Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction and fantasy novels. His books have sold more than 350 million copies, many of which have been adapted into feature films, television series, comic books. King has published six non-fiction books, he has written 200 short stories, most of which have been published in book collections. King has received Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, British Fantasy Society Awards. In 2003, the National Book Foundation awarded him the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, he has received awards for his contribution to literature for his entire oeuvre, such as the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. In 2015, King was awarded with a National Medal of Arts from the United States National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature, he has been described as the "King of Horror". Stephen King was born September 1947, in Portland, Maine.

His father, Donald Edwin King, was a merchant seaman. Donald was born under the surname Pollock, but as an adult, used the surname King. Stephen's mother was Nellie Ruth; the two were married on July 1939, in Scarborough, Maine. Shortly afterwards, they lived with Donald's family in Chicago moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York; the Kings returned to Maine towards the end of World War II, living in a modest house in Scarborough. When King was two years old, his father left the family. King's mother raised Stephen and his older brother, David, by herself, sometimes under great financial strain; the family moved depending on relatives in Chicago. When King was 11, his family returned to Durham, where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths, she became a caregiver in a local residential facility for the mentally challenged. King lost his belief in organized religion while in high school. While no longer religious, King chooses to believe in the existence of God; as a child, King witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train, though he has no memory of the event.

His family told him that after leaving home to play with the boy, King returned, speechless and in shock. Only did the family learn of the friend's death; some commentators have suggested that this event may have psychologically inspired some of King's darker works, but King makes no mention of it in his memoir On Writing. King related in detail his primary inspiration for writing horror fiction in his non-fiction Danse Macabre, in a chapter titled "An Annoying Autobiographical Pause." King compares his uncle's dowsing for water using the bough of an apple branch with the sudden realization of what he wanted to do for a living. That inspiration occurred while browsing through an attic with his elder brother, when King uncovered a paperback version of an H. P. Lovecraft collection of short stories he remembers as The Lurker in the Shadows, that had belonged to his father. King told Barnes & Noble Studios during a 2009 interview, "I knew that I'd found home when I read that book."King attended Durham Elementary School and graduated from Lisbon Falls High School, in Lisbon Falls, Maine in 1966.

He displayed an early interest in horror as an avid reader of EC's horror comics, including Tales from the Crypt. He began writing for fun while still in school, contributing articles to Dave's Rag, the newspaper his brother published with a mimeograph machine, began selling to his friends stories based on movies he had seen; the first of his stories to be independently published was "I Was a Teenage Grave Robber". That story was published the following year in a revised form as "In a Half-World of Terror" in another fanzine, Stories of Suspense, edited by Marv Wolfman; as a teen, King won a Scholastic Art and Writing Award. From 1966, King studied at the University of Maine, graduating in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English; that year, his daughter Naomi Rachel was born. He wrote a column, Steve King's Garbage Truck, for the student newspaper, The Maine Campus, participated in a writing workshop organized by Burton Hatlen. King held a variety of jobs to pay for his studies, including janitor, gas pump attendant, worker at an industrial laundry.

King met his future wife, fellow student Tabitha Spruce, at the University's Fogler Library after one of Professor Hatlen's workshops. King sold his first professional short story, "The Glass Floor", to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. After graduating from the University of Maine, King earned a certificate to teach high school but, unable to find a teaching post initially supplemented his laboring wage by selling short stories to men's magazines such as Cavalier. Many of these early stories have been republished in the collection Night Shift; the short story "The Raft" was published in a men's magazine. After being arrested for driving over a traffic cone, he was fined $250 and had no money to pay the petty larceny fine. However, payment arrived for the short story "The Raft", King was able to pay the fine. In 1971, King was hired as a teacher at Hampden Academy in Maine, he continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked

Janysh Bakiyev is the former chief of the State Security Service of Kyrgyzstan and brother of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev. In September 2006, Janybek resigned from his senior intelligence after being implicated in planting heroin in the luggage of the main opposition leader, Omurbek Tekebayev, detained in Poland. In the summer of 2008 his son Asylbek Saliev sued two independent newspapers'De Facto' and'Alibi' for libel after they published an article alleging he was involved in a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a pedestrian. Saliev was awarded one million soms from each in compensation. Kyrgyz politicians have accused Janysh Bakiyev of manipulating the law enforcement agencies' illegal operations against the opposition and being the strong hand for his president brother. In May 2010, an audio recording was posted anonymously on YouTube with a caption identifying the voices as those of Janish and Maxim Bakiyev, the former president's son; the men were discussing plans to arm groups to spread chaos across the south of Kyrgyzstan, sometime in June.

Both men have denied the authenticity of the tape. Janish Bakiyev is wanted by the new government, it is claimed that he, as head of the presidential guard, authorized the firing that killed dozens of protesters during the 2010 Kyrgyzstani uprising as well as authorizing the contract killing of Medet Sadyrkulov, former Presidential chief of staff. Janish stated in an interview with the Azeri Press Agency on April 19, 2010, that he will not surrender to the interim government. Along with other members of the Bakiyev clan, Janish is living in Belarus, from whence the authorities are refusing to extradite him

Laine Theatre Arts, sometimes referred to as Laines, is an independent performing arts college, based in the town of Epsom in Surrey, England. The college was founded in 1974 by former professional dancer and dance teacher Betty Laine OBE, developed from an earlier school, the Frecker-Laine School of Dancing, it provides specialist vocational training in dance and musical theatre. The college prepares students for a professional career in the performing arts; the college is accredited by the Council for Dance Education and Training and it offers Qualifications and Curriculum Authority recognised qualifications validated by the Trinity College London. Key areas of study include singing and dancing, it was rated "Outstanding" by Ofsted in 2016. Laine Theatre Arts provides specialist vocational training at further and higher education level in dance and musical theatre; the college prepares students for a professional career in the performing arts and has a history of feeding artists into West End theatre, dance companies, film, pop music and other high-profile areas of the entertainments industry all over the world.

The college offers four tracks of study, covering vocational, professional training in the performing arts: Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance validated by Trinity College London Level 6 Diploma in Professional Musical Theatre validated by Trinity College London Laine Theatre Arts Foundation Diploma in Dance and Musical Theatre BA Musical Theatre (Unique one year post level 5 Diploma, Top Up Honours Degree. Validated by the University for Creative Arts. Both Diploma courses are accredited by Trinity College London and are recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority; the college is accredited to the Council for Dance Education and Training. Many student places at the college are funded by the British Government through the Dance and Drama Awards scheme; the college is an approved centre of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Students have the opportunity to gain nationally recognised dance teaching qualifications with the organisation, in ballet and modern theatre dance.

The college stages an annual production at the local'Epsom Playhouse' theatre. The College offers evening adult dance classes, for both beginners and the initiated. Sir Matthew Bourne Derek Deane David Grindrod Gillian Lynne DBE Stephen Mear Arlene Phillips CBE Stephen Brooker Victoria Beckham Ruthie Henshall Kerry Ellis Charlie Stemp Sean Ghazi Leanne Rowe Gerard McCarthy Summer Strallen Lee Latchford-Evans Enda Markey Ben Richards Sarah Hadland Louise Dearman Karen Bruce Aaron Renfree Nick Winston Alex Sawyer Jo Gibb Charlie Bruce Dominique Provost-Chalkley Anu Palevaara Official site