The Ottoman–Safavid War of 1603–1612 consisted of two wars between Safavid Iran under Shah Abbas I and the Ottoman Empire under Sultans Mehmed III, Ahmed I, and Mustafa I. The first war began in 1603 and ended with a Safavid victory in 1612, when they regained and reestablished their suzerainty over the Caucasus and Western Iran, which had been lost at the Treaty of Constantinople in 1590.

Course

Safavid attack and early successes (1603–1604)

As a result of the Ottoman–Safavid War (1578–1590) the Ottomans had gained swaths of the Safavid territories in the northwest and west, including Shirvan, Dagestan, most of Azerbaijan, Kartli, Kakheti, Luristan, and Khuzestan.

Abbas I had recently undertaken a major reform of the Safavid army through the English gentleman of fortune Robert Shirley and the shah's favorite ghulam and chancellor Allahverdi Khan.

When Abbas I decided to attack the Ottomans to recover the large territories lost in the previous war, the Ottomans were engaged heavily in the European front due to the Long Turkish War started in 1593. Furthermore, the Ottomans were troubled in Eastern Anatolia because of the Jelali revolts, the Karayazıcı rebellion (1598–1602) being the most destructive one. Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire was also in turmoil in the beginning of 1603 as the tension between the Janissaries and the Sipahis were only to be eased temporarily with the intervention of the Palace.

Thus, the Safavid attack on 26 September 1603 caught the Ottomans unprepared and forced them to fight in two distant fronts. Abbas I first recaptured Nahavand and destroyed the fortress in the city, which the Ottomans had planned to use as an advance base for attacks on Iran. The Safavid army was able to capture Tabriz on 21 October 1603. For the first time, the Iranians made great use of their artillery and the town – which had been ruined by Ottoman occupation – soon fell. Local citizens welcomed the Safavid army as liberators and took harsh reprisals against the defeated Ottoman Turks who had been occupying their city. Many unfortunate Turks fell into the hands of Tabriz's citizens and were decapitated. The Safavids entered Nakhchivan at the same month soon after the city was evacuated by the Ottomans. The Safavid army then laid siege to Yerevan on 15 November 1603. Safavid armies captured Tbilisi and both Kartli and Kakheti became Safavid dependencies once again.

Unsuccessful Ottoman counter-attack (1604–1605)

While facing disasters on the Eastern front, Mehmed III died on 20 December 1603 at the age of 37. The new sultan Ahmed I who was 13 years old appointed Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha as the commander of the eastern army who marched from Istanbul 15 June 1604, a very late time for the campaigning season. Until he reached the front on 8 November 1604, the Safavid army had already captured Yerevan in June and advanced towards Kars before being stopped in Akhaltsikhe. Seeing the late season as an excuse, he did not counter-attack Abbas I and decided to stay in Van until the end of the winter. However, the Safavid advance forced him to march towards Erzurum. The inactivity created unrest among the Turkish ranks.

His campaign of 1605 was unsuccessful, the forces he led towards Tabriz suffering defeat near the shore of Lake Urmia on 9 September 1605. This was the first Safavid pitched victory against the Ottomans in their history. In this battle Abbas I utilized his predominantly cavalry force to great advantage, decisively defeating the Ottomans, who suffered some 20,000 dead. Kose Sefer Pasha, Beylerbey of Erzurum, acted independently and was captured by Safavid forces. Cağaloğlu had to withdraw to the fortress of Van and thence in the direction of Diyarbakır. He ordered the execution of Canbulatoğlu Hüseyin Pasha claiming he was late to reinforce the Ottoman army which caused a larger unrest. Sinan died in the course of this retreat in December 1605 and Abbas I was able to liberate Ganja, Baku, Shirvan, and Shamakhi in Azerbaijan in June 1606.

The Ottomans focus on western and internal fronts (1605–1609)

The Ottomans focused on the western front and the successful campaign of 1605 against the Holy Roman Empire under the command of Grand Vizier Sokolluzade Lala Mehmed Pasha ameliorated the situation in Hungary, which paved the way to the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606. Ahmed I appointed Lala Mehmed Pasha as the commander of the eastern front who died suddenly on 25 June 1606.

The absence of an effective Ottoman army created a power vacuum in the Empire's eastern fronts. Thus, Jelali revolts reached its zenith as Tavil Ahmed captured Harput and his son Mehmed overthrew the Ottoman authority in Baghdad and defeated the Ottoman force under Nasuh Pasha who was sent to restore order in Iraq. Baghdad was cleared of rebels only in 1607 while Fakhr-al-Din II extended his authority in Lebanon and western Syria with the alliance of another rebel Canbulatoğlu Ali Pasha who challenged Sultan's authority in Adana.

With the advantage of peace on the western front the Ottoman Empire gave its priority to the eastern front. The army under the command of Grand Vizier Kuyucu Murad Pasha decided to crush the rebellions first to secure the back of the army against the Safavids. Tens of thousands of Anatolians were killed during Murad Pasha's office in his campaigns (1607–1609) against separate large rebel groups.

The renewed Ottoman counter-attack and peace (1610–1612)
When the order was restored, Murad Pasha marched against Abbas I who was in Tabriz in 1610. Although the two armies met in Acıçay, north of Tabriz, no engagement or action took place. Due to the problems in the logistics, supply chain and the approaching winter, Murad Pasha withdrew his forces to Diyarbakır. While being engaged in diplomatic correspondence with Abbas I for peace and preparing his army for another campaign at the same time he died on 5 August 1611 when he was older than 90.

Nasuh Pasha was appointed as the new grand vizier and the commander of the eastern armies. He sued for peace, too, and accepted the proposal of the Safavid side in 1611. The Treaty of Nasuh Pasha was signed on 20 November 1612. The agreement secured the 1555 borders envisaged by the Peace of Amasya. Shah Abbas however, committed himself to send 200 bales of raw silk annually.

References

Sources

 Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World, A Historical Encyclopedia, volume 1, page 699.

17th-century conflicts
Ottoman–Persian Wars
17th century in Georgia (country)
17th century in Iran
1600s in the Ottoman Empire
1610s in the Ottoman Empire
17th century in Armenia
17th century in Azerbaijan
Wars involving Safavid Iran

Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–1612)


Solanum xanti, known commonly as chaparral nightshade, purple nightshade, and San Diego nightshade, is a member of the genus Solanum. It is native to the Western United States in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oregon, and to northwest Mexico in Baja California.

The plant grows in chaparral, oak woodlands, conifer forests, desert Madrean Sky Islands, and other habitats.

Description
Solanum xanti is a perennial herb or subshrub producing a branching hairy stem up to about  in maximum height. The leaves are up to 7 centimeters long and are lance-shaped to oval, mostly unlobed except for occasional lobes at the bases of the blades.

It flowers from February to June in the wild, bearing an umbel-shaped inflorescence with many purple-blue flowers up to 3 centimeters wide. The fruit is a green berry 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide.

Varieties
Varieties of the species include:
Solanum xanti var. glabrescens — (endemic to California)
Solanum xanti var. hoffmannii — Hoffmann's nightshade (endemic to California)
Solanum xanti var. intermedium — (endemic to California)
Solanum xanti var. montanum
Solanum xanti var. obispoense — San Luis Obispo nightshade (endemic to California)
Solanum xanti var. xanti

Cultivation
The plant is cultivated as an ornamental plant by specialty plant nurseries for planting in perennial border, drought-tolerant and native plant gardens. It grows from sunny locations to dry shade, such as under native oaks.

The plant is deer resistant, due to its toxic qualities.
In common with many other members in the Solanaceace family, all parts of the plant are toxic, especially the unripe fruit. Toxicity is from Solanine and glycol-alkaloids, chaconine, and solasodine. There is no antidote for Solanum poisoning. Symptoms include:
 Cardiovascular system (tachycardia, arrhythmia, and hypotension)
 Central nervous system (delirium, psychomotor, agitation, paralysis, coma, and convulsion)
 Gastrointestinal track (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea)

Selections
Cultivars and varieties available include:
Solanum xanti var. hoffmannii — Hoffmann's nightshade (long bloom period)
Solanum xanti 'Mountain Pride' — Mountain Pride purple nightshade (large dark purple flowers)

See also
List of California native plants
California chaparral and woodlands

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment: Solanum xanti
Solanum xanti — U.C. Photo gallery

xanti
Flora of Arizona
Flora of Baja California
Flora of California
Flora of Nevada
Flora of Oregon
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Natural history of the Channel Islands of California
Natural history of the Transverse Ranges
Garden plants of North America
Drought-tolerant plants
Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Solanum xanti


All Saints' Church is a Church of England church in Oakleigh Road North, Oakleigh Park, London. The church is sometimes referred to as All Saints' Friern Barnet.  It is a grade II listed building.

Construction
The construction of the church was paid for by local land-owner John Miles who also donated the land on which it stands. He also provided the parish hall and the vicarage in Myddleton Park.

Architecture
The church was built in around 1883 to an Early English Gothic Revival design by the architect Joseph Clarke.  The body of the church consists of a nave with north and south aisles and an apsidal chancel, and there is a tower with a spire at the  north-west corner. The building is faced in flint with ashlar dressings. The interior  has murals by Thomas Gambier Parry.

War memorials
Inside the church are a number of plaques to the dead of the world wars. Inside the porch is a Roll of Honour to the dead of the First World War. Outside, on the corner of Oakleigh Road North and Myddelton Park road, is a memorial to the dead of both wars, known as the All Saints Church Parishioners war memorial, whose names are inscribed inside the church.

Gallery

References

External links

Oakleigh Park
Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Barnet
Grade II listed churches in London

All Saints' Church, Oakleigh Park


is a Japanese long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best time is 2:25:10 hours, achieved in August 2009 in Sapporo. She is a member of the Second Wind running club in Japan. She represented her country at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and at the Asian Games in 2006 and 2010 (winning the silver medal at the former edition).

Born in the Ōshima District in Yamaguchi Prefecture, she attended Kokushikan University and graduated in 1999 with a degree in physical education. She made her debut over the marathon distance at the Japanese student championships in 1997. Her first marathon victory came at the 2003 Katsuta Marathon, where she ran a course record time of 2:28:17 hours.

She came third at the Tokyo Marathon in 2003, then improved to second place behind Bruna Genovese at the same competition the following year, setting a personal best of 2:26:43 hours in the process. Shimahara improved further at the 2005 Hokkaido Marathon, running 2:26:14 and taking the runner-up spot. In 2006, opened her season with a personal best of 1:10:16 hours at the Miyazaki Half Marathon, then came third at the Osaka Ladies Marathon. She made her foreign debut at the Boston Marathon, where she finished in fifth place. She gained her first international call-up for Japan at the 2006 Asian Games and she was the marathon silver medallist behind China's Zhou Chunxiu.

These performances led to her being selected for the Japanese women's marathon squad at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. She finished sixth at the World Championships Marathon in Osaka. At the 2007 London Marathon, she withdrew mid-race for the first time, pulling up just after the halfway point due to breathing difficulties. At the start of 2008 she came eleventh at the Nagoya Marathon, but rebounded at the Chicago Marathon with a third-place finish to reach the podium. Shimahara ended her year with a win at the Honolulu Marathon in a time of 2:32:36 hours.

Despite a sixth-place finish at the Tokyo Marathon, the 2009 season proved to be one of Shimahara's most successful. She won the Osaka Half Marathon then set a course record and personal best of 2:25:10 hours to win at the Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo. She was the runner-up at both the Yokohama Marathon and the Honolulu race that year. Shimahara was fourth at the 2010 Nagano Marathon and was selected to compete for Japan at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. However, she did not win a medal on her second performance at the Games, finishing fifth overall.

In 2011, she was the runner-up at the Hokkaido Marathon and the inaugural Osaka Marathon. She also ran at the Tokyo Marathon that year but placed fifteenth in that race. She had only one outing in 2012: at the Osaka Marathon she came fifth in a time of 2:29:51 hours. A year passed before she returned to competition, again in Osaka, and she managed third on that occasion.

Achievements

References

External links

Profile at Marathon Info

1976 births
Living people
Japanese female long-distance runners
Japanese female marathon runners
Sportspeople from Yamaguchi Prefecture
Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games
Asian Games silver medalists for Japan
Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games
20th-century Japanese women
21st-century Japanese women

Kiyoko Shimahara


Robert W. Selander was the President and Chief Executive Officer of MasterCard until 1 July 2010 when he was succeeded by Ajay Banga.  He had held this position since April 1997. Before that he spent 20 years with Citibank, where he developed their global branch network and managed  Citibank's  Diners Club International credit card business throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

Early life and career
Selander earned his undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from Cornell University in 1972 and was a member of the Quill and Dagger society and the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School. In 2005 Selander was presented with a Doctor of International Business Honoris Causa from Richmond The American International University in London.

Selander serves on the Board of Directors of Western Union Company, HealthEquity, Inc., and Fidelity Equity and High Income. He also served on the Board of Directors of MasterCard Incorporated, MasterCard International and Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.

In February 2006, Selander had surgery for prostate cancer, which delayed the initial public offering of MasterCard.

References

Cornell University alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Living people
American business executives
Year of birth missing (living people)

Robert Selander


In typography, a typeface is a family of fonts. Every glyph in a typeface shares certain design features. Typefaces have names, such as Times New Roman, Garamond, Baskerville.

Every font of a typeface has specific details (such as size and weight) and is used in a particular way. The reason for having different fonts is to give the designer or printer choices which suit various needs. The most basic of all needs is to have the text legible and readable.

There are many versions of typefaces which are out of copyright. "ITC Garamond" is a different typeface from "Adobe Garamond" or "Monotype Garamond". These are all versions of the typeface Garamond, originally created in the 16th century. There are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly.

The art and craft of designing typefaces is called type design. In digital typography, type designers are sometimes also called font developers or font designers.

Every typeface is a collection of glyphs, each of which represents an individual letter, number, punctuation mark, or other symbol. There are typefaces tailored for special applications, such as map-making or astrology and mathematics.

A very widely used typeface is Times New Roman. This is a serif typeface commissioned by the British newspaper The Times in 1931. This typeface was later adapted for use in book printing, and again for use as a computer face. There are now many different versions of this typeface.

References

Lawson, Alexander S. 1990. Anatomy of a typeface. Godine.

Typography

Typeface


Henrikas Ciparis  (born 31 December 1941, in Labardžiai) is a Lithuanian painter.

He graduated from high school in 1960, and was drafted into the army.  He entered the Vilnius Art Institute (now Vilnius Art Academy) to study art pedagogy, and after a three-year continued his studies at the newly established high school Scenography Department.
He graduated from the Lithuanian Institute of Fine Arts, in 1969.  Since 1973, Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater artist, and since 1983 chief artist.
In 1976–1982, he was Lithuanian head of the Art Institute of Scenography.

He held about 20 solo exhibitions in Lithuania and abroad. Creator of costumes and about 60 performances in Vilnius, Klaipeda, Erfurt, Kemerovo theaters.
Since 2001, format of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, summer season performances in Trakai castle (Vytautas Klova. Pilėnai, 2001, Gaetano Donicetis. Lamermur Lucia di, 2002).

He was set designer for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater, he worked with director E. Domarku. on Verdi's La Traviata, Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio,  Gounod's Faust, and Vytautas Klova's Pilenai.

Format more than 200 anniversary events (650, Vilnius, Vilnius University, 400 First Lithuanian Book 450, Folk Songs 100 Years celebrations), concert (song festival in 1980, 1985), the Constituent Congress of Movement, 1988.

See also
List of Lithuanian painters

References

External links
"Henry Ciparis", Lithuania Artist Association

1941 births
Living people
People from Rietavas Municipality
Lithuanian painters

Henrikas Ciparis


The Caves of Drach (modern Catalan spelling:  ; ; ) are four great caves that are located in the island of Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, extending to a depth of 25 m and reaching approximately 4 km in length. They are in the municipality of Manacor, near the locality of Porto Cristo. They were first mentioned in a letter dated 1338. The four caves, called Black Cave, White Cave, Cave of Luis Salvador, and Cave of the French, are connected to each other.

The caves have formed by water being forced through the entrance from the Mediterranean Sea, and some researchers think the formation may date back to the Miocene Epoch. There is an underground lake situated in the caves called Martel Lake, which is about 115 m in length and 30 m in width, and its depth varies between four and twelve meters. It is named after the French explorer and scientist Édouard-Alfred Martel, considered the founding father of speleology, who was invited to explore the cave 1896. While German cave explorer, M.F. Will, had mapped the White and Black cave in 1880, Martel found two more caves, as well as the underground lake.

The caves are open to the public for a fee, and are one of the main tourist attractions on Mallorca. The visit typically ends with a classical music concert, performed by a small orchestra of musicians on a fleet of small row boats.

The caves are such an integral part of the tourism industry, that its closure, even if temporary, is seen by the locals as a bad sign for the economy.

References

Show caves in Spain
Landforms of Mallorca
Tourist attractions in Mallorca
Landforms of the Balearic Islands
Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Balearic Islands
Caves of Spain

Cuevas del Drach


Negative relative accommodation (NRA) was proposed by Joseph Kearney of Oxford University in 1967 as a measure of the maximum ability to relax accommodation while maintaining clear, single binocular vision. This measurement is typically obtained by an orthoptist, ophthalmologist or optometrist during an eye examination using a phoropter. After the patient's distance correction is established, the patient is instructed to view small letters on a card 40 cm from the eyes. The examiner adds lenses in +0.25 increments until the patient first reports that they become blurry.  The total value of the lenses added to reach this point is the NRA value. High NRA values (above +2.50) might be evidence to over minus, uncorrected hyperopia or latent hyperopia.

See also
Amplitude of accommodation
Convergence insufficiency
Positive relative accommodation

References

Ophthalmology

Negative relative accommodation


View from Stalheim () is an 1842 oil painting by Johan Christian Dahl of the mountainous view from Stalheim, Voss, Hordaland. It is a major work of Romantic nationalism and has become a national icon. It is regarded as one of Dahl's best works.

Description
The painting shows the view from the peak at Stalheim over the Nærøy Valley towards the sugarloaf-shaped peak of Jordalsnuten in late afternoon sunshine, framed by peaks and a rainbow. The sun shines on a small village near the centre. Dahl has clearly delineated figures and buildings even in the distance, creating "a world in miniature". One of his purposes was realism; the other was to capture the glory and magnificence of the mountains, and associated with that, of his country's culture. In this evocation of grandeur the painting prefigures later US landscapes, in particular Church's Rainy Season in the Tropics (1866), which has a similar crowning rainbow. The rainbow itself, a symbol of reconciliation, peace, and in Christianity of God's grace, was also frequently used by Joseph Anton Koch and by Dahl's friend and associate Caspar David Friedrich.

History
Dahl began work on the painting in 1836 and completed it in 1842. It is based on two pencil and watercolour sketches he had made from the Gudvangen road in July 1826 during his first visit to the high mountain regions of Norway. The final version is close to the studies in both composition and details, including the sunlight highlighting the village; but Dahl has intensified the imagery by narrowing the valley, giving more prominence to the Jordalsnuten peak and less to the reappearance of the river from the shadows.

Dahl had trouble with the painting and avoided similarly large works after its completion.

Provenance
The painting was made for Countess Wedel of Bogstad. Carl Gustav Wedel-Jarlsberg gave it to the National Gallery of Norway in 1914.

Reception
The painting is regarded as one of Dahl's best, perhaps his most successful realisation of his aim of depicting the mountains both realistically and as national symbols. It has become a national icon. Other painters have also depicted the scene, and even more than his other Norwegian landscapes, this one drove tourists to visit the site: the luxury hotel built at Stalheim in 1885 is attributable to it.

References

External links
 High-resolution image at Google Art Project

1842 paintings
Landscape paintings
Paintings by Johan Christian Dahl
Paintings in the National Gallery (Norway)

View from Stalheim


Claude-Victor Perrin, Duke of Belluno (; 7 December 1764 – 1 March 1841) was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1807 by Emperor Napoleon I.

Early life
Victor was born in Lamarche on 7 December 1764 to Charles Perrin and Marie Anne Floriot. In 1781, he enlisted in an artillery regiment in Grenoble as a drummer, and after ten years' service he applied for and received his discharge. In Valence, on 16 May 1791 he married Jeanne Josephine Muguet, by whom he had issue which was extinct in the male line by 1917.

French Revolutionary Wars

War of the First Coalition

In February 1792, Victor joined his hometown's National Guard as a grenadier. He then enlisted in the 1st Drôme Battalion, and later passed to the 5th Bouches-du-Rhône Battalion. In September 1792 he was made chief of battalion and deployed with the Army of Italy, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Coaraze. During the Siege of Toulon in late 1793, Victor distinguished himself in the capture of Fort Mont Faron, and was seriously wounded in the stomach during the capture of Fort de l'Eguillette at the end of the siege.

For his actions at Toulon, Victor received a provisional promotion to brigade general. Afterwards, he was sent to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees and fought in the War of the Pyrenees from 1794 to 1795, where he served in the sieges of Collioure, Roses, and fought with distinction at the Battle of the Black Mountain in November 1794. Confirmed in his rank in June 1795, he returned to the Army of Italy, fighting at the Battle of Loano in November 1795.

Victor served brilliantly in the Italian campaign of 1796 under General Napoleon Bonaparte. He took part in the capture of Cosseria Castle (April 14) and the battles of Dego (April 15), Peschiera (August 6), and Rovereto (September 4). Soon after his promotion to general of division, in January 1797, he capture Imola and Ancona  (which would later become the Anconine Republic) in the Papal States, seizing 120 artillery pieces and 4,000 rifles. In April 1797, his troops took part in the suppression of the Veronese Easter.

War of the Second Coalition

Victor then returned to France and was made commander of the 2nd military division in Nantes in March 1798, but was soon back in the Army of Italy. He served in the Italian campaign of 1799, and was present at the defeats of Trebbia (June 17–19), where he was injured, and Genola (November 4). The following year, he led his division at Montebello and distinguished himself at the Battle of Marengo.

Appointed general-in-chief of the Army of Batavia in July 1800, Victor held this command until August 1802, when he was named commander of a planned expedition to Louisiana. However, due to the disaster of that of Saint-Domingue, the expedition was cancelled and Victor returned to his previous command in June 1803. In that year he married for a second time in June at 's-Hertogenbosch to Julie Vosch van Avesaat (1781–1831), by whom he had an only daughter who died unmarried and without issue. In February 1805, he was appointed Ambassador to Denmark.

Napoleonic Wars

War of the Fourth Coalition

On the outbreak of hostilities with Prussia, Victor became Chief of Staff of the 5th Army Corps under Marshal Jean Lannes, and fought at the battles of Saalfeld and Jena in October 1806, where he was wounded. He received the capitulation of Spandau on October 25, served at the Battle of Pultusk on December 26, and was placed at the head of the 10th Army Corps upon its formation.

In March 1807, Victor laid siege to Kolberg then Danzig before being captured by partisans of Ferdinand von Schill. He was soon exchanged for Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and immediately sent to the Siege of Graudenz. After replacing the wounded Marshal Jean Bernadotte as commander of the 1st Army Corps, in June 1807, Victor broke the center of the Russian army at the Battle of Friedland on June 14, for which he was made Marshal of the Empire by Napoleon on 13 July.

Peninsular War

After the peace of Tilsit, Victor became governor of Berlin, and was created Duke of Belluno (Duc de Bellune) in September 1808, shortly before departing for the Peninsular War. He was victorious over the Spanish general Joaquín Blake y Joyes at the Battle of Espinosa on November 10–11, and took part in the Battle of Somosierra on November 30, subsequently marching on Toledo. He was again victorious at Uclès in January 1809, and as commander of the 1st Army Corps, he participated in the battles of Ybor (17 March), Valdecañas de Tajo (18 March), and finally Medellín (28 March), where he inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Spanish army of General Gregorio García de la Cuesta. He the won the Battle of Alcabon on July 26, but over the next two days was repulsed by an Anglo-Spanish army at Talavera.

After the French victory at the Battle of Ocaña, Victor entered Cordoba in November 1809 and Seville in February 1810, then laid siege to Cadiz. Lacking sufficient siege artillery, and with the city being supplied by sea, his troops could not seize the important Spanish port and the siege was abandoned after 30 months. During this period he fought at the Battle of Chiclana.

Russian campaign and War of the Sixth Coalition

In 1812, Victor was recalled to France to head the 9th Army Corps in the invasion of Russia. At the head of 30,000 men, he served in the reserve ensuring the lines of communication. At first his corps was posted in east Prussia, but it was later moved up to Smolensk to served as the rearguard of the invading forces. From here his most important service was in protecting the retreating army at the crossing of the Berezina River. He was appointed commander of the 2nd Army Corps in March 1813, and over the following months fought at the battles of Dresden, Leipzig, Wachau, and finally at Hanau on 30 October.

During the French campaign of 1814, Victor was one of the generals who distinguished himself alongside Napoleon. Initially stationed with his 2nd Army Corps in Strasbourg, his outnumbered troops withdrew until late January before the advancing Coalition armies. He took part in the battles of Brienne and La Rothière, and on February 17 his troops routed Pahlen's Russian corps at the Battle of Mormant, taking 3,000 prisoners and seizing 16 artillery pieces.

On 18 February 1814, Victor arrived too late at the Battle of Montereau. The result was a scene of violent recrimination and his supersession by the emperor, who transferred his command to General Étienne Maurice Gérard. Nevertheless, he was put at the head of two divisions of the Young Guard the same day. He was wounded by a gunshot at the Battle of Craonne on 7 March, which forced him to walk on crutches for three months.

Bourbon Restoration and later life

Upon Napoleon's defeat in April 1814, Victor transferred his allegiance to the restored House of Bourbon. He was made a Chevalier de Saint-Louis, and in December 1814 received from Louis XVIII the command of the 2nd military division. In 1815, on the return of Napoleon from exile in Elba during the Hundred Days, Victor accompanied the king to Ghent.

When the second restoration followed the Battle of Waterloo, Victor returned to Paris with Louis XVIII and was made a peer of France and major-general of the Royal Guard. In October, he was appointed chairman of a commission which inquired into the conduct of the officers who joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days. As a member of the Chamber of Peers, he voted in favor of the death penalty for Marshal Michel Ney, a vote he bitterly regretted, and Victor made the day of Ney's execution (7 December) a day of penance until the end of his life.

In 1821, Victor was appointed Minister of War and held this office for two years. In this capacity, he prepared the 1823 French invasion of Spain but was dismissed by Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême and resumed his ministerial portfolio. After the July Revolution in 1830, he refused to swear allegiance to the government of King Louis Philippe, was expelled from the Chamber of Peers, and retired altogether into private life. He died in Paris on 1 March 1841 and was buried at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. His papers for the period 1793–1800 have been published (Paris, 1846).

Personal life
Victor first married Jeanne-Josephine Muguet in May 1791 and had four children:
 Victorine (1792–1822)
 Charles (1795–1827)
 Napoléon-Victor (1796–1853)
 Eugène (1799–1852)

His second marriage was to Julie Vosch van Avesaet in June 1803 (1781–1831), with whom he had a daughter:
 Stephanie-Josephine (1805–1832)

Evaluation
Victor had mixed military talents. He was an excellent organizer and tactician. During his time in Spain he destroyed entire Spanish armies with Cannae-like envelopments and even fought Wellington to a virtual tactical draw at Talavera. However he was a timid strategist often afraid of taking risks. Nevertheless, he recognized new developments in warfare and implemented them throughout his career. At the Beresina River in 1812, he made excellent use of reverse slope defenses showing that he learned something from Wellington.

References

Attribution:

External links

 Claude Perrin Victor Papers at The Historic New Orleans Collection

1764 births
1841 deaths
People from Vosges (department)
Victor-Perrin, Claude
Legitimists
French Ministers of War
Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration
Marshals of the First French Empire
Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
People of the War of the First Coalition

Claude-Victor Perrin


Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has served as its president since 2015. His accolades include an Academy Award, four BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Olivier Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours, and was given Freedom of the City in his native Belfast in 2018. In 2020, he was ranked in 20th place on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

He has directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, including Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Othello (1995), Hamlet (1996),  and As You Like It (2006). He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for Henry V, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamlet. He directed Swan Song (1992), which earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He also directed Peter's Friends (1992), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Thor (2011), and Cinderella (2015). For his semi-autobiographical film Belfast (2021), he was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, and won Best Original Screenplay.

Branagh directed and starred as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Death on the Nile (2022), and A Haunting in Venice (2023). He has also acted in Celebrity (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), and Valkyrie (2008). His portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2011) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played supporting roles in Christopher Nolan's films Dunkirk (2017), Tenet (2020), and Oppenheimer (2023).

Branagh has starred in the BBC1 series Fortunes of War (1987), the Channel 4 series Shackleton (2002), and BBC One series Wallander (2008–2016). He received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and an International Emmy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in the HBO film Conspiracy (2001). He also received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his role as Franklin D. Roosevelt in the television film Warm Springs (2005).

Early life and education
Kenneth Charles Branagh was born in Belfast on 10 December 1960, the son of working-class Protestant parents Frances ( Harper) and William Branagh. His father was a plumber and joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting partitions and suspended ceilings. He is the middle of three children, with an older brother and a younger sister, and lived in the Tigers Bay area of Belfast. He was educated at Grove Primary School. In early 1970, at the age of nine, Branagh moved with his family to England to escape the Troubles; they settled in Berkshire, where Branagh grew up in Reading and attended Whiteknights Primary School and Meadway School in Tilehurst. He appeared in school productions such as Toad of Toad Hall and Oh, What a Lovely War!

At school, Branagh learned to speak with an RP accent to avoid bullying. Discussing his identity, he later said, "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy." He also attributes his "love of words" to his Irish heritage. He attended the amateur Reading Cine & Video Society (now called Reading Film & Video Makers) and was a keen member of Progress Theatre, of which he is now the patron. After disappointing A-level results in English, history, and sociology, he went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1980, RADA's principal Hugh Cruttwell asked Branagh to perform a soliloquy from Hamlet for Queen Elizabeth II during one of her visits to the academy.

Career

1980–1988: Rise to prominence

Branagh's first film appearance was as an uncredited role as a Cambridge student in the sports drama Chariots of Fire (1981). Branagh achieved early success in his native Northern Ireland for his role as Billy, the title character in the BBC's Play for Today trilogy known as the Billy Plays (1982–84), written by Graham Reid and set in Belfast. He received acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, first winning the 1982 SWET Award for Best Newcomer, for his role as Judd in Julian Mitchell's Another Country, after leaving RADA. Branagh was part of the new wave of actors to emerge from the academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Juliet Stevenson, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Bruce Payne and Fiona Shaw. In 1984, he appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Henry V, directed by Adrian Noble. The production played to sold-out audiences, especially at the Barbican in the City of London. It was this production that he adapted for the film version of the play in 1989. He and David Parfitt founded the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987, following success with several productions on the London Fringe, including Branagh's full-scale production of Romeo and Juliet at the Lyric Studio, co-starring with Samantha Bond.

The first major Renaissance production was Branagh's Christmas 1987 staging of Twelfth Night at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, starring Richard Briers as Malvolio and Frances Barber as Viola, and with an original score by actor, musician, and composer Patrick Doyle, who two years later was to compose the music for Branagh's film adaptation of Henry V. This Twelfth Night was later adapted for television. Also in 1987, Branagh found his first leading film role as James Moon in the British film adaptation of J.L. Carr's book A Month in The Country. Here he plays a homosexual ex-army officer who following the war, has taken on a job to excavate a burial in the churchyard, instead he spends most of his time looking for Saxon treasures. Its set in a 1920s rural Yorkshire village where he meets Colin Firth, also in his first major role.

Branagh became a major presence in the media and on the British stage when Renaissance collaborated with Birmingham Rep for a 1988 touring season of three Shakespeare plays under the umbrella title of Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, which also played a repertory season at the Phoenix Theatre in London. It featured directorial debuts for Judi Dench with Much Ado About Nothing (starring Branagh and Samantha Bond  as Benedick and Beatrice), Geraldine McEwan with As You Like It, and Derek Jacobi directing Branagh in the title role in Hamlet, with Sophie Thompson as Ophelia. Critic Milton Shulman of the London Evening Standard wrote: "On the positive side Branagh has the vitality of Olivier, the passion of Gielgud, the assurance of Guinness, to mention but three famous actors who have essayed the role. On the negative side, he has not got the magnetism of Olivier, nor the mellifluous voice quality of Gielgud nor the intelligence of Guinness."

1989–1999: Breakthrough

A year later, in 1989, Branagh co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance company's stage revival of Look Back in Anger. Judi Dench directed both the theatre and television productions, presented first in Belfast then at the London Coliseum and Lyric Theatre. In 1990, he wrote his autobiography Beginning, recounting his life and acting career up to that point. In the book's introduction, he admits that the main reason for producing the book was "money" and that "The deal was made, and a handsome advance was paid out. The advance provided the funds to buy accommodation for the Company's offices, this moving Renaissance out of my flat and bringing me a little closer to sanity."

Notable non-Shakespeare films in which Branagh has acted in and directed include the neo-noir romantic thriller Dead Again (1991) starring Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, and Derek Jacobi. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival where it competed for the Golden Bear and received critical acclaim. The following year he directed the British comedy-drama film Peter's Friends, with a cast including former student friends Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie, Tony Slattery, and Stephen Fry, as well as Imelda Staunton and Rita Rudner. The film received positive reviews with critics comparing it favorably as the British version of The Big Chill (1982). The film earned two Evening Standard British Film Awards for Branagh and Thompson.

Branagh is known for his film adaptations of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V (1989), returned with Shakespeare's romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing (1993). The film premiered at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or. The film starred Branagh, Thompson, Denzel Washington, Kate Beckinsale, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton. Vincent Canby film critic of The New York Times praised Branagh's direction writing, "Now he has accomplished something equally difficult. He has taken a Shakespearean romantic comedy, the sort of thing that usually turns to mush on the screen, and made a movie that is triumphantly romantic, comic and, most surprising of all, emotionally alive."

However Branagh had a career misstep with his adaptation of the horror film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994). The film starred Branagh, Robert De Niro, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, and Ian Holm. It premiered at the London Film Festival where it received negative reviews. The New York Times film critic Janet Maslin wrote of Branagh's failure, "[He] is in over his head. He displays neither the technical finesse to handle a big, visually ambitious film nor the insight to develop a stirring new version of this story. Instead, this is a bland, no-fault Frankenstein for the '90s, short on villainy but loaded with the tragically misunderstood". He then directed the minor British romantic comedy In the Bleak Midwinter (1995) to positive reviews.

Also in 1995, Branagh portrayed Iago in Oliver Parker's Othello (1995) acting opposite Laurence Fishburne as Othello. The film received largely positive reviews, particularly for Branagh's performance which earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised his acting writing, "Mr Branagh's superb performance, as the man whose Machiavellian scheming guides the story of Othello's downfall, guarantees this film an immediacy that any audience will understand."

Branagh returned to directing, in the acclaimed adaptation of Hamlet (1996). Critics have theorised it might be the greatest film adaptation of Hamlet of all time. The film is noted for its epic scale and cast. The film ran four hours and was shot completely in 70 mm film. The cast includes Branagh, Kate Winslet, Derek Jacobi, Julie Christie and Rufus Sewell. Critic Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times praised Branagh's direction and acting, declaring, "One of the tasks of a lifetime is to become familiar with the great plays of Shakespeare. 'Hamlet' is the most opaque. Branagh's version moved me, entertained me and made me feel for the first time at home in that doomed royal court." The film received four Academy Award nominations including for Best Adapted Screenplay for Branagh.

Post-Hamlet, Branagh took a break from directing choosing to act in films directed by auteur directors. He starred in Robert Altman's legal thriller The Gingerbread Man (1998), Paul Greengrass' dramedy The Theory of Flight (1998) and Woody Allen's celebrity satire Celebrity (1998). The following year he starred in the Western film Wild Wild West opposite Will Smith, Kevin Kline, and Salma Hayek, which received negative reviews. During this time Branagh took on voice roles playing the title role in BBC radio broadcasts of Hamlet and Cyrano de Bergerac, and the role of Edmund in King Lear. Branagh has narrated several audiobooks, such as The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. In 1998, he narrated the 24-episode documentary series Cold War. Branagh also narrated the BBC documentaries Walking with Dinosaurs, World War I in Colour, Walking with Beasts and Walking with Monsters, and the BBC miniseries Great Composers.

2000–2010: Established director

Branagh found commercial and critical failure of Love's Labour's Lost which paused his directorial career. That same year he voiced Miguel in the DreamWorks Animated film The Road to El Dorado (2000) alongside Kevin Kline. The film received mixed reviews but has since gained a cult following. The following year he acted in the HBO film Conspiracy (2001) portraying SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. The film is a depiction of the Wannsee Conference, where Nazi officials decided on the Final Solution. Branagh acted alongside Colin Firth, and Stanley Tucci. He earned critical acclaim for his performance as well as the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

In 2002, Branagh played A. O. Neville in the drama film Rabbit-Proof Fence and portrayed a humorous role as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in the film adaptation of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He also portrayed Sir Ernest Shackleton in the Channel 4 television film Shackleton (2002). The film is a dramatization of the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition's battle for survival, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award and an Emmy. That same year Branagh starred at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield as Richard III. In 2003, he starred in the Royal National Theatre's production of David Mamet's Edmond. Branagh directed The Play What I Wrote in England in 2001 and directed a Broadway production in 2003.

Branagh has been involved in several made-for-TV films. Among his most acclaimed portrayals is that of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film Warm Springs (2005), for which he received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination. The film received 16 Emmy nominations, winning five (including Outstanding Made for Television Movie); Branagh did not win the award for his portrayal. In 2006, Branagh directed the film version of As You Like It starring Romola Garai, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Kevin Kline. That same year he also directed a film version of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. Branagh has also directed the thriller Sleuth (2007), a remake of the 1972 film starring Jude Law and Michael Caine. The film received mixed reviews with critics praising the performances and noting Branagh's darker interpretation of the material. Branagh then took the role of Major General Henning von Tresckow in Valkyrie (2008) and played the Minister, Dormandy (a parody of PMG Tony Benn), in the film The Boat That Rocked (2009).

Branagh is the star of the English-language Wallander television series, adaptations of Henning Mankell's best-selling Wallander crime novels. Branagh plays the eponymous Inspector Kurt Wallander and also serves as the executive producer of the series. The first series of three episodes was broadcast on BBC One in November and December 2008. Branagh won the award for best actor at the 35th Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards (2009). It was his first major television award win in the UK. He received his first BAFTA TV on 26 April 2009 for the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. For his performance in the episode One Step Behind, he was nominated in the Outstanding Actor, Miniseries, or Movie category of the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. The role also gained him a nomination for Best Actor at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. The second Wallander series of three episodes aired initially in January 2010 on the BBC, and the third season aired in July 2012. The fourth and final series was shot from October 2014 to January 2015 and premiered on German TV, dubbed into German, in December 2015; it aired in the UK, with its original English soundtrack, in May and June 2016.

From September to November 2008, Branagh appeared at Wyndham's Theatre as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard. His performance was lauded as the "performance of the year" by several critics. It won him the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Male Performance but did not get him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination, to the surprise of critics.

2011–2020: Career expansion

In 2011, Branagh directed Thor, a film based on the Marvel superhero. Thor, Branagh's return to big-budget directing, was released on 6 May 2011. The film was a part of Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It starred Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, and Anthony Hopkins. The film was a financial and critical success. That same year he portrayed Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2011). Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Branagh's performance writing, "It is a complete joy to see Branagh's Olivier erupt in queeny frustration at Marilyn's lateness, space-cadet vagueness, and preposterous Method acting indulgence...[He] revives Olivier with wit, intelligence and charm". Branagh received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 84th Academy Awards losing to Christopher Plummer for Beginners (2011).

Branagh participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony portraying Isambard Kingdom Brunel during the Industrial Revolution segment "Pandemonium" where he performed one of Caliban's speeches from Shakespeare's The Tempest. In July 2013, he co-directed Macbeth at Manchester International Festival with Rob Ashford. With Branagh in the title role, Alex Kingston played Lady Macbeth and Ray Fearon featured as Macduff. The final performance of the completely sold-out run was broadcast to cinemas on 20 July as part of National Theatre Live. He repeated his performance and directorial duties opposite Ashford and Kingston when the production moved to New York City's Park Avenue Armory in June 2014.

In April 2015, Branagh announced his formation of the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company, in which he would appear as actor-manager. With the company, he announced he would present a season of five shows at London's Garrick Theatre from October 2015 – November 2016. The shows were The Winter's Tale, a double bill of Harlequinade and All On Her Own, Red Velvet, The Painkiller, Romeo and Juliet and The Entertainer. Branagh directed all but The Entertainer, in which he starred. Branagh also starred in The Winter's Tale, Harlequinade and The Painkiller. Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company also includes Judi Dench (The Winter's Tale), Zoë Wanamaker (Harlequinade/All On Her Own), Derek Jacobi, Lily James and Richard Madden (Romeo and Juliet) and Rob Brydon (The Painkiller). In September 2015, it was announced that The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, and The Entertainer would be broadcast in cinemas, in partnership with Picturehouse Entertainment.

In 2014 Branagh directed and acted in the action thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) starring Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, and Kevin Costner. The film was a box office hit but received mixed reviews from critics. The following year, Branagh directed Disney's live-action adaptation of Cinderella (2015) starring Lily James. The film was a financial and critical success. Peter Debruge of Variety praised his direction writing, "the underlying property emerges untarnished, as director Kenneth Branagh reverently reimagines Charles Perrault's fairy tale for a new generation the world over, spelling countless opportunities to exploit fresh interest in the story throughout the Disney universe."

Branagh started his first collaboration with Christopher Nolan portraying a Royal Navy Commander in the World War II action-thriller Dunkirk (2017), based on the British military evacuation of the French city of Dunkirk in 1940. Branagh starred alongside Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, and Tom Hardy. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. That same year Branagh directed and starred in a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's detective novel Murder on the Orient Express (2017) as Hercule Poirot. Production began in London in November 2016. Like Branagh's Hamlet in 1996, it is among the very few to use 65mm film cameras since 1970.

In 2018, he directed the film All Is True, in which he starred as William Shakespeare. Branagh also directed the fantasy adventure film Artemis Fowl, which was released on Disney+ in June 2020. In May 2019, Branagh was cast in Christopher Nolan's Tenet (2020) in which he portrayed the villain Andrei Sator and was praised for his performance. Branagh acted alongside Robert Pattinson, John David Washington, and Elizabeth Debicki.

2021–present

In 2021, Branagh directed the semi-autobiographical film Belfast starring Jude Hill, Catriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, and Judi Dench. In the film, Branagh explores his childhood in Northern Ireland during a period of intense religious and political conflict. The film was shot in black-and-white with flickers of colour images. The film was shown both at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the People's Choice Award for the latter. The film was acclaimed by critics with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian writing, "There is a terrific warmth and tenderness to Branagh's elegiac, autobiographical movie about the Belfast of his childhood: spryly written, beautifully acted and shot in a lustrous monochrome, with set pieces, madeleines and epiphanies that feel like a more emollient version of Terence Davies." Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter noted, "[While] Branagh's most personal film is imperfect, the emotion that it builds in the final section, as the family plays out a wrenching universal drama of emigration, is searing". The film earned seven Academy Award nominations including for
Best Picture and Best Director. Branagh won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film.

He reprised his role as Hercule Poirot in 2022's Death on the Nile, a sequel to Murder on the Orient Express which he also directed. In March 2021, Branagh signed on to direct a biopic of music group the Bee Gees. In March 2022, it was revealed that Branagh left the project due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by John Carney. In October 2022, it was announced that Branagh would direct and star in a third Poirot film titled A Haunting in Venice, based on Christie's Hallowe'en Party. Branagh reunited with Christopher Nolan, portraying the Danish physicist Niels Bohr in the war epic Oppenheimer (2023).

Personal life

Branagh married English actress Emma Thompson in 1989 and they divorced in 1995. They appeared together in Fortunes of War, Look Back in Anger, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Dead Again, and Peter's Friends. They later both appeared in The Boat That Rocked and the Harry Potter series, though they did not share any scenes. During their marriage, while directing and co-starring with English actress Helena Bonham Carter in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, he began an affair with Bonham Carter. After Thompson divorced him, he and Bonham Carter were in a well-publicised relationship until 1999. In 2003, he married film art director Lindsay Brunnock, whom he met during the shooting of Shackleton in 2002.

Branagh has said that he considers himself Irish. He has said that he became "much more religious" after listening to Laurence Olivier's dramatic reading of the Bible every morning in preparation for his role as Olivier in My Week with Marilyn. He is a fan of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur FC, the Northern Irish football club Linfield FC, and the Scottish football club Rangers FC.

Filmography

Awards and honours

Branagh has been nominated for eight Academy Awards and is the first individual to be nominated in seven different categories. His first two nominations were for Henry V (one each for directing and acting). He also received similar BAFTA Award nominations for his film work, winning one for his direction. His first BAFTA TV award came in April 2009, for Best Drama Series (Wallander). Branagh received two other Academy Award nominations for the 1992 film short subject Swan Song and for his work on the screenplay of Hamlet in 1996. His 5th nomination came for his portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn in 2012. This was followed by three nominations in 2022 for Belfast – his first nominations for Original Screenplay and Best Picture, winning for Original Screenplay. He thereby became the first person to have been nominated in seven different categories of the Academy Awards, surpassing Walt Disney, George Clooney, and Alfonso Cuarón, each of whom have received nominations in six categories (the latest equalled Branagh the year after).

He is Honorary President of NICVA (the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action). He received an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990. He is also a patron for the charity Over The Wall. Branagh was the youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (also known as the Gielgud Award) in 2000. In 2001, he was appointed an honorary Doctor of Literature at the Shakespeare Institute of The University of Birmingham; the Shakespeare Institute Library keeps the archive of his Renaissance Theatre Company and Renaissance Films.

On 10 July 2009, Branagh was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the RomaFictionFest. He was also listed on the Radio Times's TV 100 power list in 2023.

He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to drama and to the community in Northern Ireland. He received the accolade at Buckingham Palace on 9 November 2012; afterwards, Branagh told a BBC reporter that he felt "humble, elated, and incredibly lucky" to be knighted.

In October 2015, it was announced that Branagh would be the new President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), succeeding the late Richard, Lord Attenborough. As the President of RADA and one of the highest profile actors and filmmakers in contemporary British popular culture, Branagh appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the UK. In October 2017, it was announced that Branagh would be conferred with the Freedom of the City of Belfast. The honour was officially conferred on him by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Nuala McAllister, at a ceremony in the Ulster Hall in Belfast on 30 January 2018. He was awarded the Freedom of the Town of Stratford-upon-Avon on 22 April 2022.

Discography
 Shakespeare's Richard III (complete) for Naxos Audiobooks
 In the Ravine & Other Short Stories by Anton Chekhov (unabridged) for Naxos Audiobooks
 Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream (speaker) live recording for Sony Classical, conducted by Claudio Abbado
 The Diary of Samuel Pepys 1660–1669 (abridged) for Hodder Headline Audio Classics
 The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis for Harper Books
 Shakespeare's "Sonnet 30" for the 2002 compilation album, When Love Speaks (EMI Classics)
 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein [Abridged]
 Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness for Audible.com.

Notes

References

Further reading
 Kenneth Branagh (1990 [1989]) Beginning, London: Chatto and Windus, ; New York: W. W. Norton & Co, .
 Ian Shuttleworth (1994) Ken & Em, London: Headline. .
 Mark White (2005) Kenneth Branagh, London: Faber and Faber. .

External links

 Biography on Tiscali film section
 Kenneth Branagh interview from Premiere (1996)
 Branagh Collection at Queen's University, Belfast
 Renaissance Theatre Company Archive, Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham
 Branagh's Wallander – Website relating to the BBC's English-language Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh

1960 births
20th-century male actors from Northern Ireland
21st-century male actors from Northern Ireland
Actor-managers
Actors awarded knighthoods
Alumni of RADA
Audiobook narrators
BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award
Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
Best Director BAFTA Award winners
Best Screenplay Golden Globe winners
Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners
International Emmy Award for Best Actor winners
English-language film directors
European Film Award for Best Actor winners
Film directors from Northern Ireland
Film producers from Northern Ireland
People from Northern Ireland of English descent
Knights Bachelor
Living people
Male actors from Belfast
Male film actors from Northern Ireland
Male Shakespearean actors from Northern Ireland
Male stage actors from Northern Ireland
Male television actors from Northern Ireland
Male voice actors from Northern Ireland
Male writers from Northern Ireland
Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners
Male actors from Reading, Berkshire
Royal Shakespeare Company members
Screenwriters from Northern Ireland
Television directors from Northern Ireland
Television editors from Northern Ireland
Television producers from Northern Ireland
Television writers from Northern Ireland
British male television writers
Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners

Kenneth Branagh


The Government of South Russia () was a White movement government established in Sevastopol, Crimea in April 1920.

It was the successor to General Anton Denikin's South Russian Government (Южнорусское Правительство Yuzhnorusskoye Pravitel'stvo) set up in February 1920.

General Pyotr Wrangel was the pravitel' (правитель, "ruler")  while the head of the government itself was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Alexander Krivoshein, with Peter Berngardovich Struve serving as foreign minister.  The government officially adopted the name "Government of South Russia" on 16 August 1920, and it controlled the area of the former Russian Empire's Taurida Governorate, i.e., the Crimean Peninsula and adjacent areas of the mainland.

The Government of South Russia received assistance from the Allied Powers including France (which recognized it in August 1920) and the United States, as well as from the newly independent Poland. However, foreign support gradually dried up so offensives of the former Armed Forces of South Russia and the Volunteer Army, now called the Russian Army, had failed in Northern Taurida.

In early November with the Perekop–Chongar operation, the Bolsheviks won decisive victories and entered Crimea proper.  Between 7 and 17 November it broke through Russian Army defenses on the Isthmus of Perekop, crossing the Sivash and capturing the Lithuanian Peninsula, the fortified , Yushun, and Chongar positions.  After breaking through at Perekop, the front advanced into Crimea.  Wrangel initiated an evacuation of 146,000 people to Constantinople with the last boats departing on 16 November.  With this withdrawal, the final remnants of the White forces in European Russia were defeated.

References

External links
 1920-08-11 - Chronicling America - De-facto recognition of the Government of South Russia at the Library of Congress.
 1920-08-11 - Photo of the Government of South Russia at the encri.ru historical wiki.
 Search Russia Government at russia.search-government.com.

1920 disestablishments in Europe
Post–Russian Empire states
Former unrecognized countries
States and territories established in 1920
1920 in Ukraine
Political history of Sevastopol
White movement
Political history of Crimea

Government of South Russia


Go, Yellow () is a 2001 Croatian football comedy-drama film directed by Dražen Žarković. It was Žarković's debut feature film, after having directed several award-winning documentary and short films. He set out to create an unpretentious, easy-to-watch film that would be popular with the cinemagoers, but it was ultimately poorly received at the Croatian box office and was met with mixed reviews from the critics.

Plot
Ivek (Slavko Brankov) and Kruno (Žarko Potočnjak) are best friends, both passionate supporters of a suburban Zagreb football club. When a nouveau riche businessman Čabraja (Goran Grgić) enters the club's managing board with ambitious plans, and soon becomes the club's president, the two friends are divided. While Kruno is enthusiastic over the club's newly found success, Ivek is distrustful towards Čabraja and does not approve of his shady methods. Their friendship becomes increasingly strained...

Production
Go, Yellow was originally intended as a two-part TV feature. It was shot on standard 16 mm film and later transferred to 35 mm film in order to be shown at film festivals. The screenplay, written by Pavo Marinković, was based on an idea by the two leading actors, Slavko Brankov and Žarko Potočnjak.

The filming started on 6 June 2000 and was scheduled to last until 20 July. Football scenes were shot in the stadium of NK Rudeš, a local Zagreb football club. There are no wide shots of the stadium in the film, as the budget did not allow that many background actors. Instead, multiple shots were used with the same group of extras appearing as crowd in the different parts of the stadium.

Reception
The reactions to Go, Yellow were varied. At the extreme ends of the scale, Vjesnik'''s columnist Branko Vukšić likened the film to My Sweet Little Village, while Ivan Starčević, a TV critic writing for Nacional, called it "hopelessly bad".

Croatian writer, columnist and film critic Jurica Pavičić gave the film a moderately favorable review. He described it as "easy to watch" and "exceptionally entertaining at times", while being "lightly and stylishly directed". In particular, Pavičić praised the acting and football cinematography. However, he also described the film as "dramaturgically unbalanced", suffering from a "simplified story about the Croatian new capitalism".Go, Yellow'' competed as one of six films screened at the 48th Pula Film Festival in 2001, but it did not win any awards, and ranked last in the viewers' choice poll. The film was not successful at the Croatian box office either, having sold 2,414 tickets in total.

References

External links

2001 films
Association football films
2000s Croatian-language films
Films shot in Croatia
Films set in Zagreb
Croatian comedy-drama films
2001 directorial debut films

Go, Yellow


Natterer's bat (Myotis nattereri) is a European vespertilionid bat with pale wings. It has brown fur tending to greyish-white on its underside. It is found across most of the continent of Europe, parts of the Near East and North Africa. It feeds on insects and other invertebrates which it catches on the wing or pursues on the ground.

In summer it roosts in deciduous and coniferous trees, buildings or bat boxes close to its feeding habitats. In winter it hibernates in caves, tunnels, mines or cellars, usually hiding in crevices. This bat was first described in 1817 by Heinrich Kuhl, who named it in honour of the Austrian naturalist Johann Natterer.

Description
Natterer's bat is a medium-sized species and grows to a head and body length of  with a forearm (elbow to wrist) length of . It weighs between . The short, dense fur on the dorsal (upper) surface of head and body is greyish-brown while the ventral (under) surface is whitish-grey.  The ears and the wing membranes are smoky grey. This bat can be distinguished from other similar species by the fact that the free edge of the interfemoral membrane between the hind limbs is wrinkled and fringed with stiff, curved hairs and the calcar, a spur of cartilage that supports the membrane, is shaped like a "S".

Distribution and habitat

The Natterer's bat species complex has a western Palaearctic distribution and is native to most of Europe, parts of the Middle East and parts of northern Africa. Its range extends from southern Sweden, Finland and western Russia in the north to Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal to the west. It extends eastwards to Ukraine, western and southwestern Asia Minor, the Levant, the Caucasus region, the Kopet Dag Mountains in Turkmenistan, Iran and northern Kazakhstan. Its southern limit is Morocco and Algeria, southwards as far as the Atlas Mountains. Records from North Africa are few in number and the population there is likely to be small. Its historic range included Norway, in which it is now a possibly extirpated species.

It is found from sea level up to an altitude of about . It is found in forests, parkland, and in open countryside with scattered woodland. It roosts in holes in trees, buildings and nestboxes. In winter it hibernates in caves, mineshafts, tunnels and cellars, hiding itself away in cracks and crevices usually near the cave entrance. It is largely a resident species and the summer roosts and winter hibernation sites are usually within  of each other.

Behaviour
Natterer's bat is nocturnal and insectivorous. It emerges at dusk to hunt for insects and uses echolocation to find prey and orient itself at night. Like many other species of bat, it emits sounds at too high a frequency for most humans to detect and then interprets the echoes created in order to build a "sound picture" of its surroundings. The frequencies used by this bat species for echolocation lie between 23 and 115 kHz and have most energy at 53 kHz. The individual signals have an average duration of 3.8 ms. The wide bandwidth of its frequency-modulated search signals enables it to detect prey only a few centimetres from vegetation and it does not use vision, olfaction or sounds emitted by its prey for this purpose. The bat feeds on the wing and it mostly catches insects in flight but it is also able to feed on prey items such as spiders and caterpillars dangling close to foliage on silken threads.

During a study of the bat's diet, examination of droppings showed that it can also gather prey items from the ground. The diet was found mostly to consist of large Diptera (flies) but Trichoptera (caddisfly), Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants and hoverflies) and Arachnida (spiders and harvestmen) were also commonly eaten. The remains of other prey items occasionally found in the droppings included Lepidoptera (moths), Coleoptera (beetles), Hemiptera (bugs), Dermaptera (earwigs) and Chilopoda (centipedes). This bat may use its interfemoral membrane to catch prey and the fringing hairs may have a sensory function. It has been shown that it can land on the ground to pick up and pursue invertebrates that are active at night, and continues to emit search signals in order to locate them precisely.

Breeding takes place in the spring and many Natterer's bats may congregate in a nursery roost. After fertilisation, a female normally gives birth to a single offspring after a gestation period of fifty to sixty days, but twins sometimes occur. Weaning takes place six or seven weeks later and the juvenile becomes sexually mature the following year.

Status
The IUCN has listed the Natterer's bat in its Red List of Threatened Species as being of "Least Concern" because it has a very wide distribution and is abundant in many parts of its extent. The population trend seems to be steady and no significant threats have been identified. The IUCN does note however that in some parts of its range woodlands are under threat and land management practices are changing. Roosting sites in trees and buildings may be destroyed and in Africa, cave roosting habitats are being damaged. The bat is used in traditional medicine practices in North Africa.

Natterer's bats are protected under the European Habitats Directive, the Bonn Convention (Eurobats) and the Berne Convention.  In the United Kingdom their rarity means that woodlands containing the species may be considered for notification as Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Special Areas of Conservation and may attract a grant under Natural Englands Environmental Stewardship scheme.

See also
 Bokeloh Bat lyssavirus

References

External links

 ARKive Photographs, video.
 Woodland Management for Bats

Mouse-eared bats
Mammals described in 1817
Bats of Africa
Bats of Asia
Bats of Europe
Mammals of Azerbaijan

Natterer's bat


(born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), and Impact Wrestling. Marufuji is a four-time GHC Heavyweight Champion, as well as the first of two men to win Junior Heavyweight Championships in all three major Japanese promotions (Minoru Tanaka is the other). In 2009, he was appointed to the position of Vice President of Pro Wrestling Noah, and has retained the position since, being reappointed in September 2011.

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–1999)
Marufuji pursued amateur wrestling and basketball during his high school days before joining All Japan Pro Wrestling, and trained in Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym. His debut match came on August 28, 1998 against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. For the first two years of his career, under Giant Baba and Mitsuharu Misawa's isolationist policy, he was a jobber; one of the few rare interpromotional matches he worked was in Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1999, a lucha libre six-man tag match, gave him a chance to shine.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2000–present)
After the Noah secession, he joined the upstart promotion and became an integral part of its Junior Heavyweight division, impressing many with his high-flying style and charisma. He would go on to form a successful tag team with KENTA and win the 2004 Super J-Cup. In early and mid-2005, Marufuji toured through Germany and Austria, competing for Westside Xtreme Wrestling and Rings of Europe. Along with Minoru Suzuki, they were the first talent delegation that was sent over that began the Noah/European Talent Trade Partnership. On March 5, 2006, Marufuji pinned former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and former GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue.

On September 9, 2006, Naomichi defeated Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Championship at the Budokan Hall, utilizing the Perfect Inside Cradle. In doing so, he became the first wrestler to win all five GHC titles in Noah and became the lightest GHC Heavyweight Champion of all time. A little over a month later, Marufuji's successfully defended the title against his tag team partner Kenta on October 29, 2006. The match received critical acclaim, and Tokyo Sports named the match the 2006 Match of the Year. On December 10, 2006, Marufuji lost the GHC Heavyweight Championship to Mitsuharu Misawa in his third defense.

On July 5, 2009, Marufuji was appointed to the position of Noah's Vice President alongside Kenta Kobashi by Noah's current President, Akira Taue, in the wake of Misawa's death.

On July 5, 2014, Marufuji won the GHC Heavyweight Championship for the second time, defeating Yuji Nagata. That same month he defended the championship against BRAVE stablemate Katsuhiko Nakajima on July 21. He then defeated Takeshi Morishima on August 24 in his second title defense at Korakuen Hall. That same night, Maybach Taniguchi won a number one contenders match over Nakajima and the two men squared off on September 23 at the 'Great Voyage in Niigata' show where Marufuji successfully retained his championship. Shortly after, he retained the championship for a fourth time by defeating Daisuke Sekimoto of Big Japan Pro Wrestling at the 'Great Voyage in Yokohama' show on October 23. Marufuji then, still as champion, took part in the 2014 Global League. Marufuji finished with eight points and a four-win, three-loss record, including losses to Nakajima, Morishima, and Satoshi Kojima. Marufuji defeated the Global League winner Takashi Sugiura on December 6 at the 'Great Voyage in Tokyo vol.3' show. Following Marufuji's appearance on Wrestle Kingdom 9, the New Japan stable Suzuki-gun made their debut in Noah invading the company and on March 15, 2015, Marufuji lost his title to the stable's leader Minoru Suzuki.

Marufuji took part in the 2015 Global Tag League with Katsuhiko Nakajima as his partner. The pair finished with six points and a disappointing fourth-place finish in the six-team block. However, at 'Great Voyage in Yokohama' on May 10, Marufuji received a rematch with Suzuki for the championship. Marufuji, however, ultimately came up short in his attempt to dethrone the Suzuki-gun leader. Marufuji continued the year outside of the title picture taking part in tag team matches squaring off with Suzuki-gun foes, however at the September 19 'Great Voyage in Osaka' show Marufuji defeated BRAVE stablemate Atsushi Kotoge. Marufuji then took part in the 2015 Global League. Marufuji began the tournament with four straight victories, however a loss to Masato Tanaka on October 29 and a subsequent loss to Satoshi Kojima at the next show on November 3 put Marufuji in a four-way tie on points at the top of his block. On the final group stage day, paired with a loss by Tanaka, Marufuji beat fellow co-first place contender Chris Hero to win the block and advance to the final on November 8. In the final, Marufuji defeated fellow Suzuki-gun member Shelton Benjamin who had finished his block without a single loss to go on and receive a championship opportunity. Marufuji received his title match at the DESTINY 2015 show and he regained the title from Suzuki on December 23, 2015. However, immediately following the match as his Noah roster members celebrated with him, Takashi Sugiura turned on Marufuji to join forces with Suzuki-gun.

On January 31, 2016, Marufuji faltered in his first defense of his newly won championship as he lost the title to Takashi Sugiura. The next month, on February 19, Marufuji took part in a ten-man tag team match that pitted Suzuki-gun members against Noah roster members. Marufuji was the second to last person eliminated being pinned by Sugiura. On March 19, 2016, Marufuji continued to battle against the Suzuki-gun stable that had invaded Noah as he alongside Muhammad Yone and Mitsuhiro Kitamiya defeated Shelton Benjamin, Takashi Iizuka, and Suzuki himself in a six-man tag team match the 2016 'Great Voyage In Korakuen' event.

From April 21 to May 4, Marufuji took part in the 2016 Global Tag League with Toru Yano, who took part despite being mainly a competitor in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The pair got eight points, good enough for second in the block, and ultimately avenged a loss by defeating Killer Elite Squad in the finals. As a result of winning the tag league, the duo won a shot at the GHC Tag Team Championships held by Killer Elite Squad. On May 28 at the 2016 'Great Voyage In Osaka' event, the pair defeated Killer Elite Squad and became the new GHC Tag Team Champions. The pair's first match as champions was an immediate title defense over the former champions at 'Emerald Spirits In Korakuen' on June 12. The pair defended their championships twice more before Marufuji went to New Japan to take part in the 2016 G1 Climax. They defeated Suzuki and Iizuka on July 5 followed by a defense over Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kitamiya on July 16.

Upon Marufuji's return, he and Yano defended their belts against the team of Muhammad Yone and Quiet Storm, known as '50 Funky Powers', on September 23 and, as a continuation of his feud based in New Japan with Kazuchika Okada, Marufuji and Yano retained their championships over Okada and Chaos stablemate Yoshi-Hashi on October 8. The pair defended their belts yet again on October 23 at 'Great Voyage 2016 In Yokohama Vol. 2' where they defeated Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) From November 3 to November 22 Marufuji took part in the 2016 Global League and was placed in the 'B' block. Marufuji, with eight points, faced off with Masa Kitamiya on the final day's main event and a spot in the tournament final on the line, however, Marufuji ultimately lost and Kitamiya finished first in the B block. The next day, the day of the Global League Final, Marufuji and Yano lost their championships to Killer Elite Squad, the team they defeated for the belts six months prior and thus marking the end of the team. The final tour of 2016 went poorly for Marufuji as he and his various partners were unable to beat the team of Alejandro Saez and Takashi Sugiura the entire tour and, on the final show of 2016, Marufuji was defeated in a singles match by Sugiura.

On the first show of 2017 on January 7, Marufuji and partner Atsushi Kotoge failed to dethrone GHC Tag Team Champions Go Shiozaki and Maybach Taniguchi in a championship opportunity. At the 2017 'Great Voyage In Yokohama' show on March 12, Marufuji teamed with Japanese wrestling legend Keiji Muto to defeat debuting Impact Wrestling star Moose and Kazma Sakamoto. Marufuji formed a new team with former rival Maybach Taniguchi and, on the April 14 'Countdown to GTL' show, the new pairing defeated Takashi Sugiura and Kenoh for the GHC Tag Team Championships shortly before the start of the 2017 Global Tag League's beginning. The team took part in the tag league finishing at the top of the block with ten points and ultimately won the final as well by defeating Shiozaki and Kotoge. The champion duo was then promptly challenged by a team they lost to in the tournament, Cody Hall and Randy Reign, and on June 4 Marufuji and Taniguchi defeated them in a championship title defense. On August 26, Marufuji and Taniguchi lost the title to Atsushi Kotoge and Go Shiozaki. On December 22, the two received their rematch for the titles, but lost to 50FP (Quiet Storm and Mohammad Yone) after Taniguchi turned on him, revealing himself as the traitor within NOAH that Mitsuya Nagai had been hinting at for several shows. On May 29, 2018, five days after his Triple Crown challenge, Marufuji unsuccessfully challenged Takashi Sugiura for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. On July 28, Marufuji and Akitoshi Saito defeated The Aggression (Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya) to win the GHC Tag Team Championship, marking his sixth reign and Saito's fifth reign with the titles.

On June 6, 2021, at CyberFight Festival, Marufuji won the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Keiji Mutoh. He successfully defended it against Takashi Sugiura and Kazushi Sakuraba before losing it to Katsuhiko Nakajima on October 10.

In 2023 Kenta and Marufuji reunited in NOAH for the GHC tag titles.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2003–2016)
On June 10, 2003, Marufuji made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), teaming with Kotaro Suzuki to unsuccessfully challenge Jyushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Marufuji returned to the company on December 9, failing in his attempt to win the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship from Hiroshi Tanahashi. On May 3, 2004, Marufuji would make his final appearance for NJPW in over five years in a six-man tag team match, where he, Heat and Tiger Mask were defeated by the American Dragon, Koji Kanemoto, and Último Dragón.

On December 22, 2009, Marufuji made his return to NJPW, defeating Jyushin Thunder Liger in the first round of the 2009 Super J-Cup. The following day he defeated Tigers Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, and finally Prince Devitt in the finals, to win the Super J-Cup and earn a match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On January 4, 2010, Marufuji represented Noah in the New Japan vs. Noah match series at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome, where he defeated Tiger Mask to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. With his victory Marufuji became the first person to hold the three major Junior Heavyweight Titles in Japan (All Japan, Noah, and NJPW). On June 19 at Dominion 6.19, Marufuji lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Prince Devitt.

Marufuji's next appearance for NJPW was on January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he and Go Shiozaki defeated CHAOS Top Team (Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano) in a tag team match. Marufuji returned to NJPW that August to take part in the 2012 G1 Climax tournament. After a slow start, which saw Marufuji lose two of his first three matches, he bounced back by defeating reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi on August 5 and afterward made a challenge for his title. After four wins and three losses, Marufuji was eliminated from the tournament on August 12, after losing to Toru Yano in his final round-robin match. Following the tournament, Marufuji was named the number one contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On September 23 at Destruction, Marufuji unsuccessfully challenged Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

On September 29, 2013, Marufuji returned to New Japan, challenging Shinsuke Nakamura to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Marufuji failed in his title challenge on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling. Marufuji returned to New Japan on December 20, 2014, when he, along with fellow Noah wrestlers TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), was revealed as one of Toru Yano's tag team partners at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2015. At the event, the four defeated Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka) in an eight-man tag team match.

Marufuji returned to NJPW on July 18, 2016, by entering the 2016 G1 Climax tournament and defeating reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in his opening match. On August 12, Marufuji finished his tournament with a record of five wins and four losses with a loss against Hirooki Goto on the final day eliminating him from the finals. Marufuji's win over Okada earned him a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on October 10 at King of Pro-Wrestling, where Okada retained the title.

Ring of Honor (2005–2007)

As part of his foreign excursion to the United States, along with Kenta Kobashi and Kenta, Marufuji challenged Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship on December 17, 2005, in Edison, New Jersey. Danielson retained his title, but the crowd gave Marufuji a loud ovation after the match.

Marufuji returned to the United States to wrestle for Ring of Honor on the main event of the "Best in the World" show on March 25, 2006 show in New York City, teaming with Kenta for the first time in the United States against the team of Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson; the team of Marufuji and Kenta won after Kenta pinned Danielson, but after Marufuji tried and failed to lift Joe.

Marufuji returned to Ring of Honor for a third tour, along with Kenta. Both started off the tour with a win, teaming up to defeat the Briscoe Brothers at Glory By Honor V: Night 1. The following night at Glory By Honor V: Night 2, he successfully defended the GHC Heavyweight Championship against Nigel McGuinness. Marufuji also appeared at Ring of Honor's first pay-per-view, Respect Is Earned, where he defeated Rocky Romero.

Marufuji was scheduled to return to ROH in May 2013 for the Border Wars 2013 pay-per-view as well as a Ring of Honor Wrestling television taping, but was forced to pull out of the events after suffering a knee injury the previous month.

Returns to AJPW (2008, 2018)
On September 28, 2008, ten years after his original debut in All Japan Pro Wrestling, Marufuji returned to AJPW and won the World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Ryuji Hijikata. He would go on to successfully defend the title against Shuji Kondo in a match that won the Tokyo Sports Best Bout of 2008 award and Takashi Okita before losing it to Kaz Hayashi.

Marufuji returned to AJPW to compete in the 2018 Champion Carnival, where he finished his block with a record of five wins and two losses, last defeating Jun Akiyama on April 29 to advance to the finals. Then the following day, he defeated B Block winner and Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Kento Miyahara to win the Champion Carnival. On the rematch for the title on May 25, however, Marufuji was defeated.

Championships and accomplishments
 All Japan Pro Wrestling
 World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 Champion Carnival (2018)
 DDT Pro-Wrestling
KO-D Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Harashima
Osaka Pro Wrestling
Super J-Cup (2004)
 New Japan Pro-Wrestling
 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 Super J-Cup (2009)
 Tag Team Best Bout (2003)
Nikkan Sports
Match of the Year Award (2006) vs. KENTA on October 29
Match of the Year Award (2008) vs. KENTA on October 25
Outstanding Performance Award (2006)
Technique Award (2008)
Wrestler of the Year (2006)
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Ranked No. 27 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2007
 Pro Wrestling Noah
 GHC Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
 GHC Tag Team Championship (8 times) – with Minoru Suzuki (1), Takashi Sugiura (2), Toru Yano (1), Maybach Taniguchi (1), Akitoshi Saito (1), Masaaki Mochizuki (1) and Keiji Mutoh (1)
 GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kenta (1) and Atsushi Aoki (1)
 GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship (1 time)
 Differ Cup (2005) – with Kenta
 Global League (2015)
 Global Tag League (2012) – with Muhammad Yone
 Global Tag League (2016) – with Toru Yano
 Global Tag League (2017) – with Maybach Taniguchi
 One Night Six Man Tag Team Tournament (2007) – with Go Shiozaki and Ippei Ota
 Two Day Tag Team Tournament (2004) – with Takeshi Rikio
 GHC Heavyweight Title Shot Tournament (2007)
 Global League Technique Award (2013)
 Global Tag League Outstanding Performance Award (2014) – with Katsuhiko Nakajima
MVP Award (2014)
 Tokyo Sports
 Best Tag Team Award (2003)
 Match of the Year Award (2006)
 Match of the Year Award (2008) vs. Shuji Kondo (November 3, 2008)
 Match of the Year Award (2016) vs. Kazuchika Okada on July 18
 Outstanding Performance Award (2006, 2018)
 World Entertainment Wrestling
 WEW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tamon Honda
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Tag Team of the Year (2003, 2004)

References

External links

 Pro Wrestling Noah profile

1979 births
20th-century professional wrestlers
21st-century professional wrestlers
Japanese male professional wrestlers
Living people
Sportspeople from Saitama Prefecture
Professional wrestling executives
IWGP Junior Heavyweight champions
GHC Heavyweight Champions
GHC Junior Heavyweight Champions
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions
GHC Openweight Hardcore Champions
World Junior Heavyweight Champions (AJPW)
KO-D Tag Team Champions
WEW World Tag Team Champions
Global League/N-1 Victory winners
Global Tag League winners

Naomichi Marufuji


Étienne Dumonstier, also Nicholas Denizot, (1540–1603) was a French Renaissance portrait painter.

Not much is known about Dumonstier's life except through his works. He primarily painted portraits for the French Royal family. His style indicates that he was part of the workshop of François Clouet, which also included François Quesnel. He was patronized by Catherine de' Medici, and may have been close to her, since he was requested to carry out a diplomatic mission for her to Vienna around 1570. Dumonstier also painted for Henry II of France, other members of the House of Valois, and Henry IV of France. Only a few works have been attributed to him, but definitive attributions have been difficult due to the similarities between the artists of Clouet's workshop. One painting executed by Dumonstier A Lady in White is part of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty collection.

References

1540 births
1603 deaths
French Renaissance painters
16th-century French painters

Étienne Dumonstier