The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard and pommel. The guard may contain quillons. A tassel or sword knot may be attached to the pommel; the pommel is an enlarged fitting at the top of the handle. They were developed to prevent the sword slipping from the hand. From around the 11th century in Europe they became heavy enough to be a counterweight to the blade; this gave the sword a point of balance not too far from the hilt allowing a more fluid fighting style. Depending on sword design and swordsmanship style, the pommel may be used to strike the opponent. Pommels have appeared in a wide variety of shapes, including oblate spheroids, disks and animal or bird heads, they are engraved or inlayed with various designs and gilt and mounted with jewels. Ewart Oakeshott introduced a system of classification of medieval pommel forms in his The Sword in the Age of Chivalry to stand alongside his blade typology. Oakeshott pommel types are enumerated with capital letters A–Z, with subtypes indicated by numerals.

The grip is the handle of the sword. It is made of wood or metal and covered with shagreen. Shark skin deteriorates in hot climates. Rubber became popular in the latter half of the 19th century. Many sword types alternatively opt for ray skin, referred to in katana construction as the "same." Whatever material covers the grip, it is both glued on and wrapped with wire in a helix. The guard is just above the grip, it is a common misconception that the cross-guard protects the wielder's entire hand from the opposing sword. The crossguard still protected the user from a blade, deliberately slid down the length of the blade to cut off or injure the hand. Early swords do not have true guards but a form of stop to prevent the hand slipping up the blade when thrusting as they were invariably used in conjunction with a shield. From the 11th century, European sword guards took the form of a straight crossbar perpendicular to the blade. Beginning in the 16th century in Europe, guards became more and more elaborate, with additional loops and curved bars or branches to protect the hand.

A single curved piece alongside the fingers was referred to as a knuckle-bow. The bars could be supplemented or replaced with metal plates that could be ornamentally pierced; the term "basket hilt" came into vogue to describe such designs, there are a variety of basket-hilted swords. Emphasis upon the thrust attack with rapiers and smallswords revealed a vulnerability to thrusting. By the 17th century, guards were developed that incorporated a solid shield that surrounded the blade out to a diameter of up to two inches or more. Older forms of this guard retained the quillons or a single quillon, but forms eliminated the quillons, altogether being referred to as a cup-hilt; this latter form is the basis of the guards of modern épées. The ricasso is a blunt section of blade just below the guard. On developed hilts it is protected by an extension of the guard. On two-handed swords, the ricasso provided a third hand position, permitting the user's hands to be further apart for better leverage; the sword knot or sword strap, sometimes called a tassel, is a lanyard—usually of leather but sometimes of woven gold or silver bullion, or more metallic lace—looped around the hand to prevent the sword being lost if it is dropped.

Although they have a practical function, sword knots had a decorative design. For example, the British Army adopted a white leather strap with a large acorn knot made out of gold wire for infantry officers at the end of the 19th century; such acorn forms of tassels were called'boxed', the way of securing the fringe of the tassel along its bottom line such that the strands could not separate and become entangled or lost. Many sword knots were made of silk with a fine, ornamental alloy gold or silver metal wire woven into it in a specified pattern; the art and history of tassels are known by its French name, passementerie, or Posamenten as it was called in German. The military output of the artisans called passementiers is evident in catalogs of various military uniform and regalia makers of centuries past; the broader art form of passementerie, with its divisions of Decor and Nobility, Upholstery and Livery, Military, is covered in a few books on that subject, none of which are in English. Indian swords had the tassel attached through an eyelet at the end of the pommel.

Chinese swords, both jian and dao have lanyards or tassels attached. As with Western sword knots, these serve both decorative and practical functions, the manipulation of the tassel is a part of some jian performances; the hilt ring is an optional item used for decoration

Peter Simon is an English shopping television presenter and former children's television personality. He is the patron of the Shin Splints organisation. Simon was born Peter Thompson in Sheffield and lived with his mother - a nurse in the local hospital - in a guest house next to a newsagent's in a poor part of the seaside town of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, his career began at the age of 12, when he became a presenter for Yorkshire Television's Junior Showtime. In his early career, Simon was the first actor to play the role of Ronald McDonald on British television in a series of commercials for McDonald's, he made many personal appearances at McDonald's stores as Ronald McDonald. Simon is most famous for presenting the Double Dare and Run the Risk segments of the popular BBC1 Saturday morning children's shows. Run the Risk, presented by Simon and Shane Richie, was to become a separate television programme in its own right. Simon worked on the children's TV show The Friday Zone. In 1997 he interviewed the Spice Boyzone.

Simon made infrequent television appearances throughout the 2000s, including as celebrity client on Channel 4's The Salon and as a guest on ITV Play's The Mint. In the early 2000s, Simon toured Butlins holiday parks with a live stage version of Run the Risk. Simon served as a permanent auctioneer on bid tv, a shopping channel owned by Bid Shopping from 2000 until April 2014 when the holding company for Bid TV and Price Drop TV went into liquidation making all 229 employees redundant with immediate effect. In November 2011, bid.tv launched a "Peter Simon Limited Edition Hand-Painted Resin Figurine" to commemorate Simon having been a presenter with the channel for 10 years. Simon joined Gems TV in May 2014 only to leave without explanation in June 2014. Simon joined the ranks of Ideal World on 3 September 2014 at 8 pm Simon was suspended from Ideal World in September 2018 following an on-air comment against Polish and Latvians in the UK, he was re-instated one month later. Junior Showtime – Presenter Run The Risk – Presenter/Game Designer Friday Zone – Presenter Double Dare – Presenter Lucky Ladders Win, Lose Or Draw Going Live Star Pets Red Nose Awards Saturday Superstore Wheel of Fortune Saturday Picture Show Get Your Own Back – Contestant/Guest Host Hold Tight Children in Need Starstrider Comic Relief Eggs and Baker The Ant & Dec Show Scruples The Movie Game Ronald McDonald – Clown character actor for the company The Salon playing Himself bid tv – Auctioneer Gems TV – Auctioneer Ideal world TV Presenter (September 2018 – present In February 2013, it was announced that Peter Simon's home of 30+ years was to be compulsory purchased and demolished to make way for HS2.

Sit-up Ltd company website Bid tv website Peter Simon on IMDb

Teresa Deevy was a deaf Irish dramatist, known for her works for theatre, she was a short story writer, writer for radio. Teresa Deevy was born on January 1894 in Waterford, Ireland, she was the youngest of all girls. Her mother was Mary Feehan Deevy and her father was Edward Deevy who died when she was two years old. Deevy attended the Ursuline Convent in Waterford and in 1913, aged 19, she enrolled in University College Dublin, to become a teacher. However, that same year, Deevy became deaf through Ménière's disease and had to relocate to University College Cork so she could receive treatment in the Cork Ear and Throat Hospital, while being closer to the family home. In 1914 she went to London to learn lip-reading and returned to Ireland in 1919, she started writing plays and contributing articles and stories to the press around 1919. She returned to Ireland in 1919, during the Irish War of Independence and this influenced her writing and ideology as she was involved in the nationalistic cause.

She admired Constance Markievicz, she joined the Cumann na mBan, an Irish women's Republican group and auxiliary to the Irish Volunteer. Her Republican, proto-feminist views can be seen in plays such as Katie Roche and The King of Spain's Daughter. In 1954, for her contribution to Irish Theatre, she was elected to the prestigious Irish Academy of Letters Her sister, with whom she had lived in Dublin, died in 1963, so Deevy returned to Waterford, she became a familiar figure in Waterford city as she cycled around the city on her "High Nelly" bike. When her health began to fail she was admitted to the Maypark Nursing Home in Waterford city and died there in 1963, aged 68, two days before her birthday. Katie Roche, Temporal Powers, Wife to James Wheelan and, The Suitcase Under the Bed have been staged and produced by The Mint Theater Company in New York, under the "Teresa Deevy Project" that aims to acknowledge and honor what people say is “One of Ireland’s best and most neglected dramatists.”An Honorary Blue plaque is hung in honour of her in Waterford City, on Passage Road, by courtesy of the Waterford Civic Trust.

In 1930 Deevy had her first production at the Abbey Theatre, Reapers. Many more followed in rapid succession, such as In Search of Valour, Temporal Powers, The King of Spain's Daughter and Katie Roche, the play she is best known for; these works came just after writers such as W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory and many believed she would be among those who would take up the mantle as part of a new generation of Irish playwrights for a theatre whose reputation had always rested on its writers, her works were very well-received with some of them winning competitions, becoming headline performances, or being revived numerous times. Her plays were quietly subversive, many being written just before or during the birth of the Republic of Ireland in 1937. After a number of plays staged in the Abbey, her relationship with the theater soured over the rejection of her play, Wife to James Whelan in 1937. After Deevy stopped writing plays for the Abbey, she concentrated on radio, a remarkable feat considering she had become deaf before radio had become a popular medium in Ireland in the mid-to-late 1920s.

Deevy had a prolific output for twenty years on Radio Éireann and on the BBC. including adaptations of previous works such as Temporal Powers and Katie Roche and an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Polinka. Her play ‘Within a marble city’ was awarded first prize in the Radio Éireann drama competition. Two of her plays were broadcast on television by the BBC while they have enjoyed several stage-revivals since her death, most by the Mint Theater Company in New York; the themes that are most common with Deevy plays are those where options for women are limited in society, where women are trapped by domestic life, or must choose between a loveless marriage or a life of drudgery. Deevy was critical of the intensely Catholic society she lived in for its oppressive and repressive views on women, she was critical of the Irish theater scene and of literary censorship, questioning the roles and power of the censor, how to remove them. She wrote about the women who struggle for survival and the lust over wanting a better life, how this privilege might seem attractive, until it is revealed it the "better life" comes with its set of struggles too.

She explores the "individual’s negotiation between self and society where the personal is political." The Reapers A Disciple/ In Search of Valour Temporal Powers The King of Spain's Daughter Katie Roche The Wild Goose Wife to James Whelan Strange Birth Light Falling Within a Marble City Eyes and No Eyes The Finding of the Ball In the Cellar of My Friend MacConglinne A Minute's Wait 3 plays written under the alias D. V. Goode and Precept, Let Us Live, The Firstborn At least 3 unfinished, untitled plays Wife to James Whelan Polinka Dignity Light Falling Within a Marble City Holiday House Going Beyond Alma's Glory Concerning Meagher, or How Did He Die? In the Cellar of My Friend Supreme Dominion One Look- and What it Led to Possession-Cattle of the Gods Strange People Just Yesterday: A Story The Greatest Wonder in the World: A Christmas Story Alen Brian of the Boers Lisheen at the Valley Farm John Potter's Story Flash

Spartacus is the 1991 debut album of Liverpool-based group The Farm, released in the spring of 1991 shortly after the height of Madchester. It reached number one in the UK album chart. Spartacus was dedicated to the parents of former band member Andy McVann, who died in a car chase escaping from the police on 1 October 1986. Music Steve Grimes Lyrics Peter Hooton."Hearts and Minds" - 4:24 "How Long" - 3:38 "Sweet Inspiration" - 5:29 "Groovy Train" - 4:10 "Higher and Higher" - 4:38 "Don't Let Me Down" - 4:37 "Family of Man" - 4:44 "Tell the Story" - 3:39 "Very Emotional" - 4:41 "All Together Now" - 5:41 "Higher and Higher " - 6:09 "Very Emotional " - 6:22 The album was critically acclaimed in the UK and the rest of the world Germany and the USA. Album of the Month in Select and Vox magazines Sounds; the NME placed the album at number 32 in their list of the Top 50 Albums of 1991. Peter Hooton - lead vocals Keith Mullin - lead guitar Steve Grimes - rhythm guitar Carl Hunter - bass Howard Beesley - guitar Ben Leach - keyboards Roy Boulter - drums Paula David - backing vocals Pete Wylie - backing vocals Stan Cullimore - producer Paul Heaton - producer Suggs - producer, remixing Kevin Petri - engineer, remixing Terry Farley - remixing Pete Heller - remixing Mark Saunders - mixing Gary Wilkinson - engineer Noel Rafferty - engineer

Lithgow Osborne was an American career diplomat. Lithgow Osborne was the third son of Thomas Mott Osborne, he was the United States ambassador to Norway from 1944 to 1946. When Lithgow Osborne was in the middle of his senior year at Harvard University in 1914, Joseph C. Grew snapped him up for an assignment in the United States Embassy in Berlin as a private secretary to Ambassador James W. Gerard. Lithgow Osborne was plunged into the social life of World War I wartime Germany. Osborne was transferred to the American Legation in Havana before President Wilson broke U. S. relations with Germany. Because of his familiarity with European affairs he was soon returned to the Continent as Secretary of the American Legation in Copenhagen. After the first World War Osborne returned to Washington, D. C. where he worked within the State Department for a few years. In 1922 he became the editorial writer of the Auburn Citizen-Advertiser. In 1932 Osborne was back in government when Governor Herbert H. Lehman appointed him Commissioner of Conservation.

After another ten years he departed Albany for Washington and a desk in the Office of Strategic Services. On September 21, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Osborne as Ambassador to Norway, a post he held until May, 1946. On December 20 the same year Osborne presented his credentials as ambassador to King Haakon VII of Norway in London and served until April 20, 1946. After taking care of the relationship with Norwegian exiles in London during World War II, Osborne moved to Oslo after the liberation in May 1945, his main post war tasks were to re-establish the good relations between the United States and the lawful Government of Norway on Norwegian soil, to make the United States Embassy in Oslo work efficiently again as well as to unite the United States' aid to the rebuilding of Norway after the war. For several years after his return from Oslo, Lithgow Osborne was chairman of the board of trustees for the American Scandinavian Foundation. In 1954 he helped draft the original Declaration of Atlantic Unity, both a statement of purpose and an agency designed to bolster the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Abdelkarim Harouni is a Tunisian politician. He serves as the Minister of Transport under Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali. Abdelkarim Harouni was born on December 1960, in La Marsa, he was a founding member and twice Secretary General of the students' union Union Générale des Etudiants de Tunisie. He served as Secretary General of the Freedom and Justice Association. In 1990, he became the editor of the flagship publication of the Ennahda Movement, he was arrested in 1990, sentenced to prison in 1992. He was tortured and subjected to solitary confinement, he was released on November 7, 2007, but he still fell prey to the police's intimidation and harassment. On 20 December 2011, he joined the Jebali Cabinet as Minister of Transportation, he was a member of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia until he resigned in April 2012