Biography.

Issa was born and registered as Kobayashi Nobuyuki (小林 信之), with a childhood name of Kobayashi Yatarō (小林 弥太郎), the first son of a farmer family of Kashiwabara, now part of Shinano-machi, Shinano Province (present-day Nagano Prefecture). Issa endured the loss of his mother, who died when he was three. Her death was the first of numerous difficulties young Issa suffered.  He was cared for by his grandmother, who doted on him, but his life changed again when his father remarried five years later. Issa's half-brother was born two years later. When his grandmother died when he was 14, Issa felt estranged in his own house, a lonely, moody child who preferred to wander the fields. His attitude did not please his stepmother, who, according to Lewis Mackenzie, was a "tough-fibred'managing' woman of hard-working peasant stock."  He was sent to Edo (present-day Tokyo) by his father one year later to eke out a living. Nothing of the next ten years of his life is known for certain. His name was associated with Kobayashi Chikua (小林 竹阿) of the Nirokuan (二六庵) haiku school, but their relationship is not clear. During the following years, he wandered through Japan and fought over his inheritance with his stepmother (his father died in 1801). He wrote a diary, now called Last Days of Issa's Father.  After years of legal wrangles, Issa managed to secure rights to half of the property his father left. He returned to his native village at the age of 49 and soon took a wife, Kiku. After a brief period of bliss, tragedy returned. The couple's first-born child died shortly after his birth. A daughter died less than two-and-a-half years later, inspiring Issa to write this haiku (translated by Lewis Mackenzie):  Issa married twice more late in his life, and through it all he produced a huge body of work.  A third child died in 1820. Then Kiku fell ill and died in 1823. "Ikinokori ikinokoritaru samusa kana" (生き残り生き残りたる寒さかな) [Outliving them,/Outliving them all,/Ah, the cold!] was written when Issa's wife died, when he was 61.  He died on January 5, 1828, in his native village. According to the old Japanese calendar, he died on the 19th day of Eleventh Month, Tenth Year of the Bunsei era. Since the Tenth Year of Bunsei roughly corresponds with 1827, many sources list this as his year of death.

Writings and drawings.

Issa wrote over 20,000 haiku, which have won him readers up to the present day. Though his works were popular, he suffered great monetary instability. His poetry makes liberal use of local dialects and conversational phrases, and 'including many verses on plants and the lower creatures. Issa wrote 54 haiku on the snail, 15 on the toad, nearly 200 on frogs, about 230 on the firefly, more than 150 on the mosquito, 90 on flies, over 100 on fleas and nearly 90 on the cicada, making a total of about one thousand verses on such creatures'. By contrast, Bashō's verses are comparatively few in number, about 2,000 in all. Issa's haiku were sometimes tender, but stand out most for their irreverence and wry humor, as illustrated in these verses translated by Robert Hass:  No doubt about it,  the mountain cuckoo  is a crybaby. New Year's Day—  everything is in blossom!  I feel about average.  Issa, 'with his intense personality and vital language [and] shockingly impassioned verse...is usually considered a most conspicuous heretic to the orthodox Basho tradition'. Nevertheless, 'in that poetry and life were one in him...[&] poetry was a diary of his heart', it is at least arguable that 'Issa could more truly be said to be Basho's heir than most of the haikai poets of the nineteenth century'.  Issa's works include "haibun" (passages of prose with integrated haiku) such as "Oraga Haru" (おらが春 "My Spring") and "Shichiban Nikki" (七番日記 "Number Seven Journal"), and he collaborated on more than 250 renku (collaborative linked verse).  Issa was also known for his drawings, generally accompanying haiku: "the Buddhism of the haiku contrasts with the Zen of the sketch". His approach has been described as "similar to that of Sengai...Issa's sketches are valued for the extremity of their abbreviation, in keeping with the idea of haiku as a simplification of certain types of experience."  One of Issa's haiku, as translated by R.H. Blyth, appears in J. D. Salinger's 1961 novel, "Franny and Zooey":  The same poem, in Russian translation, served as an epigraph for a novel "Snail on the Slope" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (published 1966–68), also providing the novel's title.  Another, translated by D.T. Suzuki, was written during a period of Issa's life when he was penniless and deep in debt. It reads:  Another, translated by Peter Beilenson with Harry Behn, reads:  Issa's most popular and commonly known tome, titled "The Spring of My Life", is autobiographical, and its structure combines prose and haiku.

Kobayashi Issa former residence.

After a big fire swept through the post station of Kashiwabara on July 24, 1827, Issa lost his house and was forced to live in his "kura" (storehouse). "The fleas have fled from the burning house and have taken refuge with me here", says Issa. Of this same fire, he wrote: "Hotarubi mo amaseba iya haya kore wa haya" (蛍火もあませばいやはやこれははや) If you leave so much/As a firefly's glimmer, -/Good Lord! Good Heavens!'  This building, a windowless clay-walled structure, has survived, and was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1933.

Reflecting the popularity and interest in Issa as man and poet, Japanese books on Issa outnumber those on Buson and almost equal in number those on Bashō.


History.

The "Order of Liberation" was established by General de Gaulle in order n° 7, signed in Brazzaville on November 16, 1940. The object of the Order was to "reward people, of the military or civilian communities, who will have distinguished themselves in the task of liberating France and her Empire".  There were no restrictions as to age, sex, rank, origin or nationality; nor any regarding the nature of the deeds, other than their exceptional quality.  The Order has a single rank, the title of "Compagnon de la Libération" ("Companion of the Liberation"). General de Gaulle, founder of the Order, was the only "Grand Maître" ("Grand Master") of the Order.  The Order was usually bestowed by the traditional French military ceremony of "prise d'armes". The recipient was summoned forward by rank and name, and given the insignia while being commended thus: "Nous vous reconnaissons comme notre Compagnon pour la libération de la France dans l’honneur et par la Victoire" (“We acknowledge you as our companion for the Liberation of France, in honour and by Victory”).  The last awards to French citizens, units and communes were made on 23 January 1946. Awards to foreign nationals were made until 1960.

Award description.

The medal of the Order is called the "Croix de la Libération" ("Cross of Liberation"). It is a 31 mm wide by 33 mm high rectangular bronze shield bearing a 60 mm high vertical gladius on its obverse. On the blade of the gladius: a black enamelled Cross of Lorraine (symbol of the Free French Forces). On the reverse, in Latin: a relief inscription in bold letters on four rows, "PATRIAM SERVANDO VICTORIAM TULIT" ("By serving the Fatherland, he/she achieved Victory").  The award is suspended by a rectangular loop through the hilt of the gladius to a 36 mm wide silk moiré green ribbon with 4 mm wide black edge stripes and 1 mm wide black longitudinal stripes, 11 mm from the edges. Green represents hope, black represents mourning, symbolizing the state of France in 1940. The ribbon at first had diagonal black stripes, but the Order was only awarded in that form during August–September 1942.

Recipients.

The individuals, units and communities listed below were awarded the Order of Liberation  A total of 1061 Crosses of Liberation were awarded:

Individual recipients.

Amongst the 1036 Companions of the Order, 65 were killed before the end of the war (8 May 1945) and another 260 received the distinction posthumously. Members of the French resistance, especially the more famous ones, often received the Order under their "nom de guerre".  Six women were awarded the title:  Nearly 10% of the recipients of the Order were younger than 20 at the beginning of the war. The youngest, Mathurin Henrio, was 14 when he was shot dead by Nazi officers for refusing to answer questions on the whereabouts of Maquisards.  The Order was re-opened twice to honour foreign personalities who helped liberate France:

Military units.

Military units as a whole have been awarded the title of "Compagnon de la Libération".  On June 18, 1996, at Mont Valérien, the 18 military units which had been awarded the Cross of Liberation were given a green and black fourragère by President Jacques Chirac.

Cities.

Heroic city which, since the crime of capitulation, has opposed a fierce resistance to any sort of collaboration with the enemy. Occupied by German troops and subjected to the harshest of repression, has given to the French, by numerous individual and collective actions, a magnificent example of courage and fidelity. By the blood of her martyred children, showed to the whole World the French will for national liberation.  Heroic city at the vanguard of the French Resistance and of the fight for liberation. Draped in her pride, despite the arrest and the massacre of her best sons, put up a fierce fight to the Germans at every instant. Despising the interdictions given by the invaders and their accomplices, demonstrated on November 11, 1943 her certainty of Victory and her will to take part in it. On November 14, and on December 2, 1943, responded to the reprisals and the execution of the chiefs of the Resistance movements by the destruction of the ammunition depot, barracks, power plants and factories used by the enemy. Has served the Motherland well.  Capital faithful to herself and to France, demonstrated, under the enemy occupation and oppression, and in spite of the voices of abandonment and treason, her unshakable resolution to fight on and to win. By her courage in the presence of the invader and by the indomitable energy with which she sustained the harshest of trials, deserved to remain as an example for the entire Nation. On August 19, in cooperation with the Allied and French armies, stood up to drive away the enemy through a series of glorious fights which began in the "Cité" and swiftly spread to all points of the city. In spite of heavy losses sustained by the French Forces of the Interior fighting within her, liberated itself through her own efforts and, united with the vanguard of the French Army that came to her rescue, has, on August 25, reduced the German to his last stands and made him capitulate.  Village of the Vercors which, thanks to the patriotism of her inhabitants, totally sacrificed herself for the cause of the French Resistance in 1944. Main parachuting centre for the Allied air force on the plateau, always helped by all means possible the military of the Maquis in the gathering of arms. Violently bombed on July 14, attacked by 24 German gliders on July 21 and 22, had 72 of her inhabitants massacred and the entirety of her houses burned down by a merciless enemy. Martyr of her faith in the resurrection of the Motherland.  Confronted by the enemy invasion, refused to abandon the battlefield which is hers: the Sea. Sent all of her children to fight under the flag of Free France, becoming the example and symbol of all Brittany.

The Order of Liberation () is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a very high honour, second only after the "Légion d’Honneur" (Legion of Honour). Very few people, military units and communes were ever awarded it; and only for their deeds during World War II. A different order, the "Médaille de la Résistance" ("Resistance Medal"), was created and awarded for lesser but still distinguished deeds by members of the Resistance.


Overview.

In the year 2000, conventional handguns have been banned, with law enforcement carrying non-lethal "ultrasound" pistols. Nationwide budget changes have resulted in the adoption of cryonic suspension over standard incarceration for convicted criminals. Following the assassination of a mayor in San Antonio, his replacement demands a solution, which is found in the form of the "Knight 4000", a car that will become the next generation of the Knight Industries' supercar KITT.

Plot.

Thomas J. Watts is released from prison and assassinates the mayor. Police officer Shawn McCormick confronts the masked Watts holding the next mayor at gunpoint. She shoots Watts, who flees. The city's new mayor demands the gunman be found, while his councilmen reprimand him for disarming the police and setting up the cryo-prison where the inmates "sleep away" their sentences and emerge the same people as before.  The Knight Foundation, created from a combination of Knight Industries and the Foundation for Law and Government, offers a possible solution – the "Knight 4000". Devon Miles and his partner, Russel Maddock, are green-lit on the idea, but the city wants to see a working prototype. Devon brings in Michael Knight as the test driver. The Knight 4000 has most of KITT's original features, but adds an amphibious mode that allows the car to drive on water, a heads-up display, and a stun device that can remotely incapacitate a human.  Watts shoots Shawn after she discovers that some of her colleagues are working with the assassin to rearm criminals so the city will give the police their guns back. Doctors save Shawn by installing a microchip implant into her brain. She recovers, but cannot remember the details of the attack.  Michael is furious that KITT has been dismantled and rebuilds KITT's AI unit, which is difficult since Maddock has sold most of KITT's technology to medical research. He reactivates KITT's logic module and installs him in the dashboard of his 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air.  Shawn quits the police force after she learns her chief, Daniels, did not want to authorize her brain chip implant nor get involved in her case. She seeks employment with the Foundation, and Michael learns one of KITT's cybernetic chips is in her head. KITT links up with the chip and extracts her missing memories. Shawn remembers that Watts shot her and that her fellow officers were with him, including her partner.  Watts learns Shawn is alive and sends the corrupt cops to eliminate her and Michael, who are chased down when they try fleeing in KITT. KITT helps them evade capture by driving off a pier where he quickly sinks. Michael and Shawn are safe, but KITT is damaged when water enters his circuitry. With Watts believing Michael and Shawn dead, he captures Devon and uses mind scanning technology to discover what Devon knows, killing him afterward.  Michael and Shawn swim to safety and return to the Foundation, learning of Devon's death. After Devon's funeral, the mayor terminates FLAG's contract. Michael quits, but after Shawn confronts him, he returns and retrofits the Knight 4000 with KITT's AI.  Michael and Shawn follow her former partner to a warehouse where guns are stored. Shawn arranges a gun transaction with her former partner. Before he can cooperate with FLAG's investigation, Watts shoots him. Michael saves Shawn from being killed.  Maddock sends KITT a copy of the prison release papers for Watts, signed by the murdered mayor. Michael has KITT print more copies, sending one with a fake signature to Daniels using her name, and a similar one to the mayor, this time with his name. Following the mayor's limo, they record a conversation between the mayor and Watts discussing the papers.  After ambushing a caravan of corrupt cops, they find no guns. KITT informs Michael there is another group of police cars headed for the local mall. Maddock convinces Daniels to allow KITT to pursue them.  Watts has begun a transaction with a gun buyer. When one of the corrupt cops guarding Watts sights Shawn moving in, he shoots her, and the buyer and Watts flee. Michael catches up to Watts and disarms him. A fight ensues between Michael and Watts, Michael only stopping when Watts picks up his handgun. Shawn, only slightly wounded, arrives with the other handgun, instructing Watts to drop his. Michael talks Shawn down from shooting Watts. Watts then draws another gun hidden under his coat but Michael draws out an ultrasound gun and shoots Watts, who falls to his death.  After Watts' defeat, the mayor is incarcerated, Michael returns to retirement, and KITT remains at the Knight Foundation with Shawn and Maddock. The trio continue their police work.

Cast.

Cameo.

Actor James Doohan makes a cameo appearance as an innocent bystander that KITT mistakes for a criminal stealing money from an ATM. KITT stuns the suspect and the man collapses. When Michael and Maddock pick up the man to arrest him, they find Mr. Doohan, delirious (from being stunned), and mumbling various lines from his role of Scotty on "".

Production.

Development.

The theme song, "Knight Rider 2000", by Jan Hammer was released on his 1994 album "Drive".  The studio was unable to use the real Pontiac Banshee IV concept car for the movie, so instead it hired Jay Ohrberg Star Cars Inc. to customize a 1991 Dodge Stealth for the Knight 4000. The custom car can also be seen, albeit briefly, as a stolen supercar in "CHiPs '99", and as a future police vehicle in "Power Rangers Time Force", and in an episode of the television series "Black Scorpion" in 2001.

Home media.

As well as being available as a single DVD, it is included in the Region 1, Region 2 and Region 4 versions of the "Knight Rider" Season One box set.

Knight Rider 2000 is a 1991 American made-for-television science fiction action film based on the 1982–1986 television series "Knight Rider".


History.

Beginnings.

The first performance took place on February 8, 1926, with the play Georges Dandin by Molière (it was renamed "Cirkus Dandin"), the performance was not very successful. In 1927 the theatre moved to "Umělecká beseda" and in that time Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich first appeared on the stage with their own play "Vest Pocket Revue", a montage of Dadaist gags, intellectual humour and jazz songs. The performance achieved great acclaim and Werich, together with Voskovec, became part of the ensemble. In the same year the young pianist and composer Jaroslav Ježek joined them, and together with Werich and Voskovec represented the core of the theatre group during its whole existence. They used masks inspired by the Fratellini clowns; Voskovec's mask was inspired by François Fratellini and Werich's by Albert Fratellini. Jiří Frejka together with another important exponent and founder, E. F. Burian, left the theatre due to disputes with the director Jindřich Honzl, an avant-garde theatre theorist who directed all the plays of the Osvobozené divadlo. The foursome (Voskovec, Werich, Ježek, and Honzl), but mainly Voskovec and Werich, gradually became the most important part of the group and their cooperation and contribution is still considered as very distinctive and legendary.  The performances of Osvobozené divadlo up to 1932 were predominantly of an entertaining character. The programme was rehearsed very loosely; it was based mainly on improvisation and was also dependent on reactions of the audience. V+W in their plays worked chiefly with historical themes and exotic places (plays "Sever proti jihu, Golem, Nebe na zemi, Fata morgana, Ostrov Dynamit, Smoking Revue"); the performances were richly accompanied by Ježek's jazz-influenced music and songs. In 1931 Ježek also established a partnership with Karel Ančerl, later chief of the Czech Philharmonic. Ančerl worked in the theatre as a conductor till 1933, and markedly improved the theatre orchestra.  Osvobozené divadlo also introduced so-called ""forbíny"" (from the German "Vorbühne" - forestage, front piece) - improvised dialogues on the forestage, often presenting topical reactions to political and cultural events and subjects.  In 1932 V+W came up with the first explicitly political play, "Caesar". In that very successful play (191 reprises), the authors for the first time warned against the danger of Nazism, and the theatre began to be regarded as political. Another strongly anti-fascist play, "Osel a stín" (The Ass and the Shadow; 1933), was also very leftist-oriented. In 1934 Osvobozené divadlo began to present another play, "Kat a blázen", whose criticism of Nazism was very sharp, straight and consistent. The play had problems with censorship, and the German embassy lodged strong protests with the "Umělecká beseda" management. After continuing complaints from German officials Osvobozené divadlo was expelled from the "Umělecká beseda" building "U Nováků Palace" in 1935.

Spoutané divadlo ("The Tied Theatre").

The theatre was renamed after the expulsion to "Spoutané divadlo" and settled in the "Rokoko Theatre" in Wenceslas Square. In a one-year period the plays "Balada z hadrů" (play about F. Villon), "Těžká Barbora" etc. were created.

Osvobozené divadlo again.

In 1936, after the triumph of the play "Balada z hadrů", Osvobozené divadlo came back to "U Nováků Palace", but other anti-Nazi plays - "Svět za mřížemi, Pěst na oko" and above all "Kat a blázen", whose performance led to demonstrations by the fascist element in the audience, led to a prohibition of all activities. The theatre was officially closed on November 10, 1938, and in January 1939 Voskovec, Werich and Ježek were forced to emigrate to the United States.

1946-1948.

After World War II. Werich and Voskovec (Ježek died in 1942 in New York City) came back from exile and attempted to restore Osvobozené divadlo, but the social atmosphere in post-war Czechoslovakia was different and not very friendly towards their kind of satire. After the communist putch in 1948 occurred, Voskovec emigrated again and the activity of the theatre completely ceased.

Significance.

Osvobozené divadlo represented an important part of the Czechoslovakia First Republic cultural scene. It was the place where many theatre experiments occurred. Archive recordings of plays and particularly of Ježek's music and songs are popular and reissued till now.

Osvobozené divadlo (1926–1938) ("Liberated Theatre" or "Prague Free Theatre") was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil ("Butterbur") in 1926. The theatre's beginnings were strongly influenced by Dadaism and Futurism, later by Poetism (a specific Czech art movement). The theatre was very leftist oriented, but it could also be critical of the Communists. One of the founders, Jiří Frejka, came up with the name in 1926. In the theatre both authorial plays and works by well-established modern authors; such as G. Apollinaire, A. Jarry, J. Cocteau, A. Breton, F. T. Marinetti, and V. Nezval were performed. The modern conception of the scene also laid more emphasis on lighting and the theatrical conception adjured more cooperation and contacts between actors and audience.


Biography.

Nelson was the grandson of Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson, an immigrant from Cumberland, England, who was an early pioneer at Yorktown. His parents were Elizabeth (Burwell) and William Nelson, who was also a leader of the colony and briefly served as governor. Thomas was born at Yorktown, and like many Virginians of his time, was educated in England. He attended Newcome's School before entering Christ's College at Cambridge University in 1758. He graduated in 1760 and returned home the following year. He helped his father with his farm at this time.  Thomas was first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1761. The following year he married Lucy Grymes (her maternal uncle was Peyton Randolph, a brother-in-law of Congressman Benjamin Harrison V; her paternal aunt was the mother of "Light Horse Harry" Lee III). The couple would have eleven children altogether. Their son Hugh Nelson (1768–1836) would later serve in the U.S. Congress.  Nelson's first term in the Congress continued until 1776 when a bout of illness forced his resignation. While a member of Congress, Nelson still found time to return home and play a key role in Virginia's Constitutional Convention in the spring of 1776. He returned to Congress in time to sign the Declaration of Independence.  Thomas Nelson was one of the thirteen committee members appointed in the Continental Congress on June 12, 1776, to "prepare and digest the form of confederation" which led to the Articles of Confederation.  He was commanding General of the Lower Virginia Militia, and succeeded Thomas Jefferson as governor of Virginia (after William Fleming's nine days as acting governor). Nelson himself was engaged in the final Siege of Yorktown. According to legend, he urged General Washington (or, in some versions, the Marquis de Lafayette) to fire on his own home, the Nelson House, where Cornwallis had his headquarters, offering five guineas to the first man to hit his house.

Death and remembrance.

He died at his son's home in Hanover County, Virginia and is buried in the Grace Churchyard at Yorktown. Nelson was a member of Grace Church. This tribute was paid by Colonel Innes:  The illustrious General Thomas Nelson is no more! He paid the last great debt to nature, on Sunday, the fourth of the present month, at his estate in Hanover. He who undertakes barely to recite the exalted virtues which adorned the life of this great and good man, will unavoidably pronounce a panegyric on human nature. As a man, a citizen, a legislator, and a patriot, he exhibited a conduct untarnished and undebased by sordid or selfish interest, and strongly marked with the genuine characteristics of true religion, sound benevolence, and liberal policy. Entertaining the most ardent love for civil and religious liberty, he was among the first of that glorious band of patriots whose exertions dashed and defeated the machinations of British tyranny, and gave United America freedom and independent empire. At a most important crisis, during the late struggle for American liberty, when this state appeared to be designated as the theatre of action for the contending armies, he was selected by the unanimous suffrage of the legislature to command the virtuous yeomanry of his country; in this honourable employment he remained until the end of the war; as a soldier, he was indefatigably active and coolly intrepid; resolute and undejected in misfortunes, he towered above distress, and struggled with the manifold difficulties to which his situation exposed him, with constancy and courage. In the memorable year 1781, when the whole force of the southern British army was directed to the immediate subjugation of this state, he was called to the helm of government; this was a juncture which indeed 'tried men's souls.' He did not avail himself of this opportunity to retire in the rear of danger; but on the contrary, took the field at the head of his countrymen; and at the hazard of his life, his fame, and individual fortune, by his decision and magnanimity, he saved not only his country, but all America, from disgrace, if not from total ruin. Of this truly patriotic and heroic conduct, the renowned commander in chief, with all the gallant officers of the combined armies employed at the siege of York, will bear ample testimony; this part of his conduct even contemporary jealousy, envy, and malignity were forced to approve, and this, more impartial posterity, if it can believe, will almost adore. If, after contemplating the splendid and heroic parts of his character, we shall inquire for the milder virtues of humanity, and seek for the man, we shall find the refined, beneficent, and social qualities of private life, through all its forms and combinations, so happily modified and united in him, that in the words of the darling poet of nature, it may be said: His life was gentle: and the elements so mixed in him, that nature might stand up And say to all the world—this was a man.

Heritage.

Nelson County, Virginia and Nelson County, Kentucky were named in his honor. The Virginia State Council for Higher Education named Thomas Nelson Community College in Thomas Nelson's honor in 1967. The Nelson County School District, which operates most of the public schools in the Kentucky county, opened the new Thomas Nelson High School in 2012.  An uncle Thomas Nelson (1716–1782) aka "Secretary Nelson" was the father of Captain Thomas Nelson who married Sally Cary (1762–1779) who was a first cousin once removed of Sally Fairfax. Thomas Nelson Jr., the subject of this article, was an ancestor of Thomas Nelson Page and William Nelson Page.  The circa 1730 Nelson House built by "Scotch Tom" Nelson in Yorktown, Virginia, and occupied by Thomas Nelson Jr. during the Revolutionary War is a National Historical Landmark maintained by the Colonial National Historical Park of the U.S. National Park Service.  Archival Records

Thomas Nelson Jr. (December 26, 1738 – January 4, 1789) was an American planter, soldier, and statesman from Yorktown, Virginia. He represented Virginia in the Continental Congress and was its Governor in 1781. He is regarded as one of the U.S. Founding Fathers. He signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the Virginia delegation and fought in the militia during the Siege of Yorktown.


Family.

She was the elder child and only daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516) and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale. She was an older sister of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia. Her paternal grandparents were King Casimir IV of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, of the Jagiellon dynasty, and Elisabeth of Austria, one of the heiresses of Bohemia, Duchy of Luxembourg and Duchy of Kujavia. Her maternal grandparents were Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale and Catherine de Foix, Infanta of the Kingdom of Navarre.

Life.

Anne was born in Buda (now Budapest). The death of Vladislaus II on 13 March 1516 left both siblings in the care of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. It was arranged that Anna marry his grandson, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, second son of Queen Regnant Joanna of Castile and her late husband and co-ruler, Philip I of Castile. Anna married Ferdinand on 26 May 1521 in Linz, Austria. At the time Ferdinand was governing the Habsburg hereditary lands on behalf of his older brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. It was stipulated that Ferdinand should succeed Anne's brother in case he died without male heirs.  Her brother Louis was killed in the Battle of Mohács against Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire on 29 August 1526. This left the thrones of both Bohemia and Hungary vacant. Ferdinand claimed both kingdoms and was elected King of Bohemia on 24 October of the same year, making Anna Queen of Bohemia.  Hungary was a more difficult case. Suleiman had annexed much of its lands. Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Hungary by a group of nobles, but another faction of Hungarian nobles refused to allow a foreign ruler to hold that title and elected John Zápolya as an alternative king. The resulting conflict between the two rivals and their successors lasted until 1571. In 1531, Ferdinand's older brother Charles V recognised Ferdinand as his successor as Holy Roman Emperor, and Ferdinand was elevated to the title King of the Romans.  Anna and Ferdinand had fifteen children, all of whom were born in Bohemia or Hungary. Both of these kingdoms had suffered for centuries from premature deaths among heirs and a shortage of succession prospects. Meanwhile, Anna served as queen consort of Bohemia and as one of three living queens of Hungary until her death. She died in Prague, days after giving birth to her last daughter Joanna. In 1556, Charles V abdicated and Ferdinand succeeded as emperor, nine years after Anna's death.

Anna of Bohemia and Hungary (23 July 1503 – 27 January 1547), sometimes known as Anna Jagellonica, was Queen of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary as the wife of King Ferdinand I, later Holy Roman Emperor.


Biography.

Born in Pont-d'Ain, Philibert was the son of Philip (Filippo) the Landless, who until 1496 was a junior member of the ducal family, and his first wife Marguerite of Bourbon. In 1496, Philibert's father surprisingly succeeded as Duke, when his underaged grandnephew Duke Charles II of Savoy died, being the male heir of the line of Savoy.  The same year, the 16-year-old Philibert married the 9-year-old Yolande Louise of Savoy, his cousin and the only sister of the deceased young duke. She was daughter of Duke Charles I of Savoy, the Warrior, and Blanche of Montferrat, as well as granddaughter of Philibert's late uncle, Duke Amadeus IX of Savoy. She was the heir-general of her brother, father, grandfather, and her grandmother Yolande of France, the eldest surviving daughter of king Charles VII of France. Her birthright, after the death of her brother, was the succession of the kingdoms of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia although Philibert's father took those titles. After a brief reign, Philip II died in 1497 and Philibert succeeded as Duke of Savoy. The young couple then at last advanced their claims, and took the titles Queen and King of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia.  In 1499, the 12-year-old first wife of Philibert died, childless. Her heir was her first cousin, Princess Charlotte of Naples, later Countess of Laval. Philibert continued to use the titles of Cyprus etc., despite the death of his first wife.  His next marriage tied him into the web of alliances around the Habsburgs, who ruled the Netherlands, Alsace, Franche-Comté, Tyrol, Austria, etc. In 1501, he married Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, the only daughter of Maximilian I and his first wife Mary of Burgundy, the duchess of Burgundy. She had previously been married to John, Prince of Asturias, heir to the thrones of Aragon and Castile.  Early in Philibert's reign, his first cousin Charles VIII of France died in 1498. The next king, Louis XII, would invade Italy the following year and conquer most of Naples. Louis would also conquer Milan, which neighboured Savoy to the east, thus putting the Savoyards between French possessions.  Philibert died in 1504 at the age of 24. Because he had no children, he was succeeded by his young half-brother Charles III.

Family.

Philibert married:

Philibert II (10 April 1480 – 10 September 1504), nicknamed the Handsome or the Good, was the Duke of Savoy from 1497 until his death.


Early career.

Balck was born in Danzig - Langfuhr, present-day Wrzeszcz in Poland. He was the son of William Balck and his wife Mathilde, née Jensen. His family had a long military tradition, and his father was a senior officer in the Imperial German Army.  On 10 April 1913 Balck entered the Hanoverian Rifle Battalion 10 in Goslar as a cadet. From 12 February 1914 he attended the Hanoverian Military College, where he remained until called up with the outbreak of the First World War in August.  Balck served as a mountain infantry officer, and his unit played a key role in the Schlieffen Plan, leading the crossing at Sedan. He fought on the western, eastern, Italian and Balkan fronts. He served three years as a company commander, ending the war in command of a machine-gun company. At one point he led an extended patrol that operated independently behind Russian lines for several weeks. Over the course of the war he was wounded seven times and awarded the Iron Cross First Class. Balck was nominated for Prussia's highest honor, the Pour le Mérite, in October 1918, but the war ended before his citation completed processing.  During the interwar period Balck was selected as one of the 4,000 officers to continue on in the military serving in the "Reichswehr". He transferred to the 18th Cavalry Regiment in 1922, and remained with that unit for 12 years. Balck twice turned down a post in the German General Staff, the normal path for advancing to high rank in the German army, preferring instead to remain a line officer.

World War II.

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Balck was serving in the "Oberkommando des Heeres" (OKH) as a staff officer in the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops, which was in charge of refitting and reorganizing the growing panzer forces. In October he was placed in command of one of the mechanised regiments of the 1st Panzer Division, with which he served during the Battle of France. The 1st Panzer Division made up a part of Guderian's panzer corps. Balck's regiment spearheaded a crossing over the Meuse, and established a bridgehead on the far side.  During the winter of 1940 through the spring of 1941 he commanded a panzer regiment, and led this unit during the Battle of Greece. He later commanded a panzer brigade in the same division. He returned to staff duties with the OKH in the Inspectorate of Armoured Forces in July 1941. In May 1942, Balck went to the Eastern Front in command of the 11th Panzer Division in Ukraine and southern Russia. Following the encirclement of the 6th Army at Stalingrad in the Soviet Operation Uranus, the German southern front faced a generalized collapse. Balck's division took part in the efforts to stop the Soviet advance. In battles along the Chir River his division destroyed an entire Soviet Tank Corps and much of the Soviet 5th Tank Army. For this and other achievements Balck was made one of only twenty-seven officers in the entire war who received the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds.  Balck was then given command of the Heer's elite unit, Großdeutschland Division which he led at Zhitomir in 1943. After a brief posting to Italy in which he commanded the XIV Panzer Corps, he returned to command the XLVIII Panzer Corps on the Eastern Front in December 1943, as well as the operations against the Soviet winter/spring offensive in western Ukraine in 1944. In July 1944 Balck commanded the Corps during the initial phase of the Soviet Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive. He was closely involved in the failed relief attempt of the encircled XIII Army Corps in the Brody pocket, where it was destroyed. In August 1944 he assumed command of the 4th Panzer Army.  In September 1944 Balck was transferred from 4th Panzer Army in Poland to the Western Front to command Army Group G in relief of General Johannes Blaskowitz in the Alsace region of France. Balck was unable to stop the Allied advance under General George S. Patton, and in late December he was relieved of command of Army Group G and placed in the officer reserve pool. By the intervention of General Heinz Guderian he was transferred to command the reconstituted 6th Army in Hungary, which also had operational control of two Hungarian armies. Balck's unit surrendered to the U.S. XX Corps in Austria on 8 May 1945.

Postwar life.

Balck was a POW and remained in captivity until 1947. He declined to participate in the US Army Historical Division's study on the war. After the war Balck found employment as a depot worker. In 1948 he was arrested for murder for the execution of artillery commander Lieutenant-Colonel Johann Schottke. The incident in question occurred while Balck served as commander of Army Group G on the western front. On 28 November 1944 near Saarbrücken, Schottke's unit had failed to provide its supportive artillery fire upon its target area. When searched for he was found drunk on duty. Balck held a summary judgment, and Schottke was executed by firing squad. The sentence and execution were conducted without the ordained military tribunal. Balck was found guilty and sentenced to three years. He served half of this sentence before being granted early release.  Hermann Balck was sentenced by a French military court in Colmar to 20 years of hard labour for his role in the scorched earth Operation Waldfest but never extradited.  In the late 1970s and early 1980s Balck and Friedrich von Mellenthin participated in seminars and panel discussions with senior NATO leaders at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Career assessment.

According to the historian David T. Zabecki, Balck was considered a gifted commander of armored troops, exemplified by his handling of 11th Panzer Division and XLVIII Panzer Corps during 1942–43. In reviewing Balck's command of the division during the Chir River crisis of December 1942, U.S. General William DePuy estimated Balck to have been "perhaps the best division commander in the German Army." Some battles Balck directed are described in "Panzer Battles", the memoir of the former general Friedrich von Mellenthin, whom he met when Balck's 11th Panzer Division came under the command of the XLVIII Panzer Corps. At the time Mellenthin was serving as Chief of Staff of the XLVIII Panzer Corps.  Balck started the war as an "Oberstleutnant" (lieutenant-colonel) in 1939 and ended it as a "General der Panzertruppe" (general of armored troops). Balck was one of only twenty-seven officers in the Wehrmacht to receive the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. His career was detailed in contrast to that of Alfred Jodl in "Weapons and Hope" by Freeman Dyson. Balck's own autobiography is entitled "Ordnung im Chaos: Erinnerungen, 1893-1948".

Georg Otto Hermann Balck (7 December 1893 – 29 November 1982) was a highly decorated officer of the German Army who served in both World War I and World War II, rising to the rank of General der Panzertruppe.


Names.

Other common names include may, mayblossom, maythorn, quickthorn, whitethorn, motherdie, and haw.  This species is one of several that have been referred to as "Crataegus oxyacantha", a name that has been rejected by the botanical community as too ambiguous. In 1793, Medikus published the name "C. apiifolia" for a European hawthorn now included in "C. monogyna," but that name is illegitimate under the rules of botanical nomenclature.

Description.

The common hawthorn is a shrub or small tree 5–14 metres (15 to 45 feet) tall, with a dense crown. The bark is dull brown with vertical orange cracks. The younger stems bear sharp thorns, approximately 12.5 mm (half an inch) long. The leaves are 20 to 40 mm (1 to 11⁄2 inches) long, obovate and deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the midrib, with the lobes spreading at a wide angle. The upper surface is dark green above and paler underneath.  The hermaphrodite flowers are produced in late spring (May to early June in its native area) in corymbs of 5–25 together; each flower is about 10 mm diameter, and has five white petals, numerous red stamens, and a single style; they are moderately fragrant. The flowers are pollinated by midges, bees and other insects and later in the year bear numerous "haws". The haw is a small, oval dark red fruit about 10 mm long, berry-like, but structurally a pome containing a single seed. Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings; these birds eat the haws and disperse the seeds in their droppings.  The common hawthorn is distinguished from the related but less widespread Midland hawthorn ("C. laevigata") by its more upright growth, the leaves being deeply lobed, with spreading lobes, and in the flowers having just one style, not two or three. However they are inter-fertile and hybrids occur frequently; they are only entirely distinct in their more typical forms.

Uses.

Medicinal use.

"Crataegus monogyna" is one of the most common species used as the "hawthorn" of traditional herbalism. The plant parts used are usually sprigs with both leaves and flowers, or alternatively the fruit ("berries"). Hawthorn has been investigated by evidence-based medicine for treating cardiac insufficiency.  "Crataegus monogyna" is a source of antioxidant phytochemicals, especially extracts of hawthorn leaves with flowers.

In gardening and agriculture.

Common hawthorn is extensively planted as a hedge plant, especially for agricultural use. Its spines and close branching habit render it effectively stock- and human-proof, with some basic maintenance. The traditional practice of hedge laying is most commonly practised with this species. It is a good fire wood which burns with a good heat and little smoke.  Numerous hybrids exist, some of which are used as garden shrubs. The most widely used hybrid is "C. × media" ("C. monogyna" × "C. laevigata"), of which several cultivars are known, including the very popular 'Paul's Scarlet' with dark pink double flowers. Other garden shrubs that have sometimes been suggested as possible hybrids involving the common hawthorn, include the various-leaved hawthorn of the Caucasus, which is only very occasionally found in parks and gardens.

Edible "berries", petals, and leaves.

The fruit of hawthorn, called haws, are edible raw but are commonly made into jellies, jams, and syrups, used to make wine, or to add flavour to brandy. Botanically they are pomes, but they look similar to berries. A haw is small and oblong, similar in size and shape to a small olive or grape, and red when ripe. Haws develop in groups of two or three along smaller branches. They are pulpy and delicate in taste. In this species ("C. monogyna") they have only one seed, but in other species of hawthorn there may be up to five seeds.  Petals are also edible, as are the leaves, which if picked in spring when still young are tender enough to be used in salads. Hawthorn petals are used in the medieval English recipe for spinee, an almond-milk based pottage recorded in 'The Forme of Cury' by the Chief Master-Cook of King Richard II, c. 1390.

Notable trees.

An ancient specimen, and reputedly the oldest tree of any species in France, is to be found alongside the church at Saint Mars sur la Futaie, Mayenne. The tree has a height of 9 m (30 feet), and a girth of 265 cm (8'8") (2009). The inscription on the plaque beneath reads: "This hawthorn is probably the oldest tree in France. Its origin goes back to St Julien (3rd century)", but such claims are impossible to verify.  A famous specimen in England was the Glastonbury or Holy Thorn which, according to legend, sprouted from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea after he thrust it into the ground while visiting Glastonbury in the 1st century AD. The tree was noteworthy because it flowered twice in a year, once in the late spring which is normal, but also once after the harshness of midwinter had passed. The original tree at Glastonbury Abbey, felled in the 1640s during the English Civil War, has been propagated as the cultivar 'Biflora'. A replacement was planted by the local council in 1951, but was cut down by vandals in 2010.  The oldest known living specimen in East Anglia, and possibly in the United Kingdom, is known as The Hethel Old Thorn, and is located in the churchyard in the small village of Hethel, south of Norwich, in Norfolk. It is reputed to be more than 700 years old, having been planted in the 13th century.

In culture.

The hawthorn is associated with Faerie in Ireland, and as such is not disturbed by those who believe in the danger fairies traditionally represent.

Crataegus monogyna, known as common hawthorn, oneseed hawthorn, or single-seeded hawthorn, is a species of hawthorn native to Europe, northwest Africa and West Asia. It has been introduced in many other parts of the world. It can be an invasive weed.


Life and military career.

Born the first son of Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl of Lucan, an Anglo-Irish peer, and Elizabeth Bingham (née Belasyse), Lord Bingham (as he was styled up until late June 1839) attended Westminster School but left formal education to be commissioned as an ensign in the 6th Regiment of Foot on 29 August 1816. He transferred to the 11th Light Dragoons on 24 December 1818.  Lord Bingham became a lieutenant in the 8th Regiment of Foot on 20 January 1820, a captain in the 74th Regiment of Foot on 16 May 1822 and was promoted to major, unattached, on 23 June 1825. He transferred to the 17th Lancers on 1 December 1825 and became commanding officer of the regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel on 9 November 1826; he lavished such expense on his officers' uniforms and horses that the officers became known as "Bingham's Dandies". He was also elected as MP for County Mayo in 1826 and held that seat until 1830. During the Russo-Turkish War, which began in 1828, he acted observer with the Imperial Russian Army.

'The Exterminator'.

Lord Bingham succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Lucan in the Peerage of Ireland on 30 June 1839 and, having become an Irish Representative Peer in June 1840 and having been promoted to colonel on 23 November 1841, he became Lord Lieutenant of Mayo in 1845. During the Great Famine in the late 1840s, he was ruthless and introduced mass evictions from villages such as Ballinrobe. Famously stating that he "would not breed paupers to pay priests," he demolished over 300 homes and evicted 2,000 people in Ballinrobe between 1846 and 1849. He even insisted on closing the workhouse in Castlebar at the height of the Famine. For this, Lord Bingham earned the hatred of many Irishmen and became known as "The Exterminator." He was promoted to major general on 11 November 1851.

Crimean War.

At the outbreak of the Crimean War, Lord Lucan applied for a post and was made commander of the Cavalry Division. His brother-in-law, the 7th Earl of Cardigan, was one of his subordinates, commanding the Light Brigade – an unfortunate choice as the two men heartily detested each other. Promoted to brevet lieutenant general on 18 August 1854, he was present at the Battle of Alma in September 1854 but, on the orders of the Army commander, Lord Raglan, he held his division in reserve. At the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854, Lucan received an order from Raglan and in turn ordered Cardigan to lead the Charge of the Light Brigade, resulting in heavy British casualties without significant gains. As Lucan brought the Heavy Brigade forward in support, he was lightly wounded in the leg. Raglan blamed Lucan for the loss ("You have lost the light brigade"), and censured him in despatches. Although Lucan complained against this censure, as the relationship between the army commander and the cavalry commander had clearly broken down, he was recalled to England, where he returned at the beginning of March 1855.  On his arrival, Lucan's demand for a court-martial was declined and instead he defended himself with a speech to the House of Lords on 19 March 1855, blaming Raglan and his deceased aide-de-camp, Captain Louis Nolan. This tactic appears to have been successful as he was subsequently appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 5 July 1855, and Colonel of the 8th Light Dragoons, who had charged with the Light Brigade, on 17 November 1855.

Later life.

A significant contribution was made by Lucan to Parliament when he produced a solution to the problem of admitting Jews to Parliament. Prior to this, distinguished Jews had declined to take the oath "on the true faith of a Christian" and having not been sworn in as required by statute, were refused voting rights although having been elected an MP. Lucan proposed, by way of a compromise, that each House could decide and modify its own oath. The House of Lords, who had long opposed the admission of Jews, agreed to this. A prominent Jew, Lionel Nathan Rothschild, was thus allowed to enter the House of Commons and was sworn in on 26 July 1858.  Although Lucan never again saw active duty, he was promoted to lieutenant general on 24 December 1858, and, having become colonel of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards on 27 February 1865, he was to promoted to general on 28 August 1865 and advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1869. He formally retired in October 1877, but after some lobbying he was promoted to field marshal on 21 June 1887. He died at 13 South Street, Park Lane, London, on 10 November 1888 and was buried at Laleham in Middlesex.

Family.

In 1829, Bingham married Lady Anne Brudenell, seventh daughter of Robert Brudenell, 6th Earl of Cardigan; they had six children, two daughters being still born or dying soon after birth:

Field Marshal George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, (16 April 1800 – 10 November 1888), styled Lord Bingham before 1839, was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat and British Army officer. He was a ruthless landlord during the Great Famine in Ireland, evicting thousands of his Irish tenants and renting his land to wealthy ranchers. He was one of three men, along with Captain Nolan and Lord Raglan, responsible for the fateful order during the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854 that led to the Light Brigade commander, The Earl of Cardigan, leading the Charge of the Light Brigade. Lord Lucan also came up with a solution that allowed Jews to sit in Parliament. He was subsequently promoted to field marshal.


Formulations.

The generic vaccine is known as diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis adsorbed, inactivated poliovirus, haemophilus b conjugate [meningococcal protein conjugate] and hepatitis b [recombinant] vaccine. The liquid vaccine is also known in abbreviated form as DTaP-HepB-IPV-Hib or DTPa-HepB-IPV-Hib. Branded formulations include Hexavac, Hexaxim, Hexyon, and Vaxelis manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur.  There is a two-part formulation known in abbreviated form as DTaP-IPV-HepB/Hib or DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib. It consists of a suspension of diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, hepatitis B, and inactivated poliomyelitis (DTaP-IPV-HepB or DTPa-HBV-IPV) vaccine that is used to reconstitute a lyophilised (freeze-dried) Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) powder. A branded formulation with a 3-antigen pertussis component, Infanrix hexa, is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

EU approval.

On 23 October 2000, the European Commission issued marketing approval for Hexavac and for Infanrix hexa.  Marketing approval for Hexavac was suspended in November 2005, on the advice of the agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in view of the variability of its long-term protection against hepatitis B. In April 2012, the manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur voluntarily withdrew the product from the market. The European Commission formally withdrew marketing permission on 28 June 2012.  On 21 June 2012, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) issued a positive scientific opinion on Hexaxim for use outside the EU, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO).  On 17 April 2013, marketing approval in the EU was granted to Hexyon.  On 15 February 2016, marketing approval in the EU was granted to Vaxelis.

USA approval.

On 21 December 2018 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensed a hexavalent combined diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) adsorbed, inactivated poliovirus (IPV), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate (meningococcal protein conjugate) and hepatitis B (HepB) (recombinant) vaccine, DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB (Vaxelis), for use as a 3-dose series in infants at ages two, four, and six months. On 26 June 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to include DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB in the federal Vaccines for Children Program (VFC).

A hexavalent vaccine, or 6-in-1 vaccine, is a combination vaccine with six individual vaccines conjugated into one, intended to protect people from multiple diseases. The principal example is a pediatric vaccine, used in more than 90 countries around the world including in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand that protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, haemophilus B, and hepatitis B.


Biography.

Jean Stablinski was the son of Polish immigrants in the mining area of the Nord department of France. His father died in a work accident in 1946 and Jean, at 14, started working in the mine to provide income for his family. It was at this time that he won a bicycle in an accordion competition. Legend says that his mother was so displeased by her son's new hobby that she damaged his bike.  Jean, still known as Stablewski, became naturalised as French at 16 and rode his first races. It was while riding the Peace Race that a journalist's error in writing his name 'Stablinski' created the surname by which he became known.

Professional career.

Stablinski turned professional at 21. From 1958 until 1967 he rode in the same teams as Jacques Anquetil, always as a support rider, or domestique. Stablinski won the national road championship four times and came second twice, all within six years, an achievement no rider has matched.  Stablinski stayed with Anquetil until his team-mate wrote a series of newspaper articles, one of which Stablinski believed criticised him even though he had devoted his career to Anquetil. The two rarely spoke after that and Stablinski joined the team headed by Anquetil's biggest rival, Raymond Poulidor.  Stablinski was recognised as a rider who made up for physical limitations by his tactical sense and his chance to profit from the moment. His knack, riders recognised, was to recognise which breakaway attempt would count and not to waste effort on the others.  Stablinski was twice suspended for doping.

Retirement.

Stablinski retired from racing and was for six years manager of the Sonolor-Lejeune, signing Lucien Van Impe and Bernard Hinault as young unknowns. His son, Jacques Stablinski, born 1956, also became a professional cyclist and rode for Gitane-Campagnolo. He became known as "Petit Stab" but never had his father's talent.  Jean Stablinski never stopped riding a bike until the illness that led to his death. He said he never put a drinks bottle on his bike when he rode for pleasure. He had spent too many years racing as a professional with no chance to stop and look around or to meet people, he told the historian Jean-Paul Ollivier on French television. If he had no water on his bike but a few euros in his pocket, he could stop and buy a drink at any bar he fancied and get into conversation with whomever he met.  He became a member of Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix, enthusiasts and workers for the spring classic. It was Stablinski who suggested the cobbled path through the Arenberg forest. His qualifications were impeccable: as a miner he had worked beneath the road and as a cyclist he had ridden along it.  He died after a long illness. On 7 April 2008 he was remembered by a memorial beside the Wallers-Arenberg road he had introduced to Paris–Roubaix. The memorial was made in blue limestone from Soignies by the sculptor Michel Karpovitch.

Jean Stablewski (21 May 1932, Thun-Saint-Amand – 22 July 2007), known as Jean Stablinski, was a French professional cyclist from a family of Polish immigrants. He rode from 1952 to 1968, winning 105 races as a professional. He won the national road championship four times - 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He was also world road champion in 1962, and won the Vuelta a España in 1958.


Design.

Wagner adapted the design of the "Festspielhaus" from an unrealised project by Gottfried Semper for an opera house in Munich, without the architect's permission, and supervised its construction. Ludwig II of Bavaria provided the primary funding for the construction. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1872, Wagner's 59th birthday. The building was first opened for the premiere of the complete four-opera cycle of ("The Ring of the Nibelung"), from 13 to 17 August 1876.  Only the entry façade exhibits the typical late-19th-century ornamentation, while the remainder of the exterior is modest and shows mostly undecorated bricks. The interior is mainly wood and has a reverberation time of 1.55 seconds. The Festspielhaus is one of the largest free-standing timber structures ever erected. Unlike the traditional opera house design with several tiers of seating in a horseshoe shaped auditorium, the Festspielhaus's seats are arranged in a single steeply-shaped wedge, with galleries or boxes along the back wall only. This is also known as continental seating. Many contemporary movie theaters have adopted this style of seating, which gives every seat an equal and uninterrupted view of the stage. The capacity of the Festspielhaus is 1,925 and has a volume of 10,000 cubic metres.  The Festspielhaus features a double proscenium, which gives the audience the illusion that the stage is further away than it actually is. The double proscenium and the recessed orchestra pit create – in Wagner's term – a "mystic gulf" between the audience and the stage. This gives a dreamlike character to performances, and provides a physical reinforcement of the mythic content of most of Wagner's operas. The architecture of Festpielhaus accomplished many of Wagner's goals and ideals for the performances of his operas including an improvement on the sound, feel, and overall look of the production.  The Festpielhaus was originally planned to open in 1873, but by that time Wagner had barely raised enough money to put up the walls of his theatre. He began to raise money by traveling and putting on concerts in various cities and countries throughout Europe. There are, however, some documents concerning the donation and aid (900 thaler) to Wagner for that matter by the Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire. Even after Ludwig began funding the project, Wagner had to continue putting on concerts to keep the building project financially afloat. The tours were very taxing on Wagner's health and would eventually be a key element to his death later on in 1883.

Orchestra pit.

A significant feature of the Festspielhaus is its unusual orchestra pit. It is recessed under the stage and covered by a hood, so that the orchestra is completely invisible to the audience. This feature was a central preoccupation for Wagner, since it made the audience concentrate on the drama onstage, rather than the distracting motion of the conductor and musicians. The design also corrected the balance of volume between singers and orchestra, creating ideal acoustics for Wagner's operas, which are the only operas performed at the Festspielhaus. However, this arrangement has also made it the most challenging to conduct in, even for the world's best conductors. Not only is the crowded pit enveloped in darkness, but the acoustic reverberation makes it difficult to synchronise the orchestra with the singers. Conductors must therefore retrain themselves to ignore cues from singers.  The orchestra layout deployed at Bayreuth is unusual in three ways:

Bayreuth Festival.

The Festspielhaus remains the venue of the annual Bayreuth Festival, during which Wagner's later operas, such as the "Ring" cycle and "Parsifal", are given on a repertory basis.

Recent history.

In early 2012, Katharina Wagner mentioned the need for repairs to the building, with mention specifically of roof leaks and crumbling of the red brick facade. In 2014, funding for restoration was announced at a level of approximately €30 million, primarily from public funding shared between Germany and the state of Bavaria, with the German national government and the Bavarian state government holding majority shares.  Repairs were completed on 26 July 2015 and the building is fully restored.

The Bayreuth Festspielhaus or Bayreuth Festival Theatre (, ) is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, built by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner and dedicated solely to the performance of his stage works. It is the venue for the annual Bayreuth Festival, for which it was specifically conceived and built. Its official name is.


Early life.

Chen Boda was born Chen Jianxiang () in 1904 to peasant parents. His courtesy name was Shangyou (). During his childhood, his family moved to Jimei, in modern-day Xiamen, likely to facilitate young Chen's enrollment at the Jimei Normal School, from which Chen graduated as a schoolteacher (he taught at various elementary schools until 1927).  In 1925, Chen enrolled at Shanghai Labor University, studying literature, and in 1927 he joined the Communist Party of China. After returning to Fujian, he was hired as the personal secretary of General Zhang Zhen, helping to prepare for the 1926–1927 Northern Expedition from the CPC side of the First United Front. When the Front collapsed, Chen fled and was eventually arrested in Nanjing. He was released after a month on General Zhang's recommendation. Shortly thereafter, Chen was sent by the Party to Moscow Sun Yat-sen University, where he studied politics and Marxist philosophy for four years.  In 1931, Chen Boda returned to China, and married Sichuan native Zhu Yuren, who had also studied in Moscow. Chen became a professor of politics and ancient Chinese history at China College in Beijing while writing articles under the pen names Chen Zhimei and Chen Boda. Most of these articles focused on the dispute between advocates of "national defense literature" such as Lu Xun, and more nationalist authors. Chen also did underground work for the Party in Tianjin.  From 1937 on, he taught politics and Marxist philosophy at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an, where he became a leader in the Yan'an Rectification Movement. He soon became personal research assistant and chief political aide to Mao Zedong. Chen published the first collection of Mao's writings in 1937, and an official history of the Party in 1945.

Role in the post-1949 government.

After the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao entrusted Chen with many important tasks. Chen Boda became:  In 1951, Chen wrote an article with the title "Mao Zedong's theory of the Chinese Revolution is the combination of Marxism-Leninism with the Chinese Revolution" and a book entitled "Mao Zedong on the Chinese Revolution". These works made him one of the most important interpreters of Mao Zedong Thought, and in the 1950s he became one of Mao's closest associates, compiling many of the quotations eventually published in the Red Book.  In 1950 Chen accompanied Mao to Moscow to participate in the negotiations with Joseph Stalin that led to the signing of the 30-year treaty of alliance (February 1950) between China and the Soviet Union.

Cultural Revolution.

From 1966 until 1969, Chen Boda was to play an important role in the Cultural Revolution. In May 1966, he was placed at the head of the newly formed Cultural Revolution Group (CRG), a body established to oversee and direct the course of the Cultural Revolution. In time, this group would rise to become the most important political body in China, surpassing even the influence of the Politburo. Furthermore, Chen Boda was also placed as head of the Communist government's propaganda apparatus alongside Jiang Qing when the previous leader, Lu Dingyi (with whom he had often quarrelled), was deposed in 1966. He also became a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo.  According to the Central Committee leadership, the Cultural Revolution Group began to show signs of ultra-leftism during the late 1960s. Boda's reputation began to wane after the 9th Party Congress in 1969 due to his ties with Lin Biao (with whom he had closely collaborated in the publication of the Little Red Book) and his opposition to Zhou Enlai's attempt to deescalate the Cultural Revolution and refocus on consolidating the Party. This marked the end of Chen Boda's involvement in the Cultural Revolution. As the leadership became more moderate in its outlook and the initial aims of the Cultural Revolution were sidelined, Chen's radicalism caused concern, and he was denounced at the 10th Party Congress in 1973 as a'revisionist secret agent' for his associations with Lin Biao.

Later life.

After the Cultural Revolution, he was tried by the post-Mao government for collaboration with the Gang of Four. He was sentenced to eighteen years in prison, but was released shortly afterwards due to his ill health. He died on 20 September 1989, at the age of 85.

Chen Boda (; 29 July 1904 – 20 September 1989), was a Chinese Communist journalist, professor and political theorist who rose to power as the chief interpreter of Maoism (or "Mao Zedong Thought") in the first 20 years of the People's Republic of China. Chen became a close associate of Mao Zedong in Yan'an, during the late 1930s, drafting speeches and theoretical essays and directing propaganda.


Design and development.

The F11F (F-11) Tiger origins can be traced back to a privately funded 1952 Grumman concept to modernize the F9F-6/7 Cougar by implementing the area rule and other advances. This Grumman company project was named "G-98", and when it was concluded it was a complete design departure from the Cougar.  The design's potential for supersonic performance and reduced transonic drag stirred interest in the U.S. Navy. By 1953, redesigns led to a completely new aircraft bearing no more than a familial resemblance to the Cougar. The new wing had full-span leading edge slats and trailing edge flaps with roll control achieved using spoilers rather than traditional ailerons. For storage on aircraft carriers, the F-11 Tiger's wings manually folded downwards. Anticipating supersonic performance, the tailplane was all-moving. The aircraft was designed for the Wright J65 turbojet, a license-built version of the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire.  The U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics was sufficiently impressed to order two prototypes, designated "XF9F-8" even though the new fighter was clearly a new design. To add to the confusion, the prototypes were then redesignated "XF9F-9" with the XF9F-8 designation going to another more straightforward Cougar derivative. Since the afterburning version of the J65 was not ready, the first prototype flew on 30 July 1954 with a non-afterburning engine. In spite of this, the aircraft nearly reached Mach 1 in its maiden flight. The second prototype, equipped with the afterburning engine, became the second supersonic U.S. Navy aircraft, the first being the Douglas F4D Skyray. In April 1955, the aircraft received the new designation F11F-1 (F-11A after adoption of the unified Tri-Service naming system in 1962). Carrier trials started on 4 April 1956 when an F11F-1 Tiger landed on and launched from.  The F-11 Tiger is noted for being the first jet aircraft to shoot itself down. On 21 September 1956, during a test-firing of its 20 mm (0.79 in) cannons, pilot Tom Attridge fired two bursts midway through a shallow dive. As the trajectory of the cannon rounds decayed, they ultimately crossed paths with the Tiger as it continued its descent, disabling it and forcing Attridge to crash-land the aircraft; he survived.  In addition to the F-11A (F11F-1) fighter, Grumman also proposed a more advanced version of the airframe known as the F11F-1F Super Tiger. This was the result of a 1955 study to fit the new General Electric J79 engine into the F11F-1 airframe.

Operational history.

Seven U.S. Navy squadrons flew the F11F-1: VF-21 and VF-33 in the Atlantic Fleet and VA-156 (redesignated VF-111 in January 1959), VF-24 (redesignated VF-211 in March 1959), VF-51, VF-121, and VF-191 in the Pacific Fleet.  In service, the Tiger operated from the carriers,,,,,, and. The F11F's career lasted only four years because its performance was inferior to the Vought F-8 Crusader and the J65 engine proved unreliable. Also, the range and endurance of the "Tiger" was found to be inadequate. Thus, the Navy cancelled all orders for the "F11F-1P" reconnaissance version and only 199 F11F-1 (F-11A) fighters were built.  The aircraft was withdrawn from carrier operations by 1961. It continued in service, however, in the Naval Air Training Command in south Texas at NAS Chase Field and NAS Kingsville, until the late 1960s. Students performed advanced jet training in the TF-9J Cougar, and upon completing that syllabus, were given a brief taste of supersonic capability with the F-11 before transitioning to fleet fighters.  While the F-11's fighter career was short, the Blue Angels performed in the aircraft from 1957–1968, when the Tiger was replaced by the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.  Prior to the 1962 code unification, the fighter was known as the F11F; after unification, it was redesignated F-11.  In 1973, two former Blue Angels F-11As were taken from storage at Davis-Monthan AFB and modified by Grumman as testbeds to evaluate in-flight thrust control systems. BuNo 141853 was fitted with a Rohr Industries thrust reverser and BuNo 141824 was kept in standard configuration as a chase plane. Tests of the inflight thrust reversal were carried out by Grumman at Calverton beginning in March 1974 and continued at NATC Patuxent River, Maryland until 1975. Following the completion of these tests, both planes were returned to storage at Davis Monthan AFB. These were the last Tigers to fly.

The Grumman F11F/F-11 Tiger is a supersonic, single-seat carrier-based United States Navy fighter aircraft in operation during the 1950s and 1960s. Originally designated the F11F Tiger in April 1955 under the pre-1962 Navy designation system, it was redesignated as F-11 Tiger under the 1962 United States Tri-Service aircraft designation system.


Biography.

Early life.

Charlotte was born in Schloss Ratiborschitz, Bohemia (now Ratibořice, Česká Skalice, Czech Republic), and grew up on the princely estate at Náchod. Besides general cultural interests such as music and art she was also very keen on sporting pursuits such as swimming, tennis, cycling and - unusual for a woman of the time - skiing. She also had an extraordinary passion for hunting.

Marriage.

On 8 April 1886 she married the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Württemberg, Crown Prince Wilhelm, who succeeded in 1891 as King William II of Württemberg (Wilhelm II. von Württemberg). She was his second wife, and like her predecessor Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont was held to be of no political consequence. If the marriage had taken place for reasons of state - Wilhelm had no male heir - it was a miscalculation, as Charlotte produced no children.  As a princess of Württemberg she lived initially in Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart, but as queen in the "Wilhelmspalais" in Stuttgart. From June to October the royal couple moved to their residence at Friedrichshafen. Finally in November/December Wilhelm and Charlotte regularly took a two-week hunting holiday in Schloss Bebenhausen (the former Bebenhausen Abbey) at Bebenhausen near Tübingen, which after the revolution of 1918 became Charlotte's permanent home.  In 1890, William brought his new wife to England, where the Princess May of Teck commented, "We liked Charlotte very much, she is a good honest soul tho' rather too brusque, she seems to get on well with all the members of the Württemberg family which denotes great tact".

Queen of Württemberg.

King Wilhelm II enjoyed great popularity among his contemporaries, but Queen Charlotte's relationship with the people of Württemberg was by contrast very reserved, as appears from publications of the time in which a distinct enthusiasm towards the king is matched by an equally apparent coolness towards the queen. Her childlessness doubtless contributed to this, but by itself is not a sufficient explanation.  The principal reason appears to lie in Charlotte's perceived reluctance to carry out her public and ceremonial duties as it was felt she should have done. For example, she preferred to celebrate her birthdays in the privacy of Friedrichshafen rather than in visible togetherness with her subjects. She left the king mostly on his own to oversee military parades, and after a few years no longer accompanied him in the public celebration of the Kaiser's birthday. She was also not thought regal enough for her new position; the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz commented in 1892, "I heard...that she is too jolly & off-hand for a Queen, and so ugly besides". The Grand Duchess' sister the Duchess of Teck liked Charlotte, but believed she took no trouble with her clothes or appearance. This contrasted sharply with her husband, who was known as a cultivated and distinguished man of aesthetic tastes.  Charlotte nevertheless displayed an interest in and openness towards some social causes, mostly to do with the benefit of women. As convention demanded, she took over from her predecessor the patronage of a large number of social and charitable organisations, among them the body of deaconesses ("Diakonissenwesen"), the Swabian Women's Union ("Schwäbische Frauenverein"), the Württemberg Savings Bank ("Württembergische Sparkasse") and the Red Cross. Among these her interest was most noticeably engaged by those to do in some way with women's causes. She was not of course personally involved in the women's movement as such, but did demonstrate a willingness to further institutions that in various ways improved the lot and social position of women, lending her royal authority above all to support establishments that provided education and training to enable girls to be independent and to provide for themselves through their work. She showed a particular involvement as patron of the Württemberg Union of Women Painters ("Württembergische Malerinnenverein") and the first humanistic "Gymnasium" for girls in Württemberg, the Charlottengymnasium in Stuttgart (today the Hölderlingymnasium).  Her support of the "Malerinnenverein" connects to her interest in art and culture. Together with her husband she was active in the country's cultural life and often went to the theatre and the opera.  After the November Revolution of 1918 and the abolition of the monarchy, Wilhelm II agreed with the State of Württemberg for himself and his wife an annual income and right of residence for life in Schloss Bebenhausen, where after Wilhelm's death in 1921, Charlotte led a secluded life, under the title of Duchess of Württemberg ("Herzogin zu Württemberg"), for another quarter of a century. In 1944 she suffered a stroke which forced her for the last years of her life to use a wheelchair.  Queen Charlotte died at Bebenhausen on 16 July 1946 aged 82. She was not only the last Queen of Württemberg but the last surviving queen of any German state: the Queen of Bavaria had died in 1919, and the Queen of Prussia in 1921. She was buried, almost unnoticed, on 23 July 1946, in the "Alter Friedhof" in Ludwigsburg next to her husband.

Princess Charlotte of Schaumburg-Lippe (10 October 1864 – 16 July 1946) was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm Karl August of Schaumburg-Lippe, and his wife, Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau. As the second wife of King William II of Württemberg she became Queen consort of Württemberg. She was not only the last queen of Württemberg, but the last surviving queen of any German state.


History.

The origins of a temple on this site date to prehistory. The great Greek Temple of Athena was built in the 5th century BC. The temple was a Doric edifice with six columns on the short sides and 14 on the long sides. Plato and Athenaeus mention the temple, and the looting of its ornament is mentioned by Cicero, in 70 BC, as one of the crimes of the governor Verres.  Archeological site excavations by Paolo Orsi in 1907-1910 show the Greek temple to have been built on even older foundations, and uncovered a wealth of archaic and pre-Hellenic artefacts. Many are held by the Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi in Syracuse.  The present cathedral was constructed by Saint Bishop Zosimo of Syracuse in the 7th century. The battered Doric columns of the original temple were incorporated in the walls of the current church. They can be seen inside and out. The building was converted into a mosque in 878, then converted back when Norman Roger I of Sicily retook the city in 1085. The roof of the nave is of Norman origin, as well as the mosaics in the apses.  As part of the increased building activity after the 1693 Sicily earthquake, the cathedral was rebuilt and the façade redesigned by architect Andrea Palma in 1725–1753. The style is classified as High Sicilian Baroque, a relatively late example. The double order of Corinthian columns on the facade provide a classic example of carved Acanthus leaves in the capitals. Sculptor Ignazio Marabitti contributed the full-length statues on the facade.  The interior of the church, a nave and two aisles, combine rustic walls and Baroque details. Features include a font with marble basin dating from the 12th or 13th century, a "ciborium" (an altar canopy) designed by architect Luigi Vanvitelli, and a statue of the "Madonna della Neve" ("Madonna of the Snow", 1512) by Antonello Gagini.

St. Lucy.

As of 2015 the cathedral holds a number of relics of St. Lucy, the patroness of the city: a number of bone fragments, a robe, a veil, and a pair of shoes. Twice a year on the first Sunday in May and on December 13, her feast day, a statue of Saint Lucy by sculptor Pietro Rizzo (1599) is brought out of the cathedral and paraded through the streets. The silver statue incorporates three fragments of her ribs within its chest.  The cathedral shares the Piazza Duomo with the Church of Santa Lucia Alla Badia, a short walk to the south. That church owns and displays the Caravaggio painting Burial of St. Lucy.

World Heritage Site.

The cathedral stands as an major element of the historic core of Syracuse. Since 2005, the entire city of Syracuse, along with the Necropolis of Pantalica, was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This programme aims to catalogue, name and conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.  The deciding committee which evaluates potential candidates described their reasons for choosing Syracuse because "monuments and archeological sites situated in Syracuse are the finest example of outstanding architectural creation spanning several cultural aspects; Greek, Roman and Baroque", following on that Ancient Syracuse was "directly linked to events, ideas and literary works of outstanding universal significance".

The Cathedral of Syracuse ("Duomo di Siracusa"), formally the "Cattedrale metropolitana della Natività di Maria Santissima", is an ancient Catholic church in Syracuse, Sicily, the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Siracusa. Its structure is originally a Greek doric temple, and for this reason it is included in a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 2005.


Biography.

Born in Jaffa in 1950, Ramon served in the Israeli Air Force, rising to the rank of Captain, before studying law at Tel Aviv University, earning a BA. He joined the Labor Party (then part of the Alignment alliance) as soon as he left the military, and was secretary of its youth wing from 1978 until 1989. He entered the Knesset in May 1983, replacing Daniel Rosolio, and, except for a period between January 2006 and the March 2006 elections, remained a member until 2009. He has been a member of various committees, and chaired the finance committee from 1988 to 1992.

Minister of Health and resignation.

Ramon was appointed Minister of Health in the government of Yitzhak Rabin in 1992 where his major achievement was the promotion of the new National Health Insurance Law (see also: "Universal health care in Israel"). In February 1994, he resigned from office, over the failure of the Labor Party to support the proposed health law, which also required breaking the linkage between the Labor Party-affiliated Histadrut Labor Federation and the Clalit Health Service Fund. In a dramatic speech at a party gathering he compared the party members to beached whales and resigned his position. However, Ramon kept advocating for the law even after his resignation and it was finally passed by the Knesset in the summer of 1994.

Histadrut chairmanship.

In 1994, Ramon split from the Labor Party to form a list called "New Life in the Histadrut" together with Amir Peretz. In the subsequent Histadrut elections he beat the Labor faction which had controlled the Histadrut since its founding. He proceeded to privatize most of the Histadrut-owned companies. As a result, the National Health Insurance Law was approved during his term of office. Based on recommendations of the Shoshana Netanyahu Commission from 1990 which undertook an exhaustive review of the health care system in Israel in the late 1980s, the law went into effect on 1 January 1995.  Before the law was passed, health insurance was optional. Even so, 96% of the population was insured. Nevertheless, the law revolutionized the healthcare sector in Israel by streamlining the management, delivery and public financing of medical services in the country and guaranteeing minimum coverage levels to all citizens.

Return to government.

Ramon returned to government after Rabin's assassination, serving as Minister of Internal Affairs under Shimon Peres from 1995 to 1996, when Labor lost power.

Failed Labor leadership bid.

When Labor returned to power in 1999 under Ehud Barak, Ramon was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, overseeing government reform and relations between the government and Knesset. He became Minister of Internal Affairs for a second time in 2000, serving until Barak's government fell in 2001. He opposed Barak's proposals to enter a coalition under Ariel Sharon, and did not participate in the coalition formed in March 2002 by Sharon and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Barak's successor as Labor leader. He ran for the leadership of the Labor Party in November 2002, losing to Amram Mitzna. In January 2005, the Labor Party entered the government of Ariel Sharon and Ramon became Minister without Portfolio responsible for Jerusalem Affairs, departing in November 2005 with the other Labor ministers.

Joining Kadima.

Following Sharon's break from Likud, and the formation of the centrist Kadima party with which he was deeply involved, and after the resignation of Labor ministers, Ramon broke from Labor and joined Kadima. He was the first Labor politician to join Kadima, paving the way to the current President of Israel, Shimon Peres and Dalia Itzik, who joined him after several days. In the present government, formed in 2006 and headed by Ehud Olmert, Ramon was appointed Justice Minister. During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Ramon emerged as one of the most hawkish members of cabinet.

Indecent conduct and resignation.

On 27 July 2006, following a seven-hour police interrogation of Ramon, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz instructed the Justice Minister, in response to Ramon's question, to refrain from making executive decisions relating to law enforcement, including the appointment of judges and the granting of amnesty, while under a sexual assault investigation. On the same day Ramon also stated, "Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hezbollah." On 17 August, Israel's Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided to indict Ramon for indecent assault. Ramon responded by saying: "I am certain of my innocence. The court will prove it." As promised before, Ramon announced his resignation on 18 August. He was convicted on 31 January 2007, and sentenced to 100 hours of community service, which he served in a therapeutic riding center in Tel Mond assisting children with disabilities. The court did not find moral turpitude in his actions.  He returned to prime minister Ehud Olmert's government in July 2007, as vice premier and minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for state policy and special missions in the name of prime minister Olmert. In a hearing in the High Court of Justice regarding his return to the government, Judge Edna Arbel ruled that Ramon is "not to be seen as a sex offender".  On 30 June 2009, Ramon announced his resignation from the Knesset. He declared that he intends to become a private businessman, but will remain the chairman of the Kadima Council, the party's most important body.

Personal Details.

Ramon is married to Vered Ramon Rivlin, editor-in-chief of the monthly "Lady Globes". He has two children from his previous marriage. He is the chairman and co-owner of the soccer club Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Haim Ramon (, born 10 April 1950) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1983 and 2009, and as both Vice Prime Minister and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for state policy.


Biography.

Born in Dresden to Austrian parents, he was a pupil of Karl von Blaas and of Christian Ruben at the Academy in Vienna. Obliged to support his family after his father's death, he worked eight years as an illustrator for the Vienna "Figaro". Continuing his studies subsequently, he visited repeatedly Italy and Egypt, and made his name favorably known through a series of scenes from popular life in Italy and Hungary.  In the late 1860s, he visited Paris, where he was inspired by the work of Eugene Fromentin and subsequently turned his attention to the Orientalist genre. In 1877 Müller took a position as professor at the Vienna Academy and later as a rector during 1890-91. Among his pupils were several orientalists such as Ludwig Deutsch, Paul Joanowitch, Jean Discart and Charles Wilda.  His sisters were the painters Marie Müller (1847-1935) and Berta Müller (1848–1925), both well known in Austria for their portrait paintings. The third sister, Josefine, married the Austrian portrait painter Eduard Swoboda (1814-1902), he was the father of the painter Rudolf Swoboda and the portrait painter Josefine Swoboda.  He travelled to Egypt many times throughout his life, often staying there for six months at a time. In 1879, on his fifth visit, he travelled with his nephew and student, Rudolf Swoboda.  He died, aged 57, in Weidlingau, now part of Vienna and is buried at "The Zentralfriedhof" ("Central Cemetery") in Vienna.

Work.

He displayed his coloristic talent to greater advantage in oriental subjects, such as "Arabian Money-Changers," "Pilgrims to Mecca Resting," "Bedouins in Camp," "Camel Mart," "Young Copt Woman" (New Pinakothek, Munich). Other works include "The Inundation in Vienna," (1862) "Old Little Matron" and "Last Task of the Day" (both in the Vienna Museum); and "Soldiers in the Thirty Years' War" (Prague Gallery). He most well-known work is the "Market in Cairo," (1878) which is currently held in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere in Vienna.

Leopold Carl Müller (9 December 1834 – 4 August 1892) was an Austrian genre painter noted for his Orientalist works.


Biography.

Jan van Bijlert was born in Utrecht, the son of the stained glass worker Herman Beernts van Bijlert. He may have had some training by his father. Subsequently, he became a student of Abraham Bloemaert. Like other painters from Utrecht, he travelled in France and Italy. In 1621 he was, along with Cornelis van Poelenburch and Willem Molijn, a founding member of the circle of Dutch and Flemish artists in Rome known as the Bentvueghels. It was the custom among the Bentvueghels to adopt a nickname. Van Bijlert's nickname was "Aeneas".  In 1625 he was back in Utrecht, where he married and joined the schutterij. In 1630 he became a member of the Utrecht Guild of St. Luke and the Reformed church. During the years 1632-1637 he was active as deacon of the guild, and in 1634 he was appointed regent of the Sint-Jobsgasthuis. In 1639 he helped form a painter's school, the "Schilders-College", where he served as regent. He died in Utrecht.

Work.

Jan van Bijlert was a very prolific painter who left some 200 pictures. Upon his return from Rome he, like other Utrecht artists who had come under the influence of Caravaggio's work, painted in a style derived from that of Caravaggio. These Utrecht artists are referred to as the Utrecht Caravaggisti. The Caravaggesque style of van Bijlert's early paintings shows itself in the use of strong chiaroscuro, the cutting off of the picture plane to create a close-up image and the realism of the representation. Van Bijlert continued to paint in this style throughout the 1620s.  Around 1630 van Bijlert turned to a more classicising style, possibly under the influence of Cornelis van Poelenburch. His colours became lighter and his subject matter became more elevated such as religious scenes. In the 1630s he also painted compositions with small figures, usually representing genre scenes of brothels or musical gatherings. These works were similar to those of the Utrecht painter Jacob Duck.  Van Bijlert also painted the portraits of eminent citizens of Utrecht such as burgomasters and nobles.  His pupils included Bartram de Fouchier, Ludolf Leendertsz de Jongh, Johannes de Veer, Mattheus Wijtmans and Abraham Willaerts.

Jan Hermansz van Bijlert (1597 or 1598 – November 1671) was a Dutch painter whose style was influenced initially by Caravaggio.


Early life.

Brandsma was born Anno Sjoerd Brandsma to Titus Brandsma (died 1920) and his wife Tjitsje Postma (died 1933) at Oegeklooster, near Hartwerd, in the Province of Friesland, in 1881. His parents, who ran a small dairy farm, were devout and committed Catholics, a minority in a predominantly-Calvinist region. With the exception of one daughter, all of their children (three daughters and two sons) entered religious orders.  From the age of 11, Brandsma pursued his secondary studies in the town of Megen, at a Franciscan-run minor seminary for boys considering a priestly or religious vocation.

Carmelite friar.

Brandsma entered the novitiate of the Carmelite friars in Boxmeer on 17 September 1898, where he took the religious name Titus (in honor of his father) by which he is now known. He professed his first vows in October 1899.  Ordained a priest in 1905, Brandsma was knowledgeable in Carmelite mysticism and was awarded a doctorate of philosophy at Rome in 1909. From 1909 to 1923 he lived in Oss and worked as a writer and teacher. From 1916 on, he initiated and led a project to translate the works of Teresa of Ávila into Dutch. In 1919 he founded and for two years acted as head of a secondary school in Oss—the present day Titus Brandsma Lyceum.  In 1921 Brandsma worked to resolve a controversy concerning Belgian artist Albert Servaes' depiction of the Stations of the Cross. From this came his series of meditations on each of the 14 stations.  One of the founders of the Catholic University of Nijmegen (now Radboud University), Brandsma became a professor of philosophy and the history of mysticism at the school in 1923. He later served as "Rector Magnificus" (1932-33). He was noted for his constant availability to everyone, rather than for his scholarly work as a professor. Brandsma also worked as a journalist and was the ecclesiastical adviser to Catholic journalists by 1935. That same year he traveled for a lecture tour of the United States and Canada, speaking at various institutions of his Order. On the occasion of his visit to a Carmelite seminary in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Brandsma wrote of the falls, "I not only see the riches of the nature of the water, its immeasurable potentiality; I see God working in the work of his hands and the manifestation of his love."

Imprisonment and death.

After the invasion of the Netherlands by the Third Reich in May 1940, Brandsma's long-term fight against the spread of Nazi ideology and for educational and press freedom brought him to the attention of the Nazis.  In January 1942 he undertook to deliver by hand a letter from the Conference of Dutch Bishops to the editors of Catholic newspapers in which the bishops ordered them not to print official Nazi documents, as was required under a new law by the German occupiers. He had visited fourteen editors before being arrested on 19 January at the Boxmeer monastery.  After being held prisoner in Scheveningen, Amersfoort, and Cleves, Brandsma was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp, arriving there on 19 June. His health quickly gave way, and he was transferred to the camp hospital. He died on 26 July 1942, from a lethal injection administered by a nurse of the Allgemeine SS, as part of their program of medical experimentation on the prisoners.

Legacy.

Brandsma is honored as a martyr within the Roman Catholic Church. He was beatified in November 1985 by Pope John Paul II. His feast day is observed within the Carmelite Order on 27 July.  In 2005 Brandsma was chosen by the inhabitants of Nijmegen as the greatest citizen to have lived there. A memorial church now stands in the city dedicated to him.  Brandsma's studies on mysticism was the basis for the establishment in 1968 of the Titus Brandsma Institute in Nijmegen, dedicated to the study of spirituality. It is a collaboration between the Dutch Carmelite friars and Radboud University Nijmegen.  In his biography of Brandsma, "The Man behind the Myth", Dutch journalist Ton Crijnen claims that Brandsma's character consisted of some vanity, a short temper, extreme energy, political innocence, true charity, unpretentious piety, thorough decisiveness, and great personal courage. His ideas were very much those of his own age and modern as well. He offset contemporary Catholicism's negative theological opinion about Judaism with a strong disaffection for any kind of Antisemitism in Hitler's Germany. Brandsma was honoured by the city of Dachau with a street adjoining the former camp, albeit one of the narrowest streets in the town.

Titus Brandsma (23 February 1881 – 26 July 1942), was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many times before the Second World War. He was imprisoned in the infamous Dachau concentration camp, where he was murdered. He has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church as a martyr of the faith.