1.
Film poster
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A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and they normally contain an image with text. Todays posters often feature photographs of the main actors, prior to the 1990s, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on film posters usually contains the title in large lettering. It may also include a tagline, the name of the director, names of characters, film posters are displayed inside and on the outside of movie theaters, and elsewhere on the street or in shops. The same images appear in the film exhibitors pressbook and may also be used on websites, DVD packaging, flyers, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, film posters have been used since the earliest public exhibitions of film. They began as outside placards listing the programme of films to be shown inside the hall or movie theater, by the early 1900s, they began to feature illustrations of a film scene or an array of overlaid images from several scenes. Other posters have used artistic interpretations of a scene or even the theme of the film, as an economy measure, the NSS regularly recycled posters that were returned, sending them back out to be used again at another theater. During this time, a film could stay in circulation for several years and those posters which were not returned were often thrown away by the theater owner, but some found their way into the hands of collectors. Today there is a thriving market in film posters, some have become very valuable. The record price for a poster was set on November 15,2005 when $690,000 was paid for a poster of Fritz Langs 1927 film Metropolis from the Reel Poster Gallery in London. The 1931 Frankenstein six-sheet poster, of only one copy is known to exist, is considered to be the most valuable film poster in the world. Over the years, old Bollywood posters, especially with hand-painted art, have become collectors items, occasionally, rare film posters have been found being used as insulation in attics and walls. In 2011,33 film posters, including a Dracula Style F one-sheet, from 1930-1931 were discovered in an attic in Berwick, Pennsylvania, as a result of market demand, some of the more popular older film posters have been reproduced either under license or illegally. Although the artwork on reproductions is the same as originals, reproductions can often be distinguished by size, printing quality, several websites on the Internet offer authentication tests to distinguish originals from reproductions. Original film posters distributed to theaters and other venues by the movie studios are never sold directly to the public. However, most modern posters are produced in quantities and often become available for purchase by collectors indirectly through various secondary markets such as eBay. Accordingly, most modern posters are not as valuable, however some recent posters, such as the recalled Pulp Fiction Lucky Strike U. S. one sheet poster, are quite rare
2.
Leslie Howard (actor)
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Leslie Howard was an English stage and film actor, director and producer. Howard also wrote stories and articles for The New York Times, The New Yorker. Howard was one of the biggest box-office draws and movie idols of the 1930s but is probably best remembered for playing Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, Howards Second World War activities included acting and filmmaking. Howard was born Leslie Howard Steiner to a British mother, Lilian, Howard was educated at Alleyns School, London. He worked as a clerk before enlisting at the outbreak of the Great War. He served in the British Army as a subaltern in the Northamptonshire Yeomanry but suffered shell shock, Outward Bound and The Green Hat. He became an undisputed Broadway star in Her Cardboard Lover, Howard would return, however, many times—later repeating the Standish role in the 1933 film version of Berkeley Square. The stage, however, continued to be an important part of his career, Howard frequently juggled acting, producing and directing duties in the Broadway productions in which he starred. Howard was also a dramatist and starred in the Broadway production of his play, Murray Hill and he played Matt Denant in John Galsworthys 1927 Broadway production Escape in which he first made his mark as a dramatic actor. His stage triumphs continued with The Animal Kingdom and The Petrified Forest and he later repeated both roles in the film versions. Howards production, his stage role, lasted for only 39 performances before closing. Howard was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981, in 1920 Howard suggested forming a film production company, British Comedy Films Ltd. to his friend Adrian Brunel. The two eventually settled on the name Minerva Flims Ltd, the Companys Board of Directors consisted of Howard, Brunel, C. Aubrey Smith, Nigel Playfair and A. A. Milne, one of the Companys investors was H. G. Wells. Early films include four written by A. A. Milne, including The Bump, aubrey Smith, Twice Two, Five Pounds Reward, and Bookworms, the latter two starring Howard. Some of these survive in the archives of the British Film Institute. Following his move to Hollywood, Howard often played stiff upper lipped Englishmen and he appeared in the film version of Outward Bound, though in a different role than the one he portrayed on Broadway. He had second billing under Norma Shearer in A Free Soul and he starred in the film version of Berkeley Square, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor
3.
Harold Huth
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Harold Huth was a British actor, film director and producer. He directed his first film, Hells Cargo, in 1939 and he went on to direct and produce a number of films over the next twenty years before retiring in 1961. He died in 1967 in London and he was a nephew of Eva Moore and a cousin of the actor Roland Pertwee. Harold Huth at the Internet Movie Database
4.
The Scarlet Pimpernel
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The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution, first published in 1905. The novel was written after Orczys stage play of the title enjoyed a long run in London and popular success earlier in 1905. A wealthy English fop, he is known by his symbol, a simple flower and he succeeds by transforming himself into a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist in addition to the strict secrecy of the groups movements. His identity is secret to all but his men, Marguerite Blakeney, French wife of the wealthy English dandy, is approached by the new French envoy to England with a threat to her brothers life if she does not aid in his search for the Pimpernel. She aids him, and then discovers that the Pimpernel is also very dear to her and she sails to France to stop the envoy. The title character established the notion of a hero with a secret identity into popular culture and he was a precursor to subsequent literary creations such as Zorro and Batman. The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in 1792, during the stages of the French Revolution. Marguerite St. Just, a beautiful French actress, is the wife of wealthy English fop Sir Percy Blakeney, when Percy found out, he became estranged from his wife. Marguerite, for her part, became disillusioned with Percys shallow and their leader, the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his nickname from the small red flower he draws on his messages. Despite being the talk of London society, only his followers, like many others, Marguerite is entranced by the Pimpernels daring exploits. At a ball attended by the Blakeneys, a verse by Percy about the elusive Pimpernel makes the rounds, meanwhile, Marguerite is blackmailed by Citizen Chauvelin, the wily new French envoy to England. Chauvelins agents have stolen a letter proving her beloved brother Armand is in league with the Pimpernel, Chauvelin offers to trade Armands life for her help against the Pimpernel. Contemptuous of her seemingly witless and unloving husband, Marguerite does not go to him for help or advice, instead, she passes along information which enables Chauvelin to learn the Pimpernels true identity. Later that night, Marguerite finally tells her husband of the danger threatening her brother. After Percy unexpectedly leaves for France, Marguerite discovers to her horror that he is the Pimpernel and he had hidden behind the persona of a dull, slow-witted fop to deceive the world. He had not told Marguerite because of his worry that she might betray him, desperate to save her husband, she decides to pursue Percy to France to warn him that Chauvelin knows his identity and his purpose. She persuades Sir Andrew Ffoulkes to accompany her, but because of the tide, at Calais, Percy openly approaches Chauvelin in the Chat gris, a decrepit inn whose owner is in Percys pay. Despite Chauvelins best efforts, the Englishman manages to escape by offering Chauvelin a pinch of snuff, through a bold plan executed right under Chauvelins nose, Percy rescues Marguerites brother Armand and the Comte de Tournay, the father of a schoolfriend of Marguerites
5.
Emma Orczy
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Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Emmuska Orczy de Orci, pen name as Baroness Orczy, was a Hungarian-born British novelist, playwright, and artist of noble origin. Some of her paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Heves County, Hungary, and was the daughter of composer Baron Félix Orczy de Orci and Countess Emma Wass de Szentegyed et Cege. Her grandfather, Baron László Orczy was a councillor, and also knight of the Sicilian order of Saint George. Her maternal grandparents were the Count Sámuel Wass de Szentegyed et Cege, member of the Hungarian parliament, emmas parents left their estate for Budapest in 1868, fearful of the threat of a peasant revolution. They lived in Budapest, Brussels, and Paris, where Emma studied music unsuccessfully, finally, in 1880, the 14 year old Emma and her family moved to London where they lodged with their countryman, Francis Pichler, at 162 Great Portland Street. Orczy attended West London School of Art and then Heatherleys School of Fine Art, although not destined to be a painter, it was at art school that she met a young illustrator named Montague MacLean Barstow, the son of an English clergyman, they married in 1894. It was the start of a joyful and happy marriage for close on half a century, one of happiness and understanding, of perfect friendship. They had very little money and Orczy started to work with her husband as a translator, john Montague Orczy-Barstow, their only child, was born on 25 February 1899. She started writing soon after his birth but her first novel and she did, however, find a small following with a series of detective stories in the Royal Magazine. Her next novel, In Marys Reign, did better and she submitted her novelization of the story under the same title to 12 publishers. While waiting for the decisions of these publishers, Fred Terry and it was translated and produced in other countries, and underwent several revivals. This theatrical success generated huge sales for the novel, the last Pimpernel book, Mamzelle Guillotine, was published in 1940. None of her three subsequent plays matched the success of The Scarlet Pimpernel and she also wrote popular mystery fiction and many adventure romances. Her Lady Molly of Scotland Yard was an example of a female detective as the main character. Other popular detective stories featured The Old Man in the Corner, Orczys novels were racy, mannered melodramas and she favoured historical fiction. Critic Mary Cadogan states, Orczys books are highly wrought and intensely atmospheric, in The Nest of the Sparrowhawk, for example, a malicious guardian in Puritan Kent tricks his beautiful, wealthy young ward into marrying him by disguising himself as an exiled French prince. He persuades his widowed sister-in-law to abet him in this plot, in which she unwittingly disgraces one of her long-lost sons, even though this novel had no link to The Scarlet Pimpernel other than its shared authorship, the publisher advertised it as part of The Scarlet Pimpernel Series. Orczys work was so successful that she was able to buy a house in Monte Carlo, Orczy was a firm believer in the superiority of the aristocracy, as well as being a supporter of British imperialism and militarism
6.
Francis L. Sullivan
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Francis Loftus Sullivan was an English film and stage actor. Francis Loftus Sullivan attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England, whose alumni include Charles Laughton, a heavily built man with a striking double-chin and a deep voice, Sullivan made his acting debut at the Old Vic at age 18 in Shakespeares Richard III. He had considerable theatrical experience before he appeared in his first film in 1932, The Missing Rembrandt, among his film roles are Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist and Phil Nosseross in the film noir Night and the City. Sullivan also played the part of Jaggers in two versions of Charles Dickenss Great Expectations - in 1934 and 1946 and he appeared in a fourth Dickens film, the 1935 Universal Pictures version of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, in which he played Crisparkle. He was featured in The Citadel, starring Robert Donat, in 1938 he starred in a revival of the Stokes brothers play Oscar Wilde at Londons Arts Theatre. He played the Attorney General prosecuting the case defended by Robert Donat as barrister Sir Robert Morton, in the first film version of The Winslow Boy. Sullivan also acted in comedies, including My Favorite Spy, starring Bob Hope and Hedy Lamarr, in which he played an enemy agent. He also played the role of Pothinus in the version of George Bernard Shaws Caesar. The film was directed by Gabriel Pascal, and was the last film personally supervised by Shaw himself, Sullivan reprised the role in a stage revival of the play. Sullivan, who became a naturalized US citizen, won a Tony Award in 1955 for the Agatha Christie play Witness for the Prosecution. Earlier, he had played Hercule Poirot at Londons Embassy Theatre in the Christie play Black Coffee and he died of a heart attack, aged 53. Francis L. Sullivan at Find a Grave Francis L. Sullivan at the Internet Broadway Database Francis L. Sullivan at the Internet Movie Database
7.
Mary Morris
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Mary Lilian Agnes Morris was a British actress. Morris was the daughter of Herbert Stanley Morris, a botanist and she trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Morris made her debut in Lysistrata at the Gate Theatre. In 1943 she played Anna Petrovitch in the Ealing war movie Undercover as the wife of a Serbian guerrilla leader, on television, she played Professor Madeleine Dawnay in the science-fiction television drama A for Andromeda, and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra in 1963. As a Number Two in the The Prisoner episode Dance of the Dead she dressed as Peter Pan during a masquerade ball, after a 25-year absence she reappeared in films as the mother of the murdered boy in the 1977 horror film Full Circle. She also appeared on television in Doctor Who in the story Kinda and she died from heart failure on 14 October 1988 in Aigle, Switzerland. com Profile, filmreference. com Profile, nytimes. com Profile, time. com Mary Morris at the Internet Movie Database
8.
British National Films Company
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In 1934 the British National Films Company was formed in England by J. Arthur Rank, Lady Annie Henrietta Yule of Bricket Wood and producer John Corfield. Joseph Arthur Rank was a member of the British Methodist Church. On the first day of the week, he was a Sunday school teacher and his idea spread to other classes held by other churches and in 1933, this motivated Rank to form a Religious Film Society to distribute the films that he wanted to show to other Sunday schools. Following distribution, Rank then decided to go into the business of producing religious films, mastership was his first religious film production. It was a film made at Merton Park Studios at a cost of £2,700. Mastership was never shown commercially because it was intended as a form of evangelism. Rank was pleased with the results, and other films went into production in Elstree at the better equipped Rock Studios, in the 1930s, the Methodist Times newspaper in England began attacking the low moral standards exhibited by British films and by American films shown in Britain. It was this exchange that motivated Rank to expand his interests into the commercial market. A young producer named John Corefield introduced Rank to Lady Annie Henrietta Yule of Bricket Wood, in order to fill her life with activity, she engaged in big game hunting and breeding Arabian horses with a degree of success and lasting fame. Upon meeting J. Arthur Rank, she decided to add the making of films to her list and she thought that films were an interesting hobby and similar to her financial interests in Arabian horse breeding. In 1934, Rank, Lady Yule and John Corefield formed the British National Films Company, in 1935, British National commenced production of their first feature film, Turn of the Tide. The script was based upon a 1932 novel by Leo Walmsley called Three Fevers, the setting, which Rank knew from childhood, was Robin Hoods Bay on the north coast of Yorkshire, England. Having read the book, Rank decided that it would make an excellent family-friendly British film in answer to the Hollywood-style movies that Alexander Korda was making at the Denham Film Studios. Although Turn of the Tide was well made and featured a good cast, British National could not get wide distribution for the film, the company struggled to recoup its costs. Rank knew that for British National to make a profit, he had to create a version of his Religious Film Society to control distribution and exhibition. In 1934, Charles Boot had undertaken to construct a new studio in the village of Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. His location was set among the trees on the estate grounds of a mansion called Heatherden Hall that Boot had recently bought at auction. The complex was named Pinewood Film Studios and was completed within a year, by 1935, Boot had approached British National about taking over ownership and management of the new studios and a contract was entered into
9.
United Artists
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United Artists is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century. On December 14 of the year, however, MGM acquired the 48% stake of UAMG it did not own. UA was incorporated as a joint venture on February 5,1919, by Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work. They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over salaries and creative decisions. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized, when he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, The inmates are taking over the asylum. The four partners, with advice from McAdoo, formed their distribution company and its headquarters was established at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City. The original terms called for each of the stars to produce five pictures each year, UAs first film was a success. Without selling stock to the public, following the other studios, as a result, production was slow and the company distributed an annual average of five films during its first five years. By 1924 Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis, veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. He had been producing pictures for a decade, and he brought commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge, his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge, contracts were signed with independent producers, most notably Samuel Goldwyn, and Howard Hughes. In 1933, Schenck organized a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck, called Twentieth Century Pictures, Schenck formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name. They began international operations, first in Canada and then in Mexico, by the end of the 1930s, United Artists was represented in over 40 countries. When he was denied a share in 1935, Schenck resigned. He set up 20th Century Pictures merger with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox, al Lichtman succeeded Schenck as company president. Other independent producers distributed through United Artists in the 1930s including, Walt Disney Productions, Alexander Korda, Hal Roach, David O. Selznick, as the years passed, and the dynamics of the business changed, these producing partners drifted away. Samuel Goldwyn Productions and Disney went to RKO, and Wanger to Universal Pictures, in the late 1930s, UA turned a profit
10.
Anti-fascism
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Anti-fascism is opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. The anti-fascist movement began in a few European countries in the 1920s, with the development and spread of Italian Fascism, i. e. original fascism, the National Fascist Partys ideology was met with increasingly militant opposition by Italian communists and socialists. Organizations such as the Arditi del Popolo and the Italian Anarchist Union were born in the period 1919–1921 to combat the nationalist and fascist surge of the post-World War I period, thus as soon as Fascism coalesced into a coherent ideology, a militant leftist opposition sprouted in response. Furthermore, in the words of historian Eric Hobsbawm, as Fascism developed and spread, after the outbreak of World War II, the Albanian, Serbian, and Polish resistances were instrumental in antifascist action and underground resistance. This combination of irreconcilable nationalisms and leftist partisans constitute the earliest roots of European antifascism, the historian Norman Davies argues in his book Europe at War 1939–1945, No Simple Victory that anti-fascism does not offer a coherent political ideology, but rather that it is an empty vessel. The motive would be to lend legitimacy to the dictatorship of the proletariat and was done at the time the USSR was pursuing a policy of collective security, in Italy, Benito Mussolinis Fascist regime used the term anti-fascist to describe its opponents. Mussolinis secret police was officially known as Organizzazione per la Vigilanza e la Repressione dellAntifascismo, Italian for Organization for Vigilance, in Italy in the 1920s, anti-fascists—many from the labour movement—fought against the violent Blackshirts and against the rise of fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The General Confederation of Labour and the PSI refused to recognize the anti-fascist militia. The PCI organized some militant groups, but their actions were relatively minor, the Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, who exiled himself to Argentina following the 1922 March on Rome, organized several bombings against the Italian fascist community. Italian liberal anti-fascist Benedetto Croce wrote Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals, another notable Italian liberal anti-fascist around that time was Piero Gobetti. Between 1920 and 1943, several anti-fascist movements were active among the Slovenes and Croats in the annexed to Italy after World War I. The most influential was the militant insurgent organization TIGR, which carried out numerous sabotages, as well as attacks on representatives of the Fascist Party and the military. During World War II, many members of the Italian resistance left their houses and went to live in the mountainside, fighting against Italian fascists, many cities in Italy, including Turin, Naples and Milan, were freed by anti-fascist uprisings. In Italy, the first anti-fascist resistance emerged within the Slovene minority in Italy, not only in multi-ethnic areas, but also in the areas where the population was exclusively Slovene, the use of Slovene language in public places, including churches, was forbidden. Children, if they spoke Slovene, were punished by Italian teachers who were brought by the Fascist State from Southern Italy, the Slovene teachers, writers, and clergy were sent to the other side of Italy. The first anti-fascist organization, called TIGR, was formed in 1927 in order to fight Fascist violence and its guerrilla fight continued into the late 1920s and 1930s when by the mid-1930s, already 70.000 Slovenes fled Italy mostly to Slovenia and South America. The Slovene anti-fascist resistance in Yugoslavia during World War II was led by Liberation Front of the Slovenian People, soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky wrote, ighting squads must be created. Nothing increases the insolence of the fascists so much as flabby pacifism on the part of the workers organisations, political cowardice without organised combat detachments, the most heroic masses will be smashed bit by bit by fascist gangs
11.
Thriller (genre)
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Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television, having numerous subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation, successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Thrillers generally keep the audience on the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax, the cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively, a thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome. Homers Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as a prototype of the thriller. Thrillers may be defined by the mood that they elicit. In short, if it thrills, it is a thriller, as the introduction to a major anthology explains, Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, anticipation and tension and these develop from unpredictable, mysterious and rousing events during the narrative, which make the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the suspense in a story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached. In terms of expectations, it may be contrasted with curiosity. The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, the second type of suspense is the. anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence. According to Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics, suspense is an important building block of literature, common methods and themes in crime and action thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. Common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique, common elements in dramatic and psychological thrillers include plot twists, psychology, obsession and mind games. Common in horror thrillers are serial killers, stalking, deathtraps, elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins, the themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with other or with outside forces. The protagonist of these films is set against a problem, no matter what subgenre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women characters are increasingly common
12.
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934 film)
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The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1934 British adventure film directed by Harold Young and starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, and Raymond Massey. The film was produced by Alexander Korda, among the latest scheduled for execution are the Count de Tournay, former ambassador to Great Britain, and his family. However, one of the Scarlet Pimpernels men visits them in prison disguised as a priest, as the prisoners are being escorted to the cart to be taken to the guillotine, the guards take the count away, French leader Maximilien Robespierre wishes to question him further. The countess and her daughter are rescued and spirited away to England, back in Paris, Robespierre meets with Chauvelin, the republics new ambassador to Britain, to discuss the problem of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Summoning the Count de Tournay, they offer him his life in return for information from his English contacts as to the Pimpernels true identity, the Scarlet Pimpernel is Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English baronet and friend of the Prince of Wales. Sir Percy cultivates the image of a fop in order to throw off suspicion and his pose is so successful that not even his French wife Marguerite suspects the truth. Though the two are in love, Sir Percy no longer trusts his wife because of her past denunciation of the Marquis de St. Cyr, through his network of spies, Chauvelin discovers that Armand St. Just, Marguerites brother is one of the Scarlet Pimpernels agents. Chauvelin orders Armands arrest, then uses the threat of his execution to force Marguerite into helping him discover the identity of the Pimpernel, who he knows will be at an upcoming ball. At the ball, Marguerite intercepts a message given to Sir Andrew Ffoulkes and she passes the information along to Chauvelin, who goes to the library to find only Percy, apparently asleep. While waiting, Chauvelin falls asleep, when he wakes up, the next morning, Percy and Marguerite travel to their house in the country. There, Marguerite breaks down and tells her husband of Armands arrest, confronting her, Percy learns the truth behind the denunciation of the marquis, he had her imprisoned for consorting with his son. After the revolution freed her, she told her friend Chauvelin, promising to use his influence at court on Armands behalf, Percy leaves for London. Afterward, Marguerite notices a detail on a portrait of the 1st baronet hanging in the library – on his finger is a ring decorated by a pimpernel, racing back to London, she warns Ffoulkes that Percys life is in danger. Ffoulkes agrees to mobilise the band to warn Percy, to lure Percy into his trap, Chauvelin has both Armand and the Count de Tournay transferred to Boulogne-sur-Mer. Despite the vigilance of Chauvelins men, the Pimpernel frees the two men from prison through bribery, however, one of the prison guards tells Chauvelin that the Pimpernel will be at a certain tavern that evening. Marguerite goes there to warn Percy, only to be arrested by Chauvelin, Percy arrives at the appointed time and is met by a gloating Chauvelin. Percy distracts him long enough for Armand and the count to board the ship, Percy surrenders on the condition that she be freed. He is led away by soldiers to be shot by a firing squad
13.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV
14.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
15.
Raoul Wallenberg
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Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian. He is widely celebrated for saving tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust from German Nazis, while serving as Swedens special envoy in Budapest between July and December 1944, Wallenberg issued protective passports and sheltered Jews in buildings designated as Swedish territory. On 17 January 1945, during the Siege of Budapest by the Red Army, Wallenberg was detained by SMERSH on suspicion of espionage and subsequently disappeared. He was later reported to have died on 17 July 1947 while imprisoned by the KGB secret police in the Lubyanka, due to his courageous actions on behalf of the Hungarian Jews, Raoul Wallenberg has been the subject of numerous humanitarian honors in the decades following his presumed death. Congressman Tom Lantos, himself one of those saved by Wallenberg and he was the second person ever to receive this honor, after Winston Churchill. Wallenberg is also a citizen of Canada, Hungary, Australia. Israel has also designated Wallenberg one of the Righteous Among the Nations, monuments have been dedicated to him, and streets have been named after him throughout the world. A Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States was created in 1981 to perpetuate the humanitarian ideals and it gives the Raoul Wallenberg Award annually to recognize persons who carry out those goals. Postage stamps have been issued in his honour by Argentina, Australia, Canada, Dominica, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Sweden, on 26 July 2012, he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in recognition of his achievements and heroic actions during the Holocaust. In October 2016,71 years after his disappearance, Wallenberg was formally declared dead by the Swedish Tax Agency. Wallenberg was born in 1912 in Lidingö, near Stockholm, where his grandparents, professor Per Johan Wising. His paternal grandfather, Gustaf Wallenberg, was a diplomat and envoy to Tokyo, Istanbul and his parents, who married in 1911, were Raoul Oscar Wallenberg, a Swedish naval officer, and Maria Maj Sofia Wising. His father died of cancer three months before he was born, and his grandfather died of pneumonia three months after his birth. His mother and grandmother, now both suddenly widows, raised him together, in 1918, his mother married Fredrik von Dardel, they had a son, Guy von Dardel, and a daughter, Nina Lagergren. After high school and his eight months in the Swedish military. He spent one year there, and then, in 1931, although the Wallenberg family was rich, he worked at odd jobs in his free time and joined other young male students as a passenger rickshaw handler at Chicagos Century of Progress. He used his vacations to explore the United States, with hitchhiking being his preferred method of travel, about his experiences, he wrote to his grandfather saying, When you travel like a hobo, everything’s different. You have to be on the alert the whole time, you’re in close contact with new people every day
16.
Budapest
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Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary, one of the largest cities in the European Union and sometimes described as the primate city of Hungary. It has an area of 525 square kilometres and a population of about 1.8 million within the limits in 2016. Budapest became a single city occupying both banks of the Danube river with the unification of Buda and Óbuda on the west bank, the history of Budapest began with Aquincum, originally a Celtic settlement that became the Roman capital of Lower Pannonia. Hungarians arrived in the territory in the 9th century and their first settlement was pillaged by the Mongols in 1241–1242. The re-established town became one of the centres of Renaissance humanist culture by the 15th century, following the Battle of Mohács and nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule, the region entered a new age of prosperity, and Budapest became a global city after its unification in 1873. It also became the co-capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a power that dissolved in 1918. Budapest was the point of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian Republic of Councils in 1919, the Battle of Budapest in 1945. Budapest is an Alpha- global city, with strengths in arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts the Budapest Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks and it is the highest ranked Central and Eastern European city on Innovation Cities Top 100 index. Budapest attracts 4.4 million international tourists per year, making it the 25th most popular city in the world, further famous landmarks include Andrássy Avenue, St. It has around 80 geothermal springs, the worlds largest thermal water system, second largest synagogue. Budapest is home to the headquarters of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, the European Police College, over 40 colleges and universities are located in Budapest, including the Eötvös Loránd University, Central European University and Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Budapest is the combination of the city names Buda and Pest, One of the first documented occurrences of the combined name Buda-Pest was in 1831 in the book Világ, written by Count István Széchenyi. The origins of the names Buda and Pest are obscure, according to chronicles from the Middle Ages, the name Buda comes from the name of its founder, Bleda, brother of the Hunnic ruler Attila. The theory that Buda was named after a person is also supported by modern scholars, an alternative explanation suggests that Buda derives from the Slavic word вода, voda, a translation of the Latin name Aquincum, which was the main Roman settlement in the region. There are also theories about the origin of the name Pest. One of the states that the word Pest comes from the Roman times. According to another theory, Pest originates from the Slavic word for cave, or oven, the first settlement on the territory of Budapest was built by Celts before 1 AD
17.
History of the Jews in Hungary
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Jews have a long history in the country now known as Hungary, with some records even predating the 895 AD Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, Jewish officials served the king during the reign of Andrew II. From the second part of the 13th century the religious tolerance decreased. The Jews of Hungary were fairly well integrated into Hungarian society by the time of the First World War, by the early 20th century, the community had grown to constitute 5% of Hungarys total population and 23% of the population of the capital, Budapest. Jews became prominent in science, the arts and business, starting in 1938, Hungary under Miklós Horthy passed a series of anti-Jewish measures in emulation of Germanys Nürnberg Laws. The vast majority of Jews who were deported were massacred in Kameniec-Podolsk, in the massacres of Újvidék and villages nearby,2, 550–2,850 Serbs, 700–1,250 Jews and 60–130 others were murdered by the Hungarian Army and Csendőrség in January 1942. A Jew living in the Hungarian countryside in March 1944 had a less than 10% chance of surviving the following 12 months, in Budapest, a Jews chance of survival of the same 12 months was about 50%. Jews from the Hungarian provinces outside Budapest and its suburbs were rounded up, the first transports to Auschwitz began in early May 1944 and continued even as Soviet troops approached. During the last years of World War II, they suffered severely, the 2011 Hungary census data had 10,965 people who self-identified religious Jews, of whom 10,553 declared themselves as ethnic Hungarian. Other media sources estimate an Hungarian population with Jewish ethnicity of around 48,200 mostly concentrated in Budapest, the intermarriage rates for Hungarian Jews is around 60%. It is not definitely known when Jews first settled in Hungary, According to tradition, King Decebalus permitted the Jews who aided him in his war against Rome to settle in his territory. Dacia included part of modern-day Hungary as well as Romania and Moldova and smaller areas of Bulgaria, Ukraine, prisoners of the Jewish Wars may have been brought back by the victorious Roman legions normally stationed in Provincia Pannonia. Marcus Aurelius ordered the transfer of some of his rebellious troops from Syria to Pannonia in 175 A. D and these troops had been recruited partly in Antioch and Hemesa, which still had a sizable Jewish population at that time. The Antiochian troops were transferred to Ulcisia Castra, while the Hemesian troops settled in Intercisa, stone inscriptions referring to Jews were found in Brigetio, Solva, Aquincum, Intercisa, Triccinae, Savaria, Sopianae and elsewhere in Pannonia. A Latin inscription, the epitaph of Septima Maria, discovered in Siklós, the Intercisa tablet was inscribed on behalf of Cosmius, chief of the Spondilla customhouse, archisynagogus Iudeorum during the reign of Alexander Severus. In 2008, a team of archeologists discovered a 3rd-century AD amulet in the form of a scroll with the words of the Jewish prayer Shema Yisrael inscribed on it in Féltorony. Hungarian tribes settled the territory 650 years later, in the Hungarian language, the word for Jew is zsidó, which was adopted from one of the Slavic languages. The first historical document relating to the Jews of Hungary is the letter written about 960 A. D, about the same time Ibrahim ibn Jacob says that Jews went from Hungary to Prague for business purposes
18.
University of Cambridge
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The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, England, often regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Founded in 1209 and given royal status by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople, the two ancient universities share many common features and are often referred to jointly as Oxbridge. Cambridge is formed from a variety of institutions which include 31 constituent colleges, Cambridge University Press, a department of the university, is the worlds oldest publishing house and the second-largest university press in the world. The university also operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridges libraries hold a total of around 15 million books, eight million of which are in Cambridge University Library, a legal deposit library. In the year ended 31 July 2015, the university had an income of £1.64 billion. The central university and colleges have an endowment of around £5.89 billion. The university is linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster known as Silicon Fen. It is a member of associations and forms part of the golden triangle of leading English universities and Cambridge University Health Partners. As of 2017, Cambridge is ranked the fourth best university by three ranking tables and no other institution in the world ranks in the top 10 for as many subjects. Cambridge is consistently ranked as the top university in the United Kingdom, the university has educated many notable alumni, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors, and foreign Heads of State. Ninety-five Nobel laureates, fifteen British prime ministers and ten Fields medalists have been affiliated with Cambridge as students, faculty, by the late 12th century, the Cambridge region already had a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation, due to monks from the nearby bishopric church of Ely. The University of Oxford went into suspension in protest, and most scholars moved to such as Paris, Reading. After the University of Oxford reformed several years later, enough remained in Cambridge to form the nucleus of the new university. A bull in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX gave graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in Christendom, the colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself, the colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, the hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel Lane. Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, Cambridges first college, the most recently established college is Robinson, built in the late 1970s
19.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
20.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
21.
Aryan
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Aryan is a term meaning noble which was used as a self-designation by Indo-Iranian people. The closely related Iranian people also used the term as a label for themselves in the Avesta scriptures. It was believed in the 19th century that it was also a used by all Proto-Indo-Europeans. Scholars point out that, even in ancient times, the idea of being an Aryan was religious, cultural and linguistic, through Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Gobineaus ideas later influenced the Nazi racial ideology, which also saw Aryan peoples as innately superior to other putative racial groups. The English word Aryan is borrowed from the Sanskrit word ārya, आर्य and it was reintroduced into English with the new spelling by William Jones in the 18th century. Philologist J. P. Mallory argues that As an ethnic designation, the word is most properly limited to the Indo-Iranians, in early Vedic literature, the term Āryāvarta was the name given to northern India, where the Indo-Aryan culture was based. The Manusmṛti gives the name Āryāvarta to the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern to the Western Sea, initially the term was used as a national name to designate those who worshipped the Vedic deities and followed Vedic culture. The Sanskrit term comes from proto-Indo-Iranian *arya- or *aryo-, the used by the Indo-Iranians to designate themselves. The Zend airya venerable and Old Persian ariya are also derivates of *aryo-, in Iranian languages, the original self-identifier lives on in ethnic names like Alans and Iron. Similarly, the name of Iran is the Persian word for land/place of the Aryans, the Proto-Indo-Iranian term is hypothesized to have proto-Indo-European origins, while according to Szemerényi it is probably a Near-Eastern loanword from the Ugaritic ary, kinsmen. It has been postulated the Proto-Indo-European root word is *haerós with the members of ones own group, peer. The word *haerós itself is believed to have come from the root *haer meaning put together, the original meaning in Proto-Indo-European had a clear emphasis on the in-group status as distinguished from that of outsiders, particularly those captured and incoporated into the group as slaves. While in Anatolia, the word has come to emphasize personal relationship. A review of other ideas, and the various problems with each is given by Oswald Szemerényi. Proto-Indo-Europeans, during the 19th century, it was proposed that Aryan was also the self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans, Aryan language family, the Indo-Aryan languages, Iranian languages and Nuristani languages, Indo-Aryan languages specifically, also called Indic. The term Aryan is used by Indian nationalists and Iranian nationalists to refer themselves as Aryan in contrast to the Indo-Aryan migration theory, during the 19th century it was proposed that Aryan was also the self-designation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. Based on speculations that the Proto-Indo-European homeland was located in northern Europe, a 19th-century hypothesis which is now abandoned and it has been used in Nazi racial theory to describe persons corresponding to the Nordic physical ideal of Nazi Germany. In Sanskrit and related Indic languages, ārya means one who does noble deeds, Āryāvarta abode of the āryas is a common name for North India in Sanskrit literature
22.
Scarecrow
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A scarecrow or sahl is a decoy or mannequin in the shape of a human. It is usually dressed in old clothes and placed in fields to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed. The most effectual method of banishing them from a field, as far as experience goes, is to combine with one or other of the scarecrows in vogue the frequent use of the musket. Nothing strikes such terror into these sagacious animals as the sight of a fowling-piece and the explosion of gun powder, which they have known so often to be fatal to their race. Such is their dread of a fowling-piece, that if one is placed upon a dyke or other eminence, many people now, however, believe that crows like most other birds, do more good by destroying insects and worms, etc. than harm by eating grain. Crows can be a problem for gardens in the springtime. In the southern Appalachians another common method of scaring off crows was use of a dead crow hung upside down from a pole, modern scarecrows, though still essentially decoys, seldom take a human shape. On California farmland, highly reflective aluminized PET film ribbons are tied to the plants to create shimmers from the sun, another approach is automatic noise guns powered by propane gas. One winery in New York uses inflatable tube men or airdancers to scare away birds, in Kojiki, the oldest surviving book in Japan, a scarecrow known as Kuebiko appears as a deity who cannot walk, yet knows everything about the world. Nathaniel Hawthornes short story Feathertop is about a scarecrow created and brought to life in 17th century Salem, the basic framework of the story was used by American dramatist Percy MacKaye in his 1908 play The Scarecrow. L. Frank Baums tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has a scarecrow as one of the main protagonists, the Scarecrow of Oz was searching for brains from the Great Wizard. Worzel Gummidge, a scarecrow who came to life in a form, first appeared in series of novels by Barbara Euphan Todd in the 1930s. The Scarecrow is the ego of the Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn. The story was made into the movie Doctor Syn in 1937, a film directed by Jerry Schatzberg in 1973 starring Al Pacino and Gene Hackman is titled Scarecrow and deals with two characters on a journey reminiscent of the one in L. Frank Baums book. The Scarecrow is a character in the DC Comics universe, a supervillain, similar characters, known as Scarecrow and Straw Man, have appeared in Marvel Comics. British band Pink Floyd recorded a song called The Scarecrow for their debut album, john Cougar Mellencamps album Scarecrow, which peaked at No.2 in 1985, spawned five Top 40 singles including Rain on the Scarecrow. Melissa Etheridge recorded the song Scarecrow for her 1999 album Breakdown, the song is actually about Matthew Shepard. The title makes reference to the bicyclist who found Shepard tied to a fence, tobias Sammet recorded his third Avantasia album with a title The Scarecrow, as a first part of Wicked Trilogy, which tells the story about a Scarecrow
23.
Gestapo
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The Gestapo, abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, or the Secret State Police, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various security agencies of Prussia into one organization. Then from 27 September 1939 forward, it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and was considered an organization to the SS Sicherheitsdienst. This gave Göring command of the largest police force in Germany, soon afterward, Göring detached the political and intelligence sections from the police and filled their ranks with Nazis. On 26 April 1933, Göring merged the two units as the Geheime Staatspolizei, which was abbreviated for a stamp and became known as the Gestapo. He originally wanted to name it the Secret Police Office, and its first commander was Rudolf Diels, a protégé of Göring. Diels was appointed with the title of chief of Abteilung Ia of the Political Police of the Prussian Interior Ministry, Diels was best known as the primary interrogator of Marinus van der Lubbe after the Reichstag fire. In late 1933, the Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick wanted to integrate all the forces of the German states under his control. Göring outflanked him by removing the Prussian political and intelligence departments from the interior ministry. Göring himself took over the Gestapo in 1934 and urged Hitler to extend the agencys authority throughout Germany and this represented a radical departure from German tradition, which held that law enforcement was a Land and local matter. In this, he ran into conflict with Heinrich Himmler, who was chief of the second most powerful German state. Frick did not have the muscle to take on Göring by himself so he allied with Himmler, with Fricks support, Himmler took over the political police of state after state. Concerned that Diels was not ruthless enough to counteract the power of the Sturmabteilung, Göring handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. Also on that date, Hitler appointed Himmler chief of all German police outside Prussia, Heydrich, named chief of the Gestapo by Himmler on 22 April 1934, also continued as head of the SS Security Service. Himmler wanted to free himself entirely from Roehm, who he viewed as an obstacle, roehms position was menacing as upwards of over 4. Several Nazi chieftains, among them Goering, Joseph Goebbels, Rudolf Hess, both the SD and Gestapo released information concerning an imminent putsch by the SA. Once persuaded, Hitler acted by setting Himmlers SS into action, on 17 June 1936, Hitler decreed the unification of all police forces in the Reich and named Himmler as Chief of German Police. This action effectively merged the police into the SS and removed it from Fricks control, Himmler was nominally subordinate to Frick as police chief, but as Reichsführer-SS, he answered only to Hitler
24.
Raymond Huntley
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Raymond Huntley was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. Huntley also appeared in the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs as the family solicitor Sir Geoffrey Dillon. Born in Birmingham in 1904, Huntley made his debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, later that year he was offered the chance to reprise the role on Broadway, when he declined, the part was taken by Bela Lugosi instead. Huntley did, however, appear in a US touring production of the Deane/Balderston play, covering the east coast and midwest, I have always considered the role of Count Dracula to have been an indiscretion of my youth, he recalled in 1989. After Dracula, he made his Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on 23 February 1931 and he also starred opposite Flora Robson in the Broadway production of Black Chiffon. In his later years, he became well-known on television as Sir Geoffrey Dillon, Huntley died in Westminster Hospital, London in 1990. In his obituary, the New York Times wrote, During his long career the actor played judges, bank managers, churchmen, bureaucrats and other figures of authority. He could play them if necessary, but in comedy his natural dryness of delivery was exaggerated to the point where the character he was playing invited mockery as a pompous humbug. Raymond Huntley at the Internet Movie Database Raymond Huntley at the Internet Broadway Database
25.
Peter Gawthorne
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Peter Gawthorne was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in Will Hay films. Gawthorne was one of Britains most called-upon bit part actors during the 1940s and 1950s and he was born in 1884 in Queens County in Ireland, but spent most of his career in England. After two years at the Academy of Dramatic Art, Gawthorne began a career on the London stage and his debut was in 1906, a walking on part at His Majestys Theatre, London. He was featured in the role of Albany Pope, receiving good notices and he worked for a number of companies but, in particular, Gainsborough Studios. He also toured Australia, South Africa and Americas, going into films in America before returning to Britain and he also worked with a number of famous straight actors including George Arliss, Errol Flynn and Leslie Banks. Adventure Theater, episode The Thief of London Peter Gawthorne at the Internet Movie Database
26.
David Tomlinson
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David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English stage, film and television actor and comedian. In 2002, two years after his death, Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend, Tomlinson was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on 7 May 1917, to Florence Elizabeth Tomlinson and a well-respected London solicitor father Clarence Tomlinson. He attended Tonbridge School and left to join the Grenadier Guards for 16 months and his father then secured him a job as a clerk at Shell Mex House. His stage career grew from stage productions to his 1940 film debut in Quiet Wedding. His career was interrupted when he entered Second World War service as a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF, during the war, he served as a flight instructor in Canada and made three films. His flying days continued after the war and he crashed a Tiger Moth plane near his back garden after he lost consciousness while flying. David Tomlinson was known to generations of children for his role as George Banks, head of the Banks family, Mary Poppins brought Tomlinson continued work with Disney, asking him to appear in The Love Bug and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Throughout the rest of Tomlinsons film career, he never steered far from comedies and his final acting appearance was in The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu, which was also the final film of Peter Sellers, who died shortly prior to its release. Tomlinson retired from acting at age 63 to spend time with his family, however. Tomlinson was first married to Mary Lindsay Hiddingh, daughter of L. Seton Lindsay and she had been widowed in 1941 when her husband, Major A. G. Hiddingh, was killed in action, leaving her to care for their two young sons. Tomlinson married Mary in September 1943 and she committed suicide on 2 December 1943, when she jumped from a hotel in New York City, while holding her sons hands. Tomlinsons second wife was actress Audrey Freeman, whom he married on 17 May 1953, and they had four sons, David Jr. William, Henry and James. Tomlinson died peacefully in his sleep at King Edward VIIs Hospital, Westminster, at 4 a. m. on 24 June 2000 and he was interred at his estate grounds in Mursley, Buckinghamshire. David Tomlinson at the Internet Movie Database David Tomlinson at Find a Grave Mary Poppins Star Dies – BBC News obituary from 2000 David Tomlinson at the Disney Legends website
27.
A. E. Matthews
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Already middle-aged when silent films began production, he enjoyed increasing renown from World War II onwards as one of the British cinemas most famous crotchety, and sometimes rascally, old men. Matthews was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, nicknamed Matty, he was christened Alfred Edward Matthews. He was born in a cottage, now demolished, which existed on the site of the current B&Q store in the town. He was affectionately regarded by the British public over his long career. Spike Milligan penned an episode of the Goon Show entitled The Evils of Bushey Spon based on the incident. The programme, first broadcast on 17 March 1958, included a guest appearance by Matthews himself at the end of the episode, and this part of the show was ad-libbed after he departed from the script. Having regaled audience and viewers throughout the show with highly engaging reminiscences, there were many press, host Eamonn Andrews recalled in his autobiography that Matty had been a bit of a hellion all his life, a loveable, unpredictable rebel whose sense of fun was monumental. I knew I had an assignment on my hands once the decision was made to present his life. On transmission, he did just about every solitary thing calculated to wreck the show’s intricate timing and he snorted, contradicted, interrupted, laughed, and, at one stage, even stretched out on the couch and said he was going to have a snooze. Matthews was still working as an actor right up until his two years later. He died on 25 July 1960 in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, a Blue Plaque is displayed on his former home in Little Bushey Lane. In 2008 Greg Knight, the Member of Parliament for the East Riding of Yorkshire constituency, a special ceremony to commemorate his life and career was held in the town on 22 November 2008, organised and compered by Knight. It was attended by the ventriloquist Ray Alan, who knew Matthews and who spoke about his memories of him
28.
Ben Williams (actor)
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Benjamin Percy Williams was a British character actor from the 1930s to the late 1950s. During his career he appeared in 137 films, in 1954 Williams acted in the BBC Radio play Under Milk Wood that won the Prix Italia award for radio drama that year. Originally a miner in Swansea, Williams served in the Royal Artillery in Palestine during World War I, Williams made his film debut in an uncredited role in the 1933 film The Good Companions. Old Mother Rileys Circus, Old Mother Rileys Ghosts, Love on the Dole, Pimpernel Smith, in 1954 he played Mr. Pritchard in an all-Welsh cast BBC Radio version of Under Milk Wood with Richard Burton. During his later years he lived in Mitre House on Kings Road and his hobbies were listed as most sports. Williams died in Chelsea in London aged 67 and he was survived by a son, Philip Trigwell from a relationship with Etta Trigwell, and a daughter, Betty Hopkins. Blue Smoke Gay Old Dog Flame in the Heather The Man Without a Face The Crimes of Stephen Hawke Find the Lady Old Mother Rileys Circus Pimpernel Smith Hi Gang
