1.
Charles Dana Gibson
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His wife, Irene Langhorne, and her four beautiful sisters, inspired his images. He published his illustrations in Life magazine and other national publications for more than 30 years, becoming editor in 1918. Gibson was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the son of Josephine Elizabeth and he had a sister Josephine Gibson. One of their great-grandfathers was U. S, senator James DeWolf and a great-great-grandfather was U. S. His sister Josephine inherited Longfield from their grandmother, Abby DeWolf Gibson. A talented youth with an early interest in art, Gibson was enrolled by his parents in New York Citys Art Students League, peddling his pen-and-ink sketches, Gibson sold his first work in 1886 to Life magazine, founded by John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. It featured general interest articles, humor, illustrations, and cartoons and his works appeared weekly in the popular national magazine for more than 30 years. He quickly built a reputation, with his drawings being featured in all the major New York publications, including Harpers Weekly. His illustrated books include the 1898 editions of Anthony Hopes The Prisoner of Zenda and his development of the Gibson Girl from 1890 and her nationwide fame brought Gibson respect and wealth. His sister Josephine Gibson was said to have one of his inspirations for his beautiful modern young woman. In 1895, he married Irene Langhorne, born in Danville, one of her four sisters was Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to serve as a Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons. His wife and her elegant Langhorne sisters also inspired his famous Gibson Girls, after the death of John Ames Mitchell in 1918, Gibson became editor of Life and later took over as owner of the magazine. As the popularity of the Gibson Girl faded after World War I, in 1918, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1932. Almost unrestricted merchandising saw his sketches appear in many forms. The Gibson cocktail has been claimed to be named after him, for part of his career, Gibson lived in New Rochelle, New York, a popular art colony among actors, writers and artists of the period. The community was most well known for its number of prominent American illustrators. Gibson owned an island off Islesboro, Maine which came to be known as 700 Acre Island, he and he retired in 1936, the same year Scribners published his biography, Portrait of an Era as Drawn by C. D. Gibson, A Biography by Fairfax Downey, on his death in 1944, Charles Dana Gibson was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts
2.
Coronation
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The ceremony can also be conducted for the monarchs consort, either simultaneously with the monarch or as a separate event. A ceremony without the placement of a crown on the head is known as an enthronement. Coronations are still observed in the United Kingdom, Tonga, in addition to investing the monarch with symbols of state, Western-style coronations have often traditionally involve anointing with holy oil, or chrism as it is often called. Wherever a ruler is anointed in this way, as in Great Britain and Tonga, some other lands use bathing or cleansing rites, the drinking of a sacred beverage, or other religious practices to achieve a comparable effect. Such acts symbolise the granting of divine favour to the monarch within the relevant spiritual-religious paradigm of the country, in the past, concepts of royalty, coronation and deity were often inexorably linked. Rome promulgated the practice of worship, in Medieval Europe. Coronations were once a direct expression of these alleged connections. Thus, coronations have often been discarded altogether or altered to reflect the nature of the states in which they are held. However, some monarchies still choose to retain an overtly religious dimension to their accession rituals, others have adopted simpler enthronement or inauguration ceremonies, or even no ceremony at all. In non-Christian states, coronation rites evolved from a variety of sources, buddhism, for instance, influenced the coronation rituals of Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan, while Hindu elements played a significant role in Nepalese rites. The ceremonies used in modern Egypt, Malaysia, Brunei and Iran were shaped by Islam, Coronations, in one form or another, have existed since ancient times. Egyptian records show coronation scenes, such as that of Seti I in 1290 BC, judeo-Christian scriptures testify to particular rites associated with the conferring of kingship, the most detailed accounts of which are found in II Kings 11,12 and II Chronicles 23,11. Following the assumption of the diadem by Constantine, Roman and Byzantine emperors continued to wear it as the symbol of their authority. Although no specific coronation ceremony was observed at first, one gradually evolved over the following century, the emperor Julian was hoisted upon a shield and crowned with a gold necklace provided by one of his standard-bearers, he later wore a jewel-studded diadem. Later emperors were crowned and acclaimed in a manner, until the momentous decision was taken to permit the Patriarch of Constantinople to physically place the crown on the emperors head. Historians debate when exactly this first took place, but the precedent was established by the reign of Leo II. This ritual included recitation of prayers by the Byzantine prelate over the crown, after this event, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the ecclesiastical element in the coronation ceremonial rapidly develop. This was usually performed three times, following this, the king was given a spear, and a diadem wrought of silk or linen was bound around his forehead as a token of regal authority
3.
Central Europe
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Central Europe lies between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of strategic awakening, with such as the CEI, Centrope. While the regions economy shows high disparities with regard to income, elements of unity for Western and Central Europe were Roman Catholicism and Latin. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in connection with Western European development. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe and these phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments, in 1335 under the rule of the King Charles I of Hungary, the castle of Visegrád, the seat of the Hungarian monarchs was the scene of the royal summit of the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, in the Middle Ages, countries in Central Europe adopted Magdeburg rights. Before 1870, the industrialization that had developed in Western and Central Europe, even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia, for example, remained rural and agricultural. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in J. Partsch’s book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany, another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The bible of the concept was Friedrich Naumann’s book Mitteleuropa in which he called for a federation to be established after the war. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I, the revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era. According to Emmanuel de Martonne, in 1927 the Central European countries included, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, italy and Yugoslavia are not considered by the author to be Central European because they are located mostly outside Central Europe. The author use both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, the interwar period brought new geopolitical system and economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have appeared on the map of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, however, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ideas succeeded. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe, after the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept
4.
Ramon Novarro
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Novarro was promoted by MGM as a Latin lover and became known as a sex symbol after the death of Rudolph Valentino. Novarro was born José Ramón Gil Samaniego on February 6,1899 in Durango City, Durango, Mexico, to Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego, the family moved to Los Angeles, California, to escape the Mexican Revolution in 1913. Novarross direct ancestors came from the Castilian town of Burgos from where two brothers emigrated to the New World in the seventeenth century, Allan Ellenberger, Novarros biographer, writes, he Samaniegos were an influential and well-respected family in Mexico. Many Samaniegos had prominent positions in the affairs of state and were held in esteem by the president. Ramons grandfather, Mariano Samaniego, was a physician in Juarez. Known as a charitable and outgoing man, he was once a governor for the State of Chihuahua and was the first city councilman of El Paso. Ramons father, Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego, was born in Juarez and attended school in Las Cruces. After receiving his degree in dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Durango, Mexico, in 1891 he married Leonor Pérez-Gavilán, the beautiful daughter of a prosperous landowner. The Pérez-Gaviláns were a mixture of Spanish and Aztec blood, and according to legend, they were descended from Guerrero. The family estate was called the Garden of Eden, thirteen children were born there, Emilio, Guadalupe, Rosa, Ramón, Leonor, Mariano, Luz, Antonio, José, a stillborn child, Carmen, Ángel and Eduardo. At the time of the revolution in Mexico, the family moved from Durango to Mexico City, three of Ramóns sisters, Guadalupe, Rosa, and Leonor, became nuns. He was a cousin of the Mexican actresses Dolores del Río. He entered films in 1917 in bit parts and he supplemented his income by working as a singing waiter. His friends, actor and director Rex Ingram and his wife, the actress Alice Terry, began to promote him as a rival to Rudolph Valentino, from 1923, he began to play more prominent roles. His role in Scaramouche brought him his first major success, in 1925, Novarro achieved his greatest success in Ben-Hur. His revealing costumes caused a sensation and he was elevated into the Hollywood elite. As did many stars, Novarro engaged Sylvia of Hollywood as a therapist, with Valentinos death in 1926, Novarro became the screens leading Latin actor, though ranked behind his MGM contemporary, John Gilbert, as a leading man. He was popular as a swashbuckler in action roles and considered one of the romantic lead actors of his day
5.
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
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Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. KBE, DSC, was an American actor and a decorated naval officer of World War II. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was born in New York City, the child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and his first wife. His parents divorced when he was nine years old, and both remarried and he lived with his mother in New York, California, Paris and London. Fairbankss father was one of cinemas first icons, noted for such swashbuckling adventure films as The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad. Largely on the basis of his fathers name, Fairbanks Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures at age 14, in the last years of the silent period, he was elevated to star billing opposite Loretta Young in several pre-Code films. He appeared in Our Modern Maidens, which led to a romance and marriage to his co-star. He also appeared with John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in A Woman of Affairs, in 1930, Fairbanks Jr. went to Warner Bros. to test for the second lead in Moby Dick. Although he didnt get the part, head of production Darryl F. Zanuck was impressed with Douglass screen test and he supported Leslie Howard in Outward Bound and Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar. He made Chances, which was a hit, and Union Depot, because he spoke French he was put in Lathlet incomplet, which screened only in France. During this period of his career, Fairbanks Jr. specialised in supporting female stars such as Bette Davis, Loretta Young, Ann Dvorak and his most notable credit was Morning Glory with Katharine Hepburn. In 1934, Warners asked all his stars to take a 50 percent pay cut because of the Depression, Fairbanks Jr. refused and quit the studio. He received a job offer from Britain and would spend the few years there. Fairbanks Jr. was in The Rise of Catherine the Great and he intended to return to Hollywood to appear in Design for Living but fell ill on the way and Gary Cooper took his part. Back in Britain he made Success at Any Price and Mimi and he made a series of comedies supporting female stars, then had his biggest ever hit with Gunga Din. Fairbanks Jr. began to work increasingly in action/adventure films, The Sun Never Sets, Rulers of the Sea, Green Hell and he had a change of pace when he starred in and co produced Angels Over Broadway. His last film before enlisting was The Corsican Brothers, in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him special envoy to South America. Fairbanks served on the cruiser Wichita during the disastrous Convoy PQ17 operation, lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to Virginia Beach where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, who was preparing U. S. naval forces for the invasion of North Africa, Fairbanks convinced Hewitt of the advantages of a military deception unit, then repeated the proposal at Hewetts behest to Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations
6.
Evelyn Millard
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Millard was born in Kensington in London in 1869, one of three daughters of John Millard, a teacher of elocution at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, and his wife, Emily. Evelyn Millard studied at the Female School of Art in Bloomsbury and she made her first stage appearance in 1891 in a walk-on role in Henry Arthur Jones play The Dancing Girl at the Haymarket Theatre in London. For Thorne she played Julia in The Hunchback, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and she then joined Thomas Thornes company, and toured in the plays Josephs Sweetheart, Miss Tomboy, Sophia and Money. Millard then spent almost two years at the Adelphi Theatre in London, at this theatre she created the role of Cecily Cardew in the 1895 premiere of Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest. In September 1895 Millard appeared before Queen Victoria in a Royal Command Performance of Liberty Hall at Balmoral, from January 1896 she played Princess Flavia in the London premiere of the play The Prisoner of Zenda. In 1897 Millard joined the company of Herbert Beerbohm Tree. For the American theatrical manager Charles Frohman, she played Lady Ursula in The Adventure of Lady Ursula at the Duke of Yorks Theatre in 1898, the cast included Allan Aynesworth, Claude Gillingwater and J. C. This production was seen by the composer Giacomo Puccini, who is said to have based his opera Madama Butterfly on it, on 19 July 1900 Millard married Robert Porter Coulter at St. Georges church in Hanover Square in London. A partner in the firm of Scotch House, in 1910 he was declared bankrupt. Their daughter Ursula Helen Coulter was named after the character Millard was playing in The Adventure of Lady Ursula when she met Coulter in 1898, in March 1902 Millard returned to the stage at the St Jamess Theatre to play Francesca in Paolo and Francesca. Millard then played in a number of Shakespearean roles, including Jessica in The Merchant of Venice in 1903, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in 1905, also in 1906 she appeared with Lewis Waller in The Harlequin King at the Imperial Theatre. She also played Edith Dombey in Dombey and Son and Agnes in David Copperfield, Millard reprised the role of Cho-Cho-San in Madame Butterfly at the Palace Theatre of Varieties in London in 1911. Millards last major role was as Agnes Wickfield in David Copperfield at His Majestys Theatre in December 1914 and her last known role was a brief appearance as Calpurnia in Julius Caesar during the Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebration in 1916. Following her retirement Millard lived in Abingdon Court in Kensington where she died on 9 March 1941 aged 70
7.
Barbara La Marr
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Barbara La Marr was an American film actress, noted for her beauty and her tempestuous marital history. After some early experience in vaudeville, she became a screenplay writer and her hedonistic lifestyle in Hollywood, with heavy drug dependence, led to her early death. La Marr was born in 1896 as Reatha Dale Watson to William Wallace and Rosana Rose Watson in Yakima, Washington. Her father was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother had a son, Henry, born in 1878, the couple wed some time during 1884, and had a son, William Watson, Jr. born in June 1886 in Washington. In the 1920s, Watson became a vaudeville comedian under the name of Billy Devore. The Watsons lived in various locations during La Marrs formative years, by 1900, she was living with her parents in Portland, Oregon, with her brother William, her half-sister Violet Ross, and Violets husband Arvel Ross. As a child, La Marr also performed in a few stage productions, by 1910, La Marr was living in Fresno, California, with her parents. Some time after 1911, the moved to Los Angeles. In January 1913, La Marrs half-sister, now going by the name of Violet Ake and they drove up to Santa Barbara, but after a few days La Marr felt that they were not going to let her return home. Ake and Boxley finally let La Marr return to Los Angeles after they realized there were warrants issued for their arrests accusing them of kidnapping. This episode was published in newspapers, and La Marr even testified against her sister. La Marrs name appeared frequently in newspaper headlines during the few years. In November 1914, she came back from Arizona and announced that she was the widowed wife of a rancher named Jack Lytell. As legend goes, Lytell became enamored of La Marr as he saw her riding in an automobile while he was out on horseback. He rode up to her car and swept her on his horse and they were married the next day. She also stated that she loathed the name Reatha and preferred to be called by the childhood nickname Beth, after marrying and moving with her second husband to New York City, La Marr found employment writing screenplays at Fox studios using the name Folly Lytell. Her association with filmmakers led to her returning to Los Angeles and this publicity did much to promote her career. She is also said to have filmed dancing shorts in New York City, Chicago, among La Marrs films are The Prisoner of Zenda and Trifling Women, both 1922 releases directed by Rex Ingram
8.
The Adventures of Tintin
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The Adventures of Tintin is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, by 2007, a century after Hergés birth in 1907, Tintin had been published in more than 70 languages with sales of more than 200 million copies. The series first appeared in French on 10 January 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième, the success of the series saw the serialised strips published in Belgiums leading newspaper Le Soir and spun into a successful Tintin magazine. In 1950, Hergé created Studios Hergé, which produced the canonical versions of ten Tintin albums, the Adventures of Tintin have been adapted for radio, television, theatre, and film. The series is set during a largely realistic 20th century and its hero is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter and adventurer. He is aided by his faithful dog Snowy, the series has been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergés signature ligne claire style. Its well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres, swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, the stories feature slapstick humour, offset by dashes of sophisticated satire and political or cultural commentary. Georges Remi, best known under the pen name Hergé, was employed as an illustrator at Le Vingtième Siècle, run by the Abbé Norbert Wallez, the paper described itself as a Catholic Newspaper for Doctrine and Information and disseminated a far-right, fascist viewpoint. Wallez appointed Hergé editor of a new Thursday youth supplement, titled Le Petit Vingtième, propagating Wallezs socio-political views to its young readership, it contained explicitly pro-fascist and anti-Semitic sentiment. In addition to editing the supplement, Hergé illustrated Lextraordinaire aventure de Flup, Nénesse, Poussette et Cochonnet, dissatisfied with this, Hergé wanted to write and draw his own cartoon strip. He already had experience creating comic strips, from July 1926 he had written a strip about a Boy Scout patrol leader titled Les Aventures de Totor C. P. des Hannetons for the Scouting newspaper Le Boy Scout Belge. Totor was an influence on Tintin, with Hergé describing the latter as being like Totors younger brother. Although Hergé wanted to send Tintin to the United States, Wallez ordered him to set his adventure in the Soviet Union, the result, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, was serialised in Le Petit Vingtième from January 1929 to May 1930. Popular in Francophone Belgium, Wallez organised a publicity stunt at the Gare du Nord station, the storys popularity led to an increase in sales, so Wallez granted Hergé two assistants. At Wallezs direction, in June he began serialisation of the story, Tintin in the Congo. The Adventures of Tintin had been syndicated to French Catholic magazine Cœurs Vaillants since 1930, and Hergé was soon receiving syndication requests from Swiss and Portuguese newspapers too. Hergé went on to pen a string of Adventures of Tintin, sending his character to real locations such as the Belgian Congo, the United States, Egypt, India, China, in May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium as World War II broke out across Europe. Although Hergé briefly fled to France and considered a self-imposed exile, for political reasons, the Nazi authorities closed down Le Vingtième Siècle, leaving Hergé unemployed
9.
E. H. Sothern
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Edward Hugh Sothern was an American actor who specialized in dashing, romantic leading roles and particularly in Shakespeare roles. Sothern was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of English actor E. A. Sothern, Sothern was educated in England at St Marylebone Grammar School. His brothers and sister all became actors, Lytton Edward Sothern, George Evelyn Augustus T. Sothern, who used the stage name Sam Sothern, sotherns father had encouraged pursuits other than the stage, but Sothern had already caught the acting bug. After playing in Boston and touring in the U. S. he sailed for England, making his London debut in 1881 on a bill as Mr. Sharpe in False Colours. The next year, he played Arthur Spoonbill in Fourteen Days, in 1883, he returned to the U. S. and toured first with John Edward McCullough and then Helen Barry. Back in New York, in 1884, he played Eliphaz Tresham in The Fatal Letter, which he wrote himself, and in Nitas First. The next year, he was Alfred Vane in Favette, Knolly in Mona, John in In Chancery and Jules in A Moral Climate. He was hired by Charles and Daniel Frohman in the company of the old Lyceum Theatre in New York. He made a hit as the auctioneer in the romantic comedy The Highest Bidder. He was especially known for his portrayal of Rudolph Rassendyl in the first stage adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda, by Anthony Hope. The role made him a star, in 1896, Sothern married actress Virginia Harned. After he left the Lyceum, he continued in roles in New York. In 1899, he played dArtagnan in The Kings Musketeers, and in 1900 he played Heinrich in The Sunken Bell, for several years, Sothern dreamed of mounting a spectacular and precise production of Hamlet. He finally opened the play in New York in 1900, but during the first week, after he recovered, he revived the piece on tour, but the sets and cosumes were destroyed by a fire in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1n 1901, he played the role in Richard Lovelace. In 1903, he played the role in Markheim and Robert. They toured all over the U. S. in these plays, adding The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night to their repertoire in 1905. Unhappy with their compensation from their manager, Charles Frohman, they continued under the management of the Shubert Brothers and he plays it with a fire and enthusiasm that approach closely to genius
10.
Fictional country
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A fictional country is a country that is made up for fictional stories, and does not exist in real life, or one that people believe in without proof. Sailors have always mistaken low clouds for land masses, and in later times this was given the name Dutch capes, other fictional lands appear most commonly as settings or subjects of myth, literature, movies, or video games. Also, the ISO3166 country code ZZ is reserved as a country code. Fictional countries appear commonly in stories of science fiction. Such countries supposedly form part of the normal Earth landscape although not located in a normal atlas, later similar tales often took place on fictional planets. Jonathan Swifts protagonist, Lemuel Gulliver, visited various strange places, edgar Rice Burroughs placed adventures of Tarzan in areas in Africa that, at the time, remained mostly unknown to the West and to the East. Isolated islands with strange creatures and/or customs enjoyed great popularity in these authors times, by the 19th century, when Western explorers had surveyed most of the Earths surface, this option was lost to Western culture. Thereafter fictional utopian and dystopian societies tended to spring up on other planets or in space, Fictional countries can also be used in stories set in a distant future, with other political borders than today. Superhero and secret agent comics and some also use fictional countries on Earth as backdrops. Most of these countries exist only for a story, a TV-series episode or an issue of a comic book. There are notable exceptions, such as Qumar and Equatorial Kundu in The West Wing, Marvel Comics Latveria and DC Comics Qurac, Fictional countries often deliberately resemble or even represent some real-world country or present a utopia or dystopia for commentary. Variants of the name sometimes make it clear what country they really have in mind. Fictional countries have created for polling purposes. When polled in April 2004, 8% of British people believed that the country of Luvania would soon join the European Union. In the 1989 General Social Survey, U. S. respondents were asked to rate the social status of people of Wisian background, once you let the Wisians in, the neighborhood goes to pot, quipped Time Magazine. Countries from stories, myths, legends, that some believe to exist, ISBN 978-0684849584 Media related to Fictional countries at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Anthony Hope
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Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope, was an English novelist and playwright. He was a writer, especially of adventure novels but he is remembered predominantly for only two books, The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau. These works, minor classics of English literature, are set in the fictional country of Ruritania. Zenda has inspired adaptations, most notably the 1937 Hollywood movie of the same name. Hope was educated at St Johns School, Leatherhead, Marlborough College and Balliol College, Hope trained as a lawyer and barrister, being called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1887. He served his pupillage under the future Liberal Prime Minister H H Asquith, who thought him a promising barrister and who was disappointed by his decision to turn to writing. Hope had time to write, as his day was not over full during these early years and he lived with his widowed father, then vicar of St Brides Church. Hopes short pieces appeared in periodicals but for his first book he was forced to resort to a self-publishing press, a Man of Mark is notable primarily for its similarities to Zenda, it is set in an imaginary country, Aureataland and features political upheaval and humour. More novels and short stories followed, including Father Stafford in 1891 and he stood as the Liberal candidate for Wycombe in the election of 1892 but was not elected. In 1893 he wrote three novels and a series of sketches that first appeared in the Westminster Gazette and were collected in 1894 as The Dolly Dialogues, Dolly was his first major literary success. Hope finished the first draft in a month and the book was in print by April, the story is set in the fictional European kingdom of Ruritania, a term which has come to mean the novelists and dramatists locale for court romances in a modern setting. Zenda achieved instant success and its witty protagonist, the debonair Rudolf Rassendyll, the novel was praised by Mason, literary critic Andrew Lang, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Also in 1894, Hope produced The God in the Car, Hope wrote 32 volumes of fiction over the course of his lifetime and he had a large popular following. In 1896 he published The Chronicles of Count Antonio, followed in 1897 by a tale of adventure set on a Greek island, in 1898, he wrote Simon Dale, an historical novel involving actress and courtesan Nell Gwyn. Marie Tempest appeared in the dramatisation, called English Nell, one of Hopes plays, The Adventure of Lady Ursula, was produced in 1898. This was followed by his novel The Kings Mirror, which Hope considered one of his best works, in 1900, he published Quisanté and he was elected chairman of the committee of the Society of Authors. He wrote Tristram of Blent in 1901, The Intrusions of Peggy in 1902, in 1906, he produced Sophy of Kravonia, a novel in a similar vein to Zenda which was serialised in the Windsor Magazine, Roger Lancelyn Green is especially damning of this effort. Nevertheless, the story was filmed twice, in Italy in 1916 as Sofia De Kravonia, both adaptations featured the actress Diana Karenne in the title role
12.
Political decoy
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A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on that persons behalf. This can also apply to military figures, or civilians impersonated for political or espionage purposes, the political decoy is an individual who has been selected because of strong physical resemblance to the person being impersonated. This resemblance can be strengthened by plastic surgery, often, such decoys are trained to speak and behave like the target. The practice of decoying is essentially different from the profession of celebrity lookalike. The only difference is that the lookalike presents an acknowledged artifice, the decoy must conceal his or her imposture from the audience. Nearly all the doppelgangers at the event had complemented their resemblance to a person by costume. Some lookalikes actually stop mimicking their targets and start pretending to be them, comedian Robin Williams was one such victim, whose identity was allegedly stolen by professional look-alike Michael Clayton, for financial reasons. Since deception is the purpose of employing a political decoy. Of Noriegas alleged four decoys, Reeder said, They were good and they practiced his gait, his manner of speech and his modus operandi – what he did during the day and night. Information on these instances of decoying is hard to come by, and falsely accusing an enemy of using a decoy can be an effective psychological operations tactic. This means that the confusion generated by the existence of real decoys is deepened by counterclaims of decoys where there may be none, the case of Osama bin Laden is instructive. Speculation in such situations is liable to run high. For the purposes of this entry, only well-documented allegations or confirmed cases of political decoying are discussed, instances which are still under debate will have section headings below in quotes. Perhaps the most famous political decoy, soldier M. E. Clifton James successfully impersonated General Bernard Montgomery for intelligence purposes during World War II. In 1940, James acted in an Army production called When Knights Were Bold, as a result, he was approached by actor David Niven in May 1944. Niven, then a Colonel in the Army Kinematograph Section, told James he was wanted to impersonate Monty, as this would allow Montgomery to be somewhere else, James had to learn Montgomerys gestures, mannerisms, gait and voice and had to give up smoking. Because James had lost his middle finger in the First World War. Even his wife had to be deceived and was kept in the dark and sent back to Leicester
The Prisoner of Zenda public domain audiobook at LibriVox