The 41st (Reserve) Infantry Division () was a tactical unit of the Polish Army during the early stages of World War II.

During peace time the unit existed only on paper, as part of the mobilization scheme accompanying the Plan West. The division's sub-units were to be created by other peace-time regiments in case of general mobilization. Most infantry battalions were created by the NCO School of Ostrów Mazowiecka (114th and 116th Infantry Regiment) and Infantry Reserves Training Facility at Różan (most of 115th Infantry Regiment). Additional infantry and artillery battalions, as well as services were formed by 13th, 33rd and 71st Infantry Regiment, as well as the 9th Light Artillery Regiment.

The division was finally created on 24 August 1939 as part of the secret mobilization preceding the outbreak of World War II. It became part of the Commander-in-Chief's strategic reserve as part of the Corps-sized Wyszków Operational Group, along with the elite 1st Legions Infantry Division and reserve 35th Infantry Division. The core of the division was formed by seven battalions of infantry and one battalion of artillery. The remaining units (two battalions of infantry, two of artillery and services) were formed a week later, during the general mobilization. Despite difficulties, the division was battle-ready by 7 September 1939. By orders of the C-i-C the staff of the 41st Division was formed by Brigadier General Wacław Piekarski (until then the Chief of Infantry at the Ministry of Military Affairs), with Col. Marian Raganowicz as his deputy (until then the commanding officer of Infantry NCO School) and Col. Adam Sawczyński as the artillery CO.

Although not yet fully formed the fast pace of German advance during the invasion of Poland meant that the division was dispatched to the front by 4 September 1939 and took over the task of screening the area around Różan, along the Narew river. On 5 September 1939 the German "Wodrig" Corps (1st and 12th Infantry Divisions), having broken through Polish positions in the Battle of Mława, assaulted Różan directly. Despite numerical and technical superiority, the German attacks across Narew were bloodily repelled.

However, the following day the situation changed dramatically. The Commander-in-Chief ordered the division to be withdrawn towards Wyszków and attached to the Independent Operational Group Narew. Later that day the orders were reversed and the 41st was ordered to retake the town of Różan, which it had abandoned only a couple of hours before. Despite repeated attempts in the following two days, the division suffered heavy losses and was forced to withdraw. In addition, overnight of 6–7 September 1939 the retreating 41st Division met the 33rd Infantry Division. In a pitched and chaotic friendly fire that erupted, the 41st lost further two infantry battalions and one light artillery battalion. In effect, both divisions had to be withdrawn further away, towards the Bug River crossing at Brok, and any hope to stabilize the front at the Narew river was lost. As the bridge at Brok had been demolished by Polish sappers prematurely, the disorganized regiments of the 41st Division had to continue the withdrawal west towards Wyszków, losing many more men in the process. By the evening of 7 September only 7 battalions reached the destination, with roughly 35 percent of their original strength remaining.

The following day the division was attached to the Modlin Army and overnight it regrouped near Łazy, Strachów and Gwizdały. After a brief respite, the division moved to a position between Liwiec and Brok. On 10 September, while en route, the division was attacked by Panzer Division Kempf. While the German unit was severely under-strength, the pitched battle in open terrain resulted in heavy losses for the Polish unit. The defeated sub-units of the division retreated in disarray towards Włodawa and on 14 September arrived near Chełm. By this time the unit numbered only about 5000 men at arms.

Following reorganization, the division was directly attached to Gen. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki's Northern Front. On 19 September 1939 it took part in the battle of Włodawa against the German 3rd Panzer Division. It then took part in the second battle of Tomaszów Lubelski fighting near Aleksandrów and Tereszpol. Encircled by the 8th Infantry Division from the South, the VII Army Corps from the West and North, and by the advancing Red Army from the East, the division held on to its lines until 26 September 1939, when it finally capitulated.

References
 Tadeusz Jaruga: Wojsko Polskie : krótki informator historyczny o Wojsku Polskim w latach II wojny światowej. 7, Regularne jednostki Wojska Polskiego w 1939 : organizacja, działania bojowe, uzbrojenie, metryki związków operacyjnych, dywizji i brygad. Warszawa : Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej 1975.
 Marian Porwit, Komentarze do historii polskich działań obronnych 1939 roku. Plany i bitwy graniczne, tom I, Wydawnictwo "Czytelnik", Warszawa 1983, wyd. II dopełnione, .
 Wacław Stachiewicz: Wierności dochować żołnierskiej : przygotowania wojenne w Polsce 1935-1939 oraz kampania 1939 w relacjach i rozważaniach szefa Sztabu Głównego i szefa Sztabu Naczelnego Wodza. Warszawa: "Rytm", 1998. .
 Tadeusz Jurga, Władysław Karbowski: Armia "Modlin" 1939, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warszawa 1987, wyd. I, , s. 451-452.
 Piotr Zarzycki, Plan mobilizacyjny "W". Wykaz oddziałów mobilizowanych na wypadek wojny, Oficyna Wydawnicza "Ajaks" i Zarząd XII Sztabu Generalnego Wojska Polskiego, Pruszków 1995, .

See also

 Invasion of Poland
 Polish army order of battle in 1939
 Polish contribution to World War II
 List of Polish divisions in World War II

41st
Military units and formations established in 1939
41st
Military units and formations disestablished in 1939

41st Infantry Division (Poland)


Arthur "Al" Howie (September 16, 1945 – June 21, 2016) was a Canadian long-distance runner who won more than fifty marathons, ultramarathons, and multiday races in over two decades, including the 1991 Trans Canada Highway run (7295 kilometers) in the record time of 72 days and 10 hours. A brass plaque on Victoria's Mile Zero marker commemorates this athletic event for which he raised $750,000 for a fund for children with special needs. Two weeks after running across Canada he won the Sri Chinmoy 1300 Miler in New York improving on his own world record time.  Both the Trans Canada run and the  race qualified for the Guinness Book of Records. He lived in Duncan, B.C., from 2005 until his death in 2016. He had been receiving treatment for Diabetes I. The City of Duncan awarded him the Perpetual Trophy for Excellence and Sportsmanship in December 2007, and in 2014 he was inducted into The Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.

Biography

The Early Years
Arthur "Al" Howie was born in 1945 in Saltcoats, Ayrshire a town near Glasgow, Scotland. He attended the local schools and completed his secondary education. He married an American living in Britain and a son Gabe was born in 1968. After his divorce, Howie emigrated to Canada with his son and settled in Toronto. A daughter, Dana, was born in 1976. He quit smoking in January 1974 and started running as a hobby "to get rid of the aggravation from quitting a three-pack-a-day smoking habit." Howie moved to Victoria, B. C. in 1978 and began training for the long runs, including training runs between cities. He married Claudia Cole in 1986; they separated in 2000. He lived in Duncan, B. C., since 2005, where he received treatment for Diabetes I.

The "Prince George to Boston" Marathon: 1979
The 1979 Prince George marathon will go down in sports history as the race that brought together three of Canada's unknown athletes for their inaugural marathon: Al Howie, Rick Hansen and Terry Fox. Howie had run from Victoria to Prince George to be in the race that promised the winner an all-expense-paid trip to the Boston Marathon.

At the race, Rick Hansen easily rolled his wheelchair across the finish line ahead of all competitors. Al Howie placed third in his first  run.  And amputee Terry Fox was the last to finish the race only ten minutes behind the last two-legged runner encouraged by spontaneous applause from the watching crowd.

Howie was inspired by Fox's announcement to run across Canada in aid of cancer research. "Fox unleashed a tremendous wave of energy and eagerness to excel, seldom seen in Canada on a personal level," noted Howie.

From Marathons to Ultramarathons to Multiday Races: 1980-1988
Howie began to train obsessively for longer and longer runs. He won his age group in his first full-length () marathon in 1980 in Edmonton. He then ran 806 miles (1,297 kilometers) from Edmonton to Victoria to enter the first annual Royal Victoria Marathon in which he placed fourteenth overall. Howie had shipped his gear from point to point on buses and run to his destination.

In May, 1981, Howie set the Canadian and North American record for the annual Self-Transcendence 24 Hour Race in Ottawa, and the following year improved on his distance by covering 150 miles and 395 yards in that continuous day and night (no sleeping) race. He won the annual 24-hour race in Ottawa five years in a row, in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. In 1983, he ran from Winnipeg to Ottawa prior to participating in the 24-hour event. In 1986 while he was recuperating from a bout with cancer, he ran his worst 24-hour ultra in which he covered about 100 kilometers. He was back in top form for the 1987 Canadian 24-hour Championship in Ottawa, winning the event for the sixth time.

A cancerous brain tumour behind his ear appeared in the summer of 1985 forcing temporary withdrawal from all races. Adopting a macrobiotic diet, Howie had recovered sufficiently by spring of the following year to run 1200 kilometers from Victoria to Fernie in southern B.C. where some of his treatment had taken place.

In 1987 he broke the record for the longest, continual run, completing 360 miles (580 kilometers) in 1422 laps around the University of Victoria's Centennial Stadium in 104.5 hours. That's four non-stop days and nights to promote the forthcoming Commonwealth Games.  In 1988, he set a record in the  Land's End to John o' Groats, running the length of Britain in 11 days. A few months later, he ran from England through France to the island of Sardinia in Italy where he participated in the final running of the Super-Marathon Nuraghe.

The Peak Years: 1989 to 1991

The 'Ultra Trio' was born in 1987—a set of three ultra races of 700, 1000 and 1,300 miles. (Sri Chinmoy Centre, History). No runners finished the 1300 Miler in New York in 1987 and 1988, but in 1989, Al Howie was the first person ever to complete the grueling Sri Chinmoy  distance, setting the world record at 17 days and 9 hours.  He also set a world record for 2000 kilometres in the same race.

Later that year, Howie set a record of  for the 72-hour "Across the Years" race in Phoenix, Arizona, which doubles as the last ultra of one year and the first of the next, running from December 29, 1989, to New Year's Day, 1990.
Across the Years
Howie's longest and most famous run was in the summer of 1991 when he ran the entire length of the Trans Canada Highway from the Mile Zero sign in St. John's, Nfld, to Mile Zero in Victoria, B.C. covering the 7295.5 km in the record time of 72 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes. A brass plaque at Victoria's Mile Zero commemorates the event, and qualified him for the Guinness Book of Records. He had raised $750,000 for the Elks and Royal Purple Fund for children with special needs.

Two weeks after his Trans Canada run, Howie was back in New York where he improved his own record time for the , completing the distance in 16 days and 19 hours, and earning him his second entry that summer in the Guinness Book of Records. His Sri Chinmoy running mates called him "the trans Canada crossing god."

Battling Injuries and illness: 1985, 1992 – 1999

Brain tumour
Howie's first solo attempt to cross Canada was in the summer of 1985. The route was from West to East via Prince Rupert and the Yellowhead Highway to Portage la Prairie, to Ottawa. It was part of Howie's North America running tour "to promote world peace and famine relief." The run was halted dramatically in the Ottawa Valley when a malignant brain tumour appeared behind his right ear, triggering thoughts of dying.

"Facing death, I realized the extent of my love for this life; I didn't want to die," he wrote in a medical journal a year later. "Reluctant to submit to prescribed medical treatments of exploratory surgery, excision of the tumour and subsequent chemotherapy," he searched and found alternate treatments, especially "the culinary adventure of macrobiotics," a regimen of wholesome foods free of additives and preservatives, and shiatsu massage. As if miraculously, his illness reversed itself within months and he recommenced his training. In gratitude, he ran the 1200 kilometres from Victoria to the White Spruce Farm in Fernie, in southern B. C., where he had received some of his healing instruction and motivation.

Diabetes I
In 1992, the year after crossing Canada from east to west, Howie joined 28 other ultra-runners in a run across the United States. Not wearing proper inserts in his shoes while crossing the hot Mojave Desert in Arizona, he developed complications from blisters on his feet, forcing him to withdraw. It was this injury, he believes, that eventually led to the onset of Diabetes I, which, unfortunately, wasn't diagnosed for three years.

He competed in the 1300 Miler in New York in 1993 but an inflamed nerve to his left knee forced him to withdraw after six days of running. By the summer of 1995, he had lost 30 lbs, his health was haywire, and "the pissing evil" had struck. "Type 1 diabetes was, until the discovery of insulin, a death sentence within two years," he wrote later.

"Death penalty commuted to life sentence of insulin injections," Howie wrote after starting treatment. "Fighting back to life and health, this time via the more conventional method, the only way to go for insulin dependent diabetics—insulin therapy." He attempted a running comeback in the 1996 Victoria 24-hour run, but could only muster 100 kilometres in the day and night run. Al made a couple of runs for the Victoria chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society in 1996, running the length of Vancouver Island for them.

However, Howie refused to let his illness thwart his rigorous training regimen.

"I'm back on the multi-day circuit, Novolin pens and a One Touch meter tossed into my sport bag with running shoes, orthotics and petroleum jelly. As with life generally, I am finding diabetes complicates racing yet accentuates the intrinsic adventure. More significantly my potential for success, even for record breaking in the grueling sport of ultra-marathon racing, is not to be compromised by my diabetic condition. Running toward the horizon of human endurance on synthetic insulin is exploring an uncharted universe. Rather than the runner's wall, hypoglycemia becomes the number one threat to be avoided. Once again I'm a pioneer in the aerobic universe, this time in the diabetic galaxy." (Al Howie on the Come Back Trail, December 1997.)

He was back on track again in 1997, winning the Victoria 24-hour race. By 1998 he felt he had regained ultra form and won four out of four ultras entered at distances from  to 72 hours.

His last race was the ultra 72-hour "Across the Years" event in Phoenix, Arizona, which started on December 29, 1998, and finished three days later on New Year's Day, 1999. Howie won the race.

Coping with the disease for a decade and a half proved a formidable challenge. Howie was 46 when he ran across Canada. He resided in a residential and transitional care facility in Duncan, British Columbia, where he underwent treatment for diabetes. He died in June 2016.

Honours
The brass plaque on the post of the Trans Canada Highway Mile 0 marker in Victoria's Beacon Hill Park reads:

The Elks and Royal Purple of Canada
Commemorate Al Howie's record setting
"Tomorrow Run 91"
Began at Mile 0 St. John's, Nfld
June 21 and ended September 1, 1991, at
Mile 0 Victoria BC
72 days – 10 hours later.
Our gratitude to all who helped us raise funds
for Canadian children with special needs.

Qualified for the Guinness Book of Records for the Trans Canada run and the Sri Chinmoy 1300 miler race in 1991.
"The Al Howie Room" with a king bed at the CycleInn B & B in Langford owned by Joanne Cowan, a frequent running partner. Room contains pictures and prizes presented to Howie.
The story of Al Howie was the focus of a sermon by Dr. Eugen Bannerman at Gordon United Church, Langford, on February 19, 2006.
The City of Duncan awarded Howie the Perpetual Trophy for Excellence and Sportsmanship in December 2007.

Running History
Year started: 1974.
First "between cities" run: from Victoria to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, 1978.
First marathon: "Prince George to Boston," 1979.
Best marathon: 2:29:11 Vancouver, May 2, 1982.
Marathons: scores.
First Ultramarathon: Sri Chinmoy International 24-Hour race in Ottawa, 1981. Set North American record of 150 miles, 395 yards in 1982.
Ultras: scores
Average yearly mileage: 10,000 kilometres.
Longest documented solo run: Trans Canada Highway, summer 1991, 7295,5 kilometres, in 72 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes.
Most memorable ultras: Sri Chinmoy 24-Hour race, Ottawa, 1981; Sri Chinmoy 1300 Miler, New York, 1991.
Worst ultra: Sri Chinmoy 24-Hour race, Ottawa, 1986. "Recovering at the time from a bout with The Big C."
Average weekly training mileage: 200K.
Peak week: 595 Miles (first week of a multi-day race).
Favourite shoes: Brooks Kona.
Most common injury: Blisters on feet; Diabetes I since 1995.
Average training pace: 14K/hour.
Favourite race drink/food: Water/Power Bars.
Running idols: "I don't idolize anyone but I admire many."
Greatest influence: Don Ritchie, Emil Zatopek, Yiannis Kouros, Hilary Walker.
Favourite place to run: Sri Chinmoy one mile loop, Flushing Meadow, New York.
Funniest running experience: Learning to tie shoe-laces without stopping during world record non-stop run.
Most memorable discovery: "Even very good runners can have serious health problems."
Last completed race: "Across the Years" in Phoenix, Arizona, between December 29, 1998, and January 1, 1999.

Personal Bests

Mile				4:44 		(1982)
10 Miles			51:52		(1981)
½ Marathon			1:12:28	(1982)
Marathon			2:29:11	(1982)
50K				3:13:49	(1983)
50 Miles			5:35:12	(1983)
100K				7:30:31	(1983)
100 Miles			14:06:18	(1982)
200K				18:51:44	(1982)
24 Hours			150 miles 395 yards	(1982)
48 Hours			 	(1992)
72 Hours			272 miles	(1991)
6 Days				 	(1991)
1000K				7 days, 18 hours, 49 min, 18 sec	(1991)
1000 Miles			12 days, 1 hours, 47 min, 		(1991)
2000K				15 days, 23 hours 		(world record, 1991)
1300 Miles			16 days, 19 hours 		(Guinness record, 1991)
Trans Canada Highway	7295.5 kilometres in 72 days, 10 hours and 23 minutes (Guinness record, 1991)

Multi-Day, Multi-City Runs

Very early in his running career, Howie began running from city to city, partly as long-distance training, partly to save costs (he would put his clothes on the bus, run to the city, change his clothes, put his bags back on the bus, and carry on), often for charities and other purposes.
Below is a chronological listing of Howie's multi-day, multi-city runs, with estimated distances (a normal day's run is about 100 km), and supporting charities.

October 1978.
Ran the length of Vancouver Island from Victoria to Port Hardy (500 km) in support of United Way.

April 1979.
Ran from Port Hardy to Victoria (500 km), with letter from mayor of Port Hardy in support of UNICEF.

August 1979.
Training run from Victoria to Prince George (820 km). Placed third in the "Prince George to Boston" marathon.

September 1980.
Jogged from Edmonton to Victoria (1350 km in 11 days). Placed in top ten in inaugural Royal Victoria Marathon.

August 1981.
Ran from Kelowna to Courtney on Vancouver Island (750 km) to promote the B.C. games. Arrived to great applause during opening ceremonies.

July 1982.
Ran from Calgary to Slave Lake, Alberta (470 km); won the Slave Lake Riverboat Daze Marathon; then ran back to Calgary (470 km).

August/September/October 1982.
Placed third in the Prince George Classic; then ran from Prince George to Victoria (820 km). Won his age group in Royal Victoria marathon.

May 1983.
Solo run from Winnipeg to Ottawa (2225 km). Won 24-hour race.

May 1984.
Ran from Toronto to Ottawa (450 km) for the 24-hour Race.

December 1984.
Ran from Victoria to Port Hardy (500 km) for Times Colonist 1000 Fund.

February 1985.
Ran the Trans Canada Highway, Yellowhead route via Prince Rupert and Edmonton to Ottawa (4740 km). Race interrupted by appearance of brain tumour.

April 1986.
Ran from Victoria to White Spruce Farm in Fernie (1000 km).

September 1987.
Ran from Victoria to Port Hardy to Massett in the Queen Charlottes (870 km), with letter from Victoria Mayor in support of United Way.

June/July 1988.
Ran the length of Britain (1400 km in 11 days).

September 1988.
Ran from England through France to Sardinia in Italy (1500 km) to enter an ultramarathon.

1989 & 1990.
No between cities runs.

June to September 1991.
Ran the Trans Canada Highway from Mile Zero in St. John's, NL, to Victoria, BC (7295.5 km in 72 days and 10 hours). Raised $750,000 for Elks and Royal Purple of Canada for their Purple Cross Fund for children with special needs.

June 1992.
Trans-American Footrace from Huntington Beach, CA, to New York, NY. Severe blisters forced Howie to drop out in Las Vegas (370 km).

December 1992.
Ran from Victoria to Sacramento (1190 km) for the Helen Klein 6-day race.

1993 & 1994 & 1995.
No between cities runs.

October 1996.
Ran length of Vancouver Island to Port Hardy (500 km) for Canadian Diabetic Association. Stopped running due to insulin treatments for Type I diabetes.

External links

 Official website
 In Search of Al Howie - Book
 Facebook
 Ultrarunner Podcast
 Canadian Running Article Sept. 2019
 CBC Article, Sept. 2019

References

Blaikie, David. "Al Howie" Ultramarathon Canada, September/October 1991.
Blaikie, David. "Prairie Inn Harriers Profile – Al Howie" PIH, August 1991.
Crockford, Ross. "Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" Monday Publications, Oct 3, 2007.
Unknown Victoria: Loneliness of The Long-Distance Runner
unknownvictoria.blogspot.com/ ... /loneliness-of-long-distance-runner ... 3 Oct 2007

Howie, Al. "Al Howie on the comeback trail." PIH, December 1997.
Howie, Al. "An ultrarunner looks at his health."  Ultramarathon World. January 1, 1999.
Howie, Al. "I didn't want to die." Options: Journal of Complementary Medicine. Spring 1986.
Rothbauer, Kevin. "Al Howie still has plenty in the tank" The Citizen (Duncan, B.C.). December 26, 2007.

1945 births
2016 deaths
People from Saltcoats
Canadian male marathon runners
Canadian ultramarathon runners
Male ultramarathon runners
Scottish emigrants to Canada
Sportspeople from North Ayrshire
Sportspeople from British Columbia

Al Howie


Vittorio Sereni (27 July 1913 – 10 February 1983) was an Italian poet, author, editor and translator.  His poetry frequently addressed the themes of 20th-century Italian history, such as Fascism, Italy's military defeat in World War II, and its postwar resurgence.

Born at Luino, Sereni graduated from the University of Milan in 1936.  In 1938, he co-founded the literary review Corrente di Vita.  In 1941, he published Frontiera, his first collection of poetry.  He was drafted into the Italian Army during World War II: captured by Allied forces in 1943, he spent the rest of the war in POW camps in Algeria and Morocco.  These experiences formed the basis for his second poetry book, Diario d'Algeria.

After the war, Sereni worked as a teacher and literary critic. From the mid-1950s until his retirement in 1976, he was literary director of the Arnoldo Mondadori Editore publishing house.  His later collections of poetry included Gli strumenti umani (1965) and Stella variabile (1981).  He was a prolific translator, rendering into Italian the works of Pierre Corneille, Paul Valéry and William Carlos Williams, among others.  His collection of translated poems, Il musicante di Saint-Merry, was awarded the 1982 Bagutta Prize.

Sereni's works are collected in English in The Selected Poetry and Prose of Vittorio Sereni: A Bilingual Edition (2006), translated by Marcus Perryman and Peter Robinson.

See also
Corrente di Vita

External links

 Province of Varese biography
 University of Chicago Press profile

1913 births
1983 deaths
People from the Province of Varese
Italian male poets
Italian soldiers
Italian essayists
20th-century Italian translators
20th-century Italian poets
Male essayists
University of Milan alumni
20th-century essayists
20th-century Italian male writers
Italian male non-fiction writers

Vittorio Sereni


Scott John Tynan (born 27 November 1983) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper.

Career

Wigan Athletic
Born in Liverpool, Merseyside, Scott began his career at Wigan Athletic during the 2001–02 season, providing backup for the first-team goalkeepers, but he failed to make any significant backthrough into the first-team and was released after just one season with the club.

Nottingham Forest
Following Tynan's release from his Wigan Athletic contract, he teamed up with Nottingham Forest for the 2002–03 season. In total Scott spent two season with the club, again providing cover for the first-team and failing to make any appearances for the club, and left the club at the end of the 2003–04 season.

Telford United
During Tynan's time with Nottingham Forest, his lack of first team action prompted a loan move to Telford in order to get some experience, and Tynan enjoyed a two-month spell with the club, before returning to Nottingham Forest.

Barnet
Tynan joined Barnet in 2004 making 35 league appearances and gaining a Conference winner's medal.

Rushden & Diamonds
He signed for Rushden & Diamonds midway through the 2005–06 season for £20,000. In one of his first few games for the club, Tynan was approached by one of his own supporters who confronted the goalkeeper during an away match at Cheltenham Town in an incident that Tynan said was "blown out of proportion". The supporter was subsequently banned for life despite Tynan's statement in his defence. Despite for the most part enjoying his second season at Diamonds, Tynan requested his contract be cancelled by mutual consent after a mixture of becoming disillusioned by then manager Garry Hill and a desire to be closer to his home in Liverpool.

Hereford United
In August 2006, Tynan was loaned to Hereford United for a short spell as emergency goalkeeping cover for Wayne Brown who was injured in the opening game of the season against Stockport County. During this loan spell Tynan enjoyed a good run of form and played his part in some memorable games, most notably the 3–0 defeat of Coventry City in the League Cup. He had his contract cancelled by Rushden in May 2007 at his own request.

Ebbsfleet United
After a trial at Morecambe Tynan signed for Ebbsfleet United on 10 August 2007, a day before the new season, to cover for Lance Cronin who sustained a finger injury. He played seven games for the club, and achieving Man of the Match in 3 before leaving in September to find a club in the north-west. Tynan is said to have really enjoyed his time at Ebbsfleet but became frustrated with the amount of travelling involved in the short-term deal.

Northwich Victoria
Tynan signed for Northwich Victoria, making his debut against Exeter City on 13 October 2007. He moved to Salford City in February 2010. He went on to sign an 18-month contract and after an impressive first season gained an international re-call with the England C Team and helping them to win the 4 Nations Tournament in Wales, the second time Tynan had won that particular competition before jetting off to Grenada and Barbados for a double header against their full international teams. Northwich decided against renewing Tynan's contract after he suffered a full thickness tear of his ACL in the league game against Histon which was played at Altrincham's ground due to Vics being locked out of their Marston's Arena home due to unpaid debts.

Vauxhall Motors
Tynan joined Vauxhall Motors in the summer of 2010. He was part of their most successful season in recent times helping them reach the 1st round proper of the FA Cup in which they faced Hartlepool United who were then second in League 2. Tynan suffered a horrific leg injury late in the second half with the game at 0-0. The injury was caused by Richie Humphreys who as a result received his marching orders for the first time in his career. Tynan unfortunately missed the replay at Rivacre Park 2 weeks later where Motors were narrowly beaten.

Billinge FC
Tynan signs for Cheshire League Billinge FC February 2013 making his debut against Greenalls PSOB scored 3 goals from goal kicks in 2016

References

External links

1983 births
Living people
Footballers from Liverpool
English men's footballers
England men's semi-pro international footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
Wigan Athletic F.C. players
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Barnet F.C. players
Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players
Hereford United F.C. players
Ebbsfleet United F.C. players
Northwich Victoria F.C. players
Salford City F.C. players
Vauxhall Motors F.C. players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players
Telford United F.C. players

Scott Tynan


is a retired Japanese artistic gymnast. He is a seven-time Olympic medalist (team, all-around and floor exercise), winning three golds and four silvers, and a 21-time World medalist (team, all-around, floor exercise, parallel bars and the horizontal bar).

Uchimura was already considered by many in the sport to be the greatest gymnast of all time after he completely dominated to unprecedented levels in all the major competitions for the entire quad, and finally finishing the season by winning the Olympic individual all-around gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. However, he then extended those accomplishments even further when he followed it up with continued and uninterrupted victories of every major competition again throughout the next Olympic cycle, replicating the feat he achieved in the last quad, which led him to win two additional gold medals on team and individual all-around at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Uchimura is known for being the first gymnast (male or female) to capture every major all-around title in an entire single Olympic cycle, accomplishing this feat twice by securing six world (2009–2011 and 2013–2015) and two Olympic (2012 London Olympics, and 2016 Rio Olympics) individual all-around titles. Uchimura also took the individual all-around silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He is known for delivering difficult and accurately executed routines. The International Gymnast Magazine had praised his skills as a "combination of tremendous difficulty, supreme consistency and extraordinary elegance of performance."

Early life and career
Uchimura was born in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, and began gymnastics at age 3 at his parents' sports club in Nagasaki Prefecture. His parents, Kazuhisa and Shuko Uchimura, were both competitive gymnasts. At age 15, he moved to Tokyo to train with Athens gold medalist Naoya Tsukahara. His younger sister Haruhi Uchimura is also a gymnast. Kōhei Uchimura stated of his beliefs, "I don't believe in God. I never had lucky charms. All I believe in is practice." In his first international event, the 2005 International Junior Competition in Japan, he competed outside official competition.

Senior career

2007
Uchimura joined the Japanese national squad in 2007, making his senior debut at the 2007 Paris World Cup in March, a major international competition. He took the bronze medal on vault, plus placed 9th on floor exercise here. In August at the 2007 Summer Universiade in Bangkok, he won the team title, and individual gold and bronze on respective floor exercise and vault. At Japan's National Championships in October, he got 7th on individual all-around. A month later at the international "Good Luck Beijing" event, he won team silver with Japan's team, and ranked 7th on floor exercise.

2008
Uchimura started the 2008 season by winning gold on floor at the World Cup in Tianjin in May.

Later that summer, he was selected to represent Japan at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as a member of the national team. At the Olympics, he contributed to the team silver by competing on floor, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. He qualified for the all-around final, where he won the silver medal. His 2nd place win behind China's Yang Wei gave Japan its first Olympic medal in the event in 24 years. He obtained the highest mark of that meet on the floor 15.825 (double Arabian piked half out, triple twist dismount) and had a spectacular high bar routine (Kolman, piked Kovacs). He also qualified through to the floor final, where he placed fifth.

At the Japanese national championships that year, the 19-year-old Uchimura racked up the highest scores on floor exercise and pommel horse en route to winning his first national all around title. He was the first teenager in 12 years to win the Japanese men's national title.

2009
In October 2009, Uchimura competed at the 2009 World Championships. Here, he dominated both the qualifications and the all around final. He won the all around title by a margin of 2.575 points ahead of Daniel Keatings, marking top scores for floor, rings, vault, and horizontal bar. Uchimura placed fourth on floor and sixth on high bar as well.

He appeared on the cover of the December 2009 number of the International Gymnastics Magazine which was entitled "Uchimura rules".

2010

In October 2010, Uchimura went to the 2010 World Championships again as a member of Japan's national team. As in 2009, he dominated the all-around prelims and finals, taking his second consecutive all-around title by a margin of 2.251 points ahead of Philipp Boy. In the all-around final, he had the top score of the day on floor, and highest execution mark (9.666) for a Yurchenko 2½ twists on vault. He contributed to Japan's team silver medal by competing in the team final on all events except still rings too. He qualified for two event finals, winning silver on floor, and bronze on parallel bars.

2011

On October 14, 2011, Uchimura won the all-around final for the third time at the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. With a score of 93.631 points, Uchimura won by a margin of 3.101 points, roughly the same margin that separated second and fourteenth place. Not only is he the first male gymnast to win three individual all-around titles, but Uchimura is also the first gymnast, male or female, to win three consecutive individual all-around titles.

In the all-around final, Uchimura recorded the highest score on four of the six events: floor exercise, still rings, parallel bars, and pommel horse (he tied for the highest score on pommel horse). Uchimura also qualified for five of the six individual apparatus finals, all except vault. He won his first World Championship gold medal on floor exercise, as well as a bronze medal on high bar and the silver medal with the Japanese team.

At the 2011 Worlds, Uchimura also won the Longines Prize for Elegance along with Romania's Ana Porgras. The prize is given at each World Championships to the male and female gymnasts who demonstrate "the most remarkable elegance". The winners were unanimously declared by a panel of judges, where both Uchimura and Porgras were each awarded a trophy, a Longines watch, and US$5,000. He was especially pleased to win this award since he collects watches.

In November 2011, Uchimura won four gold medals at the 65th Japanese Championships. Besides all-around, he also took titles on half the apparatuses: floor exercise, pommel horse, and high bar.

2012
Uchimura competed in the London 2012 Olympics in London and fell several times in qualifications, which put him in ninth place among the group of qualifiers for the individual all-around final. In the men's team gymnastics final, Uchimura fell from the pommel horse during his dismount. The Japanese coaches appealed the scoring on this performance as he still landed on his feet and felt it should have counted as a full dismount, albeit with a large penalty. Before the appeal, Great Britain were to get the silver and Ukraine the bronze, but the appeal pushed Japan's points total up to secure the silver behind China, which pushed Great Britain down to the bronze.

In the men's individual all-around final, Uchimura dominated the competition and won the gold medal with a score of 92.690. He also won the silver medal in the men's floor exercise event final with a score of 15.800, thanks to the tie-breaking procedure. It was automatically triggered due to his second highest combined score in the final tying the one by Denis Ablyazin of Russia, who did have the highest difficulty score of 7.1 among all finalists due to more passes. Unfortunately when there is a tie, the gymnast instead with the higher execution score will place ahead, which was Uchimura who posted the highest execution of 9.100 in the final.

2013
During qualifications Uchimura dominated, garnering an all-around total of 91.924, which was 2.392 points ahead of the closest competitor. He qualified for the floor exercise finals in third place with a 15.333, first for the parallel bars final with 15.400, and third for the high bar final with a 15.658. He qualified as a reserve for the pommel horse final with a 15.133.

Uchimura won a record fourth consecutive all-around gold medal at the 2013 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp. Uchimura finished with 91.990 points, almost two points ahead of the next nearest competitor. Uchimura also won bronze medals on floor exercise (15.500) behind Japan's 17-year-old newcomer Kenzō Shirai (16.000) and Jacob Dalton of the United States (15.600), and the horizontal bar (15.633) behind Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands (16.000) and Fabian Hambüchen of Germany (15.933), as well as a gold medal for parallel bars (15.666). His total of four individual medals is the highest number of medals Uchimura has earned at a single World Championships.

2014
On October 9, 2014, Uchimura once again made history, winning a record fifth consecutive world championship all-around gold at Nanning. He totaled 91.965 points, 1.492 points above Great Britain's Max Whitlock to capture the title.

Uchimura also secured the silver on the horizontal bar apparatus after he posted scores that sandwiched them between those by Epke Zonderland (Netherlands), who won the gold, and Marijo Možnik (Croatia), who took the bronze.

2015
On October 30, 2015, Uchimura won a record sixth all-around world gymnastics championship title, achieving a total score of 92.332, more than 1.6 points ahead of Cuban teenager Manrique Larduet and Deng Shudi of China.

Uchimura started off on the floor with a 15.733, and led Deng by 0.600 after the first rotation. Then on pommel horse, he scored a 15.100. He would continued with a 14.933 on rings, 15.633 on vault, and 15.833 on parallel bars before wrapping things up with a 15.100 on the horizontal bar, one of his best apparatuses, on which he had also taken a fall, just a few days before in the team competition.

Uchimura would then go on to win the horizontal bar apparatus final as well with a score of 15.833 ahead of Danell Leyva (United States) and Larduet.

However, what was even more significant was that Uchimura led Japan to victory in the team event final where they defeated Great Britain and China. This was their first team gold since the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg.

2016

Uchimura competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In the men's team all-around final, team captain Uchimura anchored the Japanese men to win the team gold medal with a total score of 274.094, reclaiming the title for Japan and the first time since the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Two days after the final of team event, Uchimura defended his individual all-around (AA) gold medal with a total score of 92.365, becoming the first gymnast in 44 years to win back-to-back individual all-around (IAA) golds at the Olympics. With his individual all-around silver medal from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he also became only the second man in history after countryman Sawao Kato, who also won two golds and one silver in the individual all-around competition across the 1968 Mexico City, 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympics, to medal on the men's individual all-around event at three Olympic Games. His winning margin over silver medallist Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine was extremely slim at only 0.099, less than a small step deduction on landing in terms of gymnastics scoring.

2017
At the 2017 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Montreal, his world all-around champion streak that began in 2009 came to an end when he injured his ankle on the vault landing in qualification, forcing him to withdraw.

This led to his long win-streak at worlds and Olympics being unexpectedly broken for the only time since he started winning the first of his six World Championships all-around title to begin the 2009 quad, and continue over the next two complete Olympic cycles (approximately 8 years), ending them by winning his second Olympic all-around title in 2016. This was also the first time in 9 years since before 2008 that he did not medal, namely silver and/or gold medals, at one of the FIG's major competitions—the Olympics or World Championships.

2018–2019
Between October 25 and November 3, 2018, Uchimura competed at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha but on a reduced schedule. During the team event final, he had helped Team Japan secure the bronze medal behind team event champion China and runner-up Russia by contributing scores to four apparatuses—pommel horse (14.133), rings (14.200), parallel bars (14.500) and high bar (14.400). Uchimura also qualified for the individual event final on the horizontal bar, winning the silver with a score of 14.800 behind the 2012 Olympic high bar champion, Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands, who scored a 15.100.

Uchimura did not compete in any significant competitions during the 2019 season due to injuries.

2020–2021
At the age of 32, Uchimura qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, his fourth and home Olympic Games, as an apparatus specialist on the horizontal bar after a tiebreak in the selection process worked in his favour. He has expressed earlier that he could still contribute positively to the Japanese team but perhaps not with the kind of gruelling physical requirements that are necessary for an all-arounder anymore.

At the Olympics, Uchimura did not qualify for the high bar finals after placing 20th due to mistake in the qualifying round, and decided to skip the parallel bars event. The eventual gold medalist in the individual all-around and horizontal bar finals was countryman Daiki Hashimoto (most successful gymnast at these Games and also considered to be Uchimura's heir apparent), who at 19 years, 11 months and 21 days old became Japan's second youngest teen gold medal gymnast (lost by only six days to Kenzō Shirai at the 2016 Summer Games), as well as their youngest ever individual gold medal gymnast in Olympic history on the individual all-around (AA) and high bar events.

On October 18–24, 2021, competing at home in Kitakyushu, Japan, Uchimura, oldest at 32 years, 9 months and 21 days old, was selected as part of the Japanese world championship team in artistic gymnastics (AG) as an apparatus specialist to compete only on the individual horizontal bar event. He qualified in fifth place with a score of 14.300 for the event final where he finished in sixth place with a score of 14.600. This was long intended to be his final competition, concluding an illustrious career, which many would consider him the best of all time. His apparent successor, the men's 2020 Olympics individual all-around and horizontal bar champion, Hashimoto, was the top individual horizontal bar qualifier with a score of 14.633. For the same two individual events, he earned himself two silver medals in the individual all-around and horizontal bar finals instead with scores of 87.964 and 14.600. Hu Xuwei and Zhang Boheng, both of China, respectively won the men's individual all-around and horizontal bar events with scores of 87.981 and 15.166. Lastly, Hashimoto placed fourth in the men's individual parallel bars finals with a score of 15.000, but also withdrew from the men's individual pommel horse and floor exercise finals, for which he qualified too.

Retirement
On January 10, 2022, Uchimura officially announced his retirement from competitive gymnastics, having been plagued by various persistent injuries since his rare withdrawal from the 2017 World Championships following an ankle injury sustained during the qualification round of the men's individual all-around competition. Although Uchimura retired with no eponymous skills, he always maintained that this was never a primary aim of his long career. Uchimura is considered by many to have retired as the greatest gymnast of all time, male or female.

Competitive history

Personal life
Uchimura married his wife Chiho in the autumn of 2012. They have two daughters, born in 2013 and 2015. Asked if he would teach them gymnastics he replied, "If they were boys I think I probably would... but I don't understand women's gymnastics and I think it's much more severe." He eats just one meal a day and rather dislikes vegetables.

See also
 List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games
 List of multiple Olympic medalists
 List of Olympic medal leaders in men's gymnastics

References

External links

1989 births
Living people
Japanese atheists
Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Japanese male artistic gymnasts
Olympic gymnasts for Japan
Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Gymnasts at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Gymnasts at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Japan
Olympic silver medalists for Japan
Olympic medalists in gymnastics
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon
Sportspeople from Kitakyushu
Universiade medalists in gymnastics
FISU World University Games gold medalists for Japan
Universiade bronze medalists for Japan
Gymnasts at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Kōhei Uchimura


Matthew John Hamilton Stevens (born 1 October 1982) is a retired rugby union player who played club Rugby in England, South Africa and France and won 44 caps for  between 2004 and 2012. Born in Durban, South Africa, to English parents, he played both prop positions, and most of his England appearances were at tighthead. Now based in Cape Town, Stevens is a hospitality expert and property developer.

Early life
Stevens was born on 1 October 1982 in Durban, South Africa. He was educated at Kearsney College in KwaZulu-Natal and played his youth rugby in South Africa. He earned representative honours for Western Province, South African Universities and the Junior Springboks at Under 18 and Under 19 level, before deciding to move to England to pursue his university studies.

Rugby career
At Bath University, he soon came to the attention of the local club and made his first appearances at the end of the 2002–03 season.

He went on to represent England Under-21s at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, held in Oxfordshire, impressing the first team coaches and winning a place on the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia. He made his first Test appearance as a replacement against the All Blacks before helping Bath to the top of the Premiership table in the 2003–04 season. Stevens was known for popping up in the back line during matches for Bath, and has quite a turn of pace for a front-rower.

He made his Six Nations debut in 2005 and a series of eye-catching displays led to his selection for the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand. He played in six games for the unbeaten midweek team, but was unable to force his way into the Test side.

A shoulder injury during the 2006 Six Nations would rule Stevens out for over a year, with his next international action coming in the second test of England's summer tour of South Africa in 2007. Stevens was then included in the England squad for the 2007 World Cup, starting three pool games and featuring in all others as a replacement – appearing in the final as a replacement for captain Phil Vickery.

He devoted much of his time out of the game to a coffee shop, Jika Jika, with friend and Bath team-mate Lee Mears. After opening the flagship cafe in Bath in 2009, the pair opened a further 3 cafes in Bath, Bristol and London. Stevens confirmed in January 2010 that he would join Saracens and duly linked up with the English Premiership club at the start of 2011.

He made his debut for Saracens and went on to a central role as the Watford-based club claimed their first Premiership title with victory over Leicester in the final at Twickenham in May 2011. Two days later Stevens was recalled to the England setup with a place in the England Saxons squad for the Churchill Cup and the promise of a shot at securing a spot in Martin Johnson's Rugby World Cup squad.

Stevens finally made his return to the senior England side as he started England's first World Cup warm-up match against Wales at Twickenham, and he did enough to secure a place on the plane to New Zealand. Following an injury to first-choice loose-head Andrew Sheridan, Stevens took the No.1 jersey.

Stevens kept his place in the England set-up under Stuart Lancaster's leadership and played in all five of their matches during the 2012 Six Nations.

In the summer of 2012 Stevens opted to retire from Test rugby to spend more time with his young family. Even so, impressive performances for Saracens and the ability to play on both the tight and loose-head side of the scrums meant that he was a surprise inclusion in Warren Gatland's Lions squad for the tour to Australia, despite not having played international rugby for over a year.

In February 2014, it was revealed that Stevens would return to South Africa after the conclusion of the 2013–14 English Premiership season to join the  in August of that year on a two-year deal.

On 18 June 2015, Stevens made his move to France to join with European champions Toulon in the Top 14 from the 2015–2016 season. He was injured towards the end of his first season at Toulon and underwent shoulder surgery in early 2016. Stevens retired from Rugby in May 2016.

Personal life

In 2006, Stevens appeared on The X Factor: Battle of the Stars on ITV. He was mentored by Sharon Osbourne and reached the final only to be defeated by Eastenders star Lucy Benjamin. Due to his appearance on the show, he raised over £125,000 for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and in October 2006 he was invited to meet the statesman in Johannesburg.

He holds a BSc in politics with economics from the University of Bath.

After retiring from Rugby, Stevens moved to Cape Town, South Africa with his wife and twin daughters. From 2017 – 2020 Stevens was the General Manager at one of South Africa's oldest and most beloved wine estates Boschendal. During his time at Boschendal, he created some of the estate's most popular attractions including The Tree House and the Friday Night Market as well as steering its flagship restaurant The Werf into South Africa's Top 20 Restaurants and winning the Eat Out Sustainability Award in 2018.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stevens left his position at Boschendal to pursue new property development projects in Cape Town and the wider Western Cape areas.

References

External links
 Bath profile
 England profile
 Scrum.com player statistics
 Premiership profile
 Matt Stevens photo by sportingheroes.net
 Saracens Profile

1982 births
Living people
Alumni of Kearsney College
Alumni of the University of Bath
Bath Rugby players
British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England
British & Irish Lions rugby union players from South Africa
Doping cases in rugby union
England international rugby union players
English rugby union players
Rugby union players from Durban
Rugby union props
Saracens F.C. players
South African people of British descent
Team Bath rugby union players
The X Factor (British TV series) contestants
2007 Rugby World Cup players
2011 Rugby World Cup players

Matt Stevens (rugby union)


Walter Gibb,  (26 March 1919 – 4 October 2006) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace and a British test pilot who twice held the world altitude record.

Early life
The son of a Scottish mining Engineer, Walter Frame Gibb was born near Port Talbot, Wales, on 26 March 1919. He attended Clifton College before joining the aero-engine Division of the BAC (Bristol Aeroplane Company) as an apprentice mechanic in 1937, before joining the RAF in May 1940 as a pilot.

Fighter pilot
Upon completing his training at FTS Cranwell, he was identified as an above average pilot and was posted as a flight instructor at CFS, South Cerney in 1941. He also instructed at 54 OTU until June 1942, before attachment to No. 125 Squadron in February and March 1942. In early 1943 he joined No. 264 Squadron, flying the de Havilland Mosquito on long-range sorties in support of Coastal Command over the Bay of Biscay.

On 22 March 1943 he shared in the destruction of a Junkers Ju 88 with another Mosquito. His squadron also saw action over Northern France in the lead-up to the Invasion in 1944. He also scored several train kills during these sorties.

Transferred to No. 605 Squadron as a Flight Commander, Gibb and his flight provided support for Dam Busters during a raid on the Dortmund-Ems canal. On 14 September 1943 flying ahead of the Lancaster force, his Mosquitoes reported bad weather conditions and the mission was aborted until 15 September. Gibbs' Squadron suppressed the light flak and searchlights en route to aid the low flying Lancaster bombers.

Gibb then served for a short time with 1692 BSDU. He was promoted to wing commander and was given command of No. 239 Squadron in No. 100 Group, flying bomber support missions into Germany in 1945. He claimed five enemy night fighter aircraft shot down. Despite this modest score, Gibb accounted for the victory of Walter Borchers on 6 March 1945. Borchers had scored 43 air victories at the time of his death. On 18/19 March 1945 Gibb shot down another German night fighter ace. Werner Baake and his radar operator survived. Gibb was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in May 1945, and left the RAF in January 1946.

Test pilot
After the war, he became a test pilot for BAC. Walter was the co-pilot for Bill Pegg during the Bristol Brabazon's maiden flight, and then flew it with himself in command, during which the large aircraft suffered hydraulic failure, and made an emergency landing without flaps. The aircraft development programme was later scrapped in 1953.

Gibb and observer FM Piper, took off from Filton near Bristol on 4 May 1953 in an English Electric Canberra bomber. Climbing to the west the Canberra reached an altitude of 63,668 ft; some 4,000 ft higher than the previous record. That year he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Aero Club.

Gibb became the chief test pilot for BAC in 1955.

Flying the a Canberra fitted with more powerful Olympus engines Gibb made an attempt to break his own record on 29 August 1955. Taking off from Filton he climbed over the Bristol Channel towards Ireland and levelled off at 50,000 ft in order to burn off fuel to lighten the aircraft before continuing his ascent. He turned east and finally reached a record altitude of 65,876 ft (nearly 12.5 miles high) over Bristol. He flew his Canberra up to this record height knowing he would possibly pass out due to the altitude, but would regain consciousness to safely land his Canberra.

In 1955 he test flew the Bristol Britannia turbo-prop airliner. Despite some mechanical difficulties, he flew from Bristol to Johannesburg, South Africa, refueling once in Khartoum, the trip taking 19 hours. He trained airline pilots in the Britannia, and retired from Test Flying in 1960.

He then became Head of Service and Technical Support for the British Aircraft Company, and later became Chairman for British Aerospace Australia in 1978.

Personal life
Walter married Sylvia Reed, whom he met during his RAF service. She was a flight officer at the operations room at RAF North Weald. They married in 1944 and had three daughters. Walter was a member of the Thornbury Sailing Club, sailing until the age of 83. He was twice the club's commodore, long serving vice-president, and later became the club president.

Citations

References

External links
 Obituary

1919 births
2006 deaths
British World War II pilots
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
People educated at Clifton College
People from Port Talbot
Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
Royal Air Force officers
Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Welsh aviators
Welsh test pilots
British aviation record holders

Walter Gibb


Caladenia cruciformis, commonly known as the crucifix spider orchid, or red cross spider orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to a small area in Victoria. It is a rare ground orchid with a single, sparsely hairy leaf and a single dark red to crimson flower with blackish tips.

Description
Caladenia cruciformis is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with a marble-sized, underground tuber. In late autumn, a single, sparsely hairy leaf  long and  wide with a reddish tinge at its base emerges.

A single dark red to crimson, occasionally pink flower, with darker red stripes is borne on a thin, hairy, dark green to purple spike  tall. The flowers have a fragrance resembling a hot motor. The petals and lateral sepals are  long and spread widely, giving rise to the common name. The dorsal sepal is erect,  wide at the base and tapers to a thread-like end with a club-like tip a further  long and covered with dark red glands. The lateral sepals are about  wide at the base then narrow to a thread like end with a club-like tip similar to but shorter than that on the dorsal sepal. The petals are shorter than the sepals and lack the blackish tips. The labellum is egg-shaped to lance-shaped,  long and  wide and curves downward at the tip. It is dark red with a whitish base and the sides of the labellum turn upwards. There is a fringe of linear teeth about  long on the sides but which decrease in size towards the front. There are four to six rows of linear foot-shaped calli along the centre of the labellum, decreasing in size towards the front. Flowering occurs between September and October and is followed by a capsule which releases thousands of black seeds a few weeks later.

Taxonomy and naming
Caladenia cruciformis was first formally described by David L. Jones in 1999 from a specimen collected near Stuart Mill and the description was published in The Orchadian. The specific epithet (cruciformis) is derived from the Latin word crux meaning "cross" and the suffix -formis meaning "shaped".

Distribution and habitat
The red cross spider orchid is found in eucalypt forest or woodland with a heathy understorey, growing in sandy loam with accumulated leaf litter. It is only known from a small area near Stuart Mill and the Dalyenong Nature Conservation Reserve.

Conservation
Caladenia cruciformis is listed as "Endangered" under the Victorian Government Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. A successful program of propagation and reintroduction of the species has been undertaken and a second generation of reintroduced plants have set seed in four separate sites. The main threats to the species include unauthorised firewood collection, grazing by native and introduced animals, weed invasion, inappropriate burning and illegal collection.

References

cruciformis
Plants described in 1999
Endemic orchids of Australia
Orchids of Victoria (state)
Taxa named by David L. Jones (botanist)

Caladenia cruciformis


Roy Goodman (born 26 January 1951) is an English conductor and violinist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music. He became internationally famous as the 12-year-old boy treble soloist in the March 1963 recording of Allegri's Miserere with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, under David Willcocks.

Life and career

Goodman was born in Guildford, studied at the Royal College of Music, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and Associate of the Royal College of Music. He has also served as Director of Music at the University of Kent in Canterbury and Director of Early music Studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

As a violinist and concertmaster, he played from 1975 to 1985 under the baton of Iván Fischer, John Eliot Gardiner, Charles Mackerras, Roger Norrington, and Simon Rattle (at Glyndebourne Opera). He was viola d'amore soloist with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy. He has also played as concertmaster or soloist (on baroque violin) with Frans Brüggen, Philippe Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood, René Jacobs, Trevor Pinnock and Ton Koopman.

In July 1999 Goodman conducted the premiere of Jonas Forssell's Trädgården (The Garden) at the Drottningholm theatre in Stockholm, the first new opera to be premiered there in modern times.

As a conductor, Roy Goodman is known for his special expertise with early music, which he often directed from the violin, harpsichord or organ. He was conductor of Reading Youth Orchestra (1974–1976), founder and director of the Brandenburg Consort (1975–2001), co-director of the Parley of Instruments (1979–1986), Principal Conductor of the Hanover Band (1986–1994) and Music Director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (1989–2004). He is Principal Guest Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra and Director Emeritus of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. He has served as Guest Conductor with over 100 other orchestras, ensembles, and opera companies. In 2006 he made his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and returned to San Francisco Opera to conduct a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.

As a conductor Goodman has made over 120 recordings ranging from Monteverdi to Copland. Goodman has also directed more than forty world premières of contemporary music.

In 2003, Goodman pleaded guilty to operating his 24 foot trailer-sailer yacht Royana while under the influence of alcohol.  Goodman ran this small yacht aground on Calshot Spit, near Southampton.

Roy Goodman made his New Zealand debut in 2007, performing a series of Baroque concerts. Following the enthusiastic response of audiences and critics, he accepted the position of Principal Guest Conductor for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, which he held until 2011. In 2010, he made his debut at the Sydney Opera House with three concerts, and in 2011 he was affectionately named the "Rafa Nadal of conductors" by Radio New Zealand. He has three children and five grandchildren.

References

External links
Personal website
Hyperion Records: Roy Goodman
Bach-Cantatas.com: Roy Goodman

1951 births
Boy sopranos
English child singers
English conductors (music)
British male conductors (music)
English classical violinists
British male violinists
English classical viola d'amore players
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Academics of the University of Kent
Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
Musicians from Guildford
Living people
British performers of early music
Musicians from Kent
21st-century British conductors (music)
21st-century classical violinists
21st-century British male musicians
Choristers of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Male classical violinists

Roy Goodman


The Lycée Henri-IV is a French educational center located in the Latin Quarter of Paris, in the fifth arrondissement of Paris.

The school is recognized for its excellent results in the baccalaureate, in the general competition and in the entrance exams to the Grandes Ecoles, and more specifically in the literary competitions (Ecoles Normales Supérieure de Paris, Lyon and Paris-Saclay, École des Chartes). It is known for its elitism and for having trained many French intellectuals, politicians, scientists and personalities.

Notable former students
 Corinne Enaudeau, a French philosopher
 Claude Goasguen, a French politician
 Gabriel Lippmann, a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor
 Amélie Verdier, a French senior civil servant

References

17th-century establishments in France
1790s establishments in Europe
1795 establishments
Colleges and universities in France
Schools in Paris

Lycée Henri-IV


Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising Landkreis (district), with a population of about 50,000.

Location

Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Isar river in Upper Bavaria, north of Munich and near the Munich International Airport. The city is built on and around two prominent hills: the Cathedral Hill with the former Bishop's Residence and Freising Cathedral, and Weihenstephan Hill with the former Weihenstephan Abbey, containing the oldest working brewery in the world. It was also the location of the first recorded tornado in Europe. The city is 448 meters above sea level.

Cultural significance
Freising is one of the oldest settlements in Bavaria, becoming a major religious centre in the early Middle Ages. It is the centre of an important diocese.
Some important historical documents were created between 900 and 1200 in its monastery:
 Freising manuscripts written in Slovenian, being the first Roman-script continuous text in a Slavic language
 Chronicle or history of the two cities by Otto of Freising

The above and other scripts from that time can be found in the "Bayerische Staatsbibliothek" (Bavarian State Library) in Munich.

History
Even though archaeological finds show that the area was settled in the Bronze Age, no proof has been found yet to suggest a continuous settlement until the 8th century AD.

In 724 AD, the Frankish Saint Corbinian was sent to Bavaria by the Catholic Church to spread Christianity. On a mountain near Freising, where there was already a sanctuary, Corbinian erected a Benedictine monastery and a school. According to his Vita by Bishop Arbeo, Corbinian was on his way to Rome when his packhorse was attacked and killed by a wild bear. By divine power, Corbinian ordered the bear to carry his luggage over the Alps. When he finally arrived in Rome he let the bear free. The saddled bear is still the symbol of the city, displayed in the coat of arms, as well as statues and paintings. After Corbinian's death, Saint Boniface established Freising as a Catholic diocese. Between 764–783, Bishop Arbeo founded a library and a scriptorium (writing room) at the abbey. The settlement started to become a religious centre.

The earliest recorded tornado in Europe struck Freising in 788.

The mortal remains of Pope Alexander I are said to have been transferred to Freising in 834. In 996, Freising received city rights from Emperor Otto III.

As early as the 10th century, in order to collect additional revenue, monks were sent from Freising down the Isar River to build a toll bridge on the Salt Road between Salzburg and Augsburg. This village would be later known as München (or Munich, which means 'of the monks'). By 1158, Duke Henry the Lion destroyed the bridge and customs building and built new ones closer to his home further downriver, (near the center of modern downtown Munich), so that he could collect the revenue instead.

The construction of the Freising Cathedral in its current romanesque style started in 1159 and was completed in 1205. The Romanesque wooden ceiling was replaced by a gothic vault in 1481–1483.

Freising went through difficult times during the Thirty Years' War. In 1632, the Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus came through Freising on his way to Munich. He demanded 30,000 guilders as the sum to protect the city from destruction. Nevertheless, his army sacked the city. Hunger and plague raged when the Swedes invaded the city again in 1646. In 1674, the Church placed a statue of the Virgin Mary in the city square as a sign that war and plague had been overcome.

A wave of witch hunts and trials broke out from 1715–1717 in Freising, and again in 1721–1723. Most of the accused were child beggars. Several children were executed.

In 1802/1803 Bavaria fell under the influence of Napoleonic France in which church controlled lands were secularized. In Freising, the more than thousand-year-old bishopric was abolished. The Roman Catholic Church lost most of its properties and authority over the city.
Though the seat of the diocese was moved to Munich in 1821, including the elevation to an archdiocese, Freising has remained the seat of diocesan administration until today.

In 1858 the Bavarian Eastern Railway Company built the first railway line from Munich to Freising, Landshut and Regensburg for passenger and rail traffic.

Near the end of the Second World War, Allied aircraft bombed Freising on April 18, 1945. By April 30, units of the US Army arrived in Freising.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI visited Freising during a papal visit. He was formerly archbishop of Munich/Freising from 1977 to 1982.

Education and research

Schools
There are several elementary schools in the city of Freising. The St. Korbinian elementary school is located in the city center, the Neustift elementary school in Neustift, the St. Lantbert elementary school in Lerchenfeld and the Paul-Gerhardt elementary school in the north of the city. Another elementary school is the Vötting Elementary School, to which the schoolhouse in Pulling also belongs.

Secondary schools include the three secondary schools Neustift, Paul-Gerhard and Lerchenfeld. The first two are located at the sites of the elementary schools of the same names. The Karl-Meichelbeck-Realschule is located in the immediate vicinity of the Paul-Gerhard-Schule. At Guten Änger in Lerchenfeld, the new Montessori school building was opened in 2015 and a second Realschule in 2018. The Wippenhauser Straße is home to the Wirtschaftsschule and the Fachoberschule/Berufsoberschule. The oldest of Freising's three high schools is the Dom-Gymnasium on the Domberg. The Camerloher-Gymnasium is one of the few artistic grammar schools. The Josef-Hofmiller-Gymnasium, which emerged from the Dom-Gymnasium, is Freising's largest grammar school.

The Freising Vocational School and the Vocational School for Child Care are located in the same building. The latter is a full-time school that trains pediatric nurses in two years. The vocational school for nursing is affiliated with the Freising Clinic. The Weihenstephan State Vocational School for Floral Art offers advanced training to become a state-certified designer for floral art.

Universities
The Freising-Weihenstephan campus is an extensive complex of higher education institutions and research institutes in the western urban area of Freising, in the Weihenstephan and Vötting districts. It has been developed into the so-called "Green Center of Bavaria" for decades and continues to be modernized and designed as a "science and research campus". It includes not only the "Center of Life Sciences", the Weihenstephan Science Center for Nutrition, Land Use and Environment of the Technical University of Munich, but also the most important part of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences.

The Freising Clinic is an academic teaching hospital of the Technical University of Munich. It is located north of the old town.

Research and education centers
Several research centers have been established in the vicinity of the two universities, i.e. mostly located on campus. The TUM Weihenstephan Research Center for Brewing and Food Quality, the TUM Central Institute for Nutrition and Food Research and the TUM Hans Eisenmann Center for Agricultural Sciences belong to the Technical University of Munich. The Bavarian State Institute of Agriculture and the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry and Forestry are authorities of the Free State of Bavaria.

Other non-university institutions include the German Research Institute for Food Chemistry, the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging, DEULA Bavaria and the IZB Freising-Weihenstephan start-up center for green biotechnology.

In addition to the natural sciences and technology, there are facilities in the area of religious education. The Institut für Theologische und Pastorale Fortbildung Freising is dedicated to the continuing education of pastoral counselors. The Kardinal-Döpfner-Haus educational center is also located in the former residence on the Domberg. Further offers are provided by the Katholisches Kreisbildungswerk and the Pallotti-Haus, a Christian educational house and therapy center.

Libraries
The oldest library in Freising is the Freising Cathedral Library, located on the Domberg. This was founded by Bishop Arbeo and is the central library of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and one of the largest church libraries in Germany. The city library was founded in 1959. The central library of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences is located in the Hofgarten in Weihenstephan. Also in Weihenstephan is a branch library of the University Library of the Technical University of Munich.

City archive
The Stadtarchiv Freising is a scientific institution of the city of Freising. It holds documents from the 14th century to the present day. It has existed as an institution since 1909. It is a public institution, open to all citizens and offers a reference library with about 4500 volumes in a reading room.

Since 2003, the Freising Municipal Archives have been temporarily located in the "Haus der Vereine" (House of Associations), a barracks building of the Jägerkaserne (Vimy Barracks from 1938), which was built in 1906 and has since been abandoned. It will remain in this listed building until a new building is realized in Fischergasse, east of the former prison.

Twin towns – sister cities

Freising is twinned with:

 Arpajon, France (1991)
 Innichen, Italy (1969)
 Maria Wörth, Austria (1978)
 Obervellach, Austria (1963)
 Škofja Loka, Slovenia (2004)
 Waidhofen an der Ybbs, Austria (1986)

Notable people
 Otto of Freising (1112–1158), bishop
 Mair von Landshut, late 15th-century artist, was a citizen and probably born in Freising
 Georg Eder (1523–1587), jurist and historian
 Martin Ruland the Elder (1532–1602), physician and alchemist
 Johann Stadlmayr (1575–1648), court music director and composer
 Benignus von Safferling (1824–1899), Bavarian General and Minister of War
 Ludwig Prandtl (1875–1953), physicist
 Ernst Kraus (1889–1970), a German geologist
 Karl Maria Demelhuber (1896–1988), SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS
 Anton Schlüter (died 1999), tractor manufacturer
 Jost Raba (1900–2000), violinist
 Karl Gustav Fellerer (1902–1984), a German musicologist
 Albrecht Obermaier (1912–2004), German naval officer, last deputy naval officer of the Bundesmarine
 Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022), Pope from 2005–2013
 Karl Huber (1928–2009), German painter and sculptor
  (born 1947), Roman Catholic priest and professor of philosophy
 Peter Neumair (born 1950), wrestler
  (born 1959), German diplomat
 Hans Pflügler (born 1960), footballer, former clubs: Bayern Munich - World champion 1990
 Alexander Kutschera (born 1968), footballer
 Stefan Diez (born 1971), German industrial designer
 Ferdinand Bader (born 1981), ski jumper
 Brigitte Wagner (born 1983), wrestler
 Maximilian Haas (born 1985), footballer
 Maximilian Wittek (born 1995), footballer
 Veit Arnpeck (), Bavarian chronicler
 Benignus von Safferling (1824–1899), General of the Bavarian Army and War Minister
Oskar von Niedermayer (1885–1948), officer and adventurer

Points of interest
 Freising Cathedral
 St. Georg Church
 Sichtungsgarten Weihenstephan, a notable horticultural garden
 Freising Town Hall
 Marienplatz

Sports
Freising has 4 sport clubs: SE Freising, SV Vötting-Weihenstephan, SC Freising, and SG Eichenfeld.

See also

Prince-Bishopric of Freising

References

External links

Bavarian state library
Pictures of Freising
Freising during the Third Reich

Freising (district)

Freising


Ramon Arevalo Obusan (June 16, 1938 – December 21, 2006) was a Filipino dancer, choreographer, stage designer and artistic director. Obusan is credited for his work in promoting Philippine traditional dance and cultural work. He is also an acclaimed archivist, researcher and documentary filmmaker who focused on Philippine culture. He also founded Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group in 1972. Among the awards Obusan received was the Patnubay ng Kalinangan award by the City of Manila in 1992, the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining award in 1993 and the prestigious National Artist of the Philippines for dance in May 2006.

Works
Among Obusan's notable works are the following:

Vamos a Belen! Series (1998-2004) Philippine Dances Tradition
Noon Po sa Amin, tableaux of Philippine History in song, drama and dance
Obra Maestra, a collection of Ramon Obusan's dance masterpieces
Unpublished Dances of the Philippines, Series I-IV
Water, Fire and Life, Philippine Dances and Music--A Celebration of Life
Saludo sa Sentenyal
Glimpses of ASEAN, Dances and Music of the ASEAN-Member Countries
MJ (Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group): Philippines Costumes in Dance

Death
Obusan died on December 21, 2006, due to cardio-pulmonary arrest at the Makati Medical Center. Up to the time of his death, the annual Christmas program Vamos A Blen at the Cultural Center of the Philippines was at his oversight. Obusan was also preparing for the cultural presentation to be made during the state dinner for the 2007 ASEAN Summit to be hosted by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

References

1938 births
2006 deaths
National Artists of the Philippines
Filipino male dancers
Filipino choreographers
Place of birth missing
People from Legazpi, Albay

Ramon Obusan


Gore, Quebec is a 2014 horror film directed by Jean Benoit Lauzon, and written by Rick Mele.

Plot
A voiceover announces that the following footage was recovered from the camera of Dave Reynolds, who, in 2011, had left Ontario to spend a weekend in his parents' cottage in Gore, Quebec with his brother Sean, and their friends Katie, Brandon, Stacey, Colin, Erin, and Mike.

When Sean and Dave reach the cottage, they find a note informing them that the alarm was tripped a week ago, but that there were no signs of vandalism or theft; they also spot someone watching them from the woods, though Sean dismisses the observer as a neighbor or a hiker. Most of the others arrive, and mention that Brandon, Mike, and Mike's blind date Amanda should be there by tomorrow afternoon. A few hours into the group's partying, Katie stumbles into the cottage bleeding, followed by a man who attacks the others, and turns Dave's camera off. The film switches to a traditional third-person narrative, and shows the intruder breaking Erin's neck with an oar.

The next day, Brandon, Mike, and Amanda drive to the cottage as a newscast announces that new DNA evidence has cast doubt on the guilt of Nick Gleason, who was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in 2003. Upon reaching the cottage, Brandon goes for a walk, and Mike and Amanda go out on the boat, and discover Katie's body in the lake. Mike and Amanda go in search of Brandon, who has stumbled onto a series of abandoned structures, some of which are covered in graffiti that appears to have been drawn with blood. The killer mutilates and hangs Brandon, and uses his blood to add to the graffiti.

Elsewhere, the wounded Dave awakens in the woods, surrounded by the corpses of Erin and Sean, and runs off in search of aid, finding Mike and Amanda. Dave tells the two what happened to the others, and as they head back to the cottage, the killer throws an axe into Dave's back. The killer chases Amanda and Mike to where Colin and Stacey's remains are, and a flashback shows how he framed Nick Gleason for the five murders he committed in 2003.

Amanda and Mike reach the cottage, as does the killer, who axes a visiting neighbor. When the killer enters, Amanda bludgeons him with an oar, and she and Mike make a run for it, reaching Brandon's car, which they crash. The film returns to the "found footage" format used at the beginning, with the killer using Dave's camera to film the posed bodies of his victims, and the captive Mike and Amanda.

Cast
 Myrthin Stagg as Amanda
 Blake Mawson as Mike
 Andy Malone as David Edward Reynolds
 Kate Elyse Forrest as Katie Farrell
 Luke Madigan as The Killer
 Jean Benoit Lauzon as Brandon
 Kurt Ogilvie as Sean Reynolds
 Peri Greig as Stacey
 Rick Mele as Colin
 Rachel Atherstone as Erin
 Rufus Crawford as Nick Gleason

Reception
While Fangoria's Chris Alexander said Gore, Quebec is "as impoverished as they come, with a plot recycling just about every kids-in-the-woods horror trope known to man" he admitted that the "cheap charm is tempered by top notch craft and real, indie energy". In a review for Toronto Film Scene, William Brownridge wrote, "For $7000, this is pure indie filmmaking at its best. There's some great moments of horror, a couple of incredibly dark jokes, and an unsettling villain. It's not perfect, but is still one of the better indie horror films out there, and should be seen not only for the success of the film, but the success of the filmmaker for bringing it all together".

References

External links

 Interview with Rick Mele at The Huffington Post.
 Interview with Rick Mele and Jean Benoit Lauzon at Radio Montreal

2014 direct-to-video films
2010s slasher films
Canadian slasher films
Canadian direct-to-video films
English-language Canadian films
2014 horror films
Films set in 2003
Films set in 2011
Found footage films
Films set in Quebec
Canadian serial killer films
Films set in forests
Films set in Ontario
Films shot in Ontario
Canadian nonlinear narrative films
Canadian independent films
Films set in country houses
Direct-to-video horror films
2014 directorial debut films
2014 films
2010s English-language films
2010s Canadian films

Gore, Quebec (film)


Giovanna d'Acquapendente was a 15th-century noblewoman from the Kingdom of Naples. She was known as 'la Colombina' and was the lover of Francesco I Sforza for the seventeen years between the death of his first wife Polissena Ruffo (1420) and his second marriage to Bianca Maria Visconti, daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti (1441). Visconti took Francesco's illegitimate children under her wing after the marriage.

Giovanna lived at the castle in Fermo with her children until Francesco was made lord of the March of Ancona. From then on she lived with her children in the castles at Abbiategrasso, Lodi, Melegnano, Pavia and Binasco, taking part in hunts, banquets and processions.

Issue
She had five confirmed illegitimate children with Francesco, of whom three reached adulthood:
Polissena, died in early infancy
Polissena Sforza (1428–1449), married Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta
Sforza (1430–1433)
Sforza Secondo Sforza (1433–1492 or 1493), count of Borgonuovo, married Antonia del Verme;
Drusiana Sforza  (30 September 1437 - 29 June 1474), married  Jacopo Piccinino.

Other sources  also attribute two more of Francesco's illegitimate children to her:
Tristano (1422/24-1477), married Beatrice d'Este, illegitimate daughter of Niccolò III d'Este
Isotta (1425-1485/87), married Andrea Matteo d'Acquaviva

References (in Italian)

House of Sforza
Mistresses of Italian royalty
15th-century Neapolitan people
15th-century Italian women

Giovanna d'Acquapendente


Westbeemster is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the former municipality of Beemster, and lies about 9 km northwest of Purmerend. Since 2022 it has been part of the municipality of Purmerend.

In 2001, the town of Westbeemster had 117 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town was 0.04 km², and contained 40 residences.  The larger statistical district "Westbeemster" has a population of around 360. By 2020, the town population had increased to 810 inhabitants.

References

Populated places in North Holland
Geography of Purmerend

Westbeemster


Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (born 7 July 1963) is an Indian film director, occasional actor and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Rang De Basanti (2006) and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). He is the writer and director of the films Aks (2001) and Delhi-6 (2009).

Early life
He was born on 7 July 1963 in Delhi. His father worked for the Claridges hotel in New Delhi. He was a part of the selection camp as a swimmer in the 1982 Asian Games held at New Delhi but was not selected in the final round. He studied at Air Force Bal Bharati School in Delhi.

Personal life and thoughts
In 1992, Mehra married film editor, P. S. Bharathi. The couple have a daughter, Bhairavi, and a son named Vedant.

Mehra criticised the vote-bank politics behind the introduction of the Mandal Commission by VP Singh, and said it inspired him to pen the script of Rang De Basanti.

Mehra has criticised India's education system as being too marks-driven, without any emphasis on actual achievement. Ridiculing the system, he said: "We'd started work on "96.7", till I realised it had become redundant, and I should work on a subject called 100%. It was about the education system. Perhaps I'll make it once I understand the whole system... perhaps my views are very lopsided right now. But the seeds have been sown,". He further added: "Imagine if Shakespeare goes to DU (Delhi University) and he's told, 'We can't take you based on stories you've written as your marksheet isn't that cool.' Or if a Leonardo, or Rabindranath Tagore goes there, and writes something called "Gitanjali" and they tell him, 'Mr Tagore, it's nice to write things such as 'Where the head is held high', but where is your marksheet?"

Career

Ad films
Mehra started off by selling vacuum cleaners for Eureka Forbes. In 1986, he established Flicks Motion Picture Company Private Limited, starting his career as an advertisement film maker. He directed scores of television commercials for Indian and international clients, including Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, American Express and BPL. He has also directed music videos such as Aby Baby starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Cinema
Mehra then gradually transited from being an ad-film maker to a feature film maker. In June 2001, his company released its first full-length feature film titled Aks, starring Amitabh Bachchan. Directed by Mehra, Aks was critically acclaimed for Bachchan's performance, but did not do well at the box office.

Mehra's second film, which he produced and directed, was Rang De Basanti. Released in 2006, it starred Aamir Khan and Soha Ali Khan. Mehra received much acclaim for the film, winning award for Best Director at the 2006 Filmfare Award and National Film Award as well as a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also officially chosen as India's entry to the Oscars.

Mehra's third release, again produced and directed by him, was Delhi-6 (2009), starring Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rehman, and Atul Kulkarni. The film got lukewarm critical response and its performance at the box office was also very lukewarm.

Mehra then produced (but did not direct) the film Teen They Bhai (2011). Directed by debutant Mrighdeep Lamba, it was a story about three brothers who keep fighting amongst themselves. The film neither won any critical acclaim nor did well at the box-office, and was an all-round disaster.

Mehra's next directorial venture was the biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) starring Farhan Akhtar as Milkha Singh, the legendary Indian sprinter. The film, which was produced by a consortium of several producers, was a major commercial and critical success, the second of Mehra's career.

Mehra's latest film is Mirzya (2016), a contemporary retelling of the tragic love story of Mirza & Sahiba. Set in Rajasthan, the film marked the debut of two newcomers, namely Harshvardhan Kapoor (son of actor Anil Kapoor) as Mirzya, and Saiyami Kher, granddaughter of veteran actress Usha Kiran, as Sahiba. Gulzar emerged from a long hiatus to write the screenplay of the film, and Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were entrusted with the music direction. Released on 7 October 2016, Mirzya proved to be an unmitigated disaster at the box office. Made on a budget of Rs.35 crore (350 million), its total collections over a two-week period amounted to less than Rs.10 crore (100 million). The film, which had been in the planning since at least 2009, and was made over a three-year period, ran for only one week in most theatres, losing nearly all its screens at the end of that period.

Mere Pyare Prime Minister (2019) was written by himself and Manoj Mairta. Though it received generally positive reviews, it flopped at the box-office.

Filmography

Onscreen appearances

Music videos

References

External links

1963 births
Living people
Film directors from Delhi
Hindi-language film directors
Punjabi people
Filmfare Awards winners
Screen Awards winners
Zee Cine Awards winners
Film producers from Delhi
Indian male screenwriters
Indian atheists
21st-century Indian film directors
Producers who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award
Directors who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award
Producers who won the Best Film on National Integration National Film Award
Directors who won the Best Film on National Integration National Film Award
International Indian Film Academy Awards winners

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra


Rosstroy (sometimes Rosstroi) was the governmental agency for construction and residential and utilities services in Russia. It was the successor of Gosstroy, a Soviet agency.

The full name of the authority is Federal agency of construction, housing and housing services of the Russian Federation.

The agency was abolished by D.A. Medvedev's Decree (Ukase) N 724 of 12 May 2008.

Since 2013, its responsibilities are in the hands of Ministry of Construction Industry, Housing and Utilities Sector.

External links
Rosstroy website

Defunct government agencies of Russia

Rosstroy


Melonie Haller (born ca. 1959) is an American actress known for her role as Angie Grabowski on the television comedy series Welcome Back, Kotter during its third season (1977–78). Before Kotter, Haller had small uncredited roles in The Love Machine and The French Connection, both 1971. Haller appeared in the March 1980 issue of Playboy magazine.

Crime victim

On April 12–13, 1980, Haller attended a dinner party at the Southampton, Long Island home of film producer Roy Radin. Haller had been introduced to Radin by photographer Ronald Sisman, and visited his home hoping to revive her stalled acting career. The day after the party, Haller was discovered on a commuter train to Manhattan, unconscious and bloodied. She claimed  to have been beaten and raped during the party at Radin's home, and further alleged that the crimes had been filmed by Radin and/or others in attendance. Radin claimed that Haller had consented to sexual games during the party.

The Haller case was widely covered by the New York City press. In 1981, businessman Robert McKeage pleaded guilty to assaulting Haller, and was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment.

References

External links

American film actresses
Living people
1950s births
Place of birth missing (living people)
American television actresses

Melonie Haller


was a Japanese entrepreneur, cabinet minister and diplomat before, during and after World War II.

Biography
Murata was a native of Tokyo and a graduated the Tokyo Higher Commerce School (now Hitotsubashi University) in 1900. There he was friends with Shinji Tazaki, a commerce scholar who was awarded Senior Third Rank, the First Order of Merit. After graduation, he went to work with the Osaka Shosen Kaisha (currently Mitsui O.S.K. Lines), and transformed the relatively small company into a major shipping company. He was sent to the company's branch in Shanghai in 1901 at the age of 24. and eventually rose to the position of company president from 1934-1940.  In 1937, in response to increasing demands from the Japanese military for resources from the Japanese merchant fleet, Murata organized an , of which he served as chairman, to reduce competition and coordinate efforts between the seven largest shipping companies and the government.

In 1939, Murata was appointed to the House of Peers in the Diet of Japan. Murata was representative of successful private entrepreneurs who were invited to join the Taisei Yokusankai political organization created by Fumimaro Konoe and his followers, and took active participation in debate on the state socialist controlled economy created under the National Mobilization Law.

Murata was invited to become both Minister of Communications and Minister of Railways under the 3rd and 4th Konoe administrations from 1940. In 1943, Murata became Japanese ambassador to the Second Philippine Republic, and special advisor to the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army of the Imperial Japanese Army. As ambassador he brought a team of scholars from Japan to make a research report with recommendations for the collaborationist government, told President José Laurel that the Philippines had the right to make more demands upon the Japanese government; however, his report and efforts were ignored by the Japanese military. He was recalled to Japan in 1945.

In 1946, along with all members of the wartime Japanese government, Murata was purged from public office and was taken into custody by the American occupation authorities and held at Sugamo Prison, where he was to be charged for war crimes. However, he was released without ever being formally charged.

In 1951, Murata became a special advisor to the Foreign Ministry. He also appointed special ambassador to the Philippines in 1954, and worked towards normalization of relations and settlement of war-time compensation claims.  In the post-war period, Murata was president of the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade (JAPIT), and a number of other charity associations. He also worked towards the restoration of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, visiting Beijing in 1952, and meeting with Zhou Enlai in 1955 in China and signing a trade agreement.

References

External links

Biography at National Diet Library

Notes

1878 births
1957 deaths
Japanese businesspeople
Members of the House of Peers (Japan)
Government ministers of Japan
Japanese people of World War II
Hitotsubashi University alumni
Businesspeople from Tokyo
Imperial Rule Assistance Association politicians
20th-century Japanese politicians
Japanese expatriates in the Philippines
Philippines in World War II
Ambassadors of Japan to the Philippines

Shōzō Murata