Alice Donnelly Madden (born December 9, 1958) is a politician from Colorado and member of the Democratic party. From 2001 to 2009, she served in the Colorado House of Representatives, representing the 10th district around Boulder. From 2005 to 2009, she served as Majority Leader.

Among the first bills Madden sponsored after being sworn in as a member of the Colorado General Assembly was a measure to require health insurance policies to include language indicating that the Colorado Insurance Commissioner has regulatory authority over such policies. During that 2001 session Madden also sponsored a bill that addressed the recycling of cathode-ray tube products. That bill was signed into law by the governor on June 6, 2001.

During the 2005 session of the legislature Madden sponsored a bill that would have amended the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender variance. Gov. Bill Owens vetoed the bill after it cleared both chambers of the legislature.

Between 2009 and 2011, Madden served as climate advisor and deputy chief of staff to Colorado governor Bill Ritter, and then, between 2013 and 2015, as principal deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental and external affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2016, she was a candidate for the University of Colorado Board of Regents, but she lost to Republican Heidi Ganahl in a close, 52%-48% race. Madden ran in the Democratic primary in the 2020 United States Senate election in Colorado, but she withdrew after former Governor John Hickenlooper joined the race.

References

External links
 Alice Madden at ballotpedia.org
 Alice Madden at votesmart.org

1958 births
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
Colorado lawyers
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Colorado House of Representatives
Politicians from Boulder, Colorado
University of Colorado Law School alumni
Women state legislators in Colorado
Candidates in the 2020 United States elections
20th-century American women lawyers

Alice Madden


Markku Tapani Toikka (born 5 April 1955 in Somero, Finland) is a Finnish stand-up comedian  and actor.

His acting roles include "Rahikainen" in Aki Kaurismäki's Crime and Punishment and "Pekka" in another Aki Kaurismäki film Calamari Union. In Calamari Union, Pekka appears for most of the film to gibber in English in an apparent schizophrenic delusion about his days as a soldier of fortune. This viewer interpretation is subverted towards the end of the movie, as a group of Latin American freedom fighters wreak their vengeance by shooting him like a dog.

As a stand-up comic, his shtick has largely been that of the balding middle aged man going through an identity crisis.

He lives in Helsinki with his wife, Ulla-Maija, and two children, son Toivo Toikka, who plays in band called "Security" and acts in amateur movies, and daughter named Tuuli.

References

1955 births
Living people
People from Somero
Finnish male actors

Markku Toikka


Verism was a realistic style in Roman art. It principally occurred in portraiture of politicians, whose imperfections of the face were exacerbated in order to highlight their old age and gravitas. The word comes from Latin verus (true).

Roman art
Verism first appeared as the artistic preference of the Roman people during the late Roman Republic (147–30 BC) and was often used for Republican portraits or for the head of "pseudo-athlete" sculptures. Verism, often described as "warts and all," shows the imperfections of the subject, such as warts, wrinkles, and furrows. It should be clearly noted that the term veristic in no way implies that these portraits are more "real." Rather, they too can be highly exaggerated or idealised, but within a different visual idiom, one which favours wrinkles, furrows, and signs of age as indicators of gravity and authority. Age during the Late Republic was very highly valued and was synonymous with power, since one of the only ways to hold power in Roman society was to be part of the Senate.It is debated among scholars and art historians whether these veristic portraits were truly blunt records of actual features or exaggerated features designed to make a statement about a person's personality.  It is widely held in academia that in the ancient world physiognomy revealed the character of a person; thus, the personality characteristics seen in veristic busts could be taken to express certain virtues very much admired during the Republic. However, scholars can never know for certain the accuracy of portrait renditions made long before their own era.

Verism throughout the Roman Empire
Verism first appeared during the Late Republic. The subjects of veristic portraiture were almost exclusively men, and these men were usually of advanced age, for generally it was elders who held power in the Republic. However, women are also seen in veristic portraiture, though to a lesser extent, and they too were almost always depicted as elderly. A key example of this is a marble head found at Palombara, Spain. Carved between 40 BC and 30 BC, during the decade of the civil war that followed Julius Caesar's assassination, the woman's face shows her advanced age. The artist carved the woman with sunken cheeks and pouches under her eyes to illustrate her age, much like male veristic portraiture of the time.

Verism, while the height of fashion during the Late Republican era, quickly fell into obscurity when Augustus and the rest of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (44 BC-68 AD) came to power. During this imperial reign, Greek Classical sculpture that featured "eternal youth" was favored over verism. It wasn't until after the suicide of Nero in 68 AD that verism was revived.

During the Year of the Four Emperors (68-69 AD) that resulted from Nero's suicide, when Galba, Vitellius, and Otho all grappled for the throne, verism made a resurgence, as seen in obverse portraits of Galba on bronze coins or marble busts of Vitellius. When Vespasian and his sons came to the throne the Flavian dynasty harnessed verism as a source of propaganda. Scholars believe that Vespasian used the shift from the Classical style to that of veristic portraiture to send a visual propagandistic message distinguishing him from the previous emperor. Vespasian's portraits showed him as an older, serious, and unpretentious man who was in every respect the anti-Nero: a career military officer concerned not for his own pleasure but for the welfare of the Roman people, the security of the Empire, and the solvency of the treasury. Like the Romans from the Late Republic, Vespasian used veristic busts to underscore traditional values as a way to indicate to the Roman people a connection to the Republic. With this reminder of the Late Republic, many Roman citizens were likely put at ease, knowing Vespasian was truly not like the previous emperor Nero, who represented everything the Republic abhorred. Yet after the Flavian period verism again faded into obscurity.

Verism in academia
Veristic portraits of the late Republic hold a special fascination for classical art historians. Romans had inherited the use of sculpted marble heads from the Greeks but they did not inherit the veristic style from them. To scholars verism is uniquely Roman. Scholars have put forth multiple theories as to what or who were the precursors to Republican portraiture. Yet what is important to note is that there is not one single accepted theory of the origin of verism. The question of veristic style remains to this day essentially open and unresolved. Each theory, while plausible in its own way, will require further research and adequate consideration among scholars.

Italic heads theory
Scholars believe the ancient Italic peoples had an inclination to veristic representation leading to influence on later Roman art. From a central Italian provenance in ancient times tribes from this area used Terracotta and Bronze to make a somewhat realistic portrayal of the human head. Yet the 'Italic' heads, as they are called, are not seriously considered to be a favorable or strong theory held among scholars as being forerunners to the Republican portraits. Scholars note that none of the realistic looking specimens can be shown to be earlier than the arrival of the new wave of Greek influence, rather than vice versa.

Etruscan cinerary urns theory

Scholars debate whether the heads of reclining figures on Etruscan cinerary urns are the forebears to Republican portraiture. It was traditional, and very common in Etruscan art, to provide a naturalistic look to figures. Many cinerary urns are realistic-looking, or at least have harshly-treated faces. Scholars debate whether the realistic-looking style of the figures' heads was a native creation which influenced the Romans, or whether the Romans influenced Etruria. The issues relating to chronological time casts doubts as to the accuracy of the theory.

Etruscan death mask theory

Some scholars consider the ancient Roman custom of making wax portraits, a.k.a. funerary or death masks of their ancestors as a convincing source for the veristic style. H. Drerup argues that death masks molded straight from the face were used early in Rome, and exerted a 'direct influence' on Republican portraits. Yet research has cast doubt on this theory. None of the funerary masks date from before the 1st century AD. Evidence suggests that the ancestral funerary masks merely kept pace with contemporary portraits in the round. Chronology seems to be an issue with supporting the theory.

Egyptian influence theory

Scholars debate whether Egyptian influence started Roman verism. A group of portraits in hard Egyptian stone from the Roman Ptolemaic Kingdom show a harsh realism that is similarly seen in Republican portraits. Scholars believe the Egyptian portraits began to be made before the Republican portraits and strongly influenced the Romans into establishing the veristic style when Egyptian priests and cults came into contact with Italy and Greece. Although this theory like the others has merit, lack of concrete dating of this certain Egyptian style makes scholars doubt the creditability. Suggested stylistic dates often fluctuate by two or three centuries leaving scholars with no solid evidence for when the style of harshly realistic Egyptian portraiture begun. Historians also note Romans did not have extensive military or commercial contact with Egypt before 30 BC, which was after the Late Republic when verism was being used on portraiture. Scholars conclude that it is unlikely that Egyptian portraits influenced the Republican style.

Hellenistic culture theory

Another theory presented to scholars in classical academia suggests that verism came about from Greek reactions to the conquering Romans. The theory goes that Romans in the Republic privately cherished the Hellenistic culture yet still held onto Republic values. This interest leaked similar portrayals seen in the more realistic Hellenistic royal portraits of the Pontic and Bactrian kings of the first half of the 2nd century BC, such as the slight turn of their heads and upward glance of the eyes, into Roman veristic busts. As Rome conquered Greece the empire saw an influx of talented Greek artists who were commissioned by the Romans to create their portraits that portrayed both the Hellenistic look and Republic values. Greek artists notoriously portrayed foreigners in an unfavorable light as a result of Greek attitudes of superiority. For the Romans the Greeks found them not only to be foreigners, yet to be increasingly pompous and unlikeable oppressors. Greek artists were little concerned to put the sitter's case favorably and portrayed Romans with an unsympathetic likeness. As a result, the Greek artist would maintain the Hellenistic 'pathos formula' – turn of the head and neck, eyes looking upward – but the Greek sculptor, rather than adapt the Roman's features to a Hellenistic ruler ideal, had concentrated on bringing out an air of caricature to the face leading to what scholars call veristic portraiture.

Some scholars refute this theory as being the cause of verism. Scholars doubt that Romans would not have been angered by the caricature like portrayal given to them by the Greeks. Many question why the Romans did not punish the Greeks for this obvious slight. Yet scholars who are in favor of this theory state that the Romans simply didn't care for this over realistic portrayal. The Republic values of that time favored the straightforward and honest Roman citizen who did not need the deceits of art, but instead should be portrayed as they were, without artifice, for this would best bring out their Republican values. As a result, some art historians, like R. R. R. Smith, believe verism originated from the negative Greek attitudes, if not somewhat unconscious attitudes, the artists felt towards these particular foreign clients, which was allowed to work itself into the Roman portraits because the artists had been freed from the usual obligation to flatter and idealized the sitter and instead allowed to sculpt without artifice.

References

External links

Artistic techniques
Ancient Roman art

Verism


Karen Tweed (born 1963) is a piano accordionist from London, England.

Biography

Tweed was born to an Irish mother and an English father. She began to play the piano accordion at the age of 11, studying from button and piano accordion virtuoso John Whelan, and went on to win the first of 5 all-Ireland championships in 1977 (on both piano accordion and melodica). In 1989, she resigned from her full-time Art and Design teaching post at Bexhill High School, Sussex, to become a professional musician working with The Poozies, The Kathryn Tickell Band and Sally Barker. Since then she has played around the world, giving concerts in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Egypt, Scandinavia, Lesotho, Turkey, Japan, the United States and Canada.

, she is featured on over 30 CDs, and is also in demand for her work as an arranger, composer and tutor, being main piano accordion tutor at Folkworks youth courses for the past several years, as well as organising her own Adventures in Music courses along with Roger Wilson. She is the main piano accordion tutor at the World Music Centre, University of Limerick, Ireland and a regular tutor at the BMus Degree in folk and traditional music at Newcastle University and The Sage Gateshead.

She left The Poozies and Swåp in 2007 in order to work on other projects. In 2012, she released a solo five-track album entitled Essentially Invisible to the Eye.

Selected discography
The Palm Of Your Hand - Roger Wilson (1987)
Beating The Drum - Sally Barker & The Rhythm  (1992)
Signs - The Kathryn Tickell Band (1993)
Chantoozies - The Poozies (1993)
Drops Of Springwater (1994)
The Silver Spire (1994)
Irish Choice Tune Book (1994)
Compilation: Across The Water (1994)
Courage, Love and Grace - Pete Morton (1995)
Dansoozies - The Poozies (1995)
Shhh - Ian Carr & Karen Tweed (1995)
Fyace - Ian Carr & Karen Tweed (1997)
SWÅP - Swåp (1997)
New Directions In The Old - Roy Bailey (1997)
Come Raise Your Head - The Poozies (1998)
Sic - Swåp (1999)
Half As Happy As We - The Two Duos Quartet (1999)
Infinite Blue - The Poozies (2000)
Live på Halkaerkro: Compilation of live tracks - The Poozies, Swåp, Kathryn Tickell Band (2000)
Coda - Roy Bailey (2000)
Raise your head: A Retrospective - The Poozies (2001)
May Monday - Karen Tweed & Timo Alakotila (2001)
Mosquito Hunter - Swåp (2002)
One Roof Under - Andy Cutting & Karen Tweed (2002)
Faerd - Faerd (2003)
Changed Days Same Roots - The Poozies (2003)
Each Step on the Way - Tony Hilliard (2005)
Du Da - Swåp (2005)
Gastbud - Morten Alfred Hoirup and Harald Haaugaard (2005)
Essentially Invisible to the Eye - Karen Tweed (produced by Bruce Molsky) (2012)
Island Girls - Karen Tweed and Margaret Robertson (6 December 2021)

References

External links
Official website
Swåp Official
Poozies Official
Biography

English folk musicians
1963 births
Living people
English accordionists
The Poozies members
21st-century accordionists

Karen Tweed


Salvatore Vincent "Bill" Bonanno (November 5, 1932 – January 1, 2008) was an American mobster who served as consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, and son of crime boss Joseph Bonanno. Later in life, he became a writer and produced films for television about his family.

Early life

Bonanno was the first child of Joseph and Fay (née Labruzzo) Bonanno, born on November 5, 1932, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. His father had come from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Italy, along with his mother Catherine and father Salvatore. His father became boss of the Bonanno crime family a year before he was born. In 1938, after his father purchased property in Hempstead, Long Island, he next attended school there after the family relocated. At the age of 10, Bonanno developed a severe mastoid ear infection. In order to aid in treating this ailment, his parents enrolled him in a Catholic boarding school in the dry climate of Tucson, Arizona. Bonanno attended Tucson High. Between 1950 and 1952, Bonanno attended the University of Arizona, but never graduated.

On August 18, 1956, Bonanno married Rosalie Marie Profaci, daughter of Salvatore Lawrence Profaci Sr., brother of Profaci crime family boss Joseph Profaci. Designed to cement an alliance between the two crime families, the sumptuous wedding had 3,000 guests. DeCavalcante crime family boss Sam DeCavalcante later remarked on Bonanno's poor treatment of Rosalie: "It's a shame; the girl wanted to commit suicide because of the way he treated her". Bonanno and Rosalie eventually had four children; Charles, Joseph, Salvatore, and Felippa ("Rebecca"); Charles was adopted by Bonanno and his wife in 1958.

Involvement with organized crime begins
Shortly after leaving university, Bonanno was inducted as a "made man" into the Bonanno family, and was eventually appointed as consigliere by his father. However, many family members felt that Bonanno lacked experience and was too intellectual to lead effectively. These tensions only worsened when Bonanno advised his father against involving the family in the illegal narcotics trade.

In 1963, his father conspired with Profaci family boss Joseph Magliocco to assassinate their three bitter rivals on the Mafia Commission: Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino, Lucchese crime family boss Gaetano Lucchese, and Buffalo crime family boss and cousin, Stefano Magaddino. However, Profaci capo Joseph Colombo betrayed Joseph to the Commission, which then summoned Joseph to explain. In October 1964, Joseph was kidnapped off the streets of New York.

Banana War
During his father's two-year absence, Bonanno mobster Gaspar DiGregorio took advantage of family discontent over Bonanno's role to claim family leadership. The Mafia Commission named DiGregorio as Bonanno family boss, and the DiGregorio revolt led to four years of strife in the Bonanno family, labeled by the media as the "Banana War". This led to a divide in the family between loyalists to Bonanno and loyalists to DiGregorio.

In early 1966, DiGregorio allegedly contacted Bonanno about having a peace meeting. Bonanno agreed and suggested his grand-uncle's house on Troutman Street in Brooklyn as a meeting site. On January 28, 1966, as Bonanno and his loyalists approached the house, they were met with gunfire; no one was wounded during this confrontation.

In 1968, DiGregorio was wounded by machine gun fire and later suffered a heart attack. The Commission eventually became dissatisfied with DiGregorio's efforts at quelling the family rebellion, and eventually dropped DiGregorio and swung their support to Paul Sciacca. In 1968, after a heart attack, his father ended the family warfare by agreeing to retire as boss and move to Arizona. As part of this peace agreement, Bonanno also resigned as consigliere and moved out of New York with his father. In later years, Bonanno made the following observation about this period:

I always say I had only one goal in the '60s—actually two goals. When I got up in the morning, my goal was to live to sunset. And when sunset came, my second goal was to live to sunrise.

Later career in California and Arizona

On March 9, 1970, Bonanno was convicted of 52 counts of mail fraud, and sentenced to four years in prison. On December 18, 1971, Bonanno and his brother Joe Jr. were convicted of extortion and conspiracy. In the late 1970s, Bonanno and his brother, Joe Jr., brought high heat in Northern California after getting involved with Lou Peters, a Cadillac-Oldsmobile dealer, in the San Jose, Lodi and Stockton, California areas. The Bonannos were looking to buy him out for $2 million. Peters, however, became an undercover agent for the FBI.

On January 23, 1981, Bonanno was indicted in Oakland, California on 21 counts of grand theft for defrauding senior citizens in California for home improvements that were never completed. After the trial was postponed nine times since 1981, Bonanno was convicted in November 1985, of conspiracy and theft, and sentenced to four years in prison on March 27, 1986.

Author and producer
Bonanno worked occasionally as a television producer (primarily on mini-series and films related to his family's criminal past), and collaborated with author Gay Talese on the 1971 book Honor Thy Father, a history of the Bonanno crime family. He also co-wrote the novel The Good Guys (2005) with former undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone and scriptwriter David Fisher. He later co-wrote his final book The Last Testament of Bill Bonanno: The Final Secrets of a Life in the Mafia (2011) with Gary B. Abromovitz.

Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story
Bonanno's autobiography, Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story, was published by St. Martin's Press in 1999.

In his memoir, Bonanno theorized that Cuban exiles and the Cosa Nostra murdered President John F. Kennedy. He stated that several Cosa Nostra families shared close ties with members of the Cuban exile movement dating back to the mob casinos in Havana before the Cuban Revolution. According to Bonanno, both the Cubans and the Cosa Nostra hated Kennedy enough to kill him. Many exiled Cubans blamed Kennedy for the failure of 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. The Cosa Nostra felt betrayed when Kennedy's brother and Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, opened a strong legal assault on the mob, despite the mob's alleged support for Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. Bonanno said that he realized the degree of Cosa Nostra involvement in the assassination when he witnessed on television Jack Ruby, an associate of Chicago Outfit mobster Sam Giancana, killing Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald while in police custody. Bonanno also claimed in the book that he had discussed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy with mobster John Roselli and implicated him as the primary hitman in a conspiracy instigated by the mob. According to Bonanno, Roselli fired at Kennedy from a storm drain on Elm Street.

George Anastasia wrote that the book "is not a mob tell-all, but rather a treatise on the demise of the American Mafia told from the perspective of someone ... who witnessed and experienced it firsthand." According to Anastasia, Bonanno "writes longingly of a better time when honor and loyalty, not guns and money, were the cornerstones of the Mafia. It is a fascinating description. But like so much else in Bound by Honor, it is virtually unverifiable." Publishers Weekly said in its review that the book is "big on bluster and short on substance" and that the author's "only apparent goal is to exalt the world of his father". Discussing the allegation that Roselli fired from a storm drain in a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy, PW said: "overblown claims are just part of a bloviating style windy with references to 'our tradition' and 'our world,' phrases that would have struck a more resonant chord in the mid-70s, when Mario Puzo's books and Francis Ford Coppola's movies introduced the country to the peculiar mix of honor and violence that Bonanno crudely celebrates." Emil Franzi of the Tucson Weekly wrote: "This slice of high-level Mafia existence definitely belongs on the shelves of two different libraries -- collections on organized crime and those on the Kennedy assassination. Besides its obvious historical relevance, it's a fun read loaded with Tucson references."

Bonanno: A Godfather's Story
In 1999, Bonanno was an executive producer for Showtime's two-part television miniseries, Bonanno: A Godfather's Story. The production was based on Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story and his father's 1983 autobiography A Man of Honor.

Death
Bonanno died of a heart attack on the morning of January 1, 2008. He was interred in Holy Hope Cemetery in Tucson.

In popular culture
Bonanno was the main character in the 1971 non-fiction book Honor Thy Father. In the television miniseries based on the book, Bonanno was portrayed by Joseph Bologna.  Tony Nardi depicted the adult Joseph Bonanno in Bonanno: A Godfather's Story; Eric Roberts portrayed him in the 1993 made-for-TV film, "Love, Honor & Obey: The Last Mafia Marriage".

References

External links

1932 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American criminals
21st-century American criminals
American gangsters of Sicilian descent
People from Hempstead (village), New York
Bonanno crime family
Organized crime memoirists
Consiglieri
American writers of Italian descent
20th-century American memoirists
Non-fiction writers about organized crime in the United States
American male non-fiction writers
Television producers from New York (state)

Salvatore Bonanno


Die Rote Meile is a German television drama that aired on Sat.1 and follows the lives of strippers, prostitutes and their pimps in the district of St. Pauli in Hamburg. The first season premiered on 1 October 1999 and consisted 26 episodes. The show was a rival to the RTL drama Hinter Gittern - Der Frauenknast; both airing in the same time-slot - Monday nights at 9:15 pm. A second season was ordered by the network in the spring of 2000 and started airing on Thursday nights at 8:15 pm on 14 December 2000. The show was canceled in the beginning of 2001, airing its last episode on 8 March 2001.

Synopsis
Johnny Roland owns the strip club "Candy Club" in the district of St. Pauli in Hamburg. He falls in love with his neighbor Annette Verhoven, while forming a rivalry with her brother Andreas, who wants to take over Johnny's club. Annette has to deal with the hostility of Johnny's daughter Sascha and has to prove herself to fit into Johnny's world of naked skin. Crime lord Wilhelm Kastor becomes Johnny's personal enemy and tries to destroy everything Johnny has.

Cast
 Leon Boden as Johnny Roland, owner of the "Candy Club" and eventually the boyfriend of Annette Verhoven. He's killed in the second season's premiere by a hitman working for Wilhelm Kastor as he jumps in front of Annette to protect her from getting killed.
 Ann-Cathrin Sudhoff as Annette Verhoven, becomes Johnny's girlfriend and after his death takes over his business. She's also the sister of Andreas Verhoven, who tries to get the "Candy Club" for himself.
 Fabian Harloff as Andreas Verhoven, brother of Annette and rival to Johnny Roland as he tries to take over the "Candy Club".
 Silvana Bayer as Sascha Roland, daughter of Johnny, who at first tries to break up her father's relationship with Annette, but eventually becomes her ally after Johnny's killed.
 Yasmina Filali as Yvonne, one of the strippers of the "Candy Club" and a good friend of Johnny. After his death, she and Annette take over his business.
 Cornelia Corba as Roxy, another member of the "Candy Club".
 Markus Majowski as Ulrich, gay man and heart and soul of the "Candy Club" as he controls everything behind the scenes of the strip club.
 Sylvia Leifheit as Luna, who at first works for Johnny but later betrays him and becomes the mistress of Wilhelm Kastor.
 Renate Geißler as Marita Roland, mother of Johnny who helps Annette and Yvonne after Johnny's death.
 Dirk Galuba as Wilhelm Kastor, crime lord and enemy of Johnny Roland. Sets up a hitman to kill Johnny's girlfriend Annette, who instead kills Johnny as he jumps in front of Annette to protect her.

Production
Even though the show is set in Hamburg, it was purely filmed in Munich. The network created the show as a rival to RTL's successful Hinter Gittern - Der Frauenknast. Die Rote Meile never matched the show in ratings, but was a success for the network itself. This led to the network's decision to move the show from Monday to Thursday nights for its second season. The move proved unpopular as the ratings declined. As one of the reasons, next to the move, was said that the death of main character Johnny Roland took the show's heart and the stories became meaningless. The production of the show ended in fall of 2000. About six months later the show was canceled.

See also
List of German television series

External links

German drama television series
Television shows set in Hamburg
1999 German television series debuts
2001 German television series endings
German-language television shows
Sat.1 original programming

Die Rote Meile


A lictor (possibly from , "to bind") was a Roman civil servant who was an attendant and bodyguard to a magistrate who held imperium. Lictors are documented since the Roman Kingdom, and may have originated with the Etruscans.

Origin

The lictors were instituted by Rome's first king, Romulus, who appointed twelve lictors to attend him. Livy refers to two competing traditions for the reason that Romulus chose that number of lictors. The first version is that twelve was the number of birds that appeared in the augury, which had portended the kingdom to Romulus. The second version, favoured by Livy, is that the number of lictors was borrowed from the Etruscan kings, who had one lictor appointed from each of their twelve states.

Eligibility
Originally, lictors were chosen from the plebeians, but through most of Roman history, they seemed to have been freedmen. Centurions from the legions were also automatically eligible to become lictors on retirement from the army. They were, however, definitely Roman citizens, since they wore togas inside Rome. A lictor had to be a strongly built man, capable of physical work. Lictors were exempted from military service, received a fixed salary (of 600 sesterces, in the beginning of the Empire), and were organized in a corporation. Usually, they were personally chosen by the magistrate they were supposed to serve, but it is also possible that they were drawn by lots.

Lictors were associated with comitia curiata, as in its later form, the thirty curiae were represented by a single lictor each.

Tasks

The lictor's main task was to attend as bodyguards to magistrates who held imperium. They carried rods decorated with fasces and, outside the pomerium, with axes that symbolized the power to carry out capital punishment. Dictatorial lictors had axes even within the pomerium. They followed the magistrate wherever he went, including the Forum, his house, temples, and the baths. Lictors were organized in an ordered line before him, with the primus lictor (the principal lictor) directly in front of him, waiting for orders. If there was a crowd, the lictors opened the way and kept their master safe, pushing all aside except for Roman matrons, who were accorded special honor. They also had to stand beside the magistrate whenever he addressed the crowd. Magistrates could only dispense with their lictors if they were visiting a free city or addressing a higher status magistrate. Lictors also had legal and penal duties; they could, at their master's command, arrest Roman citizens and punish them. A Vestal Virgin was accorded a lictor when her presence was required at a public ceremony.

The degree of magistrate's imperium was symbolised by the number of lictors escorting him:

Dictator: 24 lictors outside the pomerium, 12 inside. The latter rule was ignored beginning with the dictatorship of Sulla
Emperor: originally 12 lictors, after Domitian 24 lictors
Rex and Consul: 12 lictors
Proconsul: 11 lictors
Magister equitum: 6 lictors
Praetor: 6 lictors, 2 within the pomerium
Propraetor and Legatus: 5 lictors
Curule aediles: 2 lictors
Quaestor: 0 lictors in the city of Rome, but quaestors were permitted to have fasces in the provinces.
Judge: 1 lictor

Lictors assigned to magistrates were organized into a corporation composed of several decuries; during the late Republic, the decuries sometimes lent lictors to private citizens holding ludi publici (public games) and traveling senators. However, these lictors probably did not carry fasces.

Lictor curiatus

The lictor curiatus (plural lictores curiati) was a special kind of lictor who did not carry rods or fasces and whose main tasks were religious. There were approximately thirty of them, serving at the command of the pontifex maximus, the high priest of Rome. They were present at sacrifices where they carried or guided sacrificial animals to the altars. Vestal Virgins, flamines (priests), and other high-ranking priests were entitled to be escorted and protected by lictores curiati. In the Empire, women of the imperial family were usually followed by two of this kind of lictor. The lictores curiati were also responsible to summon the Comitia Curiata (the Public Assembly) and to maintain order during its procedures.

See also
 Cursus honorum
 Praetorian Guard

References
Citations

Sources

External links

Ancient Roman titles
Articles needing expert attention from March 2012

Lictor


Vilém Tauský CBE (20 July 1910, Přerov, Moravia – 16 March 2004, London) was a Czech conductor and composer who, from the advent of the Second World War, lived and worked in the UK, one of a significant group of émigré composers and musicians who settled there.

Life
Vilém Tauský was from a  musical family: his Viennese mother had sung Mozart at the Vienna State Opera under Gustav Mahler, and her cousin was the operetta composer Leo Fall.

Tauský studied with Leoš Janáček and later became a repetiteur at the Brno Opera.  His other teachers included Vilém Petrzelka (composition) and Zdeněk Chalabala (conducting).  At the age  of nineteen he conducted Puccini's Turandot in Brno on short notice in place of Chalabala, who had become ill.  Tauský was of Jewish ancestry, and the rise of the Nazis forced him to move to France.  He later volunteered for service with the Free Czech Army.  He eventually reached the UK in 1940 after the fall of France, arriving with other soldiers on a Yugoslav coal ship to Newport, Monmouthshire.

He served musical functions in the Czechoslovak Army in exile, as a military band conductor in France.  Bohuslav Martinů composed his Field Mass for Tauský and his regimental band, but the fall of France prevented them from giving the premiere.  He continued as a band and choir leader in the UK.

During the Coventry Blitz on the night of 14 November 1940, Tausky was based ten miles away in Leamington Spa with the Czech Free Army. His unit was mobilized to search the ruins for survivors. He wrote his Coventry Meditation for strings to commemorate the civilian casualties and the destruction of the  Cathedral. The work was first performed by the Menges Quartet on 17 March 1942 at a Myra Hess National Gallery Concert in London. The piece was revived in November 2021 by the Jubilee Quartet in Leamington. During the conflict he was awarded a Czech Military Cross, followed by the Czech Order of Merit at the end of the war.

Opera
From 1945 to 1949, Tauský was musical director of the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and following several years conducting regional BBC orchestras in Belfast, Glasgow and Manchester he was appointed music director of Welsh National Opera (1951-1956). He made his Covent Garden début with The Queen of Spades in January, 1951. On 26 December 1953 he became possibly the only conductor to conduct two operas on the same day, with a performance of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel in the afternoon at Sadler's Wells and Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore at Covent Garden in the evening. He was artistic director of the Phoenix Opera touring company from 1966 to 1975.

Tauský introduced many Czech operas to the UK, including Smetana's The Kiss in 1948,  Janáček's Osud in 1972 and Smetana's The Brandenburgers in Bohemia in 1994. In 1955 he also conducted all six symphonies by his friend Martinu in London, marking the composer's 65th birthday. He also conducted many premieres of UK operas including A Dinner Engagement and Nelson (Lennox Berkeley, both 1954), The Violins Of St Jacques (Malcolm Williamson, 1966) and a studio recording of Miss Julie (William Alwyn, 1977). In total Tauský was responsible for twenty-six British opera and operetta premières.

Light music
Tauský was the first foreign conductor to conduct the Band of the Coldstream Guards in 100 years and was an instructor/adjudicator at Kneller Hall for some years, as well as an adjudicator at the annual Brass Band competitions. He was principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra from 1956 to 1966. He regularly appeared with this orchestra on the BBC Light Programme's long-running weekly show Friday Night is Music Night. Between 1966 and 1992, he was the director of opera and head of the conducting course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. As a composer, his most popular success was the Harmonica Concertino he wrote for Tommy Reilly in 1973, which was also used for a ballet in New York.

Andrew Lamb points out that, following his ten years with the BBC Concert Orchestra during which he raised its profile and range considerably, he was forever after branded as a light music specialist. He "never regained the profile he had previously enjoyed in more serious music, for which he was eminently qualified".

In 1979, Tauský published  his memoirs under the title Vilém Tauský Tells his Story, which his wife Peggy Mallett co-authored.  That same year, he was honoured as a Freeman of the City of London.  In 1981, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).  He and Mallett published the book Leoš Janáček: Leaves from his Life in 1982. Tauský and Mallett were married from 1948 until her death in 1982. He was the stepfather of her two sons, who both died before her. He is survived by his companion of his later years, Brenda Rayson.

Selected works
 1925 - Cello Sonata No 1
 1930 - Symfonieta for orchestra
 1930 - Three Songs for soprano & piano
 1932-8 - Three operettas (for Brno Opera House): Marcella, Keep Smiling, Little Girl in Blue
 1934 - Christopher Columbus, play with music
 1935 -The Lost World, music for documentary film
 1939 - Variations for Piano on an Original Theme
 1940 - Two Military Marches: The Czechs are Marching, Call to Arms
 1941 - Coventry: A Meditation for String Quartet
 1942 - Variations on a Welsh Tune, piano
 1943 - Interim Balance, music for documentary film
 1945 - Rhapsody on Tunes by Smetana for piano & orchestra
 1950 - Concert Overture for Brass Band
 1957 - Fantasia da Burlesca for violin & orchestra
 1964 - Cello Sonata No 2
 1965 - Essay for solo viola
 1965 - String Quartet
 1973 - Concertino for Harmonica, Strings, Harp & Percussion (written for Tommy Reilly)
 1975 - Ballade for cello and piano
 1978 - From Our Village, three movement suite for orchestra
 1980 - Suite for Violin & Piano
 1998 - Serenade for Strings

See also
 List of émigré composers in Britain

References

External links
 BBC Concert Orchestra history page
 Coventry: A Meditation for String Quartet, performed by Ensemble Modern
 Vilem Tausky by Derek Allen (1952), National Portrait Gallery

1910 births
2004 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Czech classical composers
Czech male classical composers
Czech conductors (music)
Male conductors (music)
Musicians from Přerov
Pupils of Leoš Janáček
20th-century conductors (music)
20th-century Czech male musicians
Czechoslovak emigrants to the United Kingdom
BBC Orchestras

Vilém Tauský


The Palazzo Gabrielli-Borromeo is a palazzo in Rome, Italy. It is located in Via del Seminario, between piazza di Sant'Ignazio and the Pantheon in the ancient Campus Martius and in the second sector of the present-day Colonna rione, not far from Via del Corso.

The first palazzo on the site was built by the Gabrielli family, counts of Gubbio, whilst its second name derives from its rebuilding and redecoration by cardinal Vitaliano Borromeo for use by the Jesuits. In 1605 the Jesuits paid 20,000 Scudos for the palace to use it as a Seminary. The Jesuit order was suppressed during the papacy of Clement XIV. In 1774 the Monte di Pietà of Rome purchased the palace for 32,000 scudi. In 1796 it was given to the fabbrica di San Pietro, however by 1824, it was returned to the Jesuit order.

During the 19th century, the palace ownership changed hands a number of times. Since 1853, it has been attached to Roman Catholic colleges in the city, since 1930 it has been the site of the Jesuit postgraduate institution for Jesuits, the Collegio Bellarmino. The church of San Macuto is accessed from the courtyard.

See also
 List of Jesuit sites

Bibliography
 Guide rionali di Roma. Rione III- Colonna. Parte II., a cura di Carlo Pietrangeli, Fratelli Palombi Editori, Roma, 1982.
L'inaugurazione della nuova sede, Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Roma, 1930.
L'Università Gregoriana del Collegio romano nel primo secolo dalla restituzione. Tipografia Cuggiani, Roma.
Derived from Italian Wikipedia entry.

Gabrielli-Borromeo
Society of Jesus
Rome R. III Colonna

Palazzo Gabrielli-Borromeo


William Lowell Putnam II (November 22, 1861 – June 1924) (more commonly known as William Putnam Sr.) was an American lawyer and banker.

Putnam was the son of George and Harriet (Lowell) Putnam. He graduated from Harvard in 1882, and proceeded to make a professional name for himself in legal and financial circles. Even before his marriage to Percival Lowell's sister, Elizabeth, in 1888, Putnam (who was also Percival's half third cousin) handled a large part of the Lowell family's finances, thus leaving Augustus Lowell and Percival free to pursue their interests in science and culture.  Also a successful lawyer, Putnam eventually served as the primary lawyer for both Percival Lowell and the Lowell Observatory as well as working as a partner at the well-regarded law firm of Putnam, Putnam & Bell.

Putnam's role in Lowell Observatory's history begins when Percival Lowell succumbed to severe nervous exhaustion in 1897. At this time, Putnam stepped in as the Observatory's trustee with A.E. Douglass serving as Director. Since Putnam's understanding of astronomy was minimal, he left many of the decisions about the operation of the Observatory to Douglass and contented himself with handling the Observatory's finances. As temporary trustee, he felt that it was not his place to make any dramatic changes in the Observatory's staff or location. Thus, an Observatory expedition and possibly a permanent move to South America was postponed, effectively establishing the Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Despite his conviction that he should not make any major changes to the Observatory, Putnam did become embroiled in the controversy surrounding T. J. J. See. See was employed at Lowell Observatory at that time, but was both an extremely unpopular man and regarded as a bad scientist. Three Observatory employees had already resigned due to See's poor treatment of them, and Douglass began working to remove See from the Observatory staff.  Putnam, however, had to make the final decision on the matter and he was the one to tell See that he had been dismissed.

When Lowell returned to work in 1901, Putnam resumed his role as the financial and legal power behind the Observatory. He also continued his other business in Boston and New York City.

When Lowell died in 1916, Putnam was placed in charge of investing Lowell's estate for the Observatory. Putnam died in June 1923, aged around 61, during Constance Lowell's attempt to contest Percival's will. Constance Lowell later asked William's son, Augustus, to become trustee. After Gus's death, William's second son, Roger, became trustee.

In 1927, Elizabeth Lowell Putnam established the William Lowell Putnam Intercollegiate Memorial Fund in order to begin a college-level mathematics competition, the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. This contest, which continues to this day, began in 1935 under the direction of the Mathematical Association of America.

Putnam's grandson by the same name, William Lowell Putnam, born 1924, was a geologist, businessman, and climber, and served as the sole trustee of Lowell observatory from 1987-2013.

Putnam's great-great-grandson, Jacob Daniel Auchincloss, served as a captain in the United States Marines from 2010-2015 and as a city councilman in Newton, Massachusetts from 2015-2020, and has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district since 2021.

Notes

References
Putnam, William Lowell. A Yankee Image: The Life and Times of Roger Lowell Putnam. Phoenix, Ariz.: Lowell Observatory/Phoenix Publishing, 1991.

1861 births
1923 deaths
American bankers
Harvard University alumni
Lawyers from Boston
19th-century American lawyers

William Lowell Putnam


Saint Sebastian (in Latin: Sebastianus; Narbo, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire c. AD 255 – Rome, Italia, Roman Empire c. AD 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this did not kill him. He was, according to tradition, rescued and healed by Saint Irene of Rome, which became a popular subject in 17th-century painting. In all versions of the story, shortly after his recovery he went to Diocletian to warn him about his sins, and as a result was clubbed to death. He is venerated in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

The oldest record of the details of Sebastian's martyrdom is found in the Chronograph of 354, which mentions him as a martyr, venerated on January 20. He is also mentioned in a sermon on Psalm 118 by 4th-century bishop Ambrose of Milan (Saint Ambrose): in his sermon, Ambrose stated that Sebastian came from Milan and that he was already venerated there at that time. The full account of his martyrdom comes from the Passio Sancti Sebastiani, a 5th-century text written by an anonymous author, possibily Arnobius the Younger.

Saint Sebastian is a popular male saint, especially today among athletes. In medieval times, he was regarded as a saint with a special ability to intercede to protect from plague, and devotion to him greatly increased when plague was active.

මූලාශ්‍ර

සෙබස්තියන් මුනිතුමන්


David Chubinashvili (; September 26, 1814 – June 5, 1891), otherwise known as David Yesseevich Chubinov (or Tchoubinoff, ) by the Russified form of his name, was a Georgian lexicographer, linguist, and scholar of old Georgian literature.

Career
Having graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1839, he later lectured there on Georgian language, rising to the rank of professor. He helped establish the Department of Georgian Language and Literature and chaired it from 1855 to 1871. He was elected to the Imperial Geographic and Imperial Archaeological Societies and participated in the Tbilisi-based Society for the Spreading of Literacy Among Georgians (SSLG).

He wrote literary criticism for the Russian and Georgian press, authored several works on Georgian language and literature, and published Shota Rustaveli and other classics of old Georgian literature. Chubinov was twice awarded the Demidov Prize for compiling Georgian-Russian-French and Russian-Georgian dictionaries in 1840 and 1846 respectively. He bequeathed his rich collection of Georgian manuscripts to the SSLG.

Personal life
Chubinov was born on September 26, 1814. He died on June 5, 1891, at the age of 76.

See also

 List of lexicographers

References

 Давид Йессеевич Чубинов, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary.

1814 births
1891 deaths
Linguists from Georgia (country)
Lexicographers from Georgia (country)
Saint Petersburg State University alumni
Demidov Prize laureates
Kartvelian studies scholars
19th-century lexicographers

David Chubinashvili


Semex, full name Sharp Electrónica Mexico S.A. de C.V., is the semi-independent Mexican division of Japanese Sharp electronics corporation. It is responsible for the manufacture of all Sharp printed circuitboards, LED, LCD and plasma panels, modules and televisions in North and South America and is the sole representative and distributor of Sharp products in Mexico.

The venture was formed in 1997 when a group of Mexican investors, the Mexican federal government and Sharp Electronics Japan signed a mutual agreement to open a factory in Baja California for the manufacture of Sharp CRT televisions and Sharp electronics components which would also begin to manufacture LCD televisions in 2001. By 1998 the factory had begun manufacturing home appliances and printed circuit boards with Kyoshas Mexican branch as well. In 2006 Sharp and Semex introduced a second plant in Baja California for the production of LCD panels, modules and televisions to address an increasing demand for flatscreen televisions in the US and Mexican markets. Currently, Sharp builds its full range of 19, 26, 32, 40, 42, 46, 52, 60, 70 and 80 inch LCD and LED televisions including 3D models, printed circuitboards, white goods, LCD & LED panels and LCD modules at Semex's facilities. The average weekly salary for a worker is US$150, which is 20% above average industrial salary in Mexico.

References

Electronics companies of Mexico
Manufacturing companies based in Mexico City
Sharp Corporation divisions and subsidiaries
1997 establishments in Mexico

Semex


Midget wrestling is professional wrestling involving people of exceptionally short stature. Its heyday was in the 1950s and 1960s, when wrestlers such as Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, toured North America, and Sky Low Low was the first holder of the National Wrestling Alliance's World Midget Championship. In the following couple of decades, more wrestlers became prominent in North America, including foreign wrestlers like Japan's Little Tokyo.

The attraction was very popular in wrestling promotions from the 1950s into the 1970s. Many cards included midget wrestlers and included tag team and women's midget wrestling. Television shows for promotions in various cities frequently included midget matches.

Midget wrestling began to wane after WWF's WrestleMania III. Afterward, promotions continued to feature midget divisions, but its popularity was slowly declining. By the mid-1990s, midget wrestlers mostly appeared in comical matches and segments, rather than serious competitive wrestling-type matches. In Mexico, this was not the case, as wrestler Mascarita Sagrada continued to compete in prominent Mexican promotions such as AAA and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. By the mid-2000s in the United States, midget divisions once again were part of major wrestling promotions, and wrestlers such as WWE's Hornswoggle were competing for and winning championships made for average-size male wrestlers.

The Little People of America (LPA) have criticized midget wrestling as reinforcing stereotypes that little people are no more than entertainment, and the use of the word "midget", stating that it is as offensive as a slur. Opinions on the term from performers competing in the events is mixed; some consider the term merely descriptive of their small size, and others considering it outdated or offensive.

United States and Canada

Early history
Midget professional wrestling had its early origins in the vaudeville shows of the United States. In these shows, comedy was as important as athletics. The sport is also indebted to professional wrestling's carny origins, where a premium was placed on the visually unusual.

Heyday
In 1949, Sky Low Low won a thirty-man battle royal to become the winner of the first NWA World Midget Championship, a singles midget championship promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance. Sky Low Low, one of the most prominent midget professional wrestlers, had a longtime feud with Farmer Brooks.

The 1950s have been called the "golden age of midget wrestling". During the decade, Sky Low Low, Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, and Fuzzy Cupid all toured the territories of Canada, wrestling in promotions such as Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. The dominant promoter and booker for midget wrestling at the time was Jack Britton, who was stationed in Montreal, Quebec. In Ontario, Larry Kasaboski also promoted midget wrestling shows. In Canada, Sky Low Low and Little Beaver earned up to 15% of the gate proceeds at their events.

The midget professional wrestlers had many gimmicks to attract audiences and revenue. One of Sky Low Low's gimmicks was an open challenge to any other midget professional wrestlers to beat him in a two out of three falls match for $100. He often turned himself upside down and balanced on his head. The duo of Sky Low Low and Little Beaver even squared off in a match for Elizabeth II and King Farouk of Egypt. Sky Low Low also frequently teamed with Fuzzy Cupid in tag team matches. Meanwhile, Lord Littlebrook was credited as being one of the first wrestlers of any height to use aerial maneuvers in his matches. In addition to North America, Littlebrook wrestled in Australia, Japan, and Thailand. The midget wrestlers also performed in Cuba (prior to 1959), South America, Central America, England, Ireland, Scotland, and the countries on the mainland European continent.

In the 1960s, Littlebook trained other midget wrestlers, including Cowboy Lang. Female wrestler the Fabulous Moolah also trained midget wrestlers at her home in South Carolina, including female midget wrestler Diamond Lil.

Female midget wrestlers were popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in the mid-to-late 1960s, Diamond Lil wrestled Darling Dagmar, and in the 1970s, Lil mainly feuded with Princess Little Dove. Other prominent female competitors included Sheila Johnson, Cherrie Lamour, and Gypsey Rose. The women, as well as the men, competed regularly for promotions such as Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Peak and decline

Midget wrestling continued to be popular into the 1970s and 1980s, with foreign wrestlers coming to the United States to compete. Little Tokyo, a Japanese professional wrestler, made his way to the National Wrestling Alliance in the 1970s. British wrestler Lord Littlebrook continued to compete, but he became a manager for Jack Victory and Rip Morgan in World Championship Wrestling in the late 1980s.

The World Wrestling Federation included several midget wrestlers on their cards in the 1980s. At WrestleMania II in April 1986, the Haiti Kid appeared in the corner of actor Mr. T, who was in a match against wrestling Roddy Piper. On March 12, 1987, the WWF's WrestleMania III event — which  is considered the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom — included a tag team match with midget wrestlers Haiti Kid and Little Beaver, with average sized wrestler Hillbilly Jim defeating Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook, with King Kong Bundy by disqualification. During the match, Bundy slammed Little Beaver to the mat, which broke his back and forced him into early retirement. Sky Low Low was also touring with the WWF in the 1980s.

Promotions such as World Class Championship Wrestling and Windy City Wrestling also had midget divisions during this time. Grand Prix Wrestling in Canada employed midget wrestlers, including Farmer Brooks until it closed in 1992. In late 1992, Canadian Claude Giroux signed on with the WWF and teamed with the Bushwhackers in their feud against the Beverly Brothers, both of which were teams of full-sized wrestlers.

Competitive midget wrestling declined sharply in the United States in the early 1990s. Midget wrestlers began to show up in more comedic roles, which has been criticized by the Little People of America as being "thoroughly degrading and puts little people out there as a sideshow and entertainment". In these comedic roles, the wrestlers appeared as miniature versions of existing full-size wrestling stars. For example, Claude Giroux continued his tenure in the WWF by dressing up as a smaller version of larger wrestlers; most prominent was his Dink the Clown character, who was the "mini" of Doink the Clown. As Dink, Giroux appeared at 1994's WrestleMania X in a match where he teamed with Doink against Bam Bam Bigelow and Luna Vachon. He made another appearance at that year's Survivor Series, teaming with Doink and two other midget wrestlers (Pink and Wink) in a match against Jerry Lawler and Lawler's "minis" (Sleazy, Queasy, and Cheesy). In response to the growing popularity of using midget wrestlers as comedy, Lord Littlebrook, who was popular in the 1950s, stated, "I'm disgusted, I really am...I want midget wrestling, I don't want midget comedy."

Resurgence
In the late 1990s, the WWF and Mexico's AAA had a talent sharing program that allowed several lucha libre midget wrestlers to compete on WWF television. These wrestlers included Max Mini, El Torito, Mascarita Sagrada, Mini Vader, and La Parkita. Like in the United States, these midget wrestlers played "mini" versions of WWF and AAA's full-size wrestlers. Sagrada, repackaged as a character named Nova, made his in-ring debut in a midget wrestling match at Bad Blood in 1997 where he teamed with Max Mini against Tarantula and Mosaic. The midget wrestlers appeared on WWF Shotgun Saturday Night and WWF Monday Night Raw. The WWF's midget wrestlers also appeared in matches at the Royal Rumble in 1997 and the Royal Rumble in 1998.

World Championship Wrestling (WCW) also had an influx of Mexican midget wrestlers. In late 1996, full-size wrestler Máscara Sagrada wrestled in a dark match before Starrcade in 1996 where he teamed with Octagóncito (mini version of Octagón) and defeated Jerrito Estrada and Piratita Morgan, the latter of which was also a little person. The next day, the teams faced again, this time on WCW Monday Nitro.

On the independent circuit, there was an increased interest in midget hardcore wrestling matches, and groups such as the Half Pint Brawlers began selling DVDs and opening for musical acts such as Kid Rock. World Wrestling All-Stars also included hardcore matches in 2002 through 2003, with performers such as Meatball, Teo, and Puppet competing in matches where they hit each other with trashcans and other foreign objects. In the early days of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (NWA:TNA) in 2002, the promotion included a hardcore midget wrestling division. Although the division was later abandoned, at Victory Road in 2004—the company's first monthly pay-per-view event—Mascarita Sagrada defeated Piratita Morgan.

In 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) announced the creation of a "juniors" division within their SmackDown! brand, which consisted of wrestlers at or below five feet tall, but it was discontinued in March 2006. Despite releasing many of the "junior" talent, they hired Dylan Postl in May 2006, who played a leprechaun character (named Little Bastard and later Hornswoggle), who accompanied Northern Irish wrestler Fit Finlay to the ring. At the Great American Bash in July 2007, he won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, a title normally held by full size male wrestlers. Finlay and Hornswoggle also challenged for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions in June 2008. During his tenure with the company, midget wrestlers employed in the independent circuit, including Short Sleeve Sampson, were brought in to portray the mini versions of larger wrestlers with whom Finlay was feuding.

In February 2000, the Micro Wrestling Federation (MWF), a wrestling promotion made up entirely of little people, was established. The promotion featured both serious wrestling matches and more comedic aspects. In early 2008, the Entertainment Shack booking agency acquired the MWF. After the acquisition, the entertainment agency hired many new midget wrestlers, making the organization the largest midget wrestling show in the US. This show can be seen nationwide with a tour schedule that encompasses the entire US, Canada, and South America. The promotion usually books between 150 and 180 shows a year.

In the 21st century, there has been substantial controversy surrounding the sport. The hardcore wrestling troupe the Half Pint Brawlers simulated sex, used staple guns as weapons, and performed using other hardcore antics in January 2008 during a Delta Upsilon fraternity event at Northwestern University. The event caused the fraternity to face disciplinary actions. In August 2008, the female performers in the MWF caused a disturbance when they appeared topless in a bar in Canton, Illinois. In addition, the Little People of America began to frown upon the use of the word "midget" in 2007, considering it to be degrading. The wrestlers involved in the sport do not always agree with this assessment, citing the longevity of the sport and the appeal of the term to audiences.

In 2018, Texas-based organization Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling, which has toured across the US for many years, decided to tour England and Wales in the UK due to the explosion of interest in the UK wrestling scene. They instructed Wales-based agency Degu Media to assist with the language, tone, and translational issues and beganto eliminate the word "midget" from all UK marketing material. At launch, the word Dwarfanators was substituted on social media, posters, advertisements, and banners. The Restricted Growth Association (RGA) opposed the event and describing it as a "freak show". The RGA's statement offended many in the wrestling community. Such notables in the Dwarf community such as James Luster (actor, former dwarf games participant, and councilor) spoke out against the organization, including former relatives of the founders of the RGA. Once three venues in England banned the dwarfs from appearing, a legal case for discrimination was started, quoting the Equality Act 2010. Coyote Ugly Saloons in the UK briefly suspended ticket sales while they took counsel on the matter, then gave the events their support.

In 2022, Major League Wrestling announced the creation of a midget division.

Mexico

Mascarita Sagrada is the most popular midget wrestler in Mexico and has also been featured in World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling in the United States. In Mexico, he has competed in AAA, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), and a long list of independent promoters over the years. He debuted in CMLL, where he was patterned after popular luchador Máscara Sagrada and given his ring name which is Spanish for "Little Sacred Mask". During his first year working as Mascarita Sagrada he made guest appearances in Puerto Rico working for the World Wrestling Council (WWC) at their 17th Anniversary show teaming with Aguilita Solitaria in a losing effort against the team of Piratita Morgan and Espectrito. This match was one of the early pairings of Mascarita Sagrada and Espectrito, a rivalry that lasted for a decade and spanned several promotions.

In the 1990s, when midget wrestling in the United States began to decline in popularity, it remained popular in Mexico. In fact, prominent Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) created their midget division the year before in 1989. In 1992, the promotion established its primary championship for midget wrestlers, the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship. Mascarita Sagrada was the first champion.

Mascarita Sagrada and Espectrito continued their feud in AAA, now with the newly created Mexican National Mini-Estrella Championship in the 1990s. In January 1994, Espectrito became the first champion after winning a tournament final. On November 1994 Sagrada and Octagoncito teamed up to defeat Espectrito and Jerrito Estrada on AAA's first ever pay-per-view event When Worlds Collide. In 2002, AAA established the AAA Mascot Tag Team Championship, which was a tag team championship that was held by a full-size wrestler and his "mini". The initial champions were Mascara Sagrada and Mascarita Sagrada, who held the title for approximately two years before losing it to El Alebrije and Cuije. The latter team held the championship until April 7, 2009 when they left the promotion and the title was vacated.

Championships and accomplishments
Sky Low Low (Marcel Gauthier) who was the National Wrestling Alliance's first World Midget Champion, Little Beaver (Lionel Giroux), Lord Littlebrook, and Fuzzy Cupid all have been inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. In addition, other awards were developed for the midget professional wrestlers. For example, Pro Wrestling Illustrated presented a Midget Wrestler of the Year award annually from 1972 to 1976.

The National Wrestling Alliance promoted the NWA World Midget's Championship from 1949 until 1999. Little Tokyo held the title more than any other wrestler, with a total of three reigns. There was also a World Midget Tag Team Championship, which was held by wrestlers such as Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook. There are also several Mexican midget titles, including AAA World Mini-Estrellas Championship and Mascot Tag Team Championship, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's World Mini-Estrella Championship, Mexican National Mini-Estrella Championship, and the World Wrestling Association's Minis Championship.

Notable midget wrestlers

 Cowboy Lang (Harry Lang)
 Diamond Lil (Katie Glass)
 Espectrito (Mario Jiménez) wrestled as Mini Vader in WWF
 Espectrito II (Alejandro Jiménez) wrestled as Mini Mankind and Tarantula in WWF
 Farmer Brooks (Clifford Fraser)
 Fuzzy Cupid (Leon Stap)
 Haiti Kid (Raymond Kessler)
 Hornswoggle (Dylan Postl)
 KeMonito (unknown)
 La Parkita (Alberto Jiménez) wrestled as Mini Nova in WWF
 Little Beaver (Lionel Giroux)
 Little Tokyo (Shigeri Akabane)
 Lord Littlebrook (Eric Tovey)
 Mascarita Dorada a.k.a. El Torito in WWE
 Mascarita Sagrada (real name unknown)
 Meatball (Richard Ellinger)
 Microman
 Mije (real name unknown)
 Mini Abismo Negro wrestled as Mini Goldust in WWF
 Mini Psicosis (Enrique Del Rio)
 Octagoncito (unknown) wrestled as Mosiac in WWF
 El Gallito
 Octagoncito (AAA)
 Piratita Morgan (Raymundo Rodríguez) wrestled as the Battalion in WWF
 Tiger Jackson (Claude Giroux) a.k.a. Dink the Clown in WWF
 Tzuki (real name unknown) a.k.a. Max Mini in WWF
 Shockercito (Javier Cortes Sánchez)
 Short Sleeve Sampson (Dan DiLucchio)
 Sky Low Low (Marcel Gauthier)
 Tiny the Terrible (Douglas Tunstall Jr.)
 Ultratumbita (real name unknown)

See also
Dwarf tossing
Midgets' World Championship
NWL Midget Championship
WCPW Midget Championship

References

External links
 Micro Wrestling Federation website for The Micro Wrestling Federation
 Midget Wrestling Videos Real life midget wrestling matches
 Micro Championship Wrestling website for The Micro Championship Wrestling
 House of Deception Many photos of Golden Age midget wrestlers
 Wrestling Museum Some pictures and brief biographies of famous midget

Professional wrestling genres

Midget wrestling


Tulip Rizwana Siddiq   (; born 16 September 1982) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hampstead and Kilburn since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she was the Camden London Borough Councillor for Regent's Park from 2010 until 2014.

Early life

Siddiq is the daughter of former Dhaka University professor Shafique Ahmed Siddique, and Sheikh Rehana, who gained political asylum in the UK as a teenager. The two met when Shafiq Siddiq was studying for a PhD, and married in Kilburn in 1980. Tulip Siddiq was born in St Helier Hospital in St Helier, London, and has an elder brother, Radwan "Bobby" Mujib, and a younger sister, Azmina Siddiq.  When she was 15, the family moved to Hampstead. She was raised a Muslim and has said that her "family embraced multicultural Britain". In the heart of North London's Jewish community, she attended seder with neighbours and went to Limmud. As a child, she met Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa, and her family was invited to the White House.

She attended Scholastica, The Royal School, Hampstead, and Mill Hill School before completing her undergraduate degree in English Literature at University College London and then a master's degree at King's College London. In September 2011, she completed a second master's degree in Politics, Policy and Government.

Her maternal grandfather is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father and the first President of Bangladesh. Her mother's elder sister, Sheikh Hasina, has been the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since 2009.
In 1975, a faction of Bangladesh Army soldiers stormed Siddiq's mother's home in Bangladesh and assassinated Siddiq's grandfather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, alongside his three sons and 16 other members of his family in a military coup. Siddiq's mother and aunt survived as they were visiting West Germany.

Early political career
At the age of 16, Siddiq joined the Labour Party. Her father suffered a stroke, which left him disabled and unable to speak for five years. She has cited the National Health Service and the care her disabled father received as the reason why she joined. She identified Barbara Castle as her political heroine and has described her mother and maternal aunt as "two very strong feminists".

She has worked for Amnesty International, the Greater London Authority, at Philip Gould Associates, the political consultancy firm run by New Labour strategist Philip Gould, Save the Children, and Brunswick, where she worked on corporate social responsibility initiatives for major British manufacturers, as well as for MPs Oona King, Sadiq Khan and Harry Cohen. Siddiq worked on Ed Miliband's campaign to be leader of the Labour Party, and as a special advisor to Tessa Jowell. She has campaigned for political parties internationally and, in 2008, campaigned for Barack Obama in the U.S.

In a 2006 by-election, Siddiq stood unsuccessfully for Camden Council. In the 2010 local government elections, she became the first female Bangladeshi councillor for Camden Council, where she was Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities until May 2014.

In July 2013, Siddiq was selected by local party members as the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, despite a smear campaign. She later claimed that because of her Muslim surname, she was advised against standing in the constituency by senior party members due to Hampstead's large Jewish population. During 2013 and 2014, she campaigned against the proposed high-speed railway expansion High Speed 2, and high payday lender charges on Kilburn High Road. She also campaigned in support of local services, such as to keep Belsize Fire Station open, to improve disabled access at West Hampstead tube station and to save the Swiss Cottage post office.

Parliamentary career
In the 2015 general election, Siddiq won the Hampstead and Kilburn seat with 23,977 votes, with a turnout of 67.3%. The seat had previously been held by Glenda Jackson, and had been the second most marginal in the country after Jackson retained it by just 42 votes in 2010. In 2015, it was described as the UK's most marginal general election contest. In June 2015, Siddiq was appointed a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism. She is also a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee. In the same month, she was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election, although she later supported Andy Burnham.

In September 2015, Siddiq, along with Keir Starmer and Catherine West, wrote a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron seeking urgent action to address the refugee crisis due to the Syrian Civil War. In the same month, she was appointed Permanent Private Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Michael Dugher. In November 2015, she campaigned against changes to junior doctor contracts. In the same month, Siddiq's maiden speech in Parliament was judged one of the top seven from 2015's intake of MPs by the BBC. In October 2016, she was appointed as Shadow Education Minister in the Labour Party's frontbench in Parliament, taking on the childcare and early years education brief and working with Shadow Secretary of State for Education Angela Rayner.

In November 2016, Siddiq supported a motion in Parliament for the UK to withdraw support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. In January 2017, she resigned from the Labour frontbench over Labour's three-line whip, to vote against triggering Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. She stated that because around 75% of her Hampstead and Kilburn constituency had voted to remain in the European Union as one of the top 10 remain areas, she could not support Labour's position. She won an endorsement from Camden for Europe, Open Britain and Best for Britain, due to her decision to vote against Article 50. She retained her seat with an increased majority of 15,560.

In August 2017, Siddiq called for businesses to "address imbalance" in the employment of people from ethnic minorities to improve the diversity of its workforce. In September 2017, she was appointed as Chair of the new Childcare and Early Education All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). In the same month, she wrote to the Home Office to ask for children's passports to be amended to contain both their parents' names to avoid confusion at airports and borders. She had been stopped with her daughter at UK border control whilst returning from a family holiday until her husband joined them, because she did not have the same surname in her passport as her child.

In November 2017, whilst campaigning for the release of her constituent, the British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran, she was asked by Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News and ITN about using her family ties to the Bangladeshi government, led by her aunt, in order to liberate British Bangladeshi barrister Ahmad bin Quasem, who is thought to have been abducted by state security forces in Bangladesh. The programme's editor, Ben de Pear, complained about Siddiq's "threatening behaviour" to a pregnant producer, while Siddiq complained to the police about her interlocutors. She later apologised in a statement to the producer, Daisy Ayliffe, for the offence caused.

In May 2018, Siddiq supported an equal pay campaign aimed at building pressure on employers. In the same month, she described the actions of the Israeli military during demonstrations on the Gaza border as "unjustified" and "inhumane". She said: "I condemn without reservation these violations of international law and human rights by Israel... The protest has been twofold – to highlight the shocking conditions which Palestinians are forced to live in and to demand their right to return to their homes..." In August 2018, she joined international calls for her aunt's government to release Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, who had been jailed after reporting about protests by schoolchildren over road safety problems, and had subsequently stated he was tortured.

Other activities

Siddiq was a board member of West Euston Partnership and is governor of the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. She served as national BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) Officer for Young Labour and Women's Officer for London Young Labour. She is an executive board member of Unite the Union, a member of the Co-operative Party, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is also a member of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (UK). She also oversaw Camden's engagement with the 2012 London Olympics, which saw the launch of three legacy schemes to encourage more physical activities, Camden Sports Academy, School and Community Games, and Pro-Active Ambassadors.

Siddiq served two years as a school governor at Beckford Primary School and Richard Cobden Primary School and is a current governor at the Working Men's College in Camden. As of January 2014, Siddiq supports a number of organisations in Hampstead and Kilburn, including school governor roles at Emmanuel Primary School and Granville Plus Nursery as well as being a trustee of the Camden Arts Centre. She has also written for Hampstead and Highgate Express as a foreign correspondent, primarily covering the U.S. elections.

Recognition
In January 2013, Siddiq was named in the "British Bangladeshi Power & Inspiration 100". In December 2014, she was named by The Guardian as "one to watch" in British politics. In April 2015, The Sunday Times described her as one of the "rising stars" of the Labour Party.

Personal life
Siddiq is a Muslim, but said she is "more cultural than religious". In 2013, she married Christian Percy. She lives in West Hampstead, London with her husband.

In April 2016, Siddiq gave birth to a daughter at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. She gave birth to a son in January 2019. Two days before the birth she attended the Commons in a wheelchair, for a critical Brexit-related vote. On 29 January, following a constitutional change, she became the first ever MP to vote by proxy.

Since becoming an MP, Siddiq has spoken at Limmud and attends synagogue events. In April 2019, she announced that a relative had died in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings.

See also
British Bangladeshi
List of British Bangladeshis
List of ethnic minority politicians in the United Kingdom

References

External links

Tulip Siddiq on Huffington Post
Tulip Siddiq on Camden Council

Further reading

1982 births
Living people
English Muslims
English people of Bangladeshi descent
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Councillors in the London Borough of Camden
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
21st-century British women politicians
English socialists
School governors
People from Mitcham
People educated at The Royal School, Hampstead
People educated at Mill Hill School
Alumni of University College London
Alumni of King's College London
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–present
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman family
Scholastica (school) alumni
21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians
Women councillors in England

Tulip Siddiq


Rory Underwood,  (born 19 June 1963) is an English former rugby union player. He is 's record international try scorer, with 49 tries in 85 internationals between 1984 and 1996. Underwood's principal position was wing and he played 236 games for Leicester Tigers between 1983 and 1997, he also played for Middlesbrough, Bedford Blues and the Royal Air Force. Underwood toured with the British and Irish Lions in 1989 and 1993 playing in six tests and scoring one try. In 1992 Underwood played for England alongside his younger brother Tony Underwood, becoming the first brothers to play together for England since 1937.

Playing during the amateur era his profession was as a Royal Air Force pilot.

Early life
Underwood was born in Middlesbrough, England, of Chinese-English parentage. His father was a Yorkshire engineer who worked in Malaysia where he met and married Underwood's Chinese-Malaysian mother.

Underwood was educated at Barnard Castle School (with fellow rugby international Rob Andrew, followed by initial officer training at RAF College Cranwell.

Underwood's early life was spent in Malaysia. His family moved to Yorkshire in 1976, but his father was posted to Singapore and did not rejoin the family for another three years.

Royal Air Force
In the Royal Air Force (RAF), Underwood played for the Strike Command and main RAF rugby team. As flying officer he flew with No. 360 Squadron RAF, an electronic countermeasures training squadron, on Canberras at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. He then flew the Canberra TT18 with No. 100 Squadron RAF, also at Wyton.

Underwood took a ground-instruction job in 1995 at RAF Cranwell, becoming a flight lieutenant, while playing for Leicester. He became station flight safety officer, then joined No. 55 Squadron RAF (navigator training, now referred to as a weapon systems officer) on the twin-engined Dominie (British Aerospace 125), and continued in the RAF until 1999, although he could have stayed until 2001.

Rugby
Having first played as a youngster at Middlesbrough Rugby Club (with Rob Andrew and Bernie Coyne), Underwood went on to become one of the greatest wings in rugby union. Underwood is the leading try scorer for England in international matches. He first played for England in February 1984 against Ireland at Twickenham. He won 85 England and 6 Lions caps between 1984 and 1996 (then an English record, later surpassed by Jason Leonard – it remained the highest total for an English back, though that has since been overtaken by Jonny Wilkinson), scoring a record 49 tries for England, and 1 for the British Lions, making him one of the leading try scorers of all time. He played for England in the Rugby World Cups of 1987, 1991 and 1995.

Underwood was capable of playing on either right or left wing depending on who was selected on the opposite side. More usually seen on the left wearing shirt number 11, in 1988 he switched to the right (and shirt number 14) to accommodate Chris Oti: in 1990 on the right opposite Mark Bailey, but on the left when partnering Simon Halliday, continuing on the left in 1991 opposite Nigel Heslop: in the 1991 World Cup he played on the right in partnership with Oti early on, then on the left in partnership with Heslop until the quarter-final and Halliday for the final two rounds, an arrangement that persisted throughout the 1992 Five Nations championship – which was initially billed as his final season before retirement, Underwood scoring tries in each of the first three matches of the championship, and coming close to scoring against Wales. However, Underwood changed his mind and opted to carry on, initially for the next match against South Africa (their first match since their readmission to international sport), and eventually for several more years – playing mostly now on the left, to accommodate his younger brother, Tony, on the right wing.  They were the first brothers to represent England at the same time since 1937: and, in the 1993 match against Scotland, the first pair of brothers to score tries in the same match for England. He has been described as one of the greatest wingers to ever play the game.

Recent career
Underwood has worked as a management consultant. When leaving the RAF he planned on setting up a company called Teamwork with his friend John Peters. He planned on acquiring a Commercial Pilot Licence.

Underwood set up UPH, a management and teamwork training company, with John Peters and Martyn Helliwell on 20 May 1999. Two years later, he appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank.

Like John Peters, Underwood is also a motivational speaker. He held a role as a non-executive director on the board of Leicester Tigers F.C, but left this role in November 2020. His new company is called Wingman Ltd.

International tries

Personal life
Underwood's wife was an air traffic controller in the RAF. He has two daughters. He has two younger brothers, Gary and Tony, and also has a sister, Wendy. His brother Tony Underwood became a commercial pilot after retiring and also played rugby for England and has two daughters.

Underwood's long-lasting relationship with the RAF was put under strain when his wife was unfairly dismissed from the RAF for being pregnant, for which she received an undisclosed sum after settling out of court in 1995.

Underwood lives in a small village near Grantham in Lincolnshire, having lived in the area for many years whilst at Cranwell. He has often been invited to be a local dignitary, or to play for local charity sports matches. He is President of the Grantham National Malaya and Borneo Veterans Association.

Publications
 Flying Wing – An Autobiography by Rory Underwood, 1992,

See also
 List of leading rugby union test try scorers
 List of top English points scorers and try scorers
 List of rugby union test caps leaders

References

External links

 Sporting heroes

1963 births
Military personnel from Yorkshire
Living people
Bedford Blues players
British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England
British sportspeople of Chinese descent
Combined Services rugby union players
Deputy Lieutenants of Leicestershire
England international rugby union players
English people of Chinese descent
English people of Malaysian descent
English rugby union players
Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell
Leicester Tigers players
Members of the Order of the British Empire
People educated at Barnard Castle School
Royal Air Force officers
Royal Air Force rugby union players
Rugby union players from Middlesbrough
Rugby union wings
Yorkshire County RFU players
1987 Rugby World Cup players
1991 Rugby World Cup players
1995 Rugby World Cup players

Rory Underwood


Edward Najeeb Basha Jr. (August 24, 1937 – March 26, 2013) was the Chairman & CEO of Bashas', Inc., a grocery store chain in Arizona. His father, Eddie Basha Sr., and his uncle, Ike Basha, founded Bashas' in 1932. The first store under the Bashas' banner was opened in Chandler, Arizona.

Early life and education
Basha was born in Chandler, Arizona, where his father owned a grocery business. The Bashas were originally from Lebanon, entering the United States by way of New York City.  They moved from New York City to Arizona in 1910. He graduated from Chandler High School and then obtained a degree in History at Stanford University.

Career
Bashas' was founded by Eddie Basha Sr. and brother Ike Basha. Upon the death of Ike, Eddie Basha Sr. continued running Bashas'.  Eddie Basha Jr. took full control of the family business upon the death of his father. Beginning in 1968, Basha expanded the small company to a nationwide chain of 160 stores.

Basha ran an unsuccessful campaign as the Democratic nominee against incumbent Arizona Governor Fife Symington in 1994. He was a supporter of many charitable and civic causes, particularly working with education and the poor in Arizona. He supported same-sex marriage during his gubernatorial campaign, years before it became an issue for contemporary society in the early 21st century.

Personal life and death
Basha was a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

He was a collector of Western American and American Indian art.  In 1992 he carved out a space in the corporate offices of Bashas' (Chandler, AZ) and created an art gallery where the collection remains available for public viewing free of charge.  Masterworks of the collection has been loaned to Museums across the nation such as The Autry (Los Angeles CA), The Booth Museum (Cartersville, GA), The Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY), Western Spirit: Scottsdale Museum of the West (Scottsdale, AZ), the Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ), the Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis, IN) and many others.  As a collector, he was more apt to acquire masterworks of contemporary artists whom he met and developed lifelong friendships with.

Basha was also a passionate and ardent supporter of education.  He served consecutive terms on the Chandler Unified School District governing board, the Arizona State Board of Education, and as a member of the Arizona Board of Regents.  Along with his wife, Nadine Mathis Basha, and Rhian Evans Allvin, First Things First, an early childhood (ages 0–5) statewide program passed a ballot initiative that funded the development, health and education of young children.  It was a milestone achievement which Basha said would benefit the lives of millions of children throughout Arizona. Arizona was the second state to pass such a program.

In addition, Basha devoted countless hours toward the plight of the homeless and hungry, health care issues, a proponent of the arts, numerous political referendums and many other community and civic projects as well.

Basha died on March 26, 2013, and is survived by his wife Nadine Mathis Basha, and sons  Eddie III, Ike, Mike, David, Josh and Jeremy.

References

1937 births
2013 deaths
American politicians of Lebanese descent
Arizona Democrats
Businesspeople from Phoenix, Arizona
People from Chandler, Arizona
Stanford University alumni
American retail chief executives
20th-century American businesspeople
Chandler High School (Arizona) alumni

Eddie Basha Jr.