1.
Michael G. Wilson
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Michael Gregg Wilson, OBE is an American producer and screenwriter, best known for his association with the James Bond film series. Wilson was born in New York City, the son of Dana and his father was the first actor to play the DC Comics character Batman in live action, which he did in the 1943 film serial Batman. He is the stepson of the James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli and half-brother to Bond co-producer, Wilson graduated from Harvey Mudd College in 1963 as an electrical engineer. He later studied law at Stanford, after graduating, Wilson worked for the United States government and later a firm located in Washington D. C. that specialized in international law. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 New Year Honours, in 2010 Wilson was given The Royal Photographic Societys award for Outstanding Service to Photography, which carries with it an Honorary Fellowship of The Society. Wilson has two sons, a younger son Gregg Wilson and the older being David G. Wilson, Wilson specifically worked in Eon Productions legal department until taking a more active role as an assistant to Cubby Broccoli for the film The Spy Who Loved Me. In 1979 Wilson became executive producer of the film Moonraker and since has been a producer or producer in every James Bond film. Wilson collaborated five times with veteran Bond screenwriter Richard Maibaum starting in 1981 with For Your Eyes Only. In 1989 Wilson was forced to finish the screenplay to Licence to Kill alone due to a strike by the Writers Guild of America, in addition to his production duties, Wilson has also made many cameo appearances in the Bond films. His first appearance, long before becoming a producer, was in Goldfinger in which he appeared as a soldier, Wilson has made cameo appearances in every Eon-produced Bond film since 1977. Wilson at the Internet Movie Database Michael G. Wilson at the Internet Broadway Database The Albert R. Cubby Broccoli Tribute Michael G. Wilson cameos Los cameos de Michael G. Wilson
2.
Barbara Broccoli
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Barbara D. Broccoli, OBE Hon is an American film producer known for her work on the James Bond film series. Broccoli is the daughter of the James Bond producer Albert R. Cubby Broccoli, Broccoli married actor Frederick M. Zollo, but has since divorced him. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen of the United Kingdom in the 2008 New Year Honours, in 2014 she was selected as a member of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. Broccoli started in the Bond franchise at the age of 17, six years later, she became an assistant director on 1983s Octopussy. Soon after, she progressed to become a producer of the film The Living Daylights in 1987. However, her most notable role has been as a producer of the Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan, Broccoli rehired the original songwriters from the film to write the new material for the stage version. The Sherman Brothers wrote five new songs for the show debuted on April 16,2002. The show ran at the London Palladium and was the most financially successful show to have played there. The musical has toured extensively in the UK and in Asia, Broccoli co-produced Chariots of Fire, the stage adaptation of the film of the same title. Broccolis involvement with Chariots of Fire extends back to 1980, when she introduced her friend Dodi Fayed to the screenplay and he later co-financed the film and became its executive producer. She co-produced the play along with Hugh Hudson, who directed the 1981 Oscar-winning film
3.
James Bond (literary character)
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Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR, is a fictional character created by British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics, Fleming wrote twelve Bond novels and two short story collections, although the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights—were published posthumously. The Bond character is a Secret Service agent, code number 007, residing in London but active internationally. Bond has a number of traits which run throughout the books, including an enjoyment of cars, a love of food and drink. There have also other authors who wrote one book each, Kingsley Amis, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd. Additionally, a series of novels based on Bonds youth—Young Bond—was written by Charlie Higson, as spin-offs from the literary works, there was a television adaptation of the first novel, Casino Royale, in which Bond was played as an American agent. A comic strip also ran in the Daily Express newspaper. There have been 26 Bond films, seven actors have played Bond in these films, the central figure in Ian Flemings work was the fictional character of James Bond, an intelligence officer in the Secret Service. Bond was also known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. During World War II, Ian Fleming had mentioned to friends that he wanted to write a spy novel. It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris and he finished work on the manuscript in just over a month, completing it on 18 March 1952. Fleming went on to write a total of twelve Bond novels, the last two books—The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy and The Living Daylights—were published posthumously. Among those types were his brother, Peter, whom Fleming worshipped, sir Fitzroy Maclean was another figure mentioned as a possibility, based on his wartime work behind enemy lines in the Balkans, as was the MI6 double agent Dušan Popov. Distinct similarities between the protagonist in The Life Line, Mark Chalmers and James Bond have been highlighted by spy writer, Nigel West. On another occasion Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, after Fleming met the ornithologist and his wife, he described them as a charming couple who are amused by the whole joke. In the first draft of Casino Royale he decided to use the name James Secretan as Bonds cover name while on missions, Bonds number—007—was assigned by Fleming in reference to one of British naval intelligences key achievements of World War I, the breaking of the German diplomatic code. One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram, which was coded 0075, facially, Bond resembles the composer, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael
4.
Ian Fleming
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Ian Lancaster Fleming was an English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer who is best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst and, briefly, the universities of Munich and Geneva and his wartime service and his career as a journalist provided much of the background, detail and depth of the James Bond novels. Fleming wrote his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, in 1952 and it was a success, with three print runs being commissioned to cope with the demand. Eleven Bond novels and two short-story collections followed between 1953 and 1966, the novels revolved around James Bond, an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond was also known by his number,007, and was a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. The Bond stories rank among the series of fictional books of all time. Fleming also wrote the childrens story Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang and two works of non-fiction, in 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Fleming was married to Ann Charteris, who was divorced from the second Viscount Rothermere owing to her affair with the author, Fleming and Charteris had a son, Caspar. Fleming was a smoker and drinker for most of his life. Two of his James Bond books were published posthumously, other writers have since produced Bond novels, Flemings creation has appeared in film twenty-six times, portrayed by seven actors. Ian Fleming was born on 28 May 1908, at 27 Green Street in the wealthy London district of Mayfair and his mother was Evelyn St Croix Rose, and his father was Valentine Fleming, the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910. As an infant he lived, with his family, at Braziers Park in Oxfordshire. Fleming was the grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust, in 1914, with the start of the First World War, Valentine joined C Squadron, Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and rose to the rank of major. He was killed by German shelling on the Western Front on 20 May 1917, because the family owned an estate at Arnisdale, Valentines death was commemorated on the Glenelg War Memorial. Flemings elder brother Peter became a writer and married actress Celia Johnson. Fleming also had two brothers, Michael and Richard, and a younger maternal half-sister born out of wedlock, cellist Amaryllis Fleming. Amaryllis was conceived during an affair between John and Evelyn that started in 1923, some six years after the death of Valentine
5.
Pierce Brosnan
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Pierce Brendan Brosnan OBE is an Irish actor, film producer, and activist who after leaving comprehensive school at age 16, began training in commercial illustration. He then went on to train at the Drama Centre in London for three years, following a stage acting career he rose to popularity in the television series Remington Steele, which blended the genres of romantic comedy, drama, and detective procedural. After the conclusion of Remington Steele, Brosnan appeared in such as the Cold War spy film The Fourth Protocol. In 1994, Brosnan became the actor to portray secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series. He lent his likeness for Bond in the video games James Bond 007, Nightfire and James Bond 007, during this period, he also took the lead in other films including the epic disaster adventure film Dantes Peak and the remake of the heist film The Thomas Crown Affair. In 1996, along with Beau St. Clair, Brosnan formed Irish DreamTime, in later years, he has become known for his charitable work and environmental activism. He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1980 until her death in 1991 and he married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001, and became an American citizen in 2004, holding dual citizenship in the U. S. and Ireland. He has earned two Golden Globe Award nominations, first for the television miniseries Nancy Astor and next for the comedy film The Matador. Brosnan was born in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland, the child of Thomas Brosnan, a carpenter. He lived in Navan, County Meath for 12 years and considers it his home town and he went to Primary School in St. Annes Primary School, Navan. Brosnans father abandoned the family when Pierce was an infant, when he was four years old, his mother moved to London to work as a nurse. From that point on, he was brought up by his grandparents, Philip. After their deaths, he lived with an aunt and then an uncle and he was educated at Elliott School, now known as Ark Putney Academy, a coeducational secondary school with academy status in South West London. According to Brosnan, Childhood was fairly solitary, I grew up in a very small town called Navan in County Meath. He left when I was an infant and I was left in the care of my mother and my grandparents. To be Catholic in the 50s, and to be Irish Catholic in the 50s, and have a marriage which was not there, a father who was not there, consequently, the mother and she took the bold steps to go away and be a nurse in England. Basically wanting a life for her and myself. My mother came home once a year, twice a year, Brosnan was brought up in a Roman Catholic family and educated in a local school run by the de la Salle Brothers while serving as an altar boy
6.
Halle Berry
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Halle Maria Berry is an American actress. She won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the romantic drama Monsters Ball, as of 2017, she is the only black woman to have won a Best Actress Academy Award. Berry was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s and has involved in the production of several of the films in which she performed. She is also a Revlon spokesmodel, before becoming an actress, she started modeling and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the 1st runner-up in the Miss USA Pageant and coming in 6th place in the Miss World Pageant in 1986. She then appeared in the X-Men sequels, X2 and X-Men, in the 2010s, she appeared in movies such as the science fiction film Cloud Atlas, the crime thriller The Call and X-Men, Days of Future Past. Berry was formerly married to baseball player David Justice, and singer-songwriter Eric Benét and she has a daughter by model Gabriel Aubry, and a son by actor Olivier Martinez. Berry was born Maria Halle Berry, her name was changed to Halle Maria Berry at age five. Her parents selected her name from Halles Department Store, which was then a local landmark in her birthplace of Cleveland. Her mother, Judith Ann, who is of English and German ancestry, was a psychiatric nurse and her father, Jerome Jesse Berry, was an African-American hospital attendant in the psychiatric ward where her mother worked, he later became a bus driver. Berrys maternal grandmother, Nellie Dicken, was born in Sawley, Derbyshire, England, while her maternal grandfather, Berrys parents divorced when she was four years old, she and her older sister, Heidi Berry-Henderson, were raised exclusively by their mother. Berry has said in published reports that she has been estranged from her father since her childhood, noting in 1992 and her father was very abusive to her mother. Berry has recalled witnessing her mother being beaten daily, kicked down stairs, Berry graduated from Bedford High School where she was a cheerleader, honor student, editor of the school newspaper and prom queen. She worked in the department at Higbees Department store. She then studied at Cuyahoga Community College, in the 1980s, she entered several beauty contests, winning Miss Teen All American in 1985 and Miss Ohio USA in 1986. She was the 1986 Miss USA first runner-up to Christy Fichtner of Texas, in the Miss USA1986 pageant interview competition, she said she hoped to become an entertainer or to have something to do with the media. Her interview was awarded the highest score by the judges and she was the first African-American Miss World entrant in 1986, where she finished sixth and Trinidad and Tobagos Giselle Laronde was crowned Miss World. According to the Current Biography Yearbook, Berry. pursued a career in Chicago. Berrys first weeks in New York were less than auspicious, She slept in a homeless shelter, in 1989, Berry moved to New York City to pursue her acting ambitions
7.
Toby Stephens
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Toby Stephens is an English stage, television, and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. Stephens, the son of actors Dame Maggie Smith and Sir Robert Stephens, was born in London. He was educated at Aldro and Seaford College and he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Stephens began his career with the role of Othello in 1992s Orlando. He has since made appearances on television and on stage. He played the role in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Coriolanus shortly after graduation from LAMDA. He also played Stanley Kowalski in a West End production of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire and he has appeared on Broadway in Ring Round the Moon. He played the lead in the film Photographing Fairies and played Orsino in Trevor Nunns 1996 film adaptation of William Shakespeares Twelfth Night, in 2002 he took on the role for which he is most widely known, that of Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day. Aged 33 at the time of release, he remains the youngest actor to have played a Bond villain. In 2005 he played the role of a British Army captain in the Indian film, The Rising, Ballad of Mangal Pandey, the following year he returned to India to play a renegade British East India Company officer in Sharpes Challenge. During mid-2007, Stephens played the role of Jerry in a revival of Harold Pinters Betrayal under the direction of Roger Michell, later that year, Stephens also starred as Horner in Jonathan Kents revival of William Wycherleys The Country Wife. Various members of the company are expected to star in upcoming productions at the Haymarket Theatre with various artistic directors, the formation of the company is considered by many London theatre critics to be a bold move for West End theatre. In February 2008, the Fox Broadcasting Company gave the go-ahead to cast Stephens as the lead in a one hour, prime time US television show, Inseparable. Billed as a modern Jekyll and Hyde story, the show was to feature a partially paralysed forensic psychologist whose other personality is a charming criminal, Stephens casting was highly unusual, because Fox had not yet approved a script nor purchased a pilot for the show. However, in mid-May 2008, The Hollywood Reporter announced that y the time the network picked up the pilot. In May 2008, Stephens performed the role of James Bond in a BBC Radio 4 production of Ian Flemings Dr. No, as part of the centenary celebration of Flemings birth. The production was reportedly the first BBC radio dramatisation of the novel though Moonraker was on South African radio in 1956, also in May 2008, Stock-pot Productions announced that Stephens will have the lead role in a feature-length film entitled Fly Me, co-starring Tim McInnerny. Stock-pot was also the producer of One Day, a short 2006 film shown at film festivals
8.
Rosamund Pike
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Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike is an English actress who began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as Romeo and Juliet and Skylight. Following her breakthrough, she won the BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Libertine and portrayed Jane Bennet in Pride and she also received British Independent Film Award nominations for An Education, Made in Dagenham, and was nominated for a Genie Award for Barneys Version. Pike, born on 27 January 1979 in London, England, is the daughter of opera singers Caroline. Pikes father is currently a professor of music and head of studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire. The family travelled across Europe until she was seven, following wherever her parents performing careers took them, after being turned down by every stage school to which she applied, she gained a place to read English literature at Wadham College, Oxford, from which she graduated. While she was still at Oxford, Pike acted in and directed plays, including one by Simon Chesterman. She also appeared as a CIA agent in the pilot of the science series, Seven Days. She also appeared in the special show Bond Girls Are Forever and, shortly afterwards, Pike then played Elizabeth Malet in The Libertine, co-starring Johnny Depp, which won her the Best Supporting Actress award at the British Independent Film Awards. In the same year, she portrayed Rose in The Promised Land, a film about Israel, in 2005, she appeared as Jane, the elder sister of Elizabeth, in Pride & Prejudice. Pike then starred in the adaptation of Anne Michaelss novel Fugitive Pieces. She also starred as an attorney in the film Fracture, opposite Anthony Hopkins. Her stage credits include Hitchcock Blonde by Terry Johnson and Tennessee Williams Summer and Smoke, Pike has said that she would be happy to do at least one play every year. In 2009, she played the character in Madame De Sade during the Donmars West End season. She appeared in the British film Made in Dagenham and in the Canadian film Barneys Version where she plays Miriam, in 2010, she starred in a production of Hedda Gabler on UK tour. Pike has recorded voicework for a role in the film Jackboots on Whitehall and lent her voice to a new series of James Bond audio-books. In 2010 Pike played the part of Pussy Galore in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Flemings Goldfinger, in 2011, Pike played the part of Kate Sumner in the 2011 Bond spoof film Johnny English Reborn, playing a psychologist and Englishs love interest. The film is a sequel to the 2003 film Johnny English and was a box office success, in 2012, she played the role of Queen Andromeda in the fantasy epic Wrath of the Titans. She replaced Alexa Davalos, who had played the role in Clash of the Titans and had dropped out due to a scheduling conflict, taking the role in Wrath of the Titans meant she had to drop out of consideration for a role in the forthcoming Superman film
9.
John Cleese
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John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, voice actor, screenwriter, producer, and comedian. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, with Cleese receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and he also starred in Clockwise and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films as R and Q, two Harry Potter films, and the last three Shrek films. With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay, he co-founded Video Arts, in 1976, Cleese co-founded The Secret Policemans Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the child of Reginald Francis Cleese, an insurance salesman. His familys surname was originally Cheese, but his father had thought it was embarrassing, as a child, Cleese supported Bristol City FC and Somerset County Cricket Club. Cleese was educated at St Peters Preparatory School, where he received a prize for English and did well at cricket, when he was 13, he was awarded an exhibition at Clifton College, an English public school in Bristol. He was already more than 6 feet tall by then, Cleese allegedly defaced the school grounds, as a prank, by painting footprints to suggest that the statue of Field Marshal Earl Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet. Cleese played cricket in the First XI and did well academically, passing 8 O-Levels and 3 A-Levels in mathematics, physics, I believe that this moment changed my perspective on the world. He then took up a place he had won at Downing College, Cambridge and he also joined the Cambridge Footlights. He recalled that he went to the Cambridge Guildhall, where each university society had a stall and he replied no as he was not allowed to sing at his school because he was so bad, and if there was anything worse than his singing, it was his dancing. He was then asked Well, what do you do, to which he replied, I make people laugh. At the Footlights theatrical club, he spent a lot of time with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie, Cleese wrote extra material for the 1961 Footlights Revue I Thought I Saw It Move, and was Registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962. He was also in the cast of the 1962 Footlights Revue Double Take, Cleese graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with a 2,1. Despite his successes on The Frost Report, his father would send him cuttings from The Daily Telegraph offering management jobs in places like Marks, Cleese was a scriptwriter, as well as a cast member, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths. After Cambridge Circus, Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on, while performing in the musical Half a Sixpence, Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968. At their wedding at a Unitarian Church in Manhattan, the couple attempted to ensure an absence of any theistic language
10.
Judi Dench
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Dame Judith Olivia Dench CH DBE FRSA, known as Judi Dench, is an English actress and author. Dench made her debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she performed in several of Shakespeares plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Although most of her work during this period was in theatre, she branched into film work. She drew strong reviews for her role in the musical Cabaret in 1968. Over the next two decades, Dench established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She achieved success in television during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and she has also received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Special Olivier Award. In June 2011, she received a fellowship from the British Film Institute, Dench is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Dench was born in Heworth, North Riding of Yorkshire and her mother, Eleanora Olive, was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her father, Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor, was born in Dorset, England, and later moved to Dublin and he met Denchs mother while he was studying medicine at Trinity College, Dublin. Dench attended The Mount School, a Quaker independent secondary school in York and her brothers, one of whom was actor Jeffery Dench, were born in Tyldesley, Lancashire. Her niece, Emma Dench, is a Roman historian and professor previously at Birkbeck, University of London, and currently at Harvard University. In Britain, Dench has developed a reputation as one of the greatest actresses of the period, primarily through her work in theatre. She has more than once been named one in polls for Britains best actor. Through her parents, Dench had regular contact with the theatre and her father, a physician, was also the GP for the York theatre, and her mother was its wardrobe mistress. Actors often stayed in the Dench household, during these years, Judi Dench was involved on a non-professional basis in the first three productions of the modern revival of the York Mystery Plays in the 1950s. In 1957, in one of the last productions in which she appeared during this period, she played the role of the Virgin Mary, performed on a fixed stage in the Museum Gardens. Though she initially trained as a set designer, she became interested in school as her brother Jeff attended the Central School of Speech
11.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
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20th Century Fox
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Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio currently owned by 21st Century Fox. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios and is located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, the studio was formerly owned by News Corporation. 20th Century Fox is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2015, 20th Century Fox celebrated its 80th anniversary as a studio. Spyros Skouras, then manager of the Fox West Coast Theaters, the studios biggest star, Will Rogers, died in a plane crash weeks after the merger. Its leading female star, Janet Gaynor, was fading in popularity and promising leading men James Dunn, at first, it was expected that the new company was originally to be called Fox-20th Century, even though 20th Century was the senior partner in the merger. However, 20th Century brought more to the bargaining table besides Schenck and Zanuck, the new company, 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, began trading on May 31,1935, the hyphen was dropped in 1985. Schenck became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, while Kent remained as President, Zanuck became Vice President in Charge of Production, replacing Foxs longtime production chief Winfield Sheehan. The company established a training school. The contracts included an option for renewal for as long as seven years. For many years, 20th Century Fox claimed to have founded in 1915. For instance, it marked 1945 as its 30th anniversary, however, in recent years it has claimed the 1935 merger as its founding, even though most film historians agree it was founded in 1915. The companys films retained the 20th Century Pictures searchlight logo on their credits as well as its opening fanfare. Also on the Fox payroll he found two players who he built up into the studios leading assets, Alice Faye and seven-year-old Shirley Temple, favoring popular biographies and musicals, Zanuck built Fox back to profitability. Thanks to record attendance during World War II, Fox overtook RKO, while Zanuck went off for eighteen months war service, junior partner William Goetz kept profits high by going for light entertainment. The studios—indeed the industrys—biggest star was creamy blonde Betty Grable, in 1942, Spyros Skouras succeeded Kent as president of the studio. Together with Zanuck, who returned in 1943, they intended to make Foxs output more serious-minded. During the next few years, with pictures like The Razors Edge, Wilson, Gentlemans Agreement, The Snake Pit, Boomerang, and Pinky, Zanuck established a reputation for provocative, adult films. Fox also specialized in adaptations of best-selling books such as Ben Ames Williams Leave Her to Heaven, starring Gene Tierney and they also made the 1958 film version of South Pacific
13.
James Bond in film
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The James Bond film series is a British series of spy films based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond,007, who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. It is one of the longest continually-running film series in history, in that time Eon Productions has produced 24 films, most of them at Pinewood Studios. With a combined gross of over $7 billion to date, the produced by Eon constitute the fourth-highest-grossing film series. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the Eon series, the latest being Daniel Craig, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced most of the Eon films until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. The single exception during this period was Thunderball, on which Broccoli, from 1984 Broccoli was joined by his stepson Michael G. Wilson as producer and in 1995 Broccoli stepped aside from Eon and was replaced by his daughter Barbara, who has co-produced with Wilson since. Broccolis family company, Danjaq, has ownership of the series through Eon. The Eon series has seen continuity both in the actors and in the production crews, with directors, writers, composers, production designers. No to For Your Eyes Only, the films were distributed solely by United Artists, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer absorbed United Artists in 1981, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. was formed and distributed the films until 1995. MGM solely distributed three films from 1997 to 2002 after United Artists was retired as a mainstream studio, Feldman, and a 1983 remake of Thunderball entitled Never Say Never Again, produced by Jack Schwartzman, who had obtained the rights to the film from McClory. It was adapted for the screen by Anthony Ellis and Charles Bennett, Bennett was well known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, including The 39 Steps and Sabotage. Due to the restriction of a play, the adapted version lost many of the details found in the book, although it retained its violence. The hour-long Casino Royale episode, which starred American actor Barry Nelson as Bond and Peter Lorre as the villain Le Chiffre, in 1959 producer Albert R. Cubby Broccoli at Warwick Films expressed interest in adapting the Bond novels, but his colleague Irving Allen was unenthusiastic. Towards the end of Saltzmans option period, screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz introduced him to Broccoli, a number of Hollywood studios did not want to fund the films, finding them too British or too blatantly sexual. Eventually the two signed a deal with United Artists for 100 per cent financial backing and distribution of seven films, Saltzman and Broccoli also created the company Danjaq, which was to hold the rights to the films which Eon Productions was to produce. Eon had originally intended to film Flemings novel Thunderball first, but Kevin McClory took Fleming to the High Court in London for breach of copyright over the book, and so Eon decided to film Dr. Eon asked several directors—Bryan Forbes, Guy Green, Val Guest and Guy Hamilton—to helm the film, Eon had originally hired Wolf Mankowitz and Richard Maibaum to write Dr. Nos screenplay, partly because of Mankowitzs help in brokering the deal between Broccoli and Saltzman. An initial draft of the screenplay was rejected because the scriptwriters had made the villain, Dr. No, a monkey, and Mankowitz left the film. To play the role of Bond, Sean Connery was not Broccoli or Flemings first choice, but he was selected after Patrick McGoohan had turned down the role
14.
Secret Intelligence Service
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The Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, is the foreign intelligence agency of the British government. The SIS Chief is held accountable to the Foreign Secretary, SIS is bound by the Intelligence Services Act 1994. The name MI6 was used as a flag of convenience during the First World War when it was known by many names, the existence of the SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. It forms a part of the UKs intelligence machinery alongside GCHQ, MI5, in late 2010, the head of SIS delivered what he said was the first public address by a serving chief of the agency in its then 101-year history. The remarks of Sir John Sawers primarily focused on the relationship between the need for secrecy and the goal of maintaining security within the UK and his remarks acknowledged the tensions caused by secrecy in an era of leaks and pressure for ever-greater disclosure. Since 1995, the SIS headquarters have been at Vauxhall Cross on the South Bank of the River Thames, the service derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded in 1909. The bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities and this specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy. This specialisation was formalised before 1914 and its first director was Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who often dropped the Smith in routine communication. He typically signed correspondence with his initial C in green ink and this usage evolved as a code name, and has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity. The services performance during the First World War was mixed, because it was unable to establish a network in Germany itself, most of its results came from military and commercial intelligence collected through networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. After the war, resources were reduced but during the 1920s. In August 1919, Cumming created the new passport control department, the post of Passport Control Officer provided operatives with diplomatic immunity. Circulating Sections established intelligence requirements and passed the intelligence back to its consumer departments, mainly the War Office, the debate over the future structure of British Intelligence continued at length after the end of hostilities but Cumming managed to engineer the return of the Service to Foreign Office control. In the immediate post-war years under Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming and throughout most of the 1920s, SIS was focused on Communism, in particular, Russian Bolshevism. Smith-Cumming died suddenly at his home on 14 June 1923, shortly before he was due to retire, an economic intelligence section, Section VII, to deal with trade, industrial and contraband. A clandestine radio communications organisation, Section VIII, to communicate with operatives, Section N to exploit the contents of foreign diplomatic bags Section D to conduct political covert actions and paramilitary operations in time of war. Section D would organise the Home Defence Scheme resistance organisation in the UK, with the emergence of Germany as a threat following the ascendence of the Nazis, in the early 1930s attention was shifted in that direction. Sinclair died in 1939, after an illness, and was replaced as C by Lt Col. Stewart Menzies, the extensive double-cross system run by MI5 to feed misleading intelligence to the Germans Imagery intelligence activities conducted by the RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
15.
James Bond filmography
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Commander James Bond RN—code number 007—is a fictional character created by the British journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1952. The character appeared in a series of novels and two short story collections written by Fleming and a number of continuation novels and spin-off works after Flemings death in 1964. There have been twenty-six films in total, produced between 1962 and 2015, Fleming portrayed Bond as a tall, athletic, handsome secret agent in his thirties or forties, he has several vices including drinking, smoking, gambling, automobiles and women. He is a marksman, and skilled in unarmed combat, skiing, swimming. While Bond kills without hesitation or regret, he kills only when carrying out orders, while acting in self-defence. American actor Barry Nelson was the first to portray Bond on screen, in a 1954 television adaptation, in 1961 Eon Productions began work on Dr. No, an adaptation of the novel of the same name. The result was a film that spawned a series of films produced by Eon Productions. After considering the likes of refined English actors such as Cary Grant and David Niven, Fleming was appalled at the selection of the uncouth, 31-year-old Scottish actor, considering him to be the antithesis of his character. Seven actors in total have portrayed Bond on film, following Connerys portrayal, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have assumed the role. Despite playing the character, there have been notable differences among the portrayals. Daniel Craig is the incumbent Bond in the long-running Eon series, Fleming appropriated the name from American ornithologist James Bond. Bonds code number 007 comes from one of British naval intelligences key achievements of World War I, the breaking of the German diplomatic code. One of the German documents cracked and read by the British was the Zimmermann Telegram, which was coded 0075, subsequently if material was graded 00 it meant it was highly classified. Fleming later told a journalist, When I was at the Admiralty, all the top-secret signals had the double-0 prefix. and I decided to borrow it for Bond. Although James Bond is in his thirties, he does not age in Flemings stories. Fleming decided to underplay Bonds character, observing that Exotic things would happen to and around him, Sean Connery was the first actor to portray Bond on film in Dr. No. An amateur bodybuilder, he had come to the attention of the Bond film producers after several appearances in British films from the late 1950s, producer Albert R. Broccoli—known to all as Cubby—disagreed with Flemings view, later commenting that I wanted a ballsy guy. Put a bit of veneer over that tough Scottish hide and youve got Flemings Bond instead of all the mincing poofs we had applying for the job
16.
North Korea
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North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, constituting the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang is both the capital as well as its largest city. To the north and northwest the country is bordered by China and by Russia along the Amnok, the country is bordered to the south by South Korea, with the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone separating the two. Negotiations on reunification failed, and in 1948 two separate governments were formed, the communist Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea in the north, an invasion initiated by North Korea led to the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire, and no peace treaty was ever signed. North Korea officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state and formally holds elections, critics regard it as a totalitarian dictatorship. Various outlets have called it Stalinist, particularly noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sung, International organizations have assessed human rights violations in North Korea as belonging to a category of their own, with no parallel in the contemporary world. Over time, North Korea has gradually distanced itself from the world communist movement, Juche, an ideology of national self-reliance, was introduced into the constitution as a creative application of Marxism–Leninism in 1972. The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises, most services such as healthcare, education, housing and food production are subsidized or state-funded. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered from a famine that resulted in the deaths of between 0.24 and 3.5 million people, and the continues to struggle with food production. North Korea follows Songun, or military-first policy and it is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel. Its active duty army of 1.21 million is the fourth largest in the world, after China, North Korea is an atheist state with no official religion and where public religion is discouraged. The name Korea derives from the name Goryeo, the name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a shortened form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After the division of the country into North and South Korea, the two sides used different terms to refer to Korea, Chosun or Joseon in North Korea, in 1948, North Korea adopted Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as its new legal name. After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Korea was occupied by Japan, Japan tried to suppress Korean traditions and culture and ran the economy primarily for its own benefit. Korean resistance groups known as Dongnipgun operated along the Sino-Korean border, some of them took part in allied action in China and parts of South East Asia. One of the leaders was the communist Kim Il-sung, who later became the leader of North Korea
17.
Sangjwa
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Sangjwa is a Korean military rank used by the armed forces of North Korea. The insignia for a sangjwa is a board containing two stripes and three stars. This is influenced by the former colonel insignia of the Soviet Union, North Korea also maintains a senior colonel rank known as taejwa
18.
Sean Connery
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Sir Thomas Sean Connery is a retired Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes. He was knighted by Elizabeth II in July 2000 after receiving Kennedy Center Honors in the US in 1999, Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables, Connery has been polled as The Greatest Living Scot and Scotlands Greatest Living National Treasure. In 1989, he was proclaimed Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, Thomas Sean Connery, named Thomas after his grandfather, was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland on 25 August 1930. His mother, Euphemia McBain Effie, was a cleaning woman and his paternal grandfathers parents emigrated to Scotland from Ireland in the mid-19th century. The remainder of his family was of Scottish descent, and his maternal great-grandparents were native Scottish Gaelic speakers from Fife and his father was a Roman Catholic, and his mother was a Protestant. He has a brother, Neil. He was generally referred to in his youth as Tommy, although he was small in primary school, he grew rapidly around the age of 12, reaching his full adult height of 6 ft 2 in at 18. He was known during his teen years as Big Tam, and has stated that he lost his virginity to a woman in an ATS uniform at the age of 14. Connerys first job was as a milkman in Edinburgh with St. Cuthberts Co-operative Society, one tattoo is a tribute to his parents and reads Mum and Dad, and the other is self-explanatory, Scotland Forever. Connery was later discharged from the navy on medical grounds because of a duodenal ulcer, Scotland, Archie Brennan, a coffin polisher. The modelling earned him 15 shillings an hour, student artist Richard Demarco who painted several notable early pictures of Connery described him as very straight, slightly shy, too, too beautiful for words, a virtual Adonis. Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18, and from 1951 trained heavily with Ellington, Connery was a keen footballer, having played for Bonnyrigg Rose in his younger days. He was offered a trial with East Fife, while on tour with South Pacific, Connery played in a football match against a local team that Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United, happened to be scouting. According to reports, Busby was impressed with his physical prowess, Connery admits that he was tempted to accept, but he recalls, I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves, looking to pick up some extra money, Connery helped out backstage at the Kings Theatre in late 1951. He became interested in the proceedings, and a career was launched, the production returned the following year out of popular demand, and Connery was promoted to the featured role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams, which Larry Hagman had portrayed in the West End. While in Edinburgh, Connery was targeted by the notorious Valdor gang, there Connery launched an attack single-handedly against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and another by a biceps and cracked their heads together
19.
Dr. No (film)
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No is a 1962 British spy film, starring Sean Connery, with Ursula Andress and Joseph Wiseman, filmed in Jamaica and England, it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 novel of the name by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, in the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. The trail leads him to the base of Dr. No. Although the first of the Bond books to be made into a film, No was not the first of Flemings novels, Casino Royale being the debut for the character, the film makes a few references to threads from earlier books. This film also introduced the criminal organisation SPECTRE, which would appear in six subsequent films. No was produced on a low budget and was a financial success, while critical reaction was mixed upon release, over time the film has gained a reputation as one of the series best instalments. The film was the first of a series of 24 Bond films. No also launched a genre of secret agent films that flourished in the 1960s, the film also spawned a spin-off comic book and soundtrack album as part of its promotion and marketing. Production designer Ken Adam established a visual style that is one of the hallmarks of the film series. Strangways, the British Intelligence Station Chief in Jamaica, is ambushed and killed and they also break into Strangeways home/office, kill his secretary, and steal documents related to Crab Key and Dr. No. In response, MI6 agent James Bond is summoned to the office of his superior, M, Bond leaves for Kingston, but not before spending a night with a woman named Sylvia Trench. Upon his arrival at Kingston Airport, a female photographer tries to take Bonds picture and he is picked up by a chauffeur claiming to have been sent to take him to Government House, whom Bond determines to be an enemy agent. Bond instructs him to leave the road and, after a brief fight, Bond starts to interrogate the driver. During his investigation in Strangways house, Bond sees a photograph of a boatman with Strangways, Bond locates the boatman, named Quarrel, but finds him to be uncooperative. Bond also recognises Quarrel to have been the driver of the car that followed him from the airport, the CIA has traced the mysterious radio jamming of American rockets to the vicinity of Jamaica, but aerial photography cannot determine the exact location of its origin. Quarrel reveals that he has been guiding Strangways around the islands to collect mineral samples. During a search of Strangways house, Bond finds a receipt, Bond meets with Dent who says he assayed the samples for Strangways and determined them to be ordinary rocks
20.
Computer-generated imagery
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The term CGI animation refers to dynamic CGI rendered as a movie. The term virtual world refers to agent-based, interactive environments, Computer graphics software is used to make computer-generated imagery for films, etc. Availability of CGI software and increased computer speeds have allowed artists and small companies to produce professional-grade films, games. This has brought about an Internet subculture with its own set of global celebrities, clichés, the evolution of CGI led to the emergence of virtual cinematography in the 1990s where runs of the simulated camera are not constrained by the laws of physics. Not only do animated images form part of computer-generated imagery, natural looking landscapes are generated via computer algorithms. A simple way to generate fractal surfaces is to use an extension of the triangular mesh method, relying on the construction of special case of a de Rham curve. The creation of a Brownian surface may be achieved not only by adding noise as new nodes are created, thus a topographical map with varying levels of height can be created using relatively straightforward fractal algorithms. Some typical, easy-to-program fractals used in CGI are the plasma fractal, modern architects use services from computer graphic firms to create 3-dimensional models for both customers and builders. These computer generated models can be accurate than traditional drawings. Architectural animation can also be used to see the relationship a building will have in relation to the environment. The rendering of architectural spaces without the use of paper and pencil tools is now an accepted practice with a number of computer-assisted architectural design systems. Architectural modeling tools allow an architect to visualize a space and perform walk-throughs in an interactive manner, Architectural modeling tools have now become increasingly internet-based. However, the quality of internet-based systems still lags behind those of sophisticated in-house modeling systems, in some applications, computer-generated images are used to reverse engineer historical buildings. Computer generated models used in animation are not always anatomically correct. However, organizations such as the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute have developed anatomically correct computer-based models, Computer generated anatomical models can be used both for instructional and operational purposes. To date, a body of artist produced medical images continue to be used by medical students, such as images by Frank H. Netter. However, a number of anatomical models are becoming available. A single patient X-ray is not a computer generated image, even if digitized, however, in applications which involve CT scans a three-dimensional model is automatically produced from a large number of single slice x-rays, producing computer generated image
21.
Blood diamond
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Blood diamonds is a term used for a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading armys war efforts, or a warlords activity. The term is used to highlight the consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas. Diamonds mined during the recent civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, the term conflict resource refers to analogous situations involving other natural resources. Reports estimated that as much as 20% of the production in the 1980s was being sold for illegal and unethical purposes. By 1999, the diamond trade was estimated by the World Diamond Council to have been reduced to 3. 06% of the worlds diamond production. The World Diamond Council reported that by 2004 this percentage had fallen to approximately 1%, despite the UN Resolution, UNITA was able to continue to sell or trade some diamonds in order to finance its war effort. The UN set out to find how this remaining illicit trade was being conducted and appointed Canadian ambassador Robert Fowler to investigate, in 2000, he produced the Fowler Report, which named those countries, organizations and individuals involved in the trade. Ivory Coast began to develop a diamond mining industry in the early 1990s. A coup overthrew the government in 1999, starting a civil war, the country became a route for exporting diamonds from Liberia and war-torn Sierra Leone. Foreign investment began to withdraw from Ivory Coast, to curtail the illegal trade, the nation stopped all diamond mining and the UN Security Council banned all exports of diamonds from Ivory Coast in December 2005. Despite UN sanctions the illicit diamond trade still exists in Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has suffered numerous looting wars in the 1990s, but has become a member of the Kimberley Process and now exports about 8% of the worlds diamonds. From 1989 to 2003, Liberia was engaged in a civil war, in 2000, the UN accused Liberian president Charles G. Taylor of supporting the Revolutionary United Front insurgency in neighboring Sierra Leone with weapons and training in exchange for diamonds. In 2001, the United Nations applied sanctions on the Liberian diamond trade, in August 2003, Taylor stepped down as president and, after being exiled to Nigeria, faced trial in The Hague. On July 21,2006 he pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity and war crimes, on May 30,2012, he began a 50-year sentence in a high security prison in the United Kingdom. Around the time of the 1998 United States embassy bombings, al-Qaeda allegedly bought gems from Liberia as some of its financial assets were frozen. Having regained peace, Liberia is attempting to construct a diamond mining industry. The UN has lifted sanctions and Liberia is now a member of the Kimberley Process. In December 2014 however, Liberian diamonds were reported to be produced using child labor according to the U. S. Department of Labors List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
22.
Hovercraft
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A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is a craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft are hybrid vessels operated by a pilot as a rather than a captain as a marine vessel. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a volume of air below the hull that is slightly above atmospheric pressure. The pressure difference between the higher pressure air below the hull and lower pressure ambient air above it produces lift, for stability reasons, the air is typically blown through slots or holes around the outside of a disk- or oval-shaped platform, giving most hovercraft a characteristic rounded-rectangle shape. Typically this cushion is contained within a flexible skirt, which allows the vehicle to travel over small obstructions without damage, the first practical design for hovercraft was derived from a British invention in the 1950s to 1960s. They are now used throughout the world as specialised transports in disaster relief, coastguard, military, although now a generic term for the type of craft, the name Hovercraft itself was a trademark owned by Saunders-Roe, hence other manufacturers use of alternative names to describe the vehicles. There have been attempts to understand the principles of high air pressure below hulls. To a great extent, the majority of these can be termed ground effect or water effect vehicles rather than hovercraft, the principal difference is that a hovercraft can lift itself while still, whereas the majority of other designs require forward motion to create lift. These active-motion surface effect vehicles are known in specific cases as ekranoplan, the first mention in the historical record of the concepts behind surface-effect vehicles that used the term hovering was by Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg in 1716. The shipbuilder Sir John Isaac Thornycroft patented a design for an air cushion ship / hovercraft in the 1870s. In 1915, the Austrian Dagobert Müller built the worlds first air cushion boat, only when in motion could the craft trap air under the front, increasing lift. The vessel also required a depth of water to operate and could not transition to land or other surfaces, designed as a fast torpedo boat, the Versuchsgleitboot had a top speed over 32 knots. It was thoroughly tested and even armed with torpedoes and machine guns for operation in the Adriatic. It never saw combat, however, and as the war progressed it was eventually scrapped due to the lack of interest and perceived need. The theoretical grounds for motion over an air layer were constructed by Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskii in 1926 and 1927, in 1929, Andrew Kucher of Ford began experimenting with the Levapad concept, metal disks with pressurized air blown through a hole in the center. Levapads do not offer stability on their own, several must be used together to support a load above them. Lacking a skirt, the pads had to very close to the running surface. He initially imagined these being used in place of casters and wheels in factories and warehouses, in 1931, Finnish aero engineer Toivo J. Kaario began designing a developed version of a vessel using an air cushion and built a prototype Pintaliitäjä, in 1937
23.
Torture
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Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting physical or psychological pain on an organism in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or compel some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act, in other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. The torturer may or may not kill or injure the victim, depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible. Although torture is sanctioned by some states, it is prohibited under international law, although widely illegal and reviled there is an ongoing debate as to what exactly is and is not legally defined to be torture. It is a violation of human rights, and is declared to be unacceptable by Article 5 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Torture is also prohibited for the signatories of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, despite these findings and international conventions, organizations that monitor abuses of human rights report widespread use condoned by states in many regions of the world. Amnesty International estimates that at least 81 world governments currently practice torture, the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which is currently in force since June 26,1987, provides a broad definition of torture. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to and this definition includes torture as part of domestic violence or ritualistic abuse, as well as in criminal activities. The Rome Statute is the treaty set up the International Criminal Court. The treaty was adopted at a conference in Rome on 17 July 1998. The Rome Statute provides a simplest definition of torture regarding the prosecution of war criminals by the International Criminal Court, since 1973, Amnesty International has adopted the simplest, broadest definition of torture. Title 18 of the United States Code contains the definition of torture in 18 U. S. C, §2340, which is only applicable to persons committing or attempting to commit torture outside of the United States. The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 provides remedies to individuals who are victims of torture by persons acting in a capacity of any foreign nation. The definition is similar to the U. S. Code §2340, Torture grew into an ornate discipline, where calibrated violence served two functions, to investigate and produce confessions and to attack the body as a form of punishment. Entire populaces of towns would show up to witness an execution by torture in the public square and those who had been spared torture were commonly locked barefooted into the stocks, where children took delight in rubbing feces into their hair and mouths. The Age of Enlightenment in the world further developed the idea of universal human rights. The adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 marks the recognition at least nominally of a ban of torture by all UN member states
24.
M (James Bond)
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M is a fictional character in Ian Flemings James Bond book and film series, the character is the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service—also known as MI6—and is Bonds superior. Fleming based the character on a number of people he knew who commanded sections of British intelligence, M has appeared in the novels by Fleming and seven continuation authors, as well as appearing in twenty-four films. Fleming based much of Ms character on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, after Flemings death, Godfrey complained He turned me into that unsavoury character, M. A further inspiration for M was Maxwell Knight, the head of MI5, who signed his memos as M, the tradition of the head of MI6 signing their name with a single letter came from Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who would sign his initial C with green ink. Melville recruited Sidney Reilly into government service and foiled a plot against Queen Victoria on her 1887 Golden Jubilee. A naval theme runs throughout Flemings description of M and his surroundings, and his character was described by journalist and Bond scholar Ben Macintyre as every inch the naval martinet. Macintyre also notes that in his study of Flemings work, Kingsley Amis outlined the way Fleming had described Ms voice, being, angry, brutal, cold, curt, dry, gruff, stern, testy. Over the course of twelve novels and two collections of stories, Fleming provided a number of details relating to Ms background. In On Her Majestys Secret Service it is revealed that Ms pay as head of the Secret Service is £6,500 a year, Blades has a restricted membership of only 200 gentlemen and all must be able to show £100,000 in cash or gilt-edged securities. Kingsley Amis noted in his study, The James Bond Dossier, as a personal favour to M, the staff at Blades keeps a supply of cheap red wine from Algeria on hand but does not include it on the wine list. M refers to it as Infuriator and tends only to drink it in moderate quantities unless he is in a bad mood. In the first post-Fleming book, Colonel Sun, M is kidnapped from Quarterdeck, his home, in Gardners final novel, COLD, M is kidnapped and rescued by Bond and finishes the book by retiring from MI6. Continuation Bond author Raymond Bensons 1998 novel The Facts of Death continued Messervys retirement, the book also introduces a new M, Barbara Mawdsley. M was played by Bernard Lee from the first Bond film, Dr. No, in Dr. No, M refers to his record of reducing the number of operative casualties since taking the job, implying someone else held the job recently before him. The film also saw M refer to himself as head of MI7, Lee had originally said MI6, earlier in the film, the department had been referred to as MI6 by a radio operator. Smith and Lavington, meanwhile, remarked that Lee was the incarnation of Flemings crusty admiral. Lee died of cancer in January 1981, four months into the filming of For Your Eyes Only, later films referred to Lees tenure as head of the service, with a painting of him as M in MI6s Scottish headquarters during the 1999 instalment The World Is Not Enough. Featured in The likeness of Lee was used in the 2005 James Bond video game adaptation of James Bond 007, after Lees death in 1981, the producers hired actor Robert Brown to play M in Octopussy
25.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
26.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
27.
Havana
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Havana is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city extends mostly westward and southward from the bay, which is entered through a narrow inlet, the sluggish Almendares River traverses the city from south to north, entering the Straits of Florida a few miles west of the bay. King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City in 1592, walls as well as forts were built to protect the old city. The sinking of the U. S. battleship Maine in Havanas harbor in 1898 was the cause of the Spanish–American War. Contemporary Havana can essentially be described as three cities in one, Old Havana, Vedado and the suburban districts. The city is the center of the Cuban government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses, the current mayor is Marta Hernández of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 2009, the city/province had the third highest income in the country, the city attracts over a million tourists annually, the Official Census for Havana reports that in 2010 the city was visited by 1,176,627 international tourists, a 20% increase from 2005. Old Havana was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, the city is also noted for its history, culture, architecture and monuments. As typical of Cuba, Havana also features a tropical climate, in May 2015, Havana was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Durban, Beirut, and Kuala Lumpur. Most native settlements became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining their original Taíno names, an alternate theory is that Habana is derived from the Middle Dutch word havene, referring to a harbour, etymologically related to the English word haven. All attempts to found a city on Cubas south coast failed, however, an early map of Cuba drawn in 1514 places the town at the mouth of this river. The town that became Havana finally originated adjacent to what was then called Puerto de Carenas, the quality of this natural bay, which now hosts Havanas harbor, warranted this change of location. Pánfilo de Narváez gave Havana – the sixth town founded by the Spanish on Cuba – its name, the name combines San Cristóbal, patron saint of Havana. Shortly after the founding of Cubas first cities, the served as little more than a base for the Conquista of other lands. Havana began as a port, and suffered regular attacks by buccaneers, pirates. The first attack and resultant burning of the city was by the French corsair Jacques de Sores in 1555, ships from all over the New World carried products first to Havana, in order to be taken by the fleet to Spain. The thousands of ships gathered in the bay also fueled Havanas agriculture and manufacture, since they had to be supplied with food, water. On December 20,1592, King Philip II of Spain granted Havana the title of City, later on, the city would be officially designated as Key to the New World and Rampart of the West Indies by the Spanish Crown
28.
National Security Agency
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NSA is concurrently charged with protection of U. S. government communications and information systems against penetration and network warfare. Moreover, NSA maintains physical presence in a number of countries across the globe. SCS collection tactics allegedly encompass close surveillance, burglary, wiretapping, breaking and entering, additionally, the NSA Director simultaneously serves as the Commander of the United States Cyber Command and as Chief of the Central Security Service. Originating as a unit to decipher coded communications in World War II, NSA surveillance has been a matter of political controversy on several occasions, such as its spying on anti-Vietnam-war leaders or economic espionage. In 2013, the extent of some of the NSAs secret surveillance programs was revealed to the public by Edward Snowden, internationally, research has pointed to the NSAs ability to surveil the domestic Internet traffic of foreign countries through boomerang routing. The origins of the National Security Agency can be traced back to April 28,1917, a code and cipher decryption unit was established as the Cable and Telegraph Section which was also known as the Cipher Bureau. It was headquartered in Washington, D. C. and was part of the war effort under the executive branch without direct Congressional authorization, during the course of the war it was relocated in the armys organizational chart several times. On July 5,1917, Herbert O. Yardley was assigned to head the unit, at that point, the unit consisted of Yardley and two civilian clerks. It absorbed the navys cryptoanalysis functions in July 1918, World War I ended on November 11,1918, and MI-8 moved to New York City on May 20,1919, where it continued intelligence activities as the Code Compilation Company under the direction of Yardley. MI-8 also operated the so-called Black Chamber, the Black Chamber was located on East 37th Street in Manhattan. Its purpose was to crack the codes of foreign governments. Other Black Chambers were also found in Europe, during World War II, the Signal Security Agency was created to intercept and decipher the communications of the Axis powers. When the war ended, the SSA was reorganized as the Army Security Agency, on May 20,1949, all cryptologic activities were centralized under a national organization called the Armed Forces Security Agency. This organization was established within the U. S. Department of Defense under the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The AFSA was tasked to direct Department of Defense communications and electronic intelligence activities, in December 1951, President Harry S. Truman ordered a panel to investigate how AFSA had failed to achieve its goals. The results of the led to improvements and its redesignation as the National Security Agency. The agency was established by Truman in a memorandum of October 24,1952. Since President Trumans memo was a document, the existence of the NSA was not known to the public at that time
29.
Gene therapy
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Gene therapy is the therapeutic delivery of nucleic acid polymers into a patients cells as a drug to treat disease. The first therapeutic use of transfer as well as the first direct insertion of human DNA into the nuclear genome was performed by French Anderson in a trial starting in September 1990. Between 1989 and February 2016, over 2,300 clinical trials had been conducted and it should be noted that not all medical procedures that introduce alterations to a patients genetic makeup can be considered gene therapy. Bone marrow transplantation and organ transplants in general have been found to introduce foreign DNA into patients, Gene therapy is defined by the precision of the procedure and the intention of direct therapeutic effects. Gene therapy was conceptualized in 1972, by authors who urged caution before commencing human gene therapy studies, the first attempt, an unsuccessful one, at gene therapy was performed by Martin Cline on 10 July 1980. The first somatic treatment that produced a permanent genetic change was performed in 1993, Gene therapy is a way to fix a genetic problem at its source. The polymers are either translated into proteins, interfere with target gene expression, the most common form uses DNA that encodes a functional, therapeutic gene to replace a mutated gene. The polymer molecule is packaged within a vector, which carries the molecule inside cells, early clinical failures led to dismissals of gene therapy. Clinical successes since 2006 regained researchers attention, although as of 2014, between 2013 and April 2014, US companies invested over $600 million in the field. The first commercial gene therapy, Gendicine, was approved in China in 2003 for the treatment of certain cancers, in 2011 Neovasculgen was registered in Russia as the first-in-class gene-therapy drug for treatment of peripheral artery disease, including critical limb ischemia. Following early advances in engineering of bacteria, cells, and small animals. Two main approaches were considered – replacing or disrupting defective genes, scientists focused on diseases caused by single-gene defects, such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia, muscular dystrophy, thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Glybera treats one such disease, caused by a defect in lipoprotein lipase, DNA must be administered, reach the damaged cells, enter the cell and either express or disrupt a protein. Multiple delivery techniques have been explored, the initial approach incorporated DNA into an engineered virus to deliver the DNA into a chromosome. Naked DNA approaches have also explored, especially in the context of vaccine development. Generally, efforts focused on administering a gene that causes a needed protein to be expressed, more recently, increased understanding of nuclease function has led to more direct DNA editing, using techniques such as zinc finger nucleases and CRISPR. The vector incorporates genes into chromosomes, the expressed nucleases then knock out and replace genes in the chromosome. As of 2014 these approaches involve removing cells from patients, editing a chromosome, Gene editing is a potential approach to alter the human genome to treat genetic diseases, viral diseases, and cancer
30.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
31.
Fencing
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Fencing, also called Olympic fencing, is a sport in which two competitors fight using rapier-style swords, winning points by making contact with their opponent. Fencing was one of the first sports to be played in the Olympics, there are three forms of modern fencing, each using a different style of weapon and different rules, and as such the sport is divided into three competitive scenes, foil, épée, and sabre. Most competitive fencers choose to specialise in one weapon. Competitive fencing is one of five activities which have featured in every one of the modern Olympic Games, the other four being athletics, cycling, swimming. Fencing is governed by Fédération Internationale dEscrime, today, its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. The FIE is composed of 145 national federations, each of which is recognised by its countrys Olympic Committee as the representative of Olympic-style fencing in that country. The FIE maintains the current rules used for FIE sanctioned international events, including cups, world championships. The FIE handles proposals to change the rules the first year after an Olympic year in the annual congress, the US Fencing Association has slightly different rules, but usually adhere to FIE standards. Fencing traces its roots to the development of swordsmanship for duels, the ancestor of modern fencing originated in Spain, where several books on fencing were written. In conquest, the Spanish forces carried fencing around the world, particularly southern Italy, Fencing was mentioned in the play The Merry Wives of Windsor written sometime prior to 1602. The mechanics of modern fencing originated in the 18th century in an Italian school of fencing of the Renaissance, the Spanish school of fencing stagnated and was replaced by the Italian and French schools. There, he taught the aristocracy the fashionable art of swordsmanship and his school was run by three generations of his family and dominated the art of European fencing for almost a century. He established the rules of posture and footwork that still govern modern sport fencing. The first regularized fencing competition was held at the inaugural Grand Military Tournament and Assault at Arms in 1880, held at the Royal Agricultural Hall, the Tournament featured a series of competitions between army officers and soldiers. Each bout was fought for five hits and the foils were pointed with black to aid the judges, the Amateur Gymnastic & Fencing Association drew up an official set of fencing regulations in 1896. Fencing was part of the Olympics Games in the summer of 1896, starting with épée in 1933, side judges were replaced by the Laurent-Pagan electrical scoring apparatus, with an audible tone and a red or green light indicating when a touch landed. Foil was automated in 1956, sabre in 1988, the scoring box reduced the bias in judging, and permitted more accurate scoring of faster actions, lighter touches, and more touches to the back and flank than before. There are three weapons in modern fencing, foil, épée, and sabre, each weapon has its own rules and strategies
32.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese
33.
Ice palace
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An ice palace or ice castle is a castle-like structure made of blocks of ice. These blocks are harvested from nearby rivers or lakes when they become frozen in winter. The first known ice palace appeared in St. Petersburg, Russia and was the handiwork of Empress Anna, Anna Ivanovna, Empress of Russia, commissioned an ice palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, during the winter of 1739-40. Architect Piotr Eropkin and scientist Georg Wolfgang Krafft used huge ice blocks measuring 16m long by 6m wide, joined together with frozen water, the city recreates the ice palace every winter. In the cold winter of 1739–1740, Anna Ivanovna gave an order to build a palace made of ice in St. Petersburg, the palace and the surrounding festivities were part of the celebration of Russias victory over the Ottoman Empire. She ordered the architect Pyotr Yeropkin to design the building and it was built under the supervision of Georg Krafft who left a detailed description of the palace. The palace was 20 meters tall and 50 meters wide, huge ice blocks were glued together with water. The garden was filled with ice trees with ice birds and an ice statue of an elephant, the outer walls were lined with ice sculptures. Before the palace there were artillery pieces made of ice. The palace was furnished with furniture made of ice, including an ice bed with ice mattress. The whole structure was surrounded with a wooden fence. The festivities involving the Ice Palace included a wedding of two jesters. Prince Mikhail Alekseyevich Galitzine had married an Italian woman, Empress Anna saw this as an affront because she was a Catholic, not Eastern Orthodox. The wife died soon after but Anna did not forgive Galitzine and she first ordered him to become a jester. The Empress selected prince Galitzine a new wife, an unattractive Kalmyk maidservant Avdotya Ivanovna Buzheninova. She forced the prince to marry her and displayed the newlyweds in a procession where they rode an elephant, dressed as clowns, in the palace the newlyweds were closed naked into an icy nuptial chamber under heavy guard. The couple survived the night because the bride traded a pearl necklace with one of the guards for a sheepskin coat, Empress Anna died the following year and the castle did not survive the next summer. The Russian reading public was aware of Annas mock palace in 1835
34.
Solar energy
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Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-dispersing properties, the large magnitude of solar energy available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity. The United Nations Development Programme in its 2000 World Energy Assessment found that the potential of solar energy was 1. This is several times larger than the world energy consumption. In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that the development of affordable, inexhaustible, hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments, they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared. The Earth receives 174,000 terawatts of incoming solar radiation at the upper atmosphere, approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of light at the Earths surface is mostly spread across the visible. Most of the population live in areas with insolation levels of 150-300 watts/m². Solar radiation is absorbed by the Earths land surface, oceans – which cover about 71% of the globe –, warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches an altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 °C. By photosynthesis, green plants convert solar energy into stored energy, which produces food, wood. The total solar energy absorbed by Earths atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules per year, in 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass, geography affects solar energy potential because areas that are closer to the equator have a greater amount of solar radiation. However, the use of photovoltaics that can follow the position of the sun can significantly increase the energy potential in areas that are farther from the equator. Time variation effects the potential of energy because during the nighttime there is little solar radiation on the surface of the Earth for solar panels to absorb. This limits the amount of energy that solar panels can absorb in one day, cloud cover can affect the potential of solar panels because clouds block incoming light from the sun and reduce the light available for solar cells. In addition, land availability has an effect on the available solar energy because solar panels can only be set up on land that is otherwise unused
35.
Aston Martin Vanquish
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The Aston Martin Vanquish is a British grand tourer that was introduced in 2001 as a successor to the ageing Virage range. The first-generation V12 Vanquish, designed by Ian Callum, was unveiled at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show and was produced from 2001 to 2005. The prototype built by the collaboration of the Ford Motor Company, the Vanquish S was unveiled in 2004 with a more powerful engine and improved aerodynamics. The Vanquish S and V12 Vanquish were replaced by the DBS in 2007, in 2012 the Vanquish name was revived for the successor to the DBS. The Aston Martin V12 Vanquish was designed by Ian Callum and bore a resemblance to the production DB7 Vantage. However, the car had an influence from the Project Vantage Concept prototype which debuted with a V12 engine at the North American International Auto Show in January 1998. As underneath the car featured a strong aluminium/carbon composite construction, bonded chassis with a 5,935 cc V12 engine and it was available in 2+0 and 2+2 seating configurations. The 48-valve 60° engine produces 456 PS and 540 N·m of torque, the car also appears in the video games Need For Speed, Hot Pursuit 2, James Bond 007, Nightfire, and James Bond 007, Everything or Nothing. The Vanquish was the basis of two cars, both shown at the International Geneva Motor Show in 2004, the Zagato Roadster and the Bertone Jet 2. The Aston Martin Vanquish S debuted at the 2004 Paris Auto Show, with increased horsepower and performance, the engine displacement remained at 5,935 cc, with power increased from 450 to 520 hp. As part of its improvements, the Vanquish S featured a slightly improved coefficient of drag of 0.32, with help from a redesigned splitter and its front and rear track were 1,524 mm and 1,529 mm, respectively. It also incorporated the features of a 2004 option package, the Sports Dynamic Pack, which incorporated sportier suspension, steering, and brake features. This model was sold for the 2005 and 2006 model years in the United States with only minor running changes, the Vanquish S featured larger brakes than the V12 Vanquish,378 mm front discs with six-pot calipers and 330 mm rear discs. The end of the Vanquishs production run was celebrated with the Vanquish S Ultimate Edition, Aston Martin announced that the last 50 cars built would have a new Ultimate Black’ exterior colour, upgraded interior, and personalised sill plaques. Vanquish production ended 19 July 2007, coinciding with the closing of the companys Newport Pagnell factory after 49 years operation, with a 200+ MPH top speed, the Vanquish S was the fastest Aston Martin ever until the Vantage V12 S was introduced in May 2013. It is a car based on the fourth generation VH platform. 9L V12 engine rated 550PS. Aston Martin unveiled the Project AM310 Concept at the 2012 Concorso D’Eleganza at Villa DEste on the shores of Lake Como, Aston Martin later announced that the concept would be put into production as the all new Aston Martin Vanquish. The exterior styling of the Vanquish is an evolution of the DBS with many styling cues such as the elongated side strakes being inspired by the Aston Martin One-77
36.
Korean Peninsula
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The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. Until the end of World War II, Korea was a political entity whose territory roughly coincided with the Korean Peninsula. The northern boundaries for the Korean Peninsula are commonly taken to coincide with political borders between North Korea and its northern neighbors, China and Russia. These borders are formed naturally by the rivers Yalu/Amnok and Tumen/Tuman/Duman, taking this definition, the Korean Peninsula has an area of 220,847 km2. The peninsulas names in Korean, Chinese and Japanese all have the origin, that being Joseon. In North Koreas Chosonmal, the peninsula is called Chosŏn Pando, while in China, in Japan, it is either Chōsenhantō or Kanhantō. Meanwhile, in South Korea, it is called Hanbando, referring to the Samhan and they both use Korea as part of their official English names, which is a name that comes from the Goryeo dynasty. Korea Geography of Korea Geography of North Korea Geography of South Korea List of Korea-related topics KOIS, location of the Korean Peninsula — The official Korean Tourism guide website
37.
Korean Demilitarized Zone
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The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a highly militarized strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula. It was established at the end of the Korean War to serve as a zone between the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The DMZ is a de facto border barrier that divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half and it was created by agreement between North Korea, China and the United Nations in 1953. The DMZ is 250 kilometres long, and about 4 kilometres wide, within the DMZ is a meeting-point between the two nations in the small Joint Security Area near the western end of the zone, where negotiations take place. There have been incidents in and around the DMZ, with military. Several tunnels are claimed to have built as an invasion route for the North Koreans. The Korean Demilitarized Zone intersects but does not follow the 38th parallel north and it crosses the parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. The DMZ is 250 kilometres long, approximately 4 km wide, though the zone separating both sides is demilitarized, beyond that strip the border is one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. The Northern Limit Line, or NLL, is the disputed maritime demarcation line between North and South Korea in the Yellow Sea, not agreed in the armistice, the coastline and islands on both sides of the NLL are also heavily militarized. Upon the creation of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea in 1948, it became a de facto international border, both the North and the South remained dependent on their sponsor states from 1948 to the outbreak of the Korean War. In the Armistice Agreement of 27 July 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed to move their troops back 2,000 m from the front line, creating a buffer zone 4 km wide. The Military Demarcation Line goes through the center of the DMZ, the armistice agreement explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ. Sporadic outbreaks of violence have killed over 500 South Korean soldiers,50 US soldiers and 250 soldiers from DPRK along the DMZ between 1953 and 1999, Daeseong-dong and Kijŏng-dong are the only settlements allowed by the armistice committee to remain within the boundaries of the DMZ. Residents of Tae Sung Dong are governed and protected by the United Nations Command and are required to spend at least 240 nights per year in the village to maintain their residency. In 2008, the village had a population of 218 people, the villagers of Tae Sung Dong are direct descendants of people who owned the land before the 1950–53 Korean War. To continue to deter North Korean incursion, in 2014 the United States government exempted the Korean DMZ from its pledge to eliminate anti-personnel landmines, inside the DMZ, near the western coast of the peninsula, Panmunjom is the home of the Joint Security Area. There are several buildings on both the north and the side of the Military Demarcation Line, and there have been some built on top of it. The JSA is the location where all negotiations since 1953 have been held, including statements of Korean solidarity, the MDL goes through the conference rooms and down the middle of the conference tables where the North Koreans and the United Nations Command meet face to face
38.
South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
