in the field. Bill spent most of his time staring into space, but after just a few months, he cracked the code. In an age before computers, he did it using mathematics, logic and pencil and paper, aided by a single mistake by a German telegraph operator who sent a message twice. In the opinion of many, Tutte's achievement was the greatest single intellectual achievement of the 20th Century, shortening the war by years and saving millions of lives on both sides. This is what happens when genius is aided by the careful, scientific approach pioneered by Newton and others at The Royal Society. Capt Roberts and his colleagues at Bletchley are, in my view, heroes in every sense of the word. Bletchley's war Bletchley Park was Britain's main decryption establishment during World War II The Buckinghamshire compound is famous as the place where wartime codebreakers cracked the German Enigma code Codebreaking machines Colossus and Bombe were the forerunners of modern computers. Mathematician Alan Turing helped create the Bombe Historians estimate that breakthroughs at Bletchley shortened the war by tw


Which is the third most populous city in Scotland after Glasgow and Edinburgh?

Ten most populous Scottish towns and cities (From Evening Times) Ten most populous Scottish towns and cities With a population of 596,000, the biggest city in the country. 2 Edinburgh: The capital ranks second in the population stakes, with 487,000 residents. 3 Aberdeen: The Granite City is the third-largest city, with more than 220,000 people. 4 Dundee: The smallest of the "top four" cities, it has a population of 147,000. 5 Paisley: 76,000 inhabitants give it the distinction of being Scotland's largest town. 6 East Kilbride: The Lanarkshire town is not far behind with 74,000 people. 7 Livingston: The West Lothian town has a population of 56,000. 8 Hamilton: The old county town of Lanarkshire is home to 53,000 people. 9 Cumbernauld: Just behind Hamilton, on 52,000. 10 Kirkcaldy: The Fife town boasts a population of 49,000.


What is the capital of the former USSR republic of Tajikistan?

Tajikistan profile - Timeline - BBC News Tajikistan profile - Timeline Read more about sharing. Close share panel 8th century - Tajiks emerge as distinct ethnic group; Arab invaders conquer Central Asia, including what is now Tajikistan, and introduce Islam. 9th/10th century - Persian Samanid dynasty gains control of Central Asia and, in alliance with the caliph of Baghdad, develops Bukhara as centre of Muslim culture. Dushanbe Capital Dushanbe - a Soviet-era planned city Lies on River Dushanbinka Population: 679,000 (2008 est.) 13th century - Genghis Khan conquers Tajikistan and the rest of Central Asia, which becomes part of the Mongol Empire. 14th century - Tajikistan becomes part of Turkic ruler Tamerlane's empire. 1860-1900 - Tajikistan divided, with the north coming under Tsarist Russian rule while the south is annexed by the Emirate of Bukhara. 1917-18 - Armed Central Asian groups exploit the upheaval in Russia following the Bolshevik revolution to mount an insurrection, but eventually fail. Soviet rule 1921 - Northern Tajikistan becomes part of the Bolshevik-designated Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), which also included Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, part of northern Turkmenistan and southern Kazakhstan. 1924 - Tajik ASSR set up by Soviets and becomes part of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). 1929 - Tajik ASSR upgraded to the status of an SSR and becomes distinct from the Uzbek SSR; acquires territory of Khujand from Uzbek SSR. 1930s - The collectivisation of agriculture completed despite widespread resistance. 1960s - Tajikistan becomes the third largest cotton-producing republic in the Soviet Union; heavy industries, notably aluminium, introduced. 1970s - Increased Islamic influence, violence towards non-indigenous nationalities. 1978 - Some 13,000 people take part in anti-Russian riots. Late 1980s - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, or openness, leads to the formation of unofficial political groups and a renewed interest in Tajik culture. 1989 - Tajik Supreme Soviet (legislature) declares Tajik to be official state language; Rastokhez People's Front established. Independence and civil war Image copyright AFP Image caption Russian troops intervened in Tajikistan's bloody civil war in the early 1990s 1990 - State of emergency declared and some 5,000 Soviet troops sent to the capital, Dushanbe, to suppress pro-democracy protests, which are also fuelled by rumours that Armenian refugees are to be settled in Dushanbe; Supreme Soviet declares state sovereignty. 1991 - Tajik Communist leader Qahhor Makhkamov forced to resign after supporting the failed anti-Gorbachev coup in Moscow. Supreme Soviet declares Tajikistan independent from the Soviet Union; Rahmon Nabiyev, Communist leader during 1982-85, wins Tajikistan's first direct presidential election with 57% of the vote. Tajikistan joins the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December. 1992 - Anti-government demonstrations in Dushanbe escalate into civil war between pro-government forces and Islamist and pro-democracy groups which eventually claims 20,000 lives, displaces 600,000 and devastates the economy. Violent demonstrations force Nabiyev to resign in September; Emomali Rahmonov, a pro-Nabiyev communist, takes over as head of state in November. 1993 - Government re-establishes control, suppresses political opposition and imposes strict media controls; Supreme Court bans all opposition parties, leaving the Communist Party of Tajikistan as the only legal party. 1994 - Ceasefire between government and rebels agreed; Rahmonov announces willingness to negotiate with opposition; referendum approves draft constitution reinstituting presidential system; Rahmonov elected president in ballot deemed by international observers as neither free nor fair. 1995 - Rahmonov supporters win parliamentary elections; fighting on Afghan border erupts. 1996 - Islamist rebels capture towns in southwestern Tajikistan; UN-sponsored cease-fire between government and rebels comes into effect.


Hamilcar Barca was the father of which famous general, born in 247BC?

Hannibal - Carthaginian general born in 247 BC, the eldest son - CL - 216 View Full                             Document This is the end of the preview. Sign up to                   access the rest of the document. Unformatted text preview: Hannibal - Carthaginian general born in 247 BC, the eldest son of Hamilcar Barca. After making Hannibal swear an oath never to be a friend of Rome, Hamilcar took him to Spain in 237, where he stayed during the commands of both his father and his brother-in-law, Hasdrubal. In 221 he assumed the supreme command in Spain on the death of Hasdrubal. Regarding Rome's alliance with Saguntum as a threat to Carthage's position in Spain, he decided to defy her, and put pressure on Saguntum. He rejected a Roman protest, and after consulting Carthage began the siege of Saguntum in spring 219, knowing that war with Rome would result, and took the city eight months later. He took the take the initiative by invading Italy; probably less with the object of destroying Rome than of detaching her allies (an expectation warranted by Carthage's experience in her wars with the Greeks) and so weakening her that she would give up Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, and undertake not to molest Carthage's North African and Spanish empire. In 217, Hannibal trapped the consul C. Flaminium in an ambush at Lake Trasimene and in 216 he inflicted a devastating defeat on both Roman consuls, at Cannae; only 14,500 Romans and allies escaped death or captivity. Cannae led to the defection of southern Italy, but central Italy and all the Latin colonies remained loyal to Rome, and with Roman commanders avoiding another pitched battle, Hannibal achieved little in the following three years (215213), although he concluded an alliance with Philip V of Macedon and helped to bring about the revolt of Syracuse. He received no assistance from Spain, where Hasdrubal was on the defensive, and little from Carthage. In 211, Hannibal marched on Rome itself but failed to force the Romans to withdraw troops from Capua, and returned to the south; soon afterwards Capua fell, its fall being preceded by that of Syracuse. Hannibal was now being pressed ever further south--from 21211 onwards, with one possible exception, he spent every winter in the extreme south of Italy--and suffered a further blow in 209 when Fabius recaptured Tarentum. In 208, however, he caught both consuls in an ambush in Lucania. In Spain, P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus had captured Carthago Nova and defeated Hasdrubal at Baecula, whose death in 207 dashed Hannibal's hopes of receiving reinforcements. In 203, he was recalled to Africa to defend Carthage. After abortive peace negotiations with Scipio, he was decisively defeated at Zama (202), and successfully urged his countrymen to make peace on Rome's terms. Hannibal has been widely acknowledged, in both antiquity and modern times, as one of the greatest generals in history. He brought to perfection the art of combining infantry and cavalry, he understood the importance of military intelligence and reconnaissance and he commanded the unflagging loyalty of his troops. But he failed against Rome because all the assumptions upon which his policy and his strategy were based--that huge numbers of Gauls would follow him to Italy, that Carthage would recover the command of the sea and... Review Sheet 2 6. ROMAN INSTITUTIONS: LAW XII TablesA written compilation of Roman la Midterm Review 1


Denis Waterman is the only original cast member still starring in which TV series about the Met’s Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad?

New Tricks writer fights back at Amanda Redman Denis Waterman show criticisms | Daily Mail Online The writer of long-running detective drama New Tricks has hit back in a row with the cast who claimed the scripts had become ‘bland’. Amanda Redman, who plays Sandra Pullman in the show, revealed she is quitting the show next year. She told the Radio Times: ‘It's more bland now. The characters are not being as anarchic as they used to be, which I think is a huge shame.’ Writer's response: Script writer Julian Simpson hit back at New Tricks cast members' comments that the show was 'bland' on Twitter But writer Julian Simpson took to Twitter telling fans: ‘A New Tricks I wrote and directed airs on Monday. I can tell you exactly how much of it the actors wrote: not a f***ing comma. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share ‘I was going to be writing today, instead I'm just going to hand the actors a pad and pen. I wish I'd learned this 15 years ago.’ He also discussed an episode scripted by another writer, saying: ‘I directed that too. Cast contribution to script? Big fat zero. 'Bland' scripts: Actor Amanda Redman said the show was 'more bland now' and revealed she is quitting next year ‘For my, presumably considerable, sins I've written eight episodes of New Tricks; all without the help of any Equity members,’ before saying: ‘Worth saying that I get on phenomenally well with the New Tricks cast. Just don't appreciate actors speaking out of turn and they know that.’ His Twitter outburst came after the interview with Redman and fellow cast members Alun Armstrong and Dennis Waterman, who play police officers brought out of retirement to investigate unsolved crimes. While the show, now in its ninth series, regularly pulls in more than eight million viewers and is one of the BBC’s most popular dramas, the cast has become increasingly dissatisfied with the show. Armstrong, 66, told the magazine: ‘My character has got saner. Which I'm not too enamoured with.’ He joked: ‘It's about time Amanda's character got her leg over.  ‘I don't know. Maybe the writers have become more concerned with the investigation.’ Waterman, 64, criticised the programme saying he and the cast were fighting a trend to 'spoon feed' viewers. He said: ‘I don't think it has become just another police procedural but there was a danger. 'Bland': New Tricks lead stars Amanda Redman and Denis Waterman have criticised the show for deteriorating from what it once was ‘It's partly because of dealing with cold cases. We're always talking about history and some writers - not all of them - can go on and on about that, repeating themselves. ‘You have to remind yourself that people aren't as stupid as writers think. But that's the way things are going in the industry. Referring to the success of Danish TV dramas such as The Killing and Borgen, Waterman said:  ‘Basically we all want to move to Copenhagen to get to do some really extraordinary television.’ Danish TV: New Tricks cast member Dennis Waterman said the actors wanted to move to Copenhagen to be part of extraordinary television like hugely successful Danish murder mystery The Killing Armstrong said of the drama's directors: ‘We have never tolerated anybody - and we've had the odd one - who will come on to the set and say, “You will do this” or “You won't say that”.’ ‘They get short shrift or there's an almighty battle until they're forced to collaborate.’ Last autumn James Bolam, 77, quit the show after eight series, allegedly telling friends he felt the format had 'gone stale', and was replaced by veteran actor Denis Lawson, 64. The cast have also previously accused BBC executives of meddling too much on the show. Former The Sweeney star Waterman added: ‘I don’t think it has become just another police procedural, but there was a danger. It’s partly because of dealing with cold cases. ‘We’re always talking about history and some writers – not all of them – can go on and on about that. You have to remind yourself that people aren’t as stupid as writers think, but that is the way things are going in the industry.’ Th


How many strings are there on a standard violin?

How Many Strings Does a Standard Violin Have | uk.QACollections.com How Many Strings Does a Standard Violin Have  How Many Strings Does a Standard Violin Have? There are fours strings on a standard wooden violin. These are 'G' string, 'D' string, 'A' string and the 'E' string. Related Videos Top Q&A For: How Many Strings Does a Standard Violin Have How Many Strings Does a Violin Have? A standard wooden violin has four (4) strings. These four strings are the 'G', 'D', 'A' and 'E' strings. How Many Strings on a Violin? A normal or standard violin has four strings. The four strings are the 'G' string, 'D' string, 'A' string and the 'E' string. How Many Strings Does a Banjo Have? A banjo can have four or five strings. What is considered to be a key part of country and bluegrass music, the banjo was actually imported from Africa. How Many Strings Does a Ukulele Have? The Ukulele is a Hawaiian musical instrument. It can have either four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings. Related Questions


In which city can you see the original statue of Michelangelo’s David?

David by Michelangelo – Facts & History of the Sculpture Height 517 cm (203.5 in) David is one of the most exquisite Renaissance sculptures made during the early 1500s. This famous work of art was created by Michelangelo, a famous Italian artist. The statue measures 5.17 meters tall, and it is a marble figure of the biblical hero named David. This young man was also the most common subject in Renaissance art, particularly in Florence. Highlights The sculpture was originally intended as among the statues of prophets that were positioned at the roofline of the eastern section of the Florence. Furthermore, it was placed in the public square at Palazzo della Signoria, which was the center of Florence’s civic government. Because of the courageous nature of this biblical hero, it eventually became the symbol of defense of the civil liberties depicted in the Florentine Republic. The artwork is much different from the previous statues made by other famous artists such as Verrocchio and Donatello. David by Michelangelo depicted the young David before he went on to his battle with the mighty Goliath. Hence, the figure’s face appeared tense and set for combat instead of victorious because of his foe’s defeat. Features Michelangelo’s artwork is his interpretation of the typical Ancient Greek theme of a heroic biblical figure. It features the contrapposto pose, which is a distinctive aspect of antique sculptures. The brave David stands in a tense manner, with one leg relaxed while the other holds its total body weight. Hence, this causes his shoulders and hips to rest at an opposite angle. Moreover, David’s head turns towards his left, and he is carrying a sling at his back. With all these features, many people regard the sculpture as a symbol of youthful beauty and human strength. The statue is also quite large, as compared to the artist’s contemporaries during that era. In fact, most art scholars consider the statue as miraculous, as Michelangelo was able to bring back to life a renowned figure who was already dead. Although there were numerous colossal statues ever created in history, David by Michelangelo has remained as one of the finest and most impressive. It is also important to note that some of the features of this statue seemed quite large, particularly the hands and head. However, the artist did this on purpose since the statue was intended to be positioned on the roofline of the cathedral. Thus, he needed to find a way to accentuate certain parts that would make them visible when viewed from below. Additional Details This figure appears rather slender from the front to back when compared to its height. According to scholars, this may be caused by the work done on the block even before the artist started carving it. In addition, the statue was regarded as a political image prior to his decision to work on it. Evidently, David has long been the preferred political image throughout Florence, as several artworks that featured the biblical hero were commissioned in most of the significant locations in the city. Conservation and Preservation In 1991, the statue’s foot was badly damaged when a deranged man smashed it with a hammer. Based on the collected samples from that incident, scientists were able to discover that the marble was obtained from Miseglia’s Fantiscritti quarries, which was in one of Carrara’s small valleys. With the degradation of the marble, the statue has undergone its very first major cleaning, from 2003 to 2004. Four years after, there were plans to insulate the sculpture from the vibration caused by the tourists’ footsteps, in order to prevent further and more severe damages of the marble. Several reproductions of the statue has been made throughout the years. For instance, the plaster cast of this biblical hero is currently displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum. However, this statue has a plaster fig leaf, which was created when Queen Victoria was shocked about the statue’s nudity. The plaster fig leaf is hung on the figure using two hooks, prior to any royal visits. In the 20th century, the sculpt


Overview of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" Discussion of Vanity Fair THACKERY AND VANITY FAIR Vanity Fair was a turning point in Thackeray's life and career. A gentleman by birth and education, Thackeray was forced to earn his living by writing because most of his money had been lost in a financial crash. The articles, reviews, essays, and sketches he produced for magazines and newspapers did not provide sufficient income either to support a gentleman's status or to provide for the futures of his two daughters. In addition, writing for a living made his status as a gentleman somewhat tenuous. The serialization of Vanity Fair, which was a financial success, quickly established Thackeray's literary reputation. Thackeray was jubilant, "There is no use denying the matter or blinking it now. I am become a sort of great man in my way--all but at the top of the tree: indeed there if the truth were known and having a great fight up there with Dickens." Though Thackeray's novels never sold at the rate of Dickens's novels (in the tens of thousands), he became financially secure with Vanity Fair. Also his social status as a gentleman was assured because of his acknowledged genius; he was no longer an amusing, talented hack writer, just one of a crowd of London journalists. CONTEMPORARY RESPONSE TO VANITY FAIR Contemporary reviewers and novelists appreciated the brilliance of the novel. John Forster wrote, "Vanity Fair is the work of a mind, at once accomplished and subtle, which has enjoyed opportunities of observing many and varied circles of society. . . his genteel characters... have a reality about them... They are drawn from actual life, not from books and fancy; and they are presented by means of brief, decisive yet always most discriminative touches" (1848). Charlotte Bronte, whose admiration for his genius was boundless, called him "the legitimate high priest of Truth": The more I read Thackeray's works, the more certain I am that he stands alone--alone in his sagacity, alone in his truth, alone in his feeling (his feeling, though he makes no noise about it, is about the most genuine that ever lived on a printed page), alone in his power, alone in his simplicity, alone in his self-control. Thackeray is a Titan, so strong that he can afford to perform with calm the most herculean feats; there is the charm and majesty of repose in his greatest efforts; he borrows nothing from fever, his is never the energy of delirium--his energy is sane energy, deliberate energy, thoughtful energy. (1848) George Eliot's praise was more restrained, "I am not conscious of being in any way a disciple of his, unless it constitute discipleship to think him, as I suppose the majority of people with any intellect do, on the whole, the most powerful of living novelists" (1857). Not all reviewers and readers agreed. Some were repelled by his realism and his focus on society's moral corruption. Robert Bell complained:         The people who fill up the motley scenes of Vanity Fair, with two or three exceptions, are as vicious and odious as a clever condensation of the vilest qualities can make them. The women are especially detestable. Cunning, low pride, selfishness, envy, malice, and all uncharitableness are scattered amongst them with impartial liberality. It does not enter into the design of Vanity Fair to qualify these bitter ingredients with a little sweetness now and then; to shew the close neighbourhood of the vices and the virtues as it lies on the map of the human heart, that mixture of good and evil, of weakness and strength, which in infinitely varied proportions, constitutes the compound individual. (1848) An anonymous reviewer wondered, "is it advisable to raise so ruthlessly the veil which hides the rottenness pervading modern society?" (1848). Harriet Martineau could not finish the novel "from the moral disgust it occasions" (1848). From Thackeray's day to the present, Vanity Fair has generally been regarded as a masterpiece and as his best novel. What has changed is the flaw Thackeray, as well as Vanity Fair, is most commonly charged with.


In the SI system of units, which prefix indicates a unit 1,000 times smaller than the basic unit?

Definitions of the SI units: The twenty SI prefixes Consider the earlier example of the height of the Washington Monument.    We may write hW = 169 000 mm    = 16 900 cm = 169 m = 0.169 km using the millimeter (SI prefix    milli, symbol m), centimeter (SI prefix centi, symbol c), or kilometer    (SI prefix kilo, symbol k). Because the SI prefixes strictly represent powers of 10, they should not be used   to represent powers of 2. Thus, one kilobit, or 1 kbit, is 1000 bit and not 210 bit = 1024 bit. To alleviate this   ambiguity, prefixes for binary multiples have   been adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for   use in information technology.


Widowed at 25, Martha Custis, nee Dandridge, later married which future American president?

Martha Washington Biography :: National First Ladies' Library Chestnut Grove Plantation, New Kent County, Virginia 1731, June 2. Father: John Dandridge (1701-1756), emigrated from England to Virginiain 1715 with older brother William. A planter, in 1730, he served as clerk of New Kent County. Mother: Frances Jones (1710-1785), born in York County, Virginia, married John Dandridge in 1730. Ancestry: English, Welsh, French; Martha Washington's father John Dandridge was an English immigrant. Her maternal great-grandfather Rowland Jones (died, 1688) immigrated from Oxfordshire, England to Virginia. Tradition identifies the Jones family as originating from Wales, with a Macon family that married into the Joneses being French Huguenots. Birth Order and Siblings: Eldest child; three brothers and five sisters, John Dandridge (1733-1749), William Dandridge (1734-1776), Bartholomew Dandridge (1737-1785),  Anna Maria "Fanny" Dandridge Bassett (1739-1777), Frances Dandridge (1744-1757), Elizabeth Dandridge Aylett Henley (1749-1800), Mary Dandridge (1756-1763); allegedly her younger illegitimate half-sister (date of birth unrecorded) was a slave; Ann Dandridge Costin, was said to be one-quarter African, one-quarter Cherokee Indian and half-white; there is further evidence of an illegitimate half-brother Ralph Dandridge (date of birth unrecorded), who was probably all white. Physical Appearance: No extant record but tradition identifies as being less than five feet tall; dark brown hair Religious Affiliation: Church of England Education: Informal education; trained at home in music, sewing, household management. Later knowledge of plantation management, crop sales, homeopathic medicine, animal husbandry suggests a wider education than previously thought. Probably taught by indentured Dandridge family servant Thomas Leonard, and regularly tutored for about five years until the age of 12 or 13 at Poplar Grove Plantation, the home of a friend of the Chamberlayne family. Occupation before Marriage: No documentation suggesting to the contrary, it has been assumed that Martha Washington's youth was spent much as others of her class and gender were, preparing for management of a plantation, learning various needlework arts, playing a musical instrument and perhaps singing and dancing. Marriage: First marriage: 19 years old, married 1750 to Daniel Parke Custis (1711–1757), manager of New Kent County plantation of his father Councilor John Custis of Williamsburg. They lived at a mansion called "White House," on the Pumunkey River. Nineteen years old when she married a man who was twenty years her senior, and then 26 when she was widowed with two children, Martha Custis had considerable power through her wealth and privileged social status. Evidence of her business acumen in the lucrative tobacco trade is found in letters she wrote to the London merchants who handled the exporting of the large Custis crop output. It has been asserted by many of George Washington's biographers that these factors made her potential as a wife an attractive and important factor in his courting of her. Second: 27 years old, married 1759, January 6 at "White House," to Colonel George Washington (1732–1799) commander of the First Virginia Regiment in the French and Indian War, former member, House of Burgess, Frederick County (1758). Although there is no known “pre-nuptial” as modern times would equate it, the great inheritance which would come to Washington as a result of his successful courtship of Martha Custis is widely believed to have been a factor in his interest in marrying her. They lived at estate "Mount Vernon," initially leased from his half-brother Lawrence's widow, and inherited upon her 1761 death. Children: By first marriage: Daniel Parke Custis (1751–1754), Frances Parke Custis (1753–1757), John Parke "Jacky" Custis (1754–1781), Martha Parke "Patsy" Custis (1756–1773) By second marriage: Grandchildren George Washington "Wash" or "Tub" Parke Custis (1781-1857), Eleanor "Nelly" Parke Custis (1779-1852) Occupation after Marriage: With her extremely large