Theodosius III () was Byzantine emperor from  to 25 March 717. Before rising to power and seizing the throne of the Byzantine Empire, he was a tax collector in Adramyttium. In 715, the Byzantine navy and the troops of the Opsician Theme, one of the Byzantine provinces, revolted against Emperor Anastasius II (), acclaiming the reluctant Theodosius as emperor. Theodosius led his troops to Chrysopolis and then Constantinople, the capital, seizing the city in November 715. Anastasius did not surrender until several months later, accepting exile in a monastery in return for safety. Many themes viewed Theodosius to be a puppet of the troops of the Opsician Theme, and his legitimacy was denied by the Anatolics and the Armeniacs under their respective  (generals) Leo the Isaurian and Artabasdos.

Leo declared himself emperor in the summer of 716 and allied himself with the Umayyad Caliphate, the Islamic empire; Theodosius sought aid from the Bulgarians under Khan Tervel (), setting a firm border at Thrace and ceding the Zagoria region to the Bulgarians, as well as stipulating the payment of tribute to them. Leo then marched his troops to Constantinople, seizing the city of Nicomedia, and capturing many officials, including Theodosius' son, also named Theodosius. With his son in captivity, Theodosius took the advice of Patriarch Germanus and the Byzantine Senate, and negotiated with Leo, agreeing to abdicate and recognize Leo as emperor. Leo entered Constantinople and definitively seized power on 25 March 717, allowing Theodosius and his son to retire to a monastery. Exactly when Theodosius died is uncertain, but it may have been on 24 July 754.

History

Background

After the Umayyad Caliphate was repelled at the first Arab siege of Constantinople (674–678), the Arabs and Byzantines experienced a period of peace between each other. Hostilities were resumed by Byzantine Emperor Justinian II (), resulting in a string of Arab victories. As a consequence, the Byzantines lost control over Armenia and the Caucasian principalities, and the Arabs gradually encroached upon the Byzantine borderlands. Annually, generals from the Caliphate would launch raids into Byzantine territory, seizing fortresses and towns. After 712, the defenses of the Byzantine Empire weakened, as Arab raids penetrated deeper into Byzantine Asia Minor, and Byzantine response to these raids became less common; much of the frontier became depopulated, as the inhabitants were either killed, enslaved, or driven away, a result of this was that many frontier forts, especially in Cilicia, were gradually abandoned. The success of these raids emboldened the Arabs, who prepared for a second assault against Constantinople as early as the reign of Caliph al-Walid I (). After his death, his successor, Sulayman () continued planning the campaign, Sulayman began assembling his forces in late 716, on the plain of Dabiq, north of Aleppo, entrusting the command of these forces to his brother, Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik.

The Slavs and Bulgars also formed a growing threat to the northern frontier of the Byzantine Empire, threatening Byzantine control in the Balkans. During the rule of Byzantine Emperor Philippicus (), in 712, the Bulgarians under Khan Tervel advanced as far as the walls of Constantinople itself, plundering the surrounding country, including villas and estates near the capital, where the Byzantine elites often summered.

Theodosius came to power during a period called the Twenty Years' Anarchy, defined by struggles between the emperors and the elites, and political instability, with a rapid succession of emperors. The nobles of this time were often natives of Asia Minor, and rarely had a strong agenda beyond preventing the emperors from growing stronger and disrupting the status quo. The Twenty Years' Anarchy began when Emperor Justinian II was overthrown by Leontius () in 695, ending the Heraclian dynasty, which had retained power for eighty years. During this period of anarchy, seven different emperors took the throne, including a restored Justinian for a time. The modern historian Romilly Jenkins states that between 695 and 717 the only competent emperors were Tiberius III () and Anastasius II (). The crisis was ended by Emperor Leo III (), who overthrew Theodosius, and whose dynasty reigned for 85 years.

Rise to the throne
Sulayman's preparations, including his construction of a war fleet, were quickly noticed by the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Anastasius II began making preparations to defend against this new onslaught. This included sending the patrician and urban prefect, Daniel of Sinope, to spy on the Arabs, under the pretense of a diplomatic embassy, as well as shoring up the defences of Constantinople, and strengthening the Byzantine navy. The 9th-century Byzantine historian Theophanes states that in early 715 Anastasius II had commanded the navy to gather at Rhodes to then advance to Phoenix. It was there that the troops of the Opsician Theme mutinied against their commander, John the Deacon, killing him before sailing for Adramyttium, in southwestern Asia Minor, and there declared Theodosius, a tax collector, as Emperor Theodosius III. The Zuqnin Chronicle states that Theodosius ruled under the regnal name Constantine, his full name being "Theodosius Constantinus". The historian J. B. Bury suggests that he was selected at random for little more than the fact that he already had an imperial-sounding name, was inoffensive, obscure but respectable, and could easily be controlled by the Opsicians. Graham Sumner, a Byzantologist, suggests that Theodosius might be the same person as Theodosius, the son of Emperor Tiberius III, therefore explaining why he might have been chosen by the troops, as he would have legitimacy from his father, himself made emperor by a naval revolt. Theodosius, the son of Tiberius, was bishop of Ephesus by , and held this position until his death, sometime around 24 July 754, and was a leading figure of the iconoclastic Council of Hieria in 754. Byzantine historians Cyril Mango and Roger Scott do not view this theory as likely, as it would mean that Theodosius lived for thirty more years after his abdication. Cyril Mango proposed that it was actually Theodosius III's son who became bishop, rather than the son of Tiberius.

Theodosius was allegedly unwilling to be emperor and according to Theophanes:

He was acclaimed as Emperor Theodosius III by the troops of the Opsician Theme at Adramyttium in  May 715. Anastasius led his army into Bithynia in the Opsician Theme to crush the rebellion. Rather than remaining to fight Anastasius, Theodosius led his fleet to Chrysopolis, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. From Chrysopolis, he launched a six-month-long siege of Constantinople, before supporters within the capital managed to open the gates for him, allowing him to seize the city in November 715. Anastasius remained at Nicaea for several months, before finally agreeing to abdicate and retire to a monastery.

Reign

One of Theodosius' first acts as emperor was to reinstate the depiction of the Sixth Ecumenical Synod in the Great Palace of Constantinople, which Emperor Philippicus Bardanes had removed, earning himself the epithet of "Orthodox" in the Liber Pontificalis for this action. Theodosius, whom Byzantine sources convey as being both unwilling and incapable, was viewed by many of his subjects as a puppet emperor of the troops of the Opsician Theme. Thus he was not recognized as legitimate by the Anatolic and the Armeniac Themes, under their respective  (generals) Leo the Isaurian and Artabasdos. Although they had not taken any action to prevent the overthrowal of Anastasius, they took issue with Theodosius' ascension, and Leo proclaimed himself Byzantine emperor in the summer of 716. He also sought the support of the Arabs, who viewed the Byzantine disunity as advantageous, and thought the confusion would weaken the Byzantine Empire and make it easier to take Constantinople. Theodosius negotiated a treaty with the Bulgarian khan Tervel (), likely to secure his support against an imminent Arab attack. The treaty fixed the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire at Thrace, ceding the Zagoria region to the Bulgarians, as well as stipulating the payment of tribute to the Bulgarians, the return of fugitives, and some trade agreements.

Around this time, Sulayman had begun advancing into Byzantine territory, laying siege to Amorium, and a separate force entered Cappadocia. Negotiations with Leo led them to withdraw. Leo began to march his troops to Constantinople soon after declaring himself emperor, first capturing Nicomedia, where he found and captured, among other officials, Theodosius' son, and then marched to Chrysopolis. After his son was captured, Theodosius, taking the advice of Patriarch Germanus and the Byzantine Senate, agreed to abdicate and recognize Leo as emperor. Bury states that the elite of Constantinople, who might otherwise have sided with the inoffensive Theodosius, who would be unlikely to politically weaken them, sided with Leo, as Theodosius was not competent enough to deal with the Arab threat. He further states that the meeting of the Patriarch, senate, and chief officials, which chose Leo over Theodosius, was done with the knowledge and consent of Theodosius himself, who accepted the decision. Bury postulates that, without the threat of the Arabs, it is possible that Theodosius may have retained power, and a succession of nominal emperors might have followed him, controlled by court officials and the elites.

Leo entered Constantinople and definitively seized power on 25 March 717, allowing Theodosius and his son, also named Theodosius, to retire to a monastery as monks. After his retirement to a monastery, Theodosius might have become the bishop of Ephesus, if he was the same person as Theodosius, son of Tiberius, in , and, if he is the same, died on 24 July 754 according to Sumner. Either he or his son is buried in the Church of St. Philip in Ephesus. Little is known of the reign of Theodosius III.

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

Further reading

710s in the Byzantine Empire
8th-century Byzantine emperors
8th-century deaths
Bishops of Ephesus
Tax collectors
Twenty Years' Anarchy
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown

Theodosius III


Bride-buying, also referred to as bride-purchasing, is the industry or trade of purchasing a bride as a form of property. The wife is exchanged  for a sum of money, or for other products. It is still practiced in parts of  China, India and Africa. It is illegal in many countries. It is described as a marriage of convenience.  The people do not marry because they feel love or affection for each other, but they marry because one person gets an advantage by doing this. A common form of bride-buying is the Mail-order bride.

Slavery
Marriage

Bride buying


Dosulepin, also known as dothiepin and sold under the brand name Prothiaden among others, is a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) which is used in the treatment of depression. Dosulepin was once the most frequently prescribed antidepressant in the United Kingdom, but it is no longer widely used due to its relatively high toxicity in overdose without therapeutic advantages over other TCAs. It acts as a serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) and also has other activities including antihistamine, antiadrenergic, antiserotonergic, anticholinergic, and sodium channel-blocking effects.

Medical uses
Dosulepin is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder. There is clear evidence of the efficacy of dosulepin in psychogenic facial pain, though the drug may be needed for up to a year.

Contraindications
Contraindications include:

 Epilepsy as it can lower the seizure threshold
 TCAs should not be used concomitantly or within 14 days of treatment with monoamine oxidase inhibitors due to the risk for serotonin syndrome
 Acute recovery phase following myocardial infarction as TCAs may produce conduction defects and arrhythmias
 Liver failure
 Hypersensitivity to dosulepin

Side effects
Common adverse effects:

 Drowsiness
 Extrapyramidal symptoms
 Tremor

 Disorientation
 Dizziness
 Paresthesias
 Alterations to ECG patterns
 Dry mouth
 Sweating
 Urinary retention
 Hypotension
 Postural hypotension
 Tachycardia
 Palpitations
 Arrhythmias
 Conduction defects
 Increased or decreased libido
 Nausea
 Vomiting
 Constipation
 Blurred vision

Less common adverse effects:

 Disturbed concentration
 Delusions
 Hallucinations
 Anxiety
 Fatigue
 Headaches
 Restlessness
 Excitement
 Insomnia
 Hypomania
 Nightmares
 Peripheral neuropathy
 Ataxia
 Incoordination
 Seizures
 Paralytic ileus
 Hypertension
 Heart block
 Myocardial infarction
 Stroke
 Gynecomastia (swelling of breast tissue in males)
 Testicular swelling
 Impotence
 Epigastric distress
 Abdominal cramps
 Parotid swellings
 Diarrhea
 Stomatitis (swelling of the mouth)
 Black tongue
 Peculiar taste sensations
 Cholestatic jaundice
 Altered liver function
 Hepatitis (swelling of the liver)
 Skin rash
 Urticaria (hives)
 Photosensitisation
 Skin blisters
 Angioneurotic edema
 Weight loss
 Urinary frequency
 Mydriasis
 Weight gain
 Hyponatremia (low blood sodium)
 Movement disorders
 Dyspepsia (indigestion)
 Increased intraocular pressure
 Changes in blood sugar levels

 Thrombocytopenia (an abnormally low number of platelets in the blood. This makes one more susceptible to bleeds)
 Eosinophilia (an abnormally high number of eosinophils in the blood)
 Agranulocytosis (a dangerously low number of white blood cells in the blood leaving one open to potentially life-threatening infections)
 Galactorrhea (lactation that is unassociated with breastfeeding and lactation)

Overdose

The symptoms and the treatment of an overdose are largely the same as for the other TCAs. Dosulepin may be particularly toxic in overdose compared to other TCAs. The onset of toxic effects is around 4–6 hours after dosulepin is ingested. In order to minimise the risk of overdose it is advised that patients only receive a limited number of tablets at a time so as to limit their risk of overdosing. It is also advised that patients are not prescribed any medications that are known to increase the risk of toxicity in those receiving dosulepin due to the potential for mixed overdoses. The medication should also be kept out of reach of children.

Interactions
Dosulepin can potentiate the effects of alcohol and at least one death has been attributed to this combination. TCAs potentiate the sedative effects of barbiturates, tranquilizers and  depressants. Guanethidine and other adrenergic neuron blocking drugs can have their antihypertensive effects blocked by dosulepin. Sympathomimetics may potentiate the sympathomimetic effects of dosulepin. Due to the anticholinergic and antihistamine effects of dosulepin anticholinergic and antihistamine medications may have their effects potentiated by dosulepin and hence these combinations are advised against. Dosulepin may have its postural hypotensive effects potentiated by diuretics. Anticonvulsants may have their efficacy reduced by dosulepin due to its ability to reduce the seizure threshold.

Pharmacology

Pharmacodynamics

Dosulepin is a reuptake inhibitor of the serotonin transporter (SERT) and the norepinephrine transporter (NET), thereby acting as an SNRI. It is also an antagonist of the histamine H1 receptor, α1-adrenergic receptor, serotonin 5-HT2 receptors, and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mACh), as well as a blocker of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs). The antidepressant effects of dosulepin are thought to be due to inhibition of the reuptake of norepinephrine and possibly also of serotonin.

Dosulepin has three metabolites, northiaden (desmethyldosulepin), dosulepin sulfoxide, and northiaden sulfoxide, which have longer terminal half-lives than that of dosulepin itself. However, whereas northiaden has potent activity similarly to dosulepin, the two sulfoxide metabolites have dramatically reduced activity. They have been described as essentially inactive, and are considered unlikely to contribute to either the therapeutic effects or side effects of dosulepin. Relative to dosulepin, northiaden has reduced activity as a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, antihistamine, and anticholinergic and greater potency as a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, similarly to other secondary amine TCAs. Unlike the sulfoxide metabolites, northiaden is thought to play an important role in the effects of dosulepin.

Although Heal & Cheetham (1992) reported relatively high Ki values of 12 and 15 nM for dosulepin and northiaden at the rat α2-adrenergic receptor and suggested that antagonism of the receptor could be involved in the antidepressant effects of dosulepin, Richelson & Nelson (1984) found a low KD of only 2,400 nM for dosulepin at this receptor using human brain tissue. This suggests that it in fact has low potency for this action, similarly to other TCAs.

Pharmacokinetics
Dosulepin is readily absorbed from the small intestine and is extensively metabolized on first-pass through the liver into its chief active metabolite, northiaden. Peak plasma concentrations of between 30.4 and 279 ng/mL (103–944 nmol/L) occur within 2–3 hours of oral administration. It is distributed in breast milk and crosses the placenta and blood–brain barrier. It is highly bound to plasma proteins (84%), and has a whole-body elimination half-life of 51 hours.

Chemistry
Dosulepin is a tricyclic compound, specifically a dibenzothiepine, and possesses three rings fused together with a side chain attached in its chemical structure. It is the only TCA with a dibenzothiepine ring system to have been marketed. The drug is a tertiary amine TCA, with its side chain-demethylated metabolite northiaden (desmethyldosulepin) being a secondary amine. Other tertiary amine TCAs include amitriptyline, imipramine, clomipramine, doxepin, and trimipramine. Dosulepin exhibits (E) and (Z) stereoisomerism like doxepin but in contrast the pure E or trans isomer is used medicinally. The drug is used commercially as the hydrochloride salt; the free base is not used.

History
Dosulepin was developed by SPOFA. It was patented in 1962 and first appeared in the literature in 1962. The drug was first introduced for medical use in 1969, in the United Kingdom.

Society and culture

Generic names
Dosulepin is the English and German generic name of the drug and its  and , while dosulepin hydrochloride is its  and . Dothiepin is the former  of the drug while dothiepin hydrochloride is the former  and remains the current . Its generic name in Spanish and Italian and its  are dosulepina, in French and its  are dosulépine, and in Latin is dosulepinum.

Brand names
Dosulepin is marketed throughout the world mainly under the brand name Prothiaden. It is or has been marketed under a variety of other brand names as well, including Altapin, Depresym, Dopress, Dothapax, Dothep, Idom, Prepadine, Protiaden, Protiadene, Thaden, and Xerenal.

Availability
Dosulepin is marketed throughout Europe (as Prothiaden, Protiaden, and Protiadene), Australia (as Dothep and Prothiaden), New Zealand (as Dopress) and South Africa (as Thaden). It is also available in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Singapore, and Malaysia. The drug is not available in the United States or Canada.

References

Alpha-1 blockers
CYP2D6 inhibitors
Dimethylamino compounds
Analgesics
Antihistamines
Dibenzothiepines
Muscarinic antagonists
Serotonin receptor antagonists
Serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors
Sodium channel blockers
Tricyclic antidepressants

Dosulepin


Adolfo Battaglia (born 10 February 1930) is an Italian journalist who served as the minister of industry, commerce and craftsmanship between 1987 and 1991 in three successive cabinets. He was a long-term member of the Chamber of Deputies.

Biography
Born in Viterbo in 1930, Battaglia obtained a bachelor's degree in law in Rome in 1953. In 1965 he joined the Republican Party, serving as a member of the party's national directorate and then its deputy political secretary. Within the party Battaglia was part of the pro-socialist faction.

Battaglia served as a deputy for six terms between the legislatures VI and XI. He was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1972 from the Republican Party. In the 1980s he was the parliamentary leader of the party. He was also worked as an undersecretary for foreign affairs for two terms.

He was the minister of industry, commerce and craftsmanship in the cabinets of Goria, De Mita and Andreotti. In 1991 he was appointed minister of state holdings to the cabinet led by Giulio Andreotti, but like the other designated ministers from the Republican Party Battaglia did not take an oath due to the veto by the Italian Socialist Party on the appointment of Giuseppe Galasso to the Ministry of Telecommunications. He left the Italian Republican Party in 1994 and joined the Democratic Party of the Left of which he was a member of the national direction before he retired from politics.

Battaglia worked as a journalist from 1958 and contributed to many publications, including Il Mondo, Panorama, La Stampa, Corriere della Sera, Il Giorno and Il Messaggero. He was the director of La Voce Repubblicana newspaper from 1967 to 1972.

References

External links

20th-century Italian journalists
21st-century Italian journalists
1930 births
Government ministers of Italy
Living people
Italian newspaper editors
Deputies of Legislature VI of Italy
Deputies of Legislature VII of Italy
Deputies of Legislature VIII of Italy
Deputies of Legislature IX of Italy
Deputies of Legislature X of Italy
Deputies of Legislature XI of Italy
Italian Republican Party politicians
Democratic Party of the Left politicians
People from Viterbo

Adolfo Battaglia


Travers John Heagerty (5 March 1874 – 18 October 1965), known professionally as Henry Travers, was an English film and stage character actor. His best known role was the guardian angel Clarence Odbody in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. He also received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role in Mrs. Miniver (1942). Travers specialized in portraying slightly bumbling but amiable and likeable older men.

Early life
Travers was born in Prudhoe, Northumberland, and was the son of Daniel Heagerty, a doctor originally from Ireland, and Ellen Gillman Hornibrook. His mother was a native of County Cork, Ireland, and was previously married to William H. Belcher, a merchant seaman. He died in 1869. Travers had a half-brother, Samuel William Belcher, by his mother's previous marriage. He also had another brother, Daniel George Belsaigne Heagerty, and a sister, Mary Sophia Maude Heagerty. Travers grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed, and many biographies wrongly report him as being born there.

The Travers family lived in Prudhoe for a couple of years before moving from Woodburn, on the A68 road near Corsenside, Northumberland, in about 1866, to Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, in about 1876.

Initially, he trained as an architect at Berwick, before taking to the stage under the name Henry Travers.

Acting career

Travers gained early experience acting in repertory theatre in England. He was billed as Travers Heagerty for a December 1895 production. He played character roles almost from the beginning of his acting career in 1894, often figures who were much older than himself. He made his Broadway debut in The Price of Peace (1901) but returned to England. Travers settled in the United States and played frequently from November 1917 until December 1938 on Broadway in over 30 plays, and was described in The New Yorker as 'one of the most consistent performers now in the American theatre, and at the same time one of its least appreciated'. His last play on Broadway You Can't Take It with You was his best known, where he acted in over 380 performances in two years. In the Oscar-winning movie You Can't Take It With You, Lionel Barrymore played the role which Travers had portrayed on Broadway.

His first film was Reunion in Vienna in 1933. In the same year, he played the father of Gloria Stuart in the horror film The Invisible Man.  He often portrayed doctors, judges, and fathers of the main figures in supporting roles. Travers specialized on portraying slightly wry and bumbling but friendly and lovable older men. He appeared with Greer Garson and Ronald Colman in Random Harvest (1942) and with Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). Alfred Hitchcock used Travers as a Comic relief in Shadow of a Doubt (1943), where he played a bank clerk with a passion for criminal magazines. The character actor also portrayed the Railway Station Master Mr. Ballard with a love for roses who finally wins the annual flower show in his village shortly before dying in a bombardment in Mrs. Miniver. He received an Academy Award-nomination as Best Supporting Actor for this appearance.

Travers's best remembered role was as James Stewart's somewhat befuddled but kind-hearted guardian angel Clarence Odbody in Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. Travers' character saves Stewart's from committing suicide, and then shows him how wonderful his life really is. Though the film was a financial flop, it later became a Christmas perennial.

Travers retired in 1949 after his supporting role in The Girl From Jones Beach. Overall, he acted in 52 films.

Personal life and death
Travers' first wife was actress Amy Forrest-Rhodes. They were married from 1931 until her death in 1954. In 1955, he married Ann G. Murphy, who survived him.

After several years in retirement, Travers died as a result of arteriosclerosis in 1965, at the age of 91. He is interred with his second wife in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

The Maltings Theatre in Berwick-upon-Tweed has a performance space, The Henry Travers Studio, named after him.

Filmography

 Reunion in Vienna (1933) as Father Krug
 Another Language (1933) as Pop Hallan
 My Weakness (1933) as Ellery Gregory
 The Invisible Man (1933) as Dr. Cranley
 Death Takes a Holiday (1934) as Baron Cesarea
 Born to Be Bad (1934) as Fuzzy
 The Party's Over (1934) as Theodore
 Ready for Love (1934) as Judge Pickett
 Maybe It's Love (1935) as Mr. Halevy
 After Office Hours (1935) as Cap
 Captain Hurricane (1935) as Capt. Ben
 Four Hours to Kill! (1935) as Mac Mason
 Escapade (1935) as Concierge
 Pursuit (1935) as Thomas 'Tom' Reynolds
 Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) as Adalbert 'Lem' Peters / The Hermit
 Too Many Parents (1936) as Wilkins
 The Sisters (1938) as Ned Elliott
 You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939) as Pop
 Dodge City (1939) as Dr. Irving
 Dark Victory (1939) as Dr. Parsons
 On Borrowed Time (1939) as Dr. Evans
 Stanley and Livingstone (1939) as John Kingsley
 The Rains Came (1939) as Rev. Homer Smiley
 Remember? (1939) as Judge Milliken
 Primrose Path (1940) as Gramp
 Edison, the Man (1940) as Ben Els
 Anne of Windy Poplars (1940) as Matey
 Wyoming (1940) as Sheriff
 High Sierra (1941) as Pa
 A Girl, a Guy and a Gob (1941) as Abel Martin
 The Bad Man (1941) as Mr. Hardy
 I'll Wait for You (1941) as Mr. Miller
 Ball of Fire (1941) as Prof. Jerome
 Mrs. Miniver (1942) as Mr. Ballard
 Pierre of the Plains (1942) as Percival Wellsby
 Random Harvest (1942) as Dr. Sims
 Shadow of a Doubt (1943) as Joseph Newton
 The Moon Is Down (1943) as Mayor Orden
 Madame Curie (1943) as Eugene Curie
 None Shall Escape (1944) as Father Warecki
 Dragon Seed (1944) as Third Cousin
 The Very Thought of You (1944) as Pop Wheeler
 Thrill of a Romance (1945) as Hobart Glenn
 The Naughty Nineties (1945) as Capt. Sam Jackson
 The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) as Horace P. Bogardus
 Gallant Journey (1946) as Thomas Logan
 The Yearling (1946) as Mr. Boyles
 It's a Wonderful Life (1946) as guardian angel Clarence Odbody
 The Flame (1947) as Dr. Mitchell
 Beyond Glory (1948) as Pop Dewing
 The Accused (1949) as Blakely, Romley's Assistant (uncredited)
 The Girl From Jones Beach (1949) as Judge Bullfinch (final film role)

References

External links

Henry Travers on television

1874 births
1965 deaths
19th-century English male actors
20th-century English male actors
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Deaths from arteriosclerosis
English emigrants to the United States
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English people of Irish descent
People from Berwick-upon-Tweed
People from Prudhoe
Male actors from Northumberland

Henry Travers


Nogara is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about  southwest of Venice and about  south of Verona.

Nogara borders the following municipalities: Erbè, Gazzo Veronese, Isola della Scala, Salizzole, Sanguinetto, and Sorgà.

Main sights
 Chapel of St. Peter, known from 905.
 This was the pieve from which Nogara gradually grew during the early Middle Ages.
 Church of St. Sylvester (12th century).
 Church of St. Gregory the Great (1533).
Palazzo Maggi (16th century).
Villa Marogna (1548)

Demographic evolution

References

External links

 Official website

Cities and towns in Veneto

Nogara


Loch Vaa is a body of water in Highland, Scotland.  It is located between Boat of Garten and Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park. It is used for fishing, swimming and boating and its wooden boathouse is a popular location for tourists and photographers.  The loch also contains the remains of a historic crannog structure.  In 2018-19 the loch was subject to a dramatic drop in water levels over a dry winter period and was not restored to usual levels until prolonged rainfall in July 2019.

Description
Loch Vaa is a  spring-fed freshwater loch which is said to have "gin clear" waters.  The loch is owned by a local estate but a number of businesses have been granted rights for fishing, swimming and boating activities.  The fishery is managed and the lake is stocked with brown and rainbow trout; it is also frequented by wild grebe.  The loch's wooden boathouse, which is used for fishing, is surrounded by water and is a popular destination for tourists and photographers.

The loch contains the remains of a crannog, a historic fortified structure constructed on an artificial island.  Birch timber recovered from the Loch Vaa crannog dates it to the 13th century, though the structure may be even older - dating back to the time of the Picts or earlier Iron Age peoples.

2018/2019 water loss
Between September 2018 and May 2019 the loch suffered a dramatic drop in water levels.  Over this period some  of water were lost, causing the water level to fall by .  By mid-September boats were unable to use the famous boathouse, which soon became accessible by dry land; the owner even considered relocating the structure.  By May 2019 the loch fell to its lowest level in 750 years and archaeological experts were called in to check the historic crannog remains.  The crannog was found to have been undamaged by the loss of water, which is key to prevent the remains from deteriorating, but came close with the water level just centimetres above the surviving timbers.

Local councillor Bill Lobban called for a full investigation into the water level issues by public bodies. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) claimed that the cause was the comparatively dry winter of 2018/19 which had led to low groundwater levels in the area.  There was some suspicion directed at Scottish Water which had recently drilled a new borehole at Aviemore.  However they claimed that their borehole was located  upstream and that the local glacial geology isolated the loch from the abstraction site.  Water levels rose significantly by early July 2019 following 37 days of rain and were at a 20-year high by 2020.

Gallery

References

Lochs of Highland (council area)
Freshwater lochs of Scotland

Loch Vaa


David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer.  He was born in Hereford, but moved to Lichfield as a child.  He was important in  European theatrical practice in the 18th century. He was a pupil and friend of Samuel Johnson.

He managed the Theatre Royal, in Drury Lane, London for 29 years. He acted in and produced Shakespeare's plays and made them much more popular.

Samuel Johnson said "his profession made him rich and he made his profession respectable."

References

1717 births
1779 deaths
English stage actors

David Garrick


The rails, or Rallidae, are a large family of small to medium-sized birds. The rails are related to cranes, and both are in the order Gruiformes.

The family is diverse, and includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules. Many species are associated with wetlands, although the family is found in every terrestrial habitat except dry deserts, polar regions and alpine areas above the snow line. The Rallidae are found on every continent except Antarctica. There are numerous island species. The most common habitats are marshland or dense forest. They like dense vegetation.

There are many rails on islands, and they are often flightless.

Flight and flightlessness
The wings of all rails are short and rounded. Their flight is not powerful, but can continue for long periods, and many species migrate annually. The weakness of their flight means they are easily blown off course, so they are common vagrants. This has led them to colonize many isolated oceanic islands. Furthermore, these birds often prefer to run rather than fly, especially in dense shrub or woodland habitats. Some are also flightless at some time during their moult period.

Many island rails are flightless because on a small island without threatening predators they do not need to fly or move long distances. Flight makes intense demands, with the keel and flight muscles taking up to a quarter of a bird's weight. Reducing the flight muscles lowers the metabolic demands, and reduces the flightless rail's energy needs. For this reason, flightlessness makes it easier to survive and colonize an island where resources may be limited. Flightlessness can evolve extremely rapidly in island rails; it took as little as 125,000 years for the Laysan rail to lose the power of flight and evolve the reduced, stubby wings only useful to keep balance when running quickly.

References

Rallidae


Taiwanese beef noodle soup () is a beef noodle soup dish that originated in Taiwan. It is sometimes referred to as "Sichuan beef noodle soup" () in Taiwan, although this usage can create confusion as Sichuan has its own versions of beef noodle soups. which may be sold at Sichuanese restaurants under the same name. The beef is often stewed with the broth and simmered, sometimes for hours. Chefs also let the stock simmer for long periods with bone marrow; some vendors can cook the beef stock for over 24 hours. In Taiwan, beef noodle vendors may also have optional, often cold side dishes, such as braised dried tofu, seaweed or pork intestine. Beef noodles are often served with suan cai (Chinese pickled cabbage or mustard) on top, green onion and sometimes other vegetables in the soup as well.

The dish was created in Taiwan by Kuomintang veterans from Sichuan province who fled from mainland China to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and served the dish in military dependents' villages. The Taiwanese traditionally had an aversion to the consumption of beef even into the mid-1970s because cattle were valuable beasts of burden, so originally the dish was only eaten by waishengren. However, the dish became more accepted over time and is now one of the most famous dishes in Taiwanese cuisine. It is believed that the popularity of this noodle soup broke the beef-eating taboo and also paved the way to Taiwan's acceptance of American foods that utilized beef (such as hamburgers). The Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup is significantly less spicy than Sichuan flavors, and there are several variations with the soy-based broth, such as tomato, garlic and herbal medicine. The tomato variation () is popular in Taiwan and features chunks of tomatoes in a rich red-coloured tomato broth with or without soy sauce. The herbal medicine variation is usually served without suan cai as a topping (as its acidic properties are believed to exhibit medicinal properties) and may be accompanied by a chili paste made from beef lard.

Taiwanese beef noodle soups are sometimes served as fast food in both Taiwan and mainland China. In China, Mr. Lee is the largest chain, featuring the dish "California Beef Noodle Soup".  In Taiwan, Mercuries Beef Noodle (sān shāng qiǎo fú, see :zh:三商巧福) is the largest beef noodle fast food franchise, owned by a subsidiary of Mercuries & Associates Holdings (:zh:三商企業). It is sometimes considered a national dish in Taiwan, and every year Taipei holds an annual Beef Noodle Festival, where various chefs and restaurants compete for the title of the "best beef noodles in Taiwan". Due to influences from the influx of immigrants from mainland China in the early 1900s, the Taiwanese version of beef noodle soup is now one of the most popular dishes in Taiwan.

See also
 Beef noodle soup
 List of noodle dishes
 List of soups
 Pho
 Ramen
 Taiwanese cuisine

References

Beef dishes
National dishes
Noodle soups
Taiwanese cuisine
Taiwanese noodle dishes

Taiwanese beef noodle soup


Meshach Taylor (; April 11, 1947 – June 28, 2014) was an American actor, widely known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom Designing Women (1986–93), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He was also known for his portrayal of Hollywood Montrose, a flamboyant window dresser in the 1987 film Mannequin and its 1991 sequel. He played Sheldon Baylor on the CBS sitcom Dave's World (1993–97), appeared as Tony on the NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill opposite Dabney Coleman, and appeared as the recurring character Alastair Wright, the social studies teacher (and later school principal) on the Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

Early life
Taylor was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Hertha Mae (née Ward) and Joseph T. Taylor, former dean of students at Dillard University in New Orleans, who was also the first dean of arts and sciences at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis.

After the family moved from New Orleans to Indianapolis, Taylor graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1964, where he took an interest in acting, and went on to study in the dramatic arts programs at Wilmington College (Ohio) and Florida A&M University. Leaving Florida A&M a few credits shy of graduation, he worked in Indianapolis as a State House reporter for AM radio station WIFE (now WTLC), where he used the on-air name Bruce Thomas, and as the host of a community-affairs program on television station WLWI (now WTHR), as Bruce Taylor. In May 1993, he received his bachelor's degree in theatre arts from Florida A&M.

Career

Theater and teleplays
Taylor's first professional acting gig was in a national tour of Hair. He honed his craft in repertory theater as a member of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, and the Organic Theater Company alongside Joe Mantegna, André DeShields, Dennis Franz, Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, and director Stuart Gordon. While in Chicago, he appeared in David Rabe's Streamers, Native Son (1979 Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play), The Island and Athol Fugard's Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, for which he garnered the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play. He received an Emmy Award for his role as Jim in the WTTW production of Huckleberry Finn and hosted the Chicago television show Black Life. In 1998, Taylor made his Broadway debut as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, where he starred alongside Toni Braxton. In September 2012, he appeared in Year of the Rabbit at Ensemble Studio Theater-LA as Vietnam veteran JC Bridges.

Television and film

In 1977, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he crafted a gallery of memorable characters in film and on television, including his Emmy-nominated turn in the CBS sitcom Designing Women. Taylor played Anthony Bouvier, the deliveryman at the Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia.  In 1989, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. In May 1981, the ninth season of M*A*S*H, he was seen as a corpsman in the final episode, "The Life You Save".

From 1993 to 1997, he was a series regular as plastic surgeon Sheldon Baylor on Dave's World (CBS), and had a recurring role as Alastair Wright, the history teacher turned school principal, on Nickelodeon's sitcom, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (2004–07) and Buffalo Bill on NBC with Dabney Coleman.

Other appearances include: The Unit, Jessie, Hannah Montana as a fashion designer, All of Us as Neesee's father, The Drew Carey Show, Static Shock, Caroline in the City, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Women of the House, In the Heat of the Night, Punky Brewster, What's Happening Now!!, Hill Street Blues, ALF, Melba, The Golden Girls, Cagney & Lacey, Barney Miller,  Lou Grant, The White Shadow, The Incredible Hulk, The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue, and Barnaby Jones.

In 1996, Taylor hosted his own series on HGTV, The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor, and in 1998, he hosted Meshach Taylor's Hidden Caribbean on The Travel Channel. He was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game show To Tell the Truth. He co-hosted Living Live! with Florence Henderson on Retirement Living TV in 2008 until the program was revamped as The Florence Henderson Show.

Taylor had been friends with actor Joe Mantegna since they appeared together in 1969 in the musical Hair. Taylor guest-starred in 2012 on Criminal Minds''' eighth season in the episode "The Fallen", opposite Mantegna as Harrison Scott, Rossi's former Marine sergeant with whom he served in Vietnam. In January 2014, he reprised this role in "The Road Home" which aired January 22, 2014, just five months before his death. Mantegna led a Criminal Minds tenth season episode "Anonymous", to honor Taylor on January 21, 2015.

Taylor appeared in such feature films as Mannequin, Mannequin Two: On the Move, and Damien: Omen II.

Personal life and death
Taylor married actress Bianca Ferguson in 1983. He had four children, three with Bianca and one from a previous marriage. His children are daughters Tamar, Esme and Yasmine and son Tariq; he had four grandchildren.

Taylor died of colorectal cancer on June 28, 2014, at his home in Altadena, California. He is survived by his wife, his four children, his mother Hertha Ward Taylor, two siblings, and four grandchildren. A memorial service to celebrate his life was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) on July 6, 2014.

Filmography

References

 External links

Meshach Taylor obituary at nytimes.com June 29, 2014
'Fresh Air' Remembers Actor Meshach Taylor NPR 'Fresh Air' host Terry Gross pays tribute to actor Meshach Taylor (April 11, 1947 – June 28, 2014) with rebroadcast of 1990 interview.

20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
1947 births
2014 deaths
African-American male actors
American male film actors
American male musical theatre actors
American male television actors
Deaths from cancer in California
Florida A&M University alumni
Male actors from Boston
Deaths from colorectal cancer
20th-century African-American male singers
21st-century African-American people

Meshach Taylor


Antonio Benarrivo (; born 21 August 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. One of the best players in the world in his position in the 1990s, Benarrivo was an energetic attacking full-back capable of operating on both wings; he began his career with Brindisi in 1986, and later moved to Padova in 1989. He came to prominence during his time with Parma, joining the club in 1991; he won several domestic and European titles with the team and eventually became the club's record appearance holder in Serie A and in European competitions.

At international level, Benarrivo represented Italy at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where they reached the final.

Club career
Benarrivo started playing with the professional football team of his city, Brindisi, in Serie C1, during the 1986–87 season. After three seasons playing in Apulia, he went to play for Padova in Serie B, where he remained for two years, attracting much attention from larger Italian clubs.

In 1991, Benarrivo was bought by Parma under Nevio Scala; that year, he would help his new team to qualify for the UEFA Cup in his first year in Serie A. He quickly became one of the strongest players of the Emilian side, which achieved notable domestic and European successes over the next decade. In his first year in the highest division, Bennarivo won the 1992 Italian Cup, and the following year, during the 1992–93 season, he won the 1993 Cup Winners' Cup. He reached a second consecutive Cup Winners' Cup final during the 1993–94 season and was defeated, although he was able to capture the European Supercup with the club in 1993.

The series of thrilling triumphs he endured during his time at Parma, which culminated in the UEFA Cup victory during the 1994–95 season, as well as another Coppa Italia final, were not quite replicated in Serie A, however. Although Parma managed to navigate the top spots of the table during these seasons, they were not able to beat the dominant Milan and Juventus sides to the Serie A title, with their best finish coming during the 1996–97 season, where they finished the league in second place, qualifying for the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League; they also managed a third-place finish during the 1994–95 season, as well as several fourth-place finishes during this time, usually achieving European qualification.

Benarrivo experienced another successful year with the club during the 1998–99 season. Parma finished fourth place in the league, but Benarrivo finished the season with the conquest of his second UEFA Cup and Italian Cup titles, following these successes up with the 1999 Supercoppa Italiana, a title which had evaded him in 1995. This would be his final season as an indisputable starter, however, and the following seasons would see him play with less regularity.

During the 1999–2000 season, Parma finished in fourth place yet again, and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the UEFA Champions League after losing out to Inter in the playoff match. Parma managed their third consecutive fourth-place finish in the league during the 2000–01 season, also reaching another Coppa Italia final, only to be defeated by Fiorentina. Benarrivo managed to add another trophy to his club silverware, however, with a third Italian Cup in 2002. Benarrivo retired from professional football in 2004. With the Emilian club, he collected 257 appearances in Serie A, scoring 5 goals, and is the club's record appearance holder in the top-tier of Italian football. Following his retirement, he worked as a coach.

International career
Benarrivo played with the national team a total of 23 times, and for a period, he was the starting right-back for the Italians. He made his debut on 22 September 1993 under manager Arrigo Sacchi, in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Estonia. He took part in the 1994 FIFA World Cup with Italy, where they reached the final only to lose out to Brazil on penalties. Benarrivo was a key member of the starting line-up for the 1994 World Cup, also featuring in the final defeat, and demonstrating his tactical versatility as he alternated between playing on the right and the left flanks. During the tournament, he notably won a penalty in extra time during the round of 16 match against Nigeria, from which Roberto Baggio subsequently scored, sending the Italians to the quarter-finals. Benarrivo played with the national side until 1997, making his final appearance on 29 October, against Russia.

Playing style
Although he was usually deployed on the right, Benarrivo was comfortable playing on both flanks. An energetic offensive full-back, he was known for his attacking prowess, despite rarely scoring, and was sometimes employed as a wing-back, or as a makeshift wide midfielder, due to his pace, stamina, offensive capabilities, technique, crossing accuracy and ability to cover the flank both offensively and defensively. These attributes led him to be considered one of the best players in his position during the 1990s.

Honours
Parma
Coppa Italia: 1991–92, 1998–99, 2001–02
Supercoppa Italiana: 1999
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1992–93
UEFA Cup: 1994–95, 1998–99
UEFA Super Cup: 1993

Italy
FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1994

References

1968 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Brindisi
Men's association football fullbacks
Italian men's footballers
Italy men's international footballers
Calcio Padova players
Parma Calcio 1913 players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Serie C players
UEFA Cup winning players
Footballers from Apulia

Antonio Benarrivo


is a member of the Japanese imperial family. She is the only child of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan.

Following her birth, the ongoing Japanese imperial succession debate had resulted in some politicians holding a favorable view on rescinding agnatic primogeniture imposed by World War II allies on the constitution of Japan. However, once her uncle and the current crown prince Fumihito had his son Hisahito in September 2006 he became next in the line of succession following his father. Aiko remains at present legally ineligible to inherit the throne, while debate about the possibility of having future empresses regnant continues.

Birth

Princess Aiko was born on 1 December 2001 at 2:43 PM in the Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace,
the first and only child of the then-Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Naruhito and Masako.

In a break with tradition, the name of the princess was chosen by her parents, instead of by the Emperor. It was selected from clause 56 of Li Lou II, one of the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Mencius. Aiko, the princess's personal name, is written with the kanji characters for  and  and means "a person who loves others". The princess also has an imperial title, , which means "a person who respects others".

Education
Princess Aiko began her education at Gakushūin Kindergarten on 3 April 2006. She left kindergarten on 15 March 2008.

On her eighth birthday, it was revealed her interests included writing kanji characters, calligraphy, jump rope, playing piano and violin, and writing poetry.

In early March 2010, Aiko began to stay home from school due to being bullied by boys in her elementary school. Aiko returned to school on a limited basis on 2 May 2010. After returning to school, a senior palace official said that she would attend a limited number of classes accompanied by her mother, upon advice from a doctor at the Crown Prince's household.

In November 2011, Aiko was hospitalized with pneumonia. In 2014, she enrolled at the Gakushuin Girl's Junior High-school.

In the summer of 2018, she made her first solo trip abroad to attend a summer program at Eton College. Reports from an unnamed palace source close to the family reported that Aiko provides her mother Masako with emotional support in her new role as empress. In February 2020 she was accepted at Gakushuin University where she is to major in Japanese language and literature.

Public life

From the age of 16, Aiko began accompanying her parents at public appearances. She was ineligible to attend any of her father's ascension ceremonies in person as she was still a minor at the time. On 5 December 2021, the Sunday after her 20th birthday, she participated in formal coming of age ceremonies and was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown by the Emperor. She attended the 2022 New Year celebration at the Imperial Palace as her first public event as a working member of the imperial family. Her first press conference took place on 17 March. Her next public outing was on 5 November, when she participated with her cousin Princess Kako of Akishino in a so-called "Gagaku" concert organized by the Imperial Household Agency. On 24 November, Princess Aiko visited an exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum, with her parents.

Succession to the throne
The Imperial Household Law of 1947 abolished the Japanese nobility; under provisions of this law, the imperial family was streamlined to the descendants of Emperor Taishō. The laws of succession in Japan prevent inheritance by or through women.

Debate

The birth of Princess Aiko sparked debate in Japan about whether the Imperial Household Law of 1947 should be changed from the current system of agnatic primogeniture to absolute primogeniture, which would allow a woman, as firstborn, to inherit the Chrysanthemum Throne ahead of a younger brother or male cousin. Although Imperial chronologies include eight empresses regnant in the course of Japanese history, their successors were always selected from amongst the members of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century. Though Empress Genmei was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō, Genshō's father, Prince Kusakabe, was also a member of the imperial dynasty, as the son of Emperor Tenmu, and therefore Genshō was a patrilineal descendant of the imperial bloodline. In addition, Empress Genshō herself was succeeded by her brother's son, thus keeping the throne in the same agnatic line; both Genshō and Genmei, as well as all other empresses regnant and emperors, belonged to the same agnatic line.

A government-appointed panel of experts submitted a report on 25 October 2005, recommending that the Imperial succession law be amended to permit absolute primogeniture. On 20 January 2006, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi used part of his annual keynote speech to address the controversy when he pledged to submit a bill to the Diet letting women ascend to the throne in order that the Imperial throne be continued into the future in a stable manner. Koizumi did not announce a timing for the legislation to be introduced nor did he provide details about the content, but he did note that it would be in line with the conclusions of the 2005 government panel.

Birth of male cousin

Proposals to replace agnatic primogeniture were shelved temporarily after it was announced in February 2006 that the-then Crown Prince's younger brother, Fumihito, Prince Akishino, and his wife, Kiko, Princess Akishino, were expecting their third child. On 6 September 2006, Princess Kiko gave birth to a son, Hisahito, who was third in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne at the time of the birth under the current law, after his uncle, the then-Crown Prince, and his father, Prince Akishino. The prince's birth provided the first male heir to be born in the imperial family in 41 years. On 3 January 2007, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced that he would drop the proposal to alter the Imperial Household Law. Therefore, at this time, it seems unlikely that the succession laws will be changed to allow Princess Aiko to ascend the throne.

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles
Princess Aiko is styled as "Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko". She also has an imperial title, .

Honours

National honours
:  Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown (5 December 2021)

References

External links
 Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress at the Imperial Household Agency website
 Press Conference by Their Imperial Highness The Crown Prince and Crown Princess After the Birth of Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko
 Press Conference on the occasion of the First Birthday of Her Imperial Highness Princess Aiko (2002) (Written Answers)
 BBC News | Japan's new princess meets the public

Japanese princesses
2001 births
Living people
People from Chiyoda, Tokyo
21st-century Japanese women
21st-century Japanese people
Grand Cordons (Imperial Family) of the Order of the Precious Crown
Daughters of emperors

Aiko, Princess Toshi


Piacenza (;  ; ) is a city and  in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more than 102,000 inhabitants.

Westernmost major city of the region of Emilia-Romagna, it has strong relations with Lombardy, with which it borders, and in particular with Milan. It was defined by Leonardo da Vinci as a "Land of passage" in his Codex Atlanticus, by virtue of its crucial geographical location. This strategic location would influence the history of Piacenza significantly at several times.

Piacenza integrates characteristics of the nearby Ligurian and Piedmontese territories added to a prevalent Lombard influence, favored by communications with the nearby metropolis, which attenuate its Emilian footprint.

Piacenza is located at a major crossroads at the intersection of Route E35/A1 between Bologna and Milan, and Route E70/A21 between Brescia and Turin. Piacenza is also at the confluence of the Trebbia, draining the northern Apennine Mountains, and the Po, draining to the east.

Piacenza hosts two universities, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Polytechnic University of Milan and University of Parma.

Etymology
The etymology is long-standing, tracing an origin from the Latin verb , "to please". The name means "pleasant" or (as James Boswell reported some of the etymologists of his time to have translated it) "comely abode", and it was given as a good omen.

History

Ancient history

Pre-Roman era
Before its settlement by the Romans, the area was populated by other peoples; specifically, just prior to the Roman settlement, the region on the right bank of the Po River between the Trebbia River and the Taro River had been occupied by the Ananes or Anamari, a tribe of Cisalpine Gauls. Before then, according to Polybius, "These plains were anciently inhabited by Etruscans" before the Gauls took the entire Po Valley from them.

Roman age
in May 218 BC, Piacenza and Cremona were founded as Roman military colonies. The Romans had planned to construct them after the successful conclusion of the latest war with the Gauls ending in 219 BC. In the spring of 218 BC, after declaring war on Carthage, the Senate decided to accelerate the foundation and gave the colonists 30 days to appear on the sites to receive their lands. Each colony was to be settled by 6,000 Roman citizens, but the cities were to receive Latin Rights; that is, they were to have the same legal status as the many colonies that had been co-founded by Rome and towns of Latium.

The reaction of the region's Gauls was swift; they drove the colonists off the lands. Taking refuge in Mutina, the colonists sent for military assistance. A small force under Lucius Manlius was prevented from reaching the area. The Senate then sent two legions under Gaius Atelius. Collecting Manlius and the colonists, they descended on Piacenza and Cremona and successfully placed castra there of  to support the building of the city. Piacenza must have been walled immediately, as the walls were in place when the Battle of the Trebia was fought around the city in December. There is no evidence either textual or archaeological of a prior settlement at that exact location; however, such a site would have been obliterated by construction. Piacenza was the fifty-third colony to be placed by Rome following its foundation. It was the first among the Gauls of the Po valley.

It had to be supplied by boat after the Battle of Trebbia, when Hannibal controlled the countryside, for which purpose a port (Emporium) was constructed. In 209 BC, Hasdrubal Barca crossed the Alps and laid siege to the city, but he was unable to take it, and he withdrew. In 200 BC, the Gauls sacked and burned the city, selling the inhabitants into slavery. Subsequently, the victorious Romans restored the city and managed to recover 2,000 of its citizens. In 198 BC, a combined force of Gauls and Ligurians plundered the whole region. As the people had never recovered from being sold into slavery, in 190 BC, they complained to Senate of underpopulation; in response the Senate sent 3,000 new settlers. Construction of the Via Aemilia in the decade of the 180s made the city easily accessible from the Adriatic ports, which improved trade and the prospects for timely defense.

The Liver of Piacenza, a bronze model of a sheep's liver for the purposes of haruspicy was discovered in 1877 at Gossolengo just to the south of Piacenza. It bears witness to the survival of the disciplina Etrusca well after the Roman conquest.

Although sacked and devastated several times, the city always recovered and by the sixth century Procopius was calling it "the principal city in the country of Aemilia".

The first Bishop of Piacenza (322–357), San Vittorio, declared Saint Antoninus of Piacenza, a soldier of the Theban Legion (and not to be confused with the sixth-century Antoninus of Piacenza), the patron saint of Piacenza and had the first basilica constructed to honor the saint in 324. The basilica was restored in 903 and rebuilt in 1101, again in 1562, and is still a church today. The remains of the bishop and the soldier-saint are in urns under the altar. The theme of Antoninus, protector of Piacenza, is well known in art.

Middle Ages

Piacenza was sacked during the course of the Gothic War (535–554). After a short period of being reconquered by the Roman emperor Justinian I, it was conquered by the Lombards, who made it a duchy seat. After its conquest by Francia in the ninth century, the city began to recover, aided by its location along the Via Francigena that later connected the Holy Roman Empire with Rome. Its population and importance grew further after the year 1000. That period marked a gradual transfer of governing powers from the feudal lords to a new enterprising class, as well to the feudal class of the countryside.

In 1095, the city was the site of the Council of Piacenza, in which the First Crusade was proclaimed. From 1126, Piacenza was a free commune and an important member of the Lombard League. In this role, it took part in the war against Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor and in the subsequent battle of Legnano (1176). It also successfully fought the neighbouring communes of Cremona, Pavia, and Parma, expanding its territory. Piacenza also captured control of the trading routes with Genoa, where the first Piacentini bankers had already settled, from the Malaspina counts and the bishop of Bobbio.

In the thirteenth century, despite unsuccessful wars against Frederick I, Piacenza managed to gain strongholds on the Lombardy shore of the Po. The preliminaries of the Peace of Constance were signed in 1183 in the Saint Antoninus church. Agriculture and trade flourished in these centuries and Piacenza became one of the richest cities in Europe. This is reflected in the construction of many important buildings and in the general revision of the urban plan. Struggles for control were commonplace in the second half of the thirteenth century, similarly to the large majority of Medieval Italian communes. The Scotti family, Pallavicini family and  (1290–1313) in that order, held power during the period. Scoto's government ended when the Visconti of Milan captured Piacenza, which they would hold until 1447. Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti rewrote Piacenza's statutes and relocated the University of Pavia to the city. Piacenza then became a possession of the House of Sforza until 1499.

Modern era

Chiefly due to the expansion of agriculture in the countryside surrounding Piacenza, the city progressed economically and a coin from the sixteenth century (that is displayed to the right) declares that by featuring the motto: Placentia floret ("Piacenza flourishes") on one of its sides. Also in the course of that century a new city wall was erected. Piacenza, as part of the Duchy of Milan, was ruled, at alternate times, by the Sforza and by France until 1521, when, under Pope Leo X, it became part of the Papal States. From 1545, following the creation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza by Pope Paul III to his son Pier Luigi Farnese, the city was ruled by the House of Farnese.

Piacenza was the capital city of the duchy until Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma (1547–1586), moved the capital to Parma. The city underwent some of its most difficult years during the rule of Odoardo Farnese, Duke of Parma (1622–1646). Out of the population of 30,000 in the city between 6,000 and 13,000 Piacentini died from famine and plague. The city and its countryside were ravaged by bandits and French soldiers as well.

Between 1732 and 1859, Parma and Piacenza were ruled by the House of Bourbon. In the eighteenth century, several edifices that belonged to noble families such as Scotti, Landi, and Fogliani were built in Piacenza.

In 1802, Napoleon's army annexed Piacenza to the French Empire. Young Piacentini recruits were sent to fight in Russia, Spain, and Germany, while the city was plundered of a great number of artworks that are currently exhibited in many French museums.

The Habsburg government of Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (1816–1847), is remembered fondly as one of the best in the history of Piacenza. The duchess drained many lands, built several bridges across the Trebbia and the Nure and created educational and artistic activities.

Union with Italy

Austrian troops occupied Piacenza until, in 1860, a plebiscite marked the entrance of the city into the Kingdom of Sardinia. When 37,089 voters out of 37,585 voted for the annexation, Piacenza was declared Primogenita dell'Unità di Italia ("First-born of the Unification of Italy") by the monarch. The Piacentini enrolled en masse in Giuseppe Garibaldi's army for the Expedition of the Thousand.

In 1858, the geologist Karl Mayer-Eymar named the Piacenzian Age of the Pliocene Epoch based on deposits close to Piacenza.

In June 1865, the first railway bridge over the Po River in northern Italy was inaugurated (in southern Italy a railroad bridge had been built across the river in 1839). In 1891, the first Chamber of Workers was created in Piacenza.

World War II
During World War II, the city was heavily bombed by the Allies because of its strategic elements. The important railway and road bridges across the Trebbia and the Po and the railway yards were destroyed. The historic centre of city suffered collateral damage. In 1944, the bridges over the Po became vital for the supply from Austria of Field Marshal Albert Kesselring's Gothic Line, which protected the withdrawal of Kesselring's troops from Italy. Foremost among these were the railway and road bridges at Piacenza, along with supply depots and railway yards. In Operation Mallory Major, July 12–15, allied medium bombers from Corsica flew 300 sorties a day, knocking out 21 bridges east of Piacenza and then continued to the west for a total of 90 by July 20. Fighter-bombers prevented reconstruction and cut roads and rail lines. By August 4, all the cities of northern Italy were isolated and had suffered heavy bombing, especially Piacenza. Transport to Genoa to the south or through Turin to the north was impossible; nevertheless, Kesselring continued to supply his men.

On the hills and the Apennine Mountains, partisans were active. On April 25, 1945, a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement broke out and on 29 April, troops of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force entered the city. In 1996, president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro honoured Piacenza with the gold medal for Valour in Battle.

There was a prisoner of war (POW) camp located in Piacenza, Veano Camp PG 29.

Geography

Climate
Climate in this area is humid subtropical with no dry season, constantly moist. Summers are hot and sultry. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfa" (Humid subtropical climate).

Government

Main sights
Piacenza boasts a great number of historical palaces, often characterized by splendid gardens.

Major palaces of interest
Palazzo Comunale, also known as il Gotico, was built in 1281 as the town hall. It is a prototypic Broletto of Lombardy. Of the original design, only the northern side was completed, with its typical Ghibelline merlons, the arcaded frame, the central bell tower with two lesser ones at the sides. The façade, with five arcades, is in pink marble in the lower part and in brickwork (decorated with geometrical figures) in the upper part. The main hall has frescoes and is used for meetings, lectures, and conferences.
Palazzo Farnese, was begun in 1568 by Ottavio Farnese and his wife, Margaret of Parma. The initial project was devised by Francesco Paciotto, from Urbino, and works were entrusted to Giovanni Bernardo Della Valle, Giovanni Lavezzari, and Bernardo Panizzari (Caramosino). The design was modified in 1568 by Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, better known as "Vignola".
Palazzo Landi, built in the Middle Ages but renovated in the late fifteenth century
Palazzo Costa
Palazzo Somaglia
Palazzo Baldini, on Via San Siro
Palazzo Scotti (also known as Palazzo della Prefettura) housing the Museum of Natural History
Palazzo dei Mercanti (17th century), the current Town Hall

Other places of interest
 Piazza Cavalli is the main square of the town. It is named ("Cavalli" means "horses") for the two bronze equestrian monuments of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (r. 1586-), nephew and valiant general of Philip II of Spain) and his son Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, who succeeded him. The statues are masterpieces of Francesco Mochi, a Mannerist sculptor.
Piacenza Cathedral is the Catholic cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, built during 1122 to 1233 and it is a valuable examples of northern-Italian Romanesque architecture. The façade, in Veronese pink marble and gilted stone, is parted horizontally by a gallery that dominates the three gates, and is decorated with capitals and Romanic statues. The interior has a nave and two aisles, divided by 25 large pillars. It has noteworthy frescoes, made in the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries by Camillo Procaccini and Ludovico Carracci, while those of the dome are by Morazzone and Guercino. The presbytery as a wooden sculpture from 1479, a wooden choir by Giangiacomo da Genova (1471), and statues of Lombard school from the 15th century. The crypt, built on the Greek cross plan, has 108 Romanesque small columns and is home to the relics of Saint Justine, to which the first cathedral (that crumbled down in the 1117 Verona earthquake) was dedicated.
San Francesco Church is located centrally in Piazza Cavalli. The twelfth-century Romanesque-Gothic edifice assumed the role of civic sanctuary in the Middle Ages. Part of the medieval cloisters remains. The main portal is surmounted by a fifteenth-century lunette depicting the Ecstasy of St. Francis. The nave and two aisles, are divided by low and sturdy brick pillars that support high gothic arches. The church has a Latin cross layout. The nave, taller than the aisles, has a pentahedric apse in which the aisle apses meet; decorations include fifteenth-sixteenth centuries frescoes. In 1848, the annexion of Piacenza to the Kingdom of Sardinia was announced from the church.
Basilica of Sant'Antonino is an example of Romanesque architecture, characterized by a large octagonal tower. It was commissioned by St. Victor, first bishop of the city, in 350 CE, and completed in 375. It contains the relics of the eponymous saint, martyred near Travo, in the Val Trebbia. In 1183 the delegates of Frederick Barbarossa and of the Lombard League met in the basilica for the preliminaries of peace of Constance. The church was renovated after damage created by the barbarian invasion. It has a fifteenth-century cloister. In the interior, the main artworks are the frescoes by Camillo Gervasetti (1622).
Basilica of San Savino was dedicated to St. Victor's successor, was begun in 903 but consecrated only in 1107. The façade and the portico are from the 17th-18th centuries. The presbytery and the crypts contain 12th century polychrome mosaics. The interior is in Lombard-Gothic style, with anthropomorphic capitals of the columns. Over the high altar is a 12th-century wooden crucifix by an unknown artist.
San Giovanni in Canale was founded by the Dominicans in 1220, and enlarged in the mid-sixteenth century.
Santa Maria in Campagna is a Renaissance church facing Piazzale delle Crociate ("Crusades Square"), so called because Pope Urban II summoned the First Crusade here in 1095. The church was built in 1522–1528 to house a miraculous wooden sculpture of the Madonna. The layout was originally in a central Greek-cross plan, but later was altered into a Latin cross type. Il Pordenone frescoed the dome and in two chapels on the left side.
St. Sixtus is a Renaissance church with a choir designed by Gio Pietro Pambianco da Colorno and Bartolomeo da Busseto (1512-1514). It was begun in the fifteenth century over a temple built in 874 by Empress Angilberga. In 1513, the monks of St. Sixtus commissioned Raphael to produce the altarpiece known as the Sistine Madonna. They sold it in 1754 to Augustus III of Poland. It is now on display in Dresden.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is by Alessio Tramello.
 The Piacenza's Archaeological Museum, part of the Civic Museums of Palazzo Farnese, houses the pre-Roman bronze Liver of Piacenza, an Etruscan bronze model of a sheep's liver dating from the end of the second century to the beginning of the first century BC. The model was discovered in 1877 in Ciavernasco di Settima, near Gossolengo in the Piacenza hinterland. Containing writing on its surface delineating the various parts of the liver and their significance, it was likely used as an educational tool for students studying haruspicy, or divination.
Palazzo Landi was built in the Middle Ages and rebuilt in its current form in the fifteenth century by Lombard craftsmen. It has a Renaissance marble portal. It is now seat of the local Tribunal.
 Galleria d'arte moderna Ricci Oddi is an art museum dedicated mainly to modern Italian painters.
 Collegio Alberoni is a Roman Catholic seminary founded by Cardinal Giulio Alberoni in the eighteenth century. The seminary maintains a gallery that displays Alberoni's personal collection of fine tapestries and Renaissance and Baroque paintings by notable artists such as Luca Giordano, Antonello da Messina, and Guido Reni.

Dialect

Many inhabitants of Piacenza and the surrounding province still use Piacentino, which is a variety of the Emilian dialect the Emilian-Romagnol language. Emilian-Romagnol is a member of a different Romance subfamily (Gallo-Italic) than Standard Italian (which is an Italo-Dalmatian language) and its distinct grammar and phonology make it mutually unintelligible with that language.

Although there have been a number of notable poets and writers using Piacentino, the language has experienced a steady decline during the twentieth century due to the growing standardization of the Italian language in the national educational system.

Sport
Piacenza Calcio 1919 is the main and most supported football team and played in Serie A for eight seasons. They play at the Stadio Leonardo Garilli.

The city's other club, Pro Piacenza 1919, declared bankruptcy in 2019.

Volley Piacenza is the main men's volleyball team and currently plays in serie A1; its palmares entails a championship, a national cup, a national supercup, and two European cups. River Volley is the main women's volleyball team and won the national championship twice.

Rugby is relatively popular compared with Italian standards and Piacenza has a number of rugby teams: Piacenza Rugby Club and Rugby Lyons Piacenza are the most important.

Cuisine

Piacenza and its province are known for the production of seasoned and salted pork products. The main specialities are pancetta (rolled seasoned pork belly, salted and spiced), coppa (seasoned pork neck, containing less fat than pancetta, matured at least for six months), and salame (chopped pork meat flavoured with spices and wine, and made into sausages).

Bortellina (salted pancakes made with flour, salt, and water or milk) and chisulén (torta fritta in Standard Italian; made with flour, milk, and animal fats mixed together and then fried in hot strutto, or clarified pork fat) are considered the perfect coupling of pancetta, coppa, and salame, but they are also considered good with cheeses, particularly Gorgonzola and Robiola.

Pisarei e faśö is a mixture of handmade pasta and borlotti beans. This is served with a sauce made of tomato puree, extra virgin olive oil, onion, salt, and pepper. The dish typically is consumed with grated Parmigiano on top.

Among the culinary specialties of the Piacenza region (although also enjoyed in nearby Cremona) is mostarda di frutta, consisting of preserved fruits in a sugary syrup that is strongly flavored with mustard. Turtlìt (tortelli dolci in standard Italian), or fruit dumplings, are filled with mostarda di frutta, mashed chestnuts, and other ingredients, and they are served at Easter. Turtlìt are popular in the Ferrara area as well. Turtéi, a similarly named Piacentine specialty, is a kind of pasta filled with spinaches and ricotta cheese, or filled with calabash. A similar Piacentine dish is the Panzerotti al Forno, which is made with pasta, ricotta cheese, and spinach.

Piacentine staple foods include corn (generally cooked as polenta) and rice (usually cooked as risotto), both of which are very common across northern Italy. Cheeses, such as Grana Padano, are produced in Piacenza although nearby Parma is more famous for its dairy products.

The hills surrounding Piacenza are known for their vineyards. The wine produced in the area is qualified with a denominazione di origine controllata called "Colli Piacentini" ("Hills of Piacenza"). The main wines are Gutturnio (red wines, both sparkling and still), Bonarda (a red wine, often sparkling and foamy, made from Croatina grapes), Ortrugo (a dry white wine), and Malvasia (a sweet white wine).

Notable people

 Saint Gerard of Potenza (died 1119), Bishop of Potenza from 1111 until his death
 Placentinus (died 1192), founder of the Law School of the University of Montpellier
 Reinerius Saccho (1200s – ca.1263), a learned and zealous Italian Dominican
 Teobaldo Visconti (ca.1210–1276), elected Pope Gregory X.
 Saint Conrad of Piacenza (1290–1351), medieval Franciscan hermit
 Antonio Cornazzano (c.1432-1484), poet and humanist, courtier at Milan and Ferrara
 Cornelio Musso (1511–1574), Bishop of Bitonto (1544–1574) and prominent at the Council of Trent
 Ferrante Pallavicino (1615–1644), writer of antisocial stories and novels with biblical and profane themes
 Giulio Alberoni (1664-1752), cardinal and statesman, Bishop of Malaga and Chief Minister to Philip V of Spain from 1715 to 1719 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance
 Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691–1765), vedute painter and architect
 Casto Innocenzio Ansaldi (1710–1780), professor, theologian, and archaeologist
 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (1711–1786), member of the Guadagnini family of luthiers
 Melchiorre Gioia (1767–1829), philosopher and political economist
 Pietro Giordani (1774–1848), writer and classical literary scholar
 Domenico Palmieri (1829–1909), a Jesuit scholastic theologian
 Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–1886), musician and composer, began his career there in 1861
 Giacomo Radini-Tedeschi (1857-1914), Bishop of Bergamo and mentor of the future Pope John XXIII
 Luigi Illica (1857–1919), librettist, author, and co-author (with Giuseppe Giacosa) of opera librettos for Giacomo Puccini (La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly), Alfredo Catalani (La Wally), and Umberto Giordano (Andrea Chénier)
 Giuseppe Merosi (1872–1956), automobile engineer
 Alfredo Soressi (1897–1982), painter
 Ettore Boiardi (1897–1985), chef, better known as Chef Boyardee
 Luigi Corbellini (1901–1968), post-impressionist painter and sculptor
 Edoardo Amaldi (1908–1989), physicist, professor at Sapienza University of Rome (1938–1979), co-founder of CERN, ESA, and INFN
Amedeo Guillet (1909–2010), World War II cavalry commander and diplomat, also known as "Comandante Diavolo"
 Agostino Casaroli (1914–1998), cardinal and Holy See diplomat, Cardinal Secretary of State (1979–1990)
 Mario Biaggi (1917-2015) whose parents came from Piacenza; he was a policeman and a U.S. Congressman
 Giorgio Armani (born 1934), fashion designer, entrepreneur, and founder of Armani
 Mario Arcelli (1935–2004), economist and once minister for budget of the Italian Government (1996)
 Ettore Gotti Tedeschi (born 1945), economist and banker, former president of the Vatican Bank
 Giuseppe Orsi (born 1945), CEO of Finmeccanica (2011-2013)
 Federico Ghizzoni (born 1955), CEO of Unicredit
 Ilaria Ramelli (born 1973), Italian-born historian
 Nina Zilli (born 1980), singer and songwriter who represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

In sports
 Giorgia Bronzini (born 1983), cyclist, World Champion of women's cycling in 2010 and 2011
 Pino Dordoni (1926–1998), 50 km walk Olympic gold medallist at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki
 Nicolò Fagioli, (born 2001), football player
 Leonardo Fornaroli (born 2004), racing driver
 Filippo "Pippo" Inzaghi (born 1973), World Cup-winning footballer and football coach
 Simone Inzaghi (born 1976), professional footballer
 Tarquinio Provini (1933–2005), twice World Champion Grand Prix motorcycle racer

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Piacenza is twinned with:
 Plasencia, Spain
 Togliatti, Russia
 Erfurt, Germany
 Placentia, California, United States
 Capilla de Guadalupe, Mexico

See also
Conrad of Piacenza
Piacenza railway station
Roman Catholic Diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio

References

Bibliography

External links

 Piacenza on The Campanile Project

Roman towns and cities in Italy
Roman sites of Emilia-Romagna
Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna
218 BC
210s BC establishments
Populated places established in the 3rd century BC

Piacenza


The Honourable Justice (R) Nasir Aslam Zahid (Urdu:ناصر اسلم زاہد); Barrister-at-Law, is a Pakistani judge who served as the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court and then a judge of the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan and Supreme Court of Pakistan.

He did his Bachelors from Government College of Lahore. He left Pakistan in 1954 to Cambridge for his further studies and came back in 1957.

He gained more honor and respect when he resigned from the Supreme Court of Pakistan instead of taking the oath of office per General Pervez Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

Early life
Nasir Aslam Zahid was born in Mussoorie, near Delhi, British India. His father, Sir Zahid Hussain was a finance officer, and had also served as chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. Later in Pakistan, his father was the first governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. He had a very supportive family of 9.

His uncle was a criminal lawyer who used to tell him stories about his daily cases. These stories built his interest in this field and that's when he decided to practice law.

Education
Nasir Aslam Zahid matriculated from Saint Patrick's High School, Karachi, did his BA degree at Government College Lahore, and went on to the University of Cambridge to study law and received a Bachelor's degree there. In 1956, he was called to the Bar from the Middle Temple. He completed his degree in 1957 and came back to Pakistan.

Career
In 1957, Barrister Zahid enrolled as an advocate of the Sindh High Court, and of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1962. He was then promoted to the Bench of the Sindh High Court as an Additional Judge in 1980, and in 1983 was made a permanent judge of the Sindh High Court. The Pakistan Peoples Party government temporarily removed him from the Bench in 1988 to send him off on deputation as the federal law secretary, a post he held until June 1990 when he returned to the Sindh High Court. From January 1991 to the end of April of that year, he moved to the Supreme Court as an ad hoc Judge. He had several spells as 'acting Chief Justice of Sindh', during the absence of the sitting Chief Justice, and in May 1992 took over as permanent Chief Justice.

By 1994, Justice Zahid's independence could be tolerated no more by the harsh law enforcement agencies, backed by the executive wing of the government. Zahid granted no concessions to the agencies or the government prosecuting authorities. He was transferred to the Federal Shariat Court on 16 April 1994, without his consent, for a period of two years. Later he was elevated as a permanent judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. However, he continued his contributions towards the dispensing of justice to the people of Pakistan until the year 2000, and then resigned from the Supreme Court of Pakistan instead of taking the oath of the office as ordered by General. Pervez Musharraf's Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), which would have required the judges never to find illegality in the new government, no matter what actions the government took.

Contributions and social activities
He is involved in human rights issues and judicial education, and has spent much of his time since his retirement on dealing with women's legal concerns. He has been serving as Dean, Faculty of Legal Studies, and Head of Hamdard School of Law at the Hamdard University, Karachi, since October 2000.

Justice Zahid collaborated with the Government of Sindh, Pakistan, for the establishment of a 'Committee for the Welfare of Women Prisoners' at the Special Prison for Women at Karachi. However, in 2009, the work was expanded to include Juveniles and Male Prisoners of all 22 prisons in Sindh.

In November 2006, former Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and Naib Nazim, City of Karachi, Nasreen Jalil
announced plans to provide full legal assistance to women victims of domestic violence.

In November 2001, Governor, State Bank of Pakistan Ishrat Hussain along with Nasir Aslam Zahid announced plans to set up an annual award in memory of Nasir Aslam Zahid's father Zahid Hussain. This award would be given to deserving students and State Bank of Pakistan employees on merit basis. The family of Zahid Hussain and the State Bank of Pakistan would provide funds for this annual award.

See also
 Supreme Court of Pakistan
 Zahid Hussain (banker) (Nasir Aslam Zahid's father)
 Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui

References

External links

Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge
Government College University, Lahore alumni
Law school deans
Living people
Muhajir people
Pakistani barristers
Pakistani human rights activists
Chief Justices of the Sindh High Court
Pakistani lawyers
Pakistani women's rights activists
Pakistani scholars
St. Patrick's High School, Karachi alumni
Lawyers from Karachi
1934 births
Pakistani academic administrators
Justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
People from Karachi
People from Mussoorie

Nasir Aslam Zahid


John Leslie Toohey, AC, QC (4 March 1930 – 9 April 2015) was an Australian judge who was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1987 to 1998.

Early life and education
Toohey was born in rural Western Australia on 4 March 1930, to Albert and Sylvia Toohey. He was the eldest child, with two younger sisters and a younger brother. He completed his secondary education at St. Louis School (now John XXIII College), a Catholic school in Perth. He studied law and arts at the University of Western Australia. He graduated with first class honours in law in 1950, receiving the FE Parsons Prize (for the most outstanding graduate) and the HCF Keall Prize (for the best fourth year student). He completed his arts degree with first-class honours in 1956.

Legal career
After completing his law degree, Toohey commenced his articles of clerkship at the Perth law firm Lavan & Walsh, and was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1952.

Toohey soon rose to prominence in the Western Australian legal profession, developing expertise in taxation and property law. At the age of 31, he appeared before the High Court in Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Finn, which concerned the deductibility of travelling expenses.

He was a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Western Australia from 1957 to 1958, as well as a Visiting Lecturer from 1953 to 1965. He was well known for his lectures in property law.

In December 1966, Toohey commenced practising at the independent bar, becoming the 10th member of the Western Australian Bar Association. In 1968, he was appointed Queen's Counsel. By the early 1970s, he had a busy practice built around criminal law, contract law and property law. In 1972, he appeared in the High Court in Adamson v Hayes, an important case concerning the construction of section 34 of the Property Law Act 1969 (WA). He served as president of the Western Australian Bar Association from 1969 to 1972, and was president of the Law Society of Western Australia from 1972 to 1973.

In 1974, Toohey helped to establish the Port Hedland office of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia. The following year, he appeared as counsel for the Skull Creek Aboriginal Community in the Laverton Royal Commission investigating the clashes between police and Aboriginal people at Laverton and Skull Creek in December 1974 and January 1975. The Commission's report vindicated the Aboriginal people's version of events and found that police were unable to justify the arrests.

Judicial career
In 1977, Toohey was appointed a justice of the Federal Court of Australia, and, concurrently, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. In 1980, he was appointed as a Presidential member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

In 1977, he was also appointed as the inaugural Aboriginal Land Commissioner, a position he held until 1982. In his role as Commissioner, Toohey heard claims under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth). Under the Act, the Commissioner was granted wide statutory powers, and decisions of the Commissioner could be appealed directly to the Full Court of the High Court. During Toohey's term as Commissioner, a number of his decisions were appealed to the High Court:
 R v Toohey; Ex parte Attorney-General (NT);
 R v Toohey; Ex parte Northern Land Council;
 R v Toohey; Ex parte Meneling Station Pty Ltd;

In 1982, at the conclusion of his term as Aboriginal Land Commissioner, he returned to Perth to work full-time in his role as Federal Court judge.

In 1985, Toohey was appointed as a member of the Constitutional Commission, a body formed by the Commonwealth Government in the same year to carry out a fundamental review of the Australian Constitution.

Toohey continued to work as a Federal Court judge until 1987, when he was appointed to the High Court of Australia, replacing Justice Lionel Murphy. He was sworn in as a Justice on 6 February 1987, the same day that Sir Anthony Mason was sworn in as Chief Justice and Mary Gaudron was sworn in as a Justice. Together with Justices Brennan, Deane and Dawson, they were part of the Mason Court, the membership of which was remarkably stable (with only one change, from Justice Wilson to McHugh, occurring in 1989) between 1987 and Mason's retirement in 1995.

Toohey retired from the bench in February 1998. After his retirement, Toohey served as a judge in the judicial system of Kiribati and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Fiji.

He became a Visiting Professor in Law at the University of Western Australia. In September 2000 he was appointed to be one of the three independent members of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry (chaired by Lord Saville) into the events of 30 January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland (replacing New Zealander Sir Edward Somers QC, who retired for personal reasons).

He died peacefully at home on 9 April 2015.

Honours
Toohey was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1986, which was advanced to a Companion of the Order of Australia two years later, in 1988 (AC). Also in 1988, Toohey was awarded an honorary doctorate in laws from Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001.

References

1930 births
2015 deaths
Justices of the High Court of Australia
Companions of the Order of Australia
Judges of the Federal Court of Australia
Australian King's Counsel
Australian judges on the courts of Kiribati
Australian judges on the courts of Fiji
Supreme Court of Fiji justices
University of Western Australia alumni

John Toohey (judge)


Frank McGuirt was a Democratic member of the North Carolina House of Representatives and a former sheriff of Union County, North Carolina.

McGuirt was appointed to the legislature in March 2011 to replace Rep. Pryor Gibson, who had resigned. He represents House District 69, which includes all of Anson County and part of Union County.  His term ended January 1, 2013.

McGuirt served as sheriff of Union County from 1979 to 2002 when he retired.  He then opened McGuirt Advertising a promotional products dealership.  He was also a licensed private investigator, associated with Allen's Professional Investigations.  Prior to becoming sheriff he was a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Shelly Griffin and Frank Fowler, rising to rank of lieutenant.  McGuirt was a crime scene investigator and fingerprint technician.  Prior to the sheriff's office he was a Monroe City Firefighter for 3 years.  McGuirt also operated a retail store specializing in phonograph records and photography.  He also was a partner in a commercial printing company in Monroe for several years.

Frank McGuirt and his wife the former Jenny Ratliff of Anson County are the parents of two sons, William of Hunterville, NC and Jonathan of Monroe, NC.  Jonathan and his former wife, Christina, are the parents of Frank's granddaughter, Elizabeth.

While sheriff Frank McGuirt served as president of the NC Sheriffs' Association and was named Union County Man of the Year.

External links
Official site

References
WRAL: Ex-sheriff McGuirt replaces Gibson in NC House

Democratic Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives
Living people
21st-century American politicians
Year of birth missing (living people)

Frank McGuirt