1.
Pembroke College, Oxford
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Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located in Pembroke Square. As of 2015, Pembroke had a financial endowment of £46.9 million. Pembroke offers the study of almost all the courses offered by the university, dame Lynne Brindley, former head of the British Library, has been Master of the College since 2013. In the early century, the endowment of Thomas Tesdale—a merchant from nearby Abingdon –. Following its foundation, the college proceeded to expand around Broadgates, built in stages through the seventeenth century out of the local Cotswold limestone, space restrictions saw the south-side of the Quad built directly on top of the old City Wall. The Chapel was designed and built by William Townsend, although the interior was redesigned by Charles Kempe—a Pembroke graduate—in 1884. The Chapel which is used for regular worship bears his name. Further expansion of the came in the 1960s, after the closure of Beef Lane to the north of Chapel Quad. The private houses north of the road were acquired by the College in a piecemeal fashion. The new area is now known as North Quad, which was opened in 1962. A modern annex, built near to college on the banks of the Isis at Grandpont, provides accommodation for thirty six graduates, named the Geoffrey Arthur Building, the building was named for the diplomat Sir Geoffrey Arthur — a former master of the college. In April 2013 the Duke of Kent officially opened two new quadrangles, with new buildings including a 170-seat multi-purpose auditorium, a new cafe, art gallery, both James I, as founder of the college, and the Earl of Pembroke are commemorated in the arms. The former, representing the union of the crowns as James I of England and James VI of Scotland, is symbolised by the rose, the three lions rampant are taken from the Earl’s personal coat arms. Pembroke offers a range of courses, covering almost all the subject areas offered by the university, Literae Humaniores, Geography. In particular, the college has had an involvement with Economics, as well as Management Studies. The college has maintained a relationship with the Saïd Business School. In March 2002 two Oxford fellows resigned after allegations that they had offered a place to the child of an undercover reporter in return for a donation to the college library. The journalist alleged that he had taped a conversation where he posed as the father of a fictitious son, Pembroke runs its own access schemes entitled Pem-Brooke and Pembroke North which work with disadvantaged students from London and areas of the North
2.
Abdullah II of Jordan
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Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein has been king of Jordan since the 1999 death of his father, King Hussein. According to Abdullah, he is a 41st-generation direct descendant of Muhammad since he belongs to the Hashemite family and he was born in Amman as the first child of King Hussein and his second wife, British-born Princess Muna Al-Hussein. Shortly after his birth, Abdullah was named the crown prince, King Hussein transferred the title to his brother, Prince Hassan, in 1965 and returned it to Abdullah in 1999. Abdullah began his schooling in Amman, continuing his education abroad and he assumed command of Jordans Special Forces in 1994, and became a major general in 1998. In 1993 Abdullah married Rania Al-Yassin, and they have four children, Crown Prince Hussein, Princess Iman, Princess Salma, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum, is his brother-in-law by marriage. Although Jordan is a monarchy, the king holds wide executive and legislative powers and is commander-in-chief of the Jordanian Armed Forces. Abdullah embarked on aggressive economic liberalization when he assumed the throne, in 2011, large-scale protests demanding reform erupted in the Arab world. Although many of the led to civil wars in other countries, Abdullah responded quickly to domestic unrest by replacing the government. He introduced proportional representation to the Jordanian parliament in 2016, a move which he said would lead to a parliamentary government, although local opposition groups called his reforms inadequate, other observers praised them. Abdullah is popular locally and internationally for maintaining Jordanian stability, and is known for promoting interfaith dialogue, the third-longest-serving Arab leader, he is regarded by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center as the most influential Muslim in the world. Abdullah is custodian of the Muslim and Christian sacred sites in Jerusalem, Abdullah was born in Amman on 30 January 1962 to King Hussein during Husseins marriage to his British-born second wife, Princess Muna Al-Hussein. He is the namesake of his great-grandfather, King Abdullah I, Abdullah says that he is the 41st direct descendant of Muhammad through the Hashemite dynasty, which ruled Mecca for over 700 years and has ruled Jordan since 1921. The Hashemites, the oldest ruling dynasty in the Muslim world, are the second-oldest-ruling dynasty in the world, since Hussein had a daughter from his first marriage, Abdullah became heir apparent to the Jordanian throne under the 1952 constitution. Due to political instability, King Hussein appointed his brother Prince Hassan as his heir apparent in 1965, three more children followed Abdullah from Husseins marriage to Princess Muna, two from the kings third marriage and four from his fourth. Abdullah has four brothers and six sisters, seven of whom are half-siblings and he began his schooling in 1966 at the Islamic Educational College in Amman, and continued at St Edmunds School in England. Abdullah attended high school at Eaglebrook School and Deerfield Academy in the United States and he began his military career at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1980, while he was a training officer in the Jordanian Armed Forces. After Sandhurst, Abdullah was commissioned as a lieutenant in the British Army and served a year in Britain. Abdullah was admitted to Pembroke College in 1982, where he completed a one-year special-studies course in Middle Eastern affairs
3.
Patience Agbabi
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Patience Agbabi is a British poet and performer with a particular emphasis on the spoken word. Although her poetry is hard-hitting in addressing contemporary themes, her work makes use of strong formal constraints. She has described herself as bi-cultural and bisexual. and issues of racial, sexual Gender identity is important in her poetry, Agbabi was born in London to Nigerian parents, and grew up in North Wales with an adopted family. She studied English Language and Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford, Agbabi began performing on the London club circuit in 1995. She has cited among her influences Janis Joplin, Carol Ann Duffy, Chaucer and her childhood love of cake is apparent in her poem Eat Me. Her latest book, Telling Tales, was published by Canongate in 2014 and it revisits Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales and mines the Middle-English masterwork to offer a 21st-century take on the characters, its poetry and its performance elements. The book met with praise from poets who include Simon Armitage, Agbabi continues to tour Telling Tales as a performance-poetry production shown at literature festivals, arts spaces and libraries across the UK. She is also the author of the poetry collections Bloodshot Monochrome, Transformatrix and R. A. W and she has performed extensively and in collaboration with other writers. Her work has also influenced by rap rhythms and wordplay. She was a member of Atomic Lip, which has described as poetrys first pop group. They worked together from 1995 to 1998 and their last tour, Quadrophonix merged live, in 1996 she worked on a performance piece called FOR WOMEN, with Adeola Agbebiyi and Dorothea Smartt, first performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. As well as performing in Britain, Agbabi has undertaken British Council reading tours of Namibia and she took part in Modern Love, a spoken-word tour produced by Renaissance One, which explored love and modern relationships, touring the UK and Switzerland. Her poetry has been featured on television and radio, including the Channel 4 series Litpop in 1998, in 2000, she was one of ten poets commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to write a poem for National Poetry Day. In 2004, she was named as one of the Next Generation poets and her second book, Transformatrix is a commentary on contemporary Britain which draws inspiration from popular music forms. Agbabi is a former Poet Laureate of Canterbury and she has taught and run workshops and also been poet-in-residence at various places, ranging from Oxford Brookes University to a London tattoo and piercing studio. In March 2015, The Poetry Society announced Agbabi as one of five poets shortlisted for the 2014 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, the Wife of Bafa, Analysis of The Wife of Bafa Telling Tales, Canongate Books. Patience Agbabi on BBC Radio 4 Front Row Charlotte Runcie, Patience Agbabi, alex Goody, Contemporary British poetry, in, The Cambridge Companion to Modern British Culture, ISBN9780511780776, pp. 137–153
4.
Princess Aisha bint Hussein
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Princess Aisha bint Hussein is the sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan and is the twin sister of Princess Zein. Her parents are Princess Muna al-Hussein and King Hussein, Aisha was born in Amman, Jordan. She was educated up to age eight in Jordan, at the American community school and she moved to the U. S. to pursue her education for ten years. She attended Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, MD, through the 8th grade and she graduated from Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1986. She then attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom and she then completed an undergraduate degree in Modern Middle East History and Politics from Pembroke College, Oxford. In June 2010 she completed her Masters of Arts degree in Strategic Security Studies at the College of International Security Affairs, at the National Defense University, after graduation from Sandhurst, the princess served in Jordan’s special forces and completed several additional parachuting courses. Since 1996, she has part in several conferences by the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women. She has also completed an open water diving course at the Scuba Schools International in New Jersey and she travels abroad frequently to further enhance her knowledge of military-related issues, particularly the role of women in the military. She is currently assigned as the defense attaché with the Jordanian embassy to the United States, in 1990, Aisha married Zeid Saadedine Juma in Amman, the couple later divorced. She currently resides in the United States of America and has a son Aoun Juma, born on May 27,1992, Aoun Juma has attended the London campus of Coventry University and is expected to study at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. On January 27,2016, Princess Aisha married Ashraf Banayoti, edward Banayoti took the Muslim name Ashraf Banayoti when he converted to Islam. HRH Princess Aisha Bint Al Hussein and Ashraf Banayoti divorced in 2016, according to the Royal Hashemite Court
