Elia Kazan, (Greek: Ηλίας Καζάν), (September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was a Greek-American film and theatre director, film and theatrical producer, screenwriter, novelist and cofounder of the influential Actors Studio in New York in 1947.
He became one of the most visible members of the Hollywood elite. Kazan's theater credits included acting in Men in White, Waiting for Lefty, Johnny Johnson, and Golden Boy, and directing A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), two of the plays that made Tennessee Williams a theatrical and literary force, and All My Sons (1947) and Death of a Salesman, (1949) the plays which did much the same for Arthur Miller. He received three Tony Awards, winning for All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, and J.B.
Kazan attended public schools in New York City and New Rochelle, New York. After graduating from Williams College, Massachusetts, Kazan studied at Yale University's School of Drama. In the 1930s, Kazan acted with New York's Group Theatre, alongside (among others) Lee Strasberg, Clifford Odets, and Stella and Luther Adler. During this period, Kazan earned his nickname 'Gadg,' short for Gadget - he never learned to love the name. For about 19 months in 1934-36, Kazan was a member of a secret Communist cell.
Some have perceived elements of Kazan's own reaction to his critics in the film On the Waterfront, in which the protagonist courageously agrees to testify against his former mentor, a corrupt dockland union boss. Miller in his turn responded with the play A View from the Bridge, also set among dock-workers, in which his main character informs on two illegal immigrants based on ignoble, self-serving motivations.
Michael Alig
Michael Alig (born South Bend, Indiana, April 29, 1966) was the founding member of the notorious Club Kids, a group of young clubgoers led by Alig in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996 Alig was convicted of the murder of Angel Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt.
Alig was mentored by socialite James St. James and club owner Peter Gatien, while rising in popularity and prominence in the national underground club scene. Alig was also influential in the early promotion of Superstar DJ Keoki (whom he dated on and off). Other protegés included Gitsie, Jennytalia, Robert "Freeze" Riggs, Richie Rich, RuPaul, Amanda LePore, and many other Club Kid personalities. The Club Kids' outrageousness resulted in their appearing on the news and the television talk show circuit.
Alig's most notorious parties were held at The Limelight, owned by Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat. The Limelight was closed by the police for supposedly drug trafficking, but subsequently reopened several times during the 1990s. In September 2003, it reopened under the name "Avalon."
Alig's time with the underground club scene was accompanied by his notorious drug use. He was known to do several hard drugs at once.
Alig was mentored by socialite James St. James and club owner Peter Gatien, while rising in popularity and prominence in the national underground club scene. Alig was also influential in the early promotion of Superstar DJ Keoki (whom he dated on and off). Other protegés included Gitsie, Jennytalia, Robert "Freeze" Riggs, Richie Rich, RuPaul, Amanda LePore, and many other Club Kid personalities. The Club Kids' outrageousness resulted in their appearing on the news and the television talk show circuit.
Alig's most notorious parties were held at The Limelight, owned by Gatien and designed by Ari Bahat. The Limelight was closed by the police for supposedly drug trafficking, but subsequently reopened several times during the 1990s. In September 2003, it reopened under the name "Avalon."
Alig's time with the underground club scene was accompanied by his notorious drug use. He was known to do several hard drugs at once.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/) (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. The U.S. Senate Historical Office lists him as the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, the third to have been popularly elected, and the only African American currently serving in the Senate.
Obama was born in Honolulu to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He lived most of his early life in the Pacific island U.S. state of Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he launched his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as major priorities. He married in 1992 and has two daughters. He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.
Obama was born in Honolulu to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He lived most of his early life in the Pacific island U.S. state of Hawaii. From ages six to ten, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, Obama worked as a community organizer, university lecturer, and civil rights lawyer before running for public office. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he launched his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2003.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care as major priorities. He married in 1992 and has two daughters. He has written two bestselling books: a memoir of his youth titled Dreams from My Father, and The Audacity of Hope, a personal commentary on U.S. politics.
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the 2008 presidential election.Both McCain's grandfather and father were Admirals in the United States Navy. McCain also attended the United States Naval Academy and finished near the bottom of his graduating class in 1958. McCain became a naval aviator flying attack aircraft from carriers. Participating in the Vietnam War, he narrowly escaped death during the 1967 Forrestal fire. On his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam later in 1967, he was shot down and badly injured. He endured five and a half years as a prisoner of war, including periods of torture, before he was released following the Paris Peace Accords in 1973.
From the start, McCain and Feingold's efforts were opposed by large money interests, by incumbents in both parties, by those who felt spending limits impinged on free political speech, and by those who wanted to lessen the power of what they saw as media bias. On the other hand, it garnered considerable sympathetic coverage in the national media, and from 1995 on, "maverick Republican" became a label frequently applied to McCain in stories. The first version of the McCain-Feingold Act was introduced into the Senate in September 1995; it was filibustered in 1996 and never came to a vote.
McCain was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2000 presidential election, but was defeated by George W. Bush after closely contested battles in several early primary states. In the 2008 presidential election, he was the front-runner as the cycle began, but suffered a near collapse of his campaign in mid-2007 due to financial issues and his support for comprehensive immigration reform. In late 2007 he staged a comeback, and as of January 2008 was one of the leaders in the race again.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935–August 16, 1977), was an American singer, musician and actor. He is a cultural icon, often known as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", or simply "The King".
Presley began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he is the only performer to have been inducted into four music halls of fame.
Priscilla Beaulieu Presley had stayed with Presley during the 1960s (they had first met in Germany, when she was only fourteen). They married on May 1, 1967, in Las Vegas. A daughter, Lisa Marie, was born nine months later. Even Priscilla has claimed that the singer was not overly active sexually during their five-year marriage.
Presley's final performance was in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena, on June 26, 1977.
Another tour was scheduled to begin August 17, 1977, but at Graceland the day before, Presley was found on the floor of his bathroom by fiancée, Ginger Alden. According to the medical investigator, Presley had "stumbled or crawled several feet before he died." He was officially pronounced dead at 3:30 pm at the Baptist Memorial Hospital.
Presley began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he is the only performer to have been inducted into four music halls of fame.
Priscilla Beaulieu Presley had stayed with Presley during the 1960s (they had first met in Germany, when she was only fourteen). They married on May 1, 1967, in Las Vegas. A daughter, Lisa Marie, was born nine months later. Even Priscilla has claimed that the singer was not overly active sexually during their five-year marriage.
Presley's final performance was in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena, on June 26, 1977.
Another tour was scheduled to begin August 17, 1977, but at Graceland the day before, Presley was found on the floor of his bathroom by fiancée, Ginger Alden. According to the medical investigator, Presley had "stumbled or crawled several feet before he died." He was officially pronounced dead at 3:30 pm at the Baptist Memorial Hospital.
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958), often referred to as MJ and The King of Pop, is an American musician and entertainer, who debuted at the age of five as a member of the Jackson 5, and went on to become a pop icon as a solo artist. His successful career and frequently controversial, enigmatic personal life have been a part of pop culture for almost four decades.
Jackson dominated pop music from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and becoming the first black entertainer to amass a strong cross-over following on MTV with his revolutionary transformation of music video as an art form and as a promotional tool. The popularity of videos aired on MTV such as "Beat it", "Black or White", "Scream" and "Billie Jean" created a tremendous synergy that helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map".
The performing right organization that represents Jackson and dozens of other artists, BMI, claims that Jackson also popularized physically-complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, that have redefined mainstream dance and entertainment. His distinctive style, dance moves, and vocals have influenced a whole generation of hip hop, pop, and R&B artists. He has been cited as the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time" by Guinness World Records, and holds the record for the best-selling album ever, Thriller.
Jackson dominated pop music from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and becoming the first black entertainer to amass a strong cross-over following on MTV with his revolutionary transformation of music video as an art form and as a promotional tool. The popularity of videos aired on MTV such as "Beat it", "Black or White", "Scream" and "Billie Jean" created a tremendous synergy that helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map".
The performing right organization that represents Jackson and dozens of other artists, BMI, claims that Jackson also popularized physically-complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, that have redefined mainstream dance and entertainment. His distinctive style, dance moves, and vocals have influenced a whole generation of hip hop, pop, and R&B artists. He has been cited as the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time" by Guinness World Records, and holds the record for the best-selling album ever, Thriller.
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American celebrity and businesswoman.
She is best-known through her work in the television series The Simple Life. She has also appeared in several minor film roles, most notably in the horror film House of Wax in 2005. In 2004 she published a tongue-in-cheek autobiography.[1] In 2006, she released her debut album Paris. Hilton's career pursuits have included singing, modeling, acting, writing, and television. As a result of several legal incidents, Hilton served a widely publicized sentence in an L.A. County jail facility in 2007.
Born in New York City, Hilton is the oldest of four children of Richard and Kathy Hilton. She has a younger sister, Nicky, and younger brothers Barron and Conrad.
On the maternal side of her family, she is a niece of two child stars of the 1970s, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards. Hilton was related by marriage to Nicole Richie's godmother, Nancy Davis, when Nancy's brother, Greg, was married to Kim Richards.
Hilton's paternal grandparents are hotel chairman Barron Hilton, and his wife, the former Marilyn Hawley; Barron Hilton's parents were Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton and his first wife, Mary Barron.
Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. She attended Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California her freshman year of high school; Dwight School in New York for her sophomore and junior years; then a few months at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut before dropping out. Hilton eventually earned a GED.
In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather, hotel magnate Barron Hilton, pledged 97 percent of his estate to a charitable organisation founded by his father, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. An immediate pledge of $1.2 billion was made, and a further $1.1 billion after his death. He cited the actions of his father as the motivation for his pledge. According to reports, the potential inheritance of his grandchildren is sharply diminished.
She is best-known through her work in the television series The Simple Life. She has also appeared in several minor film roles, most notably in the horror film House of Wax in 2005. In 2004 she published a tongue-in-cheek autobiography.[1] In 2006, she released her debut album Paris. Hilton's career pursuits have included singing, modeling, acting, writing, and television. As a result of several legal incidents, Hilton served a widely publicized sentence in an L.A. County jail facility in 2007.
Born in New York City, Hilton is the oldest of four children of Richard and Kathy Hilton. She has a younger sister, Nicky, and younger brothers Barron and Conrad.
On the maternal side of her family, she is a niece of two child stars of the 1970s, Kim Richards and Kyle Richards. Hilton was related by marriage to Nicole Richie's godmother, Nancy Davis, when Nancy's brother, Greg, was married to Kim Richards.
Hilton's paternal grandparents are hotel chairman Barron Hilton, and his wife, the former Marilyn Hawley; Barron Hilton's parents were Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton and his first wife, Mary Barron.
Hilton moved between several exclusive homes in her youth, including a suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, and the Hamptons. She attended Marywood-Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, California her freshman year of high school; Dwight School in New York for her sophomore and junior years; then a few months at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut before dropping out. Hilton eventually earned a GED.
In December 2007, Hilton's grandfather, hotel magnate Barron Hilton, pledged 97 percent of his estate to a charitable organisation founded by his father, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. An immediate pledge of $1.2 billion was made, and a further $1.1 billion after his death. He cited the actions of his father as the motivation for his pledge. According to reports, the potential inheritance of his grandchildren is sharply diminished.
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, OC, OQ (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian singer, and occasional songwriter and actress. Born to a large, impoverished family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. In 1990 she released the anglophone album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English speaking areas of the world.
Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s after she won the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to Sony Records in 1986. With the help of her husband, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, ending the decade as one of the most successful artists in pop music. However, in 1999, at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retraction from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the music scene in 2002 and signed a four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken, but, by her own account, happy, home in Charlemagne. Music had always been a part of the family, as she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar called 'Le Vieux Baril.' From an early age Dion had dreamed of being a performer; In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."
Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s after she won the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to Sony Records in 1986. With the help of her husband, she achieved worldwide success with several English and French albums, ending the decade as one of the most successful artists in pop music. However, in 1999, at the height of her success, Dion announced a temporary retraction from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the music scene in 2002 and signed a four-year contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas
The youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar Dion and Thérèse Tanguay, Céline Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken, but, by her own account, happy, home in Charlemagne. Music had always been a part of the family, as she grew up singing with her siblings in her parents' small piano bar called 'Le Vieux Baril.' From an early age Dion had dreamed of being a performer; In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer."
Lara Fabian
Lara Fabian (born Lara Crokaert January 9, 1970 in Etterbeek, Belgium) is an international Belgian-Sicilian francophone singer, known for her vocal prowess and skilled technique. She often sings in Italian, Spanish, and English in addition to French. She has also sung once in Portuguese, though she is not fluent in the language, and also once in German back in 1988 for a German version of "Croire" ("Glaub"). She does not speak German either. She has sold over 12 million records worldwide so far. She also possesses a Canadian citizenship achieved in 1994 at the time she began her career in Québec.
In 1988, the RTL TV channel in Luxembourg invited Lara to represent the country at the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Dublin, Ireland. The song presented to Lara was a composition made by Jacques Cardona and Alain Garciac entitled Croire (Trust) and reached a respectful fourth place that night. The winning song belonged to Switzerland, whose singer was no other than Céline Dion with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi. "Croire" became a big seller single that year in Europe reaching nearly 500.000 copies. Lara still performs Croire live today.
Lara was born to a Flemish father and a Sicilian mother. Her name comes from her parents' inspiration of the theme song of the film Doctor Zhivago. Although born in Etterbeek (Belgium), she spent her first five years in her mother's hometown of Catania in Sicily, learning Italian as a first language, before moving back to Belgium, in Brussels. Lara began singing, dancing, and taking piano lessons at a very young age and began formal music lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at age eight. Lara began writing and performing her own songs during her ten years study at the conservatory. Lara's songs were greatly influenced as much by her classical vocal and music theory training as contemporary artists as Barbra Streisand and Queen.
During the summer time Lara will spend a few weeks in Québec with her now fiancé Gerald Pullicino (who had previously recorded her "Un regard 9" DVD in 2006 and Celine Dion's "Au Coeur Du Stade" DVD back in 1999) enjoying the summer where she feels better and closer to her friends.
In 1988, the RTL TV channel in Luxembourg invited Lara to represent the country at the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Dublin, Ireland. The song presented to Lara was a composition made by Jacques Cardona and Alain Garciac entitled Croire (Trust) and reached a respectful fourth place that night. The winning song belonged to Switzerland, whose singer was no other than Céline Dion with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi. "Croire" became a big seller single that year in Europe reaching nearly 500.000 copies. Lara still performs Croire live today.
Lara was born to a Flemish father and a Sicilian mother. Her name comes from her parents' inspiration of the theme song of the film Doctor Zhivago. Although born in Etterbeek (Belgium), she spent her first five years in her mother's hometown of Catania in Sicily, learning Italian as a first language, before moving back to Belgium, in Brussels. Lara began singing, dancing, and taking piano lessons at a very young age and began formal music lessons at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels at age eight. Lara began writing and performing her own songs during her ten years study at the conservatory. Lara's songs were greatly influenced as much by her classical vocal and music theory training as contemporary artists as Barbra Streisand and Queen.
During the summer time Lara will spend a few weeks in Québec with her now fiancé Gerald Pullicino (who had previously recorded her "Un regard 9" DVD in 2006 and Celine Dion's "Au Coeur Du Stade" DVD back in 1999) enjoying the summer where she feels better and closer to her friends.
Daniel J. Boorstin
Daniel Joseph Boorstin (October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was a prolific American historian, professor, attorney, and writer. He served as the U.S. Librarian of Congress from 1975 until 1987.
Boorstin was born in Atlanta, Georgia and died in Washington, D.C.
He graduated with highest honors from Harvard, studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his PhD. at Yale University. He was a lawyer and a university professor at the University of Chicago for 25 years. He also served as director of the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution. Boorstin wrote more than 20 books, including a trilogy on the American experience and one on world intellectual history. The Americans: The Democratic Experience, the final book in the first trilogy, received the 1974 Pulitzer Prize in history. Boorstin also wrote the books The Discoverers, The Creators and The Seekers, a trilogy of books that attempt to survey the scientific, philosophic and artistic histories of humanity respectively.
Boorstin was quoted as saying: The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
Boorstin was born in Atlanta, Georgia and died in Washington, D.C.
He graduated with highest honors from Harvard, studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and earned his PhD. at Yale University. He was a lawyer and a university professor at the University of Chicago for 25 years. He also served as director of the National Museum of History and Technology of the Smithsonian Institution. Boorstin wrote more than 20 books, including a trilogy on the American experience and one on world intellectual history. The Americans: The Democratic Experience, the final book in the first trilogy, received the 1974 Pulitzer Prize in history. Boorstin also wrote the books The Discoverers, The Creators and The Seekers, a trilogy of books that attempt to survey the scientific, philosophic and artistic histories of humanity respectively.
Boorstin was quoted as saying: The greatest obstacle to discovering the shape of the earth, the continents, and the oceans was not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an Emmy Award- and Golden Globe-nominated American actress and film producer, the youngest member of the Barrymore family of American actors. She has her own production company, Flower Films. Barrymore made her screen début in Altered States (1980); her breakout role two years later was in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. She quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actresses going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.
Barrymore was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of American actor John Drew Barrymore and Ildiko Jaid Barrymore (née Makó), an aspiring actress born in a displaced persons camp in Brannenburg, West Germany to Hungarian World War II refugees. Her parents divorced after she was born. She has a half-brother John Blyth Barrymore, also an actor, and two half-sisters, Blyth Dolores Barrymore and Brahma (Jessica) Blyth Barrymore. Her paternal great-great-grandfather, John Drew, the actor, was Irish-born, and immigrated to the US, in the 19th Century.
Barrymore's career began when she was eleven months old, when she auditioned for a dog food commercial. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers were afraid she would cry, but she merely laughed, and was hired for the job. She made her film debut in Altered States (1980). A year later, she landed the role of Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her famous. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for her role in Irreconcilable Differences.
Barrymore was born in Culver City, California, the daughter of American actor John Drew Barrymore and Ildiko Jaid Barrymore (née Makó), an aspiring actress born in a displaced persons camp in Brannenburg, West Germany to Hungarian World War II refugees. Her parents divorced after she was born. She has a half-brother John Blyth Barrymore, also an actor, and two half-sisters, Blyth Dolores Barrymore and Brahma (Jessica) Blyth Barrymore. Her paternal great-great-grandfather, John Drew, the actor, was Irish-born, and immigrated to the US, in the 19th Century.
Barrymore's career began when she was eleven months old, when she auditioned for a dog food commercial. When she was bitten by her canine co-star, the producers were afraid she would cry, but she merely laughed, and was hired for the job. She made her film debut in Altered States (1980). A year later, she landed the role of Gertie in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which made her famous. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1984 for her role in Irreconcilable Differences.
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English entrepreneur, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 companies.
Branson's first successful business venture was at age 15, when he published a magazine called Student. He then set up a record mail-order business in 1970. In 1971, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores and rebranded as zavvi in late 2007.
With his flamboyant and competitive style, Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s - as he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.
Today, his net worth is estimated at over £4 billion (US$7.8 billion) according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2006, or US$3.8 billion according to Forbes magazine.
Branson was born at Stonefield Nursing Home in Blackheath, South London, the son of Edward James Branson and Eve née Huntley Flindt. His grandfather the Right Honourable Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson was a Judge of the High Court of Justice and a Privy Councillor. Branson was educated at Scaitcliffe School (now Bishopsgate School) until the age of thirteen. He then attended Stowe School until he was fifteen. Branson has dyslexia, resulting in poor academic performance as a student. He was the captain of football, rugby union and cricket teams, and by the age of fifteen he had started two ventures that eventually failed: one growing Christmas trees and another raising budgerigars.
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (Albanian: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu; August 26, 1910 – September 5, 1997) was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1952. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries.By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.
Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) was the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore previously served in the U. S. House of Representatives (1977–85) and the U. S. Senate (1985–93), representing Tennessee. A prominent environmental activist, he shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."Gore was the Democratic nominee for president in the 2000 election, ultimately losing to the Republican candidate George W. Bush in spite of winning the popular vote. A legal controversy over the Florida election recount, eventually settled in favor of Bush by the Supreme Court, made the election among the most controversial in American history. Today, Gore is chairman of the American television channel Current TV, chairman of Generation Investment Management, a director on the board of Apple Inc., an unofficial advisor to Google's senior management, and chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection. He recently joined venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, to head that firm's climate change solutions group.
More recently, Gore has taken up the position of an environmental activist, lecturing on the topic of global warming, which he labels "the climate crisis." In 2006, he starred in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, regarding the environment. Gore organized the July 7, 2007 benefit concert Live Earth in an effort to raise awareness about climate change.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton (born October 26, 1947) is the junior United States Senator from New York, and a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential election. She is married to Bill Clinton—the 42nd President of the United States—and was the First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001.A native of Illinois, Hillary Rodham attracted national attention in 1969 when she delivered a controversial address as the first student to speak at commencement exercises for Wellesley College. She began her career as a lawyer after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973, moving to Arkansas and marrying Bill Clinton in 1975, following her career as a Congressional legal counsel; she was named the first female partner at Rose Law Firm in 1979 and was listed as one of the one hundred most influential lawyers in America in 1988 and 1991. She was the First Lady of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, was active in a number of organizations concerned with the welfare of children, and was on the board of Wal-Mart and several other corporate boards.
As First Lady of the United States, she took a prominent position in policy matters. Her major initiative, the Clinton health care plan, failed to gain approval by the U.S. Congress in 1994, but in 1997 she helped establish the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the Adoption and Safe Families Act. She became the only First Lady to be subpoenaed, testifying before a federal grand jury as a consequence of the Whitewater scandal in 1996. She was never charged with any wrongdoing in this or several other investigations during her husband's administration. The state of her marriage to Bill Clinton was the subject of considerable public discussion following the Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the forty-second President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. Before his presidency, Clinton served nearly twelve years as the 50th and 52nd Governor of Arkansas. He was the third-youngest president, older only than Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. He became president at the end of the Cold War, and is known as the first baby boomer president, as he was born in the period after the Second World War.Clinton was described as a New Democrat and was mainly responsible for the Third Way philosophy of governance that came to epitomize his two terms as president. His policies, on issues such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, have been described as "centrist." Clinton presided over the longest period of peace-time economic expansion in American history, which included a balanced budget and a federal surplus. His presidency was also quickly challenged. On the heels of a failed attempt at health care reform with a Democratic Congress, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years. In his second term he was impeached by the U.S. House for perjury, but was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate and completed his term.
Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary;[1] born 21 April 1926) is the Queen regnant of sixteen independent states and their overseas territories and dependencies. Though she holds each crown and title separately and equally, she is resident in and most directly involved with the United Kingdom, her oldest realm, over parts of whose territories her ancestors have reigned for more than a thousand years. She ascended the thrones of seven countries in February 1952 (see Context below).In addition to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II is also Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which she is represented by a Governor-General. The 16 countries of which she is Queen are known as Commonwealth Realms, and their combined population, including dependencies is over 129 million. In theory her powers are vast; in practice (and in accordance with convention) she herself never intervenes in political matters. In the United Kingdom at least, however, she is known to take an active behind-the-scenes interest in the affairs of state, meeting regularly to establish a working relationship with her government ministers.
Elizabeth II holds a variety of other positions, among them Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. Her long reign has seen sweeping changes in her realms and the world at large, perhaps most notably the final dissolution of the former British Empire (a process that began in the last years of her father's reign) and the consequent evolution of the modern Commonwealth of Nations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)