Sir William Samuel Stephenson, was a Canadian soldier, businessman, inventor and the senior representative of British Security Coordination for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. He is best known by his wartime intelligence codename Intrepid. Many people consider him to be one of the real-life inspirations for James Bond. Ian Fleming himself once wrote, "James Bond is a romanticized version of a true spy; the real thing is... William Stephenson."As head of the British Security Coordination, Stephenson handed over British scientific secrets to Franklin D. Roosevelt and relayed American secrets to Winston Churchill. In addition, Stephenson has been credited with changing American public opinion from an isolationist stance to a supportive tendency regarding America's entry into World War II. Stephenson was born William Samuel Clouston Stanger on 23 January 1897, in Point Douglas, Manitoba, his mother was from Iceland, his father was from the Orkney Islands. He was adopted early by an Icelandic family after his parents could no longer care for him, given his foster parents' name, Stephenson.

He worked as a telegrapher. In January 1916, in World War I, he volunteered for service in the 101st Overseas Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, he left for England on the S. S. Olympic on 29 June 1916, arriving on 6 July 1916; the 101st Battalion was broken up in England, he was transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion in East Sandling, Kent. On 17 July he was transferred to the Canadian Engineer Training Depot, he was attached to the Sub Staff, Canadian Training Depot Headquarters, in Shorncliffe, was promoted to Sergeant in May 1917. In June 1917 he was "on command" to the Cadet Wing of the Royal Flying Corps at Denham Barracks, Buckinghamshire. On 15 August 1917, Stephenson was struck off the strength of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and granted a commission in the Royal Flying Corps. Posted to 73 Squadron on 9 February 1918, he flew the Sopwith Camel biplane fighter and scored 12 victories to become a flying ace before he was shot down and crashed his plane behind enemy lines on 28 July 1918.

During the incident Stephenson was injured by fire from a German ace pilot, Justus Grassmann, by friendly fire from a French observer, or by both. In any event he was subsequently captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war until escaping in October 1918, his RAF Service file indicates that he was repatriated from the Officer's Prison Camp, Lower Saxony on 9 December 1918. By the end of World War I, Stephenson had achieved the rank of Captain and earned the Military Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross, his medal citations foreshadow his achievements, read: For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When flying low and observing an open staff car on a road, he attacked it with such success that it was seen lying in the ditch upside down. During the same flight he caused a stampede amongst some enemy transport horses on a road. Previous to this he had destroyed a two-seater plane, his work has been of the highest order, he has shown the greatest courage and energy in engaging every kind of target.

This officer has shown conspicuous gallantry and skill in attacking enemy troops and transports from low altitudes, causing heavy casualties. His reports have contained valuable and precise information, he has further proved himself a keen antagonist in the air, during recent operations, accounted for six enemy aeroplanes. After World War I, Stephenson returned to Winnipeg and with a friend, Wilf Russell, started a hardware business, inspired by a can opener that Stephenson had taken from his POW camp; the business was unsuccessful, he left Canada for England. In England, Stephenson soon became wealthy, with business contacts in many countries. In 1924 he married American tobacco heiress Mary French Simmons, of Tennessee; that same year and George W. Walton patented a system for transmitting photographic images via wireless that produced £100,000 a year in royalties for the 18-year run of the patent. In addition to his patent royalties, Stephenson swiftly diversified into several lucrative industries: radio manufacturing.

Stephenson had a broad base of industrial contacts in Europe and North America as well as a large group of contacts in the international film industry. Shepperton Studios were the largest film studios in the world outside of Hollywood; as early as April 1936, Stephenson was voluntarily providing confidential information to British MP Winston Churchill about how Adolf Hitler's Nazi government was building up its armed forces and hiding military expenditures of £800,000,000. This was a clear violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and showed the growing Nazi threat to European and international security. Churchill used Stephenson's information in Parliament to warn against the appeasement policies of the government of Neville Chamberlain. After World War II began now-Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent Stephenson to the United States on 21 June 1940, to covertly establish and run British Security Coordination in New York City, over a year before U. S. entry into the war. The BSC was registered by the State Department as a foreign entity.

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The Municipal Art Society of New York, founded in 1893, is a non-profit membership organization that protects New York’s legacy spaces, encourages thoughtful planning and urban design, advocates for inclusive neighborhoods across the five boroughs. January 2010, MAS relocated from its longtime home in the historic Villard Houses on 457 Madison Avenue to the famed Steinway Hall on West 57th Street. In July 2014, MAS moved into the landmark Look Building at 488 Madison Avenue, across the street from its former Villard home. MAS’s advocacy efforts have shaped the city a great deal since its inception in 1893; some of their early accomplishments include passing the city's first zoning laws, contributing input to the planning of the city’s subway line, commissioning public art throughout the city. By the 1950s, scores of notable Manhattan buildings were lost to redevelopment around the city, the mission of MAS broadened to include historical preservation. In 1956, the Society lobbied for the passage of the Bard Law, which for the first time allowed cities to take aesthetics and cultural associations into account for zoning laws.

The law, named after longtime MAS board member and chief advocate, Albert S. Bard, provided a legal foundation for the New York City Landmarks Law, enacted in 1965. In 1965, public outrage over the destruction of Pennsylvania Station and the Brokaw Mansion helped fuel the Society's mission towards preservation. With like-minded groups, they succeeded in establishing New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission, New York's Landmarks Law. In 2001, after the demise of Trans World Airlines, the original Trans World Flight Center, completed in 1962 and designed by Eero Saarinen, fell into disuse. During this period, the Municipal Art Society succeeded in 2004 in nominating the facility to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the 11 Most Endangered Places. In June 2007, MAS released with the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance a new documentary about the future of the New York waterfront titled City of Water. In September 2007, the Society opened a major exhibition about Jane Jacobs sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Municipal Art Society operates a gallery on Madison Avenue. The gallery, founded in 1980, serves to champion the fields of urban planning and design in New York, is the site of MAS' community development workshops, seminars and other educational programs; the Urban Center includes a book store which specializes in architecture, urban planning, urban design, environmental studies. The Urban Center was located in Villard Houses from 1980 to 2010 where upon it moved to West 57th Street. Accidental Skyline Penn 2023 Livable Neighborhoods Program City-Owned and Leased Properties Adopt-A-Monument & Adopt-A-Mural New York City arts organizations Official website

The Singing Estate is a four-part constructed documentary series made by North One Television for Five and FiveArts Cities in the UK, shot from January 2006 to April 2006 and transmitted from 11 June to 2 July 2006. On the Blackbird Leys estate, in Oxford, conductor Ivor Setterfield auditioned 140 hopeful amateur singers picking 40 for'Ivor's Choir' as they were known; the aim was to teach these singers, many of whom did not read music, several well-known pieces for a concert at the Royal Albert Hall three months later. The programme followed the audition process in some depth, showing hopefuls and the hopeless, as well as Ivor's reaction to the performances. After the choir line-up was finalised, with some singers held in reserve, they began their public career with a performance of "The Wild Rover" at an Oxford United home game. In subsequent programmes they learned new pieces including Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Shortly before performance day they were surprised with the news that they would be singing You'll Never Walk Alone with popular classical vocal group G4.

The concert took place on 20 April 2006, was recorded for radio broadcast by Classic FM, included in the TV series. After the end of filming in April 2006, the choir's future was uncertain, but a core section of members wanted to continue and the renamed Blackbird Leys Choir began rehearsing again in September 2006 for planned performances in Oxford on 14 February and 24 February 2007, including a piece written specially for the choir by minimalist composer Orlando Gough. Funding and support for the rest of the year has been supplied by FiveArts Cities and Oxford Contemporary Music, with some donation of sheet music from Oxford University Press. HM Queen Elizabeth II had been a fan of the programme, requesting DVD copies of the show to watch, on 19 December 2006 the choir were invited to perform Christmas carols at an'Achievers of the Year' reception at Buckingham Palace; the choir performed carols for arriving guests for half an hour, sang the Hallelujah chorus in a private performance for the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Zara Phillips and boyfriend Mike Tindall, a small selection of guests.

The choir's performance will appear in the follow-up documentary. On 14 January 2007, the choir took part in Oxford Sings, a day-long workshop and performance of the Hallelujah chorus with 400 other singers from around Oxfordshire; the rehearsals and performance were filmed by North One Television, the performance recorded for broadcast the same day on BBC Radio Oxford. The series was scheduled to be repeated from 27 February 2007, weekly at 7.15pm, as a series of 5 x 45 minute episodes with the fifth episode showing what has happened to members of the choir since the original series was filmed. Oxford Mail 20 February 2006 Oxford Mail 10 April 2006 Five TV - The Singing Estate FiveArts Cities IMDB - The Singing Estate Daily Telegraph, 10 June 2006 Oxford Mail 16 December 2006 Buckingham Palace December 2006 Oxford Times 22 December 2006 Oxford Mail 12 January 2007 Oxford Mail 15 January 2007 February 2007 concert The Singing Estate at five.tv The Singing Estate on IMDb

Gopabandhu Choudhuri was an Indian activist, social worker and freedom fighter. He participated in the Non-cooperation Civil Disobedience movement. Gopabandhu Choudhuri was born to Gokulananda Choudhuri at the village of Kherasa, Jagatsinghpur District, Odisha, his father was an eminent advocate. His younger brother was Nabakrushna Choudhury, Chief minister of Orissa, he graduated from Presidency College with B. A. in Mathematics in the year 1912. He got his master's degree from the same college in 1914. In 1917 he got his preliminary law degree from the Calcutta University. After his education he joined the British Government as a deputy magistrate. Gopabandhu married Rama Devi,niece of Madhusudan Das on 1914. In 1921 after four years of working for British Government, he resigned from his job as of Deputy Magistrate, he decided to spend the rest of his life in the service of the people. It was an unprecedented action. In the words of celebrated novelist, Jnanpitha Award Winner and his biographer Gopinath Mohanty, There was a tremor in Orissa.

All the newspapers reported the incident. People came running to him. Friends and relatives were shocked, they came to find the reasons for such unusual step. The people in freedom movement however, came to congratulate him. Everywhere they were talking,'Gopa Babu had resigned’, his resignation, an extraordinary step and a brave decision, brought him to the middle of the Indian freedom movement. While most of the population thought his resignation was a great sacrifice but he himself never considered it as such, he selected Jagatsinghpur as his place of work. He laid the foundation of famous "Alakashrama" near the banks of Alaka river January 1922. There was a school attached to the ashram. Along with imparting education, the school taught sanitation work and ran programmes to fight the communicable diseases like malaria and cholera. In 1921, he represented Orissa in AICC, it was for the first time Orissa was represented in AICC. His responsibility in was to give popularize the Congress, expand its organisational base.

He was responsible of the Congress office and managed the Congress establishment in Orissa. In his political thought, he was a dedicated Congressman with unwavering faith in Mahatma Gandhi, he never wanted power for himself. His belief was a strong Congress. Hence His goal was to strengthen the Congress, he did not contest the elections for Provincial Legislative Assembly. He led a group of Congress workers who would shun power, who would not sit on any committee nor would be members of any Board, they would work to strengthen the Congress. For him, the freedom movement and the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi was the most important consideration. So, he was eager to merge Utkal Sammilani with Congress and fight for separate linguistic province under the aegis of Congress. However, there was a group of Utkal sammilani members, opposed to the idea. Choudhury could not reconcile with both the factions and resigned from Utkal sammilani in 1924. In 1934, Mahatma Gandhi undertook a padyatra in Orissa. One of the places he visited during his travel was a remote village Bari, in Jajpur subdivision of the erstwhile Cuttack district.

Bari and surrounding areas were afflicted with floods. He was posted here during his days in the Government service and he was well acquainted with the area. Gandhi suggested Gopabandhu to stay there to work with the people. Gopabandhu selected Bari, he set up a base at Bari with his family and a few followers on 13 August 1934. While he remained a congress member, he bid adieu to active politics. At Bari, he undertook many social reconstruction various programmes such as village cleaning, teaching Dalits, empowering Dalits to fight exploitation by landowners, he undertook setting up small scale industries like leather tanning and manufacturing units, units to produce molasses, units to manufacture khadi, units to produce soap and paper etc. He encouraged local people into vocations such as apiculture, dairy farm and mattress production, he trained farmers to grow new vegetables such as tomato, etc. and plant various fruit bearing plants. The practice of growing vegetables, started by him still continues in Bari and its nearby areas.

Besides his work to strengthen the village economy, he wanted to bring in inter-caste harmony. He persuaded the villagers to let untouchables enter into the Baldevjiu temple as early as 1936, he translated Mahatma Gandhi's biography "my experiments with truth" to odia, "satyara prayog" India got independence in 1947. He continued his work at Bari, he was however disillusioned by the Congress governments approach towards governance. He joined the Acharya Vinoba Bhave led Bhoodan movement. Ramadevi Choudhury Nabakrushna Choudhury

Natasha Rastogi is an Indian actress and director. She started her acting career by debuting in Monsoon Wedding as Sona Verma, directed by Mira Nair, that won the Golden Lion award and received a Golden Globe Award nomination, she has played many roles on stage. She was awarded the Best Actress Award in Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2007 for Nati Binodini, directed by Amal Allana, she appeared in Do Dooni Chaar as Salma in 2010. She has acted in the TV series Gulaal as Panbaa. Natasha was born in a Hindu family to Rachna Khanna and Dr. Triloki Nath Khanna, a Professor of Hindi in Zakir Husain College, Delhi, she skipped the clichéd course in drama/acting and broadened her artistic vision by doing a Bachelor's in Art from the College of Art, Delhi. Natasha started her career as a drama teacher in Modern School in 1992; as a part of her job, she was assigned the responsibility of directing and choreographing plays including the signature event, valedictory function. She choreographed musical ballets involving 280 students for 12 years.

Some of these plays were namely Nav Prabhat, Spring –The Reawakening, Swarnim Vriksh, Amrit Manthan, Sunderland Mein Alice, Ek Aur Panchtantra, Ek Aur Ek Gyarah, Sunoh Kahani, Wings of Desire and Dhun ka Jadoogar. Working with everyone involved in the play, from costume designer to script writer, from makeup artist to music director, she honed her skills as an artist. After 12 years of service, Natasha joined Amal Alana's theater group. Since she has been a part of a theater group that has travelled across the globe doing plays in places like London, Mexico and including every metropolitan city in India. Natasha Rastogi on IMDb

Italy competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. 167 competitors, 152 men and 15 women, took part in 103 events in 17 sports. Pierfranco Vianelli — Cycling, Men's Individual Road Race Klaus Dibiasi — Diving, Men's Platform Primo Baran and Renzo Sambo — Rowing, Men's Coxed Pairs Giordano Turrini — Cycling, Men's 1000m Sprint Klaus Dibiasi — Diving, Men's Springboard Wladimiro Calarese, Pier-Luigi Chicca, Michele Maffei, Rolando Rigoli, Cesare Salvadori — Fencing, Men's Sabre Team Romano Garagnani — Shooting, Men's Skeet Shooting Eddy Ottoz — Athletics, Men's 110m Hurdles Giuseppe Gentile — Athletics, Men's triple jump Giorgio Bambini — Boxing, Men's Heavyweight Lorenzo Bosisio, Cipriano Chemello, Giorgio Morbiato, Luigi Roncaglia — Cycling, Men's 4000m Team Pursuit Giovanni Bramucci, Vittorio Marcelli, Mauro Simonetti, Pierfranco Vianelli — Cycling, Men's Team Road Race Gianluigi Saccaro — Fencing, Men's Épée Abramo Albini, Tullio Baraglia, Renato Bosatta, Pier Angelo Conti — Rowing, Men's Coxless Fours Fabio Albarelli — Sailing, Men's Finn Franco Cavallo and Camillo Gargano — Sailing, Men's Star Men's Team CompetitionPreliminary Round Defeated Philippines Defeated Panama Defeated Puerto Rico Defeated Senegal Lost to Yugoslavia Lost to United States Defeated Spain Classification Matches5th/8th place: Lost to Poland 7th/8th place: Lost to Spain Team RosterCarlo Recalcati Giusto Pellanera Gianfranco Lombardi Enrico Bovone Massimo Masini Paolo Vittori Gabriele Vianello Guido Gatti Ottorino Flaborea Sauro Bufalini Massimo Cosmelli Gianluigi Jessi Sixteen cyclists represented Italy in 1968.

Individual road racePierfranco Vianelli Giovanni Bramucci Flavio Martini Tino ContiTeam time trialGiovanni Bramucci Vittorio Marcelli Mauro Simonetti Pierfranco VianelliSprintGiordano Turrini Dino Verzini1000m time trialGianni SartoriTandemWalter Gorini Luigi BorghettiIndividual pursuitCipriano ChemelloTeam pursuitLorenzo Bosisio Cipriano Chemello Luigi Roncaglia Giorgio Morbiato Gino Pancino 19 fencers, 14 men and 5 women, represented Italy in 1968. Men's foilArcangelo Pinelli Pasquale La Ragione Nicola GranieriMen's team foilPasquale La Ragione, Alfredo Del Francia, Nicola Granieri, Arcangelo Pinelli, Michele MaffeiMen's épéeGianluigi Saccaro Gianfranco Paolucci Claudio FrancesconiMen's team épéeGianfranco Paolucci, Claudio Francesconi, Giovanni Battista Breda, Gianluigi Saccaro, Antonio AlbaneseMen's sabreRolando Rigoli Wladimiro Calarese Cesare SalvadoriMen's team sabreWladimiro Calarese, Rolando Rigoli, Pierluigi Chicca, Michele Maffei, Cesare SalvadoriWomen's foilGiovanna Masciotta Antonella Ragno-Lonzi Bruna Colombetti-PeronciniWomen's team foilAntonella Ragno-Lonzi, Giulia Lorenzoni, Giovanna Masciotta, Bruna Colombetti-Peroncini, Silvana Sconciafurno Three male pentathletes represented Italy in 1968.

IndividualMario Medda Giancarlo Morresi Nicolo DeligiaTeamMario Medda Giancarlo Morresi Nicolo Deligia Seven shooters, all men, represented Italy in 1968. 25 m pistolGiovanni Liverzani Ugo Amicosante50 m rifle, three positionsGiuseppe De Chirico50 m rifle, proneGiuseppe De ChiricoTrapGalliano Rossini Ennio MattarelliSkeetRomano Garagnani Giancarlo Chiono Men's Competition Pietro Boscaini, Michele D'Oppido, Franco Del Campo, Franco Chino, Antonio Attanasio, Angelo Tozzi, Giampiero Fossati, Massimo Sacchi. Women's Competition Mietta Strumolo and Novella Calligaris Men's Team CompetitionTeam RosterAlberto Alberani Eraldo Pizzo Mario Cevasco Gianni Lonzi Enzo Barlocco Franco Lavoratori Gianni de Magistris Alessandro Ghibellini Giancarlo Guerrini Paolo Ferrando Eugenio Merello Media related to Italy at the 1968 Summer Olympics at Wikimedia Commons