An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term adult has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a non-adult or "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible. They may also be regarded as a "major". The typical age of attaining legal adulthood is 18 to 21, although definition may vary by legal rights, country, and psychological development.

Human adulthood encompasses psychological adult development. Definitions of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory; a person may be biologically an adult, and have adult behavior, but still be treated as a child if they are under the legal age of majority. Conversely, one may legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that may define an adult character.

In different cultures there are events that relate passing from being a child to becoming an adult or coming of age. This often encompasses the passing a series of tests to demonstrate that a person is prepared for adulthood, or reaching a specified age, sometimes in conjunction with demonstrating preparation. Most modern societies determine legal adulthood based on reaching a legally specified age without requiring a demonstration of physical maturity or preparation for adulthood.

Biological adulthood

Historically and cross-culturally, adulthood has been determined primarily by the start of puberty (the appearance of secondary sex characteristics such as menstruation and the development of breasts in women, ejaculation, the development of facial hair, and a deeper voice in men, and pubic hair in both sexes). In the past, a person usually moved from the status of child directly to the status of adult, often with this shift being marked by some type of coming-of-age test or ceremony. During the Industrial Revolution, children went to work as soon as they could in order to help provide for their family. There was not a huge emphasis on school or education in general. Many children could get a job and were not required to have experience as adults are nowadays. Adulthood, in more recent years, as it has been studied has developed a characteristic list, that goes far beyond just ones physical maturity. These markers for a full, mentally developed, adult include traits of personal responsibilities in multiple aspects of life.

Although few or no established dictionaries provide a definition for the two-word term biological adult, the first definition of adult in multiple dictionaries includes "the stage of the life cycle of an animal after reproductive capacity has been attained". Thus, the base definition of the word adult is the period beginning at physical sexual maturity, which occurs sometime after the onset of puberty. Although this is the primary definition of the base word "adult", the term is also frequently used to refer to social adults. The two-word term biological adult stresses or clarifies that the original definition, based on physical maturity (i.e. having reached reproductive competency), is being used.

The time of puberty varies from child to child, but usually begins between 10 and 12 years old. Girls typically begin the process of puberty at age 10 or 11, and boys at age 11 or 12. Girls generally complete puberty by 15–17, and boys by age 16 or 17. Nutrition, genetics and environment also usually play a part in the onset of puberty. Girls will go through a growth spurt and gain weight in several areas of their body. Boys will go through similar spurts in growth, though it is usually not in a similar style or time frame. This is due to the natural processes of puberty, but genetics also plays a part in how much weight they gain or how much taller they get.

One recent area of debate within the science of brain development is the most likely chronological age for full mental maturity, or indeed, if such an age even exists. Common claims repeated in the media since 2005 (based upon interpretations of imaging data) have commonly suggested an "end-point" of 25, referring to the prefrontal cortex as one area that is not yet fully mature at the age of 18. However, this is based on an interpretation of a brain imaging study by Jay Giedd, dating back to 2004 or 2005, where the only participants were aged up to 21 years, and Giedd assumed this maturing process would be done by the age of 25 years, whereas more recent studies show prefrontal cortex maturation continuing well past the age of 30 years, marking this interpretation as incorrect and outdated.

Legal adulthood

Legally, adulthood typically means that one has reached the age of majority – when parents lose parental rights and responsibilities regarding the person concerned. Depending on one's jurisdiction, the age of majority may or may not be set independently of and should not be confused with the minimum ages applicable to other activities, such as engaging in a contract, marriage, voting, having a job, serving in the military, buying/possessing firearms, driving, traveling abroad, involvement with alcoholic beverages, smoking, sexual activity, gambling, being a model or actor in pornography, running for President, etc. Admission of a young person to a place may be restricted because of danger for that person, concern that the place may lead the person to immoral behavior, or because of the risk that the young person causes damage (for example, at an exhibition of fragile items).

One can distinguish the legality of acts of a young person, or of enabling a young person to carry out that act, by selling, renting out, showing, permitting entrance, allowing participation, etc. There may be distinction between commercially and socially enabling. Sometimes there is the requirement of supervision by a legal guardian, or just by an adult. Sometimes there is no requirement, but rather a recommendation.

Using the example of pornography, one can distinguish between:
 being allowed inside an adult establishment
 being allowed to purchase pornography
 being allowed to possess pornography
 another person being allowed to sell, rent out, or show the young person pornography, see disseminating pornography to a minor
 being a pornographic actor: rules for the young person, and for other people, regarding production, possession, etc. (see child pornography)

With regard to films with violence, etc.:
 another person being allowed to sell, rent out, or show the young person a film; a cinema being allowed to let a young person enter

The age of majority ranges internationally from ages 15 to 21, with 18 being the most common age. Nigeria, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon define adulthood at age 15, but marriage of girls at an earlier age is common.

In most of the world, the legal adult age is 18 for most purposes, with some notable exceptions:

 The legal age of adulthood in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, and Yukon in Canada is 19 (though there are some exceptions in which Canadians may be considered legal adults in certain situations like sexual consent, which is age 16, and criminal law, federal elections and the military, which is at 18);
The legal age of adulthood in Nebraska and Alabama in the United States is 19.
The legal age of adulthood in South Korea is 19.
 The legal age of adulthood in Mississippi and Puerto Rico in the U.S. is 21.

Prior to the 1970s, young people were not classed as adults until 21 in most western nations. For example, in the United States, young citizens could not vote in many elections until 21 until July 1971 when the 26th Amendment passed mandating that the right to vote cannot be abridged for anyone 18 or older. The voting age was lowered in response to the fact that young men between the ages of 18 and 21 were drafted into the army to fight in the Vietnam War, hence the popular slogan "old enough to fight, old enough to vote"

Young people under 21 in the US could also not purchase alcohol, purchase handguns, sign a binding contract, or marry without permission from parents. After the voting age was lowered, many states also moved to lower the drinking age (with most states having a minimum age of 18 or 19) and also to lower the age of legal majority (adulthood) to 18. However, there are legal activities where 18 is not the default age of adulthood. There are still some exceptions where 21 (or even higher) is still the benchmark for certain rights or responsibilities. For example, in the US the Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits those under 21 from purchasing a handgun from a federally licensed dealer (although federal law makes an exception for individuals between the ages of 18 and 20 to obtain one from a private dealer if state law permits.)

As of July 1984, the National Minimum Drinking Age Act mandated that all states raise their respective drinking ages to 21 to create a uniform standard for legally purchasing, drinking, or publicly possessing alcohol with exceptions made for consumption only in private residences under parental supervision and permission. This was done in response to reduce the number of drunk driving fatalities prevalent among young drivers. States that choose not to comply can lose up to 10% of highway funding.

The Credit Card Act of 2009 imposed tougher safeguards for young adults between the ages of 18 and 20 obtaining a credit card. Young adults under the age of 21 must either have a co-signer 21 or older or show proof (usually a source of income) that they can repay their credit card balance. Unless that requirement is met, one must wait until 21 to be approved for a credit card on their own.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 expands the age that young adults can remain on their parent's health insurance plan up to age 26.

, the federal government raised the legal age to purchase tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21. In states where recreational marijuana is legalized, the default age is also 21, though those younger may be able to obtain medical marijuana prescriptions or cards upon seeing a physician.

Gambling also varies from 18 to 21 depending on the state and many rental car companies do not rent cars to those under 21 and have surcharges for drivers under 25 (although this is not codified, and is company policy).

In Quebec, Canada the Quebec legislature in 2020 raised the age one could purchase recreational marijuana from 18 to 21 stepping out of line with most of the country that set a minimum age of 19 (except Alberta, which is 18.) The Quebec government cited the risk that marijuana poses to the brain development of people under 21 as justification for the age raise.

In March 2021, the state of Washington in a 5–4 decision, justices in the Supreme Court of the State of Washington tossed the life without parole sentences of a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old convicted in separate cases of first-degree aggravated murder decades ago, saying, as with juveniles, the court must first consider the age of those under 21 before sentencing them to die behind bars. This comes at a time where there are ongoing debates about whether those between 18 and 20 should be exempted from the death penalty.

In Germany, courts largely sentence defendants under the age of 21 according to juvenile law in a bid to help them reintegrate into society and mete out punishments that fit the crime as well as the offender.

In May 2021, the state of Texas raised the age that one can be an exotic dancer and work and patronize sexually oriented businesses from 18 to 21.

In the UK, there have been many proposals to raise the age that one can buy tobacco from 18 to 21 in an attempt to curb teen and young adult use to get to a "smoke-free" UK by 2030.
All of these laws made over the years reflect the growing awareness that young adults, while not children, are still in a transitional stage between adolescence and full adulthood and that there should be policy adjustments or restrictions where necessary, especially where it pertains to activities that carry certain degrees of risk or harm to themselves or others.

At the same time, however, even though the generally accepted age of majority is 18 in most nations, there are rights or privileges afforded to adolescents who have not yet reached legal adulthood. In the United States, youth are able to get a part-time job at 14 provided they have a work permit. At 16, one is able to obtain a driver's permit or license depending on state laws and is able to work most jobs (except ones requiring heavy machinery) and consent to sexual activity (depending on the state). At 17, one is able to enlist in the armed forces with parental consent although they cannot be deployed to be in combat roles until age 18.

The voting age for local elections in most American cities is 18. But in five localities nationwide — four of which are in Maryland — 16 and 17-year-olds are eligible to vote. The cities are Takoma Park, Riverdale, Greenbelt, and Hyattsville.

In 2020, students 16 or older in Oakland, California gained the right to vote in school board elections. There is a growing movement to lower the voting age in the US and many other countries from 18 to 16 in hopes of engaging the youth vote and encouraging greater electoral participation. Some countries already have a voting age of 16 which include Austria, Scotland, Argentina, Brazil, Wales, Cuba, and Ecuador.

In Germany, one can purchase beer and wine at the age of 16 although they cannot purchase spirits or hard liquor until 18. The age of consent in Germany is 14 if both partners are under 18 but at least 14. Sexual activity with a person under 18 is punishable if the adult is a person of authority over the minor in upbringing, education, care, or employment.

Social construction of adulthood
In contrast to biological perspectives of aging and adulthood, social scientists conceptualize adulthood as socially constructed. While aging is an established biological process, the attainment of adulthood is social in its criteria. In contrast to other perspectives that conceptualize aging and the attainment of adulthood as a largely universal development, regardless of context, nation, generation, gender, race, or social class. Social scientists regard these aspects as paramount in cultural definitions of adulthood.

Further evidence of adulthood as a social construction is illustrated by the changing criteria of adulthood over time. Historically, adulthood in the U.S. has rested on completing one's education, moving away from the family of origin, and beginning one's career. Other key historical criteria include entering a marriage and becoming a parent. These criteria are social and subjective; they are organized by gender, race, ethnicity, social class, among other key identity markers. As a result, particular populations feel adult earlier in the life course than do others.

Contemporary experiences of and research on young adults today substitute more seemingly subjective criteria for adulthood which resonate more soundly with young adults' experiences of aging. The criteria are marked by a growing "importance of individualistic criteria and the irrelevance of the demographic markers of normative conceptions of adulthood." In particular, younger cohorts' attainment of adulthood centers on three criteria: gaining a sense of responsibility, independent decision-making, and financial independence.

Jeffrey Arnett, a psychologist and professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, studied the development of adults and argues that there is a new and distinct period of development in between adolescence and adulthood. This stage, which he calls "emerging adulthood", occurs between the ages of 18 and 25. Arnett describes these individuals as able to take some responsibility for their lives, but still not completely feeling like an adult. Arnett articulates five distinct features that are unique to this period of development: identity exploration, feeling in between, instability, self-focus, and having possibilities.

The first feature, identity exploration, describes emerging adults making decisions for themselves about their career, education, and love life. This is a time of life when a young person has yet to finalize these decisions but are pondering them, making them feel somewhere in between adolescent and adult. This leads into a second feature of this phase of life—feeling in between. Emerging adults feel that they are taking on responsibilities but do not feel like a 'full' adult quite yet. Next, the instability feature notes that emerging adults often move around after their high school years whether that is to college, friends' houses, or living with a romantic partner. This moving around often ends once the individual's family and career have been set. Tagging along with the instability feature is having self-focus. Emerging adults, being away from their parental and societal routines, are now able to do what they want when they want and where they want before they are put back into a routine when they start a marriage, family, and career. Arnett's last feature of emerging adulthood, an age of possibilities, characterizes this stage as one where "optimism reigns". These individuals believe they have a good chance of turning out better than their parents did.

Religion
According to Jewish tradition, adulthood is reached at age 13 for Jewish boys and 12 for Jewish girls in accordance with the Bar or Bat Mitzvah; they are expected to demonstrate preparation for adulthood by learning the Torah and other Jewish practices. The Christian Bible and Jewish scripture contain no age requirement for adulthood or marrying, which includes engaging in sexual activity.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law states, "A man before he has completed his sixteenth year of age, and likewise a woman before she has completed her fourteenth year of age, cannot enter a valid marriage". According to The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman, the Christian Church of the Middle Ages considered the age of accountability, when a person could be tried and even executed as an adult, to be age 7. While certain religions have their guidelines on what it means to be an adult, generally speaking, there are trends that occur regarding religiosity as individuals transition from adolescence to adulthood. The role of religion in one's life can impact development during adolescence. The National Library of Medicine (NCBI) highlights some studies that show rates of religiosity declining as people move out of the house and live on their own. Oftentimes when people live on their own, they change their life goals and religion tends to be less important as they discover who they are. Other studies from the NCBI show that as adults get married and have children they settle down, and as they do, there tends to be an increase in religiosity. Everyone's level of religiosity builds at a different pace, meaning that religion relative to adult development varies across cultures and time.

See also

References

Biological concepts
Juvenile law

Adult


Léon Marcel Isidore Geoffray (1852–1927) was a French diplomat and was later Ambassador to Madrid.

Biography
Léon Marcel Geoffray Isidore was born in Passy on 1 October 1852 to Pierre-Joseph Geoffray (1804-1886), and Juliette (called Julie) Wild Josephine de La Martinière.

Léon and his brother Marcel were educated in Passy by their mother, and a tutor. Leon Geoffray studied law at the Faculte de Droit in Paris, by the age of twenty five he had obtained a degree of Doctor of Law, before entering the diplomatic service.

He was at first attached to the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1877, then to the embassy in Constantinople from 1877 to 1879, and back to the legal department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1879). He rose through the ranks: senior clerk (1883); editor (1886); Secretary of the Embassy (1891).

Geoffray was appointed Senior Advisor to the embassy in London in 1895, with the rank of first class secretary, and minister plenipotentiary in 1896. He became passionately committed to healing Anglo-French relations and desired to achieve an alliance between England and France. He continued to work on maintaining Anglo-French relations up to his departure from London in 1908.

Geoffray was Consul General in Cairo from 1908 to 1910, and in July 1910 Ambassador of France to Madrid, remaining in Spain until dismissed in October 1917.
Leon Geoffray died in Paris on 25 December 1927.

Personal
He was the owner of the castle of Vaulx (17th century) in Saint-Julien-de-Civry, Saône-et-Loire, and instructed the landscaper Achille Duchêne to develop the park in 1900.
He married Louise Marcotte Quivières, with whom he had two sons, Pierre Geoffray (1884-1975) and Edme Geoffray (1886-1926).

Honours
King Alfonso XIII granted him the Collar of the Order of Charles III. and Edward VII created him an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

References

Diplomats from Paris
1852 births
1927 deaths
Burials at Passy Cemetery
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
19th-century French diplomats
20th-century French diplomats
Ambassadors of France to Spain

Léon Geoffray


GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems.

GRAIN's work goes back to the early 1980s, when a number of activists around the world started drawing attention to the dramatic loss of genetic diversity on our farms — the very cornerstone of the world's food supply.

GRAIN began doing research, advocacy and lobbying work under the auspices of a coalition of mostly European development organisations. That work soon expanded into a larger program and network that needed its own footing. In 1990, GRAIN was legally established as an independent non-profit foundation with its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

By the mid-1990s, GRAIN reached an important turning point. They realized that they needed to connect more with the real alternatives that were being developed on the ground, in the South. Around the world, and at local level, many groups had begun rescuing local seeds and traditional knowledge and building and defending sustainable biodiversity-based food systems under the control of local communities, while turning their backs on the laboratory developed 'solutions' that had only got farmers into deeper trouble. In a radical organisational shift, GRAIN embarked on a decentralization process that brought them into closer contact with realities on the ground in the South, and into direct collaboration with partners working at that level. At the same time, they brought a number of those partners into their governing body and started regionalizing their staff pool.

In 2011, the organisation received the Right Livelihood Award "for their worldwide work to protect the livelihoods and rights of farming communities and to expose the massive purchases of farmland in developing countries by foreign financial interests."

References

External links
 Official website

International organisations based in Spain
Rural community development
Organizations established in the 1980s

GRAIN


Ermengol or Armengol I (974–1010), called el de Córdoba, was the Count of Urgell from 992 to his death. He was the second son of Borrell II of Barcelona and his first wife, Letgarda. He was the second of the counts of Urgell and famous mainly for his participation in the Reconquista.

A man of culture, Ermengol was open to influences from wider Europe and made two voyages to Rome, in 998 and 1001. He was a stimulus to his nobles in making pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela and Le Puy. He also reformed the judiciary of his county to make justice more available to all. He also began to reassert his authority over the outlying castles of his realm, whose lords were acting independently of his power.

Ermengol also maintained an intense war against the Caliphate of Córdoba. In 1003, Urgell was invaded by Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar. Aided by the brothers Bernard I of Besalú and Wifred II of Cerdagne, and his own brother, Ramon Borrell of Barcelona, Ermengol defeated them at the Battle of Torà, followed by a narrower victory at the Battle of Albesa. He was captured by Abd al-Malik, the Córdoban hajib, during reprisals in the summer, but was freed by March 1004. In 1008, he led several successful expeditions against the Moors. In 1010, he participated in the expedition of his brother Ramon Borrell of Barcelona against Córdoba itself. He died nearby at Castell de Bacar. His testament, dated around 1010, includes one of the first-attested mentions of the game of chess in Western Europe.

Family
Before 10 July 1000, Ermengol married Tetberga, presumably a daughter of Artaud I, Count of Forez, by his wife Tetberga of Limoges. The younger Tetberga died between 7 April and 3 November 1005, when Ermengol's second wife Guisla (Gisela) is first mentioned. Guisla's family is not known, but she may have been the homonymous daughter of Gausfred I of Roussillon, named in her father's will in February 989. She survived him and was still alive on 18 November 1010. From this second union came two children:
Ermengol II, his successor
Ermesinda – married, before 1029, Raymond III of Pallars Jussà

Notes

Sources
Lewis, Archibald R. The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050. University of Texas Press: Austin, 1965.
Aurell i Cardona, Martin. "Jalons pour une enquête sur les stratégies matrimoniales des comtes catalans (IXe-XIe s.)" Symposium Internacional sobre els Origens de catalunya (Segles VIII-XI), 2 vol, Barcelona 1991–2; vol 1, pp. 282–364.
Stasser, Thierry. "Origine familiale de trois comtesses de Pallars." Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 26/1, 1996, pp. 3–16.

974 births
1010 deaths
Counts of Urgell
10th-century Catalan people
10th-century Visigothic people
11th-century Catalan people
11th-century Visigothic people

Ermengol I, Count of Urgell


A'Lelia Bundles (born June 7, 1952) is an African-American journalist and television executive. She is also an author and Emmy Award-winning producer.

Early life
Bundles was named after A'Lelia Walker (1885–1931). Walker was her great-grandmother. Walker was also the daughter of entrepreneur and philanthropist Madam C. J. Walker. She graduated in 1970 from North Central High School. In 1974 Bundles graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College. She was inducted into Harvard's Alpha Iota chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Bundles received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1976.

Career
During her senior year at Harvard, Bundles began working at as a news anchor for WTLC-FM. After completing her master's degree she went to work for NBC News as a producer. Bundles was assigned to the New York, Houston and Atlanta bureaus. Bundles produced The Today Show and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. She also was a producer in Washington, DC for two of NBC's magazine programs. They were co-anchored by Connie Chung and Roger Mudd during the 1980s. In 1989 Bundles went to work at ABC News. She was the bureau chief in Washington, DC. She was the producer of ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. Bundles was also the chair of a diversity council appointed to advise ABC News president David Westin.

Boards
 Trustee of Columbia University.
 Board member of the Foundation for the National Archives
 Board member for the Madame Walker Theatre Center in Indianapolis
 Board member for the Friends of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.
 Past member of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study's advisory board
 Past member of the Harvard Alumni Association nominating committee
 Past member of the Harvard Club of Washington, DC board.
 Past member of the Radcliffe College Trustees Board
 Past member of the National Women's Hall of Fame board.
 President of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association from 1999 to 2001.
 Chair of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism's alumni advisory committee to re-vamp the school's alumni organization in 2006.
 She has chaired the National Association of Black Journalists Authors Showcase
 Chaired the ABWH's Letitia Woods Brown Book and Articles Prize Awards Committee.
 She is a juror for the duPont Awards at Columbia's Journalism School.
 Past juror for the Robert F. Kennedy Awards in Broadcast Journalism.

List of works
 On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker (Scribner, 2001)
 Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur (Chelsea House, 1991; revised 2008)
 Madam Walker Theatre Center: An Indianapolis Treasure (Arcadia Publishing, 2013)
 "Madam C. J. Walker" and "A'Lelia Walker" entries in Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Higginbotham's African American National Biography
 "Madam C. J. Walker" entry in Darlene Clark Hines's Black Women in America.

Awards
 Emmy Award (NBC News)
 duPont Gold Baton (ABC News 1994)
 American Book Award 1992 for Madam C. J. Walker: Entrepreneur (Chelsea House, 1991)
 New York Times Notable Book for On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker 2001
 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Book 2002
 Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize from the Association of Black Women Historians 2001
 Hurston/Wright-Borders Books Legacy Award Finalist 2002
 Distinguished alumni awards from Harvard University, Radcliffe College (2004) and Columbia University (2007)
 Honorary doctorate, Indiana University, 2003
 North Central High School Hall of Fame
 Black Memorabilia Hall of Fame

References

1952 births
Living people
African American writers
American journalists
Emmy Award winners

A’Lelia Bundles


Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, (born 11 July 1944) is a Labour Party peer. He is a former chartered accountant and was chairman and CEO of a large independent group of music companies. He now acts as a consultant for a number of companies and is also chairman of a finance company.

Levy is also the president of Sense and Sense International, Jewish Care, Barnet and Southgate Colleges, Jewish Free School (JFS), Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB), Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School, and Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School (MMK).  He was previously president of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and president of Volunteering Matters.

Levy was the chief fundraiser for the Labour Party. A long-standing friend of former prime minister Tony Blair, Levy spent nine years as Blair's special envoy to the Middle East, being replaced by Gordon Brown's appointee, Lord Williams of Baglan, from September 2007.

Early life
Born in Stoke Newington, North London, to devout Jewish immigrant parents of modest means, Levy was educated at Grocers, later known as Hackney Downs School.

Music career
Levy qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1966 (ACA then FCA) and set up a professional accountancy practice. The practice attracted a great number of clients in the music and entertainment industry, and Levy became a specialist in international copyright and licence. Amongst the clients were the Foundations, Vanity Fair, Roger Greenaway, Barry Mason and many other successful producers and artists.

Levy founded Magnet Records with Peter Shelley in 1973. This became one of the most successful independent labels of its day and, at one stage, had 10% of the British singles market with four singles in the top ten of the UK Singles Chart. The successful artists on the label included Alvin Stardust, Adrian Baker, Chris Rea, Bad Manners, Darts, Susan Cadogan, Silver Convention and Guys 'n' Dolls. Levy sold Magnet Records to Warner Brothers in 1988 for £10m.

Guitarist Chris Rea said of Levy, "He is extremely tough, one of the hardest bastards I have ever met, but I would leave my children with him rather than anyone else." The music producer Pete Waterman described him as "the greatest salesman I have ever met. He would be able to sell sand to the Arabs."

After Magnet was sold, Levy set up M&G Records with backing from Polygram. M&G Records was so named as it was the initials of Michael and his wife Gilda, and featured acts such as Zoe who had a top five hit with "Sunshine on a Rainy Day" and Pele who had success with "Fair Blows the Wind for France". Polygram were then bought out, and the company was eventually sold to Bertelsmann (BMG) in 1997.

Aptitude for fundraising
Levy was involved in fundraising from his early life and from the late 1960s for many causes, including Jewish and Israeli causes. For this he showed a special adeptness, raising, between 1988 and 1994, £60m for Jewish Care, an amalgam of several Jewish charitable organisations, of which he is now President. Simon Morris, Former Chief Executive of Jewish Care, said of Levy that, when it comes to fundraising, "there's no one better in the country."  Levy has been described as the number one fundraiser in the country, and he has raised hundreds of millions of pounds for charitable causes over the years.

Political life
Levy first met Tony Blair at a dinner party in 1994, hosted by Israeli diplomat Gideon Meir, the two having a common friend in Eldred Tabachnik, a senior barrister (now a QC and a former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews) at 11 King's Bench Walk Chambers, the chambers founded by Derry Irvine where Blair had trained in the early 1980s. They soon became close friends and tennis partners. Levy ran the Labour Leader's Office Fund to finance Blair's campaign before the 1997 general election and received substantial contributions from such figures as Alex Bernstein and Robert Gavron, both of whom were ennobled by Blair after he came to power. Levy himself was created a life peer on 23 September 1997 as Baron Levy, of Mill Hill in the London Borough of Barnet. Since making his maiden speech on 3 December 1997, Levy has not spoken in a debate at the House of Lords.

He has been described by The Jerusalem Post as "undoubtedly the notional leader of British Jewry". He was a founding member of the Jewish Leadership Council, the leadership of the UK Jewish community. Levy has close ties with Israeli political leaders. His son, Daniel Levy, was active in Israeli political life, and has served as an assistant to the former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and to former Knesset member Yossi Beilin. His son Daniel is now based in the UK and is now President of the US Middle East Project and before that was Head of the Middle East Department of the European Council of Foreign Relations. Levy has praised Blair for his "solid and committed support of the State of Israel" and "his commitment to the peace process". Levy was associated with the Labour Friends of Israel.

Known as "Lord Cashpoint" to some in the media and politics, he was the leading fundraiser for the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007 (having raised over £100m for the Labour Party). In 2007, he voluntarily decided to step down at the same time as former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In 2000, Levy was criticised when it was revealed that he had paid only £5,000 tax during the financial year 1998–1999 – however it was subsequently shown even in that year the tax paid was £30,000. In an interview at the time, repeated on BBC2's Newsnight on 16 March 2006, Levy stated that "Over the years I have paid many millions of tax and, if you average it, each year it comes to many hundreds of thousands of pounds. In that particular year, I was giving my time to the Labour Party and the voluntary sector, and I just lived off capital."

From 1998 until 2007, he acted as Prime Minister Blair's personal envoy to the Middle East.

Many leaders in the region, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have praised Levy for always offering constructive suggestions. Mr Blair has said Lord Levy carried out "a perfectly excellent job as my envoy under very difficult circumstances".

In September 2005, Levy was appointed President of the Council of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the body overseeing the government's Specialist schools and Academy programmes.

Cash for honours

Levy was arrested and questioned in connection with the "Cash for Honours" inquiry by the Metropolitan Police on 12 July 2006 (whereby it was suggested that money was paid to political parties for Honours in particular peerages).  No charges were made against Levy, and the police removed all details from their files.

Other positions

Levy is Life President of Jewish Care, and the President of Jewish Free School (JFS), Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade (JLGB), Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School, Mathilda Marks-Kennedy Jewish Primary School (MMK), Barnet & Southgate Colleges and Sense & Sense International and the Honorary President of UJIA and the former President of Volunteering Matters and the  Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

He was a Member of the Advisory Council of Step Up to Serve Campaign (2013-2020).  He was the Chair of the Policy Network Foundation, a policy think tank. He also holds and has held a number of other positions in the voluntary sector, and he was a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Institute, IPI (2014-2019). .

In 2008 Levy became Chairman of International Standard Asset Management until 2011. Now Principal of Global Consultancy Services acting as a Consultant to a number of companies, and he is also Chairman of Chase Mill Hill Ltd.

Personal life
He and his wife Gilda have a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Juliet.

Levy's home in Totteridge, North London, was burgled in 2003. He and his wife Gilda were restrained with handcuffs and had bleach poured over them. Levy was hit on the head with a shovel and had his wrist broken; the attackers fled with £80,000 of cash and jewellery.

Lord Levy received an Honorary Doctorate from Middlesex University in 1999, and the Israel Policy Forum (USA) Special Recognition Award in 2003. In 1994, he was a Recipient of the B'nai B'rith First Lodge Award and in 1998 a Recipient of the Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Scopus Award. He has received the Jewish Chronicle 175th Anniversary Award for outstanding, unique and long term contributions to British Community life.

Lord Levy's autobiography, A Question of Honour, was published in 2008.

Arms

References

External links

1944 births
Living people
English music managers
Impresarios
Levites
English Jews
English philanthropists
Labour Party (UK) life peers
Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Labour Friends of Israel
People from Stoke Newington
People educated at Hackney Downs School
British Zionists
Jewish British politicians

Michael Levy, Baron Levy


The John P. Parker House is a historic house museum at 300 North Front Street in Ripley, Ohio.  It was home to former slave and inventor John P. Parker (1827–1900) from 1853 to his death in 1900.  Parker was an abolitionist and a well-documented conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping hundreds of escaped slaves. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and it was further designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.  It is now owned and managed by a local nonprofit organization as a museum about Parker's life and the abolitionist movement.

Description and history
The John P. Parker House is located on the Ohio River waterfront, north of the center of Ripley.  It is in an relatively isolated setting, apart from other residences in Ripley, on what was once a partly industrial property.  The building is a two-story brick structure, with a side gable roof that has stepped gables. A lower two-story wood-frame ell extends to the rear.  The front facade is three bays wide, with the entrance in the rightmost bay, topped by a transom window.  Windows are plain sash, set in rectangular openings with stone lintels.

The house is all that is left of a larger manufacturing complex built about 1853 for the business of John Parker, which originally included a machine shop, blacksmithy, and foundry.  Most of these facilities were damaged or destroyed by a fire in 1889, and were not rebuilt by Parker.  Ripley was a hotbed of abolitionist sentiment in the antebellum period, and it was thus a well-known target for slaves escaping across the river from Kentucky, a slave state.  Although Parker's property was close to the river, he apparently rarely sheltered slaves in his home, its remote location equally attractive to fugitive slaves and slave catchers.  Parker was born into slavery, but was given an education by his physician owner, and was able to purchase his freedom.  He regularly crossed into Kentucky in search of escaping slaves, and brought them into the network of Underground Railroad supporters in Ripley.

The property was sold by Parker's wife not long after his death, and was used in support of a coal shipping operation for many years.  In the 1990s it was purchased by a local nonprofit and rehabilitated for use as a museum.

See also
John Rankin House (Ripley, Ohio), a major Underground Railroad stop in Ripley
List of Underground Railroad sites
List of National Historic Landmarks in Ohio

References

External links

John Parker House web site
Parker House

National Historic Landmarks in Ohio
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio
Houses completed in 1850
Houses on the Underground Railroad
Historic house museums in Ohio
Museums in Brown County, Ohio
National Register of Historic Places in Brown County, Ohio
African-American museums in Ohio
Houses in Brown County, Ohio

John P. Parker House