The "Salve Regina" ( , ; meaning "Hail Queen"), also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at Compline in the time from the Saturday before Trinity Sunday until the Friday before the first Sunday of Advent. The Hail Holy Queen is also the final prayer of the Rosary.

The work was composed during the Middle Ages and originally appeared in Latin, the prevalent language of Western Christianity until modern times. Though traditionally ascribed to the eleventh-century German monk Hermann of Reichenau, it is regarded as anonymous by most musicologists. Traditionally it has been sung in Latin, though many translations exist. These are often used as spoken prayers.

Background and history
Marian antiphons have been sung, since the thirteenth century, at the close of Compline, the last Office of the day. Peter Canisius (d. 1597) noted that one praises God in Mary when one turns to her in song. Liturgically, the Salve Regina is the best known of four prescribed Marian Anthems recited after Compline, and, in some uses, after Lauds or other Hours. Its use after Compline is likely traceable to the monastic practice of intoning it in chapel and chanting it on the way to sleeping quarters.

It was set down in its current form at the Abbey of Cluny in the 12th century, where it was used as a processional hymn on Marian feasts. The Cistercians chanted the Salve Regina daily from 1218.  It was popular at medieval universities as an evening song, and according to Juniper Carol, it came to be part of the ritual for the blessing of a ship. While the anthem figured largely in liturgical and in general popular Catholic devotion, it was especially dear to sailors.

In the 18th century, the Salve Regina served as the outline for the classic Roman Catholic Mariology book The Glories of Mary by Alphonsus Liguori. In the first part of the book Alphonsus, a Doctor of the Church, discusses the Salve Regina and explains how God gave Mary to mankind as the "Gate of Heaven".

It was added to the series of prayers said at the end of Low Mass by Pope Leo XIII.

The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at the end of a priest's funeral Mass. It is typically sung immediately after the Dismissal.

As a prayer, it is commonly said at the end of the rosary.

Latin text

In some cases, the following versicle, response, and collect are added:

Translations

Variations exist among most translations.

Traditional English translation (North America)
(In the version used by Catholics in the United Kingdom and in the Anglo-Catholic version, the wording "mourning and weeping in this vale of tears" is used in the 6th line.)

Leonine version
The Salve Regina was one of the Leonine Prayers, in which context the collect at the end was replaced by different text:

Modernized USCCB translation
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a more modern translation:

A 1969 translation by James Quinn, beginning "Hail, our Queen and Mother blest," is offered as an alternative to the Latin in the Divine Office.

Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above

German priest Johann Georg Seidenbusch published a hymn entitled "Gegrüßet seist du, Königin" in his 1687 devotional book Marianischer Schnee-Berg. This hymn was inspired by the pilgrimage devotions at Aufhausen Priory, and contains various salutations taken predominantly from the Salve Regina.

This hymn was soon to be found in various forms in many Catholic devotional books, and a Latin translation, "Salve Regina coelitum", was soon created. The modern melody first appeared in the 1736 hymnal Geistliche Spiel- und Weckuhr, and Melchior Ludwig Herold's 1808 hymnal Choralmelodien zum Heiligen Gesänge contained the version that is standard today.

The English translation "Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above" first appeared in The Roman Missal in 1884.

Musical settings

As an essential component of the Compline service, the hymn has been set to music by various composers, including Victoria, Palestrina, Josquin and Lassus. Charpentier, (5 settings, H.18, H.47, H.23, H.24, H.27), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, (C.114), Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Jan Dismas Zelenka, (7 settings, ZWV 135-141, and ZWV 204), Johann Adolph Hasse (3 settings), Handel, and Liszt composed their own settings in later years. Schubert composed no fewer than seven versions. Francis Poulenc composed his setting of the text in 1941. Arvo Pärt composed a setting first performed in the Essen Cathedral in 2002. Olivier Latry premiered in 2007 an organ work  which reflects in seven movements the lines of the hymn in Gregorian chant.

In popular culture

In 1976 the words of the first verse of the Salve Regina were used as a repeating theme in the song Oh What a Circus in the musical Evita, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice.

Salve Regina University, a U.S. university established by the Sisters of Mercy in 1934, was named in honor of the Salve Regina hymn and motto.

The hymn is sung (using the English translation "Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above") by a choir of nuns in the 1992 comedy film Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg. In the film, the hymn is initially sung in the traditional style, before shifting into an uptempo, soul and gospel music–influenced arrangement. This arrangement has a bridge that intersperses lines from another Marian hymn, O sanctissima, as well as the first lines of the Sanctus (a prayer recited at Mass).

See also
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Lumen gentium
Marian devotions
Queen of Heaven
Salve Regina University

References

External links

Latin lyrics sung by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos.
"Salve Regina", International Marian Research Institute, University of Dayton

Christian prayer
Roman Catholic prayers
Marian devotions
Marian antiphons
Christian hymns in Latin

Salve Regina


Hasmukh Chandulal Patel (7 December 1933 – 20 January 2018) was an architect credited with making significant contributions to contemporary architecture in India in a career spanning over four decades in the latter half of 20th century. His works are held in high-regard alongside those of prominent Indian architects in the post-independence era like Achyut Kanvinde, Charles Correa, Anant Raje, B.V. Doshi and others.

Patel was the founder of the Ahmedabad based architecture firm HCP Design Planning and Management Pvt Ltd. He was also a part of the small group of architects who nurtured the School of Architecture, CEPT (now CEPT University). He was its Honorary Director from 1972 to 1980 and Dean from 1976 to 1983. During this period CEPT consolidated its position as a premier institution.

Biography
Hasmukh C. Patel was born in Bhadran, a small village of Gujarat. He lived in Vadodara with his father Chandubhai Rambhai Patel, mother Shantaben and grew up with five siblings. His father was an engineer who ran a small construction business and Patel would often visit the sites that he was working on. After high school, he pursued a bachelor's degree in architecture at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and graduated in 1956. He left India to study further at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and graduated with a master's degree in architecture in 1959. He traveled extensively in Europe and Africa before returning to India and joined the architectural firm of Atmaram Gajjar in Ahmedabad.

Shortly after that in 1961, Patel started his own practice under the name of M/s Hasmukh C. Patel, now known as HCP Design Planning and Management. His first office was in the old city of Ahmedabad. Through the 1970s and '80s, Patel's practice grew rapidly and moved to bigger offices, making it possible for him to have a setup with facilities and a layout that fully supported the working style that he believed in. In 1988, the practice shifted to Paritosh in Usmanpura, Ahmedabad, a building built by him, which houses the practice till date.

Patel's practice gave Ahmedabad some iconic buildings that dot the city's skyline. His work covered a diverse range of projects — townships, industrial units, hotels, hospitals, housing, public buildings, commercial complexes, academic institutes, cinemas and sports facilities. In a career spanning four decades, he designed 300 buildings, including landmarks such as the Patang Hotel, Reserve Bank of India, Refurbishment of Eden Gardens Stadium (Kolkata) and Centre Point Apartments. He demonstrated that the speculative model could be used to make profitable buildings which would be an architectural asset to the city. Patel was also a key figure in reviving interest and mobilizing support for the Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project in 1970s and for constituting RFDG (Riverfront Development Group) that consisted of local private architecture businesses.

He was a distinguished professor and Dean Emeritus at CEPT University. He was a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and the University of Bristol. His work has been featured in numerous journals and books across the globe including India, UK, US, France, and Italy. He was married to Bhakti Patel and they have two children — architect-planner Bimal Patel who leads HCP Design, Planning & Management Pvt. Ltd and architect Canna Patel who leads HCP Interior Architecture Pvt. Ltd.

Selected projects
 1963: Newman Hall (Premal Jyoti), Ahmedabad
 1964: State Bank of India, Ahmedabad
 1966: Diwan Ballubhai School, Ahmedabad
 1967: Medical and Social Welfare Centre, Mokasan
 1967: St. Xavier's Primary School, Ahmedabad
 1968: St. Xavier's Technical Institute, Vadodara
 1969: Church at Cambay (Khambhat)
 1969: Usha Theatre, Rajkot
 1971: Reserve Bank of India, Ahmedabad
 1974: Bhaikaka Bhavan, Ahmedabad
 1974: Dena Bank, Ahmedabad
 1975: Reading Centre, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad
 1976: Central Laboratory, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad
 1976: HK House, Ahmedabad
 1977: Carmel Convent Hostel, Gandhinagar
 1977: Sardar Patel Institute Hostel, Ahmedabad
 1978: Chinubhai Centre and Patang Hotel, Ahmedabad
 1979: St. Xavier's High School, Gandhinagar
 1979: Shyamal Row Houses, Ahmedabad
 1981: Centre Point Apartments, Ahmedabad
 1984: Gujarat Tourism Bhavan, Gandhinagar (Proposed)
 1984: Maitry Row Houses, Surat
 1985: Paritosh Building, Ahmedabad
 1986: Refurbishment of Eden Gardens Stadium, 1987, Kolkata
 1993: International Stadium, Cochin (Proposed)

Awards
 1998: Baburao Mhatre Gold Medal for Life Time Achievement, Indian Institute of Architects
 2000: Great Master's Award by J. K. Cement for his contribution to architectural profession
 2011: Lifetime Achievement Award, Architects and Interiors India Awards

Further reading
 Catherine Desai and Bimal Patel, The Architecture of Hasmukh C. Patel Selected Projects 1963-2003, Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad 2017,
 Jon Lang, Madhavi Desai and Miki Desai, Architecture and Independence, Oxford University Press,
 Peter Scriver, Vikram Bhatt, After the Masters, Grantha Corporation,
 Rutul Joshi, પોતાની ઇમારતોથી અમદાવાદને આધુનિક ઓળખ આપનારા હસમુખ પટેલ, BBC Gujarati

References

20th-century Indian architects
Artists from Ahmedabad
Gujarati people
1933 births
2018 deaths
Cornell University alumni
21st-century Indian architects
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni

Hasmukh Patel (architect)


John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, and Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 under Blair. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn from 1979 to 2015.

Straw was born in Essex and educated at Oaklands School, where his mother worked as a teacher, and later at Brentwood School. He studied Law at the University of Leeds before having a career as a barrister. He served as an adviser to cabinet minister Barbara Castle and was selected to succeed her as MP for the Blackburn constituency when she stood down at the 1979 United Kingdom general election.

From 2007 to 2010, he served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Secretary of State for Justice throughout the Brown ministry. Straw is one of only three individuals to have served in Cabinet continuously during the Labour governments from 1997 to 2010, the others being Brown and Alistair Darling. After the Labour Party lost power in the 2010 United Kingdom general election, he briefly served as Shadow Deputy Prime Minister and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, with the intention of standing down from the frontbench after the subsequent 2010 Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election.

Early life
Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill in Essex, the son of (Walter) Arthur Whitaker Straw—an insurance clerk and salesman and former industrial chemist born at Worsbrough near Barnsley, and raised in Woodford Green—and Joan Sylvia Gilbey, a teacher at the independent Oaklands School, whose father was a Loughton bus mechanic and shop steward, and who was distantly related to the gin-making family. After his father (with whom, by the time of his death, Straw and his siblings were reconciled) left the family, Straw was raised by his mother on a council estate in Loughton. Known to his family as John, he started calling himself Jack while in school, in reference to Jack Straw, one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Straw is of 1/8th Jewish descent (his maternal grandfather's mother came from an Eastern European Jewish family). He himself is a Christian.

Straw was educated at the school at which his mother taught, Oaklands, and when she left there, at Staples Road Primary School, Loughton, then Brentwood School and the University of Leeds. He graduated with a 2:2 degree in Law. He was alleged by the Foreign Office to have disrupted a student trip to Chile to build a youth centre. They branded him a "troublemaker acting with malice aforethought".

Straw was then elected president of the Leeds University Union, during which time he reluctantly supported a sit-in lasting four days in June 1968. At the 1967 National Union of Students (NUS) Conference, he unsuccessfully ran for office in the NUS. In April 1968 he stood unsuccessfully for election as NUS President, but was defeated by Trevor Fisk. However, he was elected as NUS President in 1969, holding this post until 1971. In 1971, he was elected as a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Islington, a position he held until 1978.

Straw qualified as a barrister at Inns of Court School of Law, practising criminal law for two years from 1972 to 1974. He is a member of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple and remains active in lecturing to fellow members and students. Between 1971 and 1974, Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority, and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. He served as a political adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976, and as an adviser to Peter Shore at the Department for the Environment from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1979, Straw worked as a researcher for the Granada TV series World in Action.

Early parliamentary career (1979–1997)
Straw stood unsuccessfully as the Labour parliamentary candidate for the safe Conservative Tonbridge and Malling constituency in the February 1974 election. In 1977, he was selected to stand for Labour in its safe Blackburn seat at the subsequent general election, after Barbara Castle decided not to seek re-election there. He won the seat at the 1979 general election.

Straw's first Shadow Cabinet post was as Shadow Education Secretary from 1987 to 1992 and he briefly served as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment under John Smith from 1992 to 1994. When Tony Blair became leader after Smith's death, he chose Straw to succeed him as Shadow Home Secretary. Like Blair, Straw believed Labour's electoral chances had been damaged in the past by the party appearing to be "soft on crime", and he developed a reputation as being even more authoritarian than the Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard. Straw garnered particular attention for comments condemning "aggressive beggars, winos and squeegee merchants" and calling for a curfew on children.

Home Secretary (1997–2001)
Appointed as Home Secretary after the 1997 general election, he brought forward the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, increased police powers against terrorism and proposed to remove the right to trial by jury in certain cases. These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared "I would trust Jack Straw's judgement. He is a very fair man." They were deemed excessively authoritarian by his former students' union, which in 2000 banned him from the building—a policy which lapsed in 2003. However, he also incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, finalising the de jure abolition of the death penalty with the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Hillsborough and Macpherson Inquiries
In June 1997, Straw appointed Lord Justice Stuart-Smith to conduct a review of the need for a new public inquiry into the Hillsborough disaster. He indicated to the judge at the outset that in the view of his officials "there was not sufficient evidence to justify a new inquiry". In contrast he had told parliament "I am determined to go as far as I can to ensure that no matter of significance is overlooked and that we do not reach a final conclusion without a full and independent examination of the evidence." He had given the families of the victims full assurance that he intended a thorough examination of the matter.
He apologised in both 2012 and 2016 for the failures of his review.

On 31 July 1997, Straw ordered a public inquiry, to be conducted by Sir William Macpherson and officially titled "The Inquiry into the Matters Arising from the Death of Stephen Lawrence". Its report, produced in February 1999, estimated that it had taken "more than 100,000 pages of reports, statements, and other written or printed documents" and concluded that the original Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) investigation had been incompetent and that officers had committed fundamental errors, including: failing to give first aid when they reached the scene; failing to follow obvious leads during their investigation; and failing to arrest suspects. The report found that there had been a failure of leadership by senior MPS officers and that recommendations of the 1981 Scarman Report, compiled following race-related riots in Brixton and Toxteth, had been ignored and concluded that the force was "institutionally racist". It also recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be abrogated in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence; this became law in 2005. Straw commented in 2012 that ordering the inquiry was "the single most important decision I made as Home Secretary".

Electoral reform and legislation
As Home Secretary, Straw was also involved in changing the electoral system for the European Parliament elections from plurality to proportional representation. In doing so, he advocated the use of the d'Hondt formula on the grounds that it produces the most proportional outcomes. The d'Hondt formula, however, is less proportional than the Sainte-Laguë formula which was proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Straw later apologised to the House of Commons for his misleading comments, but the d'Hondt formula stayed in place.

In 1998, Straw declined to pardon the Pendle Witches, hanged in 1612 for committing murder by witchcraft. Defending the decision, his representative stated that it could not be proved that they were innocent of the crime with which they were charged.

In March 2000, Jack Straw was responsible for allowing former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet to return to Chile. There were requests from several countries for Pinochet to be extradited and face trial for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but Straw eventually ordered his release on medical grounds before a trial could begin, and Pinochet returned to Chile.

The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal continued at this time, and according to the Telegraph, Straw had highlighted the problem four years prior to the Jay Report being published, saying there was a "specific problem" in some areas of the country where Pakistani men "target vulnerable young white girls". White girls were, he said, viewed as "easy meat".

Also in 2000, Straw turned down an asylum request from a man fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime, stating "we have faith in the integrity of the Iraqi judicial process and that you should have no concerns if you haven't done anything wrong."

He worried, along with William Hague, about the possibility of English nationalism: "As we move into this new century, people's sense of Englishness will become more articulated and that's partly because of the mirror that devolution provides us with and because we're becoming more European at the same time."

Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary (2001–2006)

Straw was appointed Foreign Secretary in 2001 to succeed Robin Cook. Within months, Straw was confronted by the 11 September attacks in the United States. He was initially seen as taking a back seat to Tony Blair in Her Majesty's Government's prosecution of the "war against terrorism". In late September 2001, he became the first senior British government minister to visit Iran since the 1979 Revolution.

In 2003, the governments of the US and UK agreed a new Extradition Treaty between them, intended to speed up extradition of terrorist suspects. The provisions of the treaty were enacted in the Extradition Act 2003. The treaty later attracted controversy with opponents alleging it to be one-sided: a British request to the USA needed to provide a prima facie case against a suspect while a US request to Britain needed only to provide reasonable suspicion for an arrest. There have been a series of causes célèbres involving the treaty, including the NatWest Three who later pleaded guilty to fraud against the US parent company of their employers, and Gary McKinnon who admitted hacking US defence computers. An inquiry into extradition arrangements by retired Judge Sir Scott Baker reported in September 2011 that the treaty was not unbalanced and "there is no practical difference between the information submitted to and from the United States".

In a letter to The Independent in 2004, he claimed that Trotskyists "can usually now be found in the City, appearing on quiz shows or ranting in certain national newspapers," and recommended "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder by Vladimir Lenin.

In the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, Straw was personally informed months in advance of the plans for the takeover attempt and failed to accomplish the duty under international law of alerting the country's government. The involvement of British oil companies in the funding of the coup d'état, and the changing of British citizens evacuation plans for Equatorial Guinea before the attempt, posed serious challenges for the alleged ignorance of the situation. Later on, British officials and Straw were forced to apologise to The Observer after categorically denying they had prior knowledge of the coup plot.

In the run-up to the 2005 general election, Straw faced a potential backlash from his Muslim constituents over the Iraq War – the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPAC) attempted to capitalise on anti-war sentiment with 'operation Muslim vote' in Blackburn. The swing to the second placed Conservatives was less than 2%, much lower than the national average; the Liberal Democrat's increase in vote share (+12.5%) surpassed Labour's loss (−12.1%) . Craig Murray, who had been withdrawn as the ambassador to Uzbekistan, stood against his former boss (Straw was then Foreign Secretary) on a platform opposing the use of information gathered under torture in the "War on Terror"; he received a 5% vote share. Straw was re-elected, and following his victory called MPAC an "egregious group", and criticised their tactics during the election.

At the 2005 Labour Conference, the then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was heckled by Walter Wolfgang, a German Jew who had suffered persecution under the Nazis, and a prominent Labour Party member. At a point when Straw claimed his support for the invasion of Iraq was solely for the purpose of supporting the Iraqi government, 82-year-old Wolfgang was heard to shout "Nonsense", and was forcibly removed from the auditorium by several bouncers. The incident gained considerable publicity, with party chairman Ian McCartney initially supporting the right to remove hecklers by force. McCartney, PM Tony Blair and other senior Labour members later issued apologies; Wolfgang was later elected to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.

Iraq and Middle East policy
On 13 October 2005, Straw took questions from a public panel of individuals in a BBC Newsnight television special on the subject of Iraq, addressing widespread public concerns about the exit strategy for British troops, the Iraqi insurgency and, inevitably, the moral legitimacy of the war. On several occasions Straw reiterated his position that the decision to invade was in his opinion the right thing to do, but said he did not 'know' for certain that this was the case. He said he understood why public opinion on several matters might differ from his own—a Newsnight/ICM poll showed over 70% of respondents believed the war in Iraq to have increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks in Britain, but Straw said he could not agree based on the information presented to him.

In February 2006, Straw attracted publicity after he condemned the publication of cartoons picturing Mohammed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Straw voiced concern over the 2006 Lebanon War. Straw warned that Israel's military action "could further destabilise the already fragile Lebanese nation", while noting that "Israel has clear rights to defend itself proportionately".

In August 2006, it was claimed by William Rees-Mogg in The Times that there was evidence that Straw was removed from this post upon the request of the Bush administration, possibly owing to his expressed opposition to bombing Iran. This would be ironic, as Richard Ingrams in The Independent wondered whether Straw's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, was also removed at Bush's request, allowing Straw to become Foreign Secretary in the first place. It has also been alleged that another factor in Straw's dismissal was the large number of Muslims amongst his Blackburn constituents, supposedly considered a cause for concern by the US.

Iraq Inquiry
Straw gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 21 January 2010, making him the second member of Tony Blair's cabinet to do so. He told the inquiry that the decision to go to war in Iraq had "haunted him" and that it was the "most difficult decision" of his life. He also said that he could have stopped the invasion, had he wanted to.

In July 2017, former Iraqi general Abdulwaheed al-Rabbat launched a private war crimes prosecution, in the High Court in London, asking for Straw, Tony Blair and former attorney general Lord Goldsmith to be prosecuted for "the crime of aggression" for their role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The High Court ruled that, although the crime of aggression was recognised in international law, it was not an offence under UK law, and, therefore, the prosecution could not proceed.

Rendition and torture allegations
Despite repeated denials about his complicity in extraordinary rendition—he once dismissed the suggestion of UK involvement in the practice as a "conspiracy theory"—Straw had been dogged for years over his alleged leading role in it, with specific accusations about the case of Libyan politician Abdel Hakim Belhadj arising in April 2012. In October 2012, The Guardian reported on the filing of court papers, which alleged that MI6 alerted Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence services to the whereabouts of dissidents, co-operated in their rendition, sent officers and detailed questions to assist in their interrogation, and that Straw attempted to conceal this from MPs.

The high court in London agreed in January 2017, against the wishes of the Conservative government, to hear a judicial review against the decision to not prosecute Straw and former head of MI6 Mark Allen in the case of the abduction and alleged torture of Belhadj and his pregnant wife who were abducted in Bangkok in 2004 after a tip-off from Mi6 and were held for seven years in Tripoli where, Belhaj alleges, he and his wife were repeatedly tortured. The English Crown Prosecution Service had decided in June 2016 to not prosecute any members of the UK government citing a "lack of evidence" and the challenge to that decision resulted in the decision to allow a judicial review.

After a successful action by the Conservative government the high court announced in July 2017 that the judicial review would be held in private and that evidence relating to the defence by the government and security services would neither be made available to Belhaj or his legal team nor made public. Criticising the decision Belhaj was quoted as saying that "I went through a secret trial once before, in Gaddafi's Libya. It took about a half hour, and I never saw any of the evidence against me. Later a guard came to my cell and tossed in a red jumpsuit – that was how I found out that the secret court had sentenced me to die" and continued "what kind of a trial will it be if we put in a mountain of evidence and government officials can simply refuse to answer us". In response, Straw stated that he was opposed to extraordinary rendition and had not been complicit in it.

Leader of the House of Commons (2006–2007)

After the Labour Party suffered major defeats in local elections on 4 May 2006, losing 317 seats in balloting for 176 councils, Tony Blair acted the following day with a major reshuffle of his ministers during which he moved Straw from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. Straw had apparently requested a break from high ministerial office after serving in two of the four great departments of state for nearly ten years. To lessen the apparent demotion, Blair gave Straw responsibility for House of Lords reform and party funding, issues which had been part of the portfolio of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, Straw was given the chairmanship of the Constitutional Affairs cabinet committee where he was responsible for attempting to force through a flat-fee charge for Freedom of Information requests.

On 25 March 2007, Straw announced he was to run Gordon Brown's campaign for the Labour leadership. This was the first official confirmation the Chancellor would stand.

2006 debate over veils

In October 2006, Straw attracted controversy by suggesting to a local newspaper, The Lancashire Evening Telegraph (now The Lancashire Telegraph), that Muslim women who wear veils that cover their faces (the niqab) can inhibit inter-community relations, though he denied the issue was raised for political gain, stating that he had raised it in private circles in the past and it had never progressed beyond discussions. Although he did not support a law banning a woman's right to choose to wear the veil, he would like them to abandon it altogether.

Asked whether he would prefer veils to be abolished completely, Straw said: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather." He said that he had asked women visiting his constituency surgeries to consider uncovering their noses and mouths in order to allow better communication. He claimed that no women had ever chosen to wear a full veil after this request.

Straw's comments kicked off a wide-ranging and sometimes harshly worded debate within British politics and the media; Straw was supported by some establishment figures and castigated by others, including Muslim groups. There is an ongoing debate within the Muslim community whether the Qur'an and hadith (traditions of Muhammad) require the use of the full face veil. Straw apologised for these comments regarding the veil on 26 April 2010 at a private hustings organised by Engage in the buildup to the 2010 United Kingdom general election.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (2007–2010)

Straw was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice on the first full day of Gordon Brown's ministry, 28 June 2007. He was the first Lord Chancellor since the sixteenth century to serve in the role whilst a member of the House of Commons. His appointment meant that he continued to be a major figure in the Labour Government. Only Straw, Brown and Alistair Darling served in the cabinet continuously during Labour's 13-year government from 1997 to 2010.

In February 2009, Straw used his authority as Secretary of State for Justice to veto publication of government documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act: in particular, those pertaining to early government meetings held in the run-up to the Iraq war in 2003.

Straw represented the government on a controversial edition of Question Time on 22 October 2009, against British National Party leader Nick Griffin on his first ever appearance. Griffin's first comment was to attack Straw's father's wartime record, to general disdain. As Griffin claimed that European laws prevented him from explaining his stance on holocaust denial Straw later offered his personal assurance as Secretary of State for Justice, which Griffin declined.

Alleged ambitions for premiership
Andrew Thorpe-Apps, writing in the Backbencher, states that Straw knew he would be defeated by Gordon Brown in a leadership contest as Brown was 'consumed by this one ambition'.

Expenses claims

Two months after learning that MPs' expenses were to be made public, Straw admitted to the fees office to using expenses to claim a full council tax bill despite only paying a 50% rate. Straw said he had acted in good faith and had repaid the erroneous claims once he was aware that MPs' expenses were to be made public. Included with the admission was a cheque for the amount he believed he had overcharged, which itself turned out to have been miscalculated leading Straw to send a further cheque with a note saying "accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit".

Retirement from front-bench politics (2010–present)
In August 2010, Straw announced his plans to quit his role as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and move to the backbenches, citing the need for a 'fresh start' for the Labour Party under a new leader. Straw has since described Gordon Brown's leadership as a "tragedy".

In December 2010, ahead of the UK Alternative Vote Referendum 2011, Straw was a signatory to a letter to The Guardian arguing in favour of the alternative vote.

In January 2011, Straw provoked controversy with comments made on Newsnight about Pakistani men. He said "there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men ... who target vulnerable young white girls." His comments came after two men of Pakistani origin were convicted of rape in Derby.

In April 2011, Straw was appointed as a consultant to E. D. & F. Man Holdings Ltd., a British company based in London specialising in the production and trading of commodities including sugar, molasses, animal feed, tropical oils, biofuels, coffee and financial services. Commenting on his appointment to ED&F Man on a salary of £30,000 per annum, Straw said, "There are 168 hours in the week, and I will work in Blackburn for a least 60 and maybe sleep for 50. Providing there's no conflict, I have long taken the view that I am not against people doing other things. I had two jobs as a minister. I think it's really important that politicians are involved with the outside world."

In late 2011, Straw was appointed to the role of visiting professor to University College London School of Public Policy. He later argued for the abolition of the European Parliament.

On 25 October 2013, Straw announced that he would stand down as an MP at the next election.

Allegation of antisemitism
In 2013, at a round-table event of the Global Diplomatic Forum at the UK's House of Commons, Straw (who has partial Jewish heritage) noted, according to Einat Wilf, a former member of Israel's Knesset who was one of the other panelists, that among the main obstacles to peace in the Middle East was the amount of money available to Jewish organizations and AIPAC in the US, which was used to control US policy in the region, an opinion common among opponents of Israel. Another obstacle was Germany's "obsession" with defending Israel. Wilf stated: "It was appalling to listen to Britain's former foreign secretary. His remarks reflect prejudice of the worst kind... I thought British diplomats, including former ones, were still capable of a measure of rational thought." Wilf said that she was shocked to hear Straw's comments and that she responded in the debate by stressing her view that the origin and cause of the conflict was the Palestinian and Arab refusal to accept Israel's legitimacy as a sovereign Jewish state.

The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland said that Straw's comments "echo some of the oldest and ugliest prejudices about 'Jewish power' and go far beyond mere criticism of Israel."

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Straw strongly denied claims that his criticism was antisemitic. In a statement to The Times of Israel, Straw did not relate to whether he had said what Wilf alleged he said, but did say that there was no justification in any of his remarks for claims that he was being antisemitic. He pointed out that Wilf did not claim that he had embarked on an antisemitic diatribe, as had been claimed in many of the media reports. He wrote a statement to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which was described as follows:

Straw wrote that he had voiced concerns at the seminar over Israel's "settlement-building ... on Palestinian land (in East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Territories). This is illegal, as the British Foreign Secretary William Hague has observed and in those terms. I said that this amounted to 'theft' of Palestinians' land." In addition, he said that he advocated at the seminar "a tougher stand on this (and on the related issue of goods exported from the Occupied Territories by Israelis) by the European Union."

He said that he had pointed out in the past that one of the obstacles to an EU policy on this had been "the attitude of Germany, who for understandable reasons have been reluctant to be out of line with the Government of Israel."

Responding to the claim by Wilf that he referred to "Jewish money", Straw said that he had spoken at the seminar of the "Israeli lobby" and "the problems which faced President Obama from AIPAC" and spoke of the way AIPAC spends large sums of money supporting pro-Israeli candidates in American elections.

Cash for access
In February 2015, Straw was secretly recorded by journalists from The Daily Telegraph and Channel 4 News, who posed as representatives of a fictitious Chinese company that wanted to set up an advisory council.  Straw was recorded describing how he operated "under the radar" and had used his influence to change EU rules on behalf of a firm which paid him £60,000 a year. Straw voluntarily withdrew from the Parliamentary Labour Party (but remained a member of the party itself) in February 2015 due to allegations from Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph.

Straw denied any wrongdoing or any breach of the parliamentary rules and voluntarily referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and withdrew from the Parliamentary Labour Party pending the Commissioner's inquiry. He told the BBC, "[I have] acted with complete probity and integrity throughout my parliamentary career". He was exonerated by the Commissioner in September 2015 after a detailed investigation. The Commissioner for Standards dismissed all allegations that he had brought the House of Commons into disrepute, saying that "I have seen nothing which suggests that [Mr Straw's] conduct would have merited criticism if the approach made by PMR [the bogus company established by Channel 4] had been genuine." She said that "the evidence I have seen supports Mr Straw's assertions that he "neither exaggerated nor boasted" in what he said to the reporters."

The Commissioner was sharply critical of Channel 4 and The Daily Telegraph, saying "if in their coverage of this story, the reporters for Channel 4's Dispatches, and  The Daily Telegraph had accurately reported what was said by these two members [the other was Sir Malcolm Rifkind] in their interviews and measured their words against the rules of the House it would have been possible to avoid the damage that has been done to the lives of these two individuals and those around them and to the reputation of the House."

Media regulator Ofcom, however, took a different view; it judged in December 2015 that the journalists had investigated a matter of significant public interest and that their presentation had been fair.

Personal life
Straw's first marriage, in 1968, to teacher Anthea Weston, ended in divorce in 1977. They had a daughter, Rachel, born on 24 February 1976, who died after five days because of a heart defect. On 10 November 1978, he married Alice Perkins, a senior civil servant. In 2006, Straw's wife joined the board of the country's largest airports operator BAA, shortly before it was taken over by the Spanish firm Ferrovial. The couple have two adult children, Will and Charlotte. Straw has suffered from depression and tinnitus.

Straw supports his local football team Blackburn Rovers, and was made an honorary vice-president of the club in 1998 by Jack Walker. In October 2015, he was given the Freedom of the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen.

A motion of Leeds University Union Council in 2000 revoked Jack Straw's life membership of the Union and removed his name from the Presidents' Board, citing his support for "the asylum and immigration bill" and for limits to trial by jury and legal aid. In 2007, the Union Council reinstated his life membership and place on the Presidents' Board.

Publications

Autobiography

Author or co-author
The English Job: Understanding Iran and Why It Distrusts Britain (2019)
Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998: Minutes of Evidence, Wednesday 14 March 2001 (2001)
Making Prisons Work: Prison Reform Trust Annual Lecture (1998)
Future of Policing and Criminal Justice (Institute of Police & Criminological Studies Occasional Paper S.) (1996)
Policy and Ideology (1993)

Reports
Reform of the Race Relations Act 1976: Proposals for Change Submitted by the Commission for Racial Equality to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department, on 30 April 1998 (1998)

Explanatory notes

References

External links

 and articles written by Jack Straw for The Guardian

Online exhibition of the May 1968 student protest in Leeds
'"Paris Today, Leeds Tomorrow!" Remembering 1968 in Leeds', Northern History journal, online 2020
Jack Straw, BBC News, Newsnight, 17 October 2002
ConvaTec, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Blair, Straw and Chilcot

1946 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Leeds
British Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
English Anglicans
English barristers
English people of Jewish descent
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Leaders of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Lord chancellors of Great Britain
Lords Privy Seal
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Brentwood School, Essex
People from Buckhurst Hill
People from Loughton
Politics of Blackburn with Darwen
Presidents of the National Union of Students (United Kingdom)
Secretaries of State for the Home Department
Secretaries of State for Justice (UK)
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
British Christians

Jack Straw


Theodor Seitz (Mannheim, 12 September 1863 – Baden-Baden, 28 March 1949) was a German colonial governor.

He studied law at the University of Heidelberg. He entered in the service of the Foreign Office and became on 9 May 1907 Imperial Governor of Kamerun.

On 28 August 1910, he became Governor of German South West Africa (today Namibia) at Windhoek.

At the outbreak of World War I, the colony was invaded by a British-South African force.

The outnumbered German troops under command of Victor Franke had to capitulate on 9 July 1915.

He remained in captivity until 1919, when all Germans were sent to Germany and the colony was annexed by the British.

In 1920 he became president of the German Colonial Society and in 1930 honorary president.

External links

1863 births
1949 deaths
Jurists from Mannheim
People from the Grand Duchy of Baden
German colonial people in Kamerun
Colonial people of German South West Africa

Theodor Seitz


The Italian Province of Spalato (1941-1943) was an administrative section of the "Governorate of Dalmatia", created during World War II by the Italian government with Regio Decreto Legge of May 18, 1941.

Characteristics

The Province of Spalato was part of the Italian Governorate of Dalmatia and had an area of 975 km² with a population of 128,400 inhabitants. It was included the two main cities of Spalato (Split) and Trau (Trogir) and their hinterland, extending north to Sebenico (Šibenik). Additionally there were the islands of Lissa, Curzola, Lagosta, Cazza, Pelagosa (these last 3 removed from the "Italian Province of Zara") and Meleda.

The province bordered only the Independent State of Croatia. The "Capoluogo" (administrative center) was Spalato, where there was the "Tribunal" and was edited the Italian newspaper "San Marco". There was even the football team AC Spalato, that substituted the local Hadjuk ruled by Slavs.

Most of the population of the newly created province was Croatian, but there was even a small -but historical- community of nearly 3,000 Dalmatian Italians (only in Spalato city they were more than 1,000 in 1940, even if greatly reduced from the first half of the XIX century when they were more than one third of the city's population ).

History

Italian General Vittorio Ambrosio conquered in a few days all the Dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia, and occupied in April 1941 the area of southern Dalmatia around Spalato (called officially "Split" only since 1919).

The new Italian province of Spalato was created by order of Mussolini the next month, with the "May 19 Treaty between Italy and Croatia". Valerio Paolo Zerbino was named "Prefect" of the Province of Spalato, serving from June 1941 to August 1943.

The governorship of the Spalato province (and all the Governorate of Dalmatia) was held by Giuseppe Bastianini until January 1943 when he was recalled to Italy to join the cabinet; his place as governor was taken by Francesco Giunta.

In summer 1941 the Italian government started a policy of "Italianization" in all the Governorate of Dalmatia. New Italian schools were opened in Spalato. Administrative personnel from Italy moved to Spalato and Trau (nearly 6,700 Dalmatian Italians took refuge in Italy after the creation of Yugoslavia in 1919, and many of them were offered work if they returned to settle with their families in the Governorate of Dalmatia). Bastianini started needed public works, building hospitals, sewage systems and roads in the area. Even the "Bank of Italy" opened a branch in Spalato

Thousands of Jews from Croatia took refuge inside the Governorate, and many moved to the Spalato area mainly in 1942.

In August 1943 the Governorate administrative personnel left Dalmatia and returned to the Italian peninsula: the area was ruled by the Italian military until mid-September 1943 when was occupied by German troops. After the disappearance of the province, all the area -that under Italian presence was spared the bloody guerrilla that happened in Ante Pavelic's Croatia- started to be involved in the massacres of the Yugoslavian civil war during WWII.

After WWII nearly all the 3000 Dalmatian Italians of Spalato were forced to emigrate from Tito's Yugoslavia, but in 2012 there were still 100 in the city.

"Comuni" of the Province of Spalato

The "Comuni" (Municipalities) of the Province were 13 (2 of them, Spalato and Curzola, had a special status):

Spalato / Split; population 46,900
Blatta di Curzola / Blato; pop. 6,000
Castelvecchio Inferiore o Castel Vecchio / Kaštel Stari; pop. 5,500
Castel San Giorgio / Kaštel Sućurac; pop. 3,500
Castel Vitturi / Kaštel Lukšić; pop. 4,000
Comisa / Komiža; pop. 5,000
Curzola / Korčula; pop. 10,000
Lagosta / Lastovo; pop. 3,000
Lissa / Vis; pop. 8,000
Meleda / Mljet; pop. 2,000
Solta / Šolta; pop. 2,500
Traù / Trogir; pop. 25,000
Vallegrande / Vela Luka; pop. 7,000

Related pages
 Cattaro (Italian province)
 Zara (Italian province)
 Dalmatian Italians
 Albania veneta
 Italian cultural and historic presence in Dalmatia
 Venice and Dalmatia

Notes

Bibliography

 Pavlowitch, Stevan. Hitler's new disorder: the Second World War in Yugoslavia. Columbia University Press. New York, 2008
 Praga, Giuseppe. Storia di Dalmazia. Dall'Oglio editore. Varese, 1981
 Rodogno, Davide. Il nuovo ordine mediterraneo. Ed. Bollati Boringhieri. Torino, 2003

1940s in Italy

Province of Spalato


The statue of Queen Victoria is a bronze sculpture by Mario Raggi. It is currently installed in Victoria Park, in Causeway Bay, Wan Chai District, Hong Kong, near the Causeway Road entrance of the park.

History

This statue was cast in Pimlico, London, and was originally installed at the centre of Statue Square in Central, the main business district of Hong Kong, where it was unveiled by then-Governor William Robinson on 28 May 1896, the day officially appointed for the celebration of the seventy-seventh birthday of Queen Victoria. During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, it was taken to Japan to be melted down, along with other statues from the square. After the war, the statue of Queen Victoria was brought back to Hong Kong, but the other statues were never found. In 1952, the late Queen Victoria's statue was restored and placed in Victoria Park.

In 1996, shortly before Hong Kong's handover to China, artist Pun Sing-lui () tipped red paint over the statue and smashed its nose with a hammer. Pun was a recent immigrant from Mainland China who had become disillusioned with Hong Kong culture. The vandalism intended to serve as a protest against "dull colonial culture" and to encourage "cultural reunification with "red" China". His actions were decried as vandalism "in discord with popular opinions and the concurrent cultural atmosphere" and an "attack on Hong Kong culture". The statue was subsequently restored, at a cost of $150,000.

See also

 List of statues of Queen Victoria
 Queen's Park, Toronto, where a statue of Queen Victoria by Mario Raggi is also installed

References

External links

Bronze sculptures in Hong Kong
Causeway Bay
Monuments and memorials in Hong Kong
Outdoor sculptures in Hong Kong
Sculptures of women in Hong Kong
Statues in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Vandalized works of art

Statue of Queen Victoria, Hong Kong


Jacobus "Kobus" Vandenberg (born 17 July 1950, in Hilversum) is a sailor from the Netherlands. Since the Netherlands did boycott the Moscow Olympic Games Vandenberg represented his National Olympic Committee at the 1980 Summer Olympics, which was boycotted by several countries, in Tallinn, USSR under the Dutch NOC flag. With Boudewijn Binkhorst as helmsman, Vandenberg took the 6th place in the Star. In the 1988 Olympics in Pusan Vandenberg made his second Olympic appearance. Again in the Dutch Star this time with Steven Bakker as helmsman. They took 9th place.

Sources

Living people
1950 births
Dutch male sailors (sport)
Olympic sailors for the Netherlands
Sailors at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Star
Sailors at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Star
Sportspeople from Hilversum

Kobus Vandenberg


Rex Lasat Navarrete (born May 27, 1969 in Manila, Philippines) is a Filipino American comedian whose material is geared toward Filipino audiences.

Early life
Sometime after his birth in 1969, his parents left the Philippines and immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago.  Navarrete, on the other hand, was raised by his grandparents in the provinces of Cavite and Batangas. He later reunited with his parents and his baby sister at the age of three. Eventually, the Navarrete family moved to South San Francisco, California where he spent the rest of his childhood.

Education
Navarrete graduated from San Francisco State University, majoring in film and Asian American studies.

Career
He started his career in 1989 with a performance at University of California Santa Cruz. He has since performed in many colleges and universities all over the world as well as various comedy clubs and festivals, including headlining a sold-out performance at The Warfield in San Francisco as well as the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles.  As of December 2006, he has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. These include performances in San Francisco, New York, Montreal, Manila, London, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney.

In 2003, he released his first DVD entitled Hella Pinoy, in 2005, he released "Badass Madapaka" and in 2010, he released the DVD titled "Komik Organik".

In 2004-2005, he released a 13-episode series on MTV Philippines titled "Rex in the City".

In 2007, an animated series featuring Filipino-American characters known as The Nutshack, Navarrete would be voicing many of the characters.

Discography

Badly Browned (1998)
Husky Boy (1999)
Bastos (2001)

Filmography
Hella Pinoy (2003)
Badass Madapaka (2005)
Komik Organik: The Comedy of Rex Navarrete (2010)

TelevisionRex in the City on MTV Philippines.Rex Files: Pinoy Undercover segment on ABS-CBN's Stateside.The Nutshack (Jack Colero, Tito Dick and Cherry Pie)Lopez Tonight (2011)

InternetMaritess vs. the SuperfriendsSBC Packers''

External links
Rex Navarrete -The Official Website-
Rex Navarrete on MySpace
Maritess vs the Superfriends flash movie
SBC Packers flash movie

1969 births
Living people
American stand-up comedians
Filipino emigrants to the United States
VJs (media personalities)
Comedians from California
San Francisco State University alumni
People from Manila
People from South San Francisco, California
Comedians from Hawaii
Naturalized citizens of the United States
21st-century American comedians

Rex Navarrete


Blue (song) might refer to:

 "Blue" (A Perfect Circle song), 2004
 "Blue" (A. S. Blue song), 2011
 "Blue" (Big Bang song), 2012
 "Blue" (Bill Mack song), 1958, popularized by LeAnn Rimes (1996)
 "Blue" (Joni Mitchell song), 1971
 "Blue" (The Rasmus song), 1997
 "Blue" (The Verve song), 1993
 "Blue" (Vivid song), 2011
 "Blue (Da Ba Dee)", a 1999 song by Eiffel 65
 "Blue", by Angie Hart from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Conversations with Dead People"
 "Blue", by Beyoncé Knowles from Beyoncé
 "Blue", by The Birthday Massacre from Violet
 "Blue", by Calvin Harris from Ready for the Weekend
 "Blue", by Elastica from Elastica
 "Blue", by Eve's Plum from Envy
 "Blue", by Fine Young Cannibals from Fine Young Cannibals
 "Blue", by First Aid Kit from The Lion's Roar
 "Blue", by Helen Reddy from We'll Sing in the Sunshine
 "Blue", by Hikaru Utada from Ultra Blue
 "Blue", by The Jayhawks from Tomorrow the Green Grass
 "Blue", by Joni Mitchell, also covered by Cat Power from Jukebox
 "Blue", by Kevin Ayers from Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today)
 "Blue", by LaTour from LaTour
 "Blue", by Linkin Park from LP Underground 11.0
 "Blue", by Lucinda Williams from Essence
 "Blue", by Marina and the Diamonds from Froot
 "Blue", by Orthodox Celts from The Celts Strike Again
 "Blue", by Peter, Paul and Mary from In Concert
 "Blue", by The Seatbelts from Cowboy Bebop Blue
 "Blue", by Serj Tankian from Elect the Dead
 "Blue", by The Smashing Pumpkins from Lull
 "Blue", by Way Out West from Way Out West
 "Blue", by Wham! from Music from the Edge of Heaven
 "Blue", by Yngwie Malmsteen from Alchemy
 "Blue", by Zayn Malik from Mind of Mine
 "Blue (And Broken Hearted)", a song written by Lou Handman

Blue (song)


Jarle Pedersen (born 15 June 1955) is a retired Norwegian speed skater and the retired coach of the Norwegian speed skating team. He is from Kåfjord in Alta, Finnmark, but resides in Bjørnafjorden outside Bergen.

Pedersen competed in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid and finished 6th on the 500 m. On 25 November 2009 he became the head coach of the Norwegian Speed skating team following Peter Mueller. Johann Olav Koss became his assistant. He has been a speed skating coach in the local team Fana IL. In Fana he was the coach for his son Sverre Lunde Pedersen. They are being reunited  on the national team since the son joined the team before the 2009/2010 winter season. Pedersen is educated as a Physical therapist and had that role in the Norwegian Olympic team under the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

References

1955 births
Living people
People from Alta, Norway
Norwegian male speed skaters
Olympic speed skaters for Norway
Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics
Norwegian speed skating coaches
Sportspeople from Troms og Finnmark

Jarle Pedersen


Harrison Scott Brown (September 26, 1917 – December 8, 1986) was an American nuclear chemist and geochemist. He was a political activist, who lectured and wrote on the issues of arms limitation, natural resources and world hunger.

During World War II, Brown worked at the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory and Clinton Engineer Works, where he worked on ways to separate plutonium from uranium. The techniques he helped develop were used at the Hanford Site to produce the plutonium used in the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki. After the war he lectured on the dangers of nuclear weapons.

After the war, he worked at the University of Chicago, where he pioneered nuclear geochemistry. The study of meteorites by Brown and his students led to the first close approximation of the age of the Earth and the solar system. Between 1951 and 1977, he worked at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where he contributed to advances in telescopic instrumentation, jet propulsion, and infrared astronomy.  In the early 1970s, he began working more directly on the resource/environment issues that he had been developing in his books.  In 1977, he became director of the newly created Resource Systems Institute of the East-West Center in Hawaii where he turned full time to work on understanding and influencing the interactions of energy, mineral, and food systems in the Asia-Pacific Region, themes he had developed in his books since the 1950s.

Manhattan Project
In 1942 Glenn T. Seaborg invited Brown to work with him at the University of Chicago in the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory, working on ways to separate plutonium from uranium. The Manhattan Project intended to create plutonium by irradiating uranium in a nuclear reactor. The resulting highly radioactive product would then have to be chemically separated from the uranium and any fission products created by the irradiation process. The problem was that plutonium was a new element with chemical properties that were not yet fully known. Until a reactor could be built, it was available only in microgram amount, so an industrial separation process would have to be scaled up one billion times. With Orville Hill, Brown devised a successful method of achieving this by using the gaseous evaporation of fluorides.

Brown and some of his colleagues to the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to work with the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Clinton Engineer Works, where he became the assistant director of chemistry. Working with the reactor there, they developed the separation processes for producing kilogram quantities of plutonium. The techniques discovered by the team proved to be the groundwork for those used at the Hanford Site which provided the plutonium for the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Just four months later he completed Must Destruction Be Our Destiny? (1945), a book detailing the dangers of nuclear weapons. He gave 102 lectures to promote the book, donating the royalties from the book to an organisation that later became part of the Federation of American Scientists.

Later life
In 1946, Brown returned to the University of Chicago to work as an assistant professor of chemistry in the Institute for Nuclear Studies. He was joined by some of his former colleagues from the Manhattan Project and together they became the first team to study nuclear geochemistry. He went on to study meteorites and planetary structures along with ways to date the age of the Earth, encouraging George Tilton and Clair Patterson to investigate the isotopic composition of iron meteorites. Patterson's studies of lead eventually led to the first close approximation of the age of the Earth and the solar system of 4.5 billion years. Another of his doctoral students, Edward D. Goldberg, measured trace occurrences of gallium, gold, palladium, and rhenium in meteorites, he was able to group iron meteorites based on their geochemical composition. In 1948 Brown was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science prize for his work on meteorites.

Between 1951 and 1977, Brown was professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). While there he attracted several former colleagues and highly regarded scientists to the team. Together they made advancements in telescopic instrumentation, jet propulsion (contributing to NASA's early planetary exploration missions), and infrared astronomy. In June 1954 he was one of twenty scientists under the age of forty identified by Fortune Magazine as "top young scientists in U. S. universities and industry".

Brown was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1955 and was appointed as their foreign secretary in January 1962, a role that he would hold until 1974. He was elected in 1959 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in 1962 a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and in 1966 a member of the American Philosophical Society. He demonstrated an interest in the scientific interactions between the United States and Eastern Europe. Len Ackland noted that "Geochemistry and his travels in developing countries caused him to ponder the adequacy of the Earth's resources and the problems of development, hunger and population growth." These were themes that he would expound on in  his next three books: The Challenge of Man's Future (1954), The Next Hundred Years (1957) and The Human Future Revisited (1978). He also wrote a science fiction novel, The Cassiopeia Affair with Chloe Zerwick. He divorced Adele and married Rudd Owen, who collaborated with him on his writings and social activism. "Man has it within his power today,"  he said in 1976, "to create a world in which people the world over can lead free and abundant and even creative lives. I am convinced that we can create a world which will pale the Golden Age of Pericles into nothingness."

In the early 1970s, he began focusing more on the issues he had developed in his books, including working with a post-doctorate fellow, John P. Holdren, who later became President Barack Obama's Science Advisor (2009-2017).  Brown was appointed first director of the Resource System Institute at the East–West Center (EWC) in Honolulu.  Located adjacent to the University of Hawaii campus in Manoa, the EWC was a research and educational institution focused on problems in the Asia-Pacific Region.  He put together a team of scientists from across the US to follow through even more directly on the ideas he developed in his books, i.e. to explore the sustainability of energy, minerals, and food systems and how they interacted with population and environment.

In 1983, in failing health, Brown retired and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico with his third wife, Theresa Tellez, his second marriage having also ended in divorce. He became a regular columnist and editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In his last years, Brown battled lung cancer, the treatment for which had resulted in progressive paralysis through the irradiation of his spine. He died in the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque on December 8, 1986. He was survived by his third wife Theresa and his son Eric.

Selected publications
Must Destruction Be Our Destiny? (1945)
The Challenge of Man's Future (1954)
The Next Hundred Years (1957)
The Cassiopeia Affair with Chloe Zerwick (1968)
The Human Future Revisited (1978)

References

External links

1917 births
1986 deaths
People from Sheridan, Wyoming
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Chicago faculty
20th-century American physicists
American geochemists
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Manhattan Project people
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the American Geophysical Union
Members of the American Philosophical Society
20th-century American chemists
Chemists from Wyoming

Harrison Brown


Glyncoch is a village to the north of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is also the name of an electoral ward.

History
The name Glyncoch is Welsh language for 'Red glen' (glyn "glen, small valley" + coch "red"). How the name originated is unknown, but in 1900 a local journalist wrote a creative Victorian-era history of the location, suggesting that it was the site of a battle between the native Celts and the Romans. More likely is that it was named after an aspect of local nature, either a local outcrop of red sandstone or a large crop of berry-bearing gorse bushes.

The earliest noted settlement dates to Roman coins found in the area in the 1990s, when five coins ranging from the reigns of Empress Trajan through to Emperor Hadrian were discovered. Glyncoch lies halfway between known Roman forts built at Pen-y-coedcae and above Llanwynno, and so could have been located on a pathway between the two.

The area is mentioned in text related to Celtic priest Gwynno, who traversed the whole area and the founder of Glamorgan, and died in AD570. The area is also mentioned in the church book Liber Landavensis (Circa AD1750), now held at Llandaff Cathedral, which diarises the churches management of its lands and associated income, with fine fields and a brewery located between here and Daerwynno. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims travelled up the valley to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at Penrhys, with many taking refreshment or staying at an inn, believed by historians to be located close to the current Berwerdy Cottages.

By the 19th century, during the industrial development of the South Wales valleys, the land was owned by the Griffiths family. Instead of selling their land, they leased it and the mineral rights, and resultantly became very wealthy. On the death of their son, the Cardiff-based doctor Richard Griffiths, he was carried in procession from Pontypridd, through Glyncoch and Ynysybwl, to the church at Llanwynno where he is buried.

Present
Glyncoch is a mainly social housing community between Pontypridd and Ynysybwl lying on the mountain opposite Coed-y-Cwm  Within the community there are three grocery shops, Post Office, Pharmacy, Chinese Takeaway, Community Centre and two schools.

Bus services to and from the community are frequent with services to Pontypridd, Ynysybwl and Aberdare. Bus routes are operated by New Adventure Travel.

Glyncoch also forms an electoral ward, sending a county councillor to sit on Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. It is also a ward for Pontypridd Town Council, electing two town councillors.

Notable people from Glyncoch
James Allen - Valley Cougars Rugby League star centre.  Won 3 caps for Wales Dragonhearts

References

Pontypridd
Villages in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Wards of Rhondda Cynon Taf

Glyncoch


Lost is an American television drama that debuted on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) on September 22, 2004. The series aired for six seasons, and follows the survivors of the crash of the fictional Oceanic Flight 815 on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific. Although a large cast made Lost more expensive to produce, the writers benefited from added flexibility in story decisions. According to series executive producer Bryan Burk, "You can have more interactions between characters and create more diverse characters, more back stories, more love triangles." The initial season had 14 regular speaking roles that received star billing. Matthew Fox played the protagonist, a troubled surgeon named Jack Shephard. Evangeline Lilly portrayed a fugitive Kate Austen. Jorge Garcia played Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, an unlucky lottery winner. Josh Holloway played a con man, James "Sawyer" Ford. Ian Somerhalder played Boone Carlyle, chief operating officer of his mother's wedding business. Maggie Grace played his stepsister Shannon Rutherford, a former dance teacher. Harold Perrineau portrayed construction worker and aspiring artist Michael Dawson, while Malcolm David Kelley played his young son, Walt Lloyd. Terry O'Quinn played the mysterious John Locke. Naveen Andrews portrayed former Iraqi Republican Guard Sayid Jarrah. Emilie de Ravin played a young Australian mother-to-be, Claire Littleton. Yunjin Kim played Sun-Hwa Kwon, the daughter of a powerful Korean businessman and mobster, with Daniel Dae Kim as her husband and father's enforcer Jin-Soo Kwon. Dominic Monaghan played English ex-rock star drug addict Charlie Pace.

Boone was written out near the end of season one, and Kelley became a guest star making occasional appearances throughout season two. Shannon's departure eight episodes into season two made way for newcomers Mr. Eko, a Nigerian fake Catholic priest and former criminal played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje; Ana Lucia Cortez, an airport security guard and former police officer played by Michelle Rodriguez; and Libby Smith, a purported clinical psychologist and formerly mentally ill woman portrayed by Cynthia Watros. In season three, two actors were promoted from recurring to starring roles: Henry Ian Cusick as former Scottish soldier Desmond Hume, and Michael Emerson as the  manipulative leader of the Others, Ben Linus. In addition, three new actors joined the regular cast: Elizabeth Mitchell, as fertility doctor and Other Juliet Burke, and Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro as background survivor couple Nikki Fernandez and Paulo. Several characters died throughout the season; Eko was written out early on when Akinnuoye-Agbaje did not wish to continue on the show, Nikki and Paulo were buried alive mid-season after poor fan response, and Charlie was written out in the third-season finale. Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, a nervous physicist who takes a scientific interest in the island; Ken Leung as Miles Straume, a sarcastic supposed ghost whisperer, and Rebecca Mader as Charlotte Staples Lewis, a hard-headed and determined anthropologist and successful academic joined the cast in season four.

Numerous supporting characters have been given expansive and recurring appearances in the progressive storyline. Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan), a French member of an earlier scientific expedition to the island first encountered as a voice recording in the pilot episode, appears throughout the series; she is searching for her daughter, who later turns up in the form of Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde). Cindy (Kimberley Joseph), an Oceanic flight attendant who first appeared in the pilot, survived the crash and subsequently became one of the Others. In the second season, married couple Rose Henderson (L. Scott Caldwell) and Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson), separated on opposite sides of the island (she with the main characters, he with the tail section survivors) were featured in a flashback episode after being reunited. Corporate magnate Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) has connections to both Ben and Desmond. Desmond is in love with Widmore's daughter Penelope "Penny" Widmore (Sonya Walger). The introduction of the Others featured Tom aka Mr. Friendly (M. C. Gainey) and Ethan Rom (William Mapother) all of whom have been shown in both flashbacks and the ongoing story. Jack's father Christian Shephard (John Terry) has appeared in multiple flashbacks of various characters. In the third season, Naomi Dorrit (Marsha Thomason), parachutes onto the island, the team leader of a group hired by Widmore to find Ben Linus. One member of her team includes the ruthless mercenary Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand). In the finale episode "The End", recurring guest stars Sam Anderson, L. Scott Caldwell, Francois Chau, Fionnula Flanagan, Sonya Walger, and John Terry were credited under the "starring" rubric alongside the principal cast. The mysterious, black, smoke cloud-like entity known as "the Monster" appeared in human form during season five and six as a middle-aged man dressed in black robes known as "The Man in Black" played by Titus Welliver, and in season six, it appears in the form of John Locke played by O'Quinn in a dual role. His rival, Jacob, was played by Mark Pellegrino.

Appearances

Notes
A  Anderson, Caldwell, Chau, Davies, Flanagan, Grace, Mader, Mitchell, Monaghan, Somerhalder, Terry, Walger and Watros are credited as starring in the series finale "The End".
B  Kelley, M'Cormack, O'Quinn, Raymonde and Terry also portray the Monster taking the form of their character.
C  Beaumon, Connolly, Evans, Farman, Henssens, Lee, Obileye, Obileye Jr., Shada and Shada portray younger versions of characters.
D  Toledo's role is named Nurse Tyra in season six's "Happily Ever After".

References

External links
 Full cast and crew of Lost on the Internet Movie Database

Lost
Lost

List of Lost cast members


Karur District is a district located along the Kaveri and Amaravati Rivers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Geography
The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur, which is also the district headquarters. It is the centrally located district of Tamil Nadu. It is bounded by Namakkal district in the north, Dindigul district in the south, Tiruchirapalli district on the east.

Culture
The main crops of Karur district are paddy banana, sugarcane, beetle leaf, grams & pulses, tapioca, kora grass, groundnuts, oil seeds, tropical vegetables, garland flowers, and medicinal herbs. Karur is famous for its home textiles - bed linens, kitchen linens, toilet linens table linens and wall hangings. Karur is a renowned hub for bus building industry. Karur is also home to Chettinad Cements and TNPL Cements. Pasupatheeswarar Siva temple and Vishnu temple at Thiruvithuvakkodu are in Karur. Prominent mosques are Thowheeth 98 and medieval times, the area was ruled by the Cheras, Gangas and Cholas. Later the Nayakars followed by Tipu Sultan also ruled Tiruppur districts on the west. Karur is one of the oldest towns in Tamil Nadu and has played a very significant role in the history and culture of the Tamils. In the ancient Karur. mosque, Big Palli, Ahle hadees Pallivasal, TNTJ Mosque, Jamia Pallivasal and Bajar Mosque.

Geography of Tamil Nadu

Karur taluk


Accelink Technologies Corporation is a Chinese optical corporation. The company produces and supplies optical components and subsystems. The company offers optical fiber connectors/adaptors, optical test instruments, micro-optical devices, dispersion compensation modules, subsystems, photo detectors, fiber optical couplers/splitters, optical switches/attenuators, WDM/DWDM/CWDM/OADM modules, and optical amplifiers. It primarily serves telecommunications equipment manufacturers in China, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, India, and elsewhere internationally. The company was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Wuhan. It is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

External links
(Official homepage in English)
(Bloomberg profile)

Optics manufacturing companies
Manufacturing companies based in Wuhan
Technology companies established in 1976
Chinese brands
Chinese companies established in 1976

Accelink Technologies


The Bag Man (also known as Motel or The Carrier) is a 2014 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by David Grovic. It is based on an original screenplay by James Russo and a rewrite by David Grovic and Paul Conway and an inspiration of The Cat: A Tale of Feminine Redemption by Marie-Louise von Franz. The film stars John Cusack, Rebecca Da Costa, Crispin Glover, Dominic Purcell, Robert De Niro, and Sticky Fingaz. The film premiered on February 28, 2014, in New York and Los Angeles.

Plot
Elderly gangster Robert Dragna recruits professional killer Jack to pick up a bag and wait for his arrival at a motel.  Robert Dragna stresses that Jack is not to open the bag or allow anyone to view its contents under any circumstances, illustrating his point with a piece of broccoli. Confused as to why Dragna wants him to do such an apparently easy job, Jack presses for more details, but Dragna only reiterates the rules.  When Jack acquires the bag and a henchman of Dragna's shoots him in the hand (not shown on screen due to budgetary reasons), Jack kills him and stuffs the body in his car's trunk.  Dragna is unsympathetic when Jack calls him and instructs Jack to stick to the plan.

At the motel, Jack meets several random people: Ned, the desk clerk who uses a wheelchair; Rivka, a tall prostitute; and Lizard and Guano, a pair of bald men who are perpetually agitated about something. Jack requests room number thirteen, and Ned cautions him that it is a deathtrap, as it is unconnected to any other rooms.  When two random suited men become curious about Jack, he abruptly breaks into their room and kills both for no apparent reason. A subsequent search reveals FBI badges and a briefcase. Jack sets the briefcase aside and leaves to dump the corpse poorly stored in his car, but promptly returns upon being spotted, only to discover that Rivka has broken into his room. Fearful that Lizard will kill her for some unexplained reason, she requests that he allow her to stay.

Jack initially demands that she leave, then detains her when he cannot be sure whether she opened the bag, which would have little consequence overall. Rivka points out that the briefcase contains a photo of the bag, and Jack becomes worried that others may attempt to acquire it. When Jack attempts to drive Rivka to a bus station, she spots the corpse in the back of his car and becomes agitated. Lizard and Guano first question Jack about Rivka and later, on the road, attack him and they are killed. On their corpses he finds another photo of the bag. Unsure what to do with Rivka, or of her involvement, he returns to the hotel with her to await Robert Dragna's arrival.

Ned becomes suspicious that Jack has a guest in his room and calls the sheriff. Sheriff Larson briefly questions Jack, and, after Larson leaves, Jack threatens Ned. Increasingly worried about the safety of the bag, Jack buries it near the motel carpark only to be caught by Ned, who is now out of his wheelchair. Jack kills Ned and returns to the motel, where Larson arrests him under suspicion of Ned's very recent disappearance. It is unclear who reported Ned as a missing person as he was gone 15 minutes.

As Larson prepares to torture Jack for information, Rivka shows up. Larson threatens to rape her, but she overpowers a deputy and frees Jack, who then kills Larson. When Rivka demonstrates detailed knowledge of the bag, Jack becomes suspicious of her again, but she points out that she has saved his life.  Somewhat mollified, he retrieves the bag and waits in room fourteen. Dragna finally appears, disappointed in Jack's apparent lack of trust. Nonetheless satisfied that Jack has not looked in the bag, Dragna explains that the whole situation was a test of Jack's skills and character, as he doubted Jack's resolve in the wake of Jack's fiancee's unsolved murder some months earlier. The motel and the local cops are all on Dragna's payroll, and were all (unwittingly) part of the test.

As Dragna prepares to leave, Rivka spontaneously tells Jack that she looked in the bag. Frustrated, Jack points out that Dragna will now kill them both. Jack dutifully reports Rivka's action to Dragna, who orders her killed. Jack instead kills Dragna's bodyguard, who wounds Rivka. Jack hunts down Dragna, and both are wounded. Jack looks in the bag and discovers the head of his fiancee, whom Dragna had killed in order to prevent Jack from quitting the murder-for-hire business. Trying to persuade Jack to surrender, Dragna destroys the hotel (where Rivka supposedly is) with remote-detonated explosives. Moments later, Rivka appears and saves Jack by killing Dragna, but she is shot again. Later, in Dragna's lawyer's office, Rivka reveals herself as Dragna's mistress and personal assassin who was sent to the motel to ensure things went Dragna's way. She collects a five million dollar reward for Jack's assassination, and she and Jack drive off together.

Cast
 John Cusack as Jack
 Rebecca Da Costa as Rivka
 Robert De Niro as Dragna
 Crispin Glover as Ned Stensen
 Dominic Purcell as Sheriff Larson
 Sticky Fingaz as Lizard
 Martin Klebba as Guano
 Theodus Crane as Goose
 David Shumbris as Pike
 Mike Mayhall as Deputy Jones
 Danny Cosmo as Bishop
 David Grovic as Dragna's lawyer

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 10% of 42 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 3.4/10.  Metacritic rated it 28/100 based on 18 reviews.  Scott Foundas of Variety called it "a tedious, self-consciously quirky postmodern noir".  Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "If it weren't for the touches of cruelty, this might have been a passable B-movie, but Bag Man ends up wasting the A-list talent caught up in the lurid exercise."  Stephen Holden of The New York Times described the plot as "a protracted and increasingly tedious cat-and-mouse game" that "pathetically tries to build up expectations about what might be in the bag".  Mike D'Angelo of The A.V. Club called it a Quentin Tarantino knock-off made two decades too late.

References

External links

2014 films
2014 action thriller films
American action thriller films
American crime thriller films
2014 crime thriller films
American neo-noir films
Red Granite Pictures films
Films set in hotels
2014 directorial debut films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films

The Bag Man


Jan Kurt Anthony Pasion Nieto (born June 13, 1981) is a Filipino male singer who rose to prominence as one of the runners-up of Philippine Idol in 2006.  With the height of  and weighing , he was dubbed as the "Hunky Idol" during the competition.  Nieto was an artist of GMA Network.

Biography

Early life and career
Nieto is the youngest son of Rolando Nieto and Etherlyn Pasion (both medical doctors) in a brood of six.  His mother is also an undersecretary of the Department of Health.  His parents named all of their children with the initials "J" and "K", as his siblings are named Joseph Kenneth, Johnielle Keith, James Kenrick, Judy Kristine, and Janelle Kathleen. When he was born at the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Santa Mesa, Manila, his sisters insisted on adding the name "Anthony" because he was born on the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua. He was often teased as a child for his dark skin, calling him "Nognog". His brother, Johnielle Keith (Kit), is currently the Mayor of Cainta.

He studied in Ateneo de Manila University from Preparatory until he graduated with a degree in Management Engineering.  The first song he learned to sing is "My Love Will See You Through" by Marco Sison when he was 7 years old.  When his father heard him sing while singing Christmas carols in their home, he would make him sing in front of house guests during parties, although he considered himself as the shy type in the family.

Nieto started singing in public when he was in second year high school as part of a class Christmas caroling and had no formal vocal training, except being a member of a church choir and receiving criticisms from his father and informal training from his older brother Johnielle Keith who works as a lawyer.   He also tried to join his college glee club, but only stayed for several weeks because of the difficulty of catching up with his co-members.

Nieto considered himself as a nerd in school.  He preferred studying for examinations a week before because cramming does not work for him.  He admitted being a "teacher's pet" in school, even until college.  Aside from studying, Nieto also has interest in sports such as tennis (his favorite), judo (which he excels), table tennis, badminton, and basketball (which in another interview he said he dislikes).

Before auditioning for Philippine Idol, he worked as a Customer Marketing Manager for Unilever Philippines where he worked since February 2003.  However, he never told anyone that he actually wanted to become a singer.

Philippine Idol

Following his dream of becoming a professional singer, and through encouragement of his friends, Nieto auditioned in the Luzon Main Auditions held in Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay.  It was his first time to have tried out in any singing contest.  He sang "Limang Dipang Tao" (A Five-Dipa-Long Queue of People), a composition of Idol judge Ryan Cayabyab.  His audition was not shown until the show's tenth week, which featured special segments about the Final 3.

Several people who knew Nieto were surprised that he tried out for Idol, including actor Alfred Vargas, who was once his classmate.

He landed on the Top 4 during the Men's Semi-Final Round and became one of the 12 Finalists.

During the competition, he offered fellow finalist Ken Dingle—who at the time was based in Baguio—a place to stay at his house.  Dingle, who taught Nieto how to sing in R&B style, resided in the Nieto household even after his elimination.  He also volunteered, with the help of his mother, in helping fellow finalist Pow Chavez recover from her asthma during the Women's Semi-Finals.

The judges often compared Nieto (who studied in Ateneo de Manila University) with fellow finalist Gian Magdangal (who studied in a De La Salle school), calling it "the new Ateneo-La Salle rivalry".  They are also compared to the rivalry between Filipino singers Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano during the 1980s.  Entertainment writers even predicted that Nieto and Magdangal would vie for the title.

One of his performance highlights was his rendition of Nievera's "You Are My Song" during the Final 6 Round wherein the songs were chosen by another finalist.  In Nieto's case, it was Magdangal who picked the song.  Nieto admitted that it was a difficult song because of its wide range and some of its high notes were beyond his normal range.  Eventually, he was surprised with the judges' positive reactions.

Nieto landed at the Bottom 3 twice and on the Hot Spot once, when there was no official Bottom 3 or 2 announced.  This happened for three consecutive weeks before the Finale.

He was often criticized during the competition that his performances were stiff, inorganic, or not note-perfect.  However, the judges noted that he showed improvement as weeks passed, with Cayabyab calling it "from 0 to 100".  Nieto was also criticized that he breezed through every round, and eventually into the Final 3, because of his family's riches.  He said that every contestant's family is supporting their own, but the vote of the whole country would overpower his family's votes.

He considered himself as the underdog in the Finale, compared to fellow finalists Magdangal and Mau Marcelo who had been the favorites of both the judges and the audience.

During the Finale, he proved his critics that he deserved to be in the competition with his performances that the judges praised, which were described as musically flawless and exuding of masculine appeal.  However, he settled for the runner-up position along with Magdangal as Marcelo was proclaimed winner.

Post-Idol

Nieto immediately resigned from Unilever after Philippine Idol to fully pursue a singing career. This decision worried some of the people close to him because a career in music is uncertain unlike his stint in the corporate world.

He was managed by Sandra Chavez of i-Asia Management Company, which is appointed by Fremantle Media (owner of all Idol franchises) to handle the careers of all finalists.

Nieto and fellow Idol finalist Miguel Mendoza has also appeared on the ABS-CBN show ASAP '07 alongside Piolo Pascual, Sam Milby, Jay-R Siaboc, and Ronnie Liang. Moreover, Nieto was also interviewed in "TV Patrol World" about his appearance on ASAP '07.  Along with Idol finalist Jelli Mateo, Nieto also sang a food condiment jingle that was rearranged by Cayabyab.

He also appeared in various mall shows and corporate events.

It took nine and a half months after the competition before Nieto got his major break when he signed for GMA Network as part of its musical variety show SOP Rules.  He joined Magdangal, who became part of GMA Network a month after Philippine Idol, in the show.  Nieto said that it was only then when he felt the effect of his participation in Idol. Beginning the year 2008, he began being managed by Leo Dominguez (who also manages the careers of Ogie Alcasid and Lovi Poe) and Paolo Bustamante (manager of Brad Turvey and one of the writers of Philippine Idol).

Filmography

Television

Recordings
His first recorded single is "Tuwing Umuulan At Kapiling Ka", which was originally sung by Basil Valdez and Eraserheads.  It is part of Philippine Idol: The Final 12 CD, a compilation of songs performed by Philippine Idol finalists during the OPM Week.

After months of preparations and recordings, his self-titled debut album was released March 2009 under IndiMusic (label owned by, among others, Ogie Alcasid and Regine Velasquez). Ogie serves as the album Producer, which includes two of his compositions entitled "Sa Puso Ko" and the album's carrier, "Bakit Kailangan Pang Lumayo". Initially thought of as a CD lite (contains 6 songs), Ogie suggested to make it a full album of 10 cuts. Jan co-wrote (with his manager) the lyrics of one of the songs, "Together", which co-Philippine Idol finalist Miguel Mendoza doing the music.

Jan sang theme songs of two GMA 7 evening soaps - Kamandag and Ang Babaeng Hinugot Sa Aking Tadyang. He also performed theme songs of two Independent films - Sangandaan from the movie Paupahan and Bakit Kailangan Pang Lumayo from the soon to be released film Marino.

Singles
Ikaw ang Pag-Ibig (Ang Babaeng Hinugot sa Aking Tadyang Theme Song)
Ngayon at Kailanman (Originally performed by Basil Valdez)
Bakit Kailangan Pang Lumayo (first Carrier Single of his Debut Album)

References

1981 births
Living people
People from Antipolo
Ateneo de Manila University alumni
Singers from Rizal
21st-century Filipino male singers
Participants in Philippine reality television series
Idols (franchise) participants
GMA Network personalities

Jan Nieto


The McCobb–Hill–Minott House is a historic house at 44 Parker Head Road in Phippsburg, Maine.  Built in 1774, it is a high quality example of late Georgian architecture, notable for its architecture and its prominent residents, who included Mark Langdon Hill, Maine's first United States Congressman.  The house is now the 1774 Inn, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Description and history
The McCobb–Hill–Minott House is located in the central village of Phippsburg, on the north side of Parker Head Road, overlooking the Kennebec River to the east.  It is a roughly square two-story wood-frame structure, with a hip roof, and clapboard siding.  The roof has a large cupola at its center, covered by a low-pitch roof, with windows and three sides and a door on the fourth, providing access to the roof and chimneys.  It has principal facades facing southeast and northwest, with center entrances framed by Doric pilasters and gabled pediments.  A long ell extends northwest from the northeast face, joining the house to a barn; these additions date to the late 18th century.

The house was built by Isaac Packard in 1774 for James McCobb, a major landowner and local political leader during the American Revolution.  One of McCobb's daughters married Mark Langdon Hill, who partnered with his brother-in-law Thomas McCobb in the establishment of a local shipyard and merchant business.  Hill was politically active, serving as one Maine's first representatives in the United States Congress after it achieved statehood in 1820.  After Hill's death, the house was purchased by Charles V. Minott, one of the region's most successful shipbuilders of the second half of the 19th century.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Sagadahoc County, Maine

References

External links
1774 Inn web site

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Sagadahoc County, Maine
Georgian architecture in Maine
Houses completed in 1774
Houses in Sagadahoc County, Maine

McCobb–Hill–Minott House


In November 1967 civil rights leaders, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the staff of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference met and decided to launch a Campaign to highlight and find solutions for many problems for the country's many poor people. In the Poor Peoples Campaign the leaders recruited workers to help proceed in the campaign and recruit people from ten BIG cities from around the nation.

King planned for 2,000 to go to Washington DC to protest for unemployment insurance, jobs, fair minimum wage and education for poor children and adults.

References

American civil rights

Poor People's Campaign