title: Brandon Whipple

texts:
<mask> (born July 13, 1982) is an American politician and academic serving as Mayor of Wichita, Kansas. He previously served as a Democratic member of the Kansas House of Representatives representing the 96th district, which included part of south Wichita and was the Ranking Minority member on the Higher Education Budget committee. When the Kansas Legislature was not in session, <mask> served as an adjunct professor of American politics at Wichita State University, his alma mater. <mask> defeated incumbent Jeff Longwell in the 2019 Wichita mayoral election. Early life and education

<mask> was raised in Dover, New Hampshire. <mask> earned his Associate of Arts in liberal studies from New Hampshire's Hesser College in 2003. He moved to Wichita, Kansas, at age 21 in a year-long education-service mission with AmeriCorps, working with at-risk youth at Wichita South High School.While there, he discovered he could afford to attend Wichita State University (WSU). <mask> graduated from WSU with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in psychology; later at WSU, he earned a master’s degree in liberal studies, with an emphasis on cross-cultural studies and public administration. While at Wichita State, <mask> was a student senator in WSU's Student Government Association—an experience he credits as decisive in his later entry into the Kansas legislature (particularly a trip to the state capitol to lobby for student issues). <mask> later acquired a doctorate in leadership studies from Franklin Pierce University, a private college in New Hampshire. Career
Subsequently, while serving in the Kansas Legislature, <mask> also served as an adjunct instructor for various Wichita-area colleges and universities, including Wichita State University, Southwestern College and some commercial colleges—particularly teaching political science, history and sociology. Kansas House of Representatives
<mask> first ran for the Kansas House of Representatives in 2010 against Phil Hermanson. <mask> lost, but shortly afterward the Sedgwick County Democratic Party elected him its vice chair.In 2012, he was elected the county party's chair. That same year, in a run for the Kansas House 96th District seat (in south Wichita), he was criticized by Tea Party Republican Craig Gable for not having children. <mask> defeated Republican Rick Lindsey. <mask> was re-elected to the seat in 2014, 2016 and 2018., in a district that voted for Donald Trump for president in 2016. In 2016, <mask> was elected Agenda Chair for the Democrats in the Kansas House of Representatives—the #6 position in House Democratic party leadership. In 2018, <mask> co-founded the bipartisan Kansas Future Caucus, a group of under-45 Kansas legislators, to focus attention on issues of concern to young people. Among his principal efforts in office was increased funding for education, particularly restoration of funding cuts made during the administration of Kansas governor Sam Brownback.In the 2019 Kansas Legislature, <mask> was Ranking minority member on the Joint Committee on Information Technology, and the Higher Education Budget Committee. He was also assigned to the Committee on Elections and the Joint Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice Oversight. Committee assignments

2019–2020 session
Ranking Minority Member of Higher Education Budget
Ranking Minority Member of Joint Information Technology
Elections
Joint Corrections and Juvenile Justice

2017–2018 session
Ranking Minority Member of Commerce, Labor and Economic Development
Financial Institutions and Pensions
Higher Education Budget
Joint Information Technology

2015–2016 session
Utilities and Telecommications
Commerce, Labor and Economic Development
Taxation
House Select Investigating Committee
Telecommunications Study Committee
Joint Information Technology

2013–2014 session
Children and Seniors
Judiciary
Utilities and Telecommications
Commerce, Labor and Economic Development
Telecommunications Study Committee
Joint Information Technology

2019 Wichita mayoral race

<mask> ran in the 2019 election for mayor of Wichita. In the nonpartisan primary election, preliminary results put <mask> (with 5,729 votes; 25.9% of the total) second only to Republican Mayor Longwell (who had 7,136 votes; 32.3%). Candidate Lyndy Wells, also a Republican, had only 160 votes fewer in initial returns: 5,569 votes; 25.2%, so delayed acceptance of the result in hopes that a review of 1,000 yet-uncounted ballots (including 500 provisional ballots) might turn the election to his favor. The final count nearly doubled <mask>'s lead over Wells. advancing <mask> and Longwell to the ballot for the November 5 runoff election.Wells mounted a write-in campaign. In October 2019, <mask> found himself the victim of an elaborate, multi-state, covert smear campaign in which Republican state Representative Michael Capps was implicated as a perpetrator. After Sedgwick County, Kansas Republican party chair Dalton Glasscock called for Capps to resign, Capps claimed that Glasscock had actually approved the production of the ad, which Glasscock denied. Money raised for the production of the video were alleged to have been laundered through a charitable non-profit organization directed by Capps to conceal the identities of the alleged perpetrators. Newly created anonymous entities also attacked both <mask> and Wells weighed via several mailers. Although the sending organizations used different names, they were all linked through a postal permit held by a Kansas City bulk-mail service. The funding of the salacious video as well as the anonymous mailers will not be required to be reported, according to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.It has ruled outside organizations must report their identities and spending only if they use specific key terms such as "vote for," "elect," "vote against" or "defeat". The Democratic party was also criticized for publicly sending a mailer claiming that Longwell was being investigated by the District Attorney for "corruption". In fact, he had just been advised to report contributions and gifts received from the contractor to which a half-billion-dollar contract had been awarded. On election day, November 5, 2019, Longwell conceded the election to <mask>, who won with 46% of the ballots versus 36% for Longwell, with the balance cast for write-in candidates which remained to be counted. The results were certified on November 15, 2019. In October 2020, <mask>, represented by former U.S. Attorney Randy Rathbun, filed suit against Capps, Wichita City Councilman James Clendenin, and Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O'Donnell, for defamation involving the false charges made against him in the 2019 mayoral election race. Allegations cited were that the co-conspirators tried to blame the conspiracy on Sedgwick Republican County Committee Chairman Dalton Glasscock, and that, with false accusations, they intended to generate marital discord within <mask>'s own family.To conceal the donors and funding of the smear, monies were said to have been laundered through a 501(c)3 non-profit charity directed by Capps. The suit had originally been filed against the maker of the video, Matthew Colburn. It was dropped after Colburn provided audio, text messages, and other evidence, that had identified O'Donnell as the alleged leader of the conspiracy to defame <mask>. O'Donnell was accused of writing the script for the video frame-up, <mask> said that he felt sorry for the then-21-year-old Colburn who had been scapegoated by the actual perpetrators. On November 25, Marc Bennett, the Sedgwick County D.A., moved to have the state take up the case of the removal of Capps from office since the D.A. is precluded from doing so by statute in the case of a state legislator. He was proceeding to remove Clendenin from the City Council where he possessed such authority.Tenure
On October 16, 2020, Meredith Dowty, a 59-year-old local musician and retired firefighter, was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill <mask> after he attempted to get his address from another city official. He was reportedly frustrated by the city's mask ordinance and other mitigation measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented him from seeing his mother. <mask>, who had been a target of local criticism for passing the ordinance, said he will increase security at his home in response to the alleged threat. Dowty could face a charge of criminal threat. Personal life
<mask> is married to Chelsea (Grady) <mask>, also a Wichita State University graduate. The two are members of the Episcopal Church. She directs programs for St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita and is the Treasurer of his mayoral campaign.The couple have three boys. Elections

References

External links

 <mask> campaign official website

|-

1982 births
Living people
21st-century American politicians
American Episcopalians
Educators from Kansas
Candidates in the 2010 United States elections
Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism
Kansas Democrats
Mayors of Wichita, Kansas
Members of the Kansas House of Representatives
People from Rochester, New Hampshire
Politicians from Wichita, Kansas
Wichita State University alumni
Wichita State University faculty

masks:
Brandon Whipple
Whipple
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Brandon Whipple


title: Magnus Okuonghae

type: original

texts:
<mask>e (born 16 February 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Okuonghae made over 200 appearances in all competitions for Colchester United where he was club captain, and has also played for Rushden & Diamonds, Aldershot Town, St Albans City, Crawley Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, Luton Town and Maidstone United. He has made loan appearances for Bishop's Stortford, Weymouth, Hartlepool United and Welling United and was capped once by the England national C team in 2006. Club career

Early career
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Okuonghae began his career with Fulham in the club's youth system, before appearing for Norwich City under-19s in March 2002, and later featured on the bench for Leicester City under-19s in April 2002. Rushden & Diamonds
Okuonghae was signed by Third Division club Rushden & Diamonds and became part of the under-16 squad. He later signed his first professional contract with the club and was given squad number 40. During the 2002–03 season, Okuonghae failed to make an appearance for the first team, but was an unused substitute during a 4–1 win at home to Cambridge United on 18 January 2003.He made his professional debut for Rushden & Diamonds, now in the Second Division in 2003–04 as an 87th-minute substitute in a 4–0 win over Colchester United at Nene Park on 22 November, but did not feature again for the rest of the season. A spell on loan at Conference South club Bishop's Stortford followed in 2004–05, where he made eight appearances. Okuonghae found himself playing in the first team more regularly during the 2005–06 season, making a late substitute appearance in a 1–0 victory away to Mansfield Town on 9 August 2005. He would make a further 22 appearances in all competitions throughout the season, and registered his first professional goal in a 2–1 defeat away to Rochdale on 1 October. However, the season ended in relegation for Rushden, and Okuonghae rejected their offer of a new contract and left the club. Aldershot Town
Following an unsuccessful trial at Gillingham, Okuonghae joined Conference National club Aldershot Town in August 2006. He made his club debut on 15 August in a 1–0 defeat away to Weymouth.His second and final appearance for the club came just four days later as Aldershot beat St Albans City 5–3 on the road. St Albans City
In late August 2006, after just two appearances for Aldershot, Okuonghae joined St Albans City on a non-contract basis. He made his debut for the club in a 2–1 defeat away to Oxford United on 1 September. Okuonghae made 20 appearances in all competitions between September 2006 and January 2007. Crawley Town
Okuonghae moved on from St Albans in January 2007, representing his third Conference club of the season as he signed for Crawley Town. He made his debut for the club on 13 January as they defeated his former club Aldershot 2–0 at the Recreation Ground. Okuonghae scored his first of two goals for the club in a 2–2 draw against his previous club St Albans on 10 February, netting the opening goal after 12 minutes.His second and final goal came in Crawley's 2–1 defeat to Northwich Victoria on 14 April. Okuonghae ended his stint with the club with 21 appearances to his name. Dagenham & Redbridge
Okuonghae signed for League Two club Dagenham & Redbridge on 31 May 2007. After making his debut on 1 September in a 1–0 win at home to Lincoln City, Okuonghae found his chances limited, making just 10 appearances between September 2007 and January 2008. Okuonghae was sent out on loan to Conference Premier club Weymouth in February 2008, making his debut in a 1–0 defeat at home to Histon on 23 February. He made six appearances for Weymouth in all competitions. Okuonghae returned to Dagenham for the 2008–09 season and started every match in the early stages of the season, winning a regular spot in the right-back position.He said he was "happy to be playing and happy to be an influence". He scored his first goal for the club during the campaign in a 2–1 defeat away to Luton Town on 15 November 2008. He also scored against Notts County in a 6–1 rout on 22 November, making the score 5–0 after 56 minutes. He played all but one league match for Dagenham & Redbridge through the campaign as they fell just short of the League Two play-offs. He was named as the club's 2008–09 Player of the Year. Colchester United

2009–10 season
With Okuonghae out of contract, he decided to join League One club Colchester United in July 2009. Although Dagenham & Redbridge had offered Okuonghae a new contract, he described his move to Colchester as a "no-brainer" and felt that he could make the step up to League One football.He signed a two-year deal with the club, although compensation had to be paid to Dagenham & Redbridge for the transfer. The fee for Okuonghae was set at a tribunal in August 2009, with the Professional Football Compensation Committee deciding that Colchester United should pay Dagenham & Redbridge an initial fee of £45,000, with an additional £5,000 paid after the player had made 15, 30, 45 and 60 appearances; a total further payment of £20,000. Other stipulations included a £15,000 payment if Colchester were promoted within the next two seasons if Okuonghae remained with the club, and a 20% sell-on fee would be paid on any profit if Colchester United were to sell Okuonghae. Okuonghae made his debut for Colchester on the opening day of 2009–10 in a 7–1 win away to newly relegated Norwich City. Having played every match for the club since his transfer, he captained the team following Pat Baldwin's injury in September 2009, and was rewarded with a new contract in December 2009 to keep him at the Community Stadium until 2012. Okuonghae finished the season with 49 appearances in all competitions. 2010–11 season
For his second season with the club, Okuonghae remained a regular starter, appearing in Colchester's longest unbeaten run from the beginning of a season with 10 matches played.He scored his first goal for the club on 25 September 2010 and Colchester's third in a 3–1 win at home to Tranmere Rovers. Soon after, he scored his second goal for the club in a 1–1 draw away to Milton Keynes Dons on 2 October. Until November, Okuonghae had made 17 first-team appearances in 2010–11, however, an ankle injury kept him out of action for the rest of the year, with Okuonghae unsure of when he would be able to return to action. He then had to undergo ankle surgery in February 2011, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. 2011–12 season
Okuonghae returned to the first team on the opening day of 2011–12 in a 4–2 win away at Preston North End. He received his first red card for Colchester on 15 October when he was sent off in their 2–2 draw away to Rochdale. Okuonghae had another solid season, making 45 appearances in all competitions.In the latter part of the season, Okuonghae struck up a good relationship in the centre of defence with Tom Eastman, at one stage conceding just two goals in six matches. With his contract expiring in the summer, Okuonghae said that rumours linking him with a move away from the club "helps me to raise my game" and gives him the confidence to improve his performances. During a summer of uncertainty for Okuonghae, it was reported that a number of Championship clubs were keen on capturing his signature, including Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Charlton Athletic, Derby County, Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday and Scottish Premier League club Celtic, having also been offered a new contract by Colchester. He decided to leave Colchester after three years with the club on 3 July 2012 with the hope of securing a move to a Championship club. However, Okuonghae returned to Colchester on 14 July and signed a new three-year deal. 2012–13 season
In a season where Colchester battled against the threat of relegation to League Two, Okuonghae made 46 appearances and scored three goals in all competitions, converting Anthony Wordsworth's corner kick in a 2–2 draw at home to Portsmouth on 21 August 2012, followed by Colchester's only goal in a 2–1 defeat at home to Doncaster Rovers on 15 September, and a consolation goal in a 5–1 defeat at home to Tranmere Rovers on 23 February 2013. 2013–14 season
Following a solid start to 2013–14, Okuonghae was nominated for the League One Player of the Month award for August, having been an ever-present member of the Colchester defence that conceded just four goals in five matches.In a 4–1 defeat by his former club Dagenham & Redbridge in the Football League Trophy on 3 September, Okuonghae received his second red card of his Colchester United career. He scored two goals during the course of the season; the opening goal in a 3–1 defeat away to Brentford on 19 October, and once again in another defeat, this time at the hands of Swindon Town on 16 November. He went on to make 46 appearances for the club throughout the season. 2014–15 season
Ahead of 2014–15, Okuonghae was announced as the club's new captain following Brian Wilson's decision to leave the club over the summer. His vice captain was named as new-boy Sean Clohessy on 7 August 2014. Okuonghae scored the opening goal in Colchester's first match of the season, a 2–2 draw at home to Oldham Athletic. He received a red card in only his second match of the season, a 4–0 League Cup defeat to Charlton Athletic on 12 August.He then received his second red card of the campaign a little over one month later when he was shown a straight red for fouling former teammate Dave Mooney in a match against Leyton Orient. He committed the foul just before half-time in what ended a 2–0 victory for Colchester on 13 September, their first win of the season. After missing a number of matches through suspension and the ensuing form of his replacement Frankie Kent, Okuonghae returned to action when he replaced Kent after only five minutes following a head injury he received after being struck by the ball on 21 October in a 2–1 victory at home to Chesterfield. In Colchester's 1–0 defeat at home to Coventry City on 22 November, Okuonghae suffered an achilles tendon rupture and had to be stretchered off the field late in the match. This ruled him out of action for the rest of the season. With his contract expiring in the summer of 2015, Colchester United took the decision not to renew Okhuonghae's contract, ending his six-year association with the club. Manager Tony Humes described Okuonghae as "an excellent servant to the club".Okuonghae departed Colchester having made 215 appearances in all competitions during his time at the club. Luton Town
Okuonghae signed a two-year contract with League Two club Luton Town on 1 July 2015, once again teaming-up with John Still, who was manager of Dagenham & Redbridge during Okuonghae's time at the club. He made his debut for the club as a 59th-minute substitute for Scott Cuthbert in a 2–1 win at home to Leyton Orient in the Football League Trophy on 1 September. After making his first start for Luton in a 2–1 defeat away to Gillingham in the Football League Trophy, Okuonghae joined League Two rivals Hartlepool United on a one-month loan on 17 October. He sustained an ankle injury during a 2–0 defeat away to AFC Wimbledon on 31 October and returned to Luton for treatment. Okuonghae did not play for Hartlepool again during his loan spell, having made four appearances. He returned to first-team football for Luton to make his second starting appearance in a 2–0 defeat away to Peterborough United in the FA Cup on 6 December.Okuonghae required knee surgery in April 2016 and did not feature again in 2015–16, having made 14 appearances in all competitions. He was placed on the transfer list at the end of the season, before his contract was cancelled by mutual consent on 31 August. Return to Dagenham & Redbridge
Okuonghae re-signed for National League club Dagenham & Redbridge on a short-term contract until 2 January 2017 on 25 November 2016. He made his second debut a day later in a 4–1 defeat at home to Barrow. Okuonghae was released following the expiration of his contract, having made four appearances for the club. Maidstone United
On 20 February 2017, Okuonghae signed for National League club Maidstone United on a contract until the end of 2016–17. He debuted on 14 April 2017 in a 3–1 victory away to Wrexham and finished the season with five appearances.Okuonghae signed a new one-year contract with the club on 1 June 2017. He joined National League South club Welling United on 9 March 2018 on loan until the end of 2017–18. Okuonghae made his debut a day later, starting in a 1–0 away victory over East Thurrock United, before finishing the loan with 10 appearances. He was released by Maidstone at the end of the season. Dulwich Hamlet
Okuonghae signed for National League South club Dulwich Hamlet on 23 July 2018. Return to Welling United
On 26 June 2019, Welling United announced that Okuonghae had returned to the club, this time on permanent basis. However, one month later, on 25 July 2019, the club announced that Okuonghae had decided to retire from football with immediate effect.International career
While playing for St Albans City, Okuonghae was selected for the semi-professional England National Game XI. He played in a friendly against Forest Green Rovers on 5 September 2006 to mark the official opening of their New Lawn stadium. England National Game XI lost the fixture 1–0, with Okuonghae scoring an own goal. Career statistics

Honours
Individual
Dagenham & Redbridge Player of the Year: 2008–09

References

External links

1986 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Lagos
Nigerian footballers
English footballers
England semi-pro international footballers
Association football defenders
Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players
Bishop's Stortford F.C. players
Aldershot Town F.C. players
St Albans City F.C.players
Crawley Town F.C. players
Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players
Weymouth F.C. players
Colchester United F.C. players
Luton Town F.C. players
Hartlepool United F.C. players
Maidstone United F.C.players
Welling United F.C. players
Dulwich Hamlet F.C. players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players
English people of Nigerian descent


title: Josh Hill (fighter)

texts:
<mask> (born November 24, 1986) is a Canadian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division. He currently fights for Bellator MMA. In the past he has competed for the WSOF, TKO Major League MMA, the Score Fighting Series and Aggression MMA. <mask> also appeared on Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter. As of February 22, 2022, he is #8 in the Bellator Bantamweight Rankings. Background
<mask> was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He started training martial arts at age 20 and took his first professional MMA fight three years later.Mixed martial arts career

Regional MMA
<mask> took his first fight on two weeks notice and won by second-round TKO. His fifth pro fight was for the Aggression MMA Bantamweight title. He won the championship with a unanimous decision victory over then undefeated Diego Wilson (5-0). The Ultimate Fighter
Starting his career undefeated, with 8 professional wins, <mask> was accepted onto Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter with Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. The first episode of the show featured an elimination bout to get into the fighter house. <mask> earned his place in the house by winning a majority decision over Patrick Holohan. He lost his quarterfinal bout by unanimous decision to Mike Wooten and was eliminated from the tournament.World Series of Fighting
<mask> signed with the World Series of Fighting and made his debut at WSOF Canada 2 against Mike Adams on June 7, 2014 in Edmonton, Alberta. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. In his next fight for the promotion, <mask> faced Marlon Moraes for the WSOF Bantamweight Championship on February 12, 2015 in the main event at WSOF 18: Moraes vs <mask>. He lost the fight via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46). After two fights outside of WSOF <mask> returned at WSOF 26 to defeat Bekbulat Magomedov via split decision. <mask> earned a second shot against Marlon Moraes for the WSOF Bantamweight Championship on July 30, 2016 in the main event at WSOF 32: Moraes vs. <mask> 2. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round.Bellator MMA
<mask> signed with Bellator MMA in November 2019. His debut fight came against Vinicius Zani at Bellator 239 on February 21, 2020. He won the fight via unanimous decision. <mask> faced UFC veteran Érik Pérez at Bellator 244 on August 21, 2020. He won the fight via unanimous decision. <mask> faced Raufeon Stots at Bellator 258 on May 7, 2021. He lost the bout via unanimous decision.<mask> faced Jared Scoggins on December 3, 2021 at Bellator 272. At the weigh-ins, Jared Scoggins missed weight for his bout, weighing in at 140 pounds, 4 pounds over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at catchweight and Scoggins was fined 35% of his purse which went to <mask>. <mask> would go on to win the fight via KO at 0:56 of round 2. Personal life
<mask> was a volunteer firefighter before opening his gym and becoming a fulltime fighter. <mask> does color commentary for BTC Fight Promotions.

masks:
Josh Hill
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title: Michael Romanoff

texts:
Harry F. Gerguson (born Hershel Geguzin, February 20, 1890 – September 1, 1971), known as <mask>, was a Hollywood restaurateur, con man and actor born in Lithuania. He is perhaps best remembered as the owner of the now-defunct Romanoff's, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 1950s. He claimed to be a member of Russia's royal House of Romanov (sometimes spelled "Romanoff" in English). This was widely known to be untrue throughout his career, but press reports tended to treat the deception as a humorous matter. Background
The New Yorker ran a series of five profiles, starting October 29, 1932, tracing <mask>'s history from birth until date of publication, including his having been deported to France in May of that year to serve time for fraud. According to U.S.A Confidential (Mortimer and Lait, 1952), though Romanoff pretended to be Russian royalty, he was actually a former Brooklyn pants presser. Geguzin immigrated to New York City at age 10.He changed his name from Hershel to Harry F. Gerguson some time after 1900 and married Gloria Lister in 1948. At times, he passed himself off as "Count Gladstone the son of William Gladstone, "Prince <mask> Alexandrovich Obolensky-Romanoff", nephew of Tsar Nicholas II, William Wellington or Arthur Wellesley. David Niven devotes a whole chapter in his memoirs to Romanoff/Gerguson. Romanoff tells Niven to remember him to Commando chief Bob Laycock whom he knew at Eton. Niven dismisses this as nonsense, then Gerguson shows Niven a set of hair brushes with the Laycock crest and Niven is chastened. Niven learns that Gerguson took part in a cricket match at Wiseton, Notts (home of the Laycock family) involving a coal mining team. 'What were you doing down a Durham coal mine?'asks Niven. There is also a record of a Harry Gerguson escaping from hospital in 1923 in US immigration files. Romanoff died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, in 1971 aged 81. Romanoff's restaurant
From 1941 to 1962, Romanoff's was located at 326 North Rodeo Drive, and had another location at 140 South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. In 1951, it moved to a new location at 240 South Rodeo Drive. Romanoff generally snubbed his clientele, and preferred to lunch with his dogs. KCET's Hadley Meares writes of the restaurant, which used an elegant monogram consisting of a crown sitting over two capital letter 'R's back to back: "The décor was masculine and clubby with comfortable booths, the dance floor well waxed, the cigarette girls lovely, and the waiters well-trained and Jeeves-like."While Romanoff's featured a typical country club-style menu with items like Waldorf salad, tomatoes stuffed with crab, filet mignon, frog legs, eggs Benedict and sausages on toast, the restaurant became known for its chocolate soufflés, which were served to each guest in an individual portion. Although Romanoff's restaurant is also known for popularizing the "American version" of the famous dessert Strawberries Romanoff, it was actually created by Escoffier when he was the chef at the Carlton Hotel in London – where he had originally called it "Strawberries Americaine Style" - strawberries in Grand Marnier, blended into whipped cream and softened ice cream. Noodles Romanoff, a dish of wide egg noodles, sour cream, and grated Parmesan cheese that originally appeared at Romanoff's in the mid-1950s, became a popular item often mentioned in Hollywood reporting. Later, after Romanoff's went out of business, the dish was served at Stouffer's Top of the Rock Restaurant in Chicago. When Stouffer's closed that restaurant, the company transferred Noodles Romanoff to its newly formed frozen food grocery division. Soon, various companies' versions of Noodles Romanoff could be purchased in grocery stores for preparation at home. It was a popular side dish on American dinner tables through the 1960s, and recipes for it are available from Betty Crocker, Creamette, and others.The restaurant closed its doors for good on New Year's Eve in 1962. <mask>'s On The Rocks
In 1959, <mask>'s On The Rocks opened in Palm Springs. Paul Whiteman and Red Norvo headed the house band. On The Rocks closed in 1962, and the venue became the Pompeii nightclub, later destroyed by arson. In popular culture
<mask> is referenced in 1941's Hellzapoppin', the film version of the famous Broadway musical revue. In the film, Mischa Auer plays a "real Russian prince who is pretending to be a fake Russian prince." Although he is penniless, his deception gets him invited to high-society parties, where he can sponge off the guests and gorge himself on the food.He tells a fellow Russian expatriate, "Better that everyone should think I am a fake Russian prince. If they knew I was a real Russian prince, the novelty would wear off, and nobody would want me!" At an early point in the original 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street, a doctor expresses the opinion that Kris Kringle is of no harm to anyone despite his insistence that he is Santa Claus. In a reference to Romanoff, the doctor compares Kringle to a well-known restaurant owner – whose name escapes him at the moment – who insists that he is a member of the Russian royal family, but is otherwise quite normal. <mask> was one of several guest stars on "The Jack Benny Program" radio show on 8 January 1950, titled "Drear Pooson Fluffrys Party And Is Stood Up By His Date". The episode featured Benny and other regular cast members attempting to solve a murder that had taken place at the Romanoff's in Beverly Hills. The episode is perhaps better known for having one of the longest laughs in the history of the series, based on a spoonerism of the name "Drew Pearson", and quick thinking by the writers to incorporate the flub later in the program without telling Benny.<mask> was the guest star on the December 8, 1950 "Selling the Tavern" episode of the Duffy's Tavern radio show. In typical Tavern style, his claims of royalty are roundly mocked and even his small stature is joked about. <mask> can also be heard as a contestant on the 28 November 1951 radio edition of the Groucho Marx quiz, You Bet Your Life. The television broadcast took place the next day. In April 1957, Jayne Mansfield–Sophia Loren photo, was taken at <mask>'s restaurant. In April 1957, he was a mystery guest on the television panel show What's My Line?. In the 1960 film Strangers When We Meet Kirk Douglas and Barbara Rush are seen dining at Romanoff's restaurant.<mask> himself make an uncredited appearance. The exterior of the then-shuttered <mask>'s can be seen in the 1967 Fox film, A Guide for the Married Man. <mask> himself also plays the maitre'd in a sequence in the film in a studio recreation of the restaurant's interior. The 1965 cartoon series Roger Ramjet features a recurring villain named Noodles Romanoff. In addition to appearing in the above-mentioned A Guide for the Married Man as himself, Romanoff appeared in at least 20 other films and television shows playing either himself or acting in bit roles, such as a prince, maitre d', nobleman, or some other type of sophisticated European gentleman. In 1977, Boz Scaggs' Down Two Then Left's album cover photography by Guy Bourdin features the then-shuttered Romanoff's restaurant

Filmography

References

Further reading

External links

1890 births
1971 deaths
20th-century American male actors
People from Palm Springs, California
American restaurateurs
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
Romanov impostors

masks:
Michael Romanoff
Romanoff
Michael Dimitri
Romanoff
Romanoff
Romanoff
Romanoff
Romanoff
Romanoff
Romanoff
Mike Romanoff
Romanoff
Romanoff


title: K. Y. Amoako

texts:
<mask><mask> (born September 13, 1944 Accra) is a Ghanaian international civil servant with a five-decade career in African development. He is a thought leader on policies and initiatives of governance and growth on the continent, and he has worked alongside development specialists to address African and global development issues. <mask> is the Founding President of the African Centre for Economic Transformation (established 2008) and an author. <mask> founded ACET following his career at the World Bank beginning in 1974 until he became the Bank's Director for Education and Social Policy from 1992-1995. In 1995, he served as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the rank of Under Secretary General of the UN. After his 10 years with the ECA, <mask> spent 2006 as a Distinguished African Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. <mask> is married to <mask> and has three daughters named Ama, Nana, and Mame.He also has four grandchildren: Jonah, <mask>, Mena, and <mask>. Education and career

Education
<mask> completed his secondary education at the Ghana Secondary Technical School. He then obtained his B.A. (Hons) from the University of Ghana and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. In recognition of his contribution to Africa’s development, in 2003, he was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree, honoris causa, by the Addis Ababa University, and a Doctor of Letters degree, honoris causa, by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, in May 2005. World Bank
After obtaining a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California-Berkeley in 1974, <mask> began his career at the World Bank.At the time, the Bank employed few Africans, but it impacted much of the continent’s destiny through lending policies that were not always favorable to Africa. <mask> became Division Chief for Country Programs in the Africa Region and also Division Chief for Sector Programs in the Latin America and Caribbean Region. Over a ten-year period, he helped improve Bank operations in several countries. In the early 1990s, the Bank began to shift its focus by placing greater emphasis on poverty reduction and underserved but vital economic and social development issues, such as gender equality. To provide intellectual leadership in these areas, guide operational staff at the country-level, and collaborate more effectively with United Nations agencies and other development institutions, the Bank created the Department of Education and Social Policy in 1992. <mask> was appointed its first director. He led a group of 40 economists and sector specialists in producing major Bank policy papers on poverty, gender, social protection, labor markets, and education that were endorsed by the World Bank’s Executive Directors.United Nations Career

In 1995, then UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed <mask> as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at the level of Under-Secretary General. He gave <mask> a mandate to transform the institution into an influential voice for Africa and an effective player in global development. Within two years of his appointment, Amoako implemented sweeping reforms to remake the institution. Boutros-Ghali later commended the ECA for being “at the vanguard of reform in the United Nations.”

The Wilson Center/The Woodrow Wilson International Center
In 2006, K.Y<mask> was awarded with the "Distinguished African Scholar Award", supported by the Open Society Institute, which brings senior African scholars or policymakers to the Woodrow Wilson Center in order to conduct research on topics of their choice. His research focused on "strengthening policy research institutions within Africa and their contribution to African development strategies". The African Center for Economic Transformation

<mask> founded the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) in 2008 to help African governments transform their economies and address policy and institutional barriers to economic growth, with operations based in Accra, Ghana.Contributions to African and Global Development
Over the past twenty years, <mask> has served on many high-level commissions and task forces with other development experts and leaders. These task forces and commissions have tackled Africa’s current and future challenges as well as global development issues. They include:
 Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa—Chaired by <mask>, the Commission was established in 2003 by <mask> Annan. The commission had a mandate to clarify the data on the impact of HIV/AIDS on state structures and economic development and to assist governments in consolidating the design and implementation of policies and programs to help govern the epidemic. Commission for Africa—Set up in 2004 and chaired by then British Prime Minister Tony Blair to promote development in Africa, the commission published its report, “Our Common Interest,” in 2005. Many of the recommendations were taken up by the G8 at its summit in Gleneagles later that year, and in other commitments made to Africa. Commission on Macroeconomics and Health— The Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (CMH) was established by then WHO Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland in January 2000 to assess the contribution of health to global economic development.Prof. Jeffrey Sachs chaired the commission. International Task Force on Global Public Goods—Established in 2003 by the Swedish and French governments on the heels of the 2002 Monterrey International  Conference on Financing for Development, the task force provided a definition of global public goods, identified global public goods critical for poverty reduction, and proposed recommendations to enhance their provision and financing. Commission on Capital Flows to Africa—Jointly assembled in September 2002 by the Corporate Council on Africa and the Institute for International Economics and chaired by James A. Harmon, former chairman of the US Export-Import Bank, the Commission published a “Ten-Year Strategy for Increasing Capital Flows to Africa” to help boost capital and private sector investment from the United States. High-Level Trade Experts Group—Set up by David Cameron and Angela Merkel to revitalize the Doha Round of trade talks and lobby for strong political commitment during the Seoul G20 summit to liberalize trade, the group was led by Peter Sutherland, the former Director-General of the WTO, and Jagdish Bhagwati, a renowned professor of  economics at Columbia University. Speaking at a meeting of African finance ministers in 1997, <mask> declared himself “an optimist for Africa”. Published works

Book: "Know the Beginning Well: An Inside Journey Through Five Decades of African Development" (2020)
The title of the book is based on an African proverb: "If you know the beginning well, the end shall not trouble you". The book draws on his five decades of experience to offer an account of the people, policies, and institutions that have shaped Africa's post-colonial development history with a goal of learning from the past to better inform the future.<mask> has lived this history, worked directly with governments and global leaders on issues that continue to affect African progress: financing sustainable development, moving beyond aid, industrializing and diversifying economics, closing the gender gap, getting regional integration right, and attaining accountable and transformative leadership. This book recounts the growth of Africa offers a hopeful vision of a transformed continent. <mask>, K.Y. Know The Beginning Well: An Inside Journey Through Five Decades of African Development. Africa World Press, 2020. Other
He delivered the lecture "Politics, Economics and the Future of Ghana" on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary Memorial Lecture of the late Oyeeman Wereko Ampem 11 organized and held by the University of Ghana with support from the John A. Kufuor Foundation and the Atta Mills Foundation. He was the Guest Speaker at the Ghana Secondary Technical School Centenary Anniversary in October 2009.References

1944 births
Living people
Commission for Africa members
Ghanaian economists
University of Ghana alumni
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
Ghana Secondary Technical School alumni

masks:
Kingsley Y
. Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Philomena Amoako
Kofi
Kare
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
. Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako
Kofi
Amoako
Amoako
Amoako


title: John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan

texts:
<mask>, <mask> of Cardowan PC (born 8 May 1947), is a British Labour Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010, and served in the Cabinet under Prime Minister Tony Blair in a number of positions. He was Health Secretary from 2003 to 2005, Defence Secretary from 2005 to 2006, and Home Secretary from 2006 to 2007. Born in Bellshill to working-class, Roman Catholic parents, <mask> first became involved in politics when he joined the Young Communist League in 1972. He later joined the Labour Party, working for them as a senior researcher before being elected to the House of Commons in 1987 as the MP for Motherwell North. He retired from frontline politics in 2007 following Gordon Brown's appointment as Prime Minister, taking on a role as the Chairman of Celtic Football Club. After stepping down as an MP in 2010, he was nominated for a life peerage in the Dissolution Honours and elevated to the House of Lords.<mask> took a leading role in the campaign for a "No" vote in the 2011 AV referendum, appearing alongside Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, and also took a leading role in the campaign opposing Scottish independence. Background
<mask> was born in Bellshill Maternity Hospital, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, to working-class Roman Catholic parents; his grandparents were of mixed denomination. His grandfather was "a staunch Church of Scotland Presbyterian and his grandmother a poor and illiterate Irish peasant." His mother, Mary, was a factory worker and his father, Thomas, was a postman. <mask> attended St Patrick's Secondary School, Coatbridge. The adolescent <mask> showed an early talent for organisation and political activism by leading a student strike in protest at a school rule. <mask> initially decided not to go to university but instead took a series of jobs, including construction work on an oil pipeline and another in insurance; at the latter job, which <mask> later claimed opened his eyes politically, he was assigned to the tenements in the East End of Glasgow after the city was hit by storms in late-1968 and saw poverty of a kind he did not know existed.Soon after this experience, he joined the Labour Party. Around this time <mask>'s passion for history was kindled when his girlfriend (and later wife), Cathie McGowan, bought him a copy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. <mask> was spellbound. Following this he attended the Open University in his mid-twenties to study a Foundation Course and then later attended the University of Stirling, becoming rector of the Students' Union and gaining a BA in history and a PhD in economic history, with a thesis on the slave trade written as a critique of the Marxist model of historical change, entitled Warrior Aristocrats in Crisis: the political effects of the transition from the slave trade to palm oil commerce in the nineteenth century Kingdom of Dahomey. From 1979 to 1983, <mask> was a research officer for the Labour Party in Scotland, and from 1983 to 1985, was a political adviser to Labour leader Neil Kinnock. From 1986 to 1987, he was Scottish Organiser of Trade Unionists for Labour. He entered parliament at the 1987 general election as MP for the Motherwell North constituency.After boundary changes, he was returned at the 1997 election for the new constituency of Hamilton North and Bellshill; and after further boundary changes in 2005, he was returned at the 2005 election for the new constituency of Airdrie and Shotts with 59% of the votes cast. <mask> was married to Cathie McGowan from 1969 until her sudden death from a heart attack in 1998. They had two sons, Kevin and Mark. In 2002, he married film director Carine Adler. According to The Guardian, in 1991, <mask> arrived at the House of Commons "drunk one day and tried to force his way on to the floor to vote. When an attendant stepped forward to stop him, <mask> threw a punch". <mask> stopped drinking in 1994 and gave up his 60-a-day cigarette habit in 2003.Political ideology
At university, <mask> was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. With the support of Communist and Labour students, he became president of the students' union. After leaving university, he became a researcher for Scottish Labour. <mask> believes that any socialist, or indeed any rational person, should be a revisionist on principle. As an advisor to Neil Kinnock, <mask> was one of the earliest advocates for reforms to the Labour Party. In 1983, after the Labour Party's worst electoral defeat in 65 years, and at Kinnock's request, he put on a single sheet of paper what he thought had made Labour unelectable: "Leaderless, unpatriotic, dominated by demagogues, policies fifteen years out of date". Elected to Parliament in 1987 as the Member of Parliament for Motherwell North, within two years he was appointed to the Shadow Front Bench as spokesperson for Children.In 1990, <mask> was appointed as Defence spokesperson. When the former Yugoslavia was breaking up in the 1990s, <mask> was in dialogue with the Bosnian Serbs. During the Bosnian War, <mask> struck up a friendship with Radovan Karadžić, later to be indicted as a war criminal. <mask> admitted he spent three days at a luxury Geneva lakeside hotel as a guest of Karadžić in 1993. Government career

Minister of State for the Armed Forces
After Labour came to power at the 1997 general election, <mask> became Armed Forces Minister, where he played a key role in the Defence Secretary George Robertson's Strategic Defence Review. <mask> gained considerable praise for the review; with some commentators going so far as to describe his success in cutting military expenditure at the same time as winning over the defence chiefs as "brilliant". As Minister he lobbied for the release of two Scots Guards convicted of murdering teenager Peter McBride in Belfast in 1992.At the same time he refused requests to meet the McBride family. <mask> eventually met with the McBride family whilst he was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Minister for Transport
In 1998, <mask> moved from Defence to become Minister of State for Transport. Prime Minister Tony Blair then sent <mask> to the Department of Transport to ensure the late-running and over-budget London Underground Jubilee Line Extension was completed by the end of 2000. He and <mask> brought in Bechtel as Project Managers, ensuring Phase 1 was opened on 1 May 1999, and the whole Jubilee line with the exception of one station (Westminster) was ultimately open for business by the Millennium. <mask> demonstrated several aspects: he negotiated strongly; he was a political fighter; he had a "capacity for non-dogmatic adaptability and reliability"; and was described as "a safe pair of hands". Secretary of State for Scotland
Having impressed at both Transport and Defence <mask> was promoted to Secretary of State for Scotland on 17 May 1999 and a full place at the cabinet table.In his first month, the Scottish Parliament was re-established after an interval of 300 years. The reconstituted Scotland Office had been much reduced in importance with devolution but <mask> used the position to build his profile, prepared to put the government's case on any issue against TV interviewers. After Donald Dewar, Scotland's respected First Minister, died in 2000 <mask>'s name was even mentioned as a possible replacement. In fact <mask> was left to deal with much of the fall-out after the death and would be increasingly at loggerheads with the new Labour First Minister, Henry McLeish, whom <mask> felt was taking the Parliament down a nationalist path. The situation became so strained between the two that in an unguarded moment McLeish publicly labelled <mask> "a patronising bastard". Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
<mask> became Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in January 2001 following the resignation of Peter Mandelson. He was the first Roman Catholic to hold the position.While dismissing the personal significance of this, he used it to insist that every person in Northern Ireland, from whatever background or tradition, wanted a prosperous future. Throughout his period of office he was continually engaged in talks with all side of the community in an attempt to reduce the level of inter-community troubles. He blamed Paramilitaries from both sides of the community for on-going violence. He confronted both, on the ground, at a violent east Belfast interface, where he met loyalist residents of Cluan Place and then had talks with nationalist residents in the nearby Short Strand. <mask> ruled that ceasefires proclaimed by the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force could no longer be recognised by the government because of their involvement in sectarian attacks and murders. At the same time he put pressure on the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) to make a move on arms decommissioning to help end the political impasse, whilst acknowledging that putting its weapons beyond use would be a difficult step to take. It was in this context that, in October 2001 he welcomed a Gerry Adams speech as a "highly significant" step which he hoped would pave the way for a "groundbreaking" move by the IRA to disarm which would  transform the political situation.And following the IRA's decision <mask> responded by announcing the immediate demolition of British Army security bases and announcing a reduction in troop levels as the security situation improved, effectively beginning a process which culminated in September 2005, when the disarmament monitor for Northern Ireland, the Canadian General <mask> Chastelain announced that the IRA had given up its entire arsenal of weapons after more than three decades of armed struggle against British rule. <mask> oversaw the final stages of the transformation of the RUC into the Police Service Northern Ireland, and the first endorsement of the service by representatives of the Nationalist community. Political problems continued, resulting in the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly a year later in October 2002. The peace process was to be put on hold until there was a "clear and unequivocal commitment" that the IRA would disband. <mask> made an emergency statement to Parliament announcing direct rule in the interim. In the interim, <mask> also had to deal with continuing domestic problems; including those with loyalist ceasefires, sectarian murders and the tinderbox of Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast (that ignited the worst rioting in the city in years). But, so far as 10 Downing Street was concerned, <mask> had gone a long way to delivering the rarest of political commodities – success in Northern Ireland.Chairman of the Labour Party and Minister without Portfolio
<mask> was appointed Chairman of the Labour Party and Minister Without Portfolio on 24 October 2002. As a purely political post his trouble-shooting skills were employed as the Labour Government's chief spokesperson earning him the nickname "Minister for the Today Programme". One of <mask>'s key challenges was to keep the trade unions (the Labour Party's main funders) on-side despite the antipathy shown by the Unions to many of the Government's proposals. As part of this <mask> agreed to look at proposals to stop private contractors exploiting low paid workers (a key Union demand). Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council
In March 2003, Robin Cook resigned as Leader of the House of Commons due to his objections to the legality of Britain's involvement in the Iraq War. <mask> was appointed to take over the Office brief on 4 April as a heavyweight figure was more likely to ensure the Commons' continued support for the war. He held the position for only just under three months and was succeeded by a more junior member of the Government, Peter Hain.Secretary of State for Health
<mask> was made Secretary of State for Health in June 2003, replacing Alan Milburn after the latter's resignation. He was reportedly less than happy with the appointment. He was reported by Private Eye at the time as reacting "Oh fuck, not health." But <mask> had established himself as one of Tony Blair's most trusted ministers and his appointment as Health Secretary took him into his fourth cabinet job in less than a year. At Health <mask> saw himself as a reformer, controversially increasing capacity by introducing private companies to run treatment centres for knee, hip and eye operations. He claimed this provided extra staff and extra capacity to help treat more patients in the NHS at an unprecedented rate. <mask> also introduced plans to increase the number of smoke-free workplaces and improve diet and sexual health as part of a major drive to improve public health in England and began a major public consultation as a precursor to parliamentary proposals aimed at improving the nation's health.He also encouraged volunteer engagement in the health service. Many of his changes caused criticism and controversy, which <mask> was not afraid to take head on, delivering a staunch defence of Labour's reform programme to the party's annual conference. He made the case for extending to all the choices normally only available to those who could afford them. <mask>'s management style was considered autocratic by some and he came under considerable fire from National Health Service (NHS) leaders. He was criticized for giving GPs a 22% pay rise while also allowing them to opt out of providing weekend and evening treatment. As Health Secretary, <mask> had been in favour of limiting the government's proposed smoking ban as much as possible. In their 2005 election manifesto, he introduced a pledge to ban smoking in all places where food was served.His successor Patricia Hewitt favoured a complete ban. <mask> won in the cabinet, gaining an exemption for private clubs and pubs that did not serve food. The House of Commons rebels proposing a complete ban were successful when MPs were given a free vote on the issue. Patricia Hewitt voted with the rebels against the Cabinet's proposals. Secretary of State for Defence

Following the incumbent Labour Party's 2005 general election victory, <mask> was appointed Secretary of State for Defence. He replaced <mask>. At Defence, <mask> questioned "the adequacy of the international legal framework in the light of modern developments in conflict".He suggested that "the body of relevant international rules and conventions should, where beneficial, be strengthened", especially "to cope with conflict against non-state actors such as the international terrorist… this means extending, not reducing, such conventions". <mask> committed 3,300 troops to Helmand province, Afghanistan in January 2006. Despite a lack of detailed intelligence, the Army anticipated the Helmand mission would be straightforward

masks:
John Reid
Baron Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
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John Prescott
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Reid
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John de
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
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Reid
Reid
Reid
Reid
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Geoff Hoon
Reid
Reid


title: John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan

texts:
 compared to its difficult mission in Basra it was withdrawing from, with short small patrols from fixed bases. In speaking to the media <mask> said "We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years and without firing one shot because our job is to protect the reconstruction." In the first year about 4 million bullets and 25,000 artillery rounds had been fired by the British armed forces. <mask> took an aggressive approach to defending his government's international policy. Speaking ahead of a conference on NATO modernisation in Germany on 4 February 2006, <mask> asserted in a press interview that "no institution has the divine right to exist".Similarly on 19 March 2006, in response to former interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi's claim that Iraq is in the grip of civil war, <mask> defended the British Government's contrary view. He stated: "Every single politician I have met here [in Iraq] from the prime minister to the president, the defence minister and indeed Iyad Allawi himself said to me there's an increase in the sectarian killing, but there's not a civil war and we will not allow a civil war to develop". By the time of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict, <mask> was no longer Defence Secretary, having been succeeded by Des Browne. On 3 February 2010, <mask> gave evidence about his role as Defense Secretary to the Iraq Inquiry. He said that America's experience of the Vietnam War had impacted negatively on US post-invasion planning in Iraq because US military chiefs "weren't thinking of detailed nation-building". <mask> also said he had "deep sadness at the loss of life" in Iraq. Home Secretary
<mask> was appointed Home Secretary on 5 May 2006, replacing Charles Clarke after the latter was removed in the wake of a Home Office scandal involving the release of foreign national prisoners.On 2 July 2006, <mask> proposed a Bill for the autumn Queens Speech, to be brought into law at the next session of Parliament. He proposed a new Official Secrets Act, the first since the 1989 OSA, to punish intelligence officers with longer prison sentences, who blow the whistle on government policy by leaking secret information. To remove their key legal defence of necessity and/or defence of public interest. By the time he arrived at the Home Office, <mask> was seen as one of the government's most effective performers over the previous decade, being described by many commentators as a bruiser, but with a strong academic leaning. At the Home Office <mask> hit the ground running. He contended that rapid global change and the associated challenges of mass migration, terrorism and organised crime had overwhelmed the outdated Home Office approach. <mask> caused considerable controversy by attacking the leadership and management systems previously in place in the Home Office.He infamously declared it to be "not fit for purpose", adding the phrase to the British political lexicon, and vowed to "make the public feel safe". <mask>'s comments were rebuffed by Clarke, who criticised his comments in a defence of his own period in office. Within 100 days of joining the Department, he had published three reform plans for a radical transformation. They included 8,000 more prison places; a 40 per cent reduction in headquarters staff by 2010; a commitment to making the Immigration and Nationality Directorate an agency with a uniformed border staff and tough new powers. radical overhaul of the core systems and structures within the Home Office itself, reform of IND, re-balancing of the criminal justice system, reform of the probation service and the review of counter-terrorist capabilities. He condemned the probation service for letting people down, and argued for fundamental reform. An early decision during his time at the Home Office was to move child molesters living in hostels near schools further away from them.<mask> also caused controversy in August 2006 by calling for the creation of an independent committee to impose a national annual limit on the number of immigrants entering the UK. The Guardian claimed that <mask> was "playing to the racist gallery" and compared his plans to Soviet-style central planning of the economy. Because of the prisons' overcrowding crisis in Birmingham, on 9 October 2006 he announced emergency measures amid fears that the prison population was nearing maximum capacity. <mask> has announced his support of measures to restrict the ability of extremist messages to be disseminated on the Internet so as to make the web a more hostile place for terrorists. In 2006 <mask> and the Home Office lost their appeal against the High Court ruling in the Afghan hijackers case 2006. In this controversial case, a group of nine Afghan men who hijacked a Boeing 727 in February 2000, while fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, were granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom. The original ruling in 2004 ruled that returning the men to Afghanistan would breach their human rights under the Human Rights Act 1998.The Home Office granted the men "temporary leave to remain", which involved restricting their freedom of movement and did not allow them to work; in 2006, the High Court ruled that the men must be granted "discretionary leave to remain", which includes the right to work. <mask> challenged the ruling in the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Home Office "should have the power to grant only temporary admission to failed asylum seekers who are only allowed to stay in the UK due to their human rights". <mask> accused government's critics of putting national security at risk by their failure to recognise the serious nature of the threat facing Britain. and called for reform of the human rights laws. From 1 August 2006, <mask> introduced a new warning system to alert the public to the threat of attacks by al-Qaeda and other terror groups in order to increase public understanding and awareness of the terrorist threat. Announcing the plans, <mask> told MPs that the terrorist threat would only be overcome by "united action by all of us" and urged the public to remain vigilant at all times. The threat level, already at "Severe", the second highest level, then moved even higher.On 10 August, <mask> announced that the UK had been put on its highest state of security alert, after police said they'd thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft flying between the UK and the US using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage. Extreme security measures had been put in place at all the country's airports. <mask> revealed that the alleged terror plot could have caused civilian casualties on an "unprecedented scale" and security sources said an attack was believed to have been imminent. With 21 people in custody, <mask> said he believed the 'main players' had been 'accounted for' but emphasised that that still left possible "unknown" players. <mask> also revealed that at least four major plots had been thwarted in the previous year and security sources confirmed that two dozen major terrorist conspiracies were under investigation. <mask> issued a dire warning against losing the "battle of ideas" with al-Qa'eda, and called for an urgent but controversial escalation in the propaganda war, saying that the government needed to do much more to win the battle of ideas. <mask> then led European Ministers in efforts to make the Internet a "more hostile" place for terrorists and crack down on people using the web to share information on explosives or spread propaganda.In September 2006, <mask> addressed Muslims in a run-down part of east London, warning them that fanatics were looking to groom and brainwash children for suicide bombings. During the speech he was confronted and barracked by Abu Izzadeen, also known as Omar or Trevor Brooks. Mr Brooks is a leader of the UK-banned Al Ghurabaa, an offshoot of the terrorist-supporting Al-Muhajiroun – a man who many accuse of glorifying terrorism and inciting racial hatred during nightly conversations (often using the nom de plume Abu Baraa) on a New York-based chatroom service. After the high-profile at the Home Office, his tough stance on terrorism and his domination of the headlines in the aftermath of the alleged terror plot, <mask> was increasingly tipped by Labour MPs to run for the party's leadership. In fact, <mask> kept everyone guessing about his leadership intentions until the very end. Ultimately the surprise was that, having decided not to stand, he announced his intention to quit frontline politics and return to the backbenches. It was speculated that, as a true Blairite believer, he either wanted to carry the torch of reform himself as Labour leader or else quit the scene altogether to make way for new blood.Resignation from government
In May 2007, <mask> announced his intention to resign from the Cabinet when Tony Blair left office, and stated his plans to return to the Labour backbenches. He stated he would support Gordon Brown in the leadership election and his administration. <mask> left office as Home Secretary on 27 June 2007 and was replaced by Jacqui Smith the next day. In September 2007 he announced that he would not seek re-election at the next general election. <mask> was linked with a return to cabinet in June 2009 under Gordon Brown but reportedly turned down the offer. Votes
In December 2004 and October 2005, <mask> voted in favour of a bill to introduce a compulsory British national identity card. He voted for the NHS Foundation Trust proposal.He also voted in favour of allowing unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples to adopt, and for lowering the age of consent for gay sex to 16. <mask> voted for the replacement of the Trident system. He voted against all the House of Lords reform options except a fully appointed House of Lords. On the introduction of Labour's anti-terrorism laws, he opposed an amendment that would have limited the fingerprinting and strip-searching of persons detained at a police station to those detained in connection with a terrorism investigation. He voted against changing the text in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill from "The Secretary of State may make a control order against an individual" to "The Secretary of State may apply to the court for a control order...."

In March 2003, he voted against a motion that the case had not yet been made for war against Iraq, and voted for the declaration of war against Iraq. In June 2007, he voted against a motion calling for an independent inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors into the Iraq War. After cabinet
On 10 May 2010, <mask> argued on BBC television that David Cameron should become the next Prime Minister in the interests of honouring the democratic wishes of the British people, with the Conservative Party having received more votes than any other party.Had Labour and the Liberal Democrats formed an alliance, their combined votes would outnumber Conservative votes at the 2010 General Election, but <mask> noted that a Labour/Liberal Democrat alliance would not have the numbers to form a parliamentary majority by themselves. The same month, it was announced that <mask> had been made a life peer in the dissolution honours following the 2010 election. He was created <mask> of Cardowan, of Stepps in Lanarkshire on 16 July 2010. In April 2011, to the discomfort of Labour colleagues, he campaigned with the Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and others against changes to the UK's voting system. During the campaign, he made the claim that the alternative vote would violate the principle of 1 person 1 vote. He wrote that "it gives the supporters of unpopular fringe candidates numerous votes, while mainstream voters only get one". The referendum on the Alternative Vote was won decisively by <mask>'s "No" side.In April 2013, <mask> said that Labour had made a mistake with immigration while in government, and now in opposition was not providing an alternative. In June 2014, <mask> appeared in a full-page advert in the Scottish Catholic Observer, encouraging readers to vote against Scottish independence in the September referendum. The advert failed to state who had paid for it, which is a breach of Electoral Commission rules, and following complaints, <mask> revealed that it had been paid for by an organisation led by Willie Haughey. The referendum resulted in a "No" vote. Expenses
Following the political scandal over MP expenses in 2009, Sir Thomas Legg requested <mask> repay £2,731.88 of his claimed expenses. <mask> chose to repay a total of £7,336.51. He was later one of 23 MPs who asked for a refund of some of the money they had repaid, and received £4,604.63 back.Outside politics

Football
On 28 September 2007, it was announced <mask> would become Chairman of Celtic Football Club taking over from Brian Quinn. His appointment was ratified by Celtic's shareholders on 19 November 2007. Sports journalist Graham Spiers found him "an engaging and intriguing Celtic chairman". <mask> is a lifelong supporter of the club and described the appointment as "an honour and a privilege". University of London
In late 2008 it was announced that <mask> would be taking up the post of honorary Professor at the University College London and become the chairman of the newly created Institute of Security and Resilience Studies (ISRS) at UCL. G4S
On 18 December 2008, G4S (Group 4 Securicor) announced that <mask> would be taking up a post with the company as group consultant. Top Level Group
<mask> is currently a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009.Awards
In June 2009, <mask> was awarded an honorary degree from Stirling University "for his contribution to public affairs". References

External links

  Official biography, Prime Minister's Office
 Profile of <mask> MP SourceWatch

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1947 births
Living people
Alumni of the Open University
Alumni of the University of Stirling
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Politicians from North

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John Reid


title: Kuo Lien-ying

texts:
<mask>n-ying (1895 in Inner Mongolia, China – 1984), was one of the most distinguished and revered martial artists of the twentieth century. He brought the Guang Ping Yang t'ai chi ch'uan to the United States. History

<mask>n-ying's father was a silk merchant, and the family was independently wealthy. As a youngster, <mask> reportedly had no interest in an academic education, wanting only to learn the fighting arts. In 1907, at the age of 12, <mask> started training in Northern Style Shaolin Kung-Fu, studying for five years with Master Li Lin, who was especially skilled in Chang Chuan (Long Fist). <mask> became proficient at this martial arts system, which was originally developed by Buddhist monks in China. His pushing hands training partner in Taiwan was Tchoung Ta-tchen.At 23, <mask> became one of only four inner-door disciples of Wang Jiao-yu, himself one of only two inner-door students of Yang Pan-hou. Yang Pan-hou was the son of the originator of what has become known as Guang Ping Yang t'ai chi ch'uan: Yang Luchan born Kuang-p'ing (Guangping) and known as the founder of Yang-style tai chi chuan. After completing "Chin to Toe" in 100 days <mask> was taught the Guang Ping Yang t'ai chi ch'uan from the 100-year-old master Wang Jiao-yu. <mask>, at age 28, studied Xingyiquan for two years with Master Huang Ginyin, a highly skilled student of Guo Yunshen, himself the teacher of Wang Xiangzhai, who was reputed to be the best Xingyiquan fighter of his time. <mask> also studied Baguazhang with Chang Hsin-zhai and Chung Ting-hua. Early career

<mask> Lien-ying reportedly was a bodyguard for a while on the gold caravans through China, protecting the caravans on horseback with his unrivaled rope-dart techniques. He allegedly became a governor of a province in China, and later a general in the army of Chiang Kai-shek.In 1947, after the Communist takeover, he fled to Taiwan, became a congressman and opened up a martial arts school. Although he left his four wives and eight children in China when he fled Mao Zedong, <mask> wooed and married the 21-year-old sister of one of his students, Ein Simmone <mask>. Kuo was so confident of his fighting skills that in 1951 he issued a challenge to world boxing champion Joe Louis, to meet him for a fight. In 1972 <mask> claimed to the San Francisco Chronicle, "I could have thrown him." 1

<mask> Lien-ying in America

In 1965, he immigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco's Chinatown, leaving his young wife behind in Taiwan. At the request of his first U.S. student, David Chin, Kuo began teaching a few students on the roof of a local hotel. After less than a year, Kuo returned to Taiwan to bring Simmone <mask> to San Francisco.While he was in Taiwan, his students in San Francisco located an empty storefront at 11 Brenham Place, an alley which faced Portsmouth Square Park, which was unfortunately adjacent to a funeral parlor. The empty storefront was available due to the superstitions of the local residents who did not want to inhabit a place next to a mortuary. But according to one of his later students, Henry Look, Kuo often told him, "Don’t worry about dead people, worry about live ones." The students converted the storefront into a martial arts studio, with living quarters in the rear. Kuo named his new school, "Lien-Ying Tai-Chi Chuan Martial Arts Academy". In 1967 <mask> and Simmone had a son, <mask> Chung-mei. Chung-mei was trained in the Shaolin Kung Fu and T'ai chi ch'uan styles at an early age, achieving Chin-to-Toe at 18 months.<mask> was one of the major theorists of the Chin school, which offers the closest blend of the hard and soft styles. Chin stylists claim there is a 50-50 blend of the two because while you are yielding, you are most conscious of unyielding and that is the only way you can take advantage of all things. T'ai chi ch'uan lineage tree with Yang-style focus

Portsmouth Square, Chinatown

Reportedly, one of the stories that Kuo told his students was about the time he was walking in a Chinatown alley late one evening and was set upon by a group of robbers. <mask> reached down and picked up a piece of metal lying on the ground and with his bare hands pounded the spike into the brick wall of the nearest building, and then hung his jacket on the spike. The would-be robbers fled. With an uncanny sixth sense, Kuo knew when his students would sleep in, missing the 5 a.m. practice session, and he would call them up, shouting in Chinese into the telephone, "Lela, lela, t'ai chi, t'ai chi!" ("Practice, practice, t'ai chi, t'ai chi!")<mask> Lien-ying was among the first Chinese martial arts masters in America to teach Asian fighting arts to American students, and was often admonished by other Chinese teachers to not teach to Westerners. In 1975 Sam Peckinpah filmed part of The Killer Elite in Portsmouth Square, and hired <mask> Lien-ying and many of his students for the scenes of a martial arts school in San Francisco. <mask> and his students gave many demonstrations of T'ai chi ch'uan and Shaolin Kung-Fu at many locations, including schools and banks. In 1983, <mask> returned to Mongolia, and died in 1984. Followers

Simmone <mask>, <mask>'s widow and student, continues to teach privately at the Lien-Ying Tai-Chi Chuan Martial Arts Academy in San Francisco Chinatown (15A Walter U Lum Place, above the produce market) after retiring in 2016 from physical education teaching duties at San Francisco State University. Notable students of <mask> that were largely responsible for the transmission of the art include Masters Peter Kwok, Henry Look, and Y.C. Chiang.The founder of World Tai Chi and Qigong Day, Bill Douglas, carries on the form under the name Kuang Ping Yang Tai Chi Chuan, as passed down from <mask> Lien-ying to Gilles Messenger to Colin Berg, Anne Beier and Jennifer Booth, Bill's teacher. Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi Association

The Guang Ping Yang Tai Chi Association was formed in 1997 to honor the memory of Sifu <mask> Lien-ying and in commemoration of his unselfish sharing of his many skills. The mission of the Association is to promote, perpetuate, develop interest in, and preserve the quality of Guang Ping Yang style t'ai chi ch'uan throughout the world, and to provide support for research and education in Guang Ping Yang t'ai chi ch'uan. Honorary Chairmen: Y.C. Chiang, Henry Look
Past Presidents: Henry Look, Donald Rubbo, Nina Hopkins Sugawara, Nick D’Antoni, Dominick Ruggieri, Randy Elia, Lawrence Riddle, Lucy Bartimole, Grace Cheng, Valarie Prince Gabel

Current President: David Chosid

In Kuo's Honor

Every June, Kuo's direct students hold a memorial in Portsmouth Square, Chinatown, to pay respects to their late teacher, for the invaluable teachings he passed down to them, and for bringing the Guang Ping Yang t'ai chi ch'uan style to the United States of America. Books
The T'ai Chi Boxing Chronicle, Compiled and explained by <mask> Lien-ying, translated into English by Gordon Guttman
Tai-Chi Chuan in Theory and Practice,

Notes

References
 [In matters of taste there is no dispute]
Asian Mind Body Techniques,  p 216-217

External links
Virtual Portsmouth Square
Donald and Cheryl Lynne Rubbo's Kuo webpage
Article on Kuo Lien-ying

1895 births
1984 deaths
Chinese tai chi practitioners
American tai chi practitionears

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Kuo Lie
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Master Kuo
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title: Guido de Marco

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<mask>,  (22 July 1931 – 12 August 2010) was a Maltese politician, who served as the sixth president of Malta from 1999 to 2004. A noted statesman and lawmaker, <mask> also served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, Justice, and Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was elected President of the 45th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1990, and Chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation in 2004. A renowned criminal lawyer, he defended some of the landmark cases in Malta during the 1980s. His sudden death in 2010 shocked the nation and prompted three days of national mourning and a state funeral. Early life and family
<mask> was born in Valletta to Emanuele and Giovanna (née Raniolo) <mask>. He was educated at St. Joseph High School, St. Aloysius' College and the University of Malta.He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Economics and Italian in 1952, becoming a Doctor of Laws in 1955. <mask> and his future wife, Violet Saliba, met as students. He proposed to her on February 5, 1951, as he walked her home from Valletta to Pietà. <mask> and Violet Saliba married in 1956; the couple had three children: Giannella, Fiorella and Mario. Mario, who served as parliamentary secretary for tourism at the time of his father's death, said he was a family man who devoted time to his children and grandchildren. Political career

In 1962, <mask> resigned his position at the Attorney General's Office, entering the political arena - later to contest a general election. The successful criminal lawyer would henceforth dedicate much of his life to the Nationalist and Maltese cause.He became a lecturer, and later a professor of criminal law at the University of Malta. His political career began with his election to the House of Representatives in 1966. He was returned to Parliament at every general election he contested up to 1998. He was appointed secretary general of the Nationalist party in 1972 and became the party's deputy leader in 1977. He was elected as a representative at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of 1967, remaining a member for almost twenty years. During his career as Minister for the Interior and Justice, <mask>'s efforts led to the integration into domestic law of important international conventions, particularly the European Convention on Human Rights. As Minister for the Interior, he pioneered the reforms and modernisations in the Police Force, being instrumental in the founding of the Police Academy.As Minister for Foreign Affairs he submitted Malta's application for membership of the European Communities. It was one of his first acts as Minister for Foreign Affairs, occurring on 16 July 1990. He was a major player in the consolidation of Malta's contributions to international organisations, including the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations. In 1990 he also served as President of the United Nations General Assembly. Presidency

On 4 April 1999, <mask> was appointed President of Malta. He led his country into the European Union in 2004. He became an honorary doctor at St. Petersburg State University in 2004 "for achievements in science and politics, in particular, for his efforts to integrate Malta into the EU."Declining health and death
On 5 August 2010, <mask> underwent an angioplasty to widen an obstructed heart artery. The intervention developed complications which led him to a critical, but stable condition. A series of medical bulletins were issued immediately by the medical team at Mater Dei Hospital, stating that <mask> was responding to treatment and showing signs of improvement. His condition continued to improve by the hour, to the extent of being taken off life-support machines. Five days later he was discharged from Mater Dei Hospital, but monitored closely by the medical team. On 12 August 2010, <mask> gave an interview with Maltese newspaper The Times of Malta, in which he said: "When I came round from the coma I no longer felt I was going to die. I felt I was going to remain.I'm here to stay ... for now at least." However, in the afternoon, <mask> was rushed to Mater Dei Hospital once more, after collapsing in his home in Sliema. He died at the hospital. The news of his death shocked the nation, which was at the moment relieved with the previous improvement in his condition. The government declared three days of national mourning. A state funeral was held on Monday, August 16, 2010. Messages of solidarity and expressions of sorrow were issued immediately by the President of the Republic, the Nationalist Party, the Labour Party, as well as from other entities and the diplomatic corps.The Maltese prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, interrupted his vacation to return to the island. Gonzi declared that "Malta lost one of the most prominent politicians in recent times. He was fundamental for the country's independence, contributed to strengthening democracy, served very important roles in strengthening our country's international relations and occupied important roles in the United Nations. His Presidency has united the country." Opposition leader Joseph Muscat called the death "a national loss." Edward Fenech Adami, <mask>'s successor as President of Malta, was said to be "shaken" by the news, hailing <mask> as "a protagonist in the past forty to fifty years of Maltese history." Fenech Adami's successor, George Abela, President of Malta at the time of <mask>'s death, added that "Academically, [<mask> <mask>] definitely excelled," calling him a "jovial person...[who]...sang along throughout the recent Joseph Calleja concert."Abela expressed his condolences personally to the <mask> family at Mater Dei Hospital. Tributes flowed into Malta from abroad. President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek called him "a highly respected politician and statesman ... who was deeply respected all over Europe." Former Libyan ambassador to Malta Saad Elshlmani said "On a personal level he was more than just a friend," adding that "people in the Middle East will remember him for his great attachment to the issues of tolerance, cooperation and friendship." United States ambassador Douglas Kmiec also issued a statement: "His tenure as President of the United Nations General Assembly, and his skill and perseverance in guiding Malta to EU membership are great tributes to his statesmanship." His funeral took place on 16 August 2010, attended by dignitaries, including Kuwaiti Prime Minister Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, the widow of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Suha Arafat, Italian Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, Vincenzo Scotti, and several ambassadors.

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title: Lucy Virginia French

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<mask> (pen name, L'Inconnue (The Unknown); March 16, 1825 – March 31, 1881) was a 19th-century American author from Virginia. Her blank verse was considered especially strong, and her themes were well chosen, mostly in their measure. French belonged to a cultured and wealthy family. Educated at Washington, Pennsylvania, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee where she lived until her marriage in 1853, to <mask>, living after this at "Forest Home," near McMinnville, Tennessee. Her first volume of poems, "Wind Whispers," appeared in 1856. She wrote "Tecumseh's Foot," "The Great River," "The Lyre of Time," "The Palmetto and the Pine," "The Years," "Mammy," "Liberty Bells," and other poems, besides several novels and dramas. She took a keen interest in the political questions of the day and wrote about them.Her first novel, "My Roses," appeared in 1872, and her last one, "Darlingtonia," in 1879. Between the years 1856 and 1879, she was actively engaged as literary editor of a number of magazines and newspapers. She wrote under the name L'Inconnue (the unknown). Among her friends were James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., John Greenleaf Whittier, and William Cullen Bryant. Early years

<mask> Smith was born March 16, 1825 in Accomack County, Virginia. Her parents were Mease W. Smith and Elizabeth Parker. She was named for the state where she was born.Her parents belonged to cultured and wealthy families. Her mother, also a Virginian, and a relative of Gov. Henry A. Wise, was Miss Elizabeth Parker. Her grandfather, Col. Thomas Parker, was a wealthy merchant in the East Indian and the South American trade, but was better known as "Fighting Tom" Parker, having served as a cavalry officer of the American Revolutionary War. Her father, Mease W. Smith, was at one time president of Washington College, Virginia (now Washington and Lee University). He had previously held the chair of Greek and Latin in that institution.He also filled the office of chancellor of Virginia, and was prominent as an educator and as a lawyer. By the early death of her mother, the child was left to the care of her grandparents. She and her younger sister were sent to Washington, Pennsylvania, for their education, and after their graduation from Mrs. Hannah's School, they returned to their father's home on the eastern shore of Virginia. But their father had married again, and a new influence had entered into the old home. Virginia soon decided that she wanted to leave. It was not long afterwards that she and her young sister Lide (later, Mrs. Meriwether) moved to Tennessee. Career
French and her sister became teacher in Memphis, in the 1840s.In 1849, under the name of L'Inconnuehe, French wrote for the Louisville Journal, of which George D. Prentice was editor, and many of her poems, songs and legends first appeared in its columns. Her friends at that time were Lowell, Longfellow, Emerson, Holmes, Realf, Bryant, and Whittier. In 1852, she became the editor of Southern Ladies Book, continuing till the following year. French was a versatile writer. Besides many poems, she was the author of several novels and dramas of literary merit. She  also had an interest in the political questions of her day. During the American Civil War, she favored preserving the Union, and pleaded earnestly for restoration.Throughout the remaining years of her life, she wrote, worked, and prayed for reconciliation. Though the North was the home of her early childhood, the South was her birthplace and the home of her maturer years. Two poems which illustrate French's freedom from political and sectional prejudice are "Shermanized," and "The Palmetto and the Pine." The first was written just after Sherman's march to the sea; the latter appeared in 1876, in the Saturday Evening Post, of which William Cullen Bryant was then editor, and was a direct rebuke to a memorable congressional speech of the Hon. James G. Blaine, whom she had known from her girlhood. "Shermanized" is well remembered throughout the South; "like the flash of the yataghan from a velvet sheath," was the comment of a noted writer, who admired the spirit of the poem and of the author. "The Palmetto and the Pine" was reproduced with illustrations in the July 1899 number of The American Illustrated Methodist Magazine, while another poem, "Mammy," a home picture of the South before the war, appeared in the February 1900 issue."Liberty Bells," written in 1876, was characteristic of the spirit of unity which was the theme of many of French's later poems. French's first volume of poems, "Wind Whispers," appeared in 1856, followed the same year by a tragedy in five acts, "Istalilxo, the Lady of Tula," the scene of which was laid in Mexico before its conquest by Cortez. Between the years 1856 and 1879, French was actively engaged as literary editor of a number of magazines and newspapers. In 1872, her first novel, "My Roses," was published, and in 1879 her last novel, "Darlingtonia," appeared serially in the Detroit Free Press. Personal life
A poem entitled "The Lost Louisiana," which appeared in one of the New Orleans dailies, proved to be the precursor of French's marriage. John Hopkins <mask>, standing in front of the St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans, was approached by a newsboy selling the morning papers: "All about the lost 'Louisiana'!" the boy shouted.Mr. <mask>'s interest was aroused by the words "lost Louisiana." Some years before, he had been a passenger on the steamboat, "Belle of Clarksville," and had nearly died in a collision between that steamer and the "Louisiana." Besides the detailed account of the accident, the paper contained the story of the accident in verse. The poem was signed "L'Inconnue." The beauty of the verses and the name "L'Inconnue," which was already well known throughout the South, added to Mr. <mask>'s personal interest in the theme, that he clipped the poem from the paper and placed it in his wallet. Not long after, Mr. <mask> was a passenger on a steamer. A poem in a newspaper he found on board had a strange interest for him.It was entitled "One or Two? ", and the author was L'Inconnue. "Sweet, simple and musical," he thought; so different from the majestic nature of "The Lost Louisiana," still in his wallet. On the impulse of the moment, he said to himself: "I will quit this boat at Memphis. I will see L'Inconnue, and I will ask her if we shall be "One or Two?" On the day after his arrival at Memphis, while making some purchases in a bookstore, a young woman entered and bought a magazine. Mr. French was attracted by her looks, and after she walked out, he asked the salesman the name of the customer."Miss <mask> Smith," the clerk replied. Mr. <mask> was surprised as he had just seen L'Inconnue. They married on January 12, 1853, in the Episcopal Church. After an extended honeymoon, the pair returned to Tennessee, and resided at "Forest Home," near McMinnville, Tennessee, the homestead of the French family. Although her health had been frail for several months, her last illness was short. She died March 31, 1881 at "Forest Home", near McMinnville. Selected works
 1856, Wind Whispers
 1856, Istalilxo
 1856, The Lady of Tula
 1867, Legends of the South
 1872, My Roses
 1879, Darlingtonia

References

 Cathi Carmack, "<mask> <mask>,"  Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2002.Accessed August 27, 2008
"<mask>, <mask> (Smith)." American Authors 1600–1900. H. W. Wilson Company, NY, 1938. Attribution

Bibliography

External links

1825 births
1881 deaths
Poets from Virginia
Poets from Tennessee
People from Accomack County, Virginia
19th-century American women writers
19th-century American poets
Pseudonymous women writers
American women poets
American women novelists
19th-century American novelists
Novelists from Virginia
Novelists from Tennessee
People from McMinnville, Tennessee
19th-century pseudonymous writers

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