Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif, born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and dead on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was an Arab Sultan of Morocco from 1672–1727, as the second ruler of the Alaouite dynasty. He was the seventh son of Moulay Sharif and was governor of the Kingdom of Fez and the north of Morocco from 1667 until the death of his half-brother, Sultan Moulay Rashid in 1672, he was proclaimed sultan at Fez, but spent several years in conflict with his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, who claimed the throne, until the latter's death in 1687. Moulay Ismail's 55-year reign is the longest of any sultan of Morocco; the reign of Moulay Ismail marked a high watermark for Moroccan power. His military successes are explained by the creation of a strong army relying on the'Guichs' and on the Black Guard, black slaves who were devoted to him; as a result, the central power could be less reliant on tribes that rebelled. Moulay Ismail campaigned against the Ottomans in Algiers and their vassals and expelled the Europeans from the ports they had occupied: Larache, Asilah and Tangiers.

He nearly took Ceuta. Ismail controlled a fleet of corsairs based at Salé-le-Vieux and Salé-le-Neuf, which supplied him with Christian slaves and weapons through their raids in the Mediterranean and all the way to the Black Sea, he established significant diplomatic relations with foreign powers the Kingdom of France, Great Britain, Spain. Compared to his contemporary, Louis XIV, due to his charisma and authority, Moulay Ismail was nicknamed the'bloody king' by the Europeans due to his cruelty and exaction of summary justice, he is known in his native country as the "Warrior King". He undertook the construction of a grand palace at Meknes, monumental gates, more than forty kilometres of walls and numerous mosques, he died following a sickness. After his death, his supporters became so powerful that they controlled the country and dethroning the sultans at will. Born in 1645 at Sijilmassa, Moulay Ismail ben Sharif was the son of Sharif ibn Ali, prince of Tafilalt and first sovereign of the Alaouite dynasty.

His mother was a black slave. He claimed descent from Hassan ad-Dakhil, a 21st generation descendant of Muhammad, from Az-Zakiya, a 17th generation descendant of Muhammad who had installed himself at Sijilmassa in 1266. After the death of the Saadi Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, Morocco entered a period of unrest, during which his sons fought with one another for the throne, while the country was parcelled up by the different military leaders and religious authorities. From the beginning of the reign of Zidan Abu Maali in 1613, the Saadi sultanate was weak; the Zaouia of Dila controlled central Morocco, the Zaouia of Illigh established its influence from Souss to the Draa River, the marabout Sidi al-Ayachi took possession of the northwestern plains, the Atlantic coast as far as Taza, the Republic of Salé became an independent state at the mouth of the Bou Regreg, the city of Tétouan became a city-state under the control of the Naqsis family. At Tafilalt, the Alouites were appointed by the local people in order to check the influence of the Zaouias of Illigh and Dila.

They were an independent emirate from 1631. Three rulers preceded Ismail ben Sharif: his father, Moulay Sharif his two half-brothers; as the first sovereign of the Alaouite dynasty from 1631, Moulay Sharif succeeded in keeping Tafilalt outside the authority of the Zaouia of Dila. He abdicated in 1636 and his eldest son, Moulay Muhammad ibn Sharif succeeded him. Under the latter's reign, the Alaouite realm expanded into the north of the country, to Tafna and the Draa river, his half-brother, Moulay Rashid rebelled against him and managed to kill him on 3 August 1664, in a battle on the plain of Angad. Moulay Ismail was rewarded by being appointed governor of Meknes. There, Ismail devoted himself to the region's agriculture and commerce, in order to increase his wealth, while Moulay Rashid reigned as Emir of Tafilalt and as Sultan of Morocco after his conquest of Fez on 27 May 1664. Rashid further entrusted Ismail with military control of the North of Morocco and made him feudatory caliph and vice-roy of Fez in 1667, while he fought in the south of Morocco.

Rashid conquered the Zaouia of Dila in 1668 and took two years to overcome rebels at Marrakesh before he broke into the city in 1669. On 6 April 1670, Ismail celebrated his first marriage in the presence of his brother Rashid. On 25 July, he put to death sixty brigands from Oulad Djama, by crucifying them on the wall of the Borj el-Jadid in Fez. While Rashid continued his campaigns against the independent tribes of the High Atlas, he was killed on 9 April 1672 at Marrakesh, after falling off his horse. On 13 April, after he had learnt of Rashid's death, Moulay Ismail rushed to Fez, where he took possession of his brother's treasury and proclaimed himself Sultan of Morocco on 14 April 1672, at the age of twenty-six; this proclamation occurred around 2pm and a grand ceremony followed. The whole population of Fez, including the nobles and sharifs swore to be loyal to the new sovereign, as did the tribes and cities of the kingdom of Fez, who sent embassies and presents to him. Only Marrakesh and the region around it did not send an embassy.

Ismail fixed his capital on account of the water supply and climate of the town. After seizing power, Moulay Ismail faced several rebellions: most significant was the revolt of his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, son of Moulay Murad Mehrez the rebellions of his brothers, including Harran ibn Sharif, who assumed the title of King of T

Riccardo Piatti is an Italian tennis coach. He has coached several players ranked within the top 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, including Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubičić, Richard Gasquet, Milos Raonic. Piatti began playing tennis at the age of nine at the tennis club of Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, Italy; the idea of becoming a tennis coach first occurred to him around age 20 when the head coach of the Villa d'Este tennis club became injured, Piatti was asked to replace him. He spent formative years learning to coach at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, in Bradenton, Florida. Piatti began as a private coach for professional players in 1988. Among the early players he coached are Renzo Furlan, Cristiano Caratti, Omar Camporese, he began working with Ivan Ljubičić in June 1997. This relationship lasted until the end of Ljubičić's professional playing career in 2012. Ljubičić achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 3 while working with Piatti. From fall 2005 until June 2006, he coached Novak Djokovic at age 17 and 18.

Djokovic parted ways due to Piatti's refusal to work full-time with him. In 2011, Piatti claimed that he knew that Djokovic "could become number one in the world at the level of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer because Novak always worked hard as a kid, with the family, he was focused and determined to be world number one."In February 2011, while still coaching world No. 14 Ljubičić, Piatti began to co-coach Richard Gasquet, ranked No. 31 in the world. With Piatti, Gasquet improved to a high ranking of world No. 9, short of his career high No. 7. Piatti ended the relationship abruptly in November 2013 during the season-ending 2013 ATP World Tour Finals. On December 1, 2013, he began working with Milos Raonic, co-coaching with former student Ivan Ljubičić. At that time, Raonic held an ATP world ranking of No. 11. With Piatti, his ranking rose to a career-high of No. 3. Five times Grand Slam champion, Maria Sharapova started working with Piatti in 2019 and they announced on November 8th that they would work together for 2020.

Piatti is involved with tennis schools, club teams, summer's clinics on Elba, Italy. Riccardo Piatti on Twitter

The Great Bed of Ware is an large oak four poster bed, carved with marquetry, housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware, England. Built by Hertfordshire carpenter Jonas Fosbrooke about 1590, the bed measures 3.38m long and 3.26m wide and can'reputedly... accommodate at least four couples'. Many of those who have used the bed have carved their names into its posts. Like many objects from that time, the bed is carved with patterns derived from European Renaissance ornament, it would have been brightly painted, traces of these colours can still be seen on the figures on the bed-head. The design of the marquetry panels is derived from the work of Dutch artist Hans Vredeman de Vries and the panels were made by English craftsmen working in London in the late Elizabethan period; the bed-hangings are modern re-creations of fabrics of the period. By the 19th century, the bed had been moved from the White Hart Inn to the Saracen's Head, another Ware inn. In 1870, William Henry Teale, the owner of the Rye House, acquired the bed and put it to use in a pleasure garden.

When interest in the garden waned in the 1920s, the bed was sold. In 1931, it was acquired by the Albert Museum in London. From April 2012, the bed was exhibited for a year in Ware Museum, on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum. William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Ben Jonson's Epicoene, or the Silent Woman George Gordon Byron's Don Juan George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer Djuna Barnes's Nightwood Loretta Chase's Last Night's Scandal Sarah MacLean's No Good Duke Goes Unpunished Deanna Raybourn's "Silent on the Moor" Charles Dickens' The Holly Tree Jackson, Anna. V&A: A Hundred Highlights. V&A Publications. CS1 maint: extra text: authors list Images of the Great Bed of Ware are available on the V&A website "The Great Bed of Ware". British Galleries. Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 2009-03-21. Retrieved 2008-08-06; the Great Bed in Ware BBC Article about the Bed's move to Ware for a year