1.
Monsummano Terme
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Monsummano Terme is an comune located in the Province of Pistoia, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in the Valdinievole, and is a spa resort. It was the birthplace of French actor Yves Montand and Italian poet Giuseppe Giusti, given the proximity to the Padule, the area displays a wealth of flora and fauna and is a meeting place for birdwatchers. The rivers are short, of which the Candalla stream is the most prominent. Going back to the Roman archeological sites, on the slopes of Monte Albano, the settlement of the castle of Monsummano Alto is documented from 1260, but probably existed since the previous century, or, as some have suggested due to the topology from the Lombard era. The castle was at the center of battles between Florence and Lucca, with its final conquest in 1331, the flat area was swampy, which became a human settlement in the second half of the 16th century with the construction of several farms and houses. During the 19th century Monsummano Terme was home of writer and politician Ferdinando Martini and his birthplace and a memorial at the center of the square have both become dedicated to him. The monument also symbolizes his distaste for the clergy, showing the poet facing way from the church, other sights include, The medieval castle and fortifications. The elliptical shape have led to suppose a Lombard origin, and it was occupied by the Florentines in 1314, but was recaptured one year later by Castruccio Castracani after the battle of Montecatini. Of the castle today several gates and long stretches of the walls, partly covered by vegetation, as well as a single tower, Church of San Nicolao, included in the castle. It houses a 14th- to 15th-century wooden crucifix, sanctuary of Santa Maria della Fontenuova Church of San Michele e Lorenzo. It has a lunette painted by Giusto Utens and a Madonna with Child, Pistoia, Società pistoiese di storia patria. Larchivio del comune di Monsummano Terme, Monsummano Terme, Assessorato alla cultura of Monsummano Terme
2.
Senlis
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Senlis is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It has a long and rich heritage, having traversed centuries of history and this medieval town has welcomed some of the most renowned figures in French history, including Hugh Capet, Louis IX, the Marshal of France, Anne of Kiev and Séraphine de Senlis. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived here, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly forest and it is renowned for the gothic Senlis Cathedral and its vast historical monuments. Its inhabitants are called Senlisiens and Senlisiennes, Senlis is part of the province of lOise in the region of Hauts-de-France in the north of France. It is situated on the river Nonette, between the forests of Chantilly and dErmenonville in the South and dHalatte on the North and it is located 40 kilometers from the north of Paris,44 km from Beauvais and 79 km from Amiens. The highest point of the lies at the heart of the forest Halatte. Geologically, the area is occupied by a vast limestone plateau of the Lutetian covered mostly in silt, Senlis was known in early Roman imperial times as Augustomagus and later as Civitas Silvanectium. During the 3rd century, a high defensive wall, about half of which still exists, was erected around the settlement in response to Frankish incursions. The wall remained in use into the 13th century, the town also featured a Roman amphitheatre, the remains of which are still visible, about 500 m west of the walled town. The amphitheatre seated as many as 10,000 people and was used for meetings, theatre, gladiatorial combats. The monarchs of the early French dynasties lived here, attracted by the proximity of the Chantilly Forest and its venison, in 987 Alberon, the archbishop of Reims, called together an assembly, and asked them to choose Hugh Capet as king of France. However, the monarchs of France soon abandoned the city, preferring Compiègne, new life was given to the city in the 12th century, and ramparts were built. The popularity of the city fell, and it slipped into decline. Today it remains an attraction for tourists for its long history, Senlis fell under the ownership of Hugh Capet in 981. He was elected king by his barons in 987 before being crowned at Noyon, under the Capetian rule, Senlis became a royal city and remained so until the reign of Charles X. A castle was built during this period remains are still visible today. The city reached its apogee in the 12th and 13th centuries as trade in wool and leather increased, with an increasing population, the city expanded and needed new ramparts, a second chamber was erected under Phillip II that was larger and higher than the ramparts of the Gallo-Romans. A municipal charter was granted to the town in 1173 by King Louis VII, the bishop of Senlis and the Chancellor Guérin became close advisors to the King, strengthening Senlis ties to the French royalty
3.
Simone Signoret
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Simone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of Frances greatest film stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, in her lifetime she also received two Césars, three BAFTAs, an Emmy, a Cannes Film Festival Award, the Silver Bear for Best Actress awards, a NBR Award and a Golden Globe nomination. Signoret was born Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker in Wiesbaden, Germany, to André and Georgette Kaminker and her mother, Georgette, from whom she acquired her stage name, was a French Catholic. Signoret grew up in Paris in an atmosphere and studied English, German. During the German occupation of France, Signoret mixed with an group of writers and actors who met at a café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Gélin and she took her mothers maiden name for the screen to help hide her Jewish roots. Signorets sensual features and earthy nature led to type-casting and she was seen in roles as a prostitute. She won considerable attention in La Ronde, a film which was banned briefly in New York as immoral and she won further acclaim, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of another prostitute in Jacques Beckers Casque dor. She appeared in notable films in France during the 1950s, including Thérèse Raquin, directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques. In 1958, Signoret acted in the English independent film, Room at the Top, which won her numerous awards including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the only French cinema actress to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 and Marion Cotillard in 2008, and she was offered films in Hollywood, but turned them down, continuing to work in France and England—notably opposite Laurence Olivier in Term of Trial —until 1965. In 1962, Signoret translated Lillian Hellmans play The Little Foxes into French for a production in Paris that ran for six months at the Theatre Sarah-Bernhardt and she played the Regina role as well. Hellman was displeased with the production, although the translation was approved by scholars selected by Hellman, Signorets memoirs, Nostalgia Isnt What It Used To Be, were published in 1978. She also wrote a novel, Adieu Volodya, published in 1985, Signoret first married filmmaker Yves Allégret, with whom she had a daughter Catherine Allégret, herself an actress. Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1951, Signoret died of pancreatic cancer in Autheuil-Authouillet, France, aged 64. She was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and Yves Montand was later buried next to her, the play charted the deteriorating relationship between Signoret and Marilyn Monroe during the filming of Lets Make Love. Unable to achieve the recognition of Oscar-winning Signoret, Monroe begins an affair with Signorets husband, singer Nina Simone took her last name from Simone Signoret
4.
Communism
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Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism, anarchism, and the political ideologies grouped around both. The primary element which will enable this transformation, according to analysis, is the social ownership of the means of production. Likewise, some communists defend both theory and practice, while others argue that historical practice diverged from communist principles to a greater or lesser degree, according to Richard Pipes, the idea of a classless, egalitarian society first emerged in Ancient Greece. At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, in the medieval Christian church, for example, some monastic communities and religious orders shared their land and their other property. Communist thought has also traced back to the works of the 16th-century English writer Thomas More. In his treatise Utopia, More portrayed a society based on ownership of property. In the 17th century, communist thought surfaced again in England, criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, through such thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Later, following the upheaval of the French Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine, in the early 19th century, Various social reformers founded communities based on common ownership. But unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the emphasis with a rational. Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony in Indiana, in its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe. As the Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels, in 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto. The 1917 October Revolution in Russia set the conditions for the rise to power of Lenins Bolsheviks. The revolution transferred power to the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, in which the Bolsheviks had a majority, the event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development, Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule, the moderate Mensheviks opposed Lenins Bolshevik plan for socialist revolution before capitalism was more fully developed. The Great Purge of 1937–1938 was Stalins attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the Communist Party and its leading role in the Second World War saw the emergence of the Soviet Union as a superpower, with strong influence over Eastern Europe and parts of Asia. The European and Japanese empires were shattered and Communist parties played a role in many independence movements
5.
Marseille
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Marseille, also known as Marseilles in English, is a city in France. Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Massalia, Marseille was the most important trading centre in the region, Marseille is now Frances largest city on the Mediterranean coast and the largest port for commerce, freight and cruise ships. The city was European Capital of Culture, together with Košice, Slovakia and it hosted the European Football Championship in 2016, and will be the European Capital of Sport in 2017. The city is home to campuses of Aix-Marseille University and part of one of the largest metropolitan conurbations in France. Marseille is the second largest city in France after Paris and the centre of the third largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, further east still are the Sainte-Baume, the city of Toulon and the French Riviera. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low Garlaban and Etoile mountain ranges, is the 1,011 m Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the artists colony of lEstaque, further west are the Côte Bleue, the Gulf of Lion. The airport lies to the north west of the city at Marignane on the Étang de Berre, the citys main thoroughfare stretches eastward from the Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Further out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Château dIf, the main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse. To the south east of central Marseille in the 6th arrondissement are the Prefecture and the fountain of Place Castellane. To the south west are the hills of the 7th arrondissement, the railway station—Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement, it is linked by the Boulevard dAthènes to the Canebière. Marseille has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm to hot, december, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around 12 °C during the day and 4 °C at night. Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,900 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in France is around 1,950 hours, less frequent is the Sirocco, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the Sahara Desert. Snowfalls are infrequent, over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall, Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related to Ligurian, was the first Greek settlement in France. It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming from Phocaea on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned in Thucydidess Peloponnesian War, he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by the Carthaginians, the founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the local Ligurian tribe for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis in marriage, at the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice
6.
Music hall
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Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era circa 1850 and lasting until 1960. It involved a mixture of songs, comedy, speciality acts. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place and these theatres were designed chiefly so people could consume food and alcohol and smoke tobacco in the auditorium while the entertainment took place. This differed somewhat from the type of theatre, which until then seated the audience in stalls with a separate bar-room. By the mid-19th century, the halls cried out for many new, as a result, professional songwriters were enlisted to provide the music for a plethora of star performers, such as Marie Lloyd, Dan Leno, Little Tich, and George Leybourne. Music hall did not adopt its own unique style, the halls had recovered by the start of the First World War and were used to stage charity events in aid of the war effort. Music hall entertainment continued after the war, but became popular due to upcoming Jazz, Swing. Licensing restrictions had also changed, and drinking was banned from the auditorium, a new type of music hall entertainment had arrived, in the form of variety, and many music hall performers failed to make the transition. Deemed old fashioned and with the closure of many halls, music hall entertainment ceased, Music hall in London had its origins in entertainment provided in the new style saloon bars of public houses during the 1830s. These venues replaced earlier semi-rural amusements provided by fairs and suburban pleasure gardens such as Vauxhall Gardens and these latter became subject to urban development and became fewer and less popular. The saloon was a room where for a fee or a greater price at the bar, singing, dancing. The most famous London saloon of the days was the Grecian Saloon, established in 1825, at The Eagle,2 Shepherdess Walk. According to John Hollingshead, proprietor of the Gaiety Theatre, London, this establishment was the father and mother, later known as the Grecian Theatre, it was here that Marie Lloyd made her début at the age of 14 in 1884. It is still famous because of an English nursery rhyme, with the somewhat mysterious lyrics, Up and down the City Road In and out The Eagle Thats the way the money goesPop goes the weasel. Another famous song and supper room of this period was Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms,43 King Street, Covent Garden and this venue was also known as Evans Late Joys – Joy being the name of the previous owner. Other song and supper rooms included the Coal Hole in The Strand, the Cyder Cellars in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, the music hall as we know it developed from such establishments during the 1850s and were built in and on the grounds of public houses. In a theatre, by contrast, the audience was seated in stalls, an exception to this rule was the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton which somehow managed to evade this regulation and served drinks to its customers. Though a theatre rather than a hall, this establishment later hosted music hall variety acts
7.
Crooner
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Crooner is an American epithet given to male singers of jazz standards, mostly from the Great American Songbook, backed by either a full orchestra, a big band or a piano. Originally it was a term denoting a sentimental singing style made possible by the use of microphones. Some performers, such as Russ Columbo, did not accept the term and this dominant popular vocal style coincided with the advent of radio broadcasting and electrical recording. Before the advent of the microphone, popular singers like Al Jolson had to project to the seats of a theater, as did opera singers. The microphone made possible the more personal style and he could be heard by anyone with a phonograph or a radio. His first film, The Vagabond Lover, was promoted with the line, while his success brought press warnings of the Vallee Peril, this punk from Maine with the dripping voice required mounted police to beat back screaming, swooning females at his vaudeville shows. Even The New York Times predicted that crooning would be just a passing fad, the newspaper printed, They sing like that because they can’t help it. Their style is begging to go out of fashion…, crooners will soon go the way of tandem bicycles, mah jongg and midget golf. Voice range shifted from tenor to baritone, still, a 1931 record by Dick Robinson, Crosby, Columbo & Vallee, called upon men to fight these public enemies brought into homes via radio. There were female crooners, including Annette Hanshaw, Mildred Bailey and their performances had a variety of influences including ballads and swing and was included in popular film soundtracks. The term is used to describe a female singer, although Mildred Baileys pre-swing records as well as Helen Rowland are often considered part of the crooning style. Due to the country songs popularized by Bing Crosby, the style of singing became an enduring part of country music. Bing Crosby achieved a million seller with his 1940 rendition of the song San Antonio Rose, eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Ray Price are especially well known for their country crooner standards. Dean Martin is rather famous for the music he recorded in the period when he was working for Reprise Records. Fellow Italian-American crooner Perry Como recorded several albums with country producer Chet Atkins in Nashville, list of crooners Gary Giddins, Bing Crosby, A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years, 1903–1940. Boston, Little, Brown and Co.2001, allison McCracken, Real Men Dont Sing, Crooning in American Culture. Durham, NC, Duke University Press,2015
