1.
Surreal humour
–
Surreal humour is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Constructions of surreal humour tend to involve bizarre juxtapositions, non-sequiturs, the humour arises from a subversion of audiences expectations, so that amusement is founded on unpredictability, separate from a logical analysis of the situation. The humour derived gets its appeal from the fact that the situation described is so ridiculous or unlikely, the genre has roots in Surrealism in the arts. People speak of surreal humour when illogic and absurdity are used for humorous effect, many of Edward Lears children stories and poems contain nonsense and are basically surreal in approach. Besides that, it was bordered by evanescent isthmuses with a great Gulf-stream running about all over it, so that it was perfectly beautiful, and contained only a single tree,503 feet high. In the early 20th century, several movements, including the dadaists, surrealists. The goals of these movements were in some serious, and they were committed to undermining the solemnity. As a result, much of their art was intentionally amusing, a famous example is Marcel Duchamps Fountain, an inverted urinal signed R. Mutt. This became one of the most famous and influential pieces of art in history and it is also a joke, relying on the inversion of the items function as expressed by its title as well as its incongruous presence in an art exhibition. The word surreal first began to be used to describe a type of aesthetic of the early 1920s, surreal humour is also found frequently in avant-garde theatre such as Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. In the United States, S. J. Perelman has been identified as the first surrealist humour writer, artists like Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Donald Barthelme, Italo Calvino, John Hodgman, and many others have relied on this technique in their work. Surrealist humour has played an important role in culture, especially since The Goon Show, Ernie Kovacs. Spike Milligan has been an influence with his absurdist pieces. One of his earliest works in radio, The Goon Show, has inspired many other absurdist comedians and was popular at the time. Spike Milligan went on to create a TV show in 1969, in turn, the Pythons influenced many with their groundbreaking series Monty Pythons Flying Circus. In the 1980s, when the alternative comedy era had begun, absurdist comedians were working the circuit, with the success of The Comic Strip Presents. Featuring as one of the first aired pieces for Channel 4 and this was a very absurdist sitcom based on four university students. Both Monty Python and The Young Ones featured a structure and many absurdities
2.
Black comedy
–
Black comedy or dark comedy is a comic style that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo. Literary critics have associated black comedy and black humor with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes, Black comedy corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor. The term black humor was coined by the Surrealist theorist André Breton in 1935 while interpreting the writings of Jonathan Swift. Bretons preference was to some of Swifts writings as a subgenre of comedy and satire in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism. Scholars have associated black humor with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes, Breton coined the term for his book Anthology of Black Humor, in which he credited Jonathan Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, and included excerpts from 45 other writers. This victims suffering is trivialized, which leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as found in the social commentary. Black humor is also related to that of the grotesque genre. Breton identified Swift as the originator of black humor and gallows humor, particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants, A Modest Proposal, A Meditation Upon a Broom-Stick, the terms black comedy or dark comedy have been later derived as alternatives to Bretons term. Bruce Jay Friedman, in his anthology entitled Black Humor, imported the concept of comedy to the United States. He labeled many different authors and works with the idea, arguing that they shared the literary genre. The Friedman label came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, early American writers who employed black humor were Nathanael West and Vladimir Nabokov. In 1965 a mass-market paperback titled Black Humor, was released and this was one of the first American anthologies devoted to the conception of black humor as a literary genre, the publication also sparked nationwide interest in black humor. Among the writers labeled as black humorists by journalists and literary critics are Roald Dahl, Thomas Pynchon, Kurt Vonnegut, Warren Zevon, John Barth, Joseph Heller, popular themes of the genre include violence, discrimination, disease, sexuality, religion and barbarism. Comedians, like Lenny Bruce, that since the late 1950s have been labeled for using sick comedy by mainstream journalists, have also labeled with black comedy. By contrast, blue comedy focuses more on crude topics such as nudity, sex, in obscene humor, much of the humorous element comes from shock and revulsion, while black comedy might include an element of irony, or even fatalism. For example, the black comedy self-mutilation appears in the English novel Tristram Shandy. Tristram, five years old at the time, starts to urinate out of a window for lack of a chamber pot. The sash falls and circumcises him, his family reacts with both chaotic action and philosophic digression, cringe comedy Comedy horror Macabre Off-color humor
3.
Graham Chapman
–
Graham Arthur Chapman was an English comedian, writer, actor, author and one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python. He played authority figures such as the Colonel and the role in two Python films, Holy Grail and Life of Brian. Chapman was born in Leicester and was raised in Melton Mowbray and he enjoyed science, acting and comedy, and after graduating from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and St Bartholomews Medical College, he turned down a career as a doctor to be a comedian. Chapman established a partnership with John Cleese, which reached its critical peak with Monty Python during the 1970s. Chapman was openly homosexual and a supporter of gay rights. He was an alcoholic during his time at Cambridge and the early Python years, Graham Arthur Chapman was born on 8 January 1941 at the Stoneygate Nursing Home, Stoneygate, Leicester, the son of policeman Walter Chapman and Edith Towers. He had a brother, John, who was born in 1936. One of Chapmans earliest memories was seeing the remains of Polish airmen who had suffered an accident near Leicester, later saying the horrific sights of this remained in his memory. Chapman was educated at Melton Mowbray Grammar School and he showed a strong affinity for science, sports and amateur dramatics, and was singled out for attention when a local paper reviewed his performance of Mark Antony in Shakespeares Julius Caesar. Graham and John Chapman were both fans of radio comedy, being especially fond of The Goon Show and Robert Moretons skill of telling jokes the wrong way round. Biographer Jim Yoakum said the radio shows didnt necessarily make him laugh, in 1959, Chapman began to study medicine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He joined the Cambridge Footlights, where he first began writing with John Cleese, following graduation, Chapman joined the Footlights show Cambridge Circus and toured New Zealand, deferring his medical studies for a year. After the tour, he continued his studies at St Bartholomews Medical College and his brother John later said, He wasnt ever driven to go into medicine. Following their Footlights success, Chapman and Cleese began to write professionally for the BBC, initially for David Frost, Frost had recruited Cleese, and in turn Cleese decided he needed Chapman as a sounding board. Chapman also contributed sketches to the radio series Im Sorry, Ill Read That Again and wrote material on his own and he wrote for The Illustrated Weekly Hudd, Cilla Black, This is Petula Clark, and This Is Tom Jones. Chapman, Cleese, and Tim Brooke-Taylor later joined Feldman in the comedy series At Last the 1948 Show. It was Chapmans first significant role as a performer as well as a writer and he displayed a gift for deadpan comedy, the series was the first to feature Chapmans sketch of wrestling with himself. Despite the shows success, Chapman was still unsure about abandoning his medical career, in between the two series of At Last the 1948 Show he completed his studies at St Bartholomews, and became professionally registered as a doctor
4.
John Cleese
–
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, voice actor, screenwriter, producer, and comedian. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the mid-1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers, with Cleese receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and he also starred in Clockwise and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films as R and Q, two Harry Potter films, and the last three Shrek films. With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay, he co-founded Video Arts, in 1976, Cleese co-founded The Secret Policemans Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the child of Reginald Francis Cleese, an insurance salesman. His familys surname was originally Cheese, but his father had thought it was embarrassing, as a child, Cleese supported Bristol City FC and Somerset County Cricket Club. Cleese was educated at St Peters Preparatory School, where he received a prize for English and did well at cricket, when he was 13, he was awarded an exhibition at Clifton College, an English public school in Bristol. He was already more than 6 feet tall by then, Cleese allegedly defaced the school grounds, as a prank, by painting footprints to suggest that the statue of Field Marshal Earl Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet. Cleese played cricket in the First XI and did well academically, passing 8 O-Levels and 3 A-Levels in mathematics, physics, I believe that this moment changed my perspective on the world. He then took up a place he had won at Downing College, Cambridge and he also joined the Cambridge Footlights. He recalled that he went to the Cambridge Guildhall, where each university society had a stall and he replied no as he was not allowed to sing at his school because he was so bad, and if there was anything worse than his singing, it was his dancing. He was then asked Well, what do you do, to which he replied, I make people laugh. At the Footlights theatrical club, he spent a lot of time with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie, Cleese wrote extra material for the 1961 Footlights Revue I Thought I Saw It Move, and was Registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962. He was also in the cast of the 1962 Footlights Revue Double Take, Cleese graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with a 2,1. Despite his successes on The Frost Report, his father would send him cuttings from The Daily Telegraph offering management jobs in places like Marks, Cleese was a scriptwriter, as well as a cast member, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths. After Cambridge Circus, Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on, while performing in the musical Half a Sixpence, Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam, as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968. At their wedding at a Unitarian Church in Manhattan, the couple attempted to ensure an absence of any theistic language
5.
Terry Gilliam
–
Terrence Vance Terry Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor, comedian and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 12 feature films, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Fisher King,12 Monkeys, the only Python not born in Britain, he became a naturalised British citizen in 1968 and formally renounced his American citizenship in 2006. Gilliam was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Beatrice and his father was a travelling salesman for Folgers before becoming a carpenter. Soon after, they moved to nearby Medicine Lake, Minnesota, the family moved to the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Panorama City in 1952. Gilliam attended Birmingham High School, where he was the president of his class and he was voted Most Likely to Succeed and achieved straight As. During high school, he began to avidly read Mad magazine, then edited by Harvey Kurtzman, Gilliam graduated from Occidental College in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. It was 66–67, it was the first police riot in Los Angeles, in college my major was political science, so my brain worked that way. And I drove around this little English Hillman Minx—top down—and every night Id be hauled over by the cops, up against the wall, and all this stuff. They had this monologue with me, it was never a dialogue and it was that I was a long-haired drug addict living off some rich guys foolish daughter. And I said, No, I work in advertising, I make twice as much as you do. Which is a thing to say to a cop. And it was like an epiphany, I suddenly felt what it was like to be a black or Mexican kid living in L. A. Before that, I thought I knew what the world was like, I thought I knew what people were. And I got more and more angry and I just felt, Thats why so much of the U. S. is still standing. Gilliam began his career as an animator and strip cartoonist, one of his early photographic strips for Help. Featured future Python cast member John Cleese, folded, Gilliam went to Europe, jokingly announcing in the very last issue that he was being transferred to the European branch of the magazine, which, of course, did not exist. Moving to England, he animated sequences for the childrens series Do Not Adjust Your Set, which also featured Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Gilliam was a part of Monty Pythons Flying Circus from its outset, credited at first as an animator and later as a full member. His cartoons linked the shows together and defined the groups visual language in other media
6.
Eric Idle
–
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, voice actor, author, singer-songwriter, musician, writer and comedic composer. Idle is a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python, a member of The Rutles, Idle was born in Harton, near South Shields in County Durham, to which his mother had been evacuated from the north west of England. His mother, Norah Barron, was a visitor and his father, Ernest Idle, served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. His mother had difficulty coping with a job and bringing up a child, so when Idle was seven. At this time, the school was a foundation dedicated to the education. Idle is quoted as saying, It was an abusive, bullying. I got used to dealing with groups of boys and getting on with life in unpleasant circumstances and being smart and funny, Idle stated that the two things that made his life bearable were listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes and watching the local football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite this, he disliked other sports and would sneak out of school every Thursday afternoon to the local cinema, Idle was eventually caught watching the X-rated film BUtterfield 8 and stripped of his prefecture, though by that time he was head boy. Idle had already refused to be senior boy in the cadet force. Idle maintains that there was little to do at the school, Idle attended Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied English. At Pembroke, he was invited to join the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club by the president of the Footlights Club, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Idle started at Cambridge only a year after future fellow-Pythons Graham Chapman and John Cleese. He became Footlights President in 1965 and was the first to allow women to join the club, Idle starred in the childrens television comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set co-starring his future Python fellows Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Terry Gilliam provided animations for the show, the shows cast also included comic actors David Jason and Denise Coffey. Idle also appeared as guest in episodes of the television series At Last the 1948 Show. The other Pythons usually worked in teams and Cleese admitted that this was slightly unfair – when the Pythons voted on which sketches should appear in a show, however, he also says that Idle was an independent person and worked best on his own. Idle himself admitted this was difficult, You had to convince five others. And they were not the most un-egotistical of writers, either, a number of his sketches involve extended monologues, and he would frequently spoof the unnatural language and speech patterns of television presenters. The second-youngest member of the Pythons, Idle was closest in spirit to the students, Idle originally wrote Nudge, Nudge for Ronnie Barker, but it was rejected because there was no joke in the words
7.
Terry Jones
–
Terence Graham Parry Terry Jones is a Welsh writer, actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director, presenter, poet, historian and author. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, Jones was born in the seaside town of Colwyn Bay, on the north coast of Wales. The family home was named Bodchwil and his father was stationed with the RAF in India. When Jones was 4½, the moved to Surrey in England. Jones attended primary school at Esher COE school and later attended the Royal Grammar School in Guildford and he read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, but strayed into history. While there, he performed comedy with future Monty Python castmate Michael Palin in The Oxford Revue, Jones appeared in Twice a Fortnight with Michael Palin, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, as well as the television series The Complete and Utter History of Britain. He appeared in Do Not Adjust Your Set with Palin, Eric Idle and he wrote for The Frost Report and several other David Frost programmes on British television. Along with Palin, he wrote lyrics for the 1968 Barry Booth album Diversions, Jones took a keen interest in the direction of the show. Of Jones contributions as a performer, his depictions of middle-aged women are among the most memorable and his humour, in collaboration with Palin, tends to be conceptual in nature. A typical Palin/Jones sketch draws its humour from the absurdity of the scenario, for example, in the Summarise Proust Competition, Jones plays a cheesy game show host who gives contestants 15 seconds to condense Marcel Prousts lengthy work À la recherche du temps perdu. Jones was also noted for his gifts as a Chaplinesque physical comedian and his performance in the Undressing in Public sketch, for instance, is done in total silence. Jones co-directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Terry Gilliam, as a film director, Jones finally gained fuller control of the projects and devised a visual style that complemented the humour. His later films include Erik the Viking and The Wind in the Willows, in 2008, Jones wrote and directed an opera titled Evil Machines. In 2011, he was commissioned to direct and write the libretto for another opera, Jones directed the comedy film Absolutely Anything, about a disillusioned schoolteacher who is given the chance to do anything he wishes by a group of aliens watching from space. The film features Simon Pegg, Kate Beckinsale and the voices of the five remaining members of Monty Python and it was shot in London during a 6-week shoot. Jones has written books and screenplays, including comic works. Jones co-wrote Ripping Yarns with Palin and he has also written numerous works for children, including Fantastic Stories, The Beast with a Thousand Teeth, and a collection of Comic Verse called The Curse of the Vampires Socks. Jones was also the co-creator of the animated TV series Blazing Dragons, reversing a common story convention, the series protagonists are anthropomorphic dragons beset by evil humans
8.
Michael Palin
–
Michael Edward Palin CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He was one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python, Palin wrote most of his comedic material with fellow Python member Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on shows such as the Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including Argument Clinic, Dead Parrot sketch, The Lumberjack Song, The Spanish Inquisition, Bicycle Repair Man, Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedians Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians, after Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara Desert, in 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services to television. From 2009 to 2012 Palin was the president of the Royal Geographical Society, on 12 May 2013, Palin was made a BAFTA fellow, the highest honour that is conferred by the organisation. Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield, the child and only son of Edward Moreton Palin. His father was a Shrewsbury School and Cambridge University-educated engineer working for a steel firm and his maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lockhart Ovey, DSO, was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1927. He started his education at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, and his sister Angela was nine years older than he was. Despite the age gap the two had a relationship until her suicide in 1987. He has ancestral roots in Letterkenny, County Donegal, when he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of A Christmas Carol. At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue, after his school days in 1962 he went on to read modern history at Brasenose College, Oxford. With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, Terry Jones, also a student in Oxford, saw that performance and began writing together with Hewison and Palin. In the same year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-operative Society Players and he also performed and wrote in the Oxford Revue with Jones. In 1966 he married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk and this meeting was later fictionalised in Palins play East of Ipswich. The couple have three children and two grandchildren, Rachel is a BBC TV director, whose work includes MasterChef, The Professionals, shown on BBC2 throughout October and November 2010. A photograph of William as a baby briefly appeared in Monty Python and his nephew is the theatre designer Jeremy Herbert
9.
Monty Python
–
Monty Python were a British surreal comedy group who created their sketch comedy show Monty Pythons Flying Circus, which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series, the Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, including touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books, and a stage musical. The Pythons influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles influence on music, the Orlando Sentinel referred to their sketch show as not only one of the more enduring icons of 1970s British popular culture, but also an important moment in the evolution of television comedy. Broadcast by the BBC between 1969 and 1974, Flying Circus was conceived, written, and performed by its members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach, it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style. Following their television work, they began making films, which include Holy Grail, Life of Brian, pythonesque has entered the English lexicon as a result. Jones and Palin met at Oxford University, where they performed together with the Oxford Revue, Chapman and Cleese met at Cambridge University. Idle was also at Cambridge, but started a year after Chapman, Cleese met Gilliam in New York City while on tour with the Cambridge University Footlights revue Cambridge Circus. Chapman, Cleese, and Idle were members of the Footlights, which at that also included the future Goodies. During Idles presidency of the club, feminist writer Germaine Greer and broadcaster Clive James were members, following the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, a tea-time childrens programme, ITV offered Gilliam, Idle, Jones, and Palin their own late-night adult comedy series together. At the same time, Chapman and Cleese were offered a show by the BBC, Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, including Chapmans supposedly difficult and erratic personality. Cleese had fond memories of working with Palin on How To Irritate People, much has been made of the fact that the Monty Python troupe is the result of Cleeses desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold. The Pythons had a idea about what they wanted to do with the series. They were admirers of the work of Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, and Dudley Moore on Beyond the Fringe, and had worked on Frost and they enjoyed Cook and Moores sketch show Not Only. They decided that they would not bother to cap their sketches in the traditional manner. However, as they began assembling material for the show, the Pythons watched one of their heroes, Spike Milligan. Not only was the programme more irreverent and anarchic than any previous television comedy and it was clear that their new series would now seem less original, and Jones in particular became determined the Pythons should innovate. After much debate, Jones remembered an animation Gilliam had created for Do Not Adjust Your Set called Beware of the Elephants, Jones felt it would be a good concept to apply to the series, allowing sketches to blend into one another
10.
Neil Innes
–
Neil James Innes is an English writer, comedian and musician, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles. Innes was born in Danbury, Essex and he spent much of his childhood with his parents and older brother Iain in post-war Germany during his Scottish fathers military assignment as a warrant officer. He took piano lessons from age 7 to 14 and taught himself to play guitar and his parents were supportive of their sons interests. His father showed some ability as well, he frequently drew. Innes later attended Thorpe Grammar School and the Norwich School of Art, because Norwich lacked a particular art curriculum in which he was interested, he transferred to Goldsmiths, where he studied drama. At Goldsmiths he met Yvonne Catherine Hilton, whom he married on 3 March 1966 and they have three sons, Miles, Luke, and Barney. Innes graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from Goldsmiths in 1966, Innes met Vivian Stanshall at the Central School of Art, where both studied drawing. Together they wrote most of the songs, including Im the Urban Spaceman, their sole hit, and Death Cab for Cutie. Innes won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Novel Song in 1968 for Im the Urban Spaceman, unfortunately for them, by the time their sole album Lucky Planet was released in 1970, the members had already disbanded and were moving on to other projects. In the mid-1970s, Innes became closely associated with the TV series Monty Pythons Flying Circus and he played a major role in performing and writing songs and sketches for the final series in 1974. He wrote a squib of a song called George III for the episode The Golden Age of Ballooning, which was sung by The Flirtations and he also wrote the song When Does a Dream Begin. Used in Anything Goes, The Light Entertainment War and he is one of only two non-Pythons to ever be credited writers for the TV series, the other being Douglas Adams. He appeared on stage with the Pythons in New York City in 1976 and he was introduced as Raymond Scum. After his introduction he told the audience, Ive suffered for my music, in 1980 he travelled to the States with the Pythons again, subsequently appearing in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. He performed the songs How Sweet to Be an Idiot and Im the Urban Spaceman and he also appeared as one of the singing Bruces in the Philosopher Sketch and as a Church Policeman in that sketch. Innes wrote original songs for the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, such as Knights of the Round Table and he appeared in the film as a head-bashing monk, the serf crushed by the giant wooden rabbit, and the leader of Sir Robins minstrels. He also had a role in Terry Gilliams Jabberwocky. His collaborations with Monty Python and other artists were documented in the musical film The Seventh Python, after Python finished its original run on UK television, Innes joined with Pythons Eric Idle on the series Rutland Weekend Television
11.
Douglas Adams
–
Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, scriptwriter, essayist, humorist, satirist and dramatist. Adamss contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academys Hall of Fame, a posthumous collection of his works, including an unfinished novel, was published as The Salmon of Doubt in 2002. Adams was known as an advocate for environmentalism and conservation, as a lover of fast cars, cameras, technological innovation and the Apple Macintosh, Adams was born on 11 March 1952 to Janet and Christopher Douglas Adams in Cambridge, England. The following year in 1953, Watson and Crick famously first modelled DNA at Cambridge University, the family moved to East London a few months after his birth, where his sister, Susan, was born three years later. His parents divorced in 1957, Douglas, Susan, and their mother moved to an RSPCA animal shelter in Brentwood, Essex, Adams attended Primrose Hill Primary School in Brentwood. At nine, he passed the exam for Brentwood School, an independent school whose alumni include Robin Day, Jack Straw, Noel Edmonds. Griff Rhys Jones was a year below him, and he was in the class as Stuckist artist Charles Thomson. He attended the school from 1959 to 1964, then the main school until December 1970. Adams was six feet tall by age 12 and stopped growing at 6 ft 5 in and his form master, Frank Halford, said of him, Hundreds of boys have passed through the school but Douglas Adams really stood out from the crowd — literally. He was unnecessarily tall and in his short trousers he looked a trifle self-conscious, the form-master wouldnt say Meet under the clock tower, or Meet under the war memorial, he joked, but Meet under Adams. Yet it was his ability to write stories that really made him shine. He became the student ever to be awarded a ten out of ten by Halford for creative writing, something he remembered for the rest of his life. He also designed the cover of one issue of the Broadsheet, and had a letter and short story published nationally in The Eagle, in it, Adams rhymes futile with mute, while and exhausted with of course did. On the strength of an essay on religious poetry that discussed the Beatles and William Blake, he was awarded an Exhibition in English at St Johns College, Cambridge. He wanted to join the Footlights, an invitation-only student comedy club that has acted as a hothouse for comic talent, despite doing very little work—he recalled having completed three essays in three years—he graduated in 1974 with a B. A. in English literature. After leaving university Adams moved back to London, determined to break into TV, an edited version of the Footlights Revue appeared on BBC2 television in 1974. A version of the Revue performed live in Londons West End led to Adams being discovered by Monty Pythons Graham Chapman, the two formed a brief writing partnership, earning Adams a writing credit in episode 45 of Monty Python for a sketch called Patient Abuse. He is one of two people outside the original Python members to get a writing credit
12.
John Howard Davies
–
John Howard Davies was an English child actor who later became a television director and producer. Davies was born in Paddington, London, the son of the scriptwriter Jack Davies. After school at Haileybury, further education in Grenoble, France and national service in the Navy, he started working in the City, ending up in Melbourne, Australia, he returned to acting and met his first wife Leonie when they both appeared in The Sound of Music. He was Stage Manager for The Sound Of Music for two years touring Australia and New Zealand, back in Britain he tried selling oil to industry in Wembley. He is best known for his career as a director. Davies became a BBC production assistant during 1966, being promoted to producer in 1968, during this early period Davies worked on sketch shows such as The World of Beachcomber, the earliest episodes of Monty Pythons Flying Circus and The Goodies. He also directed the young Anthony Hopkins in the first episode of the Biography series in Danton and he also worked on All Gas and Gaiters and the seventh series of Steptoe and Son in 1972. He briefly left the BBC to become managing director of EMI Television Productions in 1973, from this time came Fawlty Towers. The actress the writers wished to cast as Sybil was uninterested, Davies was producer for all four series of The Good Life. He was the BBCs Head of Comedy during 1977–82, then head of light entertainment, Thames was then an ITV contractor, for which Davies was head of light entertainment from 1988. During the last role he was cited by the press as the man who sacked comedian Benny Hill when the company decided not to renew his contract after a connection lasting 20 years. During this period he worked on No Job for a Lady and Mr. Bean, returning to the BBC later in the 1990s. He died from cancer on 22 August 2011 at his home in Blewbury, Oxfordshire, with his third wife Linda, John Holmstrom, The Moving Picture Boy, An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell,1996, p.211. John Howard Davies at the Internet Movie Database The TV IV - John Howard Davies
13.
Carol Cleveland
–
Carol Cleveland is a British actress and comedian, most notable for her appearances on Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Born in East Sheen, London, she moved to the United States with her mother and she was brought up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lubbock, Texas, and later Pasadena, California where she attended John Marshall Junior High School and Pasadena High School. She is a former Miss California Navy and appeared as Miss Teen Queen in MAD Magazine at age 15, carol was Miss Teen in the August 1958 issue of Dig magazine. Cleveland returned with her family to London in 1960, and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, a stage actress and model who had appeared as an extra in The Persuaders. This brought her to the attention of the team of Monty Pythons Flying Circus. She appeared in 30 of the 45 episodes in the series, Cleveland has contributed on many post-Python projects including the Concert for George and Not the Messiah. Shes also appeared in documentaries about the groups history, including Monty Python. She most recently reunited with the Pythons in 2014 for their stage show Monty Python Live. Cleveland was voted number three in Splendor magazines 100 Most Beautiful Entertainers list in 1972, Cleveland was married to Peter Brett from 1971 to 1983
14.
Connie Booth
–
Constance Connie Booth is an American-born writer, actress, comedian and psychotherapist based in England. Booths father was a Wall Street stock broker and her mother an actress and they moved to New York state after Connie Booths birth in Indianapolis, Indiana. Booth entered acting and worked as a Broadway understudy and waitress and she married Cleese in New York on February 20,1968. Booth and Cleese went on to write and co-star in Fawlty Towers, in which she played waitress and chambermaid Polly, perhaps her most memorable role. She also starred in the role of a drama called The Story of Ruth, in which she played the role of the schizophrenic daughter of an abusive father. In 1994, she played a role in The Culex Experiment. Booth ended her career in 1995. After studying for five years at London University, she began a career as a London psychotherapist, for 30 years Booth had declined to talk about Fawlty Towers until she agreed to participate in a documentary about the series for the digital channel Gold in 2009. In 1971, Booth and Cleese had a daughter, Cynthia, Booth and Cleese divorced in 1978, but have remained close friends. Booth married John Lahr, author and former senior drama critic of The New Yorker, in 2000
15.
John Philip Sousa
–
John Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of composition, he is known as The March King. Among his best-known marches are The Stars and Stripes Forever, Semper Fidelis, The Liberty Bell, The Thunderer, Sousa began his career playing violin and studying music theory and composition under John Esputa and George Felix Benkert. His father enlisted him in the United States Marine Band as an apprentice in 1868, after departing the band in 1875, Sousa learned to conduct. From 1880 until his death, he focused exclusively on conducting and he eventually rejoined the Marine Band and served there for 12 years as director. On leaving the Marine Band, Sousa organized his own band and he toured Europe and Australia and developed the sousaphone, a large brass instrument similar to the helicon and tuba. At the outbreak of World War I, Sousa was commissioned as a lieutenant commander, following his tenure, he returned to conduct the Sousa Band until his death in 1932. In the 1920s he was promoted to lieutenant commander in the naval reserve, Sousa started his music education by playing the violin as a pupil of John Esputa and George Felix Benkert for harmony and musical composition at the age of six. He was found to have absolute pitch, during his childhood, Sousa studied voice, violin, piano, flute, cornet, baritone horn, trombone, and alto horn. When Sousa was 13, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, several years long after serving his apprenticeship, Sousa joined a theatrical orchestra where he learned to conduct. He returned to the U. S. Marine Band as its head in 1880, Sousa led The Presidents Own band under five presidents from Rutherford B. Hayes to Benjamin Harrison. Sousas band played at two Inaugural Balls, those of James A. Garfield in 1881, and Benjamin Harrison in 1889 and he wanted a tuba that could sound upward and over the band whether its player was seated or marching. The sousaphone was re-created in 1898 by C. G. Conn and he organized The Sousa Band the year he left the Marine Band. The Sousa Band toured from 1892 to 1931, performing at 15,623 concerts both in America and around the world, including at the World Exposition in Paris, France and at the Royal Albert Hall in London. In Paris, the Sousa Band marched through the streets to the Arc de Triomphe – one of only eight parades the band marched in over its forty years, on December 30,1879, Sousa married Jane van Middlesworth Bellis. They had three children, John Philip, Jr. Jane Priscilla, and Helen, All were buried in the John Philip Sousa plot in the Congressional Cemetery. Wife Jane, daughters Jane Priscilla and Helen Abert joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1907 and their ancestor was Adam Bellis, who served under several different commands for the New Jersey troops in the American Revolutionary War. Late in his life, Sousa lived in Sands Point, New York, Sousa died of heart failure at the age of 77 on March 6,1932, in his room at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania
16.
BBC One
–
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and it was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997. The channels annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion, the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBCs other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership. As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00, Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, Good afternoon everybody. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a reduction in its audience. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and it therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC. The station, renamed BBC TV in 1960, became BBC1 when BBC2 was launched on 20 April 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. The only way to all channels was to use a complex dual-standard 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985, when transmission in the standard ended, although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect, BBC1 was based at the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London between 1960 and 2013. In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark, colour transmissions could be received on monochrome 625-line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting. In terms of share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973 and 1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45%. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced their intention to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am. On 17 January 1983, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC One, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the rating until 1984. The first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme and its replacement was the BBC Six OClock News, a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot
17.
BBC Two
–
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It covers a range of subject matter, but tending towards more highbrow programmes than the more mainstream. Like the BBCs other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence and it is a comparatively well-funded public service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public service networks worldwide. Originally styled BBC2, it was the third British television station to be launched, a high-definition version of the channel launched on 26 March 2013, replacing BBC HD. British television at the time of BBC2s launch consisted of two channels, the BBC Television Service and the ITV network made up of regional companies. Both channels had existed in a state of competition since ITVs launch in 1955, the 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and that ITV lacked any serious programming. It therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC, prior to its launch, the new BBC2 was promoted on the BBC Television Service, the soon to be renamed BBC1. The animated adverts featured the campaign mascots Hullabaloo, a mother kangaroo, however, at around 18,45 a huge power failure, originating from a fire at Battersea Power Station, caused Television Centre, and indeed much of west London, to lose all power. BBC1 was able to continue broadcasting via its facilities at Alexandra Palace, associated-Rediffusion, the London weekday ITV franchise-holder, offered to transmit on the BBCs behalf, but their gesture was rejected. At 22,00 programming was officially postponed until the following morning, there was believed to be no recording made of this bulletin, but a videotape was discovered in early 2003. By 11,00 on 21 April, power had restored to the studios and programming began. The launch schedule, postponed from the night before, was successfully shown that evening. In reference to the cut, the transmission opened with a shot of a lit candle which was then sarcastically blown out by presenter Denis Tuohy. To establish the new identity and draw viewers to it. The production chosen was The Forsyte Saga, a adaptation of the novels by John Galsworthy, featuring well-established actors Kenneth More. Unlike BBC1 and ITV, BBC2 was broadcast only on the 625 line UHF system and this created a market for dual standard receivers which could switch between the two systems. On 1 July 1967, during the Wimbledon Championships, BBC2 became the first channel in Europe to begin broadcasts in colour. The thirteen part series Civilisation was created as a celebration of two millennia of western art and culture to showpiece the new colour technology, BBC1 and ITV later joined BBC2 on 625-line UHF band, but continued to simulcast on 405-line VHF until 1985
18.
And Now for Something Completely Different
–
And Now for Something Completely Different is a 1971 British sketch comedy film based on the television comedy series Monty Pythons Flying Circus featuring sketches from the first two series. The title was taken from a used in the television show. The film, released in 1971, consists of 90 minutes of sketches seen in the first two series of the television show, the sketches were remade on film without an audience, and were intended for an American audience which had not yet seen the series. It was re-shot for cinema release with a low budget. Financed by Playboy′s UK executive Victor Lownes, it was intended to help Monty Python break into the United States, although the cinematic release was ultimately unsuccessful at achieving an American breakthrough, it did well in the United Kingdom. The group did not consider this film a success, but it enjoys a cult following today. The film was the idea of entrepreneur Victor Lownes, head of Playboy UK, production of the film did not go entirely smoothly. Lownes tried to exert more control over the group than they had been used to at the BBC. Another argument with Lownes occurred when Terry Gilliam designed the opening credits for the film, because the names of the Pythons were shown in blocks of stone, Lownes insisted that his own name be displayed in a similar manner. Initially, Gilliam refused but eventually he was forced to give in, Gilliam then created a different style of credit for the Pythons so that in the final version of the film, Lowness credit is the only one that appears in that way. The budget of the film was low for the time at only £80,000. Youll notice my mouth isnt moving, either, the film was shot both on location in England and inside an abandoned dairy, rather than on a more costly soundstage. The budget was so low that some effects that were performed in the series could not be repeated in the film. The origin of the phrase is credited to Christopher Trace, founding presenter of the television programme Blue Peter. The announcer would turn to the audience and announce and now for something completely different, the phrase was also used as a transition within the show. Often it would be added to explain the transition, for instance, And now for something completely different. In later episodes, particularly the third season, the credits-launching was reduced to a stock footage of the announcer saying And now. In a similar fashion as was done with its predecessor, the Its man, both were preceded by a naked organist, usually Terry Jones
19.
BBC
–
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
20.
Visual gag
–
In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence, the humor is caused by alternative interpretations of the goings-on. Visual gags are used in magic, plays, and acting on television / movies, the most common type of visual gag is based on multiple interpretations of a series of events. This type is used in the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps, lead actor Robert Donat was kidnapping actress Madeleine Carroll and they were handcuffed. When they checked into an inn, the innkeeper assumed that they were passionate lovers because of the handcuffs, the film used dialogue that could be interpreted both ways. Another visual gag is an image, often at the beginning of a film. A subsequent view of the shows something not viewed before. Switched movement may be the gag, such as Charlie Chaplin in The Pawnshop, Chaplin fights with his coworker and punches at him once. Their boss walks in mid-swing and Chaplin changes the motion to act like he was dropping to his knees to scrub the floor, noel Carroll established the most influential taxonomy of sight gags, breaking down the varieties into six types, two of which are enumerated below. There are numerous examples in history of directors who based most of the humor in their films on visual gags. Visual gags began in live theater, the first known use of a visual gag in a film was in the Lumière brothers 1895 short, LArroseur Arrosé, in which a gardener watering his plants becomes the subject of a boys prank. An early pioneer in visual gags was Georges Méliès, the filmmaker experimented with techniques in the then-new film media creating techniques to trick viewers. Vaudeville actors often used gags in their routines, a classic vaudeville visual gag was for two actors to mirror each others actions around a prop. Visual gags were continued into Silent films and are considered a hallmark of the genre, in silent films, the actors in the mirror bit performed in silence with no music playing. Comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, often the differences between people are part of the comic duos, especially thin and fat actors are used such as Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy. The New York Times cites the fourth Gilligans Island episode, Goodnight, Sweet Skipper, the castaways were trying to contact civilization with a radio. In the episode, Skipper can recall only how he converted the radio into a transmitter in World War II when he is sleepwalking, after Skipper was unsuccessful, Gilligan got it to work by pounding on the radio, he used it to briefly contact a pilot flying overhead. Gilligan retrieved Skipper and demonstrated how he pounded on the radio, joke Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner
21.
Culture of the United Kingdom
–
The wider culture of Europe has also influenced British culture, and Humanism, Protestantism and representative democracy developed from broader Western culture. British literature, music, cinema, art, theatre, comedy, media, television, philosophy, architecture, the United Kingdom is also prominent in science and technology, producing world-leading scientists and inventions. Sport is an important part of British culture, numerous sports originated in the country, the UK has been described as a cultural superpower, and London has been described as a world cultural capital. The Industrial Revolution, which started in the UK, had an effect on the socio-economic. These states are collectively known as the Anglosphere, and are among Britains closest allies. In turn the empire also influenced British culture, particularly British cuisine, the cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness. First spoken in early medieval England, the English language is the de facto language of the UK. Individual countries within the UK have frameworks for the promotion of their indigenous languages, Irish and Ulster Scots enjoy limited use alongside English in Northern Ireland, mainly in publicly commissioned translations. There is also a campaign under way to recognise Scots as a language in Scotland, the Cornish language enjoys neither official recognition nor promotion by the state in Cornwall. Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the UK Government has committed to the promotion of linguistic traditions. The United Kingdom has ratified the charter for, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Scots, Cornish, British Sign Language is also a recognised language. Owing to its history, dialects and regional accents vary amongst the four countries of the United Kingdom. Some cities in close proximity have a different dialect and accent, such as Scousers from Liverpool, notable Scouse speakers include John Lennon and Paul McCartney from The Beatles while Mancunians include Liam and Noel Gallagher from Oasis. Received Pronunciation is the accent of standard English in the UK, brummie is the dialect of natives of Birmingham in the west midlands of England – notable Brummies include rock musicians Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Lynne, and Rob Halford. Geordie is the dialect of people from Tyneside in northeast England – musicians Brian Johnson, Mark Knopfler, notable exponents of the Scottish accent include Sean Connery, comedian Billy Connolly, and The Proclaimers. The West Country accent from southwest England is identified in film as pirate speech – cartoon-like Ooh arr, talk is very similar, while famous pirates hailed from this region, including Blackbeard, West Country native Robert Newtons performance as Long John Silver in films standardised the pirate voice. The Northern Irish accent includes golfer Rory McIlroy and actor Liam Neeson, the early 18th century is known as the Augustan Age of English literature. From the late 18th century, the Romantic period showed a flowering of poetry comparable with the Renaissance 200 years earlier, in Scotland the poetry of Robert Burns revived interest in Scots literature, and the Weaver Poets of Ulster were influenced by literature from Scotland
22.
University of Oxford
–
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris, after disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two ancient universities are frequently referred to as Oxbridge. The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges, All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it not have a main campus, instead, its buildings. Oxford is the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the worlds oldest and most prestigious scholarships, the university operates the worlds oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in Britain. Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 28 Nobel laureates,27 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in form as early as 1096. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris, the historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, the university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, the students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two nations, representing the North and the South. In later centuries, geographical origins continued to many students affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. At about the time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses. In 1333–34, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III. Thereafter, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, even in London, thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, the new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the English Reformation and the breaking of communion with the Roman Catholic Church, recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, as a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxfords reputation declined in the Age of Enlightenment, enrolments fell and teaching was neglected
23.
University of Cambridge
–
The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, England, often regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Founded in 1209 and given royal status by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople, the two ancient universities share many common features and are often referred to jointly as Oxbridge. Cambridge is formed from a variety of institutions which include 31 constituent colleges, Cambridge University Press, a department of the university, is the worlds oldest publishing house and the second-largest university press in the world. The university also operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridges libraries hold a total of around 15 million books, eight million of which are in Cambridge University Library, a legal deposit library. In the year ended 31 July 2015, the university had an income of £1.64 billion. The central university and colleges have an endowment of around £5.89 billion. The university is linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster known as Silicon Fen. It is a member of associations and forms part of the golden triangle of leading English universities and Cambridge University Health Partners. As of 2017, Cambridge is ranked the fourth best university by three ranking tables and no other institution in the world ranks in the top 10 for as many subjects. Cambridge is consistently ranked as the top university in the United Kingdom, the university has educated many notable alumni, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors, and foreign Heads of State. Ninety-five Nobel laureates, fifteen British prime ministers and ten Fields medalists have been affiliated with Cambridge as students, faculty, by the late 12th century, the Cambridge region already had a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation, due to monks from the nearby bishopric church of Ely. The University of Oxford went into suspension in protest, and most scholars moved to such as Paris, Reading. After the University of Oxford reformed several years later, enough remained in Cambridge to form the nucleus of the new university. A bull in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX gave graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in Christendom, the colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself, the colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, the hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel Lane. Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, Cambridges first college, the most recently established college is Robinson, built in the late 1970s
24.
Occidental College
–
Occidental College is a private, co-educational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, Occidental College is often referred to as Oxy for short. In 2017, the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings placed Occidental 27th on its list of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the United States. The New York Times ranked Occidental No.20 on its list of the most economically diverse U. S. colleges and universities, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching selected Occidental as a community engagement institution. The college was named to the 2014 Presidents Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, Occidental is also one of the most racially diverse liberal arts colleges, with approximately 50% of the student body identitifying as students of color. The college is ranked No.7 for liberal arts colleges, Oxy was ranked the sixth Most Beautiful college campus by Newsweek in 2012. Occidental College was founded on April 20,1887, by a group of Presbyterian clergy, missionaries, and laymen, including James George Bell, Lyman Stewart, the cornerstone of the schools first building was laid in September 1887 in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The colleges first term began a year later with 27 male and 13 female students, in 1896, the Boyle Heights building was destroyed by fire. The college temporarily relocated to the old St. Vincents College campus on Hill Street before a new site was selected in Highland Park in 1898, eventually, the college erected three main buildings, the Academy Building, the Stimson Library, and the Hall of Arts and Letters. In 1909, the Pomona College Board of Trustees suggested a merger between Pomona and Occidental, but the proposal came to nothing, the following year, the college severed formal ties with the Presbyterian Church and became a non-sectarian, non-denominational institution. The small size of the 15-acre campus and the disruption caused by frequent freight trains pushed the colleges trustees to find a new location, in 1912, the school began construction of a new campus located in Los Angeles Eagle Rock neighborhood. That same year, Occidental President John Willis Baer announced the decision to convert Occidental College into an all-mens institution. However, students and faculty protested, and the idea was abandoned, two weeks after Booker T. Washington came to visit Occidental, on March 27,1914, Swan, Fowler, and Johnson Halls were dedicated at its new Eagle Rock campus. Patterson Field, today one of the oldest collegiate sports stadiums in Los Angeles, was opened in 1916, in April 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I, the college formed a Students Army Training Corps to aid the war effort. The Delta of California Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established at Occidental in 1926, at a time when the other chapters in California were at Stanford, UC Berkeley. During World War II, many students left Occidental to fight in the war, in July 1943, the U. S. Navy established a Navy V-12 officer training program on campus that produced hundreds of graduates before it was disbanded at the end of the war in 1945. Rhodes scholars Aaron Segal and John Paden were among the 10 Occidental students who participated in Crossroads Africa that year, in 1969,42 students were suspended for peacefully protesting military recruiting on campus. One year later, faculty voted to suspend classes in the wake of the Kent State shootings, subsequently, Oxy students wrote 7,000 letters to Washington D. C. protesting U. S. involvement in the war in Southeast Asia
25.
Intellectual
–
Socially, intellectuals constitute the intelligentsia, a status class organised either by ideology, or by nationality. Man of Letters The English term Man of Letters derives from the French term belletrist, the term Man of Letters distinguished the literate man from the illiterate man, in a time when literacy was a rare form of cultural capital. In late 19th century, the term became common usage to denote the defenders of the falsely accused artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus. Likewise, in Tsarist Russia, there arose the intelligentsia, who were the class of white-collar workers. As such, politically radical thinkers already had participated in the French Revolution, Robert Darnton said that they were not societal outsiders, but respectable, domesticated, moreover, some intellectuals were anti-academic, despite universities being synonymous with intellectualism. Habermas Structural Transformation of Public Sphere made significant contribution to the notion of public intellectual by historically and conceptually delineating the idea of private, such civil servants earned academic degrees by means of imperial examination, and also were skilled calligraphers, and knew Confucian philosophy. Historian Wing-Tsit Chan concludes that, Generally speaking, the record of these scholar-gentlemen has been a worthy one and it was good enough to be praised and imitated in 18th century Europe. Nevertheless, it has given China a tremendous handicap in their transition from government by men to government by law, and personal considerations in Chinese government have been a curse. In Joseon Korea, the intellectuals were the literati, who knew how to read and write, socially, they constituted the petite bourgeoisie, composed of scholar-bureaucrats who administered the dynastic rule of the Joseon dynasty. The Italian Communist theoretician Antonio Gramsci developed Karl Marx’s conception of the intelligentsia to include political leadership in the public sphere and that, because all knowledge is existentially-based, the intellectuals, who create and preserve knowledge, are spokesmen for different social groups, and articulate particular social interests. That intellectuals occur in social class and throughout the right wing, the centre. That, as a class, the intellectuals view themselves as autonomous from the ruling class of their society. Therefore, the leadership of intellectuals is required for effecting and realizing social change, because, in the formal codification of Leninism, the Hungarian Marxist philosopher, György Lukács identified the intelligentsia as the privileged social class who provide revolutionary leadership. By means of intelligible and accessible interpretation, the intellectuals explain to the workers, the How. and the Why. of the social, economic, and political status quo—the ideological totality of society—and its practical, revolutionary application to the transformation of their society. The term public intellectual describes the intellectual participating in the discourse of society. In Representations of the Intellectual, Edward Saïd said that the … true intellectual is, therefore, always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the margins of society. An intellectual usually is associated with an ideology or with a philosophy and that intellectuals be mindful of the social and cultural ties created with their words, insights, and ideas, and should be heard as social critics of politics and power. In journalism, the term usually connotes a university academic of the humanities—especially a philosopher—who addresses important social and political matters of the day
26.
Spike Milligan
–
Terence Alan Milligan KBE was a British-Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an Irish father and an English mother, his life was spent in India where he was born. The majority of his life was spent in the United Kingdom. He disliked his first name and began to call himself Spike after hearing a band on Radio Luxembourg called Spike Jones and his City Slickers. Milligan was the co-creator, main writer and a principal cast member of The Goon Show, performing a range of roles including the popular Eccles and Minnie Bannister characters. He is also noted as a writer of comical verse, much of his poetry was written for children. He was the earliest born, longest lived and last surviving member of the Goons. Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India, on 16 April 1918, the son of an Irish father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, MSM, RA and his mother, Florence Mary Winifred Kettleband, was British. He spent his childhood in Pune and later in Rangoon, capital of British Burma and he was educated at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Poona, and later at St Pauls High School, Rangoon. On leaving school he played the cornet and discovered jazz and he also joined the Young Communist League in opposition of Oswald Mosleys British Union of Fascists, who were gaining support near his home in south London. After returning from Burma, Milligan lived most of his life in the United Kingdom apart from overseas service in the British Army in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. During the Second World War, Milligan served as a signaller in the 56th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery, D Battery, the unit was equipped with the obsolete First World War era BL9. 2-inch howitzer and based in Bexhill on the south coast of England. The unit was later re-equipped with the BL7. 2-inch howitzer and saw action as part of the First Army in the North African campaign and then in the succeeding Italian campaign. Milligan was appointed lance bombardier and was about to be promoted to bombardier, subsequently hospitalised for a mortar wound to the right leg and shell shock, he was demoted by an unsympathetic commanding officer back to Gunner. After hospitalisation, Milligan drifted through a number of military jobs in Italy, eventually becoming a full-time entertainer. He played the guitar with a jazz and comedy group called The Bill Hall Trio, after being demobilised, Milligan remained in Italy playing with the trio but returned to Britain soon after. Milligan returned to jazz in the late 1940s and made a living with the Hall trio. He was also trying to break into the world of radio and his first success in radio was as writer for comedian Derek Roys show
27.
Band of the Grenadier Guards
–
The Band of the Grenadier Guards is the oldest of all of the bands in the British Army, with a history dating back over 331 years. In 1685 Charles II allowed the band to maintain 12 hautbois players and his death in 1685 was so significant for the band that until the Second World War, the Bass Drummer, wore a black armband in mourning of the kings death. The size of the ensemble has changed over time, starting off with twelve and nineteen players, in the 18th century to a peak in numbers by the end of the 1970s of seventy musicians. Today there are 42 band members, in 1872, the Band of the Grenadier Guards were the first British uniformed soldiers to enter the United States of America since the War of 1812. In the modern era, it last toured the US in 2003, the Band often tours overseas and has visited Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Bosnia, and Australia. The Band was given the freedom of the City of Lincoln on 8 May 2008, the Regiment was to become known as the Grenadier Guards after their victory on the battlefield at Waterloo. The Band of the Grenadier Guards has been filling the streets of London with music and it is symbolic and emblematic of London and the UKs history. The Band has served 15 monarchs over 325 years with dedication and it has been present at all the major royal occasions, births, coronations, weddings and funerals. The Band has been a witness to all Londons key historic events and it raised morale during the darkest hours of the Second World War, its uplifting music ushered in a new beginning at the coronation of the present queen. The British Grenadiers March is one of the most recognizable and memorable tunes in the world, one of the bands admirers during the 18th century was George Frideric Handel. He demonstrated this by presenting the march from Scipio to the regiment before he included it in his opera of that name when it was first performed in 1726. George II gave Handel the task of scoring the Music for the Royal Fireworks, most commonly performed with strings, for the kings own musicians, Handel would have undoubtedly come into contact with musicians from the Grenadier Guards during the first performance at Vauxhall Gardens in 1749. Throughout Britains history the music of the Grenadier Guards has been the backdrop to its national life and it represents Britains constancy, dignity and artistry. Musicians currently in the band have secondary roles in the British Army as chemical decontamination assistants, medics, the band is based at Wellington Barracks in St Jamess, London. Director of Music, Major Mike Smith Bandmaster, WO1 Sarah Marinescu Band Sergeant Major, the Band of the Grenadier Guards plays regularly for many events. Some of these occasions that are most famous are listed below, the Band of the Grenadier Guards also visits schools to take part in musical concerts and workshops. Coldstream Guards Band Irish Guards Band Scots Guards Band Welsh Guards Band Household Division Home of Grenadier Guards Band Being given the Freedom of the City of Lincoln in May 2008
28.
Berne Convention
–
The Berne Convention formally mandated several aspects of modern copyright law, it introduced the concept that a copyright exists the moment a work is fixed, rather than requiring registration. It also enforces a requirement that countries recognize copyrights held by the citizens of all parties to the convention. The Berne Convention requires its parties to treat the copyright of works of authors from other parties to the convention at least as well as those of its own nationals. For example, French copyright law applies to anything published or performed in France, Copyright under the Berne Convention must be automatic, it is prohibited to require formal registration. However, when the United States joined the Convention 1 March 1989, it continued to make statutory damages and attorneys fees only available for registered works. Under Article 4, it applies to cinematic works by persons who have their headquarters or habitual residence in a party country. The Convention relies on the concept of country of origin, often determining the country of origin is straightforward, when a work is published in a party country and nowhere else, this is the country of origin. However, under Article 5, when a work is published simultaneously in several party countries, for works simultaneously published in a party country and one or more non-parties, the party country is the country of origin. For unpublished works or works first published in a non-party country, in the Internet age, unrestricted publication online may be considered publication in every sufficiently internet-connected jurisdiction in the world. It is not clear what this may mean for determining country of origin, however other U. S. courts in similar situations have reached different conclusions, e. g. Håkan Moberg v. 33T LLC. The matter of determining the country of origin for digital publication remains a topic of controversy among law academics as well, countries under the older revisions of the treaty may choose to provide their own protection terms, and certain types of works may be provided shorter terms. If the author is unknown, because for example the author was deliberately anonymous or worked under a pseudonym, however, if the identity of the author becomes known, the copyright term for known authors applies. e. An author is not entitled a longer copyright abroad than at home. This is commonly known as the rule of the shorter term, not all countries have accepted this rule. As to works, protection must include every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, the Berne Convention authorizes countries to allow fair uses of copyrighted works in other publications or broadcasts. Implementations of this part of the treaty fall into the categories of fair use. This language may mean that Internet service providers are not liable for the communications of their users. Critics claim that the convention does not mention any other rights of consumers of works except for fair use, there is a legal debate about whether the U. S
29.
Copyright law of the United States
–
The Copyright Law of the United States tries to encourage the creation of art and culture by rewarding authors and artists with a set of exclusive rights. Copyright law grants authors and artists the right to make and sell copies of their works, the right to create derivative works. These exclusive rights are subject to a limit, and generally expire 70 years after the authors death. In the United States, any music composed before January 1,1923, is considered public domain. United States copyright law is governed by the Copyright Act of 1976, the United States Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power to create copyright law under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, known as the Copyright Clause. The United States Copyright Office handles copyright registration, recording of copyright transfers, US copyright law traces its lineage back to the British Statute of Anne, which influenced the first US federal copyright law, the Copyright Act of 1790. The Copyright Act has been updated several times, including, notably, the Copyright Act of 1976 and this includes incentivizing the creation of art, literature, architecture, music, and other works of authorship. As with many legal doctrines, the effectiveness of law in achieving its stated purpose is a matter of debate. The United States copyright law protects original works of authorship, fixed in a tangible medium including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and this protection is available to both published and unpublished works. This distinction is called the idea–expression dichotomy, the distinction between idea and expression is fundamental to copyright law. For example, a paper describing a theory is copyrightable. The paper is the expression of the ideas about the political theory. But the theory itself is just an idea, and is not copyrightable, another author is free to describe the same theory in their own words without infringing on the original authors copyright. Although fundamental, the dichotomy is often difficult to put into practice. Reasonable people can disagree about where the unprotectable idea ends and the expression begins. Peter Pan Fabrics, Inc. v. Martin Weiner Corp.274 F. 2d 487, however, compilations of facts are treated differently, and may be copyrightable material. Copyright protection in compilations is limited to the selection and arrangement of facts, the Supreme Court decision in Feist v. Rural clarified the requirements for copyright in compilations. The Feist case denied copyright protection to a white pages phone book, in making this ruling, the Supreme Court rejected the sweat of the brow doctrine
30.
Public domain
–
The term public domain has two senses of meaning. Anything published is out in the domain in the sense that it is available to the public. Once published, news and information in books is in the public domain, in the sense of intellectual property, works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Examples for works not covered by copyright which are therefore in the domain, are the formulae of Newtonian physics, cooking recipes. Examples for works actively dedicated into public domain by their authors are reference implementations of algorithms, NIHs ImageJ. The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, as rights are country-based and vary, a work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required. Although the term public domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined many things that cannot be privately owned as res nullius, res communes, res publicae and res universitatis. The term res nullius was defined as not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as things that could be enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight. The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, when the first early copyright law was first established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the eighteenth century, instead of public domain they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase fall in the domain can be traced to mid-nineteenth century France to describe the end of copyright term. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a coral reef of private right jutting up from the ocean of the public domain. Because copyright law is different from country to country, Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being different sizes at different times in different countries. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of the public domain and equates the public domain to public property. However, the usage of the public domain can be more granular. Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights, the materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival
31.
Royalty payment
–
A royalty is a payment made by one party, the licensee or franchisee to another that owns a particular asset, the licensor or franchisor for the right to ongoing use of that asset. A royalty interest is the right to collect a stream of future royalty payments, license agreements can be regulated, particularly where a government is the resource owner, or they can be private contracts that follow a general structure. However, certain types of agreements have comparable provisions. When a government owns the resource in question, the transaction is subject to legal. In the United States, fee simple ownership of the mineral is possible by a private individual, local taxing authorities may impose a severance tax on the unrenewable natural resources extracted from within their authority. The Federal Government receives royalties on production on federal lands, managed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, an example from Canadas north is the federal Frontier Lands petroleum royalty regime. In this manner risks and profits are shared between the government of Canada and the petroleum developer and this attractive royalty rate is intended to encourage oil and gas exploration in the remote Canadian frontier lands where costs and risks are higher than other locations. In many jurisdictions oil and gas royalty interests are considered property under the NAICS classification code. As a standard example, for every $100 bbl of oil sold on a U. S. federal well with a 25% royalty, the U. S. government does not pay and will only collect revenues. All risk and liability lie upon the operator of the well, Royalties in the forestry industry are called stumpage. An intangible asset such as a patent gives the owner an exclusive right to prevent others from practicing the patented technology in the country issuing the patent for the term of the patent. The right may be enforced in a lawsuit for monetary damages and/or imprisonment for violation on the patent, patent rights may be divided and licensed out in various ways, on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. The license may be subject to limitations as to time or territory, a license may encompass an entire technology or it may involve a mere component or improvement on a technology. In the United States, reasonable royalties may be imposed, both after-the-fact and prospectively, by a court as a remedy for infringement. 0%, however, the range extended from 0% to 50%. All of these agreements may not have been at arms length, in license negotiation, firms might derive royalties for the use of a patented technology from the retail price of the downstream licensed product. In the Arab countries, it may be found, that a royalty as a percentage of sales may be difficult to transact, a flat fee may be preferred as percentages may be interpreted as percentage of profit. Trade marks are words, logos, slogans, sounds, or other expressions that distinguish the source, origin. Trade marks offer the public a means of identifying and assuring themselves of the quality of the good or service and they may bring consumers a sense of security, integrity, belonging, and a variety of intangible appeals
32.
Barry Took
–
Barry Took was an English writer, television presenter and comedian. His decade and a writing partnership with Marty Feldman led to the television series Bootsie and Snudge. He is also remembered in the UK for presenting Points of View, a BBC Television programme featuring viewers letters on the BBCs output, and he attended Stationers School but quit school at age 15. His older brother Philip would eventually work for the US Space Program before dying as a young man, with his limited education, Took found work as an office boy for a publisher and a cinema projectionist. In terms of his writing, Tooks best work was written in collaboration with Marty Feldman. The two men wrote for television shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including The Army Game and its spin-off Bootsie. He co-wrote Beyond Our Ken for two series with Eric Merriman for BBC Radio before leaving after a disagreement with his fellow writer, with Marty Feldman he wrote most episodes of Round the Horne, the intermittent partnership between them continued until 1974. He resigned from this position when Stella Richman, his superior, on the Move, a programme linked to a national campaign against adult illiteracy, was written by Took and featured Bob Hoskins and Donald Gee. He was involved in two television series on the issue, Your Move and Write Away. In 1977 Took hosted his own sketch show, Took. Also featuring Robin Bailey, Chris Emmett, Andrew Sachs and Gwen Taylor, in 1979 he became chairman of The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4, a role he filled for the next 17 years. In the same year he became a presenter of Points of View and he had seven books published, including his autobiography and several histories of comedy. He also wrote Kenneth Williamss life story for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in 1996, during his time with the Royal Air Force he met his first wife, Dorothy Dot Bird, who was serving in the Womens Royal Air Force. They married in 1950 and had three children, but were later divorced, in 1964 he married Lynden Lyn Leonard, this second marriage resulting in a daughter named Elinor. The couple separated in 1999 and eventually divorced, Took was a self-confessed alcoholic, and later acknowledged its detrimental effects on his personal life and career. He also spoke publicly about his experiences with depression and undergoing extensive psychotherapy for several years, after suffering from bladder cancer for a period during the 1970s, in 1999 he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus, and suffered a stroke four weeks after undergoing major surgery. He died at age 73 on Easter Sunday,2002 in a home in Enfield. A Point of View Barry Took at the Internet Movie Database Barry Took – Comedy Zone BBC News article reporting his death
33.
Manfred von Richthofen
–
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during the First World War. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being credited with 80 air combat victories. Originally a cavalryman, Richthofen transferred to the Air Service in 1915 and he quickly distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and during 1917 became leader of Jasta 11 and then the larger unit Jagdgeschwader 1. By 1918, he was regarded as a hero in Germany. Richthofen was shot down and killed near Amiens on 21 April 1918, There has been considerable discussion and debate regarding aspects of his career, especially the circumstances of his death. He remains perhaps the most widely known fighter pilot of all time, Richthofen was a Freiherr, a title of nobility often translated as baron. This is not a name nor strictly a hereditary title—since all male members of the family were entitled to it. This title, combined with the fact that he had his aircraft painted red, led to Richthofen being called The Red Baron both inside and outside Germany, during his lifetime he was more often described in German as Der Rote Kampfflieger. This name was used as the title of Richthofens 1917 autobiography, Manfred von Richthofen was born in Kleinburg, near Breslau, Lower Silesia, on 2 May 1892 into a prominent Prussian aristocratic family. His father was Major Albrecht Philipp Karl Julius Freiherr von Richthofen and he had an elder sister, Ilse, and two younger brothers. When he was four years old, Manfred moved with his family to nearby Schweidnitz and he enjoyed riding horses and hunting as well as gymnastics at school. He excelled at bars and won a number of awards at school. He and his brothers, Lothar and Bolko, hunted wild boar, elk, birds, after being educated at home he attended a school at Schweidnitz before beginning military training when he was 11. After completing cadet training in 1911, he joined an Uhlan cavalry unit, disappointed and bored at not being able to directly participate in combat, the last straw for Richthofen was an order to transfer to the armys supply branch. He is supposed to have written in his application for transfer, I have not gone to war in order to collect cheese and eggs, in spite of this unmilitary attitude, and to his own surprise, his request was granted. Manfred joined the service at the end of May 1915. From June to August 1915, Richthofen served as an observer on reconnaissance missions over the Eastern Front with Feldflieger Abteilung 69, after a chance meeting with the German ace fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke, Richthofen entered training as a pilot in October 1915. In February 1916 Manfred rescued his brother Lothar from the boredom of training new troops in Luben, the following month, Manfred joined Kampfgeschwader 2 flying a two-seater Albatros C. III
34.
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (song)
–
Snoopy vs. the Red Baron is a novelty song written by Phil Gernhard and Dick Holler and recorded in 1966 by the Florida-based pop group The Royal Guardsmen. The song was recorded at the Charles Fuller Productions studio in Tampa, in 2006 they released Snoopy vs Osama. The song was released one year after the first comic strip featuring Snoopy fighting the Red Baron appeared on Sunday October 10,1965. Schulz and United Features Syndicate sued the Royal Guardsmen for using the name Snoopy without permission or an advertising license, UFS won the suit, the penalty being that all publishing revenues from the song would go to them. Schulz did allow the group to write more Snoopy songs, the song begins with a background commentary in faux German, Achtung. Jetzt wir singen zusammen die Geschichte über den Schweinköpfigen Hund und den lieben Red Baron, from 1,46 to 1,54 the song quotes a variant of the instrumental chords from The McCoys version of Hang On Sloopy. In the original recording of Snoopy, the lyrics Hang on Snoopy, Snoopy hang on were sung at this point and this tactic led to some initial speculation that the Guardsmen were the McCoys under a different name. Prior to release, these lyrics were removed to prevent copyright issues, a rare promotional record for the advertising arm of Charles Fuller Productions included the removed lyrics Hang on Sloopy. It is a two-sided 7 that plays at 33-1/3 RPM, the song was featured as a cover version on a childrens album of the same name in the early 1970s by The Peter Pan Pop Band & Singers. In 1973, a group called The Hotshots reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart with their version of the song. In 1967, Italian singer Giorgio Gaber recorded an Italian version of this song and he also recorded a Spanish version, Snoopy contra el Barón Rojo, with lyrics very similar to his Italian version. Also in 1967, Spanish band Los Mustang recorded a different version in Spanish, also titled Snoopy contra el Barón Rojo, with different lyrics from Gabers version. Also in 1967, Brazilian singer Ronnie Von recorded a version, Soneca Contra O Barão Vermelho, in 1990 the song was recorded by Playtown Sound Audio Services and performed by Bert Southwood. The song inspired the title of Kim Newmans novel The Bloody Red Baron, the book features both the Red Baron and Snoopy, though the latter is deliberately unnamed in order to avoid copyright issues. Phil Gernhard, the joint composer of Snoopy, had produced the original version of Stay by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. Dick Hollers other big writing success, a marked contrast of styles to Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, was the tribute song Abraham, Martin & John
35.
Pythonidae
–
The Pythonidae, commonly known simply as pythons, from the Greek word python, are a family of nonvenomous snakes found in Africa, Asia, and Australia. Among its members are some of the largest snakes in the world, eight genera and 31 species are currently recognized. Pythons are found in sub-Saharan Africa, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, southern China, Southeast Asia, and from the Philippines southeast through Indonesia to New Guinea and Australia. In the United States, a population of Burmese pythons. Many species have been hunted aggressively, which has decimated some, most members of this family are ambush predators, in that they typically remain motionless in a camouflaged position, and then strike suddenly at passing prey. They will generally not attack humans unless startled or provoked, although females protecting their eggs can be aggressive, reports of attacks on human beings were once more common in South and Southeast Asia, but are now quite rare. In 2017, there was a case of a human devoured by a python in Sulawesi. All prey is swallowed whole, and may take days or even weeks to fully digest. All snakes, including pythons, are descended from a venomous ancestor and this sets them apart from the family Boidae, most of which bear live young. After they lay their eggs, females typically incubate them until they hatch and this is achieved by causing the muscles to shiver, which raises the temperature of the body to a certain degree, and thus that of the eggs. Keeping the eggs at a constant temperature is essential for healthy embryo development, during the incubation period, females will not eat and only leave to bask to raise their body temperature. Most species in this family are available in the pet trade. However, caution must be exercised with the species, as they can be dangerous. *) Not including the nominate subspecies. T) Type genus, pythons are more closely related to boas than to any other snake family. Boulenger considered this group to be a subfamily of the family Boidae, Pythonidae at the Reptarium. cz Reptile Database
36.
Bernard Montgomery
–
He saw action in the First World War as a junior officer of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. At Méteren, near the Belgian border at Bailleul, he was shot through the lung by a sniper. He returned to the Western Front as a staff officer. He also took part in the Battle of Passchendaele in late 1917 before finishing the war as chief of staff of the 47th Division. During the Second World War he commanded the British Eighth Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia in May 1943 and this command included the Second Battle of El Alamein, a turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the British Eighth Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily and he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normandy. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe, as such he was the principal field commander for the failed airborne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem, and the Allied Rhine crossing. On 4 May 1945 he took the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath in Northern Germany, after the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff. He then served as Deputy Supreme Commander of NATO in Europe until his retirement in 1958. Montgomery was born in Kennington, Surrey, in 1887, the child of nine, to an Ulster-Scots Church of Ireland minister, The Reverend Henry Montgomery. The Montgomerys, an Ascendancy gentry family, were the County Donegal branch of the Clan Montgomery and he was probably a descendant of Colonel Alexander Montgomery. Bernards mother, Maud, was the daughter of The V, rev. Frederic William Canon Farrar, the famous preacher, and was eighteen years younger than her husband. After the death of Sir Robert Montgomery, Henry inherited the Montgomery ancestral estate of New Park in Moville in Inishowen in Ulster. There was still £13,000 to pay on a mortgage, a debt in the 1880s. Despite selling off all the farms that were at Ballynally, there was enough to keep up New Park. It was a relief of some magnitude when, in 1889, Henry was made Bishop of Tasmania, then still a British colony. Bishop Montgomery considered it his duty to spend as much time as possible in the areas of Tasmania and was away for up to six months at a time. While he was away, his wife, still in her mid-twenties, gave her children constant beatings, of Bernards siblings, Sibyl died prematurely in Tasmania, and Harold, Donald and Una all emigrated
37.
Robinson Crusoe
–
Robinson Crusoe /ˌrɒbɪnsən ˈkruːsoʊ/ is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the works protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading readers to believe he was a real person. Despite its simple style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. It is generally seen as a contender for the first English novel, Crusoe sets sail from the Queens Dock in Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who want him to pursue a career, possibly in law. After a tumultuous journey where his ship is wrecked in a storm and this journey, too, ends in disaster, as the ship is taken over by Salé pirates and Crusoe is enslaved by a Moor. Two years later, he escapes in a boat with a boy named Xury, the ship is en route to Brazil. Crusoe sells Xury to the captain, with the captains help, Crusoe procures a plantation. He observes the latitude as 9 degrees and 22 minutes north and he sees penguins and seals on his island. As for his arrival there, only he and three animals, the dog and two cats, survive the shipwreck. Overcoming his despair, he fetches arms, tools and other supplies from the ship before it breaks apart and he builds a fenced-in habitat near a cave which he excavates. By making marks in a cross, he creates a calendar. By using tools salvaged from the ship, and some he makes himself from ironwood, he hunts, grows barley and rice, dries grapes to make raisins, learns to make pottery and he also adopts a small parrot. He reads the Bible and becomes religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing, more years pass and Crusoe discovers native cannibals, who occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. At first he plans to them for committing an abomination but later realizes he has no right to do so. He dreams of obtaining one or two servants by freeing prisoners, when a prisoner escapes, Crusoe helps him, naming his new companion Friday after the day of the week he appeared. Crusoe then teaches him English and converts him to Christianity, after more natives arrive to partake in a cannibal feast, Crusoe and Friday kill most of the natives and save two prisoners. One is Fridays father and the other is a Spaniard, who informs Crusoe about other Spaniards shipwrecked on the mainland. A plan is devised wherein the Spaniard would return to the mainland with Fridays father and bring back the others, build a ship, before the Spaniards return, an English ship appears, mutineers have commandeered the vessel and intend to maroon their captain on the island
