Larry Joe Bird is an American former professional basketball player, former coach, former executive who most served as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association. Nicknamed "The Hick from French Lick", Bird is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Bird started at small forward and power forward for the Celtics for 13 seasons. Bird was a 12-time NBA All-Star and received the NBA Most Valuable Player Award three consecutive times, he played his entire professional career for Boston, winning three NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards. Bird was a member of the gold-medal-winning 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team known as "The Dream Team", he was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998, was inducted into the Hall of Fame again in 2010 as a member of "The Dream Team".

After retiring as a player, Bird served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. He was named NBA Coach of the Year for the 1997-1998 season and led the Pacers to a berth in the 2000 NBA Finals. In 2003, Bird was named President of Basketball Operations for the Pacers, holding the position until retiring in 2012, he was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2012 season. Bird returned to the Pacers as President of Basketball Operations in 2013 and remained in that role until 2017; as of 2020, Bird is the only person in NBA history to be named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, NBA Finals MVP, All-Star MVP, Coach of the Year, Executive of the Year. Bird was born in West Baden Springs, Indiana, to Georgia and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird, a veteran of the Korean War, he has a sister. He was raised in nearby French Lick, where his mother worked two jobs to support Larry and his five siblings. Bird has said that being poor as a child still motivates him "to this day". Georgia and Joe divorced when Larry was in high school, Joe committed suicide about a year later.

Larry used basketball as an escape from his family troubles, starring for Springs Valley High School and averaging 31 points, 21 rebounds, 4 assists as a senior on his way to becoming the school's all-time scoring leader. Bird's brother, Eddie Bird, played basketball at Indiana State University. Bird received a scholarship to play college basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers in 1974. After less than a month on campus he dropped out of school, finding the adjustment between his small hometown and the large student population of Bloomington to be overwhelming, he returned to French Lick, enrolling at Northwood Institute in nearby West Baden, working municipal jobs for a year before enrolling at Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1975. He had a successful three-year career with the Sycamores, helping them reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 33-0 record where they played the 1979 championship game against Michigan State. Indiana State lost the game 75 -- 64, with Bird scoring 19 points.

The game achieved the highest television rating for a college basketball game, in large part because of the matchup between Bird and Spartans' point guard Earvin "Magic" Johnson, a rivalry that lasted throughout their professional careers. Despite failing to win the championship, Bird earned numerous year-end awards and honors for his outstanding play, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award. For his college career, he averaged 30.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists per game, leading the Sycamores to an 81–13 record during his tenure. Bird appeared in one game for the baseball team, going 1-for-2 with 2 RBI, he graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education. Bird was selected by the Boston Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, he did not sign with the Celtics immediately. Red Auerbach publicly stated that he would not pay Bird more than any Celtic on the current roster, but Bird's agent bluntly told Red that Bird would reject any sub-market offers and enter the 1979 NBA Draft instead, where Boston's rights would expire the second the draft began and Bird would have been the top pick.

After protracted negotiations, Bird inked a five-year, $3.25 million contract with the team, making him the highest paid rookie in league history at the time. Shortly afterwards, NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign, a rule known as the Bird Collegiate Rule. In his rookie season, Bird transformed the Celtics into a title contender; the team improved its win total by 32 games from the year before he was drafted and finished first in the Eastern Conference. In his career debut, Bird recorded 14 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a 114-106 win over the Houston Rockets. On November 14, 1979, Bird recorded his first career triple-double having recorded 23 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists in a 115–111 win over the Detroit Pistons. On November 23, Bird recorded his first 30-point scoring game after he scored 30 points to go along with 11 rebounds and 3 assists in a 118-103 win over the Indiana Pacers. With averages of 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.7 steals per game for the season, he was selected to the All-Star Team and named Rookie of the Year.

In the Conference Finals, Boston was eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers. Before the 1980–81 season, the Celtics selected forward Kevin McHale in

Swanston is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland at the base of Caerketton Hill. In 2001 it had a population of only 75 residents, it is a small village lying to the south of the larger suburban area of Fairmilehead, on the south side of the Edinburgh City Bypass off Oxgangs Road, five miles from the city centre. The name is used to encompass some of the more modern housing on the approach road to the village, on the north side of the bypass. Swanston lies on the lower northern slopes of the Pentland Hills, which are accessible from the village; the main old village is unique in Edinburgh being a picturesque group of whitewashed thatched cottages set informally around a little stream with traffic being encouraged to stop outwith the village. The village is therefore set beyond a dead-end in terms of adopted roads but a historic route continues through the village and up into the Pentland Hills; the thatched houses were all Council houses until the 1970s but due to their idyllic nature and siting all were bought up when the Right to Buy legislation was introduced.

The Hillend dry ski slope can be seen from much of the area. Swanston houses two golf courses in the area: Lothianburn Golf Course and Swanston Golf Course. Both are placed around the Pentland Hills; the area was the source of Edinburgh's water supply from early times. Swanston Cottage was built in 1761 in connection with the waterworks, it was raised in height to two storeys in 1820. In 1790 the original hollowed out tree trunk pipes, which served the city, were replaced with iron pipes; the early cisterns serving the city still exist in the fields to the east of the village. Swanston Water House lies between Swanston Cottage; the name "Swanston" is said to derive from Old Norse Sveins tún, meaning'Sveinn's enclosure/farm'. It first appears in a document in 1214. There is some evidence; the name Swanston appears in 14th century charters granted in the reign of David II. It is listed as part of land owned by the Knights Templar; this same connection reappears in a document in the reign of James VI, when it is entitled Swain'ston.

Both Sven and Swain are early words for a person. The name of Caerketton Hill seems to be from Cumbric carn'cairn' and the personal name Catell, thus meaning'cairn of Catell', it may alternatively be from caer, meaning'fortification of Catell'. Both a prehistoric fort and cairn surmount the hill; the area was traditionally seen as two farm estates: Easter Swanston owned by the Ross family. The two were united in 1749 when the Trotters of Mortonhall acquired Easter Swanston; the Trotter family planted the T-Wood to the south of the village. This is cruciform in plan, but due to local topography appears as a T from the four compass points, it memorialises a family member lost in battle. Robert Louis Stevenson spent several summers here in the 1870s, as a result of his father taking out a lease for Swanston Cottage from 1867 to 1880. Stevenson set his novel St. Ives in this village, it is alleged that Stevenson wrote Treasure Island under a tree within metres of his cottage. However, since his authorship of the novel post-dates his final year in Swanston, this is not possible.

Stevenson's nanny "Cummy" lived in the small house on the left hand side of the lane leading to Swanston Cottage, from 1880 to 1893

The 34th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1963 general election on 30 November of that year; the 1963 general election was held on 30 November. A total of 80 MPs were elected. 1,345,836 voters were enrolled and the official turnout at the election was 89.6%. The 34th Parliament sat for three sessions, was prorogued on 21 October 1966; the National Party had come to power at the 1960 election, Keith Holyoake had formed the second Holyoake Ministry on 12 December 1960, which stayed in power until Holyoake stepped down in early 1972. The second National Government remained in place until its defeat at the 1972 election towards the end of that year; the table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1963 election and at dissolution: Notes The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all other parties. The table below shows the results of the 1963 general election: Key National Labour Social Credit The 34th Parliament was the first term of parliament during which there were no by-elections held.

SourcesGustafson, Barry. The First 50 Years: A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6. Norton, Clifford. New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8. Wilson, James Oakley. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984. Wellington: V. R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103