Charles Skepper

Charles Milne Skepper (26 February 1905 – on or after 4 April 1944) was an economist and socialist intellectual who joined the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) to operate in occupied France during the Second World War carrying out sabotage and spying missions until he was taken prisoner. He was tortured for information and subsequently murdered by the "Gestapo".
Pre-war life.
Skepper was born in Richmond, London, the son of Henry and Mary Skepper. He and his younger sister (Mabel Mary known as Mary) spent much of their early lives in France particularly in Paris, although Skepper studied at Queen Elizabeth's School in Cranbrook from September 1914 to July 1920. He was a highly intelligent student with a deep interest in social justice and a gifted linguist from an early age, he learned to speak perfect French and then German and Spanish. In later life he learned some Russian and good Chinese. Skepper had deeply held political views from a relatively early age being a serious socialist and after deep consideration over a long period he decided that he was an atheist. He was attracted to theoretical communism and became a member of the "Friends of the Soviet Union" a factor recorded by MI5 in London and in the late 1920s travelling by train he made two visits to the Soviet Union. These visits changed his earlier positive views of Soviet Communism and turned him away from that path. His father later stated that after his visits he came to regard communism as fascism under a different guise.
Skepper was a student at the London School of Economics (LSE) from 1926 to 1929, earning a Bachelor of Science degree First in Economics his specialist subject was Sociology. Some older sources state that he gained a BA, however they were apparently based on one single source which has since been digitised and corrected. before a brief period as a graduate student during which time he lived in an apartment on Great Ormond Street, in central London. with his sister Mabel Mary Skepper who was also a student at the LSE. He did not complete his doctorate but worked as an assistant teacher of Sociology from 1930 to 1932 when he moved home to 27 Gordon Square also in central London. In 1931 Skepper was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship.
Throughout the remainder of the 1930s he was in a partnership operating from near Paris, trading in antiques and travelling in the trade between France and Beijing where he lived for sometime. He became deeply interested in modern art and purchased paintings by Da Silva, Max Ernst and Edouard Cortes, his collection was stolen from the family home at Rueil-Malmaison near Paris during the Second World War. On 9 September 1932 he applied for a visa to visit the US from his home in Paris and sailed on 24 September 1932 from Le Havre aboard the British ocean liner "Samaria", returning some weeks later. On 14 April 1936 he sailed to New York from England aboard the ocean liner "Aquitania", declaring himself to be a "Dealer" on a visit to Japan from which he returned sailing from Yokohama for the US on 26 July 1936 aboard the US liner "President Jackson" with his 61-year-old mother.
Travelling to China, he sailed from Southampton for New York again on 2 February 1937 aboard the French steamer "Champlain" describing himself as a tourist, arriving in New York on 9 February 1937 he crossed the US by railway before journeying onward from San Francisco on 20 March 1937 aboard the US ocean liner "President Taft" bound for Honolulu. On the final leg of his journey Skepper sailed from Honolulu on 8 April 1937 aboard the US ocean liner "President Hoover" to disembark at Shanghai.
Wartime service.
In 1939 Skepper volunteered for military service and was appointed to run the propaganda broadcasting station of the British Ministry of Information in Shanghai. When the Japanese invaded Shanghai, he evaded internment and spent time operating with Chinese guerrillas until he was captured by the Japanese, ill-treated, and sentenced to four years in prison for anti-Japanese activities, having been accused of helping four American marines to escape. However, he was repatriated when he was included in an exchange of diplomats between the United Kingdom and Japan in December 1941. Skepper returned to England in August 1942 looking worn and ill but unbroken in spirit.
Special Operations Executive.
In late summer 1942 he applied to join the Special Operations Executive citing Morris Ginsberg LSE "Martin White Professor of Sociology" as a referee and passing stringent examination and "vetting" he was accepted for "F" (French) Section despite being near the top of the upper age limit. He commenced training at the SOE school based at Wanborough Manor in West Surrey learning aspects of the trade such as navigation, parachuting, killing with and without weapons, behaviour if captured, explosives and demolition, wireless and cyphers, shooting with pistols, sub-machine guns and rifles and familiarity with captured enemy weapons. A report in his file dated 27 March 1943 stated "He has done extremely well in training". To make his position more certain for official purposes on 16 June 1943 he became lieutenant on the British Army "General List" of "non-regimentally employed" officers with the military service number of 270156
With several codenames, including "Henri Edouard Truchot" and "Bernard", Skepper was landed in France by an RAF Special Duties Westland Lysander of No. 161 Squadron RAF on the night 16–17 June 1943 to organise a new resistance and espionage ring in the Marseille region which would be known as the "Monk circuit". to work with the French Resistance in the "Monk Circuit" operating in the Marseilles region. Skepper was flown in with a fellow agent Diana Rowden by the specialist covert operations pilot Flying Officer Jimmy McCairns DFC and 2 Bars MM. It was a double aircraft operation to land a number of agents in the Loire valley seven miles north east of Angers. The two aircraft carried Skepper, Cecily Lefort, Diana Rowden, and Noor Inayat Khan.
Three days later he was joined by his radio operator Arthur Steele code named "Laurent" who landed by parachute. Over a period of nine months in the Marseille area he travelled extensively pretending to be an antiques dealer and using a case of his own antique jade objects as cover. Skepper built up an extremely effective sabotage group and organised a number of significant acts of sabotage. Skepper was noted to have always personally led operations and taken on the dangerous role of receiving parachuted supplies from England. Among the many acts of sabotage he led was an attack on a synthetic oil plant regarded as vital to the German war effort. Located at L'Estaque three oil tanks were destroyed and six damaged, he also led the mission to block an important rail tunnel near the Italian border by derailing a train inside the tunnel between Cassis and Aubagne and blew up the cement works used by the German military at Fos-sur-Mer In between these major operations he blew up railway tracks, power lines and damaged railway engines whenever possible On the night of 13–14 August 1943 a new agent Eliane Plewman parachuted in to Jura to join their team.
In the first two weeks of January 1944 Skepper's "Monk circuit" was responsible for damaging 31 railway locomotives, during February 1944 he organised 5 parachute drops of arms, ammunition and explosives and on 6 March 1944 met Jack Sinclair as he parachuted in to join the network before they organised and led a mission which resulted in damaging over 30 railway locomotives in a single day on 15 March 1944.
Betrayal and Imprisonment.
Skepper was arrested with others on 23, 24 or 25 March 1944 (dates vary with sources) in the apartment where he had been staying in Rue Merentie with French friends of the Villevieille family after betrayal by a French national (Bousquet) working for the Gestapo. The traitor was identified and executed after the war. Everybody at the apartment was taken away while Bousquet and the Gestapo made the place look as normal as possible so that they could wait and trap any members of Skepper's team who visited. On the next day his radio operator Arthur Steele was arrested as was one of his agents Eliane Plewman code name "Gaby" and several French members. No arrests happened other than of people coming to that address which indicates that under torture no names were given away.
At the Baumettes prison and at Gestapo headquarters in 425 Rue Paradis Marseille the Gestapo tortured their three British captives by delivering very powerful electric shocks between the eyes and the results were so bad that when the British were seen by French prisoners they were almost unrecognisable. When Skepper was seen in the Gestapo offices in the custody of Gestapo Agent Dunker by Villevielle two weeks after their arrests he also reported being unable to recognise his friend.
It is noted that SS-Obersturmführer Ernst Dunker (born 27 January 1912 in Halle) was tried post-war in France for his crimes and executed on 6 June 1950 in Marseille.
Fate.
Initial reports in his SOE file were that he was killed rather than arrested; there was certainly a serious scuffle during the arrest but later information suggested that he was seized, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and probably sent to Germany. In the recommendation for Skepper's MBE reportedly originally an OBE but later downgraded written by Major General Colin Gubbins the head of SOE on 8 December 1945 he stated that "Captain Skepper was arrested. He was severely tortured by the Gestapo and later transported to Fresnes and then to Compiegne prison. There has been no news of him since".
Skepper was one of the few SOE agents whose fate has never been finally resolved. According to his SOE file postwar interviews with the French national who arrested him and with the two Gestapo officers based at Marseille produced no relevant information. Skepper's death was officially recognised by the War Office on 28 October 1946, where it was recorded as 'Presumed died while in enemy hands on or shortly after 1 April 1944'.
That date may have been much too early. There have been a number of speculations about his death but one possibility is that Skepper was executed in Buchenwald concentration camp in the autumn of 1944. Reports of Skepper in captivity can be found as late as October 1944 when the SOE file noted that Skepper was ""seen in Hamburg". Arthur Steele was executed on 9 September 1944 and Eliane Plewman at Dachau concentration camp on 13 September 1944. but no further news of Skepper could be found.
A number of French, Belgian, English and Canadians who belonged to Allied secret services were hanged by the SS in Buchenwald which is where a number of British agents are known from other sources to have met their deaths. It is quite possible that Skepper was executed there.
His fate was still unclear to the War Office in December 1945 and he was mentioned in the London Gazette as a lieutenant on the General List still in receipt of pay and allowances (effective 1 November 1945).
The Skepper family maintained his apartment (No. D5 Sloane Avenue Mansions) in his name until 1948.
For official purposes the date of 4 April 1944 was set as his date of death and as he had disappeared Skepper's name was commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on the Brookwood Memorial to the missing. Several reports state that he died in Buchenwald concentration camp of the effects of the ill treatment suffered at the hands of the Gestapo.
Awards.
Awarded a posthumous MBE by the British government in the London Gazette 28 February 1946.
Awarded a posthumous Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 avec Palme by the French government, the citation for which was issued on 16 January 1946 and signed by De Gaulle, and L'Ordre de l'Armée.
Legacy.
By 8 May 1946, the first anniversary of VE Day, he was presumed officially dead for the purpose of probate, though the substantive assumption of death was delayed until October 1946. However, although he had died intestate Skepper had left a 'soldier's will' and his estate was administered on 18 January 1948, with the administration document simply saying that he had died 'on war service'. His whole estate was valued at £38,035 18s 2d (a huge sum for that time) and his mother then informed the London School of Economics that he had said that in the event of his death, at least part of this should be used for the furtherance of sociology at the School. A bequest of £20,000 (currently worth approximately £500,000-£700,000) was made via a deed of trust, for 'Sociological Research at the School' by the establishment of The Charles Skepper House for Sociological Research with a Research Fellowship and Studentships. Sadly little apparently came of the intended Research Fellowship and Studentships, although the Charles Skepper House project was originally a large facility at LSE's campus on John Adam Street just south of the Strand there is no longer any physical trace of any such facility at LSE and Skepper's name has virtually disappeared.
Commemoration.
By name on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey.
By name on the SOE F Section Memorial at Valençay in France.
There is a commemorative plaque on the apartment building where Skepper and his comrades were captured in 1944.
Skepper's name is commemorated on the LSE war memorial in their Old Building.
By name on the British Forces Roll of Honour.
Notes.
See also SOE F Section networks
Mrs Mary Skepper (mother of Charles) was appointed an OBE in the Birthday Honours List 1950.


Anup Chetia

Anup Chetia (Assamese: অনুপ চেতিয়া) (real name Golap Baruah also known as Sunil Baruah, Bhaijan or Ahmed) is the General Secretary of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam in Assam. He is also one of the founder leaders of the group. He was born at Jerai Gaon in Tinsukia district of Assam.
Arrest.
Chetia was first arrested in March, 1991 in Assam but was released by then Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia. Later on 21 December 1997 he was again arrested in Dhaka under the Foreigners Act and the Passports Act for illegally carrying foreign currencies and a satellite phone. He was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment by a Bangladeshi court and was being held at Kashimpur Jail in the outskirts of Dhaka.
Charges.
Chetia was charged with:
He was also wanted by the Assam Police for various cases including killing, kidnapping and extortion.
Extradition.
Since his arrest in 1997, the Government of India has asked Bangladesh to extradite Chetia. The request was refused by Bangladesh on the ground that the two countries do not have an extradition treaty. However, India is still hopeful that the Sheikh Hasina government would accede to the request in view of its tough resolve against terrorism.
The "Union Home Affairs joint secretary (north east)" has recently said that Chetia will most probably be handed over to the Government of India by the Government of Bangladesh, by December 2013.
After the 15th India-Bangladesh Home Secretary-level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh Home Affairs Secretary Mozammel Haque Khan has confirmed that Bangladesh has agreed to hand over Anup Chetia to India, which will send back Nur Hossain, prime accused in a case of seven murders in Narayanganj.
Seeking Political Asylum.
On 7 December 2008, Chetia had written to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urging it to grant him refugee status and political asylum in Bangladesh. In a letter to António Guterres, head of the Geneva-based UNHCR, Chetia pleaded that he had already completed seven years of imprisonment and hence was no longer a convict to be held in a jail. ULFA also appealed for political asylum in a safe country.
Present status.
Although Chetia was the General Secretary of ULFA, political analysts in the region doubt his current influence within the organization. On 11 November 2015, Anup was handed over by Bangladesh Government to India.
Anup Chetia has been released from the Guahati jail on bail on 24 December 2015.


Knock Knock (play)

Knock Knock is a play written by American author, cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer. It is a comedy, and was produced on Broadway in 1976, where it earned Tony Award nominations including Best Play. In Feiffer's signature style, he created the artwork for the poster and program, which shows figures peering out from behind a door to answer the knock.
Synopsis.
In a cabin in the woods, two bickering old Jewish recluses, Abe and Cohn, have retired, and haven't moved in two decades. Abe is a former stockbroker, and Cohn is an unemployed musician. In fact Abe and Cohn represent one character, that has been split into two opposing sides of the same spirit: Cohn is the realist, who believing only in empirical reality, Abe is the romantic. Miraculous events begin to happen. When Cohn wishes for a new roommate, his wish is promptly granted by the arrival of a mad magus named Wiseman. This leads to another visitor who is none other than Joan of Arc, accompanied by her “Voices”. Though her arrival is at first greeted by a shotgun blast, Abe and Cohn are eventually charmed by the saint, and she gets them to re-consider many of their preconceived ideas to such an extent that Abe and Cohn eventually switch positions: Abe becomes the skeptical realist and Cohn becomes the true believer. She calls Abe and Cohn to join her in a space ship on a pilgrimage to Heaven — before the coming holocaust. Cohn is willing to go along, but Abe refuses, so Joan remains and sets up housekeeping in the cabin. When Joan accidentally cuts her finger in the kitchen, she faints and dies, which gets her to heaven without the space ship. Abe and Cohn are left behind to argue with Joan’s spiritual Voices.
When Feiffer discussed "Knock Knock", he considered that aspects of it can be a metaphor for the post-1960s era America. “In the ‘60s there was an eruption of first rate social, political, cultural criticism that the country desperately needed.” He said, “The assumption was that all that had to be done was to show the people these things, and the country would change. … The full effect of all this exposure though was that instead of re-educating the country and making it ready for change, it terrified the country and made it withdraw from the idea of change.” When Joan arrives in the play, he added, “she comes in as the life-giving figure to bring hope. Because if those two men don’t change, they will die.”
Production history.
"Knock Knock" was first performed Off-Broadway at the Circle Repertory Company. It opened on February 2, 1976 to positive reviews.
With its success the show moved, production intact, to Broadway where it opened on February 24, 1976 at the Biltmore Theatre. It was directed by Marshall W. Mason. The cast included Neil Flanagan (Abe), Daniel Seltzer (Cohn), Judd Hirsch (Wiseman), and Nancy Snyder (St. Joan). Sets were designed by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Jennifer von Mayrhauser and lights by Dennis Parichy. It marked the Broadway debut for a number of its cast and production crew. The production earned a number of Tony nominations, for the play, the performances, and the production.
Then a curious event occurred. During the Broadway run, well after the opening night, and immediately after the June 1976 Tony Awards show, Broadway producer Harry Rigby decided to re-work what had been a successful and acclaimed production. Rigby brought in a new director, José Quintero, who was better known for serious drama, and some of the roles were recast with Charles Durning (Cohn), John Heffernan (Abe), Leonard Frey (Wiseman) and Lynn Redgrave (St. Joan). This move was not well responded to in the press, and the show ended its run July 3, 1976.


Roger Angleton


USS Thorn (DD-988)

USS "Thorn" (DD-988), a "Spruance"-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Jonathan Thorn (1779–1811), who took part in Decatur's expedition to destroy the captured frigate "Philadelphia" in 1804.
"Thorn" was laid down on 29 August 1977 by Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 3 February 1979; and commissioned on 16 February 1980.
"Thorn" was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on 25 August 2004.
"Thorn" was sunk as a test/target on 22 July 2006 off the US east coast.


Mass suicide in Demmin

On 1 May 1945, hundreds of people killed themselves in the town of Demmin, in the Province of Pomerania (now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Germany. The suicides occurred during a mass panic that was provoked by atrocities committed by soldiers of the Soviet Red Army, who had sacked the town the day before. Although death toll estimates vary, it is acknowledged to be the largest mass suicide ever recorded in Germany. The suicide was part of a mass suicide wave amongst the population of Nazi Germany.
Nazi officials, the police, the Wehrmacht and many citizens had left the town before the arrival of the Red Army, while thousands of refugees from the East had also taken refuge in Demmin. Three Soviet negotiators were shot prior to the Soviet advance into Demmin and Hitler Youth, amongst others, fired on Soviet soldiers once inside the town. The retreating Wehrmacht had blown up the bridges over the Peene and Tollense rivers, which enclosed the town to the north, west and south, thus blocking the Red Army's advance and trapping the remaining civilians. The Soviet units looted and burned down the town, and committed rapes and executions.
Numerous inhabitants and refugees then killed themselves, with many families doing so together. Methods of suicides included drowning in the rivers, hanging, wrist-cutting, and shooting. Most bodies were buried in mass graves, and after the war, discussion of the mass suicide was taboo under the East German Communist government.
Background.
Demmin was a stronghold of the nationalistic organisations DNVP and "Der Stahlhelm" in the Weimar Republic. Before 1933 there were boycotts of Jewish businesses, which drove away most of the Jews. The synagogue was sold in June 1938 to a furniture company, which is why it survives as a building today. During the Kristallnacht thousands gathered in the square in anti-Semitic demonstration. In the last national elections to the Reichstag on 5 March 1933 the Nazi Party won 53.7 percent of votes in Demmin.
During the last weeks of World War II, tens of thousands of Germans killed themselves, especially in territories occupied by the Red Army. The German historian Udo Grashhoff and the German author Kurt Bauer wrote that the suicides occurred in two stages: in a first wave before the Red Army's arrival, in part due to a "fear of the Russians" spread by Nazi propaganda, and – as in Demmin – in a second wave after the Red Army's arrival, triggered by executions, looting and mass rapes committed by Soviet soldiers.
In 1945, Demmin had between 15,000 and 16,000 inhabitants. Thousands of refugees from the East were also in town, roughly doubling its population. In late April, when the Eastern Front drew closer (Battle of Berlin), women, children and elderly men were forced to dig a -long anti-tank ditch east of the town. On 28 April, the German flight from the town began: the Nazi party functionaries left on confiscated fire engines, the hospital was evacuated, all the police departed, and a number of civilians fled.
Demmin was reached by spearheads of the Soviet 65th Army and the 1st Guards Tank Corps at noon on 30 April 1945. At the tower of the church, a white banner was hoisted. According to an eyewitness, Soviet negotiators approached the anti-tank ditch and promised to spare Demmin's civilian population from "harassment" and looting in the case of a surrender without fight. This eyewitness was then 19 years old, serving as a German soldier, and lying in the anti-tank ditch. According to him, three shots were fired which left three men dead – one of them a German officer. The remaining Wehrmacht units, belonging to Army Group Weichsel, and some Waffen-SS, retreated through Demmin, and about half an hour after the incident, blew up all bridges leading out of town behind them. By that time, Soviet units were already advancing through Demmin.
The destruction of the bridges prevented the Soviet from advancing westward toward Rostock, which they had planned to reach the same day. It also prevented the flight of the civilian population, who were trapped by the rivers surrounding the town. According to eyewitnesses, some "fanatics," primarily Hitler Youth, shot at the Soviet soldiers, despite several white flags being hoisted on Demmin's buildings. Memorably, a Nazi loyalist schoolteacher, having shot his wife and children, launched a grenade on Soviet soldiers using a panzerfaust, before finally hanging himself. According to the Focus magazine, an eyewitness stated that the first Soviet soldier was shot near the hospital at 11:05 AM by someone running amok, apparently the aforementioned teacher, who had before told a neighbor that he had killed his wife and his children. A third eyewitness confirmed the identity of the gunman in a report by Norddeutscher Rundfunk, while blaming him for causing the Soviet troops to retaliate by plundering and burning the town. Then, it was "quiet" until the evening, when the atrocities started. Another incident is said to have happened on 1 May, when the local pharmacist hosted a "victory party" of Soviet officers, killing them with poisoned wine. The Focus magazine however dismissed that as a "legend" and theologian and historian Norbert Buske concluded in a 1995 study that the story had been fabricated.
The Soviet soldiers in turn were allowed to loot the town for a period of three days. They committed mass rapes of local women, according to eyewitnesses, "regardless of age", and shot German men who spoke up against this practice. Furthermore, large areas of the town were set on fire, with nearly all of the center burning down completely. 80% of the town was destroyed within three days. Reportedly, Soviet soldiers had doused the houses' walls with gasoline before setting them on fire, and stood guard three days to prevent extinguishing. Many of the soldiers committing the mass rapes, executions, and pillaging were reportedly drunk. On 30 April, when the atrocities started in the evening, Soviet soldiers had looted both Demmin's grain distilleries and several alcohol stores.
Suicides.
These events, along with the fear of atrocities stirred up by the Nazi propaganda before, caused a mass panic among the population. Many local and refugee families killed themselves together. The suicides were either performed with guns, razor blades or poison, others hanged or drowned themselves in the Peene and Tollense rivers. Several mothers killed their children before killing themselves, or walked into one of the rivers with a rock in a backpack and their babies in their arms. Some families died by walking into the rivers, tied together. A local forester shot three young children, then their mothers, then his wife and then himself, surviving but losing his sight. In another recorded case, a daughter cut the wrists of her parents.
Not every suicide case was completed. Some mothers who had drowned their children were unable to drown themselves thereafter. In other cases, doses of poison proved to be lethal for children, but not for their mothers. There were also cases where children survived attempted drownings. Some members who survived a first attempt at suicide killed themselves by other methods. A mother and her repeatedly raped daughter, for instance, died by hanging themselves in an attic, after repeatedly failing to drown themselves in the Peene river. Another mother who had poisoned and buried three of her four children before, tried to hang herself on an oak three times, only to be prevented from doing so each time by Soviet soldiers. There are further records of Soviet soldiers preventing suicides by retrieving people from the river and nursing cut wrists. In another case, a grandfather forcibly took away a razor blade from a mother who was about to kill her children and herself after being raped by Soviet soldiers and hearing of the death of her husband. After Soviet soldiers had raped a girl to death and shot her father, an aunt cut her daughter's and son's wrists as well as her own. The other women of the family committed suicide, only one aunt was able to save the grandmother. One family survived, because the 15-year-old son persuaded his mother, one of the rape victims, to save herself, when she was already being dragged by the Tollense river.
Demmin's current chronicler, Gisela Zimmer, then 14 years old, recalls:My mother was also raped. And then, together with us and with neighbors, she hurried towards the Tollense river, resolutely prepared to jump into it. [...] My siblings [...] realized only much later that I had held her back, that I had pulled her out of what may be called a state of trance, to prevent her from jumping into the water. There were people. There was screaming. The people were prepared to die. Children were told: 'Do you want to live on? The town is burning. These and those are dead already. No, we do not want to live any more.' And so, people went mostly into the rivers. [...] That made even the Russians feel creepy. There are examples where Russians, too, tried to pull people out or hinder them. But these hundreds of people, they were unable to withhold. And the population here was extremely panicked.
Zimmer writes that many of the dead were buried in mass graves on the Bartholomäi graveyard. Some were buried in individual graves at relatives' request. Others went unburied, as their bodies were not retrieved from the rivers. More than 900 bodies were buried in the mass graves; 500 of them were recorded on pages of a warehouse accountant's book converted into a death register. Weeks after the mass suicide, bodies still floated in the rivers. Clothing and other belongings of the drowned formed a border along the rivers' banks, up to wide.
Death toll.
"Focus" magazine (1995) quoted Norbert Buske as saying, "We will have to assume more than 1,000 deaths." According to Goeschel (2009), with reference to Buske (1995), "Some 700 to 1,000 people are said to have committed suicide directly after the arrival of the Red Army;" Grashoff (2006), using the same reference, stated that "estimates of the number of suicides range from 700 to 1,200." "Der Spiegel" (2005) put the death toll at "more than 1,000." The NDR stated that "nearly a thousand women and children committed suicide." Bauer (2008) wrote that "some thousand people committed suicide, mostly by drowning." According to psychologist Bscheid (2009) and jurist and sociologist Volkersen (2005), it was the largest recorded mass suicide in Germany. Both mentioned 900 suicides. Rostock historian Fred Mrotzek estimated that the death toll was 1,200 to 2,500 people.
East German taboo.
Under the Communist East German government, the mass suicide became taboo. The site of the mass graves was deliberately neglected, became overgrown, and was at times cultvated to grow sugar beets. The only visible hint of the mass grave was a solitary monument with the engraved date "1945", soon also overgrown. In contrast, a obelisk was erected in Demmin's burnt center to commemorate Soviet soldiers who had died in the area. The local museum listed "2,300 deaths due to warfare and famine" for the years of 1945 and 1946. As late as 1989, the chronicle of the district's Communist party blamed the destruction of the town on Werwolf and Hitler Youth activities. The atrocities were blamed on "Germans disguised as Soviets" by a document found in the local Soviet military administration in Neubrandenburg. As "Der Spiegel" puts it:Arbitrary executions, the rapes, the torching of towns – the atrocities of the Red Army were a taboo in the GDR, the mass suicides as well. Those who had witnessed it all or even survived a failed suicide – children, elderly, raped women – were ashamed and kept quiet. Somehow, life had to go on in the system of the liberators. Today, many do not want to remember, for too long they had struggled to find a balance between what they had suffered and what they had learned.
Only a few East German documents mentioned the events. The first post-war district official ("Landrat") of Demmin, who was confirmed in this position by the Soviet authorities on 15 May 1945, briefly mentioned the events in an internal "activity report" of 21 November, speaking of more than 700 suicide victims. Dieter Krüger, eyewitness of the events, son of a raped mother and survivor of a failed family suicide, started researching the mass suicide while working for the local museum in the 1980s, but his work was confiscated. Historian Erla Vensky managed to "smuggle" a line about a "panic, in the course of which 700 people committed suicide" into the "History of the local workers' movement".
After the collapse of the East German government, some of the eyewitnesses, including Demmin's current chronicler, Zimmer, "broke the silence" and made their account of the mass suicide public. A new memorial was dedicated at the site of the mass graves. A dedicated issue of a journal published by the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was released in 1995. Since then, accounts of the event have been published by German media. In 2008, the mass suicide was a theme of a novel.
Similar mass suicides.
Mass suicides occurred all along the late-war Soviet-German front line. Examples include:


Ramon Novarro

José Ramón Gil Samaniego (February 6, 1899 – October 30, 1968), known professionally as Ramon Novarro, was a Mexican-American film, stage and television actor who began his career in silent films in 1917 and eventually became a leading man and one of the top box office attractions of the 1920s and early 1930s. Novarro was promoted by MGM as a "Latin lover" and became known as a sex symbol after the death of Rudolph Valentino.
Early life.
Novarro was born José Ramón Gil Samaniego on February 6, 1899, in Durango City, Durango, north-west Mexico, to Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego, and his wife, Leonor (Pérez Gavilán). The family moved to Los Angeles to escape the Mexican Revolution in 1913. Novarro's direct ancestors came from the Castilian town of Burgos, whence two brothers emigrated to the New World in the seventeenth century.
Allan Ellenberger, Novarro's biographer, writes:[... t]he Samaniegos were an influential and well-respected family in Mexico. Many Samaniegos had prominent positions in the affairs of state and were held in high esteem by the president. Ramon's grandfather, Mariano Samaniego, was a well-known physician in Juarez. Known as a charitable and outgoing man, he was once an interim governor for the State of Chihuahua and was the first city councilman of El Paso, Texas ... Ramon's father, Dr. Mariano N. Samaniego, was born in Juarez and attended high school in Las Cruces, New Mexico. After receiving his degree in dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to Durango, Mexico, and began a flourishing dental practice. In 1891 he married Leonor Pérez-Gavilán, the beautiful daughter of a prosperous landowner. The Pérez-Gaviláns were a mixture of Spanish and Aztec blood, and according to local legend, they were descended from Guerrero, a prince of Montezuma.
The family estate was called the "Garden of Eden". Thirteen children were born there: Emilio; Guadalupe; Rosa; Ramón; Leonor; Mariano; Luz; Antonio; José; a stillborn child; Carmen; Ángel and Eduardo. At the time of the Mexican Revolution, the family moved from Durango to Mexico City and then returned to Durango. Three of Ramón's sisters, Guadalupe, Rosa, and Leonor, became nuns. He was a second cousin of the Mexican actresses Dolores del Río and Andrea Palma.
Career.
Silent films.
He entered films in 1917, in bit parts. He supplemented his income by working as a singing waiter. His friends, actor and director Rex Ingram and his wife, actress Alice Terry, began to promote him as a rival to Rudolph Valentino, and Ingram suggested he change his name to "Novarro". From 1923, he began to play more prominent roles. His role in "Scaramouche" (1923) brought him his first major success.
Novarro achieved his greatest success in 1925, in "Ben-Hur". His revealing costumes caused a sensation. He was elevated into the Hollywood elite. As did many stars, Novarro engaged Sylvia of Hollywood as a physical therapist (although in her tell-all book, Sylvia erroneously claimed that Novarro slept in a coffin). With Valentino's death in 1926, Novarro became the screen's leading Latin actor, though ranked lower than his MGM contemporary John Gilbert as a leading man. Novarro was popular as a swashbuckler in action roles, and considered one of the great romantic lead actors of his day. He appeared with Norma Shearer in "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" (1927) and with Joan Crawford in "Across to Singapore" (1928).
Talking films.
He made his first talking film, starring as a singing French soldier, in "Devil-May-Care" (1929). He starred with Dorothy Janis in "The Pagan" (1929), with Greta Garbo in "Mata Hari" (1931), with Myrna Loy in "The Barbarian" (1933) and opposite Lupe Vélez in "Laughing Boy" (1934).
When his contract with MGM Studios expired in 1935 and the studio did not renew it, Novarro continued to act sporadically, appearing in films for Republic Pictures, a Mexican religious drama, and a French comedy. In the 1940s, he had several small roles in American films, including "We Were Strangers" (1949), directed by John Huston and starring Jennifer Jones and John Garfield. In 1958, he was considered for a role in the television series "The Green Peacock", with Howard Duff and Ida Lupino, after their CBS Television sitcom "Mr. Adams and Eve" (1957–58). The project, however, never materialized. A Broadway tryout was aborted in the 1960s. Novarro kept busy on television, appearing in NBC's "The High Chaparral" as late as 1968.
At the peak of his success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Novarro was earning more than US$100,000 per film. He invested some of his income in real estate, and his Hollywood Hills residence is one of the more renowned designs (1927) by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. When his career ended, he was still able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
Personal life.
Novarro was troubled all his life by his conflicted feelings toward his Roman Catholic religion and his homosexuality. His life-long struggle with alcoholism is often traced to these problems. In the early 1920s Novarro had a romantic relationship with composer Harry Partch, who was working as an usher at the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the time, but Novarro broke off the affair as he achieved greater success as an actor. He was romantically involved with Hollywood journalist Herbert Howe, who was also his publicist in the late 1920s, and with a wealthy man from San Francisco, Noël Sullivan.
Along with Dolores del Río, Lupe Vélez and James Cagney, Novarro was accused of promoting Communism in California after they attended a special screening of the film "¡Que viva México!" by famed Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein.
Murder.
Novarro was murdered on October 30, 1968, by brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17, who called him and offered their sexual services. He had in the past hired prostitutes from an agency to come to his Laurel Canyon home for sex, and the Fergusons obtained Novarro's telephone number from a previous guest.
According to the prosecution in the murder case, the two young men believed that a large sum of money was hidden in Novarro's house. The prosecution accused the brothers of torturing Novarro for several hours to force him to reveal where the non-existent money was hidden. They left the house with $20 they took from his bathrobe pocket. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his own blood after being beaten. The two perpetrators were caught and sentenced to long prison terms, but released on parole in the mid-1970s. Both were later re-arrested for unrelated crimes for which they served longer prison terms than for the murder of Novarro. In a 1998 interview, Paul Ferguson finally assumed the blame for Novarro's death. Tom Ferguson committed suicide on March 6, 2005. When Paul Ferguson died in 2018, he was serving a 60-year sentence for rape in Missouri.
Novarro is buried in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles, California. Novarro's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard.
In popular culture.
Novarro's murder served as the basis for the short story by Charles Bukowski called "The Murder of Ramon Vasquez", as well as for the song "Tango," by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, recorded by Peggy Lee on her "Mirrors" album.
Novarro's murder is among the many epochal events recalled in Joan Didion's meditative 'California zeitgeist' essay "The White Album".
Novarro's murder is also briefly referenced in the sixth season "The Sopranos" episode "Cold Stones", following the violent murder of a closeted homosexual character.
In late 2005, the Wings Theatre in New York City staged the world premiere of "Through a Naked Lens" by George Barthel. The play combined fact and fiction to depict Ramon Novarro's rise to fame and his relationship with Hollywood journalist Herbert Howe.
In 2015, the murder of Ramon Novarro was covered in the television series "Aquarius" in the episode "Cease to Resist".
Novarro's relationship with Herbert Howe is discussed in two biographies: Allan R. Ellenberger's "Ramón Novarro" and André Soares's "Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramón Novarro."
Prize-winning Greek playwright Pavlos Matesis wrote a play in two parts titled "The Ghost of Mr. Ramon Novarro", which was first staged at the National Theatre of Greece in 1973.


Danielle Beck


Mathilde de Morny

Mathilde de Morny (26 May 1863 – 29 June 1944) was a French aristocrat and artist. Morny was also known by the nickname "Missy" or by the artistic pseudonym "Yssim" (an anagram of Missy), or as "Max", "Uncle Max" (), or "Monsieur le Marquis". Active as a sculptor and painter, Morny studied under Comte Saint-Cène and the sculptor Édouard-Gustave-Louis Millet de Marcilly.
Life.
Morny was the fourth and final child of Charles de Morny, Duke of Morny and Sofia Sergeyevna Trubetskaya. Charles was the half-brother of Napoleon III, whilst Sofia may have been the illegitimate daughter of Nicholas I of Russia. Although born female, Morny dressed and lived as a man, and used the name Max.
Extravagant conduct made Morny a celebrity of the Belle Époque and despite an 1881 marriage to the well-known gay man Jacques Godart, 6th Marquis de Belbeuf (1850–1906)—whom Morny divorced in 1903—Morny was open about preferring women. Though love between those perceived as women was then fashionable, Morny was attacked for this, especially for having a very masculine dress and attitude. At this time a woman, wearing trousers could still scandalize even if the person was legally authorized, as in the case of Rosa Bonheur (who sought police permission to wear trousers to make it easier for her to paint in the countryside). Missy wore a full three-piece suit (which, as with trousers, was forbidden in France for anyone but men), had short hair, and smoked a cigar.
A scholar of Morny, Kadji Amin, says that—contrary to some claims—no evidence supports the theory that de Morny underwent a hysterectomy or a mastectomy. "Recent historians have claimed that Max de Morny [had such surgery], based on a single, unverified, and never-duplicated claim by Simone Wiel "[sic]", who, moreover, was not one of de Morny's intimates. It seems unlikely, though not impossible, that someone as notorious and as subject to gossip as de Morny could have had [...] ovaries and breast tissue surgically removed, as Wiel claims, without anyone else having taken note."
As a teenager, Morny had adhered to sartorial convention. An 1882 magazine article describes the newlywed marquise as wearing "a dress of the very palest mauve, mixed tulle and silk," adding that Morny "is not exactly pretty, but has a most original face, being very pale, with a very set expression, the darkest eyes possible, and quantities of very fair hair."
Morny became a lover of several women in Paris, including Liane de Pougy and Colette. From summer 1906 onwards, Colette and Morny lived together in the 'Belle Plage' villa in Le Crotoy, where Colette wrote "Les Vrilles de la vigne" and "La Vagabonde" which would be adapted for the screen by Musidora. On 3 January 1907 the two put on a pantomime entitled "Rêve d'Égypte" ('Dream of Egypt') at the Moulin Rouge, in which Morny caused a scandal by playing an Egyptologist during a love scene with a woman – a kiss between them almost caused a riot and the production was stopped by the prefect of police Louis Lépine. From then on they could no longer live together openly, though the relationship lasted until 1912. Morny also inspired the character 'La Chevalière' in Colette's novel "Le Pur et l'impur", described as "in dark masculine attire, belying any notion of gaiety or bravado... High born, she slummed it like a prince."
On 21 June 1910 the couple bought the manor of Rozven at Saint-Coulomb in Brittany (its owner, baron du Crest, refused the sale because Mathilde was not dressed as a woman and so Colette signed the deed instead) – on the same day the first chamber of the "tribunal de grande instance" for the Seine departement pronounced Colette's divorce from Henry Gauthier-Villars. When they separated a year later, Colette kept the house.
At the end of May 1944 Morny attempted hara-kiri but was prevented, but did ultimately die from suicide on 29 June 1944, aged 81.
In popular culture.
De Morny is a major character in the 2018 film "Colette", played by Denise Gough.


Barney Martin

Barney Martin (March 3, 1923 – March 21, 2005) was an American actor, comedy writer, and New York City Police Department detective. He is best known for playing Morty Seinfeld, father of Jerry, on the sitcom "Seinfeld".
Early life.
Born in New York City, New York, Martin served in the U.S. Army Air Force as a navigator during World War II and then was an NYPD officer for twenty years, working his way up to detective. He got his start as a comedian while still a police officer, giving humorous presentations to the deputy commissioners.
Martin once commented that many Jewish "Seinfeld" fans told him how much his character reminded them of their fathers. Martin himself was from an Irish Catholic family.
Career.
Entering show business as a stand-in for Jackie Gleason in "The Honeymooners" in 1955–56 and as a part-time writer for Steve Allen in the 1950s, he was discovered by Mel Brooks, who cast him in "The Producers". The next year, he played the role of Hank in "Charly". He went on to act in dozens of films, including the role of Liza Minnelli's unemployed father in the hit 1981 film "Arthur" and its 1988 sequel, "".
On television, he appeared in two episodes of "The Odd Couple", once in a very early episode as an irate fellow juror infuriated with Felix Unger's pesty personality and four years later as a fellow subway train passenger. Shortly after, Martin co-starred with Tony Randall for two seasons in "The Tony Randall Show" as court reporter Jack Terwilliger. Throughout the run of this show, he had second billing only to Randall himself. In 1979, he was cast as the title character in Norman Lear's final TV series concept, "". Martin was cast to play a character similar to Lear's earlier creation, "Archie Bunker", but played as a dog. Only the pilot was completed. In 1990, he co-starred with Valerie Bertinelli and Matthew Perry in the CBS sitcom "Sydney". In 1987, he appeared in the pilot episode of "21 Jump Street" as Johnny Depp's partner. In 1993, Martin played the recurring role of "Pete Peters" on the Don Rickles sit-com "Daddy Dearest". Although he was the second actor to portray Jerry's dad, Morty, in the 90s sitcom "Seinfeld", he is the one most associated with the role, as the first actor, Phil Bruns, only appeared in one episode.
In 1975, Martin originated the role of Amos Hart in "Chicago". He appeared in many more musicals during his career, most notably "South Pacific", "The Fantasticks", and "How Now, Dow Jones". Much of Martin's work has been in television, where he had a long career as a character actor. He played a gangster called the "Cheese Man" in a "Golden Girls" episode. He played a love interest for Thelma Harper in the Hawaii episode of "Mama's Family", and he played the father of Frank Fontana on "Murphy Brown". He appeared in an episode of "Full House" as Ranger Roy, the host of a popular kids' TV show. In 1981, he portrayed Ralph Marolla, father of Liza Minnelli's character in the film "Arthur" and the following year appeared on "Barney Miller" in the episode "Obituary".
In 1990, Martin was cast as the fictional father of Jerry Seinfeld, Morty Seinfeld in the sitcom "Seinfeld". His first appearance was in season 2's "The Pony Remark". Martin replaced Phil Bruns who first portrayed the character in his first appearance in Season 1's "The Stake Out". He took on the role upon showrunners Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld deciding they wanted the character of Morty Seinfeld to be harsher, as they thought Bruns was too laid-back for the character. He retained this role until the series ended in 1998.
Death.
On March 21, 2005, he died of bladder cancer in Studio City, Los Angeles, California at age 82. He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to his family.


Edmund Blackstone


Nikolai Glushkov

Nikolay Alekseevich Glushkov (; 24 December 1949 – 12 March 2018) was a Russian businessman who was the deputy director of Aeroflot and a finance manager for AvtoVAZ. After claiming that Aeroflot worked as a "cash cow to support international spying operations", he was arrested and tried in Russia on the allegation of channelling Aeroflot money through another company in 1999. He was convicted and released in 2004, after serving three years. He emigrated to the UK in 2010 and received political asylum. In 2017, he was convicted in absentia in Russia for allegedly stealing money from Aeroflot, but his extradition from Britain had been denied. Initially treated as "unexplained", his death is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police who are treating it as a murder inquiry. On 9 April 2021, the West London Coroner's Court ruled Glushkov was unlawfully killed, with injuries consistent with strangulation.
Biography.
Early life.
In 1972, Nikolai Glushkov graduated from the Moscow Peoples' Friendship University with a degree in physics. In 1981, he completed the Academy of Foreign Trade with a degree in economics.
Aeroflot job, arrests, trials, and convictions.
Glushkov had been AvtoVAZ's Finance Chief until he left his job in late 1995 and was appointed as Deputy General Director of Aeroflot on request from Yevgeny Shaposhnikov in February 1996. According to Alexander Goldfarb, he found that the airline company worked as a "cash cow to support international spying operations": 3,000 people out of the total workforce of 14,000 in Aeroflot were FSB, SVR, or GRU officers. All proceeds from ticket sales were distributed to 352 foreign bank accounts that could not be controlled by the Aeroflot administration. Glushkov closed all these accounts and channeled the money to Swiss company called Andava in Switzerland. He also sent a bill and wrote a letter to SVR director Yevgeny Primakov and FSB director Mikhail Barsukov, asking them to pay the salaries of their intelligence officers in Aeroflot in 1996. Both Glushkov and Berezovsky were the main shareholders of Andava at that time.
In 1996, a Forbes article claimed that Glushkov was convicted of theft in 1982. Glushkov and Berezovsky sued Forbes for libel in the United Kingdom, with the ruling coming down against the publisher.
Glushkov was arrested in December 2000 by Russian law enforcers and charged with channelling money through his accounting centre "Andava". He was a business partner and close friend of Boris Berezovsky, who from November 2000 resided in Britain; Berezovsky had to give up his ownership of the ORT TV channel, transferred to Roman Abramovich's Sibneft) in exchange for the promise to release Glushkov, which was not fulfilled.
In April 2001, Andrey Lugovoy organised an "escape" of Glushkov from a hospital where he was kept by authorities. According to Glushkov, that was a set-up by FSB. He had no intention of escaping and "was walking in his slippers to the hospital gate to go home for the night, with his guards' knowledge, as he had done a few days earlier".
During his trial, Glushkov was incarcerated in Lefortovo Prison. He was cleared of the original fraud and money laundering charges by the court in March 2004, but found guilty of attempted escape and "abuse of authority" and sentenced to 3 years and 3 months of imprisonment. Glushkov was released in the courtroom, since he had already served his sentence in the pre-trial detention centre. The Moscow City Court rejected the verdict and returned the case for new consideration. In 2006, the Savelovsky District Court terminated the prosecution of Glushkov, and gave him a two-year suspended sentence.
Emigration to UK and extradition request.
Gluskov emigrated to the UK and received political asylum in 2010. The Russian state resumed his criminal prosecution. In 2017, during a trial "in absentia" in Russia, Glushkov was sentenced to eight years in prison for allegedly stealing $123 million from Aeroflot. The UK refused to extradite him to Russia.
Death.
On 13 March 2018, friends of Glushkov revealed that he had been found dead the night before in his home in New Malden, London. His death was initially treated by police as unexplained. His death came a week after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, which along with his reputation as a critic of the Putin government, was said to be the reason for putting the Counter Terrorism Command in charge of the investigation. Glushkov reportedly feared being on Putin's hit list and expected to be a likely target.
During the subsequent post-mortem his body was found to have marks consistent with strangulation on the neck. On 16 March 2018, the Metropolitan Police stated they were now treating his death as murder and that "at this stage there is nothing to suggest any link to the attempted murders in Salisbury". Counter-terrorism investigators maintain a lead role in the investigation. The Russian Embassy in London has requested a meeting with the head of Scotland Yard over its investigation into the murder.
It was reported after his death that Glushkov might have been poisoned by two Russian men five years earlier. A paramedic said that he treated Mr Glushkov in Bristol in 2013 after he had collapsed in his room. He had been sharing drinks with two men from Moscow the night before at the Grand Hotel in Bristol and believed he had been poisoned with champagne. The paramedics found him with multiple carpet burns on his body and an unusual heart rhythm which they could not recognise.
On 9 April 2021, a coroner with the West London Coroner's Court ruled Glushkov was unlawfully killed, with evidence to suggest his death was made to look like a suicide, and injuries that "could be consistent with a neck-hold, applied from behind, and the assailant being behind the victim".


Franca Sozzani

Franca Sozzani (; 20 January 1950 – 22 December 2016) was an Italian journalist and the editor-in-chief of "Vogue Italia" from 1988 until her death in 2016.
Biography.
Sozzani was born and grew up in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy. She studied Germanic languages and literature and philosophy at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, graduating in 1973.
She married at the age of 20; the union was dissolved three months later.
Sozzani's career began as an assistant at the children's fashion magazine "Vogue Bambini" in 1976. She directed the publications "Lei" beginning in 1980 and "Per Lui" starting in 1982 before heading up "Vogue Italia" in 1988.
In the 1990s, Sozzani helped create the phenomenon of the supermodel with one of her closest long-term collaborators, Steven Meisel. She also championed a group of photographers including Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, and Paolo Roversi, Michel Comte giving them complete freedom to choose models and subjects, and encouraging them to experiment with their work. She was appointed editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Italia in 1994.
In 2010, Sozzani published a selection of her blog posts from the "Editor's Notes" pages of Vogue.it as a book, "I" c"apricci della moda."
As well as her editorial writing, Sozzani also wrote photography and art books among them "British Artists at Work" with photographer Amanda Eliasch. Sozzani provided text for exhibition catalogues, often collaborating with other writers, journalists and artists on publications. In 2006, she became editor of Vogue l'Uomo and in February 2011, she launched "Vogue Curvy", staffed by plus-size bloggers who offer fashion tips for the full-figured. In September 2015, she took over editorship of "Vogue Sposa" and "Vogue Bambini."
Sozzani died after a year-long illness on 22 December 2016, at the age of 66.
Style.
Sozzani was known for including topics and issues in her magazine which other fashion publications avoided, such as domestic violence, drug abuse and recovery, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010. Issues of her magazine included "The Black Issue" (which featured only models of colour), "Makeover" (discussing plastic surgery) and "Rebranding Africa".
Sozzani collaborated with artists Maurizio Cattelan and Vanessa Beecroft on exhibits and performances. She also curated several exhibitions and retrospectives, including: "30 Years of Italian Vogue" (Mario Testino), "Vietnam Story" and "My Own Story in Vogue" (Bruce Weber), "Women" (Peter Lindbergh), and "Portraits of Elegance" (Milan Triennale), as well as Francesco Scavullo.
Awards and charity work.
In 2012, Sozzani was awarded the Legion of Honour by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The same year she became a United Nations Goodwill ambassador. In 2014, she was named a global ambassador against hunger for the United Nations’ World Food Programme and received the Swarovski Fashion Award for Positive Change in 2016.
Sozzani contributed to a number of charitable organisations. She was a founding member of Child Priority – a non-profit organization created by Condé Nast to offer concrete study and work opportunities for those who have none despite being talented and artistically gifted. In addition, she worked with the AIDS organisation Convivo and from March 2013 she was the president of the European Institute of Oncology Foundation.
Family.
Sozzani had one son, Francesco Carrozzini (born 1982), a photographer and director. Her sister, Carla Sozzani, is the owner of 10 Corso Como, a Milan photography gallery and store. Sozzani's niece, Sara Maino, is an editor at "Italian Vogue".


California Firearm Violence Research Center

The California Firearm Violence Research Center is a forthcoming research center the California legislature approved to fund on June 16, 2016. The center will live within the University of California and will be the first publicly charted center in the United States. Garen Wintemute and Senator Lois Wolk led the proposal to create the center. With access to California's gun violence data, the center will investigate policy efficacy, links between gun violence and alcohol abuse, and more. California's annual death rate related to gun violence has dropped 20% since 2000, despite an unchanged national rate. This center hopes to determine whether other states can replicate this outcome, as research may surface factors that led to the decline. The UC system will finalize details in the summer of 2016 to start recruiting scientists for its research projects. The National Rifle Association opposed the inclusion of the center, as they have lobbied for decades against federal and taxpayer money researching gun violence. Several bills have been turned down in Congress due to a lack of data on the impact of gun violence on public health, and the center's founders hope to provide necessary data to advance legislation.


Oblivion (Grimes song)

"Oblivion" is a song by Canadian singer Grimes from her third studio album, "Visions" (2012). It was released as a promotional single in 2012 by 4AD. The song is one of Grimes' most successful releases and was ranked at number 38 on Australian alternative music station Triple J's 2012 Hottest 100 countdown. It was named the best song of 2012 on "Pitchfork", which in 2019 also named it the second best song of the decade. It placed at number 229 on "NME" magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. From over 35 outlets, global critic aggregator Acclaimed Music went on to rank "Oblivion" as the 2nd greatest song of the 2010s.
Music video.
The music video was co-directed by Grimes and Emily Kai Bock, on a "shoe string budget". It features Grimes, in a black coat and her signature pink hair, with headphones on at a sporting match with a largely male crowd. It was shot in Montreal at Olympic Stadium and at McGill University's Molson Stadium, during a football game and a supercross event. The video debuted on March 2, 2012 and shows Grimes amongst shirtless frat boys, as well as in a men's locker room surrounded by weightlifting athletes. "Art gives me an outlet where I can be aggressive in a world where I usually can't be, and part of it was asserting this abstract female power in these male-dominated arenas—the video is somewhat about objectifying men. Not in a disrespectful way, though," Grimes explained. Additionally, part of the music video took place in a convenience store.
In an interview with "Spin", she revealed that the song is about "going into this masculine world that is associated with sexual assault, but presented as something really welcoming and nice. The song's sort of about being—I was assaulted and I had a really hard time engaging in any types of relationship with men, because I was just so terrified of men for a while."


Arthur Steele (SOE agent)

Arthur Steele (6 April 1921 – 14 September 1944), was a British soldier who joined Special Operations Executive (SOE) to operate in occupied France during the Second World War as a wireless operator carrying out sabotage and spying missions until he was taken prisoner. He was tortured for information unsuccessfully by the Gestapo and subsequently killed by the "SS".
Early life.
Steele was born at Nœux-les-Mines in France, the son of Arthur Steele a former British soldier and his French wife Marie Hortense Steele. He grew up at the family home 47 Hibbert Street in Luton and also at his Grandparents home at Arras in France. In 1935 aged 14 he enlisted in the Royal Artillery at Woolwich as a Boy Soldier Bandsman and later also gained his proficiency certificate as a wireless telegraphy operator. No. 847209 Gunner Arthur Steele spent the early war years with Headquarters Royal Artillery 77 Division based in England but in mid 1942 applied for duty with Special Operations Executive as he spoke fluent French and was a wireless operator.
Special Operations Executive.
Steele commenced training at Wanborough Manor near Guildford in the autumn of 1942 and participated in his SOE initial security course from 5 October 1942 until 30 October 1942. He was classed as "exceptionally keen and conscientious" and signed the Official Secrets Act on 16 November 1942. Steele was commissioned on 1 January 1943 as second lieutenant on the General List with service number P/263403. Suffering quite serious illness he was hospitalised for several weeks in Oxford after Christmas 1942. On discharge from hospital he married Isabelle Bowhill in Watford in March 1943. Steele completed his SOE training to join SOE F Section networks and was promoted acting lieutenant effective 19 June 1943 and lieutenant on 1 July 1943.
Steele was parachuted into France by No. 161 Squadron RAF on an SOE special duties mission on 19 June 1943, to act as network radio operator for the "MONK" network run by Charles Skepper who worked under the code name "Bernard" in the Marseille district. His code name was "Waiter" or "Laurent" and he was using the cover name Arthur Saulnier and later Arthur Clermont. He was active in the Barjols area where he lodged with the manager of a gasoline station. Steele installed six transmitters in the hills around Barjols and Saint-Martin-de-Pallières in places only accessible to knowledgeable local people. Each day from July 1943 to March 1944 he made contact with London passing and receiving about 400 messages. Steele arrange for a new agent Eliane Plewman to be parachuted in to Jura to join their team on the night of 13–14 August 1943. On several occasions Italian and German intelligence teams tried to locate the source of the radio signals but they had no effective local guides and were unable to reach his location on each attempt. The MONK circuit were able to carry out repeated acts of sabotage with explosives parachuted in from British bombers, (see article on Charles Skepper). In early March 1944 due to local changes he had to leave Barjols to join the group in Marseille.
Betrayal and Imprisonment.
The MONK network organiser Charles Skepper was arrested with others on 23 or 24 March 1944 (dates vary with sources) in the apartment where he had been staying at 8 Rue Merentie with French friends, the Villevieille family, after betrayal by a French national (Bousquet) working for the Gestapo. The traitor was identified and executed after the war. Everybody at the apartment was taken away while Bousquet and the Gestapo made the place look as normal as possible so that they could wait and trap any members of Skepper's team who visited. On the next day Arthur Steele was arrested when he called to visit Skepper with their courier Eliane Plewman code name "Gaby" and several French members. No arrests happened other than of people coming to that address which indicates that even under torture no names were given away.
At the Baumettes prison and at Gestapo headquarters in 425 Rue Paradis Marseille the Gestapo under agent Ernst Dunker tortured their three British captives by delivering very powerful electric shocks between the eyes and the results were so bad that when the British were seen by French prisoners they were almost unrecognisable.
It is noted that SS-Obersturmführer Ernst Dunker (born 27 January 1912 in Halle) was tried post-war in France for his crimes and executed on 6 June 1950 in Marseille.
Fate.
Initial reports in Steele's SOE personnel file were that he was arrested, interrogated and tortured by the Gestapo and probably sent to Germany. The citation for his Posthumous Mention in Despatches written on 23 August 1945 by Major General Colin Gubbins states that he was executed at Buchenwald Concentration Camp on 14 September 1944. Other sources state that Arthur Steele was executed on 9 September 1944 and Eliane Plewman at Dachau concentration camp on 13 September 1944. No trace of Charles Skepper was ever found but it is believed that on or after 4 April 1944 he had died in Buchenwald. It was known from German sources that between 9 September 1944 and 14 September 1944 groups of captured agents held prisoner there were hanged at Buchenwald by the SS. Steele was amongst a group from Prison Block 17 summoned by the camp loudspeaker to the "Tower Block" on 9 September 1944 and not seen again.
On 17 April 1944 Steele was promoted to the rank of captain while in captivity, he was reported to have "Died whilst prisoner of war in German hands 14 September 1944" but was later reclassified "Killed in Action"
Awards.
The Statutes of the Order of the British Empire do not allow for posthumous awards but Major General Colin Gubbins head of SOE wished Steele to be awarded an MBE and on 9 June 1945 placed in writing his wish for that to happen because at the time of the original recommendation the British authorities did not know that Steele had been killed. He was over-ruled and only allowed to recommend a Posthumous Mention in Despatches. Gubbins made recommendations for two Posthumous Mention in Despatches awards for Steele, on 15 May 1945 and on 10 July 1945 but only one was allowed through the system.
Gubbins's nomination for Steele's "mention in depatches" on 23 August 1945 stated:
Steele was a posthumous Mention in Despatches by the British government in the London Gazette 28 February 1946.
Steele was also awarded a Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 avec Palme by the French government, the citation for which was issued on 16 January 1946 by L'Ordre de l'Armée.
Commemoration.
Arthur Steele has no grave so is commemorated by name on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey, and amongst the 104 agents of the SOE "F Section" on the Memorial at Valençay in France. and on the British Forces Roll of Honour.
There is a commemorative plaque on the street-level floor of the apartment building at 8 Rue Mérentié where Steele, Charles Skepper and Eliane Plewman were captured in March 1944.
At Buchenwald a plaque was inaugurated on 15 October 2010 which honours the memory of the Allied officers murdered between September 1944 and March 1945 including twenty agents of SOE, one of those named is Captain Arthur Steele.
Notes.
See also SOE F Section networks
References.
Lt. Col. EG Boxshall, Chronology of SOE operations with the resistance in France During World War II, 1960, typed document (copy from the library of Pearl Witherington-Cornioley, available at the library of Valençay). See sheet 45, MONK CIRCUIT.


Tiba Tomaj

Tiba from the kindred Tomaj (; died after 1209) was a Hungarian noble at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, who assassinated Palatine Csépán Győr in 1209.
Life.
Tiba was born into the "gens" (clan) Tomaj of Pecheneg origin, but his kinship relations to the other members of the large kindred is uncertain. He owned Lesencetomaj in Zala County just before the murder.
A document from 1216 narrates that Tiba murdered incumbent palatine Csépán Győr in 1209. The victim's brother Pat Győr, who succeeded him in the dignity, summoned the suspected perpetrator "before the king's presence", but, instead, Tiba fled the Kingdom of Hungary. After his conduct, the court considered the allegations justified, and Tiba was convicted and sentenced to death "in absentia" by Andrew II and his fellow appointed judges. Pat was granted the confiscated lands of Tiba, including Lesencetomaj as a compensation shortly thereafter. Pat sold the estate to Atyusz III Atyusz, who himself sold it to Tiba's relative Peter in 1216.
The motivation of the murder is unclear; historian Erik Fügedi considered it as the "first documented political assassination" in Hungary. Bálint Hóman assumed a connection between Tiba's crime and a failed conspiracy against Andrew in the same year, when a group of discontented Hungarian lords offered the crown to Andrew's cousins, the sons of Andrew's uncle, Géza. Accordingly, Tiba would have been a participant of that conspiracy, and had to flee from the realm after the failure of the coup. Historian Pál Szabó analyzed the verdict's narrative and political circumstances (only a single private law document mentions the felony), and considered Csépán was killed by Tiba for personal reasons.


Clark Street Bridge

The Clark Street Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, connecting the Near North Side with The Loop via Clark Street.
History.
The current bridge, which was completed in 1929, is the eighth bridge to span the river at this point. In 1853 the bridge was struck by a steamer, called the "London", and collapsed, blocking traffic on the river. The bridge was dredged and river traffic resumed on September 8, 1853. In 1854, the city approved an expenditure of $12,000 to replace the bridge with a pivot bridge. During the Lager Beer Riot in 1855, the bridge was pivoted to help contain the rioters.
On June 26, 1907, the steamer collided with the south abutment of the bridge and sank. She was declared a total loss.
The passenger ship was scheduled to sail from the dock at the Clark Street Bridge when she capsized on July 24, 1915, killing 844 people.
In March 2012, an unidentified man jumped from the bridge and was rescued by local high school students on a field trip. He later died of hypothermia.
In popular culture.
In 1916, Carl Sandburg wrote the poem "Clark Street Bridge."


Dilip Buwa

Dilip Buwa (1966–16 November 1991) was a notorious Indian gangster who used to work for the D-Company, an international crime syndicate of the Mumbai underworld led by Dawood Ibrahim. He was killed in 1991 by an encounter during the Lokhandwala Complex shootout. Buwa was killed by then Additional Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Aftab Ahmed Khan. Buwa was portrayed by Tusshar Kapoor in the Bollywood film Shootout at Lokhandwala.
The director of the movie, Apoorva Lakhia, stated in an interview that Buwa once shot two girls at a bus stand in Bhandup, just because they were laughing at him.
Buwa was the bodyguard of Ramabhai Naik, another
famous gangster in Central Mumbai. He was paid off by Chotta Rajan, a former associate of Dawood Ibrahim. While visiting Chembur, Buwa turned and shot Naik dead. He then switched sides to the Dawood Ibrahim gang. Conversely, Maya Dolas was a member of a gang led by Arun Gawli. In an agreement between Amar Naik and Arun Gawli, they agreed to settle their disputes, but in return Amar wanted Dolas dead. When Dolas found out he escaped and joined with Buwa and the D-Company.


Christopher Pegge

Sir Christopher Pegge M.D. (1765–1822) was an English physician.
Life.
The son of Samuel Pegge the younger, by his first wife, he was born in London. He entered Christ Church, Oxford, as a commoner on 18 April 1782, and graduated B.A. on 23 February 1786. He was elected a Fellow of Oriel College in 1788, and graduated M.A. and M.B. there on 10 June and 18 July 1789. He returned to Christ Church, was appointed Lee's reader in anatomy there in 1790, and proceeded M.D. on 27 April 1792.
On 9 November 1790 Pegge became physician to the Radcliffe Infirmary, and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1795. He was knighted on 26 June 1799, and in 1801 was appointed regius professor of physic at Oxford. He was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians on 25 June 1796, delivered the Harveian oration in 1805, and became a censor in 1817.
Pegge left Oxford in 1816, and took a house in George Street, Hanover Square, for his health. Soon afterwards he moved on to Hastings. He had resigned his readership in 1816, but retained the regius professorship. He attended in the university, in accordance with the statutes, and died in Oxford, after an asthmatic seizure, on 3 August 1822. He was master of Ewelme Hospital, and was buried in Ewelme church, where he had an epitaph in the south aisle.


Robert E. Macdonald

Robert Macdonald is an American politician and the former mayor of Lewiston, Maine. He was first elected in 2011, and reelected in 2013 and 2015.
Macdonald, a Vietnam War veteran and former police detective, made opposition to welfare a centerpiece of his mayoral tenure.


James White (film)

James White is a 2015 American drama film written and directed by Josh Mond. The film stars Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon, Scott Mescudi, Ron Livingston, Makenzie Leigh and David Call. James, a twenty-something New Yorker, struggles to take control of his self-destructive behavior in the face of momentous family challenges.
"James White" premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where it won the "NEXT" Audience Award. The film received a limited release on November 13, 2015, by The Film Arcade.
Plot.
James White is a 20-something unemployed man who lives with his terminally ill mother in New York. He attends his father's funeral and meets his dad's new wife Karen at the service. His friend Nick, who works at a resort in Mexico, is in attendance. Dad's friend Ben works for a magazine offers James his condolences and says maybe he could find him a job. Jim considers himself a writer. James tells his mom he really needs to get away and is going back with Nick to Mexico. Gail White, his mom, reminds him that she needs him. They each think they have taken care of the other the past four years.
James is partying in Mexico. He meets a young girl, Jayne, who also likes drugs and alcohol. Gail calls and tells James she needs her son to come home. Jayne's also from New York so she returns with him and he learns she is in high school. His mom is in the emergency room and he can't get any care for her. Finally the doctor explains she needs hospice more than the hospital. He cannot understand why he does not know any of this. Gail knows what year it is and who the president is so she can go home. James, Nick and Jayne go to a party, drinking and dancing, James is overcome with his responsibilities. He gets a blackeye in a barroom fight. They all wake up in a motel room the next morning.
James goes for a job interview with Ben. He takes a hand-written writing sample and smells of alcohol. Ben tells him that even though he is a family friend, there is no job available for him. At home he lies and tells his mom he got the job. Gail then has a spell where she cannot speak, which she believes to be just a brain freeze.
That night, Gail's temperature spikes to over 103 degrees. The doctor says to use wet towels and Tylenol. Gail throws up; James feels very distraught and helpless. He takes his mom to the bathroom, where she does her business, but loses her strength to return to bed. James tries to take her out of the experience with an experiment: he tells her to imagine they're in Paris with the wind and lights. James notes how he is married with two children. As grandmother, she takes the kids to all the museums and goes to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. Gail has a new husband, and the two of them are happy in this hypothetical. She returns to bed and her temperature drops back down to a stable 100 degrees.
Later, Gail and James have a heart-to-heart conversation. She says "I know we never talk about your father, but without him, there never would have been you." A month later, James tells her he loves her. Suddenly, James feels like he's having a panic attack. James returns and his mother has died. He closes her eyes. Nick comes in and as James leaves, he hands him some money. James then goes out on the street to smoke a cigarette, and stares blankly into space.
Production.
Josh Mond started writing the script to explore and understand his own feelings after losing his mother to cancer in 2011. During the writing of the script, Mond listened to the albums of Scott Mescudi, also known by his stage name Kid Cudi. They served as inspiration and motivation. Kid Cudi went on to curate the film's music.
In the middle of writing the script, Mond made an experimental short film precursor called ‘1009’ and had his close-friend, actor Christopher Abbott play the leading role. After the short, he decided that the part of James White was going to be written for Abbott. Abbott based his performance on people he'd met, especially New Yorkers, Josh Mond and himself. Cynthia Nixon met up with Mond after reading the script. Mond and Nixon bonded over the fact that they both were from Manhattan with artsy parents. Unfortunately, both Nixon and Mond's mothers died of cancer, and Nixon herself is a cancer survivor. She based her performance on Mond's mother and her own mother as well, even wearing her mother's jewelry in the film. Actor-director Mark Webber, a friend of Mond's, sent his former colleague Mescudi the script. Mescudi joined the film and later scored the film.
The film started shooting in New York City in December 2013. The shooting lasted 18 days in New York and another 4 days were spent shooting in Mexico. Borderline Films launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to finance the film's post-production editing costs and music rights.
Release.
The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the "NEXT" Audience Award. It also screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and at the 2015 AFI Fest where it won the American Independents Audience Award. The film received a limited release on November 13, 2015 by distributors, The Film Arcade.
Reception.
"James White" has been met with critical acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 92% approval rating based on reviews from 71 critics, with an average rating of 7.4 out of 10. The site's critical consensus states: "Led by powerfully complementary performances from Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon, "James White" offers an affecting calling card for debuting writer-director Josh Mond." On Metacritic the film has received a weighted average score of 83 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


Campaign Against Living Miserably

Campaign Against Living Miserably, or CALM, is a registered charity based in England.
CALM run a free, confidential and anonymous helpline as well as a webchat service, offering help, advice and information to anyone who is struggling or in crisis.
History.
Pilot and relaunch.
CALM was initially a Department of Health pilot project launched late in 1997 in Manchester with the help of Tony Wilson, and then rolled out to Merseyside in 2000. It was a helpline targeted specifically at young men who were unlikely to contact mainstream services and who were at greater risk of suicide. Jane Powell was commissioned to launch the project and ran it until 2000. When funding for the pilot project ceased in 2004/5, Powell relaunched the pilot as a registered charity in 2006 working with some of the pilot's original commissioners and with Tony Wilson as a founding Trustee.
In 2015 rapper and singer-songwriter Professor Green was named as CALM's patron, and the campaign's Trustees Board includes health professionals and leading figures from the worlds of music, advertising, and management, as well as relatives of men who have taken their own lives. Robin Millar and David Baddiel are former patrons.
The campaign has brought in significant pro bono advertising support from agencies such as Ogilvy Advertising, Tullo Marshall Warren, MTV, and Metro, and most recently Topman and BMB. This has brought CALM a significant amount of advertisements on billboards, on TV, in the underground and on radio.
In November 2018, CALM partnered with UKTV channel Dave to create a campaign called “Be The Mate You’d Want”. This started with a 3-minute ad break, voiced by comedian James Acaster, encouraging the viewer to text, chat or tweet someone who needs support. It occurred again in July 2019, this time with a “comedy festival in an ad break” which featured comedians Ahir Shah, Alex Horne, Dane Baptiste, Darren Harriott, David Mumeni, Ed Gamble, Elf Lyons, Jamali Maddix, Jessie Cave, Lou Sanders, Maisie Adam, Natasia Demetriou, Phil Wang, Pierre Novelli, Sindhu Vee, Stevie Martin and Zoe Lyons, with Jess Knappett providing intro and outro voiceover.
Project84.
In 2018, the charity commissioned the artists Mark Jenkins and Sandra Fernandez to create "Project84", an art installation in London, England. The work was sponsored by Harry's and designed to raise awareness of adult male suicide.
Conversations Against Living Miserably.
In May 2019 CALM announced a partnership with Dave for a podcast called Conversations Against Living Miserably hosted by Lauren Pattison and Aaron Gillies talking to comedians about their mental health.


Lawrence Hogan

Lawrence Joseph Hogan (September 30, 1928 – April 20, 2017) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Congressman, representing the 5th congressional district of Maryland from January 3, 1969, to January 3, 1975. In 1974, he was the only Republican Representative to vote to recommend all three House articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon. He was the father of the 62nd Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan.
Hogan did not run for re-election in 1974 and was unsuccessful that year in his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor. He became county executive for Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1978 and served until 1982.
Early life and education.
Born in Boston, on September 30, 1928, Hogan was raised in Washington, D.C. and attended Gonzaga College High School. He received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1949, J.D. from Georgetown in 1954, and was admitted to the Bar in the same year. While a college student, he worked for the "Washington Times-Herald". He joined the FBI in 1948 and became a full-time agent while attending law school. He later was enrolled in graduate studies at San Francisco State College, 1956–1957, received a master's degree from American University in 1965, and continued studies at the University of Maryland, 1966–1967.
Career.
Hogan's private career included practicing law and public relations. His Larry Hogan Associates business was making $1 million a year before he sold it to enter politics.
In 1968, Hogan won against incumbent Hervey Machen to represent Maryland's 5th congressional district, and was re-elected in 1970 and 1972. Hogan was the only Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to vote for all three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon when they were adopted in committee. Hogan pointedly said during the televised committee hearings:
Hogan entered Maryland's 1974 gubernatorial race when polls showed him a strong challenger to incumbent Governor Marvin Mandel. Hogan's abandonment of Nixon, however, contributed to his loss in the Republican primary to Louise Gore, who in turn lost to Mandel. Political observers also attributed Hogan's loss to Gore's "genteel, low-key nature". Gladys Spellman was elected to take Hogan's former seat in Congress.
After his 1974 defeat, Hogan and his wife Ilona opened the Hogan and Hogan law firm, with offices in Forestville, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. In 1976, Hogan was elected a Maryland National Republican Committeeman, and in January 1977 he began working as executive vice-president of the Associated Builders and Contractors trade association. When he left the position to re-enter politics, he was being paid between $70,000 and $100,000 a year.
In 1978, Hogan challenged incumbent Prince George's County Executive Win Kelly amid a 'tax revolt' and won the office with 60% of the vote. County voters passed a tax reform measure known as "TRIM" that same year.
Hogan challenged first-term Democratic Senator Paul Sarbanes (who was his House Judiciary Committee colleague during the Nixon impeachment) in 1982 and lost heavily. Parris Glendening was elected as county executive in his place, and Hogan's political career was over.
In subsequent years, Hogan returned to practicing law. He also taught and wrote various books. His "Legal Aspects of the Fire Service" title is used at training academies across the country.
Family and death.
Hogan married Ilona Maria Modly in 1974 after his first marriage to Nora Maguire ended with divorce in 1972 after 27 years. Ilona was elected to the Board of County Commissioners in Frederick County after they moved there. Two of Hogan's six children are also politically involved in the state of Maryland. Patrick N. Hogan was formerly a Republican Delegate representing Maryland's District 3A. Hogan's eldest son, Larry Hogan, is the current Governor of Maryland, an office he has held since January 2015 after winning the 2014 election.
Hogan suffered a stroke and died on April 20, 2017. He was survived by his wife Ilona and six children.


John Dinges

John Dinges (December 8, 1941) is an American journalist. He was special correspondent for "Time", "Washington Post" and ABC Radio in Chile. With a group of Chilean journalists, he cofounded the Chilean magazine "APSI".
He is the Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of International Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, a position he held from 1996-2016, currently with emeritus status.
Early life and career.
John Dinges was born in Iowa.
He studied to become a Catholic priest for seven years.
His first job in journalism was at the Des Moines Register and Tribune.
He obtained a Masters Degree from Stanford University in Latin American studies.
He worked on the foreign desk of The Washington Post, traveling as a reporter to cover the civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
From 1972 to 1978 Dinges lived in Chile, "one of the few American journalists to live in Chile during its most violent period of military rule". He helped create three Chilean media organizations: APSI/Actualidad Internacional in 1976, under intense military censorship which became one of the leading investigative news magazines exposing the abuses of the military.
In collaboration with investigative journalists Jorge Escalante, Pascal Bonnefoy, María Olivia Mönckeberg and Maria Jose Vilches, he created ArchivosChile, which carried out groundbreaking investigations exploring the secret documentary record of the military government. ArchivosChile was based for several years in the University of Chile’s communications school, ICEI. The non-profit fundraising vehicle for the latter two projects has been the U.S.-based Center for Investigation and Information (CIINFO) of Washington DC.
From 1985 to 1996 he worked at National Public Radio as deputy senior foreign editor, managing editor, and editorial director.
From 1996-2016 he was the Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor of International Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, currently emeritus. In 2007 while in Chile for six-months as a visiting professor at Universidad Alberto Hurtado, he created an investigative journalism center with Monica González, one of Chile’s most prominent investigative reporters, whose newpaper Siete Mas Siete had just been closed, the Centro de Investigación e Información Periodística (CIPER).
Personal life.
Dinges married Carolina Kenrick. They have 3 children; Tomas was born in Santiago in 1977 and lives and works in Chile, Sebastián and Camila were born in Washington DC.
Awards.
He serves on the advisory boards of Human Rights Watch and the National Security Archive, and is a juror for the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes and the du-Pont Columbia awards.


Angelo Lano

Angelo Joseph Lano (born January 12, 1939) was an American field agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1961–1990) in Washington DC, notable for his work heading the investigation of, and appearing as a witness for, the Watergate scandal surrounding President Richard M. Nixon. Lano was one of a number of FBI agents who was falsely accused as a source of information for Carl Bernstein and "The Washington Post" during the investigation, which helped shift White House suspicions away from Mark Felt, who was revealed as informant Deep Throat on May 31, 2005.
He is portrayed by Ike Barinholtz in the 2017 film "".


John Frobisher


Eve Miller

Eve Miller (born Marilyn Miller; August 8, 1923 – August 17, 1973) was an American actress who appeared in 41 films between 1945 and 1961. She was born in Los Angeles, California, and died in Van Nuys, California. She committed suicide at age 50.
Early life.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Miller was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stanley Miller and was raised in San Francisco, where her father was a piano salesman.
During the early years of World War II, Miller worked as a welder in a shipyard. However, before the war ended she had taken a job as a department store clerk, and later as a showgirl, eventually playing at the San Francisco production of The Folies Bergère of 1944. This led to her first role as a showgirl in 1945's "Diamond Horseshoe".
Movie career.
In 1951, after several small parts in television and movies such as "The Vicious Years" (1950), Miller came to the attention of producer-director Ida Lupino and through her influence was cast in Warner Brothers' "The Big Trees", starring opposite Kirk Douglas. Several more parts followed such as "The Winning Team" with Ronald Reagan and "Kansas Pacific" starring Sterling Hayden. Miller's main work though came in a long string of television roles stretching through the 1950s.
She appeared regularly in anthologies such as "Fireside Theater", "Four Star Playhouse", and "Crossroads". The actress also had parts in a number of series including "Lassie", "Annie Oakley", and "Richard Diamond, Private Detective". However, Miller never achieved a regular role in a TV series. Miller's final appearance was a 1961 role in the crime drama, "Coronado 9".
Personal life.
A Democrat, she supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.
In 1954, Miller met Glase Lohman, an actor who had a brief television and movie career in the mid-1950s, and they became engaged. On July 21, 1955, after an argument between the two, Miller attempted suicide by stabbing herself in the abdomen. According to newspapers at the time, she was discovered by police on her kitchen floor, surrounded by letters she had written to Lohman. Eventually, after four hours of surgery, she recovered.
On August 17, 1973, nine days after her 50th birthday, Miller committed suicide in Van Nuys, California. She was interred in Forest Lawn Cemetery (Hollywood Hills).


A Short History of a Small Place

A Short History of a Small Place is a 1985 novel by T. R. Pearson. Set in the fictional town of Neely, North Carolina – a thinly disguised Reidsville – it tells, in a rambling and digressive manner, about the life and eventual suicide of the town's only aristocratic woman, Miss Myra Angelique Pettigrew.