title: Gérard Depardieu

texts:
<mask>, CQ (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a  French actor, filmmaker, businessman and vineyard owner since 1989 who is one of the most prolific thespians in film history having completed over 250 films since 1967 almost exclusively as a lead. <mask> has worked with over 150 film directors whose most notable collaborations include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott and Bernardo Bertolucci. He is the second highest grossing actor in the history of French Cinema behind Louis de Funès. As of January 2022, his body of work also include countless television productions, 18 theatre plays, 16 records and 9 books. He is mostly known as a character actor and for having portrayed numerous leading historical and fictitious figures of the Western world including Georges Danton, Josef Stalin, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Christopher Colombus, Obélix, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite. He was granted citizenship of Russia in January 2013 (officially adopted name in ), and became a cultural ambassador of Montenegro during the same month.He has received acclaim for his performances in The Last Metro (1980), for which he won the César Award for Best Actor, in Police (1985), for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Jean de Florette (1986), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and his second César Award for Best Actor as well as garnering a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He co-starred in Peter Weir's comedy Green Card (1991), winning a Golden Globe Award, and later acted in many big budget Hollywood movies including Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012). Early life

<mask> <mask> was born on 27 December 1948 in Châteauroux, Indre, France. He is one of the five children of Anne Jeanne Josèphe (née Marillier) known as "La Lilette", stay-at-home mom, and René Maxime <mask> (better known in his neighborhood as "Dédé" because he could only write two letters) , a metal worker and volunteer fireman. His father and mother were both born in 1923 and both died in 1988. <mask> <mask> grew up in poverty in a two-room apartment at 39 rue du Maréchal-Joffre, Châteauroux, in a proletarian family with five brothers and sisters. <mask> helped his mother in the deliveries of his younger brothers and sisters.He spent more time on the streets than in school, leaving at the age of 13. Practically illiterate and half stammering, he learned to read only later. He worked at a printworks, while participating in boxing matches. He also became involved in selling stolen goods, and was put on probation. During a difficult adolescence, he "got by", through committing theft and smuggling all kinds of goods (cigarettes, alcohol), among others with the GIs of the important American air base of Châteauroux-Déols. He also acted as a bodyguard for prostitutes who came down from Paris on weekends, the GIs' payday. His family nicknamed him "Pétard" or "Pétarou", because of the habit he had acquired of farting incessantly, in all places.In 1968, his best friend of childhood Jacky Merveille, another castelroussin kingpin, dies in a car accident, he then decides to take his destiny in hand. Acting career
At the age of sixteen, <mask> left Châteauroux for Paris. There, he began acting in the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare, along with Patrick Dewaere, Romain Bouteille, Sotha, Coluche, and Miou-Miou. He studied dancing under Jean-Laurent Cochet. His first film role to gain attention was playing Jean-Claude in Bertrand Blier's comedy Les Valseuses (Going Places, 1974). Other prominent early films include Barbet Schroeder's controversial Maîtresse (1975), a starring role in Bernardo Bertolucci's historical epic 1900 (1976), with Robert De Niro, and a role in François Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980), with Catherine Deneuve for which he won his first César Award for Best Actor. <mask>'s international profile rose as a result of his performance as a doomed, hunchbacked farmer in the film Jean de Florette (1986) and received notice for his starring role in Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he won his second César Award for Best Actor, the Cannes Film Festival for Best Actor, and received a nomination for an Academy Award.<mask> co-starred in Peter Weir's English language romantic comedy Green Card (1991), for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He has since had other roles in other English language films, including Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012). He played Obélix in the four live-action Astérix films in which he is said to have discovered Mélanie Laurent when she was fourteen. In 2009, he took part in a rare performance of Sardou's La Haine at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon, with Fanny Ardant; subsequently broadcast on France Musique. In 2013, he starred in an independent film titled A Farewell to Fools. <mask> featured as a main character in Antwerp (Edinburgh Festival 2014), a play in The Europeans Trilogy (Bruges, Antwerp, Tervuren) by Paris-based UK playwright Nick Awde. In 2014, he starred in the controversial Welcome to New York (2014 film) in the thinly-disguised impersonation of disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.Personal life

In 1970, <mask> married Élisabeth Guignot, with whom he had two children, actor Guillaume (1971–2008) and actress Julie (born 1973). On 28 January 1992, while separated from Guignot, he had a daughter, Roxanne, with the model Karine Silla (sister of producer Virginie Besson-Silla). In 1996, he divorced Guignot and began a relationship with actress Carole Bouquet, who was his partner from 1997 to 2005. On 14 July 2006, he had a son, Jean, with French-Cambodian Hélène Bizot (daughter of François Bizot and not to be confused with actress Hélène Bizot). Since 2005, <mask> has lived with Clémentine Igou. He underwent heart surgery in July 2000. On 13 October 2008, <mask>'s son Guillaume died from pneumonia at the age of 37.Guillaume's health had been adversely affected by drug addiction and by a 1995 motorcycle crash that eventually required the amputation of his right leg in 2003. <mask> and Guillaume had a turbulent relationship, but had reconciled prior to Guillaume's death. In September 2020, <mask> converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Paris. Health
On 18 May 1998, <mask> had a motorcycle accident with a blood alcohol content of 2.5 g/l  on the way to the shooting of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, by Claude Zidi. He was prescribed forty days off work. In 2012 he was hit by a car while riding his scooter in Paris. The same year, while intoxicated with 1.8 g/l of alcohol in the blood, he had another scooter accident, without injury and without collision with a third party.Since the 2000s, the actor has suffered at least seven motorcycle or scooter accidents. Sexual assault and rape allegations
In a 1978 interview, <mask> reportedly confirmed a story that he first participated in a rape when he was 9 years old and that he had participated in more rapes since then. He reportedly stated there were "too many [rapes] to count... There was nothing wrong with it. The girls wanted to be raped. I mean, there's no such thing as rape. It's only a matter of a girl putting herself in a situation where she wants to be."The story re-emerged in Time magazine in 1991. On 15 March 1991, <mask>'s American publicist Lois Smith stated, "he's sorry, but it happened." The National Organization for Women requested an apology from <mask>. Later that month, Depardieu's French publicist Claude Devy discounted the statements made by Smith and <mask> threatened legal action against any media outlet that published the comments. <mask>'s team said his words were mistranslated and he only admitted to having witnessed rapes. Time refused to retract the story. In August 2018, <mask> was accused of sexual assault and rape by a 22-year-old actress and dancer.The actress reported being assaulted twice by <mask> in his home during rehearsal sessions. The unnamed actress made her statement to police in Lambesc, southern France, after which the case was passed to prosecutors in the capital. <mask> denied the allegations. In 2019, the charges were dropped after a nine-month police investigation. The case was reopened in October 2020 after his accuser refiled the complaint. In February 2021, it was announced that French authorities charged <mask> with rape in December 2020, stemming from the incident in August 2018. According to <mask>'s lawyer, Hervé Témime, speaking to Le Monde, the actor rejects the allegation.Citizenship

He has been an official resident of Néchin, Belgium, since 7 December 2012. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault criticised his move. On 15 December 2012, <mask> publicly stated he was handing back his French passport. On 3 January 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an Executive Order granting Russian citizenship to <mask>. In his first interview thereafter, <mask> attacked Putin's critics for "lacking vision". In his autobiography, <mask> said Putin "immediately liked my hooligan side." In February 2013, he registered as a resident of Saransk.Also in January 2013, he was appointed a cultural ambassador for Montenegro. During the summer of 2015, due to remarks <mask> made about Russian-Ukrainian political issues, his films were banned from television and cinemas in Ukraine. Awards
<mask> has been nominated for the César for Best Actor in a Leading Role 17 times during his career and won it twice, in 1981 and 1991. He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1990 for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac. 1985: Volpi Cup for Best Actor for his role in Police
1985: Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite
1990: Cannes Film Festival: Best actor award for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac
1996: Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur
2006: Moscow Film Festival: Stanislavsky Award for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting

Filmography

See also
Cinema of France
List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References

Further reading

External links

 Russian artist Shishkin writes portrait of <mask>//Channel One
Photo of <mask> <mask>

1948 births
Living people
20th-century French male actors
21st-century French male actors
Male actors from Paris
Best Musical or Comedy Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Best Actor Lumières Award winners
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
Best Actor César Award winners
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Knights of the National Order of Merit (France)
French male film actors
Knights of the National Order of Quebec
Naturalised citizens of Russia
Russian people of French descent
Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism
People from Châteauroux
Male Shakespearean actors
Wine merchants
Volpi Cup for Best Actor winners
Café de la Gare

masks:
Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu
Depardieu
Gérard
Depardieu
Lionel Depardieu
Gérard
Depardieu
Gérard
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
Depardieu
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Gerard Depardieu
Gérard
Depardieu


title: Anita Kunz

type: original

texts:
<mask><mask>, OC, DFA, RCA is a Canadian-born artist and illustrator. She was the first woman and first Canadian to have a solo exhibit at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Life and early career
<mask> was born in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in Kitchener. In her early life, she was influenced by the illustration work of her uncle, <mask>, who created art for educational publishing. His work imparted to her the potential for illustration to hold social messages, leading her to study at the Ontario College of Art, from which she graduated in 1978. She started sending her work to various magazines after beginning her career with assignments in advertising. <mask> states that studying the works of British artists like Sue Coe, Richard Mills and Ian Pollock helped her to understand that illustration could be used to personally express "a strong political or social viewpoint." As a Canadian who recognizes the extent to which Canada is immersed in American culture and politics, she believes that responding visually from a Canadian perspective is imperative.Consequently, she sought work in the United States and acquired the majority of her clients there. In particular, she caught the attention of American art director Fred Woodward when he commissioned an illustration of Ray Charles for Westward magazine in 1982. Her depiction of Charles "with piano keys for teeth" exceeded Woodward's expectations and prompted their working relationship through his transitions to Texas Monthly, Regardie's, and Rolling Stone. For Woodward, <mask> was an obvious choice to be one of the two artists illustrating for his back-of-the-magazine series called "The History of Rock and Roll," which ran from 1988 to 1990. Career and achievements
<mask> has lived in London, New York City and Toronto, contributing to magazines and working for design firms, book publishers and advertising agencies in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Holland, Portugal, France and England. Her many clients include Time magazine, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, The New York Times, Sony Music, and Random House Publishing. She has illustrated over fifty book jacket covers and has created cover art and editorial illustrations for many magazines including Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine, earning commissions of up to US$5,000.<mask> has been commissioned by The New Yorker for more than twenty covers. She has had exhibitions since 1987, when she showed a collection of her works at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, London. In 1997 she put on a one-woman show at the Foreign Press office in New York City. In 1998 she had a solo show at Tokyo's Creation Gallery. The Society of Illustrators' Museum of American Illustration honoured her with a mid-career retrospective of her work in 2002. <mask> is also involved in educating and helping other artists. She has held summer workshops for the Master of Arts program at Syracuse University at the Illustration Academy in Sarasota, Florida.She also often leads workshops and gives lectures at universities and institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC. Her paintings and sculptures have been featured in galleries abroad, including the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts and the Teatrio Cultural Association in Rome, Italy. In the fall of 2003, <mask> was the first woman and the first Canadian to have a solo show at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The show was titled Canadian Counterpoint and featured a selection of 15 of the 22 paintings that she donated for a permanent collection at the Library of Congress. The National Post has named her one of the fifty most influential Canadian women. In 2007 <mask> was inducted as a member into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 2017 she was inducted into The Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame at the Museum of American Illustration in New York.She was also the "2017 J.E.H. MacDonald Honorary Member for Painting" at The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. In 2004, Canada Post used illustrations by <mask> on stamps issued for the Year of the Monkey. On 5 April 2018, Canada Post celebrated <mask> and four other prolific Canadian illustrators by issuing a stamp series featuring their works. The issue is called Great Canadian Illustrators and was released at OCAD University. <mask> has written two art books, Another History of Art  published by Fantagraphics Books in spring 2021 and Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage  with a foreword by Roxane Gay to be released in the fall of 2021. In 2021, <mask> discussed her "portraits of unsung women and her equally feminist but far more fantastical vision of art history" in The New Yorker Magazine.Awards
In 1997, <mask> was the recipient of the Les Usherwood Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advertising and Design Club of Canada. She received the Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in 2003. In 2009, <mask> was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada "for her contributions as an illustrator whose insightful works have graced publications around the world". She was also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. In 2010, <mask> was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from her alma mater, OCAD University. She was given a second Honorary DFA by Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2015. In 2016, <mask> was one of three winners of Applied Arts magazine's Golden AACE (Applied Arts Creative Excellence) lifetime achievement Awards.Of the three primary disciplines covered by the magazine, <mask> won for the Image category. <mask> was recognized by her alma mater again when she was one of the 2017 recipients of the Alumni of Influence Awards. She was awarded as Distinguished Alumni. Permanent collections
There are permanent collections of her work at the Library of Congress, the Archives of Canada in Ottawa, the McCord Museum in Montreal, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome. As well, some of her Time Magazine cover paintings are in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. Influences and values
<mask> points to the Northern Renaissance works of Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden as an influence for her illustration style. A comparison of their works would reveal "the same elongated forms, the same finger-crooked hands, the same skin tones glowing like pearl and old pewter.'His work is beautiful and spooky at the same time,' says <mask>." Descriptions of <mask>'s work by other artists confirm her commitment to detail and her Flemish influence. Milton Glaser, the American graphic designer who invented the I Love New York logo, said that <mask> is "almost Flemish in her sense of detail and finish. She also has a certain Flemish sense of the grotesque." Françoise Mouly, art editor of The New Yorker and wife of Art Spiegelman, expressed her fondness for the "sheer luxury of detail in <mask>'s work." Given the influence of her uncle and various British artists, <mask> has been open about expressing her values as an artist. She aims to use her art to widely communicate concepts that are novel and challenging.To illustration, <mask> ascribes "the power, potentially, to move people emotionally and challenge them intellectually. By its very nature, illustration can question conventions and generate reaction." To produce these effects, she states that it is crucial to be flexible and to continually consider oneself a student of human nature. Since she uses her art to communicate social and political messages, she also values integrity regarding the publications that feature her work, and thus declines commissions that oppose the causes she stands by or that threaten to compromise her values. In the early 2000s, <mask> repeatedly expressed her concern that publications were becoming more focused on celebrity culture and commercial advertisements than on intellectual and conceptual subject matter. She noticed the change beginning in the early 1990s, and expected the political focus to resume after 9/11. Instead, her first commission following the attacks was for a portrait of Britney Spears, and <mask> began to notice herself and other artists  such as American photographer Susan Sontag and American cartoonist Michael Ramirez  facing restrictions on their freedom of expression.In addition to receiving more celebrity portrait commissions than serious ones, U.S. military officials periodically visited her website following her April 2003 cover illustration of George W. Bush as an oil sheik for The American Prospect. The turn away from strong political opinions impacted the selection of <mask>'s works for her solo show at the Library of Congress; the majority of the fifteen selections are celebrity portraits. <mask>'s publicist, Laura Goldstein, stated that "the whole exhibit is called Canadian Counterpoint, but they're still selecting what the 'Counterpoint' is." Despite her concern, <mask> herself confidently expressed her belief that "the need for astute, suggestive and intellectual illustration will never cease." References

External links
Official website

Living people
Artists from Toronto
Canadian women illustrators
Officers of the Order of Canada
21st-century Canadian women artists
Year of birth missing (living people)

masks:
Anita E
. Kunz
Kunz
Robert Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Anita
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz
Kunz


title: Li Changchun

texts:
<mask> (born February 1, 1944) is a retired Chinese politician and a former senior leader of the Communist Party of China. He served on the Politburo Standing Committee, the Communist Party's top leadership council, and as the top official in charge of propaganda, between 2002 and 2012. He also served as Chairman of the CPC Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization, de facto head of propaganda and media relations. <mask> had a widely varying political career spanning three provinces, first as Governor of Liaoning, then Party Secretary of Henan, and then Party Secretary of Guangdong, before being promoted to the national leadership in 2002. He retired in 2012. Biography

Early life and career
<mask> was born in February 1944 in modern-day Dalian, Liaoning, then administered by the Empire of Japan as "Dairen", Kwantung Leased Territory. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1965 and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 1966.In 1983, at age 39, he became the youngest mayor and Party secretary of a major city, of Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning. In 1982, he was also made an alternate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the age of 38, the youngest member of the body at the time. In 1987, he became governor of Liaoning province, a post he kept until 1990. As governor, mainland China's first expressway was built in the province, linking the cities of Shenyang and Dalian. In addition, <mask> pushed for the reform of state-owned enterprises, aiming to decrease state involvement in their operations. After General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was purged from the party leadership in 1989 during the fallout from the Tiananmen Square protests that same year, <mask> was initially also thought to have been removed from the leadership because he was a supporter of Zhao. <mask>'s appearance on state television weeks later showed that this was not the case.In 1990, <mask> was transferred from his job in Liaoning province to central Henan province. In his memoirs, <mask> recounted that he was ill-prepared for his new assignment and felt homesick. The central authorities had not given him much prior notice about his transfer, and did not inform him why he was being moved or facilitate an orderly transition process. <mask>, as a result, was somewhat critical of the party's transfer process but nonetheless duly accepted his new assignment. He had succeeded then-Henan governor Cheng Weigao, who had been transferred to Hebei province as part of a three-province 'leader swap' orchestrated by the party's leaders. Henan, a populous agricultural province without a strong industrial base, presented <mask> with significant challenges, and <mask> had experienced unease settling into his new home. Two years later, in 1992, <mask> was promoted to party chief of Henan.It would be <mask>'s first job as "first-in-charge" of a province. Being accustomed to serving in government administration, <mask>'s tenure in Henan was his first taste of being in charge of party affairs. <mask> said that initially being the top leader in the province made him uncomfortable as he had to shoulder all responsibility, especially at a time when other regions were developing economically at a pace much faster than that of Henan. Overall, his tenure in Henan was seen as mediocre. Rural incomes remained stagnant during his term, and his government was also criticized for its role in the Plasma Economy, where farmers were encouraged to donate blood through unsafe practices, triggering China's largest outbreak of HIV/AIDS. <mask> was promoted to the Politburo of the Communist Party of China in 1997, largely due to having secured the patronage of the paramount leader and Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin. In his memoirs, <mask> said that he was surprised at having been appointed to the Politburo.In 1998, Jiang dispatched <mask> to serve as Guangdong Party Secretary. It was said that Jiang wanted to use <mask> as a counterbalance to the entrenched local political establishment composed mostly of people native to the province. In Guangdong, <mask> cracked down on corruption to "put the house in order." In the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98, <mask> set up a special task force to evaluate what to do with non-performing loans owed by two of the province's largest financial companies. He appointed former central bank deputy governor Wang Qishan to oversee the task force. <mask> shook up the local banking sector and closed a plethora of local credit unions and agencies. He also increased access to the legal aid system for the poor in the province.His tenure in Guangdong was seen as largely successful, having averted the brunt of the Asian Financial Crisis and also bringing Guangdong back to the political control of the central leadership under Jiang Zemin. <mask>'s tenure in Guangdong made him one of Jiang's favourites and as such Jiang was preparing to groom him for succession for the premiership upon incumbent Premier Zhu Rongji's scheduled retirement in 2003. However, Zhu had been favouring Wen Jiabao for the Premier office, and criticized <mask> over his handling of an "export rebate fraud" scandal in the coastal city of Shantou in 2000, which took place during <mask>'s term as Guangdong party chief. <mask>'s intention to promote <mask>, a female friend of Jiang's who was considered incompetent, to the party chief position in the coastal city of Shenzhen became a sticking point for Jiang's political opponents. Politburo Standing Committee
As expected, <mask> was named a member of the Politburo Standing Committee after Jiang's departure as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 2002. By then, <mask> was seen by political observers as firmly belonging to Jiang's camp. He was considered one of Jiang's major 'patronage appointments' to the top ruling council along with other staunch Jiang loyalists such as Jia Qinglin and Huang Ju.<mask> was ranked eighth in the party hierarchy out of the nine members of the new PSC, given the portfolio of supervising the Party organs that dealt with propaganda and ideology while taking on no other official party or state titles. <mask> was the first propaganda chief to preside over the growth of the internet in China, and as a result was largely seen as having been the forerunner in developing the internet censorship regime that became increasingly extensive over the course of his tenure. In October 2007, at the 17th Party Congress, it was announced that <mask>, then aged 63 (below the unofficial age of retirement for PSC members, 67), would serve another term as propaganda chief. In addition, <mask> was elevated from eight position in the protocol sequence to fifth, in front of Hu Jintao's putative successor Xi Jinping. There were high hopes among some in media circles that <mask> would signal a more liberal change from the strictures of former propaganda chief Ding Guangen. <mask> had made a major speech advocating that media stay "close to the public" and to real events, "instead of mechanically following Party directives." In addition, <mask> was also seen as a leading reformer due to his legacy in Guangdong, where he was not afraid to take on entrenched interests and introduce further market economic reforms.The hopes were short-lived however, though, after the Central Propaganda Department began closing newspapers, firing journalists, and would not allow foreign companies to produce content for TV stations in China. Many editors were punished and <mask>n "started sounding and acting like another Ding Guangen." <mask> retired from PSC in 2012, which <mask> succeed his position as the propaganda chief. Propaganda work

In his position as China's propaganda chief from 2002 to 2012, <mask> was said to have contributed heavily to China's censorship campaign and frequently ordered media to downplay or not report on certain events. In 2006, he told the members of the All-China Journalists Association to "closely encircle the overall work of the party and state". <mask> approved the construction of the National Museum in 2006 after a series of disputes and delays about the building of the museum. He was the guest of honor at the opening of the National Center for the Performing Arts.<mask> has put his support behind a number of creative projects that might otherwise have been censored by the government. He supported Zen Shaolin, a music, dance and martial arts show intended to increase tourism that opened in 2007 in Henan, despite the producers' concerns that a celebration of religion and sacred music would be opposed by the government. <mask> allowed a 2009 movie Nanking! Nanking! by Lu Chuan to continue running in theaters in the face of strong pressure from nationalists who objected to the sympathetic characterization in the film of a Japanese soldier. The film was one of ten chosen to help commemorate 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. In May 2009, American diplomats reported in a cable later leaked by WikiLeaks that <mask> was a driving force behind China's renewed pressure against Google to comply with Chinese censorship laws.<mask> was reportedly unhappy that Chinese Google search results for his and his children's names contained results critical of them. He subsequently ordered major Chinese firms to cease doing business with Google, and one source with connections to political elite claimed <mask> had directed a subsequent cyberattack against Google in retaliation. Personal life
<mask> is married to Zhang Shurong (), his college sweetheart. Zhang was an engineer. References

External links
<mask>n biography, China Vitae
biography of <mask>n People Daily

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1944 births
Living people
Chinese Communist Party politicians from Liaoning
Mayors of Shenyang
Politicians from Dalian
Governors of Liaoning
Governors of Henan
Political office-holders in Guangdong
Harbin Institute of Technology alumni
Members of the 17th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 16th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Members of the 15th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party

masks:
Li Changchun
Li
Li Changchun
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Guangdong Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Huang Liman
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li Changchu
Li
Liu Yunshan
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li
Li Changchu
Li Changchu


title: Luca Pisaroni

texts:
<mask> (born 1975) is an Italian operatic bass-baritone, known for his roles in Mozart's operas, but who has steadily expanded his repertoire into the Baroque as well as moving beyond into Rossini. Early life
Although born in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela, <mask>'s family moved to Busseto in Italy – the home of Giuseppe Verdi — when he was four years old. There, his father owned a car-repair firm and his mother was a teacher; it was in that town where he noted "you feel Verdi's spirit all over the place!" and where his love of opera began. Musical studies and training
In Busseto, he states that "as a kid, I used to go to the opera with my grandfather, and when I was 11, I already knew I wanted to be an opera singer." While not actually attending the musical academy run by the famous local tenor Carlo Bergonzi—he listened-in to his master classes after school— <mask> was influenced by the tenor:
I did not technically train with Bergonzi, because I was too young. I sang for him when I was 13 or 14 and he told me to wait until my voice would change and I would be able to start singing.While I did not technically work with him, I listened to his teaching almost every afternoon, and this really taught me a lot in terms of diction, phrasing and how to use your voice to communicate to an audience. I consider him one of my teachers because of that. The way he sang, phrased and used his instrument was unbelievable. His approach on singing was unique and made him one of the best Verdi tenors. He began his training at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, where he was not comfortable, and so continued his studies for a year in Buenos Aires with Renato Sassola and Rozita Zozulya, and also in New York. Singing career
After his musical training in Milan, Buenos Aires and New York, <mask>'s professional operatic debut was in the title role of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro in Klagenfurt, in 2001. That same year, he was awarded the Eberhard-Wächter-Medal as "Newcomer of the Season" by the Vienna State Opera.<mask> sang Masetto at the 2002 Salzburg Festival in Mozart's Don Giovanni. These early appearances led to engagements throughout the world in the major Mozart operas. <mask> has since appeared in major opera houses and festivals across Europe and America. In 2002, he debuted at the Whitsun Baroque Festival with Haydn's Nelson Mass, and at the Salzburg Summer Festival as Masetto in Don Giovanni, where he has performed every summer since. Opera
Apart from the aforementioned roles, <mask> also has an extensive list of onstage performances to his credit. These include many Mozart roles such as Publio (from La Clemenza di Tito) for the Salzburg Festival at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. Leporello (from Don Giovanni) at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Opéra Bastille followed, then Figaro again at The Santa Fe Opera as well as at the Met.At the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées he performed once more as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. Guglielmo (from Così fan tutte) for the Netherlands Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the Salzburg Mozart Week were additions to his Mozart portrayals. <mask> appeared as Alidoro in La Cenerentola in Santiago, Chile, and, in 2012, as the title character in Maometto II at The Santa Fe Opera, which presented the world premiere of the new critical edition prepared by Philip Gossett from the 1820 edition. His Puccini roles have included Colline in La bohème. <mask>'s appearances in Handel roles such as Tiridate in Radamisto at the Houston Opera, in addition to Achilla in Giulio Cesare for Opera Colorado and Melisso from Alcina, have been distinguished, but regarding his attitude to singing more Baroque opera and, specifically, in response to a question as to whether he might do some Cavalli or some Vivaldi in addition, he stated:
To be honest with you, I find the Baroque very interesting both dramatically and vocally, but it is something that you need to let go after a while, if you want to develop your voice to do a certain "heavier" repertoire. Many Baroque singers only sing Baroque and this is not what I want to do. I enjoyed doing Baroque; [in addition to the roles named above] I did Rinaldo, Cavalli's Ercole Amante, and I did Ariodante but there is a moment when you say "if I want my voice to develop I need to explore other repertoire".In a different vein, he sang Caliban in the baroque pasticcio The Enchanted Island at the Met in 2011 and he returned there in April/May 2014 for performances in La Cenerentola. He returned to the Met in 2015 as Leporello in the company's production of Don Giovanni. Concerts
In concert performances, <mask> has sung Zebul in Händel's Jephtha with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He has also performed Michael Haydn's Requiem in C minor under Ivor Bolton, and Mozart's Mass in C Minor under Marc Minkowski, both at the Salzburg Festival. Furthermore, <mask> also has Niccolò Piccinni's Iphigénie en Tauride with the Orchestre National de France, Mozart's Coronation Mass at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, and Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso in Toulouse and Brussels under his belt, the last two with Jean-Christophe Spinosi. He has a keen interest in lieder, and has linked his living in Vienna with his love of Schubert. Among other composers represented in his song recitals are Beethoven, Reichardt, Brahms and Liszt.Personal life
It was through his 2002 appearance in Salzburg that <mask> met both the American baritone Thomas Hampson (who was singing the Don) and his daughter Cate. Cate and <mask> were subsequently married and now make their home in Vienna.

masks:
Luca Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni
Pisaroni


title: Marcel Desailly

texts:
<mask> (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, lasting from 1986 to 2006, Desailly won several titles, including UEFA Champions League medals with both Marseille and AC Milan, and also played for Nantes and Chelsea, among other teams. At international level, he collected 116 caps between 1993 and 2004, scoring 3 goals, and was a member of the France international squads that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. Club career
<mask> was born as Odenke Abbey on 7 September 1968 in Accra, Ghana, the son of Ghanaian parents. He had his name changed when his mother married the head of the French Consulate in Accra, who adopted all of her children (the former professional footballer Seth Adonkor, seven years his elder, was a half-brother of his). The family relocated to France when <mask> was four years old. Following Adonkor's lead, he began his career at FC Nantes.There, as part of the famed FC Nantes youth programme, he played alongside a young Didier Deschamps, who became his closest friend. Desailly turned professional in 1986, two years after his half-brother had died in a car accident. In 1992, he moved to Olympique de Marseille, where he reunited with Deschamps, and won the UEFA Champions League the following year. In 1994, while playing for AC Milan, he again won the Cup (scoring in the final himself), being the first player to win the Cup in consecutive seasons with different clubs. During his time in Milan he won two Italian league titles, in 1994 and 1996. Although he preferred to be deployed as a sweeper or centre-back, roles which he played during his time in France, he found much success playing as a defensive midfielder for Milan, alongside Demetrio Albertini, due to the presence of several other established centre-backs at the club, such as Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta and Filippo Galli. <mask> then moved to the English club Chelsea in 1998 for £4.6 million, where he captained the side and played sweeper and centre-back until the end of the 2003–04 season.It was at Chelsea that Desailly formed a formidable partnership with Frank Leboeuf. He picked up one major trophy in his six seasons with Chelsea, being on the winning side in their FA Cup triumph over Aston Villa in 2000. <mask> was snapped up by Qatari outfit Al-Gharafa in 2004. He was appointed as the club captain and under the French coach Bruno Metsu they won the Qatar League in 2005. He then joined Qatar S.C., leading them to second place in the league before retiring from professional football. In 2014, <mask> had met the Football Association of Malaysia and said he was ready and willing to coach the Malaysia national team. He also pointed that it was up to the football association whether to hire him or not.International career
<mask> has often said that he feels totally French and while having ties with Ghana, never even considered playing for a country other than France. During an interview in Ghana, he stated that he did not have much choice about which country to play for as he was already established in the French national youth football team. This stance was restated in his autobiography, published in 2002. He made his international debut in 1993, but was not established as a first choice defender until 1996. He was an important part of the French team which won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, albeit being sent off in the final match. Like other team members, he was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1998. Two years later success continued, as France won Euro 2000.After the tournament, <mask> was made captain of the national team, following the retirement of Didier Deschamps. In 2001, he led France to victory in the Confederations Cup. In April 2003, <mask> surpassed the record for the number of appearances for the French team, a number which eventually reached 116 when he announced his retirement from international football following 2004 UEFA European Football Championship. However, that record was broken during the 2006 FIFA World Cup by Lilian Thuram. Style of play
Nicknamed "The Rock", due to his consistency, strength, and hard-tackling playing style, <mask> is considered one of the most accomplished players of his generation, and one of the finest French defenders ever, who stood out for his charismatic leadership and ability to organise his team's back-line and break down opposition plays throughout his career. A quick, hard-working, tenacious, and powerful player, who excelled in the air and at anticipating his opponents, he combined his aggression, stamina, and ability to read the game, as well as his physical, mental, and defensive skills, with a notable confidence and good technique on the ball, which also allowed him to play in midfield throughout his career; indeed, after moving to Milan, although he initially started out playing as a centre-back or sweeper, and occasionally even as a full-back, he was later deployed as a defensive midfielder, a position in which he also excelled, successfully filling the void left by the departure of Frank Rijkaard due his ball-winning abilities and capacity to start attacking plays after winning back possession. In addition to his defensive skills, he was also capable of contributing to his team's offensive plays with goals by making attacking runs into the box.In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 as one of the world's greatest living players. Legacy
<mask> is currently residing in Ghana. He is currently a Laureus Academy member and OrphanAid Africa Lifetime ambassador to Ghana and France (since 2005). He was mentioned as a possible candidate for the coaching position of the Ghana national team. He has since then pulled out of the race to coach the Ghana National Team, although the option is likely to keep coming up. He has opened (June 2011) a sports facility in Ghana called Lizzy Sports Complex, in memory of his late mother, geared to young players and children in particular. Many African National teams use the centre to camp and prepare for international tournaments.Post-playing career

<mask>'s autobiography, Capitaine, was published in France by Stock in 2002. Media work
Following retirement, Desailly became a pundit for BBC Sport predominantly giving his opinion from the touchline at both half time and full-time as opposed to residing in the studio with Alan Hansen, Alan Shearer and Martin O'Neill. He worked for BBC Sport in the United Kingdom during the 2006 World Cup, as one of their Match of the Day analysts. He also worked for BBC Sport at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and Euro 2008 and is a regular commentator for French television channel Canal Plus. He also became a spokesperson for sports betting website Betclic. In 2010 <mask> joined the ITV Sport team for their World Cup coverage from South Africa. Charity work
<mask> is a supporter of the 1GOAL Education for All campaign.He is also the UNICEF national Goodwill Ambassador for Ghana. He is the Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador for his personal Charity OrphanAid Africa, that helps abandoned children in Ghana. He is a member of the Laureus Sports for Good Foundation. Licensed merchandise
A mobile video game entitled Marcel Desailly Pro Soccer, developed by Gameloft was released for mobile phones in 2003. Desailly is an ICON in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team, with ratings of 87 (base), 88 (mid), 91 (prime), and 92 (Prime Icon Moments). Personal life
<mask> is a member of the Ga ethnic group. He is married to Virginie and has four children.His nephew James Édouard Adams is a semi-professional footballer. Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Desailly goal. Honours
Marseille
UEFA Champions League: 1992–93

AC Milan
Serie A: 1993–94, 1995–96
Supercoppa Italiana: 1994
UEFA Champions League: 1993–94
European Super Cup: 1994

Chelsea
FA Cup: 1999–2000
FA Charity Shield: 2000
UEFA Super Cup: 1998

Al-Gharafa
Qatar Stars League: 2004–05

France
FIFA World Cup: 1998
UEFA European Championship: 2000
FIFA Confederations Cup: 2001, 2003

Individual
Overseas Team of the Decade – Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/93 – 2001/02)
Overall Team of the Decade – Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/93 – 2001/02)
UEFA Euro 1996 Team of the Tournament
FIFA XI: 1996
1998 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team
UEFA Euro 2000 Team of the Tournament
FIFA 100: 2004
Trophée d'honneur UNFP: 2005
AC Milan Hall of Fame
Golden Foot Legends Award: 2017

Orders
Knight of the Legion of Honour: 1998

See also
 List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

References

External links

Chelsea legend profile

1968 births
Living people
Ga-Adangbe people
A.C. Milan players
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Chelsea F.C. players
FC Nantes players
FIFA Century Club
FIFA 100
Association football midfielders
Association football defenders
France international footballers
French adoptees
Ghanaian emigrants to France
French expatriate sportspeople in England
French expatriate sportspeople in Italy
French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar
French expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in England
Expatriate footballers in Italy
Expatriate footballers in Qatar
French footballers
Ghanaian footballers
Olympique de Marseille players
Sportspeople from Accra
Ligue 1 players
Premier League players
Serie A players
UEFA Euro 1996 players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
Al-Gharafa SC players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
FIFA World Cup-winning players
FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players
UEFA European Championship-winning players
Qatar SC players
Qatar Stars League players
UEFA Champions League winning players
Black French sportspeople
Footballers from Brittany
Sportspeople from Nantes
FA Cup Final players

masks:
Marcel Desailly
Marcel Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Marcel Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly
Desailly


title: James Herbert Veitch

texts:
<mask>.L.S., F.R.H.S. (1 May 1868 – 13 November 1907), was a member of the <mask> family who were distinguished horticulturists and nursery-men for over a century. Early days
<mask> was born at Chelsea, London, the elder son of <mask> (1839–1870)  and his wife Jane Hodge. His father died of tuberculosis shortly after he was born and the family nursery based in Chelsea was afterwards managed by his uncle, Harry. He was educated at Crawford College, Maidenhead, and in technical subjects in Germany and France, beginning work at the Chelsea, London branch of the family nursery in 1885. He was elected fellow of the Linnean Society in 1889 and was also a fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society. Plant collecting
In October 1891 he embarked on a tour of inspection of the great Botanic and Public Gardens maintained by governments in various centres as well as visiting many private horticultural establishments, to endeavour whether the Veitch gardens might be enriched by further additions.He set off by way of Rome and Naples to Ceylon, thence overland from Tuticorin to Lahore. He continued to Calcutta and on to the Straits Settlements. In Penang he visited the Botanic Gardens, whose curator Charles Curtis was formerly employed by James Veitch & Sons as a plant collector, before moving on to Singapore where he visited the Botanic Gardens. He then visited Johore, before returning to Singapore in February 1892, when he climbed Bukit Timah (the highest point on the island) with Walter Fox, curator of the Gardens. He then travelled to Buitenzorg, West Java where he visited the Botanical Gardens. He also explored the crater of Kawah Papandajan (volcano), and visited Lake Bagendit near Garoet. His travels then took him to Japan, where he met Charles Sprague Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum, and they undertook a joint plant collecting expedition including ascending the Hakkōda Mountains together.After visiting Korea, he reached Australia in 1893. However he found Australia disappointing and wrote that it was easier to collect seed in Japan where there was cheap labour; in Australia "no one will help". He complained that the seeds of many plants "were so tiny he did not know if he was collecting seed or dust". He sent to Kew a collection of dried specimens of 250 species from Western Australia. Later he visited the North Island of New Zealand, before returning to England in July 1893. Among the results of his journey was the introduction of the large winter-cherry, Physalis alkekengi franchetii. He also re-introduced Rhododendron schlippenbachii and Vitis coignetiae.A series of letters on the gardens visited during the journey was printed in the "Gardener’s Chronicle" (March 1892 – Dec 1894), and privately printed collectively as "A Traveller’s Notes" in 1896. Veitch Nurseries
In 1898 the firm of James Veitch & Sons was formed into a limited company, of which Veitch became managing director. One of the first steps taken by the company, in accordance with the firm’s earlier practice, was to send out Ernest Henry Wilson to China and Tibet to collect plants. The business proved too much for <mask>, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. He became withdrawn and eccentric, offended customers, and business began to decline. After his death at only 39 years of age, his brother John succeeded to the Chelsea business. He also did not have the ability to run the business successfully, and his uncle Sir <mask> returned to take over control and put the business back on track.Following John's death in October 1914 at the age of 45, Sir Harry (who was knighted in 1912) closed the business. <mask> died of paralysis at Exeter on 13 November 1907, and was buried there. He had been married in 1898 to Lucy Elizabeth Wood, who survived him without issue. Hortus <mask>i
In 1906 <mask>, assisted by various members of his family, prepared for private distribution, under the title of Hortus Veitchii. It is a sumptuous history of the firm and its collectors, illustrated with portraits. The botanical nomenclature was revised by George Nicholson, curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This book was a study of the history of the botanical plant collecting explorers and hybridists, working for the nurseries of Robert Veitch and Son, Exeter and James Veitch and Sons, Chelsea during the period of 1840 to 1906.The book detailed the 1500 plants the business had introduced and their origins and the lengths its collectors went to secure them (the Veitch nurseries were the first to employ professional plant-hunters). The limited edition volumes were not for general consumption but gifts to libraries, universities, botanists and prestigious customers. Copies of the 1906 edition are now extremely rare and achieve prices of up to £1000. In 2006, Exeter horticulturist Caradoc Doy, an authority on the Veitch Nursery, re-published a facsimile of this seminal work to mark its centenary. Doy went to great lengths to ensure the authenticity of the book. He meticulously sourced a thick, slightly yellowy paper to mirror the Victorian original and even had a special brass stamping plate made to replicate the cover embossing. Hortus Veitchii is an essential reference for plants introduced during the Victorian era, listing many which are still available from nurseries today and therefore helping gardeners to accurately replicate historic gardens within that period.This is also important for those wishing to preserve rare plants introduced to Britain at that time, as well as being a fascinating historical account of Victorian plant collecting. References

External links
Versions of "Hortus Veitchii" on-line at American Libraries website
Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Sidney Lee. Second Supplement. Volume 3. (Published by Adamant Media Corporation) Page 555
Publications by <mask> Veitch on www.amazon.co.uk
Details of re-publication of "Hortus Veitchii"
The Production of Hortus Veitchii

English horticulturists
1868 births
1907 deaths
People from Chelsea, London
Veitch Nurseries
Fellows of the Linnean Society of London

masks:
James Herbert Veitch F
Veitch
James
John Gould Veitch
James
Harry Veitch
James
Veitchi
Veitch
James Herbert


title: Daniel Passarella

texts:
<mask> (born 25 May 1953) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a centre back, and former manager of the Argentina and Uruguay national football teams. He was captain of the Argentina team that won the 1978 World Cup. He was president of the River Plate sports club for four years after winning the elections by a very close margin in December 2009. Considered the greatest South American defender of all time, <mask> was also a proficient goalscorer; at one point he was football's top scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record subsequently broken by Dutch defender Ronald Koeman. In 2004, <mask> was named one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony. In 2007, The Times placed him at number 36 in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history. In 2017 he has been included in the FourFourTwo list of the 100 all-time greatest players, at the 56th position.Club career

<mask> was born in Chacabuco, Buenos Aires Province. He started his career at Sarmiento of Junin, Buenos Aires province. From there he joined River Plate, where he became one of the best Argentinian defenders of his period, and started to be chosen in the Argentinian national team. After his good performances at the 1982 World Cup, in 1982 he joined Fiorentina of Italy, where he scored the goal record for a defender in one season (11 in 1986) in the Italian Serie A; his record remained until 2001, when he was beaten by Marco Materazzi. In 1986, he joined Internazionale, where he ended his Italian playing career in 1988. After his successful spell in the Serie A, he returned to River Plate, where he played until his retirement. He was called "El Gran Capitán" (the Great Captain, nickname of Argentine independence hero José de San Martín),"El Kaiser" (an allusion to Franz Beckenbauer) or "El Caudillo" (the Chief) because of his leadership ability, his passion, and his organisational prowess on the field.He was a defender who often joined the attack, and helped generate and finish offensive plays. He was the top scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches, a record since broken by Dutch defender Ronald Koeman. His aerial game was effective both defensively and in attack. He scored frequent headers in spite of his average height (1.73 m). He was an excellent free kick and penalty shooter. He was also noted for using his elbows against rivals whilst managing to avoid the referee's gaze. <mask> and Chilean Elías Figueroa are considered the best South America defenders.International career
One of the pillars of the Argentine national team, he eventually captained the side during the 1978 World Cup held in Argentina. He was the first Argentine player to hold the World Cup, as it was handed to him first when Argentina won the final. During the qualifying rounds of the 1986 World Cup, <mask> contributed to the goal which ensured Argentina's qualification in the final minutes of their match against Peru by allowing teammate Ricardo Gareca to score. A bout of enterocolitis meant that he missed the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. He was replaced in the first team by defender José Luis Brown. <mask> had a fractious relationship with captain Diego Maradona and coach Carlos Bilardo during the tournament; he later claimed Bilardo and Maradona made sure that he was sidelined. Even so, by being a part of the squad, he became the only player to feature in both Argentina's World Cup-winning teams.Coaching career

After his playing days were over, he became the coach of River Plate, where he won several national titles. Appointed as coach of the Argentine national team to replace Alfio Basile, Passarella was coach during the qualification games for the 1998 World Cup and during the competition itself, which was held in France. Passarella held to close friend Américo Gallego as assistant coach. Passarella had banned long hair, earrings and homosexuals in his squad, leading to disputes with several players. Fernando Redondo and Claudio Caniggia eventually refused to play for Passarella and were excluded from the squad. Argentina's performances never reached the expected heights, and the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals after a last minute 2–1 defeat to the Netherlands. After the elimination, <mask> left the post and was replaced by Marcelo Bielsa.<mask> then became coach of Uruguay, but he left the post during the qualifying games for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, after having problems summoning players from Uruguayan sides. After that episode, <mask> had a brief and unsuccessful period as coach of Parma in Italy in 2001, where he was sacked after five successive losses. In 2003, he won the Mexican football league title with the team C.F. Monterrey. In March 2004, he was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers. He was then hired as coach of Corinthians in Brazil, but was fired after a few months after a spell of bad results. On 9 January 2006, he was appointed River Plate coach again after 12 years to occupy the vacancy left by Reinaldo Merlo's sudden departure.On 15 November 2007, he resigned as coach after River was beaten by penalties by Arsenal de Sarandí in the semi-finals of the 2007 Copa Sudamericana. In the summer of 2018, after publicly expressing interest in returning he was widely seen as the frontrunner to become the new manager of CF Monterrey for a second stint after the departure of Antonio Mohamed but the club ultimately decided to appoint Diego Alonso. Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Argentina's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Passarella goal. Monterrey managers
Expatriate football managers in Mexico
Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico

masks:
Daniel Alberto Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella
Passarella


title: Michael Feeney Callan

texts:
<mask> is an Irish novelist and poet. An award winner for his short fiction, he joined BBC television drama as a story editor, and wrote screenplays for The Professionals, and for American television. He wrote the template Irish police drama series, The Burke Enigma, starring Donal McCann, and Love Is, starring Gabriel Byrne, and went on to write and direct a number of television programmes, among them The Beach Boys Today, a film that marked the band's 30th anniversary. He has published several novels and has written biographies of Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Richard Harris. His biography of Robert Redford (Robert Redford: The Biography; Knopf, 2011) was chosen by the Sunday Times as one of its recommended Best Books of 2011. In 2013, he published his second volume of poetry, An Argument for Sin. <mask> was born to <mask>, an engineer, and Margaret (née <mask>) in Drumcondra, Dublin.After living in London, <mask> resettled in Dublin with his wife Ree and their two children. He frequently spends time at Châteauneuf de Grasse, where he paints and sculpts. Poetry
<mask> started writing in his teens, publishing poetry in David Marcus' New Irish Writing. His first collection, Fifty Fingers (which includes his first poem, Barbara), was published in 2003. His second volume of poetry, An Argument for Sin, was published in 2013. Callan describes the work as "a memoir in poetry, much influenced by Yeats' A Vision and Poe's Eureka." The book comprises poems written between 2003 and 2013.Books

<mask> won the Hennessy Literary Award for his short story, Baccy, and was anthologised in Best Irish Short Stories (Elek, London, 1978). Thereafter he diversified widely, publishing fiction and non-fiction. Callan wrote a series of British television adaptation novels of differing genres, including Capital City (ITV), Target: The Bronze Heist (Target), Sweet Sixteen and Jockey School (all BBC), and the novel Lovers and Dancers, set in Ireland during the famine. Lovers and Dancers was inspired by Anthony Trollope's early writing and was reissued by Random House in the mid-1990s. In 2002, Callan published Did You Miss Me?, a novel exploring difficult female themes which was issued in a revised version in 2014. Callan has written biographies of Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, and longtime friend Richard Harris. The Connery book was referred to as "a necessity for Connery and Bond fans" by the Los Angeles Times and is the sole reference work on Connery quoted in Albert "Cubby" Broccoli's autobiography.A new edition, revised and updated to cover Connery's formal retirement, was published by Nouveau Monde Editions, Paris, in March 2012. For fifteen years from the mid-nineties, <mask> travelled throughout the United States interviewing more than 300 sources for Robert Redford: The Biography (Knopf, 2011). The book was written with the co-operation of Redford, who traveled to Ireland to work with <mask> and provided access to his diaries, scripts and personal records. In the course of its preparation, <mask> spent extensive time with many of Redford's key collaborators. Entertainment Weekly selected Robert Redford: The Biography as one of its 10 Best Movie Books of 2011. Robert Redford: The Biography was published in mass market paperback by Vintage Books in 2012. Writing for radio and television
<mask> began writing for radio at the outset of his career.He adapted The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins and Scales of Justice by Dame Ngaio Marsh for RTÉ Radio, and wrote the original plays The Train and Tripp. He contributed more than 20 plays to the Dan Treston-produced series Treasure House, dramatising the lives of scientists and artists from Johannes Kepler to Edgar Allan Poe and H.G. Wells. <mask>'s first screenplay was the crime series The Burke Enigma, a six-hour film production for RTÉ, which starred Ray McAnally and Donal McCann, and went forward as RTÉ's drama entry for the 1979 Prix Italia. According to <mask>, this work was "influenced by the film noir I loved as a kid, and by Robert Altman's (filming) style." Subsequently, <mask> joined BBC television drama in London, where he story-edited the detective series Shoestring. Simultaneously, at ITV, he wrote for the action series The Professionals.In the 1980s, <mask> collaborated with Frederick Forsyth on Public Broadcasting Service-aired adaptations of Forsyth's stories Privilege and A Careful Man (Mobil Showcase). Collaborating with Anthony Shaffer, <mask> was commissioned in 1987 by HBO to write The Negotiator, based on a treatment by Forsyth. The series was announced but never filmed and Forsyth later redeveloped the outline into a novel. He was commissioned to write a two part episode for the BBC of Doctor Who (entitled "The Children of January"). This was in final revision when the series was suspended under Jonathan Nathan-Turner's tenure as producer in 1985. On his website, <mask> responded to an enquiry on this subject thus:I wrote a two-parter called The Children of January. It was to be a season closer, not a series termination.But the BBC decided in mid-season that the show had run its course and, in the middle eighties, I think they were right. But I loved my episode, which was delivered late in 1985. I created a race of runaway proto-humans called the Z'ros, sort of 'human bees', of which I still have the fondest nightmares. The Children of January, incidentally, refers to renegade outcasts of a dawning "parallel universe" civilisation that was abandoned. In 2011, Callan wrote and produced Channel 4's Sounds from the Cities. The series was presented by actor Mathew Horne, and featured live performances from Imelda May, K.T. Tunstall, Jon Fratelli, Joy Formidable and Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals.About Doctor Who: The Children of JanuaryCallan's other production ideas
The story features the Doctor and Peri in the TARDIS, land on a desert planet that's conquered by the unmerciful Z’ros. Peri complains that the planet they are on is no fun for her, so the Doctor tries to essentially take her to another planet, but the Z’ros army catches them and the leader of the Z’ros commands them to kill the travelers. The leader of ‘The Children of January’-the outcasts, convinces the Z’ros leader to release the travelers and spare their lives. The Doctor tells Peri to remain in the time machine to keep an eye on the TARDIS, while the Doctor walks with the outcast leader, and the leader explains what happened on the planet they are standing on now. ‘The Children of January’ were a poor race whilst there planet was drying up and nobody could save it. The Z’ros realized that the poor alien villagers were useless to live, and a space ship fleet of them killed almost every one. The Doctor heads back to the where his ship landed, all the sudden, a Z’ros laser cannon was attacking the TARDIS.The Doctor tells the Z’ros commander to stop and negotiate the war problem. The Z’ros commander, however, enforces the Doctor to surrender, then he tricks them and gets to his ship. Peri recovers, and the Doctor and Peri plan on exploding the Z’ros ship, and leave the Z’ros stranded on the planet. The Z’ros guards tell the leader and everyone to quickly escape the ship. The Doctor tells the Z’ros leader to now make peace with the outcasts in order help the planet thrive. The Doctor and Peri then go about travels again. (<note>-Also a fan theory considered.)Production

Callan commissioned the story on February 5, 1985, and the story was to be directed by EastEnders director Bob Gabriel, who was new for the show. The intended transmission for the story was considered on February 13-March 6, 1986. However, on February 27, 1985, it was announced on BBC news's that the production of Doctor Who was to be suspended on a 18-month hiatus until Spring of 1986. The production team also had rework the episode format from two-part, forty five minute episodes to four-part, twenty five minute episodes, but the story was dropped when it was decided that Trial of a Time-Lord was considered to have fourteen episodic parts with twenty five minutes instead. Failed Adaptations

Originally, Big Finish Productions planned on adapting “The Children of January”, but these plans were ultimately dropped due to Callan's other commitments. Film and directing
Callan made a significant contribution to the regeneration of the film industry in Ireland during the 1980s. Joining Morgan O'Sullivan's pioneering production set-up, Tara Productions, Callan collaborated in a strategy to acquire the defunct National Film Studios (as Ardmore Studios was then named), alter film investment law and attract Hollywood-based co-production into Ireland.Ardmore Studios was bought in partnership with the NEA and MTM Hollywood in November 1986. In the 1990s, <mask> started directing. His directorial debut was with the six-part series My Riviera, in which Roger Moore, James Coburn, Sylvia Kristel, Charles Aznavour and Joan Collins reviewed personal favourite places along the Côte d'Azur, an area Callan has frequented since the 1980s. The series was screened on ITV and throughout the world. In 1993 Callan wrote, produced and directed The Beach Boys Today, a co-production with RTÉ, documenting the final touring days of the Carl Wilson-led Beach Boys. He then made the documentary Back to Enchantment, about animators Gary Goldman and Don Bluth (An American Tail, Anastasia), which tied in with the release of Warner Bros' Thumbelina. In 1994 <mask> wrote, co-produced and co-directed Perry Como's final concert for PBS.Como, then in his 80th year, was unwell during the filming, but expressed himself exhilarated by the experience and later said that he had always wished to end his career in Ireland. After a decade working on the Redford project, in 2005 <mask> resumed directing with the film Luke Kelly: The Performer, which topped DVD charts in Ireland for eight weeks, achieving platinum sales status. According to Callan, the project was "a wonderful fusion, part biography, part musical. It covered so much of the ground I love, the poetic stuff that inspires me." In November 2010 <mask> co-founded an interactive television-based resource for new artists and musicians, BOBCOM. As part of its creative incentive scheme, in July 2011 Callan wrote and directed the two-day Magical History Tour event in Liverpool, culminating with a 7-hour live session from the Cavern Club streamed on YouTube. The event included a re-creation of The Beatles' 1967 magic bus tour and a re-creation of the day in July 1957 when John Lennon met Paul McCartney.Also in 2011, he produced and directed the start-up episodes of The 2UBE Live from LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts), a student production that was streamed on YouTube. Painting
<mask>'s art, in watercolour, oils and bronze sculpture, has been exhibited by the Blue Leaf Gallery in Dublin. Irish Times art critic Aidan Dunne described his work as "a love affair with French painting", reflecting <mask>'s interest in L'École de Nice. <mask> started painting in Chateauneuf de Grasse in the South of France in the eighties and titled his first exhibition, staged at Dublin's Blue Leaf Marino gallery in May 2002, A Workshop in France. Other media work
<mask> has contributed to the arts programme Arena, on RTÉ Radio 1. He has  reviewed books for the Irish Independent and contributed journalism to Vanity Fair, GQ Magazine and the Irish Times. He contributed to "The Art and Craft of Film Biography: A Symposium" in the summer 2013 issue of Cineaste magazine.He co-created and developed the multi-platform arts project BOBCOM with producer Steve Levine. In December 2007, <mask> joined the advisory board of the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival. Awards
<mask> won the Hennessy Literary Award in 1977 for his story Baccy. The story concerns the culture clash between urban and rural values and will appear in a forthcoming collection, The Beautiful Corner. References

Living people
Irish biographers
Irish male poets
Male biographers
Irish novelists
Year of birth missing (living people)
People from Drumcondra, Dublin
Irish poets
Irish film producers
Irish film directors
Irish male screenwriters
21st-century Irish painters
Irish male painters
Irish male novelists

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title: Béla IV of Hungary

texts:
<mask> (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father's lifetime in 1214. His father, who strongly opposed Béla's coronation, refused to give him a province to rule until 1220. In this year, <mask> was appointed Duke of Slavonia, also with jurisdiction in Croatia and Dalmatia. Around the same time, Béla married Maria, a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, Emperor of Nicaea. From 1226, he governed Transylvania as duke. He supported Christian missions among the pagan Cumans who dwelled in the plains to the east of his province.Some Cuman chieftains acknowledged his suzerainty and he adopted the title of King of Cumania in 1233. King Andrew died on 21 September 1235 and <mask> succeeded him. He attempted to restore royal authority, which had diminished under his father. For this purpose, he revised his predecessors' land grants and reclaimed former royal estates, causing discontent among the noblemen and the prelates. The Mongols invaded Hungary and annihilated <mask>'s army in the Battle of Mohi on 11 April 1241. He escaped from the battlefield, but a Mongol detachment chased him from town to town as far as Trogir on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Although he survived the invasion, the Mongols devastated the country before their unexpected withdrawal in March 1242.<mask> introduced radical reforms in order to prepare his kingdom for a second Mongol invasion. He allowed the barons and the prelates to erect stone fortresses and to set up their private armed forces. He promoted the development of fortified towns. During his reign, thousands of colonists arrived from the Holy Roman Empire, Poland and other neighboring regions to settle in the depopulated lands. <mask>'s efforts to rebuild his devastated country won him the epithet of "second founder of the state" (). He set up a defensive alliance against the Mongols, which included Daniil Romanovich, Prince of Halych, Boleslaw the Chaste, Duke of Cracow and other Ruthenian and Polish princes. His allies supported him in occupying the Duchy of Styria in 1254, but it was lost to King Ottokar II of Bohemia six years later.During <mask>'s reign, a wide buffer zone—which included Bosnia, Barancs (Braničevo, Serbia) and other newly conquered regions—was established along the southern frontier of Hungary in the 1250s. Béla's relationship with his oldest son and heir, Stephen, became tense in the early 1260s, because the elderly king favored his daughter Anna and his youngest child, <mask>, Duke of Slavonia. He was forced to cede the territories of the Kingdom of Hungary east of the river Danube to Stephen, which caused a civil war lasting until 1266. Nevertheless, Béla's family was famed for his piety: he died as a Franciscan tertiary, and the veneration of his three saintly daughters—Kunigunda, Yolanda, and Margaret—was confirmed by the Holy See. Childhood (1206–20)

Béla was the oldest son of King Andrew II of Hungary by his first wife, Gertrude of Merania. He was born in the second half of 1206. Upon King Andrew's initiative, Pope Innocent III had already appealed to the Hungarian prelates and barons on 7 June to swear an oath of loyalty to the King's future son.Queen Gertrude showed blatant favoritism towards her German relatives and courtiers, causing widespread discontent among the native lords. Taking advantage of her husband's campaign in the distant Principality of Halych, a group of aggrieved noblemen seized and murdered her in the forests of the Pilis Hills on 28 September 1213. King Andrew only punished one of the conspirators, a certain Count Peter, after his return from Halych. Although <mask> was a child when his mother was assassinated, he never forgot her and declared his deep respect for her in many of his royal charters. Andrew II betrothed Béla to an unnamed daughter of Tzar Boril of Bulgaria in 1213 or 1214, but their engagement was broken. In 1214, the King requested the Pope to excommunicate some unnamed lords who were planning to crown Béla king. Even so, the eight-year-old <mask> was crowned in the same year, but his father did not grant him a province to rule.Furthermore, when leaving for a Crusade to the Holy Land in August 1217, King Andrew appointed John, Archbishop of Esztergom, to represent him during his absence. During this period, <mask> stayed with his maternal uncle Berthold of Merania in Steyr in the Holy Roman Empire. Andrew II returned from the Holy Land in late 1218. He had arranged the engagement of <mask> and Maria, a daughter of Theodore I Laskaris, Emperor of Nicaea. She accompanied King Andrew to Hungary and <mask> married her in 1220. Rex iunior

Duke of Slavonia (1220–26)

The senior king ceded the lands between the Adriatic Sea and the Dráva River—Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia—to Béla in 1220. A letter of 1222 of Pope Honorius III reveals that "some wicked men" had forced Andrew II to share his realms with his heir.<mask> initially styled himself as "King Andrew's son and King" in his charters; from 1222 he used the title "by the Grace of God, King, son of the King of Hungary, and Duke of all Slavonia". <mask> separated from his wife in the first half of 1222 upon his father's demand. However, Pope Honorius refused to declare the marriage illegal. <mask> accepted the Pope's decision and took refuge in Austria from his father's anger. He returned, together with his wife, only after the prelates had in the first half of 1223 persuaded his father to forgive him. Having returned to his Duchy of Slavonia, <mask> launched a campaign against Domald of Sidraga, a rebellious Dalmatian nobleman, and captured Domald's fortress at Klis. Domald's domains were confiscated and distributed among his rivals, the Šubići, who had supported Béla during the siege.Duke of Transylvania (1226–35)

King Andrew transferred <mask> from Slavonia to Transylvania in 1226. In Slavonia, he was succeeded by his brother, Coloman. As Duke of Transylvania, <mask> adopted an expansionist policy aimed at the territories over the Carpathian Mountains. He supported the Dominicans' proselytizing activities among the Cumans, who dominated these lands. In 1227 he crossed the mountains and met Boricius, a Cuman chieftain, who had decided to convert to Christianity. At their meeting, Boricius and his subjects were baptized and acknowledged Béla's suzerainty. Within a year, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cumania was established in their lands.<mask> had long opposed his father's "useless and superfluous perpetual grants", because the distribution of royal estates destroyed the traditional basis of royal authority. He started reclaiming King Andrew's land grants throughout the country in 1228. The Pope supported <mask>'s efforts, but the King often hindered the execution of his son's orders. <mask> also confiscated the estates of two noblemen, brothers Simon and Michael Kacsics, who had plotted against his mother. <mask>'s youngest brother, Andrew, Prince of Halych, was expelled from his principality in the spring of 1229. Béla decided to help him to regain his throne, proudly boasting that the town of Halych "would not remain on the face of the earth, for there was no one to deliver it from his hands", according to the Galician–Volhynian Chronicle. He crossed the Carpathian Mountains and laid siege to Halych together with his Cuman allies in 1229 or 1230.However, he could not seize the town and withdrew his troops. The Galician–Volhynian Chronicle writes that many Hungarian soldiers "died of many afflictions" on their way home. <mask> invaded Bulgaria and besieged Vidin in 1228 or 1232, but he could not capture the fortress. Around the same time, he set up a new border province, the Banate of Szörény (Severin, Romania), in the lands between the Carpathians and the Lower Danube. In a token of his suzerainty in the lands east of the Carpathians, <mask> adopted the title "King of Cumania" in 1233. <mask> sponsored the mission of Friar Julian and three other Dominican friars who decided to visit the descendants of the Hungarians who had centuries earlier remained in Magna Hungaria, the Hungarians' legendary homeland. His reign

Before the Mongol invasion (1235–41)

King Andrew died on 21 September 1235.<mask>, who succeeded his father without opposition, was crowned king by Robert, Archbishop of Esztergom in Székesfehérvár on 14 October. He dismissed and punished many of his father's closest advisors. For instance, he had Palatine Denis blinded and Julius Kán imprisoned. The former was accused of having, in King Andrew's life, an adulterous liaison with Queen Beatrix, the King's young widow. Béla ordered her imprisonment, but she managed to escape to the Holy Roman Empire, where she gave birth to a posthumous son, Stephen. <mask> and his brother Coloman considered her son a bastard. Béla declared that his principal purpose was "the restitution of royal rights" and "the restoration of the situation which existed in the country" in the reign of his grandfather, <mask> III.According to the contemporaneous Roger of Torre Maggiore, he even "had the chairs of the barons burned" in order to prevent them from sitting in his presence during the meetings of the royal council. Béla set up special commissions which revised all royal charters of land grants made after 1196. The annulment of former donations alienated many of his subjects from the King. Pope Gregory IX protested strongly at the withdrawal of royal grants made to the Cistercians and the military orders. In exchange for Béla's renouncing of the taking back of royal estates in 1239, the Pope authorized him to employ local Jews and Muslims in financial administration, which had for decades been opposed by the Holy See. After returning from Magna Hungaria in 1236, Friar Julian informed Béla of the Mongols, who had by that time reached the Volga River and were planning to invade Europe. The Mongols invaded Desht-i Qipchaq—the westernmost regions of the Eurasian Steppes—and routed the Cumans.Fleeing the Mongols, at least 40,000 Cumans approached the eastern borders of the Kingdom of Hungary and demanded admission in 1239. <mask> only agreed to give them shelter after their leader, Köten, promised to convert together with his people to Christianity, and to fight against the Mongols. However, the settlement of masses of nomadic Cumans in the plains along the Tisza River gave rise to many conflicts between them and the local villagers. <mask>, who needed the Cumans' military support, rarely punished them for their robberies, rapes and other misdeeds. His Hungarian subjects thought that he was biased in the Cumans' favor, thus "enmity emerged between the people and the king", according to Roger of Torre Maggiore. <mask> supported the development of towns. For instance, he confirmed the liberties of the citizens of Székesfehérvár and granted privileges to Hungarian and German settlers in Bars (Starý Tekov, Slovakia) in 1237.Zadar, a town in Dalmatia which had been lost to Venice in 1202, acknowledged Béla's suzerainty in 1240. Mongol invasion of Hungary (1241–42)

The Mongols gathered in the lands bordering Hungary and Poland under the command of Batu Khan in December 1240. They demanded Béla's submission to their Great Khan Ögödei, but Béla refused to yield and had the mountain passes fortified. The Mongols broke through the barricades erected in the Verecke Pass (Veretsky Pass, Ukraine) on 12 March 1241. Duke Frederick II of Austria, who arrived to assist Béla against the invaders, defeated a small Mongol troop near Pest. He seized prisoners, including Cumans from the Eurasian Steppes who had been forced to join the Mongols. When the citizens of Pest realized the presence of Cumans in the invading army, mass hysteria emerged.The townsfolk accused Köten and their Cumans of cooperating with the enemy. A riot broke out and the mob massacred Köten's retinue. Köten was either slaughtered or committed suicide. On hearing about Köten's fate, his Cumans decided to leave Hungary and destroyed many villages on their way towards the Balkan Peninsula. With the Cumans' departure <mask> lost his most valuable allies. He could muster an army of less than 60,000 against the invaders. The royal army was ill-prepared and its commanders—the barons alienated by Béla's policy—"would have liked the king to be defeated so that they would then be dearer to him", according to Roger of Torre Maggiore's account.The Hungarian army was virtually annihilated in the Battle of Mohi on the Sajó River on 11 April 1241. A great number of Hungarian lords, prelates and noblemen were killed, and <mask> himself narrowly escaped from the battlefield. He fled through Nyitra to Pressburg (Nitra and Bratislava in Slovakia). The triumphant Mongols occupied and ravaged most lands to the east of the Danube River by the end of June. Upon Duke Frederick II of Austria's invitation, <mask> went to Hainburg an der Donau. However, instead of helping <mask>, the Duke forced him to cede three counties (most probably Locsmánd, Pozsony, and Sopron). From Hainburg, <mask> fled to Zagreb and sent letters to Pope Gregory IX, Emperor Frederick II, King Louis IX of France and other Western European monarchs, urging them to send reinforcements to Hungary.In the hope of military assistance, he even accepted Emperor Frederick II's suzerainty in June. The Pope declared a Crusade against the Mongols, but no reinforcements arrived. The Mongols crossed the frozen Danube early in 1242. A Mongol detachment under the command of Kadan, a son of Great Khan Ögödei, chased Béla from town to town in Dalmatia. Béla took refugee in the well-fortified Trogir. Before Kadan laid siege to the town in March, news arrived of the Great Khan's death. Batu Khan wanted to attend at the election of Ögödei's successor with sufficient troops and ordered the withdrawal of all Mongol forces.Béla, who was grateful to Trogir, granted it lands near Split, causing a lasting conflict between the two Dalmatian towns. "Second Founder of the State" (1242–61)
Upon his return to Hungary in May 1242, Béla found a country in ruins. Devastation was especially heavy in the plains east of the Danube where at least half of the villages were depopulated. The Mongols had destroyed most traditional centers of administration, which were defended by earth-and-timber walls. Only well-fortified places, such as Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and the Pannonhalma Abbey, had successfully resisted siege. A severe famine followed in 1242 and 1243. Preparation for a new Mongol invasion was the central concern of Béla's policy.In a letter of 1247 to Pope Innocent IV, <mask> announced his plan to strengthen the Danube—the "river of confrontations"—with new forts. He abandoned the ancient royal prerogative to build and own castles, promoting the erection of nearly

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