Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of members Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. Stewart and Lennox were both in the band the Tourists, which broke up in 1980; the duo released their first studio album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little success, but went on to achieve global success when their second album Sweet Dreams, was released in 1983. The title track became a worldwide hit which topped the charts in various countries including the US; the duo went on to release a string of hit singles and albums before they split up in 1990. By this time Stewart was a sought-after record producer, while Lennox began a solo recording career in 1992 with her debut album Diva. After a decade apart, the Eurythmics reunited to record their ninth album, released in late 1999, they reunited again in 2005 to release the single "I've Got a Life", as part of a new Eurythmics compilation album, Ultimate Collection. The duo have won an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1984, the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1987, the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1999, in 2005 were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.

The Eurythmics have sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide. In 2017, the group was nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, were nominated again in 2018. Lennox and Stewart met in 1975 in a restaurant in London, they first played together in 1976 in the punk rock band The Catch. After releasing one single as The Catch in 1977, the band evolved into The Tourists. Stewart and Lennox were romantically involved; the Tourists achieved some commercial success, but the experience was an unhappy one. Personal and musical tensions existed within the group, whose main songwriter was Peet Coombes, legal wranglings happened with the band's management and record labels. Lennox and Stewart felt the fixed band line-up was an inadequate vehicle to explore their experimental creative leanings and decided their next project should be much more flexible and free from artistic compromise, they were interested in creating pop music, but wanted freedom to experiment with electronics and the avant-garde.

It was in a hotel in Wagga Wagga, while playing around with a portable mini-synthesizer that Lennox and Stewart decided to become a duo. Calling themselves Eurythmics, they decided to keep themselves as the only permanent members and songwriters, involve others in the collaboration "on the basis of mutual compatibility and availability." The duo signed to RCA Records. At this time and Stewart split as a couple. During the period that Lennox and Stewart were in The Tourists, as Eurythmics, they were managed by Kenny Smith and Sandra Turnbull of Hyper Kinetics Ltd, they recorded their first album in Cologne with Conny Plank. This resulted in the album In the Garden, released in October 1981; the album mixed psychedelic and electropop influences, featured contributions from Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit, drummer Clem Burke, Robert Görl, flautist Tim Wheater. A couple of the songs were co-written by guitarist Roger Pomphrey; the album was not a commercial success. Lennox and Stewart activated their new Eurythmics mode of operation by touring the record as a duo, accompanied by backing tracks and electronics, carted around the country themselves in a horse-box.

During 1982, the duo retreated to Chalk Farm in London and used a bank loan to establish a small 8-track studio above a picture framing factory, giving them freedom to record without having to pay expensive studio fees. They began to employ much more electronics in their music, collaborating with Raynard Faulkner and Adam Williams, recording many tracks in the studio and playing live using various line-up permutations. However, the three new singles they released that year all performed badly on initial release in the UK. Although their mode of operation had given them the creative freedom they desired, commercial success was still eluding them and the responsibility of running so many of their affairs took its toll on both of them. Lennox suffered at least one nervous breakdown during this period, while Stewart was hospitalised with a collapsed lung. Eurythmics' commercial breakthrough came with their second album, Sweet Dreams, released in January 1983; the successful title track featured a dark and powerful sequenced synth bass line and a dramatic video that introduced the now orange crew-cut Lennox to audiences.

The song reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming one of the year's biggest sellers, topped the US Billboard Hot 100. The band's fortunes changed immensely from this moment on, Lennox became a pop icon, gracing the covers of numerous magazines including Rolling Stone, their previous single, "Love Is a Stranger", was re-released and became another chart success. The video for the song saw Lennox in many different character guises, a concept she would employ in various subsequent videos; the album's working title was Invisible Hands, inspiring the name of the British independent company Invisible Hands Music – known for releasing music by Hugh Cornwell, Mick Karn and Hazel O'Connor. The album featured a cover of the 1968 Sam & Dave hit "Wrap

Michael Ani was chairman of the Federal Electoral Commission established by General Olusegun Obasanjo to conduct elections leading to the Nigerian Second Republic, inaugurated on 1 October 1979. He held office from 1976 to 1979. Michael Ani was a civil servant. In 1966 he had been appointed a Commissioner by Ironsi to assist in reviewing unification of the regional public services, his 1976 appointment followed his retirement from the Civil Service. The functions of his 24-man Federal Electoral Commission established on 15 November 1976 included the conduct of elections, delimitation of constituencies and registration of political parties; the August 1979 presidential election was won by Alhaji Shehu Shagari, although his victory was disputed since it was based on Ani's interpretation of the ambiguous electoral decree which said "a candidate must obtain one quarter of votes cast in at least two thirds of the states of the federation"

Johann Gregor Herold or Johann Gregorius Höroldt was a German painter and porcelain painter. He was a key early figure in defining the styles of decoration for Meissen porcelain from 1723 onwards, he was brought to Meissen in 1720 from the du Paquier Vienna porcelain factory, in 1723 appointed court painter to Augustus the Strong, though evidently expected to spend most of his time designing and painting for porcelain. He created designs and painted some pieces himself, as guides for the larger team of painters at the factory, he specialized in chinoiserie designs, much enlarged the palette of colours used at Meissen. Battie, David, ed. Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain, 1990, Conran Octopus, ISBN 1850292515 Otto Walcha: Meissner Porzellan. Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Dresden: Verlag der Kunst, 1986, 8. Aufl. ISBN 3-364-00012-3. Ulrich Pietsch: Johann Gregorius Höroldt 1696-1775. Leipzig: Edition Leipzig, 1996, ISBN 3-361-00462-4. Rainer Rückert: Biographische Daten der Meißener Manufakturisten des 18.

Jahrhunderts. München: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, 1990, ISBN 3-925058-13-3. Meißener Porzellan-Sammlung Stiftung Ernst Schneider in Schloss Lustheim