1.
The Doors
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The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were unique and among the most controversial and influential acts of the 1960s, mostly because of Morrisons lyrics and charismatic. After Morrisons death in 1971 at age 27, the members continued as a trio until disbanding in 1973. Signing with Elektra Records in 1966, The Doors released eight albums between 1967 and 1971, All but one hit the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum or better. By the end of 1971, it was reported that The Doors had sold 4,190,457 albums domestically and 7,750,642 singles. The band had three million-selling singles in the U. S. with Light My Fire, Hello, I Love You, after Morrisons death in 1971, the surviving trio released two albums Other Voices and Full Circle with Manzarek and Krieger sharing lead vocals. The three members also collaborated on the spoken word recording of Morrisons An American Prayer in 1978, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore reunited in 2000 for an episode of VH1s Storytellers and subsequently recorded Stoned Immaculate, The Music of The Doors with a variety of vocalists. Although the Doors active career ended in 1973, their popularity has persisted, According to the RIAA, they have sold 33 million certified units in the US and over 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Doors have been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines, including Rolling Stone, the Doors were the first American band to accumulate eight consecutive gold and platinum LPs. In 2002, Manzarek and Krieger started playing again, branding themselves as the Doors of the 21st Century. Densmore opted to sit out and, along with the Morrison estate, sued the duo over proper use of the bands name and won. After a short time as Riders On the Storm, they settled on the name Manzarek-Krieger and continued to tour until Manzareks death in 2013 at the age of 74. Three of the studio albums, the self-titled debut, L. A. Woman, and Strange Days, were featured in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, at positions 42,362. According to The Washington Posts Martin Weil, the rose to the center of the counterculture of the 1960s. The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Morrison told Manzarek he had been writing songs and with Manzareks encouragement sang Moonlight Drive. The members came from a musical background of jazz, rock, blues. In August, Densmore joined the group, which had renamed the Doors. This has circulated widely since then as a bootleg recording, in mid-1965, after Manzareks two brothers left, the group recruited guitarist Robby Krieger and the best-known lineup – Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger and Densmore – was complete
2.
Rock and roll
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While elements of rock and roll can be heard in blues records from the 1920s and in country records of the 1930s, the genre did not acquire its name until the 1950s. For the purpose of differentiation, this deals with the first definition. The beat is essentially a blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars, a double bass or string bass or an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. Beyond simply a style, rock and roll, as seen in movies and on television, influenced lifestyles, fashion, attitudes. In addition, rock and roll may have contributed to the civil rights movement because both African-American and white American teens enjoyed the music and it went on to spawn various genres, often without the initially characteristic backbeat, that are now more commonly called simply rock music or rock. The term rock and roll now has at least two different meanings, both in common usage, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary both define rock and roll as synonymous with rock music. Encyclopædia Britannica, on the hand, regards it as the music that originated in the mid-1950s. In 1934, the song Rock and Roll by the Boswell Sisters appeared in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, in 1942, Billboard magazine columnist Maurie Orodenker started to use the term rock-and-roll to describe upbeat recordings such as Rock Me by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. By 1943, the Rock and Roll Inn in South Merchantville, in 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing this music style while popularizing the phrase to describe it. The origins of rock and roll have been debated by commentators. The migration of former slaves and their descendants to major urban centers such as St. The immediate roots of rock and roll lay in the rhythm and blues, then called race music, particularly significant influences were jazz, blues, gospel, country, and folk. The 1940s saw the use of blaring horns, shouted lyrics. In the same period, particularly on the West Coast and in the Midwest, similarly, country boogie and Chicago electric blues supplied many of the elements that would be seen as characteristic of rock and roll. Rock and roll arrived at a time of technological change, soon after the development of the electric guitar, amplifier and microphone. It was the realization that relatively affluent white teenagers were listening to music that led to the development of what was to be defined as rock. Because the development of rock and roll was a process, no single record can be identified as unambiguously the first rock. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
3.
West Hollywood, California
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West Hollywood, occasionally referred to locally as WeHo, is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip, as of the 2010 census, its population was 34,399. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages in the United States, the citys irregular boundary is featured in its logo, it was largely formed from the unincorporated Los Angeles County area that had not become part of the surrounding cities. West Hollywood benefits from a dense, compact urban form with small lots, mixed land use. According to Walkscore, a website that ranks cities based on walkability, commercial corridors include the nightlife and dining focused on the Sunset Strip, along Santa Monica Boulevard, and the Avenues of Art & Design along Robertson, Melrose, and Beverly Boulevard. Major intersecting streets typically provide amenities within walking distance of adjacent neighborhoods, West Hollywood has a Subtropical-semi-arid climate with year-round warm weather. The record high temperature of 111 °F was recorded September 26,1963, snow is rare in West Hollywood, with the last accumulation occurring in 1949. Rainfall is sparse, and falls mainly during winter months, around 5,000 of the indigenous inhabitants from the Tongva Indian tribe canoed out to greet Juan Cabrillo. The Tongva tribe was a nation of hunter-gatherers known for their reverence of dance, by 1771, these native people had been severely ravaged by diseases brought in by the Europeans from across wide oceans. The Spanish mission system changed the name to Gabrielinos, in reference to the Mission de San Gabriel. The Gabrielinos are believed to have burned the pitch for fuel, by 1780, what became the Sunset Strip was the major connecting road for El Pueblo de Los Angeles, and all ranches westward to the Pacific Ocean. This land passed through the hands of owners during the next one hundred years. Most of this area was part of the Rancho La Brea, Sherman became the location of the railroads main shops, railroad yards, and car barns. Many working-class employees of the railroad settled in this town and it was during this time that the city began to earn its reputation as a loosely regulated, liquor-friendly place for eccentric people wary of government interference. Despite several annexation attempts, the town elected not to part of the City of Los Angeles. For many years, the area that is now the city of West Hollywood was an area in the midst of Los Angeles. Because gambling was illegal in the city of Los Angeles, but still legal in Los Angeles County and these businesses were immune from the sometimes heavy-handed law-enforcement of the L. A. Some people connected with movie-making were attracted to this area of the County
4.
MTV
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MTV is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks and headquartered in New York City. Launched on August 1,1981, the originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as video jockeys. In its early years, MTVs main target demographic was young adults and it has received criticism towards this change of focus, both by certain segments of its audience and musicians. MTVs influence on its audience, including issues involving censorship and social activism, has also been a subject of debate for several years, in recent years, MTV had struggled with the secular decline of music-related cable media. In April 2016, MTV announced it would start to return to its original music roots with the reintroduction of the classic MTV series MTV Unplugged. It was also reported that the series MTV Cribs would be making a return on Snapchat, MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the US and affiliated channels internationally, some of which have gone independent. As of July 2015, approximately 92,188,000 US households have received MTV, several earlier concepts for music video-based television programming had been around since the early 1960s. The Beatles had used music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s, CBS rejected the idea, but Williams premiered his own musical composition Classical Gas on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, where he was head writer. The series featured clips from various popular artists, but was canceled by its distributor in 1971. The channel, which featured video disc jockeys, signed a deal with US Cable in 1978 to expand its audience from retail to cable television, the service was no longer active by the time MTV launched in 1981. The QUBE system offered many specialized channels, One of these specialized channels was Sight on Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music-oriented television programs. With the interactive QUBE service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs, the original programming format of MTV was created by media executive Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer of MTV Networks. Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, the inspiration for PopClips came from a similar program on New Zealands TVNZ network named Radio with Pictures, which premiered in 1976. The concept itself had been in the works since 1966, when record companies began supplying the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation with promotional music clips to play on the air at no charge. Few artists made the trip to New Zealand to appear live. A shortened version of the shuttle launch ID ran at the top of hour in various forms. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star and this was followed by the video for Pat Benatars You Better Run. Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR, MTVs lower third graphics that appeared near the beginning and end of music videos would eventually use the recognizable Kabel typeface for about 25 years
5.
Yellow
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Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of visible light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength of roughly 570–590 nm, in traditional color theory, used in painting, and in the subtractive color system, used in color printing, yellow is a primary color. In the RGB color model, used to create colors on television and computer screens, yellow is made by combining red, the word yellow comes from the Old English geolu, geolwe, meaning yellow, yellowish, derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz yellow. It has the same Indo-European base, gʰel-, as the gold and yell. In Iran it has connotations of pallor/sickness, but also wisdom and it plays an important role in Asian culture, particularly in China, where it is seen as the color of happiness, glory, wisdom, harmony, and culture. The word yellow comes from the Old English geolu, geolwe, meaning yellow, yellowish and it has the same Indo-European base, gʰel-, as the words gold and yell, gʰel- means both bright and gleaming, and to cry out. The English term is related to other Germanic words for yellow, namely Scots yella, East Frisian jeel, West Frisian giel, Dutch geel, German gelb, and Swedish and Norwegian gul. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest known use of word in English is from The Epinal Glossary in 700. Yellow, in the form of yellow pigment made from clay, was one of the first colors used in prehistoric cave art. The cave of Lascaux has an image of a horse colored with yellow estimated to be 17,300 years old, in Ancient Egypt, yellow was associated with gold, which was considered to be imperishable, eternal and indestructible. The skin and bones of the gods were believed to be made of gold, the Egyptians used yellow extensively in tomb paintings, they usually used either yellow ochre or the brilliant orpiment, though it was made of arsenic and was highly toxic. A small paintbox with orpiment pigment was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, men were always shown with brown faces, women with yellow ochre or gold faces. The ancient Romans used yellow in their paintings to represent gold and it is found frequently in the murals of Pompeii. During the Post-Classical period, yellow became firmly established as the color of Judas Iscariot, from this connection, yellow also took on associations with envy, jealousy and duplicity. The tradition started in the Renaissance of marking non-Christian outsiders, such as Jews, in 16th century Spain, those accused of heresy and who refused to renounce their views were compelled to come before the Spanish Inquisition dressed in a yellow cape. The color yellow has been associated with moneylenders and finance. The National Pawnbrokers Associations logo depicts three golden spheres hanging from a bar, referencing the three bags of gold that the saint of pawnbroking, St. Nicholas, holds in his hands. Additionally, the symbol of three golden orbs is found in the coat of arms of the House of Medici, a fifteenth century Italian dynasty of bankers and lenders
6.
Paper
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Paper is a thin material produced by pressing together moist fibres of cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets. It is a material with many uses, including writing, printing, packaging, cleaning. The modern pulp and paper industry is global, with China leading its production, the oldest known archaeological fragments of the immediate precursor to modern paper, date to the 2nd century BC in China. The pulp papermaking process is ascribed to Cai Lun, a 2nd-century AD Han court eunuch, with paper as an effective substitute for silk in many applications, China could export silk in greater quantity, contributing to a Golden Age. Because of papers introduction to the West through the city of Baghdad, in the 19th century, industrial manufacture greatly lowered its cost, enabling mass exchange of information and contributing to significant cultural shifts. In 1844, the Canadian inventor Charles Fenerty and the German F. G. Keller independently developed processes for pulping wood fibres, before the industrialisation of the paper production the most common fibre source was recycled fibres from used textiles, called rags. The rags were from hemp, linen and cotton, a process for removing printing inks from recycled paper was invented by German jurist Justus Claproth in 1774. Today this method is called deinking and it was not until the introduction of wood pulp in 1843 that paper production was not dependent on recycled materials from ragpickers. The word paper is etymologically derived from Latin papyrus, which comes from the Greek πάπυρος, although the word paper is etymologically derived from papyrus, the two are produced very differently and the development of the first is distinct from the development of the second. Papyrus is a lamination of natural plant fibres, while paper is manufactured from fibres whose properties have changed by maceration. To make pulp from wood, a chemical pulping process separates lignin from cellulose fibres and this is accomplished by dissolving lignin in a cooking liquor, so that it may be washed from the cellulose, this preserves the length of the cellulose fibres. Paper made from chemical pulps are also known as wood-free papers–not to be confused with paper, this is because they do not contain lignin. The pulp can also be bleached to produce paper, but this consumes 5% of the fibres, chemical pulping processes are not used to make paper made from cotton. There are three main chemical pulping processes, the process dates back to the 1840s and it was the dominant method extent before the second world war. Most pulping operations using the process are net contributors to the electricity grid or use the electricity to run an adjacent paper mill. Another advantage is that this process recovers and reuses all inorganic chemical reagents, soda pulping is another specialty process used to pulp straws, bagasse and hardwoods with high silicate content. There are two major mechanical pulps, thermomechanical pulp and groundwood pulp, in the TMP process, wood is chipped and then fed into steam heated refiners, where the chips are squeezed and converted to fibres between two steel discs. In the groundwood process, debarked logs are fed into grinders where they are pressed against rotating stones to be made into fibres
7.
Auction
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An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then buying the item to the highest bidder. The open ascending price auction is arguably the most common form of auction in use today, participants bid openly against one another, with each subsequent bid required to be higher than the previous bid. An auctioneer may announce prices, bidders may call out their bids themselves, in economic theory, an auction may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange. The word auction is derived from the Latin augeō which means I increase or I augment, for most of history, auctions have been a relatively uncommon way to negotiate the exchange of goods and commodities. In practice, both haggling and sale by set-price have been more common. Indeed, before the century the few auctions that were held were sporadic. Nonetheless, auctions have a history, having been recorded as early as 500 B. C. According to Herodotus, in Babylon auctions of women for marriage were held annually, the auctions began with the woman the auctioneer considered to be the most beautiful and progressed to the least. It was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside of the auction method, during the Roman Empire, following military victory, Roman soldiers would often drive a spear into the ground around which the spoils of war were left, to be auctioned off. Later slaves, often captured as the spoils of war, were auctioned in the forum under the sign of the spear, the Romans also used auctions to liquidate the assets of debtors whose property had been confiscated. For example, Marcus Aurelius sold household furniture to pay off debts, One of the most significant historical auctions occurred in the year 193 A. D. when the entire Roman Empire was put on the auction block by the Praetorian Guard. On March 23 The Praetorian Guard first killed emperor Pertinax, then offered the empire to the highest bidder, didius Julianus outbid everyone else for the price of 6,250 drachmas per guard, an act that initiated a brief civil war. Didius was then beheaded two months later when Septimius Severus conquered Rome, from the end of the Roman Empire to the eighteenth century auctions lost favor in Europe, while they had never been widespread in Asia. In some parts of England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries auction by candle began to be used for the sale of goods and leaseholds, sometimes, other unpredictable processes, such as a footrace, were used in place of the expiration of a candle. This type of auction was first mentioned in 1641 in the records of the House of Lords, the practice rapidly became popular, and in 1660 Samuel Pepyss diary recorded two occasions when the Admiralty sold surplus ships by an inch of candle. The London Gazette began reporting on the auctioning of artwork at the coffeehouses, the first known auction house in the world was Stockholm Auction House, Sweden, founded by Baron Claes Rålamb in 1674. Other early auction houses that are still in operation include Dorotheum, Mallams, Bonhams, Phillips de Pury & Company, Freemans, by the end of the 18th century, auctions of art works were commonly held in taverns and coffeehouses. These auctions were held daily, and auction catalogs were printed to announce available items, in some cases these catalogs were elaborate works of art themselves, containing considerable detail about the items being auctioned
8.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
9.
Rhodes piano
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The Rhodes piano is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became particularly popular throughout the 1970s. The instrument evolved from Rhodes attempt to manufacture pianos to teach recovering soldiers during World War II under a strict budget, Fender started marketing the Piano Bass, a cut-down version of the piano, but the full-size instrument did not appear until after the sale to CBS in 1965. CBS oversaw mass production of the Rhodes piano in the 1970s, and it was used extensively through the decade, particularly in jazz, pop, the company was eventually sold to Roland, who manufactured digital versions of the Rhodes without authorization or approval from its inventor. In the 1990s, the instrument enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, although Harold Rhodes died in 2000, the instrument has since been reissued, and his teaching methods are still receiving active use. The Rhodes piano features a keyboard with a layout to a traditional acoustic piano. The touch and action of the keyboard is designed to be as close to a piano as possible, pressing a key results in a hammer striking a thin metal rod called a tine, connected to a larger tone bar. The whole tone generator assembly acts as a fork, the tone bar reinforcing and extending the vibrations of the tine. A pickup sits opposite the tine, picking up its vibrations, the Suitcase model Rhodes includes a built-in power amplifier and a tremolo feature that bounces the output signal from the piano in stereo across two speakers. This feature is mistakenly labeled vibrato on some models to be consistent with the labelling on Fender amplifiers, although the Rhodes has the same mechanical operation as a piano, its sound is very different. The sound produced by the tines has a mellow timbre. Putting the two close together gives a bell sound. The instruments sound has been compared with the Wurlitzer electric piano, which uses a similar technology. The Rhodes has a sustain, while the Wurlitzer produces significant harmonics when the keys are played hard. Rhodes started teaching piano when he was 19 and he dropped out of studying at the University of Southern California in 1929 to support his family through the Great Depression by full-time teaching. As a teacher, he designed a method that combined classical and jazz music, which became popular across the United States, Rhodes continued to teach the piano through his lifetime, and the piano method continues to be taught today by a team led by Joseph Brandsetter. By 1942, Rhodes was working for the Army Air Corps and he was unable to supply enough acoustic pianos, so decided to develop a miniature electric model that could be made from surplus army parts. Rhodes won a award for his piano design and subsequently put the model into production for piano teachers during the 1950s. These were retrospectively known as the Pre-Piano, in 1959, Rhodes entered a joint venture with Leo Fender to manufacture the instruments
10.
Billy Idol
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William Michael Albert Broad, known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. Idol began his career in late 1976 as a guitarist in the rock band Chelsea. However, he left the group and along with his bandmate Tony James formed Generation X with Idol being the lead singer. The band achieved success in the United Kingdom and released three albums on Chrysalis Records before disbanding, in 1981, Idol moved to New York City to pursue his solo career in collaboration with guitarist Steve Stevens. His debut studio album Billy Idol was a success and with music videos for singles Dancing with Myself. His second studio album Rebel Yell was a commercial success with hit singles Rebel Yell. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipment of two million copies across the United States. He followed with a number of albums, including Whiplash Smile, Charmed Life. Idol spent the second half of the 1990s out of the eye focusing on his personal life. He made a comeback with the release of Devils Playground. Idol was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, the name Billy Idol was inspired by a school teachers description of him as idle. In an interview on 21 November 1983, Idol said the name was a bit of a goof and it was a double thing not just a poke at the superstar-like people. In another interview for BBC Breakfast in October 2014, he said that he wanted to be Billy Idle but thought he could not because of Monty Python star Eric Idle, in 1958, when Idol was two years old, his parents moved to Patchogue, New York. The family returned to England four years later with Idol and his sister, Jane, settling in Dorking. In 1971, the moved to Bromley, London, where Idol attended Ravensbourne School for Boys. Idol also attended Worthing High School for Boys in Worthing, West Sussex, in October 1975, Idol went to Sussex University to pursue an English degree and lived on campus but left after year one in 1976. He then went on to join the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first joined Chelsea in 1976 as a guitarist. However, he and Chelsea bandmate Tony James soon left that group and co-founded Generation X, Generation X was one of the first punk bands to appear on the BBC Television music programme Top of the Pops
11.
"Weird Al" Yankovic
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Alfred Matthew Weird Al Yankovic is an American singer, songwriter, parodist, record producer, satirist, actor, voice actor, music video director, film producer, and author. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he has more than 12 million albums, recorded more than 150 parody and original songs. His works have earned him four Grammy Awards and a further 11 nominations, four gold records, Weird Als first top ten Billboard album and single were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career. His latest album, Mandatory Fun, became his first number-one album during its debut week and he directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, The Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. Weird Al has stated that he may forgo traditional albums in favor of timely releases of singles, in addition to recording his albums, Weird Al wrote and starred in the film UHF and The Weird Al Show. He has also made guest appearances and voice acting roles on television shows and video web content. He has also written two books, When I Grow Up and My New Teacher and Me. Yankovic was born in Downey, California and raised in Lynwood. He is the child of Mary Elizabeth and Nick Yankovic. Mary, who was of Italian and English descent, had come to California from Kentucky, Als first accordion lesson, which sparked his career in music, was on the day before his sixth birthday. A door-to-door salesman traveling through Lynwood offered the Yankovic parents a choice of accordion or guitar lessons at a music school. Yankovic said that parents chose the accordion because they were convinced it would revolutionize rock and he continued lessons at the school for three years before continuing to learn on his own. Yankovics early accordion role models included Frankie Yankovic and Myron Floren, in the 1970s, Yankovic was a big fan of Elton John and claims Johns Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album was partly how I learned to play rock n roll on the accordion. Other sources of inspiration for his comedy come from Mad magazine, Monty Python, Yankovic began kindergarten a year earlier than most children, and he skipped second grade. My classmates seemed to think I was some kind of rocket scientist so I was labeled an early on. As his unusual schooling left him two years younger than most of his classmates, Yankovic was not interested in sports or social events at school and we started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook. Weird Al graduated in 1975 and was valedictorian of his senior class, Yankovic attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo where he earned a bachelors degree in architecture. Yankovic received his first exposure via southern California and syndicated radio personality Dr. Dementos radio show, saying If there hadnt been a Dr. Demento. The tapes first song, Belvedere Cruisin - about his familys Plymouth Belvedere - was played on Dementos comedy radio show, launching Yankovics career
12.
BBC
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The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, the BBC is the worlds oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total,16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting, the total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed contract staff are included. The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBCs radio, TV, britains first live public broadcast from the Marconi factory in Chelmsford took place in June 1920. It was sponsored by the Daily Mails Lord Northcliffe and featured the famous Australian Soprano Dame Nellie Melba, the Melba broadcast caught the peoples imagination and marked a turning point in the British publics attitude to radio. However, this public enthusiasm was not shared in official circles where such broadcasts were held to interfere with important military and civil communications. By late 1920, pressure from these quarters and uneasiness among the staff of the licensing authority, the General Post Office, was sufficient to lead to a ban on further Chelmsford broadcasts. But by 1922, the GPO had received nearly 100 broadcast licence requests, John Reith, a Scottish Calvinist, was appointed its General Manager in December 1922 a few weeks after the company made its first official broadcast. The company was to be financed by a royalty on the sale of BBC wireless receiving sets from approved manufacturers, to this day, the BBC aims to follow the Reithian directive to inform, educate and entertain. The financial arrangements soon proved inadequate, set sales were disappointing as amateurs made their own receivers and listeners bought rival unlicensed sets. By mid-1923, discussions between the GPO and the BBC had become deadlocked and the Postmaster-General commissioned a review of broadcasting by the Sykes Committee and this was to be followed by a simple 10 shillings licence fee with no royalty once the wireless manufactures protection expired. The BBCs broadcasting monopoly was made explicit for the duration of its current broadcast licence, the BBC was also banned from presenting news bulletins before 19.00, and required to source all news from external wire services. Mid-1925 found the future of broadcasting under further consideration, this time by the Crawford committee, by now the BBC under Reiths leadership had forged a consensus favouring a continuation of the unified broadcasting service, but more money was still required to finance rapid expansion. Wireless manufacturers were anxious to exit the loss making consortium with Reith keen that the BBC be seen as a service rather than a commercial enterprise. The recommendations of the Crawford Committee were published in March the following year and were still under consideration by the GPO when the 1926 general strike broke out in May. The strike temporarily interrupted newspaper production and with restrictions on news bulletins waived the BBC suddenly became the source of news for the duration of the crisis. The crisis placed the BBC in a delicate position, the Government was divided on how to handle the BBC but ended up trusting Reith, whose opposition to the strike mirrored the PMs own
