Nestled in the shadow of Clinch Mountain, in the crossroads hamlet of Maces Spring, Virginia, sits one of the most rustic concert theaters in the world. It is made of rough-cut lumber with sides that swing open on hinges to admit summer breezes. In winter, the entire building is heated by wood and coal-fed iron stoves. The seating is a medley of old chairs taken from abandoned theaters, and discarded church pews. Carpeting consists of remnants and sample squares, in an infinite variety of colors and designs. It looks like the entire building was thrown together from a jumble of second thoughts. Beside the theater is a tiny white clapboard building surrounded by spreading trees. Inside are stacks of ancient 78 rpm phonograph records, thousands of faded pictures and dozens of dogeared scrapbooks. Clothing is sealed behind glass wall cases -- the expensive dress worn by June Carter Cash on a visit to Jimmy Carter’s White House and a dress suit worn by her husband, Johnny, on the same night. In stark contrast is a pair of ragged britches with broken suspenders that are attached to the waistband with a rusty nail. The theater and museum, now called the Carter Fold, are operated by A.P.’s daughter and son, Jeanette and Joe. Although Joe designed and built the theater, Jeanette is the prime mover behind the Fold. She wanted to build a living memorial to her father, her mother Sara, and her Aunt Maybelle -- members of the first modern country singing group. The Carter Family was not the first country music group and certainly not the first to make records. But the Carter Family, according to some scholars, heralded the beginning of modern country music -- a major break from the string bands that had recorded up to that time. Ralph Peer (first working for Okeh Records, then for Victor) had been recording so-called “hillbilly groups” for five years, mostly around Atlanta. But in 1927, he decided to take his recording equipment to Bristol, Tennessee on a talent search. To flush local singers out of the hills he advertised in local newspapers that he would audition all comers. About three dozen singers and groups answered the call, including the Carters and another country legend-to-be, Jimmie Rodgers. The Carters had already been singing in local churches, schoolhouses and auditoriums for years. On a hot July day the Carter Family recorded six of their songs for Peer including “The Wandering Boy” and “Single Girl, Married Girl”. The records sold well and Victor offered the Carters a long term contract. Over the next 15 years. the Carters cut over 300 sides for nearly every major record companyin the business. Sara, A.P.’s wife, sang lead and played the autoharp. Maybelle, a tiny woman who had married A.P.’s brother Ezra, sang harmony and played a jazz-style guitar that was almost as big as she was. A.P. sang bass. A.P. constantly searched out new material for the group. He would disappear for days, roaming the Virginia mountains, seeking new songs. Then he would arrange each new song to his family’s style and copyright it -- even the folk songs. This is why his name appears on songs that he could not have possibly written -- “Wildwood Flower” or “Wreck of the Old ‘97”. But he did pen new songs of his own like “My Clinch Mountain Home” and “The Cyclone At Rye Cove”. Throughout their recording career, the Carter Family never changed their musical style. Rising stars like Roy Acuff and Gene Autry modernized Carter material but the Carter Family remained the same, thereby losing ground to new performers. The first “modern” country singers were standing stone still while the rest of the world passed them by. On top of all this, A.P. and Sara separated in 1932 (they divorced seven years later) and Maybelle and her husband had moved to Washington, D.C. The trio seldom saw each other except at recording sessions. The Carter Family was definitely on the downswing by the late 30s. The group’s popularity was temporarily revitalized when they signed a contract with powerful radio station XERF in Del Rio, Texas. The increased exposure gave the Carters a brief surge in popularity. The group continued to record until 1943 when Sara decided to retire and move to California with her new husband. Maybelle, in the meantime, joined her three daughters and began making records on her own. A.P., who could not hold his own as a solo act, retired to Maces Spring and opened his general store. In 1952, A.P. and Sara, along with their grown children Jeanette and Joe, reformed the Carter Family to record about 100 songs for Acme Records of Kentucky, but the project failed. The act broke up for a second time in 1956. When A.P. Carter died in 1960, several record companies including Columbia and RCA Victor reissued LP collections of the original Carter Family sides. New interest in the group surfaced and scholars began looking seriously at their contribution to country music. In the meantime, a new generation of warblers -- Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Doc Watson among them -- began issuing their own versions of Carter Family songs. Now on Saturday nights, hundreds of fans crowd the Carter Fold in Maces Spring to celebrate not only A.P., Sara and Maybelle, but traditional performances of country music as well. Both Joe and Jeanette participate in the concerts, and Carter memorabilia and records are sold in front of the stage each night. The Carter Family made comparatively little money during their career because A.P. insisted on playing smaller dates. And, after 1932, the family was hardly together except for recording sessions. Even though most of their records sold well, royalties were low and the records seldom made them much money. When A.P. returned to Virginia for the last time, there was barely enough money left to pay the bills and he was forced to live with Jeanette and her husband. Perhaps, if he had been willing to change a bit more with the times, he would have been able to afford new pair of suspenders in his old age instead of having to hold up his britches with a rusty nail.The little museum was once a general store and it’s proprietor was one of the true legends of country music -- A.P. Carter. He opened his business in the 1940s simply because he wanted something to do. A.P. was also the threadbare owner of the pants with the broken suspenders.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Carter family: pioneer country music singers
Biography of Abba
ABBA was one of the most popular groups in the world throughout the 70’s and early 80’s. Many of their hits reached the top of the charts everywhere from their native Sweden to here in the U.S. All of the members had previously been involved in the show business, but only in Sweden. Agnetha was a solo singer, and Benny and Bjorn were both in groups of their own. As these groups disintegrated at the end of the 60’s, ABBA slowly came together. Surprisingly, the first time they recorded as a group, it was disliked by the members and was shelved away for awhile. In the early 70’s, they decided to try it again. The first single that the world knew about was “Waterloo” – the one that won them the Eurovision contest. A year before this, they had entered and won third – not good enough. After “Waterloo,” though, their career took off. They topped charts with the song all over the world. More singles followed this, such as “Ring Ring” and “SOS.” “SOS” was their second UK Top Ten hit, proving that they weren’t one-hit wonders after “Waterloo.” This cemented their career. The first album, hesitantly titled “Bjorn and Benny, Agnetha and Ani-Frid” was released in 1972. It was an awkward album, released prior to their success at the Eurovision contest. Also, they needed a new name. Their manager suggested ABBA, and after a “Name the Group” contest came up with the same thing, it was sealed. The second album was “Waterloo,” titled after their famous hit. It was released in 1973. This was followed by “ABBA” in the spring of 1975. By this time, of course, they were on tour. “Mamma Mia” came in the summer of 1975, reaching number one in the UK. Along with “I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do,” this song conquered Australia for the first time, spreading their popularity even further. By this time, they were famous all over the world. ABBA, as most people know, is made up of two couples – Agnetha and Bjorn, and Frida (as Ani-Frid is called) and Benny. Agnetha and Bjorn married in July of 1971. Their first child, Linda, was born in 1973. Their second child, Christian, was born in late 1977. Frida and Benny didn’t marry until much later (they’d been a couple for nine years by this time) in 1978, on the same day that the single “Summer Night City” reached number one in Sweden – the last of their songs to do so. Sadly, both couples later divorced – Agnetha and Bjorn in 1979, Frida and Benny in 1981. By the end of the 70’s and the beginning of the 80’s, they were experiencing many of their “lasts.” Some singles, such as “The Day Before You Came” were met with confusion, reaching number one in some countries, but barely making the charts in others. “The Visitors” was their last album, released in 1981. 1982 was their last year together. After that, the members felt the need to do something different for awhile. Their record of nine number one hits in the UK was a record topped only by The Beatles , Elvis Presley, and Cliff Richard . They were truly a famous group the world over – this was proved when the ABBA Gold albums were released in the early 90’s, topping charts in several countries. Since then, the group has been asked to do several revival tours (the latest in 2000, for around a billion dollars), but all have been refused.
Biography of Marian Anderson: singer
Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Beginning at the age of six, she sang in the Union Baptist Church Choir. Her voice was classified as contralto, she could sing the high soprano notes and the low baritone notes. Marian's father died when she was a child and her mother worked as a cleaning woman and laundress to support the family. Her mother's religious faith and strength were lasting influences throughout Marian's life. The members of the Union Baptist Church gave a benefit concert to raise money for Marian to take Private singing lessons .The advertisements for the concert had a picture of Marian and the words, "Come and hear the baby contralto, ten years old." When she was nineteen, she began studying with Giuseppe Boghetti. In 1925, he helped her enter a contest in which she competed with 300 singers for the Lewisohn Stadium Concert Award. The prize was an opportunity to perform with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She won the contest and sang with the Orchestra on August 26, 1925. After performing with the Orchestra, she received a Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship and had the opportunity to go to England and Germany. In Germany she studied "Leider," German,songs, which became part of her repertoire. She gave concerts throughout Europe and received rave reviews and accolades for all 116 of her performances. In 1939, she planned to give a concert in the Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. The Hall was owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The DAR refused to let her perform because she was African American. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president at this time and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was outraged at the prejudice shown by the DAR and resigned her membership in the organization. Mrs. Roosevelt helped arrange for Anderson to give a concert outdoors at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. Anderson performed in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln for an audience of 75,000 people. She began the concert by singing "America." This was one of the most famous concerts given in the United States. This event helped open the doors of opportunity for other African Americans. From this time on, Anderson refused to sing at any place that was segregated. In 1943, a mural was unveiled on the wall of the Department of the Interior building depicting the concert. In her autobiography, "My Lord, What a Morning," she said: "There are many persons ready to do what is right because in their hearts they know it is right. But they hesitate, waiting for the other fellow to make the first move--and he, in turn, waits for you. The minute a person whose word means a great deal dares to take the open-hearted and courageous way, many others follow. Not everyone can be turned aside from meanness and hatred, but the great majority of Americans is heading in that direction. I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country." In 1941, Anderson received the Bok Award from the city of Philadelphia, given to the citizen of which it is the most proud. She was the first African American to receive the award. The $10,000 award was used to establish the Marian Anderson Scholarship Fund for music students of all races. In 1943, Anderson married Orpheus Fisher, an architect, who designed their home in Danbury, Connecticut named "Marrianna Farm." On January 7, 1955, Anderson performed with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York as Ulrica, the Gypsy fortune-teller, in Verdi's opera "The Masked Ball." With this appearance, she became the first African-American to sing an important role at the Metropolitan Opera as a regular company member. In 1956, Anderson made a farewell tour throughout America and Europe. In 1957, she toured twelve Asian nations on behalf of the U.S. State Department. In 1958, she was named to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations. In 1986, Anderson received the National Medal of Arts. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. In 1991, she appeared at the dedication of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children's pediatric sickle-cell anemia clinic and research center, which is named in her honor. Marian Anderson died in 1993 at the age of ninety-six. During her professional singing career she was considered the world's greatest contralto.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Life - Family and early years
Mozart was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart, in the front room of nine Getreidegasse in Salzburg, the capital of the sovereign Archbishopric of Salzburg, in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. His only sibling who survived beyond infancy was an older sister: Maria Anna, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral.
The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. Of these names, the first two refer to John Chrysostom, one of the Church Fathers, and they were names not employed in everyday life, while the fourth, meaning "beloved of God", was variously translated in Mozart's lifetime as Amadeus (Latin), Gottlieb (German), and Amadé (French). Mozart's father Leopold announced the birth of his son in a letter to the publisher Johann Jakob Lotter with the words "...the boy is called Joannes Chrysostomus, Wolfgang, Gottlieb". Mozart himself preferred the third name, and he also took a fancy to "Amadeus" over the years.
Mozart's father Leopold (1719–1787) was one of Europe's leading musical teachers. His influential textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, was published in 1756, the year of Mozart's birth (English, as "A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing", transl. E.Knocker; Oxford-New York, 1948). He was deputy kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and a prolific and successful composer of instrumental music. Leopold gave up composing when his son's outstanding musical talents became evident. They first came to light when Wolfgang was about three years old, and Leopold, proud of Wolfgang's achievements, gave him intensive musical training, including instruction in clavier, violin, and organ. Leopold was Wolfgang's only teacher in his earliest years. A note by Leopold in Nannerl's music book – the Nannerl Notenbuch – records that little Wolfgang had learned several of the pieces at the age of four. Mozart's first compositions, a small Andante (K. 1a) and Allegro (K. 1b), were written in 1761, when he was five years old.
The years of travel
During his formative years, Mozart made several European journeys, beginning with an exhibition in 1762 at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich, then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking him with his father to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London (where Wolfgang Amadeus played with the famous Italian cellist Giovanni Battista Cirri), The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other great composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, who befriended Mozart in London in 1764–65. Bach's work is often taken to be an inspiration for Mozart's music. They again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768. On this trip Mozart contracted smallpox, and his healing was considered by Leopold as a proof of God's intentions concerning the child.
After one year in Salzburg, three trips to Italy followed: from December 1769 to March 1771, from August to December 1771, and from October 1772 to March 1773. Mozart was commissioned to compose three operas: "Mitridate Rè di Ponto" (1770), "Ascanio in Alba" (1771), and "Lucio Silla" (1772), all three of which were performed in Milan. During the first of these trips, Mozart met Andrea Luchesi in Venice and G.B. Martini in Bologna, and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. A highlight of the Italian journey, now an almost legendary tale, occurred when he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel then wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning to correct minor errors; thus producing the first illegal copy of this closely-guarded property of the Vatican.
On September 23, 1777, accompanied by his mother, Mozart began a tour of Europe that included Munich, Mannheim, and Paris. In Mannheim he became acquainted with members of the Mannheim orchestra, the best in Europe at the time. He fell in love with Aloysia Weber, who later broke up the relationship with him. He was to marry her sister Constanze some four years later in Vienna. During his unsuccessful visit to Paris, his mother died (1778).
Mozart in Vienna
In 1780, Idomeneo, widely regarded as Mozart's first great opera, premiered in Munich. The following year, he visited Vienna in the company of his employer, the harsh Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. When they returned to Salzburg, Mozart, who was then Konzertmeister, became increasingly rebellious, not wanting to follow the whims of the archbishop relating to musical affairs, and expressing these views, soon fell out of favor with him. According to Mozart's own testimony, he was dismissed – literally – "with a kick in the arse".[3] Mozart chose to settle and develop his own freelance career in Vienna after its aristocracy began to take an interest in him.
On August 4, 1782, against his father's wishes, he married Constanze Weber (1763–1842; her name is also spelled "Costanze"); her father Fridolin was a half-brother of Carl Maria von Weber's father Franz Anton Weber. Although they had six children, only two survived infancy. Neither of these two, Karl Thomas (1784–1858) and Franz Xaver Wolfgang (1791–1844); later a minor composer himself), married or had children who reached adulthood. Karl did father a daughter, Constanza, who died in 1833.
The year 1782 was an auspicious one for Mozart's career: his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio") was a great success and he began a series of concerts at which he premiered his own piano concertos as director of the ensemble and soloist.
During 1782–83, Mozart became closely acquainted with the work of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel as a result of the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of works by the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these works led first to a number of works imitating Baroque style and later had a powerful influence on his own personal musical language, for example the fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and in the Symphony No. 41.
In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited Leopold in Salzburg, but the visit was not a success, as his father did not open his heart to Constanze. However, the visit sparked the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C Minor, which, though not completed, was premiered in Salzburg, and is now one of his best-known works. Wolfgang featured Constanze as the lead female solo voice at the premiere of the work, hoping to endear her to his father's affection.
In his early Vienna years, Mozart met Joseph Haydn and the two composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn date from 1782–85, and are often judged to be his response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn was soon in awe of Mozart, and when he first heard the last three of Mozart's series he told Leopold, "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name: He has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition.
During the years 1782–1785, Mozart put on a series of concerts in which he appeared as soloist in his piano concertos, widely considered among his greatest works. These concerts were financially successful. After 1785 Mozart performed far less and wrote only a few concertos. Maynard Solomon conjectures that he may have suffered from hand injuries [citation needed]; another possibility is that the fickle public ceased to attend the concerts in the same numbers.
Mozart was influenced by the ideas of the eighteenth century European Enlightenment as an adult, and became a Freemason (1784). His lodge was a specifically Catholic, rather than a deistic one, and he worked fervently and successfully to convert his father before the latter's death in 1787. Die Zauberflöte, his second last opera, includes Masonic themes and allegory. He was in the same Masonic Lodge as Haydn.
Mozart's life was occasionally fraught with financial difficulty. Though the extent of this difficulty has often been romanticized and exaggerated, he nonetheless did resort to borrowing money from close friends, some debts remaining unpaid even to his death. During the years 1784-1787 he lived in a lavish, seven-room apartment, which may be visited today at Domgasse 5, behind St Stephen's Cathedral; it was here, in 1786, that Mozart composed the opera Le nozze di Figaro.
Mozart and Prague
Mozart had a special relationship with the city of Prague and its people. The audience there celebrated the Figaro with the much-deserved reverence he was missing in his hometown Vienna. His quotation "Meine Prager verstehen mich" (My Praguers understand me) became very famous in the Bohemian lands. Many tourists follow his tracks in Prague and visit the Mozart Museum of the Villa Bertramka where they can enjoy a chamber concert. In the later years of his life, Prague provided Mozart with many financial resources from commissions [citation needed]. In Prague, Don Giovanni premiered on October 29, 1787 at the Theatre of the Estates. Mozart wrote La clemenza di Tito for the festivities accompanying Leopold II's coronation in November 1790; Mozart obtained this commission after Antonio Salieri had allegedly rejected it.
Final illness and death
Mozart's final illness and death are difficult topics for scholars, obscured by romantic legends and replete with conflicting theories. Scholars disagree about the course of decline in Mozart's health – particularly at what point (or if at all) Mozart became aware of his impending death and whether this awareness influenced his final works. The romantic view holds that Mozart declined gradually and that his outlook and compositions paralleled this decline. In opposition to this, some present-day scholars point out correspondence from Mozart's final year indicating that he was in good cheer, as well as evidence that Mozart's death was sudden and a shock to his family and friends. Mozart's attributed last words: "The taste of death is upon my lips...I feel something, that is not of this earth". The actual cause of Mozart's death is also a matter of conjecture. His death record listed "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever," referring to a rash that looks like millet-seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Dozens of theories have been proposed, including trichinosis, mercury poisoning, and rheumatic fever. The practice, common at that time, of bleeding medical patients is also cited as a contributing cause.
Mozart died around 1 a.m. on December 5, 1791 in Vienna. Some days earlier, with the onset of his illness, he had largely ceased work on his final composition, the Requiem. Popular legend has it that Mozart was thinking of his own impending death while writing this piece, and even that a messenger from the afterworld commissioned it. However, documentary evidence has established that the anonymous commission came from one Count Franz Walsegg of Schloss Stuppach, and that most if not all of the music had been written while Mozart was still in good health. A younger composer, and Mozart's pupil at the time, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, was engaged by Constanze to complete the Requiem. However, he was not the first composer asked to finish the Requiem, as the widow had first approached another Mozart student, Joseph Eybler, who began work directly on the empty staves of Mozart's manuscript but then abandoned it.
Because he was buried in an unmarked grave, it has been popularly assumed that Mozart was penniless and forgotten when he died. In fact, though he was no longer as fashionable in Vienna as before, he continued to have a well-paid job at court and receive substantial commissions from more distant parts of Europe, Prague in particular [citation needed]. He earned about 10,000 florins per year[6], equivalent to at least 42,000 US dollars in 2006, which places him within the top 5% of late 18th century wage earners[6], but he could not manage his own wealth. His mother wrote, "When Wolfgang makes new acquaintances, he immediately wants to give his life and property to them." His impulsive largesse and spending often put him in the position of having to ask others for loans. Many of his begging letters survive but they are evidence not so much of poverty as of his habit of spending more than he earned. He was not buried in a "mass grave" but in a regular communal grave according to the 1784 laws in Austria.
Though the original grave in the St. Marx cemetery was lost, memorial gravestones (or cenotaphs) have been placed there and in the Zentralfriedhof. In 2005, new DNA testing was performed by Austria's University of Innsbruck and the US Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Maryland, to determine if a skull in an Austrian Museum was actually his, using DNA samples from the marked graves of his grandmother and Mozart's niece. However, test results were inconclusive, suggesting that none of the DNA samples were related to each other.
In 1809, Constanze married Danish diplomat Georg Nikolaus von Nissen (1761–1826). Being a fanatical admirer of Mozart, he (and Constanze?) edited vulgar passages out of many of the composer's letters and wrote a Mozart biography. Nissen did not live to see his biography printed, and Constanze finished it.
Works, musical style, and innovations
Style
Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetypal example of the Classical style. His works spanned the period during which that style transformed from one exemplified by the style galant to one that began to incorporate some of the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque, complexities against which the galant style had been a reaction. Mozart's own stylistic development closely paralleled the development of the classical style as a whole. In addition, he was a versatile composer and wrote in almost every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. While none of these genres were new, the piano concerto was almost single-handedly developed and popularized by Mozart. He also wrote a great deal of religious music, including masses; and he composed many dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
The central traits of the classical style can all be identified in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are hallmarks, though a simplistic notion of the delicacy of his music obscures for us the exceptional and even demonic power of some of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. The famed writer on music Charles Rosen has written (in The Classical Style): "It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous." Especially during his last decade, Mozart explored chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time. The slow introduction to the "Dissonant" Quartet, K. 465, a work that Haydn greatly admired, rapidly explodes a shallow understanding of Mozart's style as light and pleasant.
From his earliest years Mozart had a gift for imitating the music he heard; since he travelled widely, he acquired a rare collection of experiences from which to create his unique compositional language. When he went to London[7] as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music; when he went to Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna, he heard the work of composers active there, as well as the spectacular Mannheim orchestra; when he went to Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and the opera buffa, both of which were to be hugely influential on his development. Both in London and Italy, the galant style was all the rage: simple, light music, with a mania for cadencing, an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other chords, symmetrical phrases, and clearly articulated structures. This style, out of which the classical style evolved, was a reaction against the complexity of late Baroque music. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are "homotonal" (each movement in the same key, with the slow movement in the tonic minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms commonly being written by composers in Vienna.
As Mozart matured, he began to incorporate some features of Baroque styles into his music. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 uses a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had just published his opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in German literature, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era to come, is evident in some of the music of both composers at that time.
Over the course of his working life Mozart switched his focus from instrumental music to operas, and back again. He wrote operas in each of the styles current in Europe: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, or Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is probably the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he developed the use of subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestration, and tone colour to express or highlight psychological or emotional states and dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted. His increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concerti served as a resource in his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Influence
Mozart's legacy to subsequent generations of composers (in all genres) is immense.
Many important composers since Mozart's time have expressed profound appreciation of Mozart. Rossini averred, "He is the only musician who had as much knowledge as genius, and as much genius as knowledge." Ludwig van Beethoven's admiration for Mozart is also quite clear. Beethoven used Mozart as a model a number of times: for example, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major demonstrates a debt to Mozart's Piano Concerto in C major, K. 503. A plausible story – not corroborated – regards one of Beethoven's students who looked through a pile of music in Beethoven's apartment. When the student pulled out Mozart's A major Quartet, K. 464, Beethoven exclaimed "Ah, that piece. That's Mozart saying 'here's what I could do, if only you had ears to hear!' "; Beethoven's own Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor is an obvious tribute to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, and yet another plausible – if unconfirmed – story concerns Beethoven at a concert with his sometime-student Ferdinand Ries. As they listened to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, the orchestra reached the quite unusual coda of the last movement, and Beethoven whispered to Ries: "We'll never think of anything like that!" Beethoven's Quintet for Piano and Winds is another obvious tribute to Mozart, similar to Mozart's own quintet for the same ensemble. Beethoven also paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on several of his themes: for example, the two sets of variations for cello and piano on themes from Mozart's Magic Flute, and cadenzas to several of Mozart's piano concertos, most notably the Piano Concerto No. 20 K. 466. A famous legend asserts that, after the only meeting between the two composers, Mozart noted that Beethoven would "give the world something to talk about." However, it is not certain that the two ever met. Tchaikovsky wrote his Mozartiana in praise of Mozart; and Mahler's final word was alleged to have been simply "Mozart". The theme of the opening movement of the Piano Sonata in A major K. 331 (itself a set of variations on that theme) was used by Max Reger for his Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart, written in 1914 and among Reger's best-known works.
In addition, Mozart received outstanding praise from several fellow composers including Frédéric Chopin, Franz Schubert, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann, and many more.
Mozart has remained an influence in popular contemporary music in varying genres ranging from Jazz to modern Rock and Heavy metal. An example of this influence is the jazz pianist Chick Corea, who has performed piano concertos of Mozart and was inspired by them to write a concerto of his own.
The Köchel catalogue
In the decades after Mozart's death there were several attempts to catalogue his compositions, but it was not until 1862 that Ludwig von Köchel succeeded in this enterprise. Many of his famous works are referred to by their Köchel catalogue number; for example, the Piano Concerto in A major (Piano Concerto No. 23) is often referred to simply as "K. 488" or "KV. 488". The catalogue has undergone six revisions, labeling the works from K. 1 to K. 626.
Myths and controversies
Mozart is unusual among composers for being the subject of an abundance of legend, partly because none of his early biographers knew him personally. They often resorted to fiction in order to produce a work. Many myths began soon after Mozart died, but few have any basis in fact. An example is the story that Mozart composed his Requiem with the belief it was for himself. Sorting out fabrications from real events is a vexing and continuous task for Mozart scholars mainly because of the prevalence of legend in scholarship. Dramatists and screenwriters, free from responsibilities of scholarship, have found excellent material among these legends.
An especially popular case is the supposed rivalry between Mozart and Antonio Salieri, and, in some versions, the tale that it was poison received from the latter that caused Mozart's death; this is the subject of Aleksandr Pushkin's play Mozart and Salieri, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Mozart and Salieri, and Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus. The last of these has been made into a feature-length film of the same name. Shaffer's play attracted criticism for portraying Mozart as vulgar and loutish, a characterization felt by many to be unfairly exaggerated, but in fact frequently confirmed by the composer's letters and other memorabilia. For example, Mozart wrote canons on the words "Leck mich im Arsch" ("Lick my arse") and "Leck mich im Arsch recht fein schön sauber" ("Lick my arse nice and clean") as party pieces for his friends. The Köchel numbers of these canons are 231 and 233.
Another debate involves Mozart's alleged status as a kind of superhuman prodigy, from childhood right up until his death. While some have criticised his earlier works as simplistic or forgettable, others revere even Mozart's juvenilia. In any case, several of his early compositions remain very popular. The motet Exultate, jubilate (K. 165), for example, composed when Mozart was seventeen years old, is among the most frequently recorded of his vocal compositions. It is also mentioned that around the time when he was five or six years old, he could play the piano blindfolded and with his hands crossed over one another.
Benjamin Simkin, a medical doctor, argues in his book Medical and Musical Byways of Mozartiana[9] that Mozart had Tourette syndrome. However, no Tourette syndrome expert, organization, psychiatrist or neurologist has stated that there is credible evidence that Mozart had this syndrome, and several have stated now that they do not believe there is enough evidence to substantiate the claim.
Amadeus (1984)
Milos Forman’s 1984 motion picture Amadeus, based on the play by Peter Shaffer, won eight Academy Awards and was one of the year’s most popular films. While the film did a great deal to popularize Mozart’s work with the general public, it has been criticized for its historical inaccuracies, and in particular for its portrayal of Antonio Salieri’s intrigues against Mozart, for which little historical evidence can be found. On the contrary, it is likely that Mozart and Salieri regarded each other as friends and colleagues: it is well documented, for instance, that Salieri frequently lent Mozart musical scores from the court library, that he often chose compositions by Mozart for performance at state occasions, and Salieri taught Mozart's son, Franz Xaver.
The idea that he never revised his compositions, dramatized in the film, is easily exploded by even a cursory examination of the autograph manuscripts, which contain many revisions. Mozart was a studiously hard worker, and by his own admission his extensive knowledge and abilities developed out of many years' close study of the European musical tradition. In fairness, Schaffer and Forman never claimed that Amadeus was intended to be an accurate biographical portrait of Mozart. Rather, as Shaffer reveals on the DVD release of the film, the dramatic narrative was inspired by the biblical story of Cain and Abel — one brother loved by God, and the other scorned.
Henrik Larsson
Having completed seven very successful years with Celtic in Glasgow, Scotland, after the end of the 2003/04 season he signed a 1 year contract with an option for a second year for Spanish giants FC Barcelona.
He started his professional career playing for Högaborg at the age of 17. He subsequently played for Helsingsborgs IF and Feyenoord. He was signed by Celtic in July 1997 for a fee of £650,000. His debut, playing Hibernian at Easter Road, was less than spectacular; he inadvertently passed the ball to the other side, resulting in a 2-1 loss for Celtic.
Larsson scored 242 goals for Celtic, in 315 matches, and in 2001 he won the "Golden Shoe" award for being Europe's top goal scorer. In 2003 Sweden nominated Larsson as the greatest Swedish football player of the last 50 years.
His decision to retire from international football met with much dismay in his homeland and there was much clamouring for him to return to the team for their campaign at the 2004 European Championships in Portugal. Despite initially maintaining his decision to retire, turning down overtures from UEFA President Lennart Johannsen and the Swedish Prime Minister in the process, he eventually returned to the national side to great effect, scoring 3 goals in 4 matches and leading Sweden to the quarterfinals, where they were defeated in a penalty shootout by the Dutch.
Larsson's international record is impressive with 27 goals in 77 games, many of which he played in midfield or as a winger. He has always made his mark on big occasions and has scored at 2 World Cups (1994 at which Sweden came 3rd, and 2002), and 2 European Championships (2000 and 2004). For Celtic his finest moment (if not his happiest) came in the UEFA Cup final of 2003 in which he scored two goals in a 3-2 extra time defeat to Porto of Portugal. His goalscoring feats on the contintent for Celtic mean he holds the record for number of goals scored for a British club in European matches.
He is married, and has two children, Jordan (born 1997) and Janine (born 2002).
George Best
Playing career
George Best was discovered in Belfast by Manchester United Scout Bob Bishop aged 15. He was subsequently given a trial and signed up by chief scout Joe Armstrong in 1961. He turned professional and made his debut for Manchester United in 1963.
He made 466 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions, scoring 178 goals (including six in one game against Northampton Town). In 1974, the 27-year-old Best was sacked by United for excessive drinking and persistent failure to attend training sessions and matches. Over the next decade, Best drifted between several football clubs including Fulham, Stockport County, Dunstable Town, Hibernian, Los Angeles Aztecs, San Jose Earthquakes and finally Bournemouth until he retired from the game in 1983 at the age of 37.
He was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals. He played mainly as a winger and was known for his dribbling skills and accurate passing.
Best has often been called the most naturally gifted player from the British Isles, rivaled only by Pelé and Diego Maradona on the world stage. Maradona himself has frequently named Best as his all-time favourite player [1]. Pelé once stated that George Best was the best player he ever saw play and named him as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list. His talent might have been recognised more on the world stage had his national team not been a relative "minnow" (Best often said that he would like to see a United Ireland soccer team like those in rugby and hockey).
Celebrity
While at Manchester United, Best's talent and showmanship made him a crowd and media favourite. He was dubbed "the fifth Beatle" for his long hair and good looks, but his extravagant celebrity lifestyle led to problems with gambling, womanising and alcoholism. Best often told the story of a bellboy who entered his hotel room with breakfast in the early 1970s. Seeing Best in bed with the current Miss World, a magnum of champagne and several thousand pounds of cash won from a night's gambling, the youth exclaimed, "George, where did it all go wrong?"
In 1984, Best made a keep fit video with former Miss World Mary Stavin called Shape Up And Dance.
In 1988, a testimonial match was held for Best at Windsor Park, Belfast. Amongst the crowd were Sir Matt Busby and players including Ossie Ardiles and Pat Jennings.
In November 2004 Best agreed to join FA Premier League club Portsmouth F.C. as youth coach, citing his desire to get involved in football again.
June 9, 2005 Best was arrested for sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13. He was cleared of all charges on July 6, 2005.
George Best had a son, Calum Best, from his first marriage.
Alcoholism
In 1984, Best received a three-month prison sentence for drunk driving, assaulting a police officer and failing to answer bail. He spent Christmas 1984 behind bars and turned out as a player for Ford Open Prison. In 1991, he appeared on an edition of prime time BBC chat show Wogan in which he swore and was clearly drunk. He later apologised and said this was one of the worst episodes of his alcoholism.
In 2002, he had a liver transplant. In 2003 he was the focus of much criticism when, despite his transplant, he openly drank white wine spritzers and was accused of being selfish and having no regard for other people's feelings.
In 2003, his second wife Alex Best appeared as a contestant on the reality television programme I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and made allegations about their relationship. On 3 January 2004, Best was convicted of another drunk driving offence and banned from driving for 20 months.
Illness and death
Best continued to drink, and was often seen at his local pub in Petersfield, Hampshire.
On 3 October 2005 Best was admitted to intensive care at the private Cromwell Hospital in London, suffering from kidney problems caused by the side-effects of drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver. (The drugs specifically suppress the immune system, reducing the chance of rejection, but increasing the risk of other infections).
On 27 October 2005 there were early editions of the morning newspapers which stated that Best was close to death and had sent farewell messages to loved ones. Best's condition did seem to improve, but in November 2005, his condition deteriorated.
On 20 November 2005 the British tabloid News of the World published a picture portraying Best in the hospital bed, along with what was reported to be his final message: "Don't die like me".
In the early hours of 25 November 2005 Best's treatment was stopped; he eventually died, after a valiant battle that lasted longer than doctors had expected, at 12.55pm (GMT) of lung infection and organ failure. [2] [3]. His father, four sisters, brother, son and agent were all at his bedside, as was his ex-United team-mate Denis Law.
The FA Premier League announced that a minute's silence would be observed before all Premiership games to be held over the weekend of his death.
Quotes
"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered."
"I used to go missing a lot...Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World..."
(On David Beckham) "He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's alright."
"If I had been born ugly, you would never have heard of Pelé"
"In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol. It was the worst 20 minutes of my life."
"Pelé called me the greatest footballer in the world. That is the ultimate salute to my life."
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (El Diego) (born October 30, 1960) is a former Argentine football player. With the possible exception of Pele, he is widely regarded as the finest and greatest player of all times.
Maradona was born in Villa Fiorito, Buenos Aires, Argentina to a family of humble origin. He first played in the Argentine Championship, for Argentinos Juniors (1976-81) and then for Boca Juniors (1981-82). He then went to Spain, where, playing for FC Barcelona, he won a Copa del Rey. On July 5, 1984 he went to Naples, Italy to join SSC Napoli, where he won two Italian Championships (1986/87 and 1989/1990), a Coppa Italia (1987), a UEFA Cup (1989) and an Italian Supercup (1990), plus Napoli were runners-up in the Italian Championship twice.
Maradona led the Argentine national team to victory in the World Cup in 1986, the team winning 3-2 in the final against West Germany. In this tournament, he became notorious for a goal in the quarter-final game against the England, which video evidence later clearly revealed he had scored with the aid of his hand. He later claimed it was the "Hand of God" which had caused him to score the goal, to the general derision of the English public and in particular the tabloid newspapers, who still resurrect the incident occasionally even today, branding him a cheat. However, Maradona showed the other side of his nature just a couple of minutes later in the same match, by running half the length of the pitch and beating almost the entire English team along the way, to score what is widely regarded as the most exceptional goal of all time.
Maradona also captained Argentina in the 1990 World Cup, leading a far weaker team to the final again, where they lost 1-0 to West Germany. In the 1994 World Cup he was sent home in disgrace after failing a drugs test for ephedrine doping.
In Naples, where he is still beloved (having brought the local team their first scudetto), he also faced a scandal regarding an illegitimate son and was the object of some suspicion over his friendship with the Camorra, the local mafia.
Maradona left Napoli in 1992, after serving a 15 month ban for failing a drug test, and played for Sevilla FC (1992-93), Newell's Old Boys (1993) and Boca Juniors (1995-97). He also attempted to work as a coach on two short occasions, leading Mandiyú of Corrientes (1994) and Racing Club (1995) . He retired from football on October 30, 1997.
Maradona spent much of the 1990s battling a cocaine addiction, which included a well-publicized spell in a detox clinic in Cuba. He apparently surmounted the problem for the time being, and then embarked upon a new career as a talk-show host, with which he had great success.
In 2000, Maradona was voted FIFA's Player of the Century by Internet users in a millennium poll, garnering 53.60% of the votes. In a reconciliatory gesture, FIFA appointed a footballing committee which voted in favor of Pelé alongside the Argentine.
In 2002, the Argentine Football Association asked FIFA for authorization to retire shirt number 10, the number Maradona used, as an homage. At first, FIFA authorized it only to reverse their decision soon after. While retiring a shirt number used by a great athlete is common practice in American sports, there were no cases of this happening in Football.
Maradona's brother is also a soccer player and his alleged illegitimate child is now trying to start a career in football, but he does not appear to have inherited his father's skills.
On April 18, 2004, doctors reported that Maradona had suffered a major heart attack following a cocaine overdose and was in intensive care in a Buenos Aires hospital. Dozens of fans gathered around the clinic indicating his popularity even in 2004. Days after the heart attack, a male nurse was caught taking photos of Maradona in his grave condition, with a cellular telephone. The nurse had received an offer of six thousand US dollars by a tabloid newspaper to take the photos. He was, however, promptly fired by hospital directors. Maradona was hospitalized in a floor that was closed so he could be attended to exclusively.
After he showed improvement, he was taken off a respirator on April 23, and remained in intensive care for several days before being discharged on April 29. However, he returned to the hospital on May 5. Since then, he has entered a psychiatric facility for substance abuse treatment in Cuba.
Maradona is also known in Argentina as "El Pibe de Oro" (The Golden Boy). In 2002, Maradona published his autobiography Yo Soy El Diego, which became an instant bestseller in his home-country.
Career Statistics
Clubs
Argentinos Juniors (1976-1981) - 166 matches (116 goals)
Boca Juniors (1981-1982, 1995-1997) - 71 matches (35 goals)
Barcelona (1982-1984) - 58 matches (38 goals)
SSC Napoli (1984-1991) - 259 matches (115 goals)
Sevilla (1992-1993) - 29 matches (7 goals)
Newell's Old Boys (1993) - 5 matches (0 goals)
International
1977-94 Argentina (91 appearances, 34 goals)
21 appearances in four FIFA World Cup finals
Argentina's second highest goal-scorer
Club honours
1981 Argentine league championship
1987 Italian league championship
1987 Italian Cup
1989 UEFA Cup
1990 Italian league championship
International honours
1979 FIFA World Youth Championship
1986 FIFA World Cup winner
1990 FIFA World Cup runner-up
1993 Copa Artemio Franchi
Coaching career
1994 Mandiyú de Corrientes
1995 Racing Club de Avellaneda
Individual honours
1979-81 Argentine Football Writers' Footballer of the Year
1979-81, 1986 Argentine Sports Writers' Footballer of the Year
1979-80, 1986 Argentine Sports Personality of the Year
1979, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1992 South American Footballer of the Year (El Mundo, Caracas)
1986 Golden Ball for Best Player of the FIFA World Cup
1986 European Footballer of the Year (France Football)
1986-7 Best Footballer in the World (Onze)
1996 Golden Ball for services to football (France Football)
1999 Best World Cup goal (1986 (2-0) v. England)
1999 Argentine Sports Writers' Sportsman of the Century
2000 "FIFA best football player of the century", people's choice.
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE (born May 2, 1975) is an English footballer born in Leytonstone, London. He is a midfielder for Real Madrid and captain of the English national team. He is noted for the quality of his crossing and ability to hit free-kicks and corners, particularly at long-range free-kicks and also for his marriage to a Spice Girl. He has played most of his career for Manchester United. Although there are arguably many better current players in world football none are as famous.
Manchester United 1995-2003
Beckham first signed a YTS (youth training scheme) contract (this is similar to an apprenticeship) with United in 1991, and made his League debut in 1995, aged 19. The next year he helped the side to the Premiership and FA Cup trophies and to their dominance of domestic football. In the 1998-99 season, he was part of the United team that won the "treble" - Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a feat unprecedented in English football, which earned the club's manager, Alex Ferguson, a knighthood.
Club Career
Real Madrid 2003-present
On June 17, 2003, Beckham signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid of Spain, potentially worth up to €35 million (£25 million, USD 41 million). Plus 2.
Apart from benefiting from his football ability, this transfer gives the Spanish club an opportunity to profit from merchandising, especially in the Far East, where Beckham is enormously popular, and Manchester United have until now had the lion's share of interest. It is probably no coincidence that Beckham was transferred just before Real started a far-eastern tour, but it would be very unfair to say that his marketing potential alone was the only reason for his transfer. At the time of the announcement of his transfer to Real Madrid, Beckham and his wife (Victoria) were on a week-long tour of Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand promoting beauty products, chocolate, motor oil, and mobile phones, which it was reported would earn them more than the entire first year of his Real Madrid contract. (Western journalists are excluded from the Japanese "press conferences" organised by his sponsors because of the embarrassment they would cause him in the West.)
He successfully completed the transfer on July 1 and was presented with the squad number of 23 on July 2. He is believed to have chosen the number as a tribute to his idol, Michael Jordan, who made number 23 famous with the Chicago Bulls. Real Madrid shirts bearing his name and number were sold out in Madrid on the day his transfer was completed and Real Madrid were expected to receive €624,000 for the sale of the shirts.
His transfer to Real Madrid has proven very fruitful for both Beckham and the club. Beckham scored five times in his first 16 matches (including Real's 600th goal in the European Cup/Champions League, against Olympique Marseille on 26 November 2003), a higher scoring rate than his last year at Manchester United (11 goals in 52 games). He has become a favourite of the notoriously fickle Real Madrid crowd, and established an excellent playing relationship with Ronaldo.
During the summer of 2004, Real also signed Englishmen Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate.
International Career - England
By 1998 he was a regular international, and travelled with the England squad to the FIFA World Cup. In the second round of that competition he received a red-card for retaliation, following a foul challenge by the Argentine Diego Simeone. This act arguably cost England the game (which they lost on penalties) and the chance of advancing in the tournament. On returning home, Beckham became the target of criticism, sometimes justified (the accusation of petulance, for example) but much merely gratuitous. He received a similar vilification following his dismissal for a dangerous challenge in the World Club Championships the next year.
Following England's poor performance in the 2000 European Championship (from which Beckham was one of the few players to emerge with credit) and later poor performances, the departure of Kevin Keegan as manager saw Beckham promoted to captain, initially under caretaker manager Peter Taylor and maintained by Sven-Göran Eriksson. His leadership, mainly by example due to his fitness and workrate helped England to qualify for the 2002 World Cup Finals and the 1-5 defeat of Germany in Munich during a qualifier (a pivotal event for English football fans). The final step in Beckham's conversion from villain to hero happened in England's 2-2 draw against Greece. Needing only one point from the match in order to qualify for the World Cup, Beckham dragged an otherwise poor England side to qualification with sheer determination and a perfectly executed, last-minute free kick. Meanwhile, taking the role of captain seems to have helped mature him, in both skill and temperament.
Beckham played in all England's matches at Euro 2004, but failed to shine. He had his penalty saved by former Manchester United team-mate Fabien Barthez in his side's 2-1 defeat to France in their opening group game. Then, when England's Quarter-Final against hosts Portugal went to a penalty shootout, he was the first England player to attempt a shot. Beckham fired his shot far over the crossbar and England went on to lose the shoot-out 6-5 after Englishman Darius Vassell also missed. Beckham later blamed the miss on the poor state of the pitch, the British press blamed referee Urs Meier for the loss (he had earlier disallowed a contentious goal by Sol Campbell) even publishing his phone number and postal address.
The Spanish spectator who caught Beckham's miss put the ball up for auction on eBay España. eBay soon determined that virtually all of the bids, including one for €10million , were fake. When bidding closed on 22 July, the winning bid of €28,050 was made by the Canadian internet casino GoldenPalace.com, which announced that it plans to exhibit the ball around the world for charitable purposes.
Beckham's celebrity lifestyle
Beckham's highly publicised marriage to Spice Girl and media celebrity Victoria Adams, otherwise known as Posh Spice, has made them both popular targets for the tabloid press, which has dubbed the couple "Posh and Becks". They have two sons, Brooklyn, born March 4, 1999 and Romeo, born September 1, 2002, with a third child due to be born in March 2005. Beckham is well-known for his frequent hairstyle changes and has changed his hairstyle for many times after being criticised for influencing teenagers' hairstyle.
David Beckham is, according to the Google search engine, the most famous sports personality in the world, however the producers of The Simpsons decided that he wasn't famous enough to make a cameo appearance in an episode of the show set in London. He is also the most famous metrosexual.
However, he has become more well known in North America since the success of the British film Bend It Like Beckham. It is about a Sikh girl whose ambition is to be a football player because she can play like David Beckham.
In 2001, Beckham became the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In the summer of 2003, Beckham was made an OBE in Queen Elizabeth II's honours list.
In May of 2003 Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson ordered David Beckham not to wear his hair band during matches. It has been speculated that he believed it to be too effeminate.
In April 2004, the British tabloid News of the World carried claims by his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos that he and Loos had had an extramarital affair. A week later, a second woman, Malaysian-born Australian model Sarah Marbeck, claimed that she had slept with Beckham on two occasions. Beckham has denied both allegations, describing them as "ludicrous".
In July of 2004, an intruder was arrested at David Beckham's home for scaling a wall with a can of gasoline. The Sun newspaper reported that the man appeared angry with Beckham and intended to burn down the house.
Transfer rumours
Near the end of the 2003-04 season, The Daily Telegraph of London reported that Beckham's major sponsors were trying to arrange for him to return to England for the 2004-05 season. Sources within the family told the Telegraph that Beckham would almost certainly be back in London. Real Madrid denied rumours that they were interested in selling Beckham, and banned British reporters from access to the team.
Because of the extremely high fee that Real Madrid Football team could command for a Beckham deal, and the fact that the other teams that could afford the fee, had financial constraints (Arsenal, Liverpool) or personality issues (Man U) that would have made a deal unlikely, speculation immediately focused on Chelsea, with its billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. Adding fuel to the rumours, Chelsea's manager at that time, Claudio Ranieri, told an Italian newspaper that the club was pursuing both Beckham and Ronaldo, and The Evening Standard of London reported that Chelsea was prepared to pay £40 million for Beckham.
However, on 20 May, Beckham, in a statement issued through his agent, quashed the transfer rumours, stating that he would see out the remaining three years of his contract in Madrid. He added that his wife and sons, who had yet to move to Spain, would join him there. In November 2004 it was reported that Real Madrid intended to offer Beckham a two-year extension to his contract, which would effectively keep him in Madrid for the remainder of his playing career.
Books
Beckham: Both Feet on the Ground: An Autobiography by David Beckham & Tom Watt (ISBN 0060570938)
Beckham: My World by David Beckham & Dean Freeman (ISBN 0340792701)
Bobby Moore
Robert Frederick Chelsea "Bobby" Moore OBE (April 12, 1941 - February 24, 1993) was an English footballer whose place in history is secure.
Moore joined West Ham as a schoolboy and was a regular in the first team by 1960. A composed central defender, Moore was admired more for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Indeed, Moore's ability to tackle, head the ball or keep up with the pace was average at best, but the way he marshalled his team stood him out as world class.
He was in the England squad for the 1962 World Cup in Chile, when England reached the quarter finals, and was captain of his country within another two years. In 1964, he skippered West Ham to success in the FA Cup final at Wembley where they beat Preston North End 3-2, the first of three successive trips to the national stadium in major finals in as many years for Moore, and from which he would emerge undefeated.
In 1965, Wembley hosted West Ham's 2-0 victory over 1860 Munich in the European Cup Winners Cup, then in 1966, Moore was the leader of the side which gave English football its crowning glory and established him as a magnificent player, gentleman and sporting icon. His West Ham team-mate Geoff Hurst scored an historic hat-trick in the 4-2 World Cup final win over West Germany, with Moore supplying pinpoint passes for two of his goals. Of many timeless images from that day, one is of Moore gallantly wiping his hands clean of sweat on his shirt before shaking the hand of Elizabeth II as she presented him with the Jules Rimet Trophy.
Moore faithfully pursued his West Ham and England career and was once again named as captain when England travelled to Mexico to defend the World Cup. There was heavy disruption to preparations, however, when in an almighty fit up, Moore was accused of stealing a bracelet from a jeweller in Colombia, where England had travelled for some warm-up games in order to get acclimatised with altitude conditions. The charges were dropped and Moore was wholly exonerated, and he eventually was permitted to rejoin his team-mates in Mexico.
In the group game against favourites Brazil, there was a defining moment for Moore when he tackled the great Jairzinho with such precision and cleanliness that many cite is a tackle which no-one will ever better. Brazil still won the game, but England also progressed through the group.
Defeat after extra time against West Germany saw England bow out in the last eight, and it would be 12 years before England were to return to a World Cup finals again.
Moore ended up with 108 England caps, breaking the record held by his fellow 1966 hero Bobby Charlton by just two appearances. Only Peter Shilton, with whom Moore also played at international level, has since played more times for his country. Moore's last appearance in an England shirt was in 1973.
A year later, Moore was allowed to leave his beloved West Ham after more than 15 years and joined London rivals Fulham, who were in the second division. Somehow, in his first season, they reached the FA Cup final where they were to play none other than Moore's old club West Ham. It was no farewell ending for Moore, however, as Fulham lost 2-0.
Moore retired from playing in 1977 and had a short spell in football management, but did not succeed. His life after football was eventful and difficult, with business deals going wrong and his marriage ending. Many have since said that the Football Association could have given a role to Moore, as the only Englishman to captain a World Cup winning team, but ignored his claims and abilities. Moore himself kept a dignified silence.
Moore ended up working for radio stations as a summariser and editing a column in the dubious tabloid newspaper the Daily Sport.
In 1993 Moore, who was now remarried, announced he was suffering from bowel cancer. Despite extensive treatment, he succumbed to the illness just two days after commentating on an England match at his spiritual home, Wembley.
The stand replacing the south bank at West Ham's ground The Boleyn Ground in Upton Park has since been named the Bobby Moore Stand.
Alan Shearer Biography
Shearer's previous clubs were Southampton (1988-1992) and Blackburn (1992-1996). He played 63 times for the England team and scored 30 goals. His debut for the national side was on 19th February 1992 versus France at Wembley. He also scored 13 goals in only 11 games for the England Under 21 team.
Shearer's honours include League Championship Winner (Blackburn) 1994/95, PFA Player of the Year 1994/95 & 1996/97, Football Writers Player of the Year 1994/95, Premiership Golden Boot Winner 1994/95 (34), 1995/96 (31) & 1996/97 (25), Awarded Barclaycard Merit Award on 20 April 2002 for reaching the 200 Premiership goal landmark.
Geordie Alan makes no secret of his love for Newcastle United and the partnership is a marriage made in heaven, but one which before the start of this season had borne no trophies, though a few near misses. Many believed Kevin Keegan's addition of Shearer to a squad which had just missed out on the 1995-96 Championship would seal the title, but another second place finish in 1996-97 denied United that honour, and a serious ankle injury then sidelined Alan for half of the 1997-98 campaign. In this season he was controversially cleared by the FA when he kicked Leicester City's Neil Lennon in the head.
However, his regular goal output has continued and a total of 30 in season 1999/2000 underlined his enduring ability in the penalty area. The scorer of a hat-trick on his debut for Southampton against Arsenal as a 17-year-old in 1988, Alan went on to become the first man to score 30 Premier League goals in three successive seasons.
Shearer was English PFA Player of the Year in 1995 and 1997. He scored 30 goals in 63 games for the England side before his retirement from international football at the end of Euro 2000.
During 2000/01 Alan's season was disrupted by injury which restricted him to only 23 appearances. He underwent two knee operations to clear up his tendinitis problem, one in December and one in May in the USA. He received a terrific and emotional welcome when he returned to first team action as a sub against Sunderland on 26 August before hitting two goals against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on his first start of the season on 8 September.
Shearer was appointed an OBE for services to Association Football in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 2001, an honour to go with the Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne that was bestowed upon him in March.
His brace against Ipswich Town in the Worthington Cup on 27 November took his United goals tally to 100. The goal against Arsenal on 18/12/01 was his first at Highbury and it also broke United's London jinx. Shearer hit his 200th Premiership goal against Charlton at St. James' Park on 20 April 2002. He was voted North-East Player of Year for 2001/02 and also scored North-East Goal of the Season 2001/02 (versus Aston Villa).
Shearer has announced that the 2004/05 season will be his last as a player. He is currently working on his UEFA coaching qualifications, which are required to manage a team in European competitions.
Richard Branson
Branson first achieved notoriety with Virgin Records, a record label that started out with multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield and introduced bands like the Sex Pistols and Culture Club to the world music scene. Known for his wacky exploits used to promote his businesses, Branson is keen on playful antagonisms, exemplified by his "Mine is bigger than yours" decals on the new Airbus A340-600 jets used by his airline. He has also made several unsuccessful attempts to fly in a hot air balloon around the world.
The hot air balloon, called the "Virgin Atlantic Flyer," was the first hot air balloon ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and was the largest ever flown at 60.513 m³ (2,137,000 ft³) volume, reaching speeds in excess of 130 mph (209 km/h).
In 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, a distance of 7,672 km (4,767 miles), but their track took them a claimed 10,885 km. This again broke all existing records with speeds of up to 245 mph in a balloon measuring 60.513 m³.
He formed Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, and later failed in a 2000 bid to handle the National Lottery. He has also started a European short-haul airline, Virgin Express.
In October 2003, he announced he would be teaming up with balloonist Steve Fossett to attempt to break the record for a non-stop flight around the world. A new aircraft, the GlobalFlyer, will be built specially for the attempt by Scaled Composites.
In 1993 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University.
He became Sir Richard Branson when he was knighted by the Queen in 1999 for his business prowess and exuberance for the spirit of the United Kingdom.
On September 25, 2004 he announced the signing of a deal under which a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne to take paying passengers into suborbital space.
He has guest starred, playing himself, on several television shows, including Friends, Baywatch and Only Fools and Horses. He also is the star of a new reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire where sixteen contestants will be tested for their entrepreneurship and their sense of adventure.
Sir Richard appears at No. 85 on the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons" (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public). Branson's high public profile often leaves him open as a figure of satire - the 2000AD series Zenith featured a parody of Branson as a supervillian as at the time the comic's publisher and favoured distributor and the Virgin group were in competition.
Winston Churchill
Early career
Born at Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock in Oxfordshire, Winston Churchill was a descendant of the first famous member of the Churchill family: John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (whose father was also a "Sir Winston Churchill"). Winston's politician father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough; Winston's mother was Lady Randolph Churchill (née Jeanette "Jennie" Jerome) of Brooklyn, New York, daughter of American millionaire Leonard Jerome.
As per tradition, Churchill spent much of his childhood at boarding schools, rarely visited by his mother, whom he worshipped, despite his letters begging her to either come or let his father let him come home. He had a distant relationship with his father, despite keenly following his father's career.
Once in 1886 he is reported to have proclaimed "My daddy is Chancellor of the Exchequer and one day that's what I'm going to be." His desolate, lonely childhood stayed with him throughout his life. He was very close to his nursemaid, and deeply saddened when she died. In 1893 he enrolled in the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He graduated two years later ranked eighth in his class. He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the 4th Hussars cavalry. In 1895, he went to Cuba as a military observer with the Spanish army in its fight against the independentists. He also reported for the Saturday Review. In 1898 he rode as a reporter with the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman. |
 | A part of the settlement was an agreement to transfer the remaining citizens of Germany from the area. (Transfer of Poles didn't need to be approved.) The exact numbers and movement of ethnic populations over the Polish-German and Polish-USSR borders in the period at the end of World War II is extremely difficult to determine. This is not least because, under the Nazi regime, many Poles were replaced in their homes by the conquering Germans in an attempt to consolidate Nazi power. |
| In the case of the post-WWII settlement, Churchill was convinced that the only way to alleviate tensions between the two populations was the transfer of people, to match the national borders. As Churchill expounded in the House of Commons in 1944, "Expulsion is the method which, in so far as we have been able to see, will be the most satisfactory and lasting. There will be no mixture of populations to cause endless trouble... A clean sweep will be made. I am not alarmed by these transferences, which are more possible in modern conditions." Although the importance of Churchill's role in World War II was undeniable, he produced many enemies in his own country. His expressed contempt for ideas such as public health care and for better education for the majority of the population in particular produced much dissatisfaction amongst the population, particularly those who had fought in the war. Immediately following the close of the war in Europe Churchill was heavily defeated at election by Clement Attlee and the Labour Party. Winston Churchill was an early supporter of the pan-Europeanism that eventually lead to the formation of the European Common market and later the European Union (for which one of the three main buildings of the European Parliament is named in his honour). Churchill was also instrumental in giving France a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (which he supported in order to have another European power to counter-balance the Soviet Union's permanent seat). At the beginning of the Cold War he coined the term the "Iron Curtain," a phrase originally created by Joseph Goebbels that entered the public consciousness after a 1946 speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri when Churchill famously declared "From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere." Second term Following Labour's defeat in the General Election of 1951, Churchill again became Prime Minister. His third government - after the wartime national government and the short caretaker government of 1945, would last until his resignation in 1955. During this period he renewed what he called the "special relationship" between Britain and the United States, engaged himself in the formation of the post-War order. His domestic priorities were, however, overshadowed by a series of foreign policy crisises, which were the result of the continued decline of British military and imperial prestige. Being a strong proponent of Britain as an international power, Churchill would often meet such moments with direct action. Anglo-Iranian Oil Dispute The crisis began under the government of Clement Attlee, in March of 1951, the Iranian parliament—the Majlis—voted to nationalize the A.I.O.C. and its holdings by passing a bill strongly backed by the elderly statesman Mohammed Mossadegh, a man who was elected Prime Minister the following April by a large majority of the parliament. The International Court of Justice was called into settle the dispute, but a 50-50 profit sharing arrangement, with recognition of nationalization, was rejected by Mossadegh. Direct negotiations between the British and the Iranian government ceased, and over the course of 1951, the British racheted up the pressure on the Iranian government, and explored the possibility of a coup against it. American President Harry Truman was reluctant to agree, given the priority of the Korean War. The effects of the blockade and embargo were staggering, and lead to a virtual shutdown of Iran’s oil exports. Churchill's coming to power brought with it a policy of undermining the Mossadegh government. While counter-proposals from Mossadegh's government, including a deal to give the British 25% of the profits in the nationalized oil company were floated, the British were not interested, and wanted a return to the previous arrangement as well as a removal of Mossadegh. As the blockade's political and economic costs mounted inside Iran, coup plots rose from the army, the "National Front" and from pro-British factions in the Majlis. Churchill and his Foreign Secretary pursued two mutually exclusive goals. On one hand they wanted "development and reform" in Iran, on the otherhand, they did not want to give up the control or revenue from AOIC that would have permitted that development and reform to go forward. Initially they backed Sayyid Zia as an individual they could do business with, but as the embargo dragged on, they turned more and more to an alliance with the military. Churchill's government had come full circle, from ending the Attlee plans for coup, to planning one itself. The crisis dragged on until 1953, Churchill, approves a plan with help from American President Dwight Eisenhower back a coup in Iran. The combination of external and internal political pressure converged around Fazlollah Zahedi. Over the course of the Summer of 1953, demonstrations grew in Iran, and with the failure of a plebescite, the government was destabilized. Zahedi, using financing from the outside, took power, and Mossadegh surrendered to him on August 20th, 1953. The coup pointed to an underlying tension within the post-War order: the industrialized Democracies, hungry for resources to rebuild in the wake of World War II, and to engage the Soviet Union in the Cold War, dealt with emerging states such as Iran as they had with colonies in a previous era. On one hand, spurred by the fear of a third world war against the USSR, and committed to a policy of containment at any cost, they were more than willing to circumvent local political perogatives, on the other hand, many of these local governments were both unstable and corrupt. The two factors formed a vicious circle - intervention lead to more dicatorial rule and corruption, which made intervention rather than establishment of strong local political institutions a greater and greater temptation. The Mau Mau Rebellion In 1951, greivances against the colonial distribution of land came to a head with the Kenya Africa Union demanding greater represenation and land reform, when these demands were rejected, more radical elements came forward and launched the Mau Mau rebellion in 1952. On 17 August 1952, a state of emergency was declared, and British troops were flown to Kenya to deal with the rebellion. As both sides increased the ferocity of their attacks, the country moved to full scale civil war. In 1953 the Lari massacre, perpetrated by Mau-Mau insurgents against Kikuyu loyal to the British changed the political complexion of the rebellion, and gave the public relations advantage to the British. Churchill's strategy was to use a military stick, combined with implementing many of the concessions that Attlee's government had blocked in 1951. He ordered an increased military presence and appointed General Sir George Erskine, who would implement Operation Anvil in 1954 that broke the back of the rebellion in the city of Nairobi, and Operation Hammer which was designed to root out rebels in the country-side. Churchill ordered peace talks opened, but these collapsed shortly after his leaving office. Malaya Emergency In Malaysia a rebellion against British rule had been in progress since 1948, and on October 7, 1951, the British High Commissioner Henry Gurney. Once again, Churchill's second government inherited a crisis, and once again Churchill chose to use direct military action against those in rebellion, while attempting to build an alliance with those who were not. He stepped up the implementation of a "hearts and minds" campaign, and approved the creation of villages, a tactic that would become a recurring part of Western military strategy in South-East Asia. (See Vietnam War). The Malaya Emergency was a more direct case of a guerilla movement, centered in an ethnic group, but backed by the Soviety Union. As such, Britian's policy of direct confrontation and military victory had a great deal more support than in Iran or in Kenya. At the highpoint of the conflict, over 35,000 British troops were stationed in Malaysia. As the rebellion lost ground, it began to lose favor with the local population. While the rebellion was slowly being defeated, it was equally clear that colonial rule from Britain was no longer tenable, in 1953 plans began to be drawn up for independence for Singapore and the other crown colonies in the area. The first elections were held in 1955, just days before Churhill's own resignation, and by 1957, under Anthony Eden, Malaysia became independent. Honours for Churchill In 1953 he was awarded two major honours. He was knighted and became Sir Winston Churchill and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values". A stroke in June of that year led to him being paralysed down his left side. He retired because of his health on April 5, 1955 but retained his post as Chancellor of the University of Bristol. In 1956 he received the Karlspreis (engl.: Charlemagne Award) an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace. During the next few years he revised and finally published A History of the English Speaking Peoples in four volumes. In 1959 Churchill inherited the title of Father of the House, becoming the MP with the longest continuous service — since 1924. He was to hold the position until his retirement from the Commons in 1964, the position of Father of the House passing to Rab Butler. Family On September 2, 1908, at the socially desirable St. Margaret's, Westminster, Churchill married Clementine Hozier, a dazzling but largely penniless beauty whom he met at a dinner party that March (he had proposed to actress Ethel Barrymore, but was turned down). They had five children: Diana; Randolph; Sarah, who co-starred with Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding; Marigold; and Mary, who has written a book on her parents. Clementine's mother was Lady Blanche Henrietta Ogilvy, second wife of Sir Henry Montague Hozier and a daughter of the 7th Earl of Airlie. Clementine's paternity, however, is open to healthy debate. Lady Blanche was well known for sharing her favours and was eventually divorced as a result. She maintained that Clementine's father was Capt. William George "Bay" Middleton, a noted horseman. But Clementine's biographer Joan Hardwick has surmised, due to Sir Henry Hozier's reputed sterility, that all Lady Blanche's "Hozier" children were actually fathered by her sister's husband, Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, better known as a grandfather of the infamous Mitford sisters of the 1920s. Churchill's son, Randolph, and grandson, Winston, both followed him into Parliament. Last days On January 15, 1965 Churchill suffered another stroke — a severe cerebral thrombosis — that left him gravely ill. He died nine days later on January 24, 1965, 70 years to the day of his father's death. His body lay in State in Westminster Hall for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral. This was the first state funeral for a commoner since that of Field Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar in 1914. It was Churchill's wish that, were de Gaulle to outlive him, his (Churchill's) funeral procession should pass through Waterloo Station. As his coffin passed down the Thames on a boat, the cranes of London's docklands bowed in salute. At Churchill's request, he was buried in the family plot at Saint Martin's Churchyard, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. Writings Churchill was also a notable historian, producing many works. Some of his twentieth century writings such as The World Crisis (detailing the First World War) and The Second World War are highly autobiographical, telling the story of the conflict. Initially Churchill used the name Winston Churchill for his books. However early on he discovered that there was also an American writer of the same name, who had been published first. So as to prevent the two being confused, they agreed that the American would publish as Winston Churchill, and the Englishman as Winston Spencer Churchill (sometimes abbreviated to Winston S. Churchill). Churchill's works include: The River War - Published in 1899 (2 vols) Kitchner's reconquest of the Sudan in 1898. Also published in a 1 vol abridged edn. Savrola - Churchill's only novel. Published in 1900 Lord Randolph Churchill - A two-volume biography of his father. The World Crisis - Six volumes covering the Great War My African Journey - African travels and experiences. Published in 1908. My Early Life - An autobiography covering the first quarter century of his career. Marlborough: His Life and Times - A biography of his ancestor, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, published in 4-, 6-, and 2-volume editions. ISBN 0226106330 The Second World War 6 volumes (sometimes reprinted as 12) A History of the English Speaking Peoples - used as the basis of the BBC radio series This Sceptred Isle The Scaffolding of Rhetoric - a 1,763-word essay on oratory; unpublished, written 1897. Painting as a Pastime - a short appreciation of painting Miscellany Churchill was an ardent supporter of Zionism, following his meetings with Chaim Weizmann and the visits in Eretz Israel - Palestina. He kept supporting it (and later, Israel) even after WWII. Churchill College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, was founded in 1960 as the national and commonwealth memorial to Winston Churchill. The Churchill tank, a heavy infantry tank of World War II, was named in his honour. Many attribute some of Churchill’s extraordinary abilities to his being affected by bipolar disorder, commonly known as manic depression. You can see with whom he shares this identification by clicking on the People with Bipolar Disorder category link at the foot of this page. In his last years, Churchill is believed by several writers to have suffered from Alzheimer's disease, though the Churchill Centre disputes this. Certainly he suffered from fits of depression that he called his "black dog," Some researchers also believe that Churchill was dyslexic, based on the difficulties he described himself having at school. However, the Churchill Centre strongly refutes this. The United States Navy destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) is named in his honour. Churchill was the first person to be made an Honorary Citizen of the United States. Churchill's mother was American and some, including Churchill himself, have said that his maternal grandmother was an Iroquois, which would make Churchill the only British Prime Minister of Native American descent. Research has failed to validate this contention, and some doubt its accuracy. Churchill was voted as "The Greatest Briton" in 2002 "100 Greatest Britons" poll sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public. He was also named Time Magazine "Man of the Half-Century" in the early 1950s. The American song writer Jerome Kern was christened Jerome because his parents lived near a park named Jerome Park. This park was in turn named after Churchill's grandfather (the father of Churchill's mother Jennie Jerome). The Churchill cigar size actually was named after him. Churchill's war cabinet, May 1940 - May 1945 Winston Churchill - Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Leader of the House of Commons. Neville Chamberlain - Lord President of the Council Clement Attlee - Lord Privy Seal and effective Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. Lord Halifax - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Arthur Greenwood - Minister without Portfolio Changes August 1940: Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production, joins the War Cabinet October 1940: Sir John Anderson succeeds Neville Chamberlain as Lord President. Sir Kingsley Wood, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, enter the War Cabinet. Lord Halifax assumes the additional job of Leader of the House of Lords. December 1940: Anthony Eden succeeds Lord Halifax as Foreign Secretary. Halifax remains nominally in the Cabinet as Ambassador to the United States. His successor as Leader of the House of Lords is not in the War Cabinet. May 1941: Lord Beaverbrook ceased to be Minister of Aircraft Production, but remains in the Cabinet as Minister of State. His successor was not in the War Cabinet. June 1941: Lord Beaverbrook becomes Minister of Supply, remaining in the War Cabinet. 1941: Oliver Lyttelton enters the Cabinet as Minister Resident in the Middle East. 4 February 1942: Lord Beaverbrook becomes Minister of War Production, his successor as Minister of Supply is not in the War Cabinet. 19 February 1942: Beaverbrook resigns and no replacement Minister of War Production is appointed for the moment. Clement Attlee becomes Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister. Sir Stafford Cripps succeeds Attlee as Lord Privy Seal and takes over the position of Leader of the House of Commons from Churchill. Sir Kingsley Wood leaves the War Cabinet, though remaining Chancellor of the Exchequer. 22 February 1942: Arthur Greenwood resigns from the War Cabinet. March 1942: Oliver Lyttelton fills the vacant position of Minister of Production ("War" was dropped from the title). Richard Gardiner Casey (a member of the Australian Parliament) succeeds Oliver Lyttelton as Minister Resident in the Middle East. October 1942: Sir Stafford Cripps retires as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons and leaves the War Cabinet. His successor as Lord Privy Seal is not in the Cabinet, Anthony Eden takes the additional position of Leader of the House of Commons. The Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison, enters the Cabinet. September 1943: Sir John Anderson succeeds Sir Kingsley Wood (deceased) as Chancellor of the Exchequer, remaining in the War Cabinet. Clement Attlee succeeds Anderson as Lord President, remaining also Deputy Prime Minister. Attlee's successor as Dominions Secretary is not in the Cabinet. November 1943: Lord Woolton enters the Cabinet as Minister of Reconstruction. Winston Churchill's caretaker cabinet, May - July 1945 Winston Churchill - Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Lord Woolton - Lord President of the Council Lord Beaverbrook - Lord Privy Seal Sir John Anderson - Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Donald Bradley Somervell - Secretary of State for the Home Department Anthony Eden - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Commons Oliver Stanley - Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Cranborne - Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs and Leader of the House of Lords Sir P.J. Grigg - Secretary of State for War Leo Amery - Secretary of State for India and Burma Lord Rosebery - Secretary of State for Scotland Harold Macmillan - Secretary of State for Air Brendan Bracken - First Lord of the Admiralty Oliver Lyttelton - President of the Board of Trade and Minister of Production Robert Hudson - Minister of Agriculture Rab Butler - Minister of Labour Winston Churchill's third cabinet, October 1951 - April 1955 Winston Churchill - Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Lord Simonds - Lord Chancellor Lord Woolton - Lord President of the Council Lord Salisbury - Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords Rab Butler - Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - Secretary of State for the Home Department Anthony Eden - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Oliver Lyttelton - Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Ismay - Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations James Stuart - Secretary of State for Scotland Peter Thorneycroft - President of the Board of Trade Lord Cherwell - Paymaster-General Sir Walter Monckton - Minister of Labour Henry Crookshank - Minister of Health and Leader of the House of Commons Harold Macmillan - Minister of Housing and Local Government Lord Leathers - Minister for the Co-ordination of Transport, Fuel, and Power Changes March 1952: Lord Salisbury succeeds Lord Ismay as Commonwealth Relations Secretary. Salisbury remains also Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords. Lord Alexander succeeds Churchill as Minister of Defence. May 1952: Henry Crookshank succeeds Lord Salisbury as Lord Privy Seal. Salisbury remains Commonwealth Relations Secretary and Leader of the House of Lords. Crookshank's successor as Minister of Health is not in the Cabinet. November 1952: Lord Woolton becomes Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Lord Salisbury succeeds Lord Woolton as Lord President. Lord Swinton succeeds Lord Salisbury as Commonwealth Relations Secretary. September 1953: Florence Horsbrugh, the Minister of Education, Sir Thomas Dugdale, the Minister of Agriculture, and Gwilym Lloyd George, the Minister of Food, enter the cabinet. The Ministry for the Co-ordination of Transport, Fuel, and Power, is abolished, and Lord Leathers leaves the Cabinet. October 1953: Lord Cherwell resigns as Paymaster General. His successor is not in the Cabinet. July 1954: Alan Lennox-Boyd succeeds Oliver Lyttelton as Colonial Secretary. Derick Heathcoat Amory succeeds Sir Thomas Dugdale as Minister of Agriculture. October 1954: Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, now Lord Kilmuir, succeeds Lord Simonds as Lord Chancellor. Gwilym Lloyd George succeeds him as Home Secretary. The Food Ministry is merged into the Ministry of Agriculture. Sir David Eccles succeeds Florence Horsbrugh as Minister of Education. Harold Macmillan succeeds Lord Alexander as Minister of Defence. Duncan Sandys succeeds Macmillan as Minister of Housing and Local Government. Osbert Peake, the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance, enters the Cabinet. |
