1.
Anthony Minghella
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Anthony Minghella, CBE was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007 and he won the Academy Award for Best Director for The English Patient. Minghella was born in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight and his family are well-known on the Island, where they have run an eponymous business making and selling Italian-style ice cream since the 1950s. His parents were Edoardo Minghella and Leeds-born Gloria Alberta and his mothers ancestors originally came from Valvori, a small village in the Lazio region of central Italy. One of five children, Minghella attended St. Marys Catholic Primary School, Ryde, Sandown Grammar School and St Johns College, early interests suggested a possible career as a musician, with Minghella playing keyboards with local bands Earthlight and Dancer. The latter recorded an album Tales of the Riverbank in 1972 although it was not released until 2001 and he attended the University of Hull, studying Drama. After several years of teaching at the university, he abandoned his pursuit of a PhD to work for the BBC. His debut work was an adaptation of Gabriel Josipovicis Mobius the Stripper. His double bill of Samuel Becketts Play and Happy Days was his debut and debut feature film as a director was A Little Like Drowning. He wrote several episodes of the ITV detective drama Inspector Morse, made in Bangkok found mainstream success in the West End. Radio success followed with a Giles Cooper Award for the radio drama Cigarettes and it was revived on 3 May 2008 as a tribute to its author director following his death. His production starred Juliet Stevenson, Bill Nighy and Jenny Howe and his first radio play Hang Up, starring Anton Lesser and Juliet Stevenson, was revived on 10 May 2008 as part of the BBC Radio 4 Minghella season. Truly, Madly, Deeply, a drama written and directed for the BBCs Screen Two anthology strand, bypassed TV broadcast. He bypassed an offer of another Inspector Morse directorial to do the project, the English Patient brought him two Academy Awards nominations, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. He also received an Adapted Screenplay nomination for The Talented Mr. Ripley, the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, a pilot episode television adaptation which he co-wrote and directed, was broadcast posthumously on BBC One, watched by 6.3 million viewers. He vocally supported I Know Im Not Alone, a film of musician Michael Frantis peacemaking excursions into Iraq, Palestine and he directed a party election broadcast for the Labour Party in 2005. When you are talking to me, Ill give you my full attention only if I think you are very high status or if I love you, on that party political broadcast, they are staring at each other like lovers. With Samuel Becketts 100th birthday celebrations, he returned to radio on BBC Radio 3 with Eyes Down Looking, with, Jude Law, Juliet Stevenson, an operatic directorial debut came with Puccinis Madama Butterfly
2.
The English Patient
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The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The four main characters are, an unrecognisably burned man—the titular patient, presumed to be English, his Canadian Army nurse, a Sikh British Army sapper, the book won the Booker Prize and the Governor Generals Award. The novels historical backdrop is the North African/Italian Campaigns of World War II, the English patients only possession is a well-worn, and heavily annotated copy of Herodotuss The Histories that has survived the fiery parachute drop. Hearing the book constantly being read aloud to him brings about detailed recollections of his desert explorations, instead, he chooses to believe the assumption by others that he is an Englishman based on the sound of his voice. The patient is in fact László de Almásy, a Hungarian Count and desert explorer, Caravaggio, an Italian-Canadian in the British foreign intelligence service since the late 1930s, befriended Hanas father before the latter died in the war. He learns that Hana is at the villa caring for a patient and he had remained in North Africa to spy when the German forces gain control and then transfers to Italy. He is eventually caught, interrogated, and tortured, they cut off his thumbs. Caravaggio bears physical and psychological scars from his war experience for which he seeks vengeance. Two British soldiers yell at Hana to stop her playing a piano since the Germans often booby-trapped them. One of the soldiers, Kip, an Indian Sikh, a sapper, specializes in bomb. Kip decides to stay at the villa to attempt to clear it of unexploded ordnance, Kip and the English patient immediately become friends. Almásy was mesmerized by Katharines voice as she read Herodotus Histories out loud by the campfire and they soon began a very intense affair, but she cut it short, claiming that Geoffrey would go mad if he were to discover them. Geoffrey offers to return Almásy to Cairo on his plane since the expedition will break camp with the coming of war, Almásy is unaware that Katharine is aboard the plane as it flies low over him and then crashes. Katharine is injured internally and Almásy leaves her in the Cave of Swimmers, Caravaggio tells Almásy that British Intelligence knew about the affair. Almásy makes a trek to British-controlled El Taj for help. When he arrives, he is detained as a spy because of his name and he later guides German spies across the desert to Cairo. Almásy retrieves Katharines body from the Cave and, while flying back and he parachutes from the plane and is found by the Bedouin
3.
Michael Ondaatje
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Philip Michael Ondaatje, CC FRSL, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, novelist, editor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of literary awards such as the Governor Generals Award, the Giller Prize, the Booker Prize. Ondaatje is also an Officer of the Order of Canada, recognizing him as one of Canadas most renowned living authors, along with others like Margaret Atwood. Ondaatjes literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing the books The Dainty Monsters, however, he is more recently recognized for his nationally and internationally successful novel The English Patient, which was adapted into a film in 1996. Ondaatje was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, in 1943, and is of Dutch, Sinhalese and his parents separated when he was just an infant, subsequently living with relatives until 1954 when he joined his mother in England. While in England, Ondaatje pursued secondary education at Dulwich College, after relocating to Canada, Ondaatje studied at Bishops University in Lennoxville, Quebec for three years. However, in his final year he went on to the University of Toronto where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1965, in 1967, he received a Master of Arts from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. While he was working on his degree at Bishops University, Ondaatjes met his future mentor, the poet D. G Jones. After his formal schooling, Ondaatje began teaching English at the University of Western Ontario in London, in 1971, reluctant to get his Ph. D, he left the position at Western and continued teaching English literature at Glendon College, York University. Ondaatjes work includes fiction, autobiography, poetry and film and he has published 13 books of poetry, and won the Governor Generals Award for The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and Theres a Trick With a Knife Im Learning to Do, Poems 1973–1978. Anils Ghost was the winner of the 2000 Giller Prize, the Prix Médicis, the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, the English Patient won the Booker Prize, the Canada Australia Prize, and the Governor Generals Award. It was adapted as a picture, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Coming Through Slaughter, is a set in New Orleans, Louisiana circa 1900, loosely based on the lives of jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden. It was the winner of the 1976 Books in Canada First Novel Award, running in the Family is a semi-fictional memoir of his Sri Lankan childhood. Ondaatjes novel Divisadero won the 2007 Governor Generals Award, in 2011 Ondaatje worked with Daniel Brooks to create a play based on this novel. The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Coming Through Slaughter and Divisadero have been adapted for the stage and produced in theatrical productions across North America, in addition to The English Patient adaptation, Ondaatjes films include a documentary on fellow poet B. P. Nichol, Sons of Captain Poetry, and The Clinton Special, A Film About The Farm Show, on 11 July 1988, Ondaatje was made an Officer of the Order of Canada which was later upgraded to grade of companion in 2016, the highest level of the order. In 2005, he was honoured with Sri Lanka Ratna by the former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka Ratna is the highest honour given by the Government of Sri Lanka for foreign nationals
4.
Ralph Fiennes
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Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor. A noted Shakespeare interpreter, he first achieved success onstage at the Royal National Theatre and his performance as Count Almásy in The English Patient garnered him a second Academy Award nomination, for Best Actor, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. He voiced Rameses in The Prince of Egypt and Alfred Pennyworth in The Lego Batman Movie, in 2011, Fiennes made his directorial debut with his film adaptation of Shakespeares tragedy Coriolanus, in which he also played the title character. Fiennes won a Tony Award for playing Prince Hamlet on Broadway, since 1999, Fiennes has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK. One of the highest profile actors in contemporary British popular culture, Fiennes was born in Ipswich, on 22 December 1962. He is the eldest child of Mark Fiennes, a farmer and photographer, and Jennifer Lash and he has English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His surname is of Norman origin and his grandfathers were industrialist Sir Maurice Fiennes and Brigadier Henry Alleyne Lash. His great-great-uncle was Edward Pomeroy Colley, a Civil Engineer and first class passenger who died in the sinking of RMS Titanic, Fiennes is an eighth cousin of Charles, Prince of Wales, and a third cousin of adventurer Ranulph Fiennes and author William Fiennes. He is the eldest of six children and his siblings are actor Joseph Fiennes, Martha Fiennes, a director, Magnus Fiennes, a composer, Sophie Fiennes, a filmmaker, and Jacob Fiennes, a conservationist. His foster brother, Michael Emery, is an archaeologist and his nephew Hero Fiennes-Tiffin played Tom Riddle, young Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The Fiennes family moved to Ireland in 1973, living in West Cork, Fiennes was educated at St Kierans College for one year, followed by Newtown School, a Quaker independent school in County Waterford. They moved to Salisbury in England, where Fiennes finished his schooling at Bishop Wordsworths School and he went on to pursue painting at Chelsea College of Art before deciding that acting was his true passion. Fiennes trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1983 and 1985 and he began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park and also at the National Theatre before achieving prominence at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Fiennes first worked on screen in 1990 and made his debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Emily Brontës Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche. He had a role in Peter Greenaways film The Baby of Mâcon with Julia Ormond. Later that year he became known internationally for portraying the amoral Nazi concentration camp commandant Amon Göth in Steven Spielbergs Schindlers List, for this he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He did not win the Oscar, but did win the Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award for the role and his portrayal of Göth also earned him a spot on the American Film Institutes list of Top 50 Film Villains. Fiennes gained weight to represent Göth, but shed it afterwards, Fiennes later stated that playing the role had a profoundly disturbing effect on him
5.
Juliette Binoche
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Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 60 feature films, been recipient of international awards. Coming from a background, she began taking acting lessons during adolescence. Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being, directed by Philip Kaufman, for her performance in Lasse Hallströms romantic comedy Chocolat, Binoche was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. During the 2000s she maintained a career, alternating between French and English language roles in both mainstream and art-house productions. In 2010, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Abbas Kiarostamis Certified Copy making her the first actress to win the European Best Actress Triple Crown. In 2008 she began a tour with a modern dance production in-i devised in collaboration with Akram Khan. Binoche was born in Paris, the daughter of Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and sculptor, and Monique Yvette Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress. Her father, who is French, also has one eighth Portuguese-Brazilian ancestry, juliettes mother was born in Częstochowa, Poland. Binoches maternal grandfather, Andre Stalens, was born in Poland, of Belgian and French descent, both of them were actors who were born in Częstochowa, the German Nazi occupiers imprisoned them at Auschwitz as intellectuals. When Binoches parents divorced in 1968, four-year-old Binoche and her sister Marion were sent to a boarding school. During their teens, the Binoche sisters spent their holidays with their maternal grandmother. Binoche has stated that this perceived parental abandonment had an effect on her. She was not particularly academic and in her years began acting at school in amateur stage-productions. At 17 she directed and starred in a student production of the Eugène Ionesco play and she studied acting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur dArt Dramatique, but quit after a short time as she disliked the curriculum. In the early 1980s, she found an agent through a friend and joined a troupe, touring France, Belgium. Around this time she began lessons with acting coach Vera Gregh, after this Binoche secured her first feature-film appearance with a minor role in Pascal Kanés Liberty Belle. Her role required just two days on–set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film, Binoches early films established her as a French star of some renown
6.
Willem Dafoe
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William J. Willem Dafoe is an American actor. His other film appearances include The Last Temptation of Christ, The English Patient, American Psycho and he has also had voice roles in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, Fantastic Mr. Fox and the forthcoming adaptation of Death Note. Dafoe was born in Appleton, Wisconsin, in high school, he acquired the nickname Willem. His fathers ancestry is French-Canadian, Swiss and English, and his mothers ancestry is German and he was once expelled from high school for shooting a pornographic film. She, with her romantic partner Spalding Gray and others, edged out Schechner. Within a year Dafoe was part of the company, Dafoe, who would continue with the Wooster Group into the 2000s, began his film career in 1981, when he was cast in Heavens Gate only to see his role removed from the film during editing. As Dafoe recalled of his first film experience, I worked for Jeff Bridges character in the story, I was there for three months and I worked a lot. It was the kind of thing where you were hired to play an unscripted character, cimino turned around and said, Willem step out, and that was that. I was the lamb for sacrifice, in 1982, he starred as the leader of an Outlaw motorcycle club in The Loveless, and then played a similar role in Streets of Fire. In the mid-1980s, he was cast by William Friedkin to star in To Live, and, also, its fun to be bad and the only problem is often villain roles are devices and they lack a certain depth. Theyre signs, theyre signals and after a little while you want something to chew on, I think the best work comes when youre unsure, when youre terrified, when youre off balance. Dafoe would go on to gain his widest exposure up to that point playing the compassionate Sergeant Elias in Oliver Stones Platoon and he enjoyed the opportunity to play a heroic role, and said the film gave him a chance to display his versatility. I think all characters live in you and you just frame them, give them circumstances, and that character will happen. In 1988, Dafoe starred in another film set during the Vietnam War and he has since become a popular character actor. He is often cast as unstable or villainous characters, such as the Green Goblin in Spider-Man, before that, he was briefly considered for the role of the Joker by Tim Burton and Sam Hamm for 1989s Batman. Hamm recalls We thought, Well, Willem Dafoe looks just like The Joker, the role eventually went to Jack Nicholson. Dafoe starred in the erotic drama Body of Evidence with Madonna, in 1991, he portrayed a Manhattan drug dealer in the Paul Schrader film Light Sleeper. Dafoe played an eccentric FBI agent in The Boondock Saints and an investigator in American Psycho
7.
Kristin Scott Thomas
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Dame Kristin Ann Scott Thomas, DBE is an English actress. She won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award for Four Weddings, for her work in the theatre, she has been nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actress five times, winning in 2008 for the Royal Court revival of The Seagull. Scott Thomas made her debut in the Prince-directed Under the Cherry Moon in 1986, Further film roles include Bitter Moon, Mission, Impossible, The Horse Whisperer, Gosford Park. She has also worked in French cinema, winning the European Film Award for Best Actress for Philippe Claudels Ive Loved You So Long and her other French films include The Valet, Tell No One, Leaving and Sarahs Key. Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall, Scott Thomas was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Her childhood home was in Trent, Dorset, England and her mother remarried, to another Royal Navy pilot, who also died in a flying accident, six years after the death of her father. Scott Thomas was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and St Antonys Leweston in Sherborne, Dorset, on leaving school she moved to Hampstead, London, and worked in a department store. She then began training to be a teacher at the Central School of Speech. On being told she would never be a good enough actress and her breakthrough role was in a 1988 adaptation of Evelyn Waughs A Handful of Dust, where she won an Evening Standard British Film Award for most promising newcomer. This was followed by roles opposite Hugh Grant in Bitter Moon and Four Weddings,1996 saw the release of her most famous role as Katharine Clifton in The English Patient, which gained her Golden Globe and Oscar nominations as well as critical acclaim. This was followed by a period working in Hollywood on films such as The Horse Whisperer with Robert Redford. However, growing disillusioned with Hollywood, she took a year off to give birth to her third child and she reprised the role in New York in September 2008. In summer 2011 Scott Thomas returned to Londons West End to star as Emma in Harold Pinters Betrayal at the Comedy Theatre, the revival was directed by Ian Rickson. Her husband was played by Ben Miles and the triangle was completed by Douglas Henshall. In January 2013, she starred in another Pinter play, Old Times, in 2014 she appeared at The Old Vic in the title role of Sophocless Electra. Scott Thomas also has acted in French films, in 2006, she played the role of Hélène, in French, in Ne le dis à personne, by French director Guillaume Canet. In 2008, Scott Thomas received many accolades for her performance in Il y a longtemps que je taime, including BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2003 Birthday Honours and she was named a Chevalier of the Légion dhonneur by the French Government in 2005
8.
Naveen Andrews
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Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British-American actor. He is known for roles, such as Sayid Jarrah in the television series Lost, Kip Singh in the film The English Patient. Andrews was born in Lambeth, London to Nirmala, a psychologist, and Stanley Andrews and he was brought up in Wandsworth in the Methodist denomination in what he later described as a very repressive upbringing. Andrews was shunned by his parents after this and they died before a reconciliation and he has stated that he forgives them now. Andrews auditioned for drama school and was accepted at Londons Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Ewan McGregor and his studies paid off when he won a role in Hanif Kureshis film, London Kills Me. Andrews starred in the 1993 BBC miniseries Buddha of Suburbia. He portrayed Kip Singh in The English Patient and Sayid in the television series Lost. In 2006, he was voted one of People magazines Worlds Most Beautiful People and he starred in Kama Sutra, A Tale of Love, Mighty Joe Young and Bride and Prejudice. He recently starred as Jafar in the American fantasy drama Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, in 2014, he provided the voice of Sabal in the video game Far Cry 4. Starting in 2015, he stars in the series Sense8 as Jonas, Andrews was in a relationship with schoolteacher Geraldine Feakins from 1985 to 1991. They fell in love while Andrews was aged 16 and he moved into her home in order to escape an abusive household. His parents shunned him following this and they died without reconciling with their son, naveen had a son, Jaisal Andrews, in 1992. He was later in a relationship with actress Barbara Hershey in Los Angeles, the couple separated briefly in 2005 and, during that time, Andrews had a son with Czech-French actress Elena Eustache. He and Hershey later reconciled, however, in May,2010 and he has been involved in an ongoing custody dispute with Eustache over their son, and on January 7,2009, Andrews was granted sole legal and physical custody of the child. Andrews has spoken about his alcoholism and his addiction to heroin in the mid-90s. He has described an incident in which he collapsed on set and was treated by the emergency services and he plays guitar and sings, while tap-dancing to his own tune as a hobby. He became a naturalised U. S. citizen on 27 May 2010, naveen Andrews at the Internet Movie Database
9.
Colin Firth
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Colin Andrew Firth, CBE is an English actor. His films have grossed more than $3 billion from 42 releases worldwide, Firth has received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as the Volpi Cup. Firths most notable and acclaimed role to date has been his 2010 portrayal of King George VI in The Kings Speech and this led to roles in films such as The English Patient, Bridget Joness Diary, Shakespeare in Love, and Love Actually. In 2009, Firth received widespread acclaim for his leading role in A Single Man, for which Firth gained his first Academy Award nomination. Firth starred in the spy movie Kingsman, The Secret Service in 2014. In 2011, Firth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Winchester in 2007, and was made a Freeman of the City of London in 2012. He has campaigned for the rights of tribal peoples, and is a member of Survival International. Firth has also campaigned on issues of asylum seekers, refugees rights, and he commissioned and is credited as a co-author on a scientific paper on a study into the differences in brain structure between people of differing political orientations. Firth was born in the village of Grayshott, Hampshire, to parents who were both academics and teachers, Firth is the eldest of three children, he has a sister, Kate, an actress and voice coach, and a brother, Jonathan, an actor. Both of his parents were raised in India, because his grandparents, Congregationalist ministers, and his paternal grandfather. As a child, Firth travelled a lot due to his parents work and he also lived in St. Louis, Missouri when he was 11, which he has described as a difficult time. On returning to England, he attended the Montgomery of Alamein Secondary School and he was still an outsider and was the target of bullying. To counter this, he adopted the working class Hampshire accent. By the time he was 14, Firth had already decided to be a professional actor, until further education, he was not academically inclined, later saying in an interview, I didnt like school. I just thought it was boring and mediocre and nothing they taught me seemed to be of any interest at all, after his sixth form years, Firth moved to London and joined the National Youth Theatre. There, he made contacts in the acting world, from which he got a job in the wardrobe department at the National Theatre. From there, he went on to study at Drama Centre London, in 1984, Firth made his film debut in the role of Tommy Judd, Guy Bennetts straight, Marxist school friend in the screen adaptation of the play. This was the start of longstanding public feud between Firth and Everett, which was later resolved and he starred with Sir Laurence Olivier in Lost Empires, a TV adaptation of J. B
10.
Walter Murch
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Walter Scott Murch is an American film editor and sound designer. Murch was born in New York City, New York, the son of Katharine and Canadian-born Walter Tandy Murch, as a boy, he began to experiment with sound recording, taping unusual sounds and layering them into new combinations. He attended The Collegiate School, a preparatory school in Manhattan. In the summer of 1961 he worked as a music librarian and he assisted with the July 29th 1961 live broadcast of a 12-hour folk music Hootenanny produced by Izzy Young. This featured, among other acts, the first radio performance of the 20-year-old Bob Dylan. Murch then attended Johns Hopkins University from 1961 to 1965, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in Liberal Arts, Murch spent the university school year 1963-1964 in Europe, studying Romance Languages and the History of Art in Italy at Perugia and in France at the Sorbonne. While at Johns Hopkins, he met future director/screenwriter Matthew Robbins and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, in 1965, Murch and Robbins enrolled in the graduate program of the University of Southern Californias film school, encouraging Deschanel to follow them. Not long after school, in 1969, Murch, Lucas. Murch and his family settled in Bolinas, California, in 1972, Murch started editing and mixing sound with Francis Ford Coppolas The Rain People. Murch also mixed the sound for Coppolas The Godfather Part II which was released in 1974 and he did sound design work on Apocalypse Now, for which he won his first Academy Award in 1979. In 1985 he directed his own film, Return to Oz, Murch edits in a standing position, comparing the process of film editing to conducting, brain surgery and short-order cooking, since all conductors, cooks and surgeons stand when they work. In contrast, when writing, he does so lying down, Murch has written one book on film editing, In the Blink of an Eye, which has been translated into many languages including Chinese, Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, French, German and Hungarian. Before this, he wrote the foreword to Michel Chions Audio-Vision, in 2007 the documentary Murch premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival, which centered on Murch and his thoughts on filmmaking. In 2012, Murchs translations of stories by the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte were published as The Bird That Swallowed Its Cage. Murch directed just one film in his career, the fantasy Return to Oz in 1985. After the film failed at the box office, he never directed another film again, while he was editing directly on film, Murch took notice of the crude splicing used for the daily rough-cuts. In response, he invented a modification which concealed the splice by using extremely narrow, in 1979, he won an Oscar for the sound mix of Apocalypse Now as well as a nomination for picture editing. The movie was the first multi-channel film to be mixed using a mixing board
11.
Miramax
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Miramax is an American entertainment company known for producing and distributing films and television shows. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, shortly thereafter, Pulp Fiction was released. Miramax was sold by Disney to Filmyard Holdings, a joint venture of Colony Capital, Tutor-Saliba Corporation, in 2016, ownership was transferred to beIN Media Group. The company was founded by the brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein in Buffalo, New York in 1979 and it was created to distribute independent films deemed commercially unfeasible by the major studios. The Weinsteins worked with Lewis to distill the two films into one film for the US marketplace, the resulting film The Secret Policemans Other Ball was a successful release for Miramax in the summer of 1982. This release presaged a modus operandi that the company would later in the 1980s of acquiring films from international filmmakers. Among the companys other breakthrough films as distributors in the late 1980s and early 1990s were Scandal, Sex, Lies, the Crying Game, Pulp Fiction and Clerks. The company also made such as Flirting with Disaster, Heavenly Creatures. Miramax acquired and/or produced many films that did extraordinarily well financially. The company became one of the leaders of the independent film boom of the 1990s, Miramax produced or distributed seven films with box office grosses totaling more than $100 million, its most successful title, Chicago, earned more than $300 million worldwide. The company was also successful in securing Academy Award nominations for its releases. In 1992, Miramax began a deal with Paramount Pictures for VHS, Paramount would also distribute theatrically certain releases that might have commercial appeal. On June 30,1993, Miramax was purchased for $60 million by The Walt Disney Company, Harvey and Bob Weinstein continued to operate Miramax until they left the company on September 30,2005. During their tenure, the Weinstein brothers ran Miramax independently of other Disney subsidiaries, Disney, however, had the final say on what Miramax could release. Disneys Buena Vista Home Entertainment division released Miramax output, Miramax operated, until September 30,2005, the label Dimension Films, specializing in genre films and created the Scream and Scary Movie film franchises. The primary source of dispute was over distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore, Disneys film studio consortium, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group assumed control of Miramax, which was projected to have a smaller annual production budget. The Weinsteins started a new production company called The Weinstein Company. The Miramax name remained with the studio owned by Disney
12.
Romance film
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Romance films make the romantic love story or the search for strong and pure love and romance the main plot focus. Occasionally, romance lovers face obstacles such as finances, physical illness, various forms of discrimination, as in all quite strong, deep, and close romantic relationships, tensions of day-to-day life, temptations, and differences in compatibility enter into the plots of romantic films. In romantic television series, the development of romantic relationships may play out over many episodes. Historical romance - A romantic story with a period setting and this includes films such as Gone with the Wind, Doctor Zhivago and Titanic. Romantic drama usually revolves around an obstacle which prevents deep and true love between two people. Music is often employed to indicate the mood, creating an atmosphere of greater insulation for the couple. The conclusion of a romantic drama typically does not indicate whether a final union between the two main characters will occur. Chick flick is a term associated with romance films as many are targeted to a female audience. As such, the terms cannot be used interchangeably, films of this genre include Dirty Dancing, The Notebook, Dear John, A Walk to Remember, and Romeo + Juliet. Romantic comedies are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as true love is able to surmount most obstacles. Humour in such films tends to be of a verbal, low-key variety or situational, films within this genre include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually, Moonstruck, As Good as It Gets, Somethings Gotta Give, It Happened One Night, When Harry Met Sally. Romantic fantasies describe fantasy stories using many of the elements and conventions of the romance genre, romantic action comedies are films that blend romantic comedy and action. Examples include Killers, Knight and Day, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, This Means War, romantic thriller is a genre of film which has a storyline combining elements of the romance film and the thriller genre. Some examples of romantic thriller films are The Adjustment Bureau, The Phantom of the Opera, The Tourist, The Bodyguard, Unfaithful, and Wicker Park
13.
War film
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War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them, themes explored include combat, survival and escape, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War films are categorized by their milieu, such as the Korean War. The stories told may be fiction, historical drama, or biographical, critics have noted similarities between the Western and the war film. Subgenres, not necessarily distinct, include anti-war, comedy, animated, propaganda, the war film genre is not necessarily tightly defined, the American Film Institute, for example, speaks of films to grapple with the Great War without attempting to classify these. However, some directors and critics have offered at least tentative definitions, the director Sam Fuller defined the genre by saying that a war film’s objective, no matter how personal or emotional, is to make a viewer feel war. However, Neale notes, films set in the American Civil War or the American Indian Wars of the 19th century were called war films in the time before the First World War, the film scholar Kathryn Kane points out some similarities between the war film genre and the Western. Both genres use opposing concepts like war and peace, civilization, james Clarke notes the similarity between a Western like Sam Peckinpahs The Wild Bunch and war-movie escapades like The Dirty Dozen. They take place in the combat zones of World War II, against the established enemies, on the ground. They contain many repeated events, such as mail call, all presented visually with appropriate uniforms, equipment and she argues that the combat film is not a subgenre but the only genuine kind of war film. This in turn pushes combat scenes to the ends of war films. Not all critics agree, either, that war films must be about 20th century wars, the costliest war in U. S. history in terms of American life, this war has been the subject of, or the backdrop to, numerous films, documentaries and mini-series. One of the earliest films using the Civil War as its subject was D. W. Griffiths 1910 silent picture, The Fugitive. Some films such as Gettysburg focused on a battle during the war, or even on a single incident, like the French short film. Others like the 1993 miniseries North and South spanned the entire breadth of the war, some films deal with the human aspects of the war, such as The Red Badge of Courage, or Shenandoah, on the tragedy that the war inflicted on the civilian population. Ken Burnss The Civil War is the most watched documentary in the history of PBS, the first war films come from the Spanish–American War of 1898. Short actualities – documentary film-clips – included Burial of the Maine Victims, Blanket-Tossing of a New Recruit and these non-combat films were accompanied by reenactments of fighting, such as of Theodore Roosevelts Rough Riders in action against the Spanish, staged in the United States
14.
69th Academy Awards
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During the ceremony, AMPAS presented the Academy Awards in 24 categories honoring films released in 1996. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates, Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the fifth time. He first presided over the 62nd ceremony held in 1990 and had last hosted the 65th ceremony held in 1993. Three weeks earlier, in a ceremony held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on March 1, the English Patient won the most awards of the evening with nine including Best Picture. The English Patient received the most nominations with twelve, Fargo, the winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 24,1997. Saul Zaentz became the person to produce three Best Picture winners, having previously produced One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Amadeus. He also became the individual to receive an Oscar and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in the same year. Best Actress winner Frances McDormand was the first person to win for a role in a directed by his or her spouse. Best Original Musical or Comedy Score winner Rachel Portman became the first female winner for composing a musical score, winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double-dagger. Michael Kidd Saul Zaentz The following individuals, in order of appearance, after taking a year off, Gil Cates was selected by AMPAS in November 1996 to oversee production of the ceremony for the seventh time. Hes become the standard against which all other hosting performances are measured, Crystal expressed his excitement on hosting the ceremony for the fifth time joking, Once Barry Scheck turned it down, I had a feeling theyd come to me. Furthermore he set up a website with the address www. whyistheshowsolong. com asking the public to send in jokes that would eventually be used during the gala, as with previous ceremonies he produced, Cates centered the show around a theme. This year, he christened the show with the theme Togetherness of Moviegoing commenting, the only other areas where you do that, when you think about it, are religion and sports. He concluded by noting that the theater is a wonderful place where you come together to laugh. In tandem with the theme, actress Winona Ryder presented a montage featuring film clips from Matinee, Casablanca, several other people and elements were also involved with the production of the ceremony. Documentary filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman designed the official ceremony poster featuring the titles of the previous 68 Best Picture winners superimposed in the shape of an Oscar statuette, Film composer and musician Bill Conti served as musical director of the ceremony. Choreographer Otis Sallid supervised the That Thing You Do musical number, michael Flatley and the cast of the musical Lord of the Dance performed a dance number during a montage saluting the art of Film Editors. Pianist David Helfgott, whom Best Actor winner Geoffrey Rush portrayed in the film Shine, however, after Cole contracted the flu, she withdrew for her performance duties and was eventually replaced by Celine Dion who also sang Because You Loved Me later in the broadcast
15.
Academy Award for Best Director
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The Academy Award for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of a director who has exhibited outstanding directing while working in the film industry. However, these categories were merged for all subsequent ceremonies, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the directors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. For the first eleven years of the Academy Awards, directors were allowed to be nominated for multiple films in the same year, the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 89 films that have been awarded Best Picture,63 have also been awarded Best Director, since its inception, the award has been given to 69 directors or directing teams. John Ford has received the most awards in this category with four, william Wyler was nominated on twelve occasions, more than any other individual. As of the 2017 ceremony, Damien Chazelle is the most recent winner in category for his work on La La Land. Chazelle also became the youngest director in history to receive this award, two directing teams have shared the award, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story in 1961 and Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men in 2007. The Coen brothers are the siblings to have won the award. For the first five ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned twelve months from August 1 to July 31, for the 6th ceremony held in 1934, the eligibility period lasted from August 1,1932 to December 31,1933. Since the 7th ceremony held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full calendar year from January 1 to December 31. org The Academy Awards Database Oscar. com
16.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
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The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered a performance in a supporting role while working within the film industry. At the 9th Academy Awards ceremony held in 1937, Gale Sondergaard was the first winner of award for her role in Anthony Adverse. Initially, winners in both supporting acting categories were awarded instead of statuettes. Beginning with the 16th ceremony held in 1944, however, winners received full-sized statuettes, currently, nominees are determined by single transferable vote within the actors branch of AMPAS, winners are selected by a plurality vote from the entire eligible voting members of the Academy. Since its inception, the award has given to 78 actresses. Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters have received the most awards in this category with two awards each, despite winning no awards, Thelma Ritter was nominated on six occasions, more than any other actress. As of the 2017 ceremony, Viola Davis is the most recent winner in category for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences. In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of release in Los Angeles County. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, University of Toronto Press, inside Oscar, The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards. New York, United States, Ballantine Books, oscars. org Oscar. com The Academy Awards Database
17.
British Academy Film Awards
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The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to honour the best British and international contributions to film. Between 2008 and 2016, the ceremony was held in central London at the Royal Opera House, the 70th British Academy Film Awards were held on 12 February 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. British Academy of Film and Television Arts was founded in 1947 as The British Film Academy, by David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Roger Manvell and others. BAFTA stated charitable purpose is to support, develop and promote the art forms of the image, by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners. In addition to awards ceremonies BAFTA runs a year-round programme of educational events including film screenings. BAFTA is supported by a membership of about 6,000 people from the film, television, the Academys awards are in the form of a theatrical mask designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe, which was commissioned by the Guild of Television Producers in 1955. The ceremony previously took place in April or May and since 2002 it takes place in February in order to precede the Oscars. The awards are open to all nationalities, though there is an award for Outstanding British Film. Only UK films are eligible for the categories of The British Short Film, the Awards ceremony is delayed broadcast on British television the same evening, and across the world for example its shown on BBC America in the United States. It has been broadcast in colour since 1970, the award ceremony is held in London. From 2000 to 2007 the ceremonies took place at the flagship Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, between 2008 and 2016, the ceremonies took place at the Royal Opera House. The 70th Awards in 2017 were held at the Royal Albert Hall, until 2012, the mobile network Orange sponsored the awards and starting in 2013 Oranges parent company, EE, began sponsorship. British Academy of Film and Television Arts British Academy Television Awards Official website BAFTA Awards database Museum of Broadcast Communications, BAFTA IMDB, BAFTA
18.
Golden Globe Award
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
19.
British Film Institute
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The British Film Institute is a film and charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI maintains the worlds largest film archive, the BFI National Archive, previously called National Film Library, National Film Archive and National Film, the archive contains more than 50,000 fiction films, over 100,000 non-fiction titles and around 625,000 television programmes. The majority of the collection is British material but it also features internationally significant holdings from around the world, the Archive also collects films which feature key British actors and the work of British directors. The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and London IMAX cinema, both located on the bank of the River Thames in London. The IMAX has the largest cinema screen in the UK, and shows popular recent releases and short films showcasing its technology, BFI Southbank shows films from all over the world particularly critically acclaimed historical & specialised films that may not otherwise get a cinema showing. The BFI also distributes archival and cultural cinema to other venues – each year to more than 800 venues all across the UK, the BFI offers a range of education initiatives, in particular to support the teaching of film and media studies in schools. In late 2012, the BFI received money from the Department For Education to create the BFI Film Academy Network, the BFI runs the annual London Film Festival along with BFI Flare, London LGBT Film Festival and the youth-orientated Future Film Festival. The BFI publishes the monthly Sight & Sound magazine as well as films on Blu-ray, DVD, SIFT has a collection of about 7 million still frames from film and television. The institute was founded in 1933, the institute was restructured following the Radcliffe Report of 1948 which recommended that it should concentrate on developing the appreciation of filmic art, rather than creating film itself. Thus control of film production passed to the National Committee for Visual Aids in Education. From 1952-2000, the BFI provided funding for new and experimental filmmakers via the BFI Production Board, the institute received a Royal Charter in 1983. This was updated in 2000, and in the year the newly established UK Film Council took responsibility for providing the BFIs annual grant-in-aid. As an independent registered charity, the BFI is regulated by the Charity Commission, in 1988, the BFI opened the London Museum of the Moving Image on the South Bank. The Museum was temporarily closed in 1999 when the BFI stated that it would be re-sited and this did not happen, and MOMIs closure became permanent in 2002 when it was decided to redevelop the South Bank site. This redevelopment was itself then further delayed, the BFI is currently managed on a day-to-day basis by its chief executive, Amanda Nevill. Supreme decision-making authority rests with a chair and a board of up to 14 governors, the current chair is Josh Berger, who took up the post in February 2016. He succeeded Greg Dyke, who took office on 1 March 2008, Dyke succeeded the late Anthony Minghella, who was chair from 2003 until 31 December 2007. The chair of the board is appointed by the BFIs own Board of Governors but requires the consent of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, other Governors are co-opted by existing board members when required
20.
Italian Campaign (World War II)
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The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, some 60, 000–70,000 Allied and 60, overall Allied casualties during the campaign totaled about 320,000 and the corresponding German figure was well over 600,000. Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about 200,000 casualties, mostly POWs taken in the Allied invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing. Besides them, over 150,000 Italian civilians died, as did 15,197 anti-Fascist partisans and 13,021 troops of the Italian Social Republic. The campaign ended when Army Group C surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2,1945, the independent states of San Marino and the Vatican, both surrounded by Italian territory, also suffered damage during the campaign. Even prior to victory in the North African Campaign in May 1943, the British, especially the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, advocated their traditional naval-based peripheral strategy. The United States, with a larger army, favoured a more direct method of fighting the main force of the German Army in Northern Europe. The ability to such a campaign depended on first winning the Battle of the Atlantic. There was even pressure from some Latin American countries to stage an invasion of Spain, the British argued that the presence of large numbers of troops trained for amphibious landings in the Mediterranean made a limited-scale invasion possible and useful. A contributing factor was Franklin D. Roosevelts desire to keep US troops active in the European theatre during 1943 and it was hoped that an invasion might knock Italy out of the conflict, or at least increase the pressure on them and weaken them further. A combined Allied invasion of Sicily began on 10 July 1943 with both amphibious and airborne landings at the Gulf of Gela, the land forces involved were the U. S. Seventh Army, under Lieutenant General George S. Patton, the original plan contemplated a strong advance by the British northwards along the east coast to Messina, with the Americans in a supporting role along their left flank. The defending German and Italian forces were unable to prevent the Allied capture of the island, but succeeded in evacuating most of their troops to the mainland, the Allied forces gained experience in opposed amphibious operations, coalition warfare and mass airborne drops. Forces of the British Eighth Army, still under Montgomery, landed in the toe of Italy on 3 September 1943 in Operation Baytown, the armistice was publicly announced on 8 September by two broadcasts, first by General Eisenhower and then by a proclamation by Marshal Badoglio. Although the German forces prepared to defend without Italian assistance, only two of their divisions opposite the Eighth Army and one at Salerno were not tied up disarming the Royal Italian Army, on 9 September, forces of the U. S. Fifth Army, under Lieutenant General Mark W, although none of the northern reserves were made available to the German 10th Army, it nevertheless came close to repelling the Salerno landing, due mainly to the cautious command of Clark. As the Allies advanced, they encountered increasingly difficult terrain, the Apennine Mountains form a spine along the Italian peninsula offset somewhat to the east, the rivers were subject to sudden and unexpected flooding, which constantly thwarted the Allied commanders plans. This would make the most of the natural geography of Central Italy, whilst denying the Allies the easy capture of a succession of airfields
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French Canadians
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French Canadians are an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to French colonists who settled in Canada from the 17th century onward. Today, French Canadians constitute the main French-speaking population in Canada, today, French Canadians live across North America. The province of Quebec has the largest population of French-Canadian descent, though smaller communities exist throughout Canada, between 1840 and 1930, roughly 900,000 French Canadians emigrated to the United States, mostly to the New England region. Other terms for French Canadians who continue to reside in the province of Quebec, are Quebecers or Québécois, the other major group of French Canadians are the Acadians who reside in the Maritime Provinces. In total, those who identify as French Canadian, French, Québécois, the French Canadians get their name from Canada, the most developed and densely populated region of New France during the period of French colonization in the 17th and 18th century. The original use of the term Canada referred to the area along the St. From 1535 to the 1690s, the French word Canadien had referred to the First Nations the French had encountered in the St. Lawrence River valley at Stadacona, at the end of the 17th century, Canadien became an ethnonym distinguishing the inhabitants of Canada from those of France. French Canadians living in Canada express their identity using a number of terms. The Ethnic Diversity Survey of the 2006 Canadian census found that French-speaking Canadians identified their ethnicity most often as French, French Canadians, Québécois, the latter three were grouped together by Jantzen as French New World ancestries because they originate in Canada. Canadien was used to refer to the French-speaking residents of New France beginning in the last half of the 17th century, the English-speaking residents who arrived later from Great Britain were called Anglais. This usage continued until Canadian Confederation in 1867 and those reporting French New World ancestries overwhelmingly had ancestors that went back at least four generations in Canada. Fourth generation Canadiens and Québécois showed considerable attachment to their group, with 70% and 61%, respectively. The generational profile and strength of identity of French New World ancestries contrast with those of British or Canadian ancestries, which represent the largest ethnic identities in Canada. As a result, their identification with their ethnicity is weaker, for example, only 50% of third generation Canadians strongly identify as such, bringing down the overall average. The survey report notes that 80% of Canadians whose families had been in Canada for three or more generations reported Canadian and provincial or regional ethnic identities and these identities include French New World ancestries such as Québécois, Acadian. Since the 1960s, French Canadians in Quebec have generally used Québécois or Québécoise to express their cultural and national identity, rather than Canadien français, francophones who self-identify as Québécois and do not have French-Canadian ancestry may not identify as French Canadian. Those who do have French or French-Canadian ancestry, but who support Quebec sovereignty and this is a reflection of the strong social, cultural, and political ties that most Quebeckers of French-Canadian origin, who constitute a majority of francophone Quebecers, maintain within Quebec. French Canadians outside Quebec are more likely to self-identify as French Canadian, identification with provincial groupings varies from province to province, with Franco-Ontarians, for example, using their provincial label far more frequently than Franco-Columbians do
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Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps
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The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. The Militia Medical Service was established in 1899, both components were redesignated Canadian Army Medical Corps on 1 May 1909. The regular component was redesignated The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps on 3 November 1919, the two elements were finally united under one name on 22 March 1948 as The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. At the centre of the two maple stems is a rod of Asclepius consisting of a serpent entwined around a staff, when the Canadian Forces unified on 1 February 1968, the rifle green beret was adopted as the CF standard. On October 9,2013 it was renamed the Royal Canadian Medical Service and this unit was allied with the following, Royal Army Medical Corps List of armouries in Canada Military history of Canada History of the Canadian Army Canadian Forces The Army Medical organization. Seventy Years of Service, A History of The Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, official History of the Canadian Forces in the Great War 1914-19, The Medical Services. War Story of the Canadian Army Medical Corps by J. George Adami
23.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
24.
Monastery
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A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone. A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church or temple, a monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary. These may include a hospice, a school and a range of agricultural and manufacturing such as a barn. In English usage, the monastery is generally used to denote the buildings of a community of monks. In modern usage, convent tends to be applied only to institutions of female monastics, historically, a convent denoted a house of friars, now more commonly called a friary. Various religions may apply these terms in specific ways. The earliest extant use of the term monastērion is by the 1st century AD Jewish philosopher Philo in On The Contemplative Life, in England the word monastery was also applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Most cathedrals were not monasteries, and were served by canons secular, however, some were run by monasteries orders, such as York Minster. Westminster Abbey was for a time a cathedral, and was a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation. They are also to be distinguished from collegiate churches, such as St Georges Chapel, in most of this article, the term monastery is used generically to refer to any of a number of types of religious community. In the Roman Catholic religion and to some extent in certain branches of Buddhism, there is a more specific definition of the term. Buddhist monasteries are generally called vihara, viharas may be occupied by males or females, and in keeping with common English usage, a vihara populated by females may often be called a nunnery or a convent. However, vihara can also refer to a temple, in Tibetan Buddhism, monasteries are often called gompa. In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, a monastery is called a wat, in Burma, a monastery is called a kyaung. A Christian monastery may be an abbey, or a priory and it may be a community of men or of women. A charterhouse is any monastery belonging to the Carthusian order, in Eastern Christianity, a very small monastic community can be called a skete, and a very large or important monastery can be given the dignity of a lavra. The great communal life of a Christian monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the life of an anchorite. In Hinduism monasteries are called matha, mandir, koil, or most commonly an ashram, jains use the Buddhist term vihara
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Sikh
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A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region of Northwestern Indian subcontinent. The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य or शिक्ष, Sikh properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhism has seldom sought converts, most Sikhs share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the United Kingdom, therefore recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. Male Sikhs have Singh, and female Sikhs have Kaur as their middle or last name, initiated male and female Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban. The greater Punjab region is the homeland of the Sikhs. Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, was born to Mehta Kalu and Mata Tripta, in the village of Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer. However, Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, Religious practices were formalised by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Gobind Singh initiated five people from a variety of backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare to form the Khalsa. During the period of Mughal rule in India several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule, after defeating the Afghan, Mughal and Maratha invaders, the Misls were formed, under Sultan-ul-Quam Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The empire is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh, hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms, after the annexation of the Sikh kingdom by the British, the latter recognized the martial qualities of the Sikhs and Punjabis in general and started recruiting from that area. During the 1857 Indian mutiny, the Sikhs stayed loyal to the British and this resulted in heavy recruiting from Punjab to the colonial army for the next 90 years of the British Raj. The distinct turban that differentiates a Sikh from other turban wearers is a relic of the rules of the British Indian Army, the British colonial rule saw the emergence of many reform movements in India including Punjab. This included formation in 1873 and 1879 of the First and Second Singh Sabha respectively, the Sikh leaders of the Singh Sabha worked to offer a clear definition of Sikh identity and tried to purify Sikh belief and practice. The later part of British colonial rule saw the emergence of the Akali movement or the Gurdwara Reform Movement to bring reform in the gurdwaras during the early 1920s. The movement led to the introduction of Sikh Gurdwara Bill in 1925, the months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab
26.
Sapper
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They are also trained to serve as infantry personnel in defensive and offensive operations. A sappers duties are devoted to tasks involving facilitating movement, defence and survival of allied forces, the term sapper is used in the British Army and Commonwealth nations, Polish Army and the U. S. military. The phrase sapper comes from the French saper, saps were excavated by brigades of trained sappers or instructed troops. When an army was defending a fortress with cannon, they had an obvious height, the attacking armys artillery had to be brought forward, under fire, so as to facilitate effective counter-battery fire. This was achieved by digging what the French termed a sappe, using techniques developed and perfected by Vauban, the sappers began the trench at such an angle so as to avoid enemy fire enfilading the sappe. As they pressed forward, a position was prepared from which cannon could suppress the defenders on the bastions, the sappers would then change the course of their trench, zig-zagging toward the fortress wall. Each leg brought the attackers artillery closer until the cannon would be sufficiently suppressed for the attackers to breach the walls. Broadly speaking, sappers were experts at demolishing or otherwise overcoming or bypassing fortification systems. An additional term applied to sappers of the British Indian Army was miner, the native engineer corps were referred to as sappers and miners, as for example, the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners. The term arose from a task done by sappers to further the battle after saps were dug, the saps permitted cannon to be brought into firing range of the besieged fort and its cannon, but often the cannon themselves were unable to breach the fort walls. This was dangerous work, often lethal to the sappers, and was resisted by the besieged enemy. Since the two tasks went hand in hand and were done by the troops, native Indian engineer corps came to be called sappers and miners. Sapper is the Royal Engineers equivalent of private, the term sapper was introduced in 1856 when the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners was amalgamated with the officer corps of the Royal Engineers to form the Corps of Royal Engineers. During the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I Australian sappers repaired a bridge at the crossing of the Jordan River at Jisr Benat Yakub. Here the retreating Ottoman and German rearguard had blown up the central arch which was repaired in five hours by sappers attached to the Australian Mounted Division. Australian Sappers in the Vietnam War were also honoured in the Cold Chisel song Khe Sanh with the line I left my heart to the Sappers round Khe Sanh, in the Canadian Forces, sappers exist both in the regular force and reserve force. The rank of sapper is used instead of private trained to signify completion of the Engineer DP1 course, Canadian sappers have been deployed in many major conflicts in recent history including World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the War in Afghanistan. Ultimately, the objective of the sappers is to facilitate the living, moving, and fighting for friendly troops on the battlefield, the motto of the Canadian Military Engineers is Ubique a motto shared with the Royal Canadian Artillery
27.
British Army
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The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom. As of 2017 the British Army comprises just over 80,000 trained Regular, or full-time, personnel and just over 26,500 trained Reserve, or part-time personnel. Therefore, the UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, day to day the Army comes under administration of the Ministry of Defence and is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. Repeatedly emerging victorious from these decisive wars allowed Britain to influence world events with its policies and establish itself as one of the leading military. In 1660 the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were restored under Charles II, Charles favoured the foundation of a new army under royal control and began work towards its establishment by August 1660. The Royal Scots Army and the Irish Army were financed by the Parliament of Scotland, the order of seniority of the most senior line regiments in the British Army is based on the order of seniority in the English army. At that time there was only one English regiment of dragoons, after William and Marys accession to the throne, England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance, primarily to prevent a French invasion restoring Marys father, James II. Spain, in the two centuries, had been the dominant global power, and the chief threat to Englands early transatlantic ambitions. The territorial ambitions of the French, however, led to the War of the Spanish Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. From the time of the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, Great Britain was the naval power. As had its predecessor, the English Army, the British Army fought the Kingdoms of Spain, France, and the Netherlands for supremacy in North America and the West Indies. With native and provincial assistance, the Army conquered New France in the North American theatre of the Seven Years War, the British Army suffered defeat in the American War of Independence, losing the Thirteen Colonies but holding on to Canada. The British Army was heavily involved in the Napoleonic Wars and served in campaigns across Europe. The war between the British and the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte stretched around the world and at its peak, in 1813, the regular army contained over 250,000 men. A Coalition of Anglo-Dutch and Prussian Armies under the Duke of Wellington, the English had been involved, both politically and militarily, in Ireland since being given the Lordship of Ireland by the Pope in 1171. The campaign of the English republican Protector, Oliver Cromwell, involved uncompromising treatment of the Irish towns that had supported the Royalists during the English Civil War, the English Army stayed in Ireland primarily to suppress numerous Irish revolts and campaigns for independence. Having learnt from their experience in America, the British government sought a political solution, the British Army found itself fighting Irish rebels, both Protestant and Catholic, primarily in Ulster and Leinster in the 1798 rebellion. The Haldane Reforms of 1907 formally created the Territorial Force as the Armys volunteer reserve component by merging and reorganising the Volunteer Force, Militia, Great Britains dominance of the world had been challenged by numerous other powers, in the 20th century, most notably Germany
28.
Canadian Intelligence Corps
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The Canadian Intelligence Corps was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. Many Canadians were active in the Intelligence field as early as 1939. Page GSO3 at CMHQ in Ottawa was tasked “to evaluate Intelligence and consider how to promote the idea that the Canadian Army should form its own Canadian Intelligence Corps. ”His proposals were refused or set aside and it was not until 29 October 1942. Additional field Units were in service in Canada, such as the “Security Intelligence Sections at the Districts. Intelligence staff duties at CMHQ also continued to expand, as it became the clearinghouse for all cases initiated in Canada and investigated in Britain. ”They were linguists for the most part, proficient in German, Japanese. Canada’s Naval and Air Intelligence Staffs were equally busy fighting the war, Canadian Naval Intelligence officers studied German naval telecommunications, exchanging through 1943 for example, a daily U-boat Situation Report. Special Intelligence from the UK was also provided to Ottawa and Washington, all three nations promulgated the processed information to ships and commands within their zone of control. The UK recorded that formal integration of the three nation’s NI staffs was never necessary, because the Anglo-American organization worked as one against the U-boat threat. Following the collapse of France in 1940 for example, the RCN continued to monitor French naval frequencies at Britain’s request in order to determine the fate of the French fleet. German communications intercepted by the Canadians also “helped the British in mounting” their “successful attack on” the famous battle-cruiser “Bismarck“ in May 1941, the material allowed Ottawa to carry on a completely free exchange of communications by direct signal link with the Tracking Room in the Operational Intelligence Centre. The results were such that, “Canadian. intercept stations and Direction Finding organizations. made a contribution to the Allied North Atlantic SIGINT network. As the Canadians became more proficient, they replaced their British colleagues. By 1943, the Intelligence appointments in the First Canadian Army were filled by Canadian personnel, there was a War Intelligence School where courses were given to officers who had been selected for Intelligence duties in Canada. C Int C personnel were included in the organizations of “1st Canadian Division and 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. ”These “were the first Canadian formations to embark on a campaign during the war from the landings in Sicily in 1943” and through the fighting in both “Sicily and Italy. ”Shortly afterwards, “1st Canadian Corps went to Italy and took part in the fighting there” along “with 5th Canadian Armoured Division. ”More C Int C casualties were added in the Mediterranean Theatre. Intelligence operations continued in theatre until all of the “Canadian Mediterranean Force moved to Belgium in 1945” and then went back “into action in Holland. ”In North West Europe. Osipoff and Sgt F. Dummer were killed during operations in France, in London, Canadian Intelligence Corps staff officers formed part of the group assisting the First Canadian Army Planning Staff. They studied the role the Canadians were to play and assisted in the collation of the amounts of Intelligence detail. All of this effort was directed towards the one object of finding out as much as possible about the enemy, weather, during all this planning activity at staff level, the training of Intelligence personnel with field formations and Units continued unabated
29.
Libya
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The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica. With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres, Libya is the fourth largest country in Africa, Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world. The largest city and capital, Tripoli, is located in western Libya, the other large city is Benghazi, which is located in eastern Libya. Libya has been inhabited by Berbers since the late Bronze Age, the Phoenicians established trading posts in western Libya, and ancient Greek colonists established city-states in eastern Libya. Libya was variously ruled by Carthaginians, Persians, Egyptians and Greeks before becoming a part of the Roman Empire, Libya was an early center of Christianity. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area of Libya was mostly occupied by the Vandals until the 7th century, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire and the Knights of St John occupied Tripoli, until Ottoman rule began in 1551. Libya was involved in the Barbary Wars of the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman rule continued until the Italian occupation of Libya resulted in the temporary Italian Libya colony from 1911 to 1943. During the Second World War Libya was an important area of warfare in the North African Campaign, the Italian population then went into decline. Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951, a military coup in 1969 overthrew King Idris I, beginning a period of sweeping social reform. Since then, Libya has experienced a period of instability, the European Union is involved in an operation to disrupt human trafficking networks exploiting refugees fleeing from wars in Africa for Europe. At least two political bodies claim to be the government of Libya, the Council of Deputies is internationally recognized as the legitimate government, but it does not hold territory in the capital, Tripoli, instead meeting in the Cyrenaica city of Tobruk. Parts of Libya are outside of either governments control, with various Islamist, rebel, the United Nations is sponsoring peace talks between the Tobruk and Tripoli-based factions. An agreement to form an interim government was signed on 17 December 2015. Under the terms of the agreement, a nine-member Presidency Council, the leaders of the new government, called the Government of National Accord, arrived in Tripoli on 5 April 2016. Since then the GNC, one of the two governments, has disbanded to support the new GNA. The name Libya was introduced in 1934 for Italian Libya, reviving the name for Northwest Africa. The name was based on use in 1903 by Italian geographer Federico Minutilli. It was intended to supplant terms applied to Ottoman Tripolitania, the region of what is today Libya having been ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1551 to 1911
30.
Hungarians
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Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are a nation and ethnic group who speak Hungarian and are primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 13. 1–14.7 million Hungarians, of whom 8. 5–9.8 million live in todays Hungary, the Hungarians own ethnonym to denote themselves in the Early Middle Ages is uncertain. The Magyars/Hungarians probably belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance, and it is possible that they became its ethnic majority, in the Early Middle Ages the Hungarians had many names, including Ungherese, Ungar, and Hungarus. The H- prefix is an addition of Medieval Latin, another possible explanation comes from the Old Russian Yugra. It may refer to the Hungarians during a time when they dwelt east of the Ural Mountains along the borders of Europe. The Hungarian people refer to themselves by the demonym Magyar rather than Hungarian, Magyar is Finno-Ugric from the Old Hungarian mogyër. Magyar possibly derived from the name of the most prominent Hungarian tribe, the tribal name Megyer became Magyar in reference to the Hungarian people as a whole. Magyar may also derive from the Hunnic Muageris or Mugel, the Greek cognate of Tourkia was used by the scholar and Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his De Administrando Imperio of c. AD950, though in his use, Turks always referred to Magyars, the historical Latin phrase Natio Hungarica had a wider meaning because it once referred to all nobles of the Kingdom of Hungary, regardless of their ethnicity. During the 4th millennium BC, the Uralic-speaking peoples who were living in the central, some dispersed towards the west and northwest and came into contact with Iranian speakers who were spreading northwards. From at least 2000 BC onwards, the Ugrian speakers became distinguished from the rest of the Uralic community, judging by evidence from burial mounds and settlement sites, they interacted with the Indo-Iranian Andronovo culture. In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, the Hungarians moved from the west of the Ural Mountains to the area between the southern Ural Mountains and the Volga River known as Bashkiria and Perm Krai. In the early 8th century, some of the Hungarians moved to the Don River to an area between the Volga, Don and the Seversky Donets rivers, meanwhile, the descendants of those Hungarians who stayed in Bashkiria remained there as late as 1241. The Hungarians around the Don River were subordinates of the Khazar khaganate and their neighbours were the archaeological Saltov Culture, i. e. Bulgars and the Alans, from whom they learned gardening, elements of cattle breeding and of agriculture. Tradition holds that the Hungarians were organized in a confederacy of seven tribes, the names of the seven tribes were, Jenő, Kér, Keszi, Kürt-Gyarmat, Megyer, Nyék, and Tarján. Around 830, a rebellion broke out in the Khazar khaganate, as a result, three Kabar tribes of the Khazars joined the Hungarians and moved to what the Hungarians call the Etelköz, the territory between the Carpathians and the Dnieper River. The Hungarians faced their first attack by the Pechenegs around 854, the new neighbours of the Hungarians were the Varangians and the eastern Slavs. In 895/896, under the leadership of Árpád, some Hungarians crossed the Carpathians, the tribe called Magyar was the leading tribe of the Hungarian alliance that conquered the centre of the basin
31.
Cartography
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Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively, the fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to, Set the maps agenda and select traits of the object to be mapped. This is the concern of map editing, traits may be physical, such as roads or land masses, or may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries. Represent the terrain of the object on flat media. This is the concern of map projections, eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the maps purpose. This is the concern of generalization, reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the concern of generalization, orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design, modern cartography constitutes many theoretical and practical foundations of geographic information systems. The earliest known map is a matter of debate, both because the term map isnt well-defined and because some artifacts that might be maps might actually be something else. A wall painting that might depict the ancient Anatolian city of Çatalhöyük has been dated to the late 7th millennium BCE, the oldest surviving world maps are from 9th century BCE Babylonia. One shows Babylon on the Euphrates, surrounded by Assyria, Urartu and several cities, all, in turn, another depicts Babylon as being north of the world center. The ancient Greeks and Romans created maps since Anaximander in the 6th century BCE, in the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy wrote his treatise on cartography, Geographia. This contained Ptolemys world map – the world known to Western society. As early as the 8th century, Arab scholars were translating the works of the Greek geographers into Arabic, in ancient China, geographical literature dates to the 5th century BCE. The oldest extant Chinese maps come from the State of Qin, dated back to the 4th century BCE, in the book of the Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, published in 1092 by the Chinese scientist Su Song, a star map on the equidistant cylindrical projection. Early forms of cartography of India included depictions of the pole star and these charts may have been used for navigation. Mappa mundi are the Medieval European maps of the world, approximately 1,100 mappae mundi are known to have survived from the Middle Ages. Of these, some 900 are found illustrating manuscripts and the remainder exist as stand-alone documents, the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi produced his medieval atlas Tabula Rogeriana in 1154
32.
Sahara
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The Sahara is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic. Its area of 9,200,000 square kilometres is comparable to the area of the United States. The desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan. It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains. To the south, it is bounded by the Sahel, a belt of tropical savanna around the Niger River valley. The Sahara can be divided into several regions including, the western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Aïr Mountains, the Ténéré desert, the name Sahara is derived from ṣaḥārā, the plural of the Arabic word for desert. The Sahara covers large parts of Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Western Sahara, Sudan and it covers 9 million square kilometres, amounting to 31% of Africa. If all areas with an annual precipitation of less than 250 mm were included. It is one of three physiographic provinces of the African massive physiographic division. The Sahara is mainly rocky hamada, Ergs form only a minor part, wind or rare rainfall shape the desert features, sand dunes, dune fields, sand seas, stone plateaus, gravel plains, dry valleys, dry lakes, and salt flats. Unusual landforms include the Richat Structure in Mauritania, several deeply dissected mountains, many volcanic, rise from the desert, including the Aïr Mountains, Ahaggar Mountains, Saharan Atlas, Tibesti Mountains, Adrar des Iforas, and the Red Sea hills. The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi, a volcano in the Tibesti range of northern Chad. The central Sahara is hyperarid, with sparse vegetation, the northern and southern reaches of the desert, along with the highlands, have areas of sparse grassland and desert shrub, with trees and taller shrubs in wadis, where moisture collects. In the central, hyperarid region, there are subdivisions of the great desert, Tanezrouft, the Ténéré, the Libyan Desert, the Eastern Desert. These extremely arid areas often receive no rain for years, the northern limit also corresponds to the 100 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. To the south, the Sahara is bounded by the Sahel, the southern limit of the Sahara is indicated botanically by the southern limit of Cornulaca monacantha, or northern limit of Cenchrus biflorus, a grass typical of the Sahel. According to climatic criteria, the limit of the Sahara corresponds to the 150 mm isohyet of annual precipitation. The Sahara is the worlds largest low-latitude hot desert and this steady descending airflow causes a warming and a drying effect in the upper troposphere
33.
Royal Geographical Society
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The Royal Geographical Society is the UKs learned society and professional body for geography, founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences. Today, it is the centre for geographers and geographical learning. The Society has over 16,500 members and its work reaches millions of people each year through publications, research groups, the Geographical Society of London was founded in 1830 under the name Geographical Society of London as an institution to promote the advancement of geographical science. It later absorbed the older African Association, which had been founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788, as well as the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association. Like many learned societies, it had started as a club in London. Founding members of the Society included Sir John Barrow, Sir John Franklin, under the patronage of King William IV it later became known as The Royal Geographical Society and was granted its Royal Charter under Queen Victoria in 1859. From 1830 –1840 the RGS met in the rooms of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street, London and from 1854 -1870 at 15 Whitehall Place, London. In 1870, the Society finally found a home when it moved to 1 Savile Row, London – an address that became associated with adventure. The Society also used a lecture theatre in Burlington Gardens, London which was lent to it by the Civil Service Commission, however, the arrangements were thought to be rather cramped and squalid. A new impetus was given to the Societys affairs in 1911, with the election of Earl Curzon, the premises in Savile Row were sold and the present site, Lowther Lodge in Kensington Gore, was purchased for £100,000 and opened for use in April 1913. In the same year the Societys ban on women was lifted, Lowther Lodge was built in 1874 for the Hon William Lowther by Norman Shaw, one of the most outstanding domestic architects of his day. Extensions to the east wing were added in 1929, and included the New Map Room, the extension was formally opened by HRH the Duke of York at the Centenary Celebrations on 21 October 1930. The history of the Society was closely allied for many of its years with colonial exploration in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the polar regions. It has been a key associate and supporter of many explorers and expeditions, including those of Darwin, Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt. The early history of the Society is inter-linked with the history of British Geography, exploration, information, maps, charts and knowledge gathered on expeditions was sent to the RGS, making up its now unique geographical collections. The Society published its first journal in 1831 and from 1855, accounts of meetings, in 1893, this was replaced by The Geographical Journal which is still published today. With the advent of a systematic study of geography, the Institute of British Geographers was formed in 1933, by some academic Society fellows. Its activities included organising conferences, field trips, seminars and specialist research groups and publishing the journal, the RGS and IBG co-existed for 60 years until 1992 when a merger was discussed
34.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
35.
Surveying
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Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is called a land surveyor, Surveyors work with elements of geometry, trigonometry, regression analysis, physics, engineering, metrology, programming languages and the law. Surveying has been an element in the development of the environment since the beginning of recorded history. The planning and execution of most forms of construction require it and it is also used in transport, communications, mapping, and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership. It is an important tool for research in other scientific disciplines. Basic surveyance has occurred since humans built the first large structures, the prehistoric monument at Stonehenge was set out by prehistoric surveyors using peg and rope geometry. In ancient Egypt, a rope stretcher would use simple geometry to re-establish boundaries after the floods of the Nile River. The almost perfect squareness and north-south orientation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, built c.2700 BC, the Groma instrument originated in Mesopotamia. The mathematician Liu Hui described ways of measuring distant objects in his work Haidao Suanjing or The Sea Island Mathematical Manual, the Romans recognized land surveyors as a profession. They established the basic measurements under which the Roman Empire was divided, Roman surveyors were known as Gromatici. In medieval Europe, beating the bounds maintained the boundaries of a village or parish and this was the practice of gathering a group of residents and walking around the parish or village to establish a communal memory of the boundaries. Young boys were included to ensure the memory lasted as long as possible, in England, William the Conqueror commissioned the Domesday Book in 1086. It recorded the names of all the owners, the area of land they owned, the quality of the land. It did not include maps showing exact locations, abel Foullon described a plane table in 1551, but it is thought that the instrument was in use earlier as his description is of a developed instrument. Gunters chain was introduced in 1620 by English mathematician Edmund Gunter and it enabled plots of land to be accurately surveyed and plotted for legal and commercial purposes. Leonard Digges described a Theodolite that measured horizontal angles in his book A geometric practice named Pantometria, joshua Habermel created a theodolite with a compass and tripod in 1576. Johnathon Sission was the first to incorporate a telescope on a theodolite in 1725, in the 18th century, modern techniques and instruments for surveying began to be used. Jesse Ramsden introduced the first precision theodolite in 1787 and it was an instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes
36.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
37.
Cave of Swimmers
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The Cave of Swimmers is a cave with ancient rock art in the mountainous Gilf Kebir plateau of the Libyan Desert section of the Sahara. It is located in the New Valley Governorate of southwest Egypt, the cave and rock art was discovered in October 1933 by the Hungarian explorer László Almásy. It contains Neolithic pictographs and is named due to the depictions of people with their limbs bent as if they were swimming. They are estimated to have created as early as 10,000 years ago with the beginning of the African Humid Period. Almásy devoted a chapter to the cave in his 1934 book and this theory was so new at that time that his first editor added several footnotes, to make it clear that he did not share this opinion. In 2007, Eman Ghoneim discovered an ancient mega-lake buried beneath the sand of the Great Sahara in the Northern Darfur region, the cave is mentioned in Michael Ondaatjes novel The English Patient and the film adaptation based upon it. The cave shown in the film is not the original but a set created by a contemporary artist. Physical scientists who have been doing research in the area drew a link between the proposed swimming humans and two lakes that are 124 miles south of the cave. However, Andras Zboray, an archaeologist who is doing research in the area and he believes that the drawings are clearly symbolic. with an unknown meaning. Jean-Loïc Le Quellec, a doctor of anthropology, ethnology and prehistory and he has pointed out parallels to the Coffin Texts indicating that the figures are deceased souls floating in the waters of Nun. Substantial portions of the cave have been damaged by visitors over the years. Fragments of the paintings have been removed as souvenirs and some surfaces have cracked after water was applied to enhance their contrast for photographs, modern graffiti have been inscribed upon the wall and tourist littering is a problem. Saharan rock art László Almásy, The Unknown Sahara, translation of the Hungarian original Az Ismeretlen Szahara,2002, by Andras Zboray Ladislaus E. Almasy, Schwimmer in der Wüste. Auf der Suche nach der Oase Zarzura, DTV, München, ISBN 3-423-12613-2 The Cave of Swimmers Egyptian caves. Accessed March 2008 Cosmos magazine People followed the rains in ancient Sahara Friday,21 July 2006 by Marie Theresa Bray, accessed March 2008 https, //skfb. ly/UBOS 3D model
38.
De Havilland Tiger Moth
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The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force and many other operators as a trainer aircraft. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until it was succeeded and replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk during the early 1950s, many of the military surplus aircraft subsequently entered into civil operation. Many nations have used the Tiger Moth in both military and civil applications, and it remains in use as a recreational aircraft in several different countries. It is still used as a primary training aircraft, particularly for those pilots wanting to gain experience before moving on to other tailwheel aircraft. Many Tiger Moths are now employed by companies offering trial lesson experiences. The de Havilland Moth club, founded 1975, is now an owners association offering a mutual club and technical support.51.51, the starting point for the Tiger Moth was in fact the successful Gypsy Tiger. Successively more capable engines had developed and the company had produced a prototype to test the new de Havilland Gipsy III engine. This prototype, a monoplane was initially a modification of the standard Gypsy Tiger. Jackson, development of the standard Tiger Moth version from the prototype had proceeded relatively straightforward after this point. As a result of the Martlesham trials, a report for the type was produced. A single prototype, designated as the DH.82 Tiger Moth, was ordered by the British Air Ministry under Specification 15/31, which sought a suitable ab-initio training aircraft. Access to the front cockpit of the Moth predecessors was restricted by the proximity of the fuel tank directly above the front cockpit. The solution adopted was to shift the upper wing forward but sweep the wings back to maintain the centre of lift, other changes included a strengthened structure, fold-down doors on both sides of the cockpit and a revised exhaust system. The Tiger Moth quickly became a success, various models of the aircraft were exported to more than 25 Air Forces of various overseas nations. In addition to the demand, aircraft were also produced for the civil market. Following the end of all manufacturing, third parties would occasionally re-build Tiger Moths to a configuration to the Fox Moth. Civil examples were also being produced at this time, both for British private customers and to customers in countries such as Ceylon, Greece, Lithuania, Rhodesia, Peru
39.
Kufra
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Kufra is a basin and oasis group in the Kufra District of southeastern Cyrenaica in Libya. At the end of nineteenth century Kufra became the center and holy place of the Senussi order and it also played a minor role in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. For the colonial Italians, it was important as a station on the north-south air route to Italian East Africa. These factors, along with Kufras dominance of the southeastern Cyrenaica region of Libya, explains the oasiss strategic importance, the word Kufra comes from the Arabic word kafir, the Arabic term for non-Muslims with reference to the Toubou people native to the region. Kufra is an elliptic shaped basin, oriented northeast-southwest, the major axis is 50 km, the minor 20 km long. It is bordered by hills which are at most 100 m high, the soil consists of red marl or sand and in the lowest parts there are salt lakes or dried salines. In the basin lie the oases, Al Jawf, the largest, situated at the northeast end of the basin,5 km long. It is rich with palms and gardens, Buma and Buema, both small and situated to the east of Al Jawf. Gerhard Rohlfs set his camp north of Buema, and since then the locality is known as Garet-en-Nasrani, Kufra Airport is located in Buma. Ez-Zurgh, situated 4 km to the south of Al Jawf and it consists of a line of Palm trees. Until the Italian occupation it was inhabited only by slaves, et-Tleilíb and Et-Talláb, both situated to the southwest of Al Jawf. The latter is the farthest from Al Jawf, lying 20 km away, on the north edge of the basin there is the village of El Tag, which means crown in Arabic, which does not contain an oasis. It was founded by Sayyid Muhammad al-Mahdi as-Senussi, the son of the founder of the Senussi order, Kufra has a hot desert climate. In 1154 al-Idrisi described a place identified by Lewicki as the oasis of Kufra, Al Idrisi writes that the place was once flourishing and peopled, but was by that point in ruin, its wells dry, its herds returned to the wild. In the late 15th century, Leo Africanus reported an oasis in the land of the Berdoa, visited by a caravan coming from Awjila. It is possible that this oasis was identical with either the Al Jawf or the Tazirbu oasis, and on modern maps. Berdoa possibly corresponded to the Toubou, a Nilo-Saharan speaking tribal people indigenous to the region, Kufra did not fall under the dominion of either the Arabs or the Ottomans and was part of a Toubou Sultanate with capital in Tazirbu. In the 1840s, the Toubou were colonized by the Arabized Berber tribe of Zuwayya, the territory of Kufra was first explored by Westerners beginning with the 1873/74 expedition by German Gerhard Rohlfs
