François Rabelais was a French Renaissance writer, Renaissance humanist and Greek scholar. He has been regarded as a writer of satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs; because of his literary power and historical importance, Western literary critics consider him one of the great writers of world literature and among the creators of modern European writing. His best known work is Pantagruel, his literary legacy is such that the word Rabelaisian has been coined as a descriptive inspired by his work and life. Merriam-Webster defines the word as describing someone or something, "marked by gross robust humor, extravagance of caricature, or bold naturalism". No reliable documentation of the place or date of the birth of François Rabelais has survived. While some scholars put the date as early as 1483, he was born in November 1494 near Chinon in the province of Touraine, where his father worked as a lawyer; the estate of La Devinière in Seuilly in the modern-day Indre-et-Loire the writer's birthplace, houses a Rabelais museum.

Rabelais became a novice of the Franciscan order, a friar at Fontenay-le-Comte in Poitou, where he studied Greek and Latin as well as science and law becoming known and respected by the humanists of his era, including Guillaume Budé. Harassed due to the directions of his studies and frustrated with the Franciscan order's ban on the study of Greek, Rabelais petitioned Pope Clement VII and gained permission to leave the Franciscans and to enter the Benedictine order at Maillezais in Poitou, where he was more warmly received, he left the monastery to study medicine at the University of Poitiers and at the University of Montpellier. In 1532 he moved to Lyon, one of the intellectual centres of the Renaissance, in 1534 began working as a doctor at the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, for which he earned 40 livres a year. During his time in Lyon, he edited Latin works for the printer Sebastian Gryphius, wrote a famous admiring letter to Erasmus to accompany the transmission of a Greek manuscript from the printer.

Gryphius published Rabelais' translations & annotations of Hippocrates and Giovanni Manardo. As a physician, he used his spare time to write and publish humorous pamphlets critical of established authority and preoccupied with the educational and monastic mores of the time. In 1532, under the pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier, he published his first book, Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes, the first of his Gargantua series; the idea of basing an allegory on the lives of giants came to Rabelais from the folklore legend of les Grandes chroniques du grand et énorme géant Gargantua, which were sold as popular literature at the time in the form of inexpensive pamphlets by colporters and at the fairs of Lyon. Pantagruelisme is an "eat, drink and be merry" philosophy, which led his books into disfavor with the church brought them popular success and the admiration of critics for their focus on the body; this first book, critical of the existing monastic and educational system, contains the first known occurrence in French of the words encyclopédie, progrès and utopie among others.

Despite the book's popularity, both it and the subsequent prequel book about the life and exploits of Pantagruel's father Gargantua were condemned by the "Sorbonne" in 1543 and the Roman Catholic Church in 1545. Rabelais taught medicine at Montpellier in 1534 and again in 1539. In 1537, Rabelais gave an anatomy lesson at Lyon's Hôtel-Dieu using the corpse of a hanged man. In June 1543 Rabelais became a Master of Requests. Between 1545 and 1547 François Rabelais lived in Metz a free imperial city and a republic, to escape the condemnation by the University of Paris. In 1547, he became curate of Saint-Christophe-du-Jambet in Maine and of Meudon near Paris, from which he resigned in January 1553 before his death in Paris in April 1553. With support from members of the prominent du Bellay family, Rabelais received approval from King Francis I to continue to publish his collection. However, after the king's death in 1547, the academic élite frowned upon Rabelais, the French Parlement suspended the sale of his fourth book published in 1552.

Rabelais traveled to Rome with his friend and patient Cardinal Jean du Bellay, lived for a short time in Turin as part of the household of du Bellay's brother, Guillaume. Rabelais spent some time lying low, under periodic threat of being condemned of heresy depending upon the health of his various protectors. Only the protection of du Bellay saved Rabelais after the condemnation of his novel by the Sorbonne. Gargantua and Pantagruel relates the adventures of his son Pantagruel; the tales are adventurous and erudite and gross, toxic and ecumenical, rarely—if ever—solemn for long. The first book, where Pantagruel and Gargantua are mentioned in the Prologue refers not to Rabelais' own work but to storybooks that were being sold at the Lyon fairs in the early 1530s. In the first chapter of the first book, Pantagruel's lineage is listed back 60 generations to a giant named Chalbroth; the narrator dismisses the skeptics of the time—who would have thought a giant far too large for Noah's Ark—stating that Hurtaly rode the Ark like a child on a rocking horse, or a fat man on a cannon.

In the Prologue to Gargantua the nar

The 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy was the fourth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The season consists of twelve rounds, started on 1 April with the Spanish round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and concluded on 12 November at the Killarney Motor Racing Complex in Cape Town, South Africa. Johan Kristoffersson was the season's Driver's Champion, claiming it at the Neste World RX of Latvia; the Teams' Championship was won by PSRX Volkswagen Sweden. On 17 October 2016 the provisional 2017 calendar was released, it once again contained twelve rounds. Half of the rounds were supported by the RX2 category—formerly known as RX Lites. * Entries in grey denote one-car teams which are ineligible to score teams championship points. All of the RX2 cars are designed and produced by Avitas Motorsport in cooperation with Olsbergs MSE. A Ten championship points deducted for use of an unregistered tyre in Q3.b Ten championship points deducted for sealing an additional turbo after scrutineering.c Ten championship points deducted for sealing an additional turbo after scrutineering.d Ten championship points deducted for use of a third turbocharger in the competition.e Fifteen championship points deducted for use of a fourth engine seal.f Five championship points deducted for receiving his third reprimand in the championship.g Ten championship points deducted for presenting a turbocharger for sealing after initial scrutineering.h Fifteen championship points deducted for use of a fourth engine in the championship.i Ten championship points deducted for use of a new turbo seal after initial scrutineering.j Fifteen championship points deducted for use of more than three engine seals in the season.k Ten championship points deducted for use of a seventh turbocharger in the season.

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The 44th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1996. The awards were announced on 6 May 1997, presented in July. Awards were divided into non-feature films and books written on Indian cinema. Introduced in 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest award given to recognise the contributions of film personalities towards the development of Indian cinema and for distinguished contributions to the medium, its growth and promotion. Feature films were awarded at All India as well as regional level. For 44th National Film Awards, a Bengali film, Lal Darja won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, whereas a Tamil film, Minsara Kanavu won the maximum number of awards. Following were the awards given in each category: A committee headed by T. Subbarami Reddy was appointed to evaluate the feature films awards. Following were the jury members: Jury Members T. Subbarami Reddy • Basu Chatterjee • Charuhasan • Madhu • Mike Pandey • Nirad N. Mohapatra • Vijaya Mulay Raghav Menon • Sushma Shiromani • Jwngdao Bodosa • M. S. Sathyu • G. Venkateswaran • D. Ramanaidu • Swaraj Lamba • Swapan Kumar Ghosh Following were the awards given: Official Name: Swarna KamalAll the awardees are awarded with'Golden Lotus Award', a certificate and cash prize.

Official Name: Rajat KamalAll the awardees are awarded with'Silver Lotus Award', a certificate and cash prize. The award is given to best film in the regional languages in India. Short Films made in any Indian language and certified by the Central Board of Film Certification as a documentary/newsreel/fiction are eligible for non-feature film section. A committee headed by N. S. Thapa was appointed to evaluate the non-feature films awards. Following were the jury members: Jury Members N. S. Thapa • Swapna Sundari • Meera Dewan • Sukumaran • Punathil Kunjabdulla Official Name: Swarna KamalAll the awardees are awarded with'Golden Lotus Award', a certificate and cash prize. Official Name: Rajat KamalAll the awardees are awarded with'Silver Lotus Award' and cash prize; the awards aim at encouraging study and appreciation of cinema as an art form and dissemination of information and critical appreciation of this art-form through publication of books, reviews etc. A committee headed by Khalid Mohamed was appointed to evaluate the writing on Indian cinema.

Following were the jury members: Jury Members Khalid Mohamed • Pritiman Sarkar • V. K. Madhavan Kutty Official Name: Swarna KamalAll the awardees are awarded with'Golden Lotus Award' and cash prize. Following were the awards not given as no film was found to be suitable for the award: 44th National Film Awards 44th National Film Awards National Film Awards Archives Official Page for Directorate of Film Festivals, India

Michael Beckley is an Australian actor. He has worked with major theatre companies in both Australia and the United Kingdom, appeared on London's West End in A Few Good Men and Cabaret, he is best known for playing Rhys Sutherland, the patriarch of a new family that arrived in the fictional town of Summer Bay in the internationally televised series Home and Away. Before and since leaving the soap he has worked extensively in theatre, he moved to London in 2005, where he was based until 2016, appearing on the West End and with major UK theatre companies. He now resides in Australia. Beckley decided on an acting career just before completing his senior high school studies. Despite protests from teachers he left school one week before his final exams to force himself onto a certain path. A week – at 17 years of age – he had landed a permanent position on the Entertainment Staff at Old Sydney Town, an historical theme park near his home town of Gosford, NSW; this was a recreation of Sydney around the year 1800.

Here he earned his Actors Equity of Australia card and became a working actor. Within two years he took over the role of the leading player for the park. Beckley made his first permanent move to the UK in 1984, he appeared on the London Fringe in All The Way Home and attended dozens of plays in and around London, including many on the West End starring actors such as Anthony Hopkins and Glenda Jackson and many leading actors of the day. He took drop-in acting classes at the London Actors' Centre studying Chekhov, comedy and movement, it was during this time in London. On returning to Australia in late 1986 he auditioned for Australia's leading drama school NIDA but was not accepted, he went and studied part-time under Gillian Owen, a RADA-trained actor, who ran The Sydney Acting School, auditioned for NIDA again in late 1987. He was accepted; the next three years saw him studying full-time at NIDA. With just one week to go – echoing his departure from high school – Beckley was approached by Wayne Harrison artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company, to appear as Frid in that company's production of Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

With the school's blessing, Beckley began his post-student career a week earlier than expected and graduated with his class at the official ceremony in early 1991. The next few years saw Beckley work for various companies in a range of projects; these included a rigorous 6-month T. I. E. tour for the Bell Shakespeare Company which Beckley still considers as "earning one's stripes". Other cast members were Colleen Cross and Julia Zemiro. Small television roles started to appear on his CV between theatre jobs, he had guest roles on the Australian police series Water Rats and the Australian/American sci-fi series Farscape. Wayne Harrison invited him back to the STC to appear in Antony and Cleopatra starring theatre stars Sandy Gore and John Stanton; the prestigious Griffin Theatre Company cast him in Clark in Sarajevo and as the leading role of Dave in Neil Cole's play Alive at Williamstown Pier, the true story of a politician's fight with bipolar disorder and his consequent "outing" by the Australian media.

Beckley received strong praise for his portrayal from national critics. The Australian Jewish News called his work "virtuoso". Lydia Clifford of The Daily Telegraph writing "I felt privileged to be a spectator of emerging talent", it was shortly after this that Beckley was cast as Rhys Sutherland in the long-running television program Home and Away, where he stayed for just over four years. His character arrived with three daughters; the Sutherlands went on to be one of the most popular families to appear on the program. While on the show, the production company made two specials for release on DVD: Hearts Divided and Secrets and the City, the latter film concerning Rhys's disappearance after the revelation of a previous affair; each special contained a new concept that proved a success. Upon leaving Home and Away Beckley returned to England in 2005. Signing with a London agent, he booked his first audition, which found him playing Capt. Roger Wittaker at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on London's West End.

The play starred Rob Lowe in the role made famous by Tom Cruise in the film version, written by Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin was much involved in the casting process; the play was a major success in that year's West End calendar. Beckley was soon cast in David Pownall's play Masterclass for Derby Theatre playing Joseph Stalin's right-hand man Andrei Zhdanov, alongside Christopher McKay, Russell Dixon and Terry Mortimer. McKay and Mortimer, accomplished pianists, played a real grand piano in their respective roles of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Beckley was required to play some Chopin while drunk on vodka, a moment in the play that terrified him each night. Although a pianist, he was not as accomplished as Mortimer. Nonetheless, reviews were exceptional, with most of the London papers including it in their must-see lists. Beckley continued to enjoy a run of critical theatre roles, he returned to the West End for nearly a year to play Ernst Ludwig in Rufus Norris' wildly successful Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue.

He played leading man Matt Holden in Ch

Emma Dodd is an English illustrator and author. She is best known for her award-winning children's books published by Orchard Books, Templar Publishing, Penguin Books, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Scholastic Corporation and Nosy Crow. Emma Dodd was born in 1969 in Guildford, the daughter of designers Robert Dodd and Fay Hillier, she attended Tormead School, Kingston Polytechnic, where she did a Foundation Course in Art and Design, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London graduating in graphic design and illustration in 1992. During the early part of her career, Emma worked in advertising and editorial, for clients including Volvo, BMW, Royal Botanic Gardens, The Guardian, The Observer, Sunday Express and She Magazine. At the same time, she began to illustrate children’s books. Today and writing children's picture books is the focus of Emma’s career. Emma Dodd illustrated the award-winning Amazing Baby series for Templar, was selected as a winner in the 2010 Booktrust Early Years Awards for I Love My Mummy, written by Giles Andreae and is nominated for the 2011 Kate Greenaway Medal for her book, I Love Bugs.

Emma Dodd lives in Surrey with two children and their dog Buzz. Among Emma’s favourite things in life are surfing with her kids, red lipstick and Scrabble. 2014 Foxy in Love Harper Collins 2014 I Love You Baby Orchard Books 2014 The Entertainer Templar Publishing May 2014 I Love Dogs re-issue Orchard Books 2014 I Love Cats re-issue Orchard Books 2014 2013 I Love you Father Christmas Orchard Books 2013 When You Were Born, Templar Publishing Nov 2013 Forever, Templar Publishing May 2013 Everything Templar Publishing 2013 Baby and Me Nosy Crow March 2013 I Love You Orchard Books 2013 Cinderelephant Templar Publishing 2013 2012 I Love Beasts Orchard Books 2012 Foxy Harper Collins 2012 2011 I Love my Daddy, Orchard Books, written by Giles Andreae Roman Rescue, Templar Publishing, written by K. A. Gerrard 2010 I Love my Mummy, 2010, Orchard Books, written by Giles Andreae 2011 I Love All Beasts.... Great and Small Beasts, Orchard Books 2010 You... Templar Publishing Me... Templar Publishing I Love Bugs, Orchard Books Dot and Dash are Dressing Up, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash Go To Bed, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash Learn To Count, Scholastic Corporation Desert Discovery, Campbell Books Jungle Hide and Seek, Campbell Books 2009 I Don't Want a Cool Cat, Orchard Books Miaow said the Cow, Templar Publishing Dot and Dash Love To Play, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash Find a Friend, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash Learn to Share, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash Eat their Dinner, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash Make and Do, Scholastic Corporation Dot and Dash at the Beach, Scholastic Corporation Messy Fingers, Campbell Books 2008 I Don't Want a Posh Dog, Orchard Books Little Croc, Campbell Books Little Pup, Campbell Books Best Bear, Gullane Books 2007 I thought I saw a Dinosaur, Templar Publishing Sometimes...

Templar Publishing When... Templar Publishing 2006 What Pet to Get?, Templar Publishing Booktrust Early Years Awards 2010, I Love My Mummy Peter's Picture Book of the Year 2013 Cinderelephant Orchard Books about Emma Dodd Emma Dodd personal website Emma Dodd and Harper Collins Emma Dodd Blog /Emma Dodd and Nosy Crow

Phil Coulter is an Irish musician and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters and Authors in October 2009. Coulter has amassed 23 platinum discs, 39 gold discs, 52 silver discs, two Grand Prix Eurovision awards, he is one of the biggest record sellers in his native land. Coulter was born in Derry, Northern Ireland during the height of the Second World War, where his father was one of a minority of Catholic policeman in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, he was the fourth child with two older brothers and a sister and one younger sister, each born with a years difference between them, in a two-up two-down terraced house. Coulter's father called Phil, encouraged music in the house, he played the fiddle. The younger Coulter recalls this piano, made by Challen, as "the most important piece of furniture in the house". "I always stayed away from the fiddle, having inflicted enough pain on my family with the piano," he laughed. Coulter confesses.

"The truth is I hated the piano at first. I'd love to say I was a natural but I wasn't. I hated playing it and I hated my music teacher. My father, a canny man, told me,'We have to scrimp and save to pay for these lessons, you might as well give them up.’ "It wasn't long before I gravitated back to the piano, trying to play the songs that I was listening to on the radio. I always wondered, but after two or three years at St. Columb's College I began thinking of the piano as an extension of myself." One of Coulter's most popular songs, "The Town I Loved So Well", deals with the embattled city of his youth, filled with "that damned barbed wire" during the Troubles. Coulter spent his secondary school years at St. Columb's College, he studied music and French at the Queen's University of Belfast. Coulter has received honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster and Dublin Institute of Technology, The Open University, he started his first band at Queen's University, playing early rock and roll music despite studying classical music.

Coulter was founder of the Glee Club, which staged music events for the university. By 1964, his final year at university, Coulter had written a couple of hit songs in Ireland and he moved to London, where his first job was as an arranger/songwriter with a music publisher in Denmark Street. From here he was hired to work with acts including Billy Connolly, Van Morrison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Tom Jones, he wrote a hit for the Capitol Showband. Other songs he contributed to around that time included his arrangement of "Terry", a UK No. 4 hit for Twinkle, plus co-writing "I Can Only Give You Everything", recorded by Them. In 1965, he met Bill Martin and the two became established as a successful songwriting team that lasted more than ten years, they wrote Sandie Shaw's 1967 Eurovision-winning entry, "Puppet on a String", which became an international hit, covered more than a 100 times. The following year their song "Congratulations", sung by Cliff Richard, came second in the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2008 a Spanish documentary alleged that Cliff Richard had been robbed of victory after General Francisco Franco fixed the vote. The person who made the claim in the documentary, José María Íñigo, said that his words had been taken out of context. Seven years after "Congratulations", another Coulter song, "Toi", co-written with Pierre Cour, was performed as the Luxembourg entry by Coulter's future wife Geraldine in Stockholm. Coulter conducted the orchestra for the song. Coulter and Martin wrote "Shine It On", which finished third in the 1978 heat of A Song for Europe, performed by the Glaswegian performer Christian. Between 1967 and 1976, they had four No. 1 hits in the UK: "Puppet on a String", "Congratulations", "Back Home" and "Forever and Ever". There were numerous Top 10 hits including the Bay City Rollers' "Shang-A-Lang", "Fancy Pants" by the glam rock band Kenny, "Requiem" by the Scottish pop group Slik, "Surround Yourself with Sorrow" by Cilla Black. In 1975, Martin and Coulter were joint recipients of an Ivor Novello Award for'Songwriter of the Year'.

The Bay City Rollers had a No. 1 hit in 1976 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Saturday Night", a song, not released as a single in the UK. There were three No. 1 hits in the US for the songwriters, the other two being "Thanks", performed by Bill Anderson and "My Boy", sung by Elvis Presley. They contributed incidental music to the 1967 Spider-Man television series, Coulter wrote the score to the 1978 film version of The Water Babies; as well as writing hit singles, Coulter produced three albums with Planxty. Christy Moore wrote: "we signed everything away. All that said, 30 years on this album sounds good, he produced it well and... the foresight and wherewithal to record the band at a time when no one else was listening. Coulter produced and wrote most of the late Joe Dolan 1983 album and Now; the album featured several hit singles, including the Irish Top Ten hit "Deeper and Deeper" which remained a staple in Dolan's live sets, was