Department of Biosciences, School of Science and Engineering, Malaysia, University of Science and Technology (MUST) 12, Jalan PJU 5/5, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
ABSTRACT: Background: Cancer is still a dreadful disease, the treatment ranges with difficulties like strong side effects, shortage of donor and organs. In relation, plants and its chemical properties will provide an efficient source in the innocuous treatment for cancers. Objectives: To identify and isolate bioactive compounds from Gloriosa superba tubers and Albizia amara leaves with anti-cancer property that has traditionally been suggested as an anti-proliferative agent in ethnomedicine. Design: G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves are extracted and screened qualitatively. Extracts were then tested for antioxidant by DPPH assay. Highly potential extract with antioxidant are preceded to GCMS. The compounds determined from GCMS were selected according to its non-reported bioactive information on PubChem, and preceded against Hep-G2 and A431 cancer cell by MTT assay. Result: Ethanolic extract showed high antioxidant activity in both the plant extracts, GC-MS analysis was performed with ethanolic extracts revealing ample of phytoconstituent. Six non-reported bioactive compounds were isolated and identified using GC-MS. MTT assay was performed using isolated compounds such as 3-Hydroxy-4-methoxymandelic acid, 1-Butanone,1-(2, 4, 5 trihydroxy phenyl), 2H-1-Benzopyran, 3, 5, 6, 8 tetrahydro, β-Amyrin trimethylsilyl ether, Undecane, 2, 8-dimethyl and Octadecanoic, 2-oxo methyl ester on Hep-G2 and A431 cell lines. The optimized use of these compounds reveals apoptotic growth inhibition of 50.58% in A431 cell line and 53.42% in Hep-G2 cell line. Conclusion: The anti-cancer property of G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves as mentioned in various ethnopharmacological records, concurrently emphasize the possible bioactive compounds to treat the hepatic and squamous skin carcinoma.
INTRODUCTION: Cancer is detected by medical imaging or biopsy and it is often treated with help of radiation, surgery and chemotherapy 1. Many complementary treatments have been introduced and its use has improved dramatically around the World 2.
People find that certain complementary methods are very useful to help control toxicity and improve the quality of their lives 3. Hepatocellular carcinoma is a common type of primary liver cancer, commonly caused by cirrhosis and skin cancer is a destructive malignant cancer growth on skin 4, 5. Chemo drug therapy were used to prevent the growth and metastasis of hepatic and skin cancers 6, but the recovery rate stays low as these synthetic drugs cause side effects and metabolic suppression 7. Many medicinal plants have used to treat the cancers and tumors in early days in Indian and Chinese tradition 8.
Based on ethnomedicine surveys, Gloriosa superba and Albizia amara is used to treat liver and skin cancer 9, 10. Cancer growth is inhibited by the event of caspase-mediated cell death and it is also known as apoptosis 11. Apoptosis is a highly regulated traumatic cell death process caused by sudden cellular injury 12. The alternative products from plants provide us apoptotic induced cancer suppression with natural nontoxic metabolic activity 13.
Gloriosa superba and Albizia amara are flowering plant and are rich in alkaloids and other essential compounds 14, 15. These plants been used in the traditional therapy for various ailments 16, 17 such as piles, ulcer, snake bite, acne, pimple, cancer, leprosy and also used as antibacterial, antifungal, astringent, antidiarrheal, anti-inflammatory, emetic and anti-cancer agent 18, 19. G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves possess bio-active compounds involves extrinsic apoptotic pathway in cell signalling by ligand binding on the death receptors 20. Compounds obtained from G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves were focused in this study, as antiproliferative agents to prevent cancer cell growth and metastasis by activating caspases mediated apoptosis in squamous skin carcinoma and hepatic carcinoma cell lines 21.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Albizia amara leaves and Gloriosa superba tubers were collected from Ariyalur district, India. The collected samples were shade dried and pulverized individually. Soxhlet apparatus was setup manually and the thimble was filled with 150 gm of powdered samples. Solvents like ethanol (ET), aqueous (AQ) and benzene (BE) were used in extraction process. The solvent extracts were collected and stored in a standard mehod 22. 1 gram of each extract was dissolved in 100 ml of respective solvents and used further. The preliminary screening of phytochemicals was carried out using procedures, commonly employed with precipitation and coloration reactions to identify the occurrence of major secondary metabolites.
Antioxidant activity was determine for G. superba tubers (G) and A. amara leaves (A) extracts by DPPH assay 23, different concentration of 50 µl, 100 µl, 150 µl, 200 µl and 250 µl samples were used respectively.
The sample concentrations were incubated with 3 ml of 0.1 mM DDPH for 30 minutes in dark. After incubation, the test concentrations were observed at 517 nm in triplicate values. The extracts with highest range of antioxidant activity on comparing with other solvent extracts were subjected to Gas chromatography Mass Spectrometry, GC-MS was carried out with Perkin Elmer Turbo Mass Spectrophotometer equipment's. Perkin Elmer Elite - 5 capillary columns was used, measures about 30 m × 0.25 mm with the thickness of 0.25 mm film. The carrier gas Helium was used, with the flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. The sample injection volume was 1ml. At first, the ethanolic extract of two different plants were loaded and programmed as 110 °C for 4 min, increases to 280 °C. The total run time was 90 min for each sample. The outcome were analyzed and could able to identify a six non-reported compounds from the G. superba tubers sample and A. amara leaves sample in a specific range of retention timing (RT). PUB-CHEM library was used to identify the bioactivity of the components.
Measurement of peak areas and data processing were carried out by Turbo-Mass OCPTVS-Demo SPL software. The selected compounds from the GC-MS analysis were separated particularly by flash chromatography and mixed together. The mixed samples were run again to confirm the presence of identified six non-reported compounds. The apoptotic effect of collected sample from G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves on Hep-G2 and A431 cell lines were determined by the MTT cytotoxicity assay 25. Hep-G2 cell lines [HEPG2] (ATCC® HB-8065™) and A431 cell lines (ATCC® CRL-1555™) were purchased from ATCC, USA and the sub culturing method was followed according to ATCC procedures. Cell lines were incubated and after 48 hrs incubation, the cell reaches the confluence. Cells (1 × 105 / well) were plated in 1 ml of medium / well in 24 well plates along with samples of various concentrations 26. Then, the cells were incubated at 37 °C in the presence of various 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 µg concentrations of bioactive isolates in 0.1% DMSO for 48 hrs. 200 μl (5 mg/ml) of 0.5% 3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2- thiazolyl)- 2, 5- diphenyl- tetrazolium bromide (MTT), phosphate-buffered saline solution was added to each well and incubated for 4 hrs. The viable cells were determined by the absorbance at 570 nm. Observances were recorded and the concentration required for 50% inhibition of viability (GI50) was determined graphically. DMSO was used as blank and the wells without sample containing cells were used as control.
The effect of the samples on the proliferation of Hep-G2 was expressed as the % cell viability, using the standard formula. The results were expressed as Mean ± standard deviation (SD) and statistically compared with control group or within the groups using triplicate values. For every assay, data were evaluated for separate three independent experiments. Dose-response curves were fitted using a nonlinear-regression sigmoidal dose-response curve model provided in the Graphpad Prism software (Graphpad software, Inc., San Diego, USA). IC50 and GI50 values were derived from fitted curves for each single experiment. Finally IC - values were calculated as average of three independent experiments with the standard deviation of the mean values. Data from the different assays were statistically compared using one way ANOVA analysis with Tukey's test (n = 5) as post-ANOVA analysis (p < 0.05).
RESULT: G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves were studied for the bioactives with antiproliferative potentiality. According to ethnomedicine survey, the leaves of A. amara and tubers of G. superba were focused in anticancer study. A. amara leaves and G. Superba tuber were extracted and qualitative occurrence of various phytochemical was performed by standard preliminary phytochemical screening procedure 27. Occurrence of various phytochemicals is mentioned in below Table 1.
Further, each extract were analyzed for antioxidant test by DPPH antiscavenging assay. The inhibition percentage of A. amara leaves and G. superba tubers exhibits triplicate value of absorbance using UV-spectrophotometry at 517 nm for 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 µl concentration from both plant solvent extract as mentioned in Table 2. Values of DPPH assay was determined from standard sustained calculation using control value 1.341 ± 0.003 for A. amara leaves and 1.128 ± 0.001 for G. superba tubers. Among the three extract, AET (87.44 ± 0.172) and GET (92.19 ± 0.236) has the highest inhibition rate for 250 µl/ml.
To understand the IC50 of antioxidant, one way ANOVA non-linear line regression curve was made using 3D-PRISM software as showed in Graph 1 and 2. The AET showed IC50 value of 35.666 ± 1.473µg/ml with hill coefficient of 12.690%, followed by ABE 49.850 ± 0.450 µg/ml with the hill coefficient of 47.260% and for AAQ 97.134 ± 1.271 µg/ml with the hill coefficient of 20.710%. IC50 of GET as 42.161 ± 0.350 µg/ml with the hill coefficient of 48.850% followed by GBE of 59.710 ± 0.742 µg/ml with the hill coefficient of 44.850% and for GAQ 149.836 ± 0.954 µg/ml with the hill coefficient of 50.320%.
From the higher indication of antioxidant activity in the AET and GET, GC-MS analysis was done to identify the specific bio-active agents which perform antioxidants. The ethanol extract of both the plants were carried out for GC-MS and ample of compounds were obtained in TIC chromatogram. In a specific RT, the compounds were separated and collected. The bioactivity of the compounds was determined from the molecular database of PubChem.
The non-reported compounds were chosen to perform anticancer assay as mentioned in Table 3. Six compounds such as 3-Hydroxy-4-methoxy-mandelic acid (C1), 1-Butanone,1-(2,4,5 trihydroxy phenyl) (C2), 2H-1-Benzopyran, 3,5,6,8 tetrahydro (C3), β-Amyrin trimethylsilyl ether (C4), Undecane, 2, 8-dimethyl (C5) and Octadecanoic, 2-oxo methyl ester (C6) from ethanolic extract of both plant samples was isolated and obtained from collecting tube.
MTT assay on Hepatic Carcinoma (Hep-G2) and Squamous Skin Carcinoma (A431) cell line was performed using C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 and C6 compounds as shown in Fig. 2. The cytotoxicity effect was observed as 5.568%, 9.049%, 29.775%, 40.448% and 50.58% in A431 cell line and 12.474%, 22.362%, 32.739%, 45.073% and 53.424% in Hep-G2 cell line for the respective concentration of 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 µg/ml sample Table 4.
GI50 value for anti-cancer activity of six non-reported bioactive compounds was understood by using the 3D-PRISM software to draw one way ANOVA non-linear line regression curve n = 5, (p < 0.05). GI50 of 14.821 µg/ml in A431 cell line and 36.578 µg/ml in Hep-G2 cell line was determined as shown in Graph 3 and 4.
DISCUSSION: The preliminary phytochemical screening of G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves revealed bioactive rich compounds like alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, saponins and glycosides. Therapeutic effects of the bioactives include prevention of cardiovascular diseases and anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer activity. The screened bio actives also known as primary antioxidants compounds, which has the ability to protect against the damage caused by oxidative stress induced by free radical 28. DPPH scavenging activity was performed as it is a widely used to measure the antioxidant property of the extracts.
In radical scavenging activity, the maximum inhibition occurs in the ethanolic extract of both the plants as the ethanol absorbs the large amount of phytochemicals during extraction process. Thus we understand G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves have a good potential of antioxidant property 29, 30. The DPPH scavenging activity is visualized as the purple solution turns yellow, the antioxidant compounds from the plants extract reacts with unstable scavenging DPPH by donating extra electron to stabilize the medium. The stabilization causes the yellow colour indication shown in Fig. 3.
The GET and AET has reliable multiple bioactive compounds which is crucial to analyze for cancer preventing agent. Antioxidant is a precursor to prevent cancers and heart disease, compounds with good antioxidant can be used for GC-MS analysis. The result of GC-MS analysis reveals the presence of many bioactive components, these ample of compounds were studied precisely in various researches and the biological activities of those compounds were recorded in library.
Recorded actives of compounds provides their potentiality to prevent proliferation of cancer cell line by apoptosis, but some compounds were not yet tested and holds no record. Compounds with no report were chosen for anti-proliferative analysis of A431 skin cancer SCC cell line and Hep-G2 hepatic carcinoma cell line by MTT assay. On analyzing the GC-MS result, we could able to collect the six bioactive compounds in particular retention time obtained from TIC chromatogram Fig. 4.
MTT assay involves 24 well plate in which cancer cell line were cultivated and supplied with the six bioactive compounds shows cytotoxic activity against both cell lines. Bioactive compounds can be a novel product for apoptotic mechanism by stimulating cancer cell signalling pathways, this study doesn't provides any signalling results, but yet it proves an isolated compound can provides us an anti-proliferative agent for cancer treatment 31. Isolated compounds from G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves are identified and described as compound C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 in Fig. 4.
A431 and Hep-G2 cell lines lead apoptotic death visualized under microscopic view. Cell death was reported as the cells fails to retain it growth in media. Further studies can be assisted in cancer cell signaling pathways which provide dynamics of drug mechanism in apoptosis of hepatic carcinoma and squamous skin carcinoma cells.
CONCLUSION: According to ethno-pharmacological records, the ethanolic extract of G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves showed antioxidant property which can prevent the cancer by stabilizing the cells. Six isolated non-reported compounds such as 3-Hydroxy-4-methoxymandelic acid, 2H-1-Benzopyran, 3, 5, 6, 8 tetrahydro, β-Amyrin trimethylsilyl ether, 3- Hydroxy- 4-methoxymandelic acid Undecane, 2, 8- dimethyl, Octadecanoic acid and 2-oxo methyl ester obtained from G. superba tubers and A. amara leaves possess anticancer property on Hep-G2 and A431 cell lines. Thus G. superba and A. amara can provide an alternative drug to treat the cancer as it has the potentiality to suppress the cancer cell growth.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude to people who helped us and to Dr. Suresh M. Pharm., Ph.D Greens Med laboratory, India; for allowing us to pursue our cancer research.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: No competing financial interests exist.
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text:
A graduate of the Technical University of Aachen (RWTH), OTTO JUNKER made it a point in later life to provide students of that university's Foundry Engineering and Electrical Engineering Institutes - as well as young researchers working on their diploma or doctorate thesis - with an opportunity to gather first-hand experience in his company. In 1943, OTTO JUNKER was given the freedom of the city of Aachen. In 1962 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the university.
In 1970, Dr.-Ing. h.c. OTTO JUNKER established the Otto Junker Foundation as successor to his estate.
His objectives in setting up the foundation were essentially twofold:
On the one hand, he sought to ensure the continuity and ongoing viability of his company, while on the other he aimed to apply corporate profits towards the sustained promotion of science and research, the growing importance of which he understood at a very early stage.
When Dr.-Ing. h.c. OTTO JUNKER died childless in 1982, the Foundation - as his universal heir - inherited not merely his substantial liquid assets but also a 100% share in the OTTO JUNKER company.
The sole beneficiary of the Otto Junker Foundation is the Technical University of Aachen (RTWH), to which the founder felt closely related throughout his life. Since the start of its sponsorship programme in the mid-80s, the Foundation has made available more than € 15 million to the University of Aachen for over 100 research projects. Consistent with its charter mandate, the Foundation has also done much to promote the work and careers of young scientists. Every year, an average € 10,000 are spent on scholarships. The Otto Junker foundation thus ranks among RWTH's leading sponsors today.
The OTTO JUNKER Awards, conferred annually by the Otto Junker Foundation to RWTH graduates in recognition of outstanding academic achievement and degree work, have evolved into a noted mark of distinction and gained renown far beyond the confines of the university's immediate geographic region.
Summarizing the Foundation's sponsorship activities today, it can be stated unreservedly that Dr.-Ing. h.c. OTTO JUNKER's wish to provide lasting support to research and science has been, and will continue to be, fulfilled with determination and success.
JUNKER, Inc. 3 locations JUNKER Industrial Equipment s.r.o. OTTO JUNKER GmbH - Middle East Office OTTO JUNKER GmbH - Beijing Office OTTO JUNKER Metallurgical Equipment

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I usually link to other people's work that I find inspiring or interesting. Today I am posting a video that I created.
I went out for a photo walk around New York City today and these are some of the photos that I created.


text:
Rubio Campaign Snags Prominent Strategist Gary Marx
By Tim Alberta
About Tim Alberta
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Marco Rubio's campaign has hired Gary Marx, a prominent Republican strategist with deep ties to the evangelical world, as his senior adviser for conservative outreach, NRO has learned.
Marx was previously working on behalf of Scott Walker, and became a coveted free agent when the Wisconsin governor unexpectedly ended his campaign in September. Marx was immediately courted by several rival campaigns, but said at the time he would wait to see which candidates were long-term viable before deciding whether to jump back into the race. His decision to join Rubio should boost the senator's outreach operation — but it comes at a very late stage in the game, with Iowa's February 1 caucuses less than a month away.
A veteran of multiple White House campaigns, Marx, the president of Madison Strategies, is deeply respected in the social-conservative community. He served as conservative coalitions director on the Romney 2008 campaign, and was the point-man for evangelical outreach on the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign. Marx will join Eric Teetsel, another prominent evangelical who serves as Rubio's director of faith outreach, in selling the Florida senator to Christian activists both nationally and in the early states.
Rubio's hiring of Marx represents something of a strategic counterpunch against Ted Cruz, who made evangelical outreach the cornerstone of his campaign and has been vacuuming up endorsements from high-profile Christian conservatives. Both candidates understand the stakes: self-described evangelicals account for more than half of the primary electorate in both Iowa and South Carolina. Cruz, who launched his candidacy at Liberty University, got a head start on Rubio (and the rest of the field) in terms of courting these voters. But Rubio's team insists they want to peak at the right time — and point to his recent, intensive outreach to Christian activists and organizations, which was missing for much of the campaign. Now, with just weeks until Iowa's caucuses, he's hired Marx.
Rubio's team would say it's perfect timing; Cruz's campaign would argue it's too little, too late. We'll know soon enough who's right.
@TimAlberta


text:
Charles Marshall is, without a doubt, one of the funniest and most original corporate comedians performing today. His material is clever enough to tickle the funny bone of the most demanding comedy fan, yet relatable enough for practically anyone to enjoy. Through his contagious humor, outrageous insight, and refreshing perspective, Charles effectively communicates as a corporate speaker on various topics.
With every performance Charles takes his audience on a comedic roller coaster ride, exploring every subject from product names, commercials and growing up, to dating and family life.
With over 25 years of experience behind him, Charles has mastered the art of combining a professional stage presence with the warmth that endears him to audiences. His appeal is a universal one, touching the hearts of young and old alike. A predominant reason for his success is the relativity of his insights to everyday life. His style is distinctive, original, and refreshing.
In addition to his reputation for excellence and originality, Charles is also known for his ability to produce roll-in-the-aisles humor while avoiding all vulgarities and obscenities. An upbeat comic, Charles is adept at involving his audiences and an expert at finding the humor in the minutiae of life. He is truly a craftsman who tailors his events to meet the needs of his host for each occasion.
Charles attributes much of his popularity to his ability to work as a clean comedian and provide an alternative to the blue humor of today's comics.
With his contagious humor, outrageous insight, and refreshing perspective, Charles is becoming a major force in the comedy industry today. Without a doubt, Charles stands and delivers!
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Vice President, Civitan International
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Hey guise, I just want to point out the following part in this post as excellent, and as what we're doing. Philosophy, real philosophy, is a young field (we really haven't moved that far forward in the last 2000 years as the majority of academic philosophers really only do commentary on the "Old Masters").
The field of communicating insights is even younger. We're building the framework, the stack upon which others will be able to build upon. Anyway, thought I should share because it's how I see what we do.
Here's an analogy for all of you. I think it's the best one I've come up with so far:You're reading Where's Waldo (Wally if you're European), because you're awesome and still enjoy fun kid things.


When elderly witch Enid Pettywood unwittingly summons a demon to Silver Hollow, it's up to Issy Quinn and her cousins to send it back before the committee finds out. Summoning a demon is a serious offense and no one wants to see Enid suffer the punishment the committee is sure to hand down.
But a simple plan of vanquishing the pesky demon before anyone notices goes awry when the demon makes the leap from wreaking havoc with the town's electrical circuits to possessing a human. Even worse, it uses that human to commit murder. When another murder attempt is made, it quickly becomes clear that the demon is looking for a permanent human host… and the Quinn witches have only three days to stop it.
With the town Sheriff investigating the murder, Issy has to avoid casting suspicion on herself while trying to track down the demon and dodge Dex Nolan, the government agent sent to town to study paranormals. Too bad Issy can't seem to forget the stolen kiss she and Dex shared because she has no intention of getting involved with a human.
When the demon's evil intentions hit too close to home, Issy is forced to make a sacrifice that may haunt her for the rest of her days. Will she be able to stop the demon before it's kills again?


We have created an entire set of easy-to-understand yet very detailed articles on how to manage allergies using all natural solutions.
Choose natural and home remedies first before using prescription medications. Prescription medications do not address the underlying cause of the allergies.
As well, there are fewer side effects from natural remedies than from using prescription medications.


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Eminent Victorians
Chapter I.
Chapter IV.
Chapter V.
Chapter VII.
Chapter VIII.
IN that gaunt and gloomy building-- more like a barracks than an Episcopal palace-- Archbishop's House, Westminster, Manning's existence stretched itself out into an extreme old age. As his years increased, his activities, if that were possible, increased too. Meetings, missions, lectures, sermons, articles, interviews, letters-- such things came upon him in redoubled multitudes, and were dispatched with an unrelenting zeal. But this was not all; with age, he seemed to acquire what was almost a new fervour, an unaccustomed, unexpected, freeing of the spirit, filling him with preoccupations which he had hardly felt before. 'They say I am ambitious,' he noted in his Diary, 'but do I rest in my ambition?'
No, assuredly he did not rest; but he worked now with no arriere pensee for the greater glory of God. A kind of frenzy fell upon him. Poverty, drunkenness, vice, all the horrors and terrors of our civilisation seized upon his mind, and urged him forward to new fields of action and new fields of thought. The temper of his soul assumed almost a revolutionary cast. 'I am a Mosaic Radical,' he exclaimed; and, indeed, in the exaltation of his energies, the incoherence of his conceptions, the democratic urgency of his desires, combined with his awe-inspiring aspect and his venerable age, it was easy enough to trace the mingled qualities of the patriarch, the prophet, and the demagogue. As, in his soiled and shabby garments, the old man harangued the crowds of Bermondsey or Peckham upon the virtues of Temperance, assuring them, with all the passion of conviction, as a final argument, that the majority of the Apostles were total abstainers, this Prince of the Church might have passed as a leader of the Salvation Army. His popularity was immense, reaching its height during the great Dock Strikes of 1889, when, after the victory of the men was assured, Manning was able, by his persuasive eloquence and the weight of his character, to prevent its being carried to excess. After other conciliators-- among whom was the Bishop of London-- had given up the task in disgust, the octogenarian Cardinal worked on with indefatigable resolution. At last, late at night, in the schools in Kirby Street, Bermondsey, he rose to address the strikers. An enthusiastic eye-witness has described the scene: 'Unaccustomed tears glistened in the eyes of his rough and work-stained hearers as the Cardinal raised his hand and solemnly urged them not to prolong one moment more than they could help the perilous uncertainty and the sufferings of their wives and children. Just above his uplifted hand was a figure of the Madonna and Child; and some among the men tell how a sudden light seemed to swim around it as the speaker pleaded for the women and children. When he sat down all in the room knew that he had won the day, and that, so far as the Strike Committee was concerned, the matter was at an end.'
In those days, there were strange visitors at the Archbishop's House. Careful priests and conscientious secretaries wondered what the world was coming to when they saw labour leaders like M.r John Burns and Mr. Ben Tillett, and land-reformers like Mr. Henry George, being ushered into the presence of his Eminence. Even the notorious Mr. Stead appeared, and his scandalous paper with its unspeakable revelations lay upon the Cardinal's table. This proved too much for one of the faithful tonsured dependents of the place, and he ventured to expostulate with his master. But he never did so again.
When the guests were gone, and the great room was empty, the old man would draw himself nearer to the enormous fire, and review once more, for the thousandth time, the long adventure of his life. He would bring out his diaries and his memoranda, he would rearrange his notes, he would turn over again the yellow leaves of faded correspondences; seizing his pen, he would pour out his comments and reflections, and fill, with an extraordinary solicitude, page after page with elucidations, explanations, justifications, of the vanished incidents of a remote past. He would snip with scissors the pages of ancient journals, and with delicate ecclesiastical fingers, drop unknown mysteries into the flames.
Sometimes he would turn to the four red folio scrapbooks with their collection of newspaper cuttings, concerning himself, over a
period of thirty years. Then the pale cheeks would flush and the close-drawn lips would grow even more menacing than before. 'Stupid, mulish malice,' he would note. 'Pure lying--conscious, deliberate and designed.' 'Suggestive lying. Personal animosity is at the bottom of this.'
And then he would suddenly begin to doubt. After all, where was he? What had he accomplished? Had any of it been worthwhile? Had he not been out of the world all his life! Out of the world! 'Croker's "Life and Letters", and Hayward's "Letters",' he notes, 'are so full of politics, literature, action, events, collision of mind with mind, and that with such a multitude of men in every state of life, that when I look back, it seems as if I had been simply useless.' And again, 'The complete isolation and exclusion from the official life of England in which I have lived, makes me feel as if I had done nothing'. He struggled to console himself with the reflexion that all this was only 'the natural order'. 'If the natural order is moved by the supernatural order, then I may not have done nothing. Fifty years of witness for God and His Truth, I hope, has not been in vain.' But the same thoughts recurred. 'In reading Macaulay's life I had a haunting feeling that his had been a life of public utility and mine a vita umbratilis, a life in the shade.' Ah! it was God's will. 'Mine has been a life of fifty years out of the world as Gladstone's has been in it. The work of his life in this world is manifest. I hope mine may be in the next. I suppose our Lord called me out of the world because He saw that I should lose my soul in it.' Clearly, that was the explanation.
And yet he remained sufficiently in the world to discharge with absolute efficiency the complex government of his diocese almost up to the last moment of his existence. Though his bodily strength gradually ebbed, the vigour of his mind was undismayed. At last, supported by cushions, he continued, by means of a dictated correspondence, to exert his accustomed rule. Only occasionally would he lay aside his work to plunge into the yet more necessary duties of devotion. Never again would he preach; never again would he put into practice those three salutary rules of his in choosing a subject for a sermon: '(1) asking God to guide the choice; (2) applying the matter to myself; (3) making the sign of the cross on my head and heart and lips in honour of the Sacred Mouth;' but he could still pray; he could turn especially to the Holy Ghost. 'A very simple but devout person,' he wrote in one of his latest memoranda, 'asked me why in my first volume of sermons I said so little about the Holy Ghost. I was not aware of it; but I found it to be true. I at once resolved that I would make a reparation every day of my life to the Holy Ghost. This I have never failed to do to this day. To this I owe the light and faith which brought me into the truefold. I bought all the books I could about the Holy Ghost. I worked out the truths about His personality, His presence, and His office. This made me understand the last paragraph in the Apostles' Creed, and made me a Catholic Christian.'
So, though Death came slowly, struggling step by step with that bold and tenacious spirit, when he did come at last the Cardinal was ready. Robed in his archiepiscopal vestments, his rochet, his girdle, and his mozzetta, with the scarlet biretta on his head, and the pectoral cross upon his breast, he made his solemn Profession of Faith in the Holy Roman Church. A crowd of lesser dignitaries, each in the garments of his office, attended the ceremonial. The Bishop of Salford held up the Pontificale and the Bishop of Amycla bore the wax taper. The provost of Westminster, on his knees, read aloud the Profession of Faith, surrounded by the Canons of the Diocese. Towards those who gathered about him, the dying man was still able to show some signs of recognition, and even, perhaps, of affection; yet it seemed that his chief preoccupation, up to the very end, was with his obedience to the rules prescribed by the Divine Authority. 'I am glad to have been able to do everything in due order', were among his last words. 'Si fort qu'on soit,' says one of the profoundest of the observers of the human heart, 'on peut eprouver le besoin de s'incliner devant quelqu'un ou quelque chose. S'incliner devant Dieu, c'est toujours le moins humiliant.'
Manning died on January 14th, 1892, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. A few days later Mr. Gladstone took occasion, in a letter to a friend, to refer to his relations with the late Cardinal. Manning's conversion was, he said, 'altogether the severest blow that ever befell me. In a late letter the Cardinal termed it a quarrel, but in my reply I told him it was not a quarrel, but a death; and that was the truth. Since then there have been vicissitudes. But I am quite certain that to the last his personal feelings never changed; and I believe also that he kept a promise made in 1851, to remember me before God at the most solemn moments; a promise which I greatly valued. The whole subject is to me at once of extreme interest and of considerable restraint.' 'His reluctance to die,' concluded Mr. Gladstone, 'may be explained by an intense anxiety to complete unfulfilled service.'
The funeral was the occasion of a popular demonstration such as has rarely been witnessed in the streets of London. The route of the procession was lined by vast crowds of working people, whose imaginations, in some instinctive manner, had been touched. Many who had hardly seen him declared that in Cardinal Manning they had lost their best friend. Was it the magnetic vigour of the dead man's spirit that moved them? Or was it his valiant disregard of common custom and those conventional reserves and poor punctilios which are wont to hem about the great? Or was it something untameable in his glances and in his gestures? Or was it, perhaps, the mysterious glamour lingering about him, of the antique organisation of Rome? For whatever cause, the mind of the people had been impressed; and yet, after all, the impression was more acute than lasting. The Cardinal's memory is a dim thing today. And he who descends into the crypt of that Cathedral which Manning never lived to see, will observe, in the quiet niche with the sepulchral monument, that the dust lies thick on the strange, the incongruous, the almost impossible object which, with its elaborations of dependent tassels, hangs down from the dim vault like some forlorn and forgotten trophy-- the Hat.
E. S. Purcell. Life of Cardinal Manning. A. W. Hutton. Cardinal Manning. J. E. C. Bodley. Cardinal Manning and Other Essays. F. W. Cornish. The English Church in the Nineteenth Century. Dean Church. The Oxford Movement. Sir J. T. Coleridge. Memoir of the Rev. John Keble. Hurrell Froude. Remains. Cardinal Newman. Letters and Correspondence in the English Church. Apologia pro Vita Sua. Wilfrid Ward. Life of Cardinal Newman. W. G. Ward and the Oxford Movement. W. G. Ward and the Catholic Revival. Life of Cardinal Wiseman. H. P. Liddon. Life of E. B. Pusey. Tracts for the Times, by Members of the University of Oxford. Lord Morley. Life of Gladstone. Lives of the Saints, edited by J. H. Newman. Herbert Paul. Life of J.A. Froude. Mark Pattison. Autobiography. T. Mozley. Letters from Rome on the Occasion of the Oecumenical Council. Lord Acton. Letters. H. L. Smith and V. Nash. The Story of the Dockers' Strike.
EVERY one knows the popular conception of Florence Nightingale. The saintly, self-sacrificing woman, the delicate maiden of high degree who threw aside the pleasures of a life of ease to succour the afflicted; the Lady with the Lamp, gliding through the horrors of the hospital at Scutari, and consecrating with the radiance of her goodness the dying soldier's couch. The vision is familiar to all-- but the truth was different. The Miss Nightingale of fact was not as facile as fancy painted her. She worked in another fashion and towards another end; she moved under the stress of an impetus which finds no place in the popular imagination. A Demon possessed her. Now demons, whatever else they may be, are full of interest. And so it happens that in the real Miss Nightingale there was more that was interesting than in the legendary one; there was also less that was agreeable.
Her family was extremely well-to-do, and connected by marriage with a spreading circle of other well-to-do families. There was a large country house in Derbyshire; there was another in the New Forest; there were Mayfair rooms for the London season and all its finest parties; there were tours on the Continent with even more than the usual number of Italian operas and of glimpses at the celebrities of Paris. Brought up among such advantages, it was only natural to suppose that Florence would show a proper appreciation of them by doing her duty in that state of life unto which it had pleased God to call her--in other words, by marrying, after a fitting number of dances and dinner-parties, an eligible gentleman, and living happily ever afterwards. Her sister, her cousins, all the young ladies of her acquaintance, were either getting ready to do this or had already done it.
It was inconceivable that Florence should dream of anything else; yet dream she did. Ah! To do her duty in that state of life unto which it had pleased God to call her! Assuredly, she would not be behindhand in doing her duty; but unto what state of life HAD it pleased God to call her? That was the question. God's calls are many, and they are strange. Unto what state of life had it pleased Him to call Charlotte Corday, or Elizabeth of Hungary? What was that secret voice in her ear, if it was not a call? Why had she felt, from her earliest years, those mysterious promptings towards... she hardly knew what, but certainly towards something very different from anything around her? Why, as a child in the nursery, when her sister had shown a healthy pleasure in tearing her dolls to pieces, had SHE shown an almost morbid one in sewing them up again? Why was she driven now to minister to the poor in their cottages, to watch by sick-beds, to put her dog's wounded paw into elaborate splints as if it was a human being? Why was her head filled with queer imaginations of the country house at Embley turned, by some enchantment, into a hospital, with herself as matron moving about among the beds? Why was even her vision of heaven itself filled with suffering patients to whom she was being useful? So she dreamed and wondered, and, taking out her diary, she poured into it the agitations of her soul. And then the bell rang, and it was time to go and dress for dinner.
As the years passed, a restlessness began to grow upon her. She was unhappy, and at last she knew it. Mrs. Nightingale, too, began to notice that there was something wrong. It was very odd-- what could be the matter with dear Flo? Mr. Nightingale suggested that a husband might be advisable; but the curious thing was that she seemed to take no interest in husbands. And with her attractions, and her accomplishments, too! There was nothing in the world to prevent her making a really brilliant match. But no! She would think of nothing but how to satisfy that singular craving of hers to be DOING something. As if there was not plenty to do in any case, in the ordinary way, at home. There was the china to look after, and there was her father to be read to after dinner. Mrs. Nightingale could not understand it; and then one day her perplexity was changed to consternation and alarm. Florence announced an extreme desire to go to Salisbury Hospital for several months as a nurse; and she confessed to some visionary plan of eventually setting up in a house of her own in a neighbouring village, and there founding 'something like a Protestant Sisterhood, without vows, for women of educated feelings'. The whole scheme was summarily brushed aside as preposterous; and Mrs. Nightingale, after the first shock of terror, was able to settle down again more or less comfortably to her embroidery. But Florence, who was now twenty-five and felt that the dream of her life had been shattered, came near to desperation.
And, indeed, the difficulties in her path were great. For not only was it an almost unimaginable thing in those days for a woman of means to make her own way in the world and to live in independence, but the particular profession for which Florence was clearly marked out both by her instincts and her capacities was at that time a peculiarly disreputable one. A 'nurse' meant then a coarse old woman, always ignorant, usually dirty, often brutal, a Mrs. Gamp, in bunched-up sordid garments, tippling at the brandy bottle or indulging in worse irregularities. The nurses in the hospitals were especially notorious for immoral conduct; sobriety was almost unknown among them; and they could hardly be trusted to carry out the simplest medical duties.
Certainly, things HAVE changed since those days; and that they have changed is due, far more than to any other human being, to Miss Nightingale herself. It is not to be wondered at that her parents should have shuddered at the notion of their daughter devoting her life to such an occupation. 'It was as if,' she herself said afterwards, 'I had wanted to be a kitchen-maid.' Yet the want, absurd and impracticable as it was, not only remained fixed immovably in her heart, but grew in intensity day by day. Her wretchedness deepened into a morbid melancholy. Everything about her was vile, and she herself, it was clear, to have deserved such misery, was even viler than her surroundings. Yes, she had sinned--'standing before God's judgment seat'. 'No one,' she declared, 'has so grieved the Holy Spirit'; of that she was quite certain. It was in vain that she prayed to be delivered from vanity and hypocrisy, and she could not bear to smile or to be gay, 'because she hated God to hear her laugh, as if she had not repented of her sin'.
A weaker spirit would have been overwhelmed by the load of such distresses-- would have yielded or snapped. But this extraordinary young woman held firm, and fought her way to victory. With an amazing persistency, during the eight years that followed her rebuff over Salisbury Hospital, she struggled and worked and planned. While superficially she was carrying on the life of a brilliant girl in high society, while internally she was a prey to the tortures of regret and of remorse, she yet possessed the energy to collect the knowledge and to undergo the experience which alone could enable her to do what she had determined she would do in the end. In secret she devoured the reports of medical commissions, the pamphlets of sanitary authorities, the histories of hospitals and homes. She spent the intervals of the London season in ragged schools and workhouses. When she went abroad with her family, she used her spare time so well that there was hardly a great hospital in Europe with which she was not acquainted; hardly a great city whose shims she had not passed through. She managed to spend some days in a convent school in Rome, and some weeks as a 'Soeur de Charite' in Paris. Then, while her mother and sister were taking the waters at Carlsbad, she succeeded in slipping off to a nursing institution at Kaiserswerth, where she remained for more than three months. This was the critical event of her life. The experience which she gained as a nurse at Kaiserswerth formed the foundation of all her future action and finally fixed her in her career.
But one other trial awaited her. The allurements of the world she had brushed aside with disdain and loathing; she had resisted the subtler temptation which, in her weariness, had sometimes come upon her, of devoting her baffled energies to art or literature; the last ordeal appeared in the shape of a desirable young man. Hitherto, her lovers had been nothing to her but an added burden and a mockery; but now-- for a moment-- she wavered. A new feeling swept over her--a feeling which she had never known before-- which she was never to know again. The most powerful and the profoundest of all the instincts of humanity laid claim upon her. But it rose before her, that instinct, arrayed--how could it be otherwise?-- in the inevitable habiliments of a Victorian marriage; and she had the strength to stamp it underfoot. 'I have an intellectual nature which requires satisfaction,' she noted, 'and that would find it in him. I have a passionate nature which requires satisfaction, and that would find it in him. I have a moral, an active nature which requires satisfaction, and that would not find it in his life. Sometimes I think that I will satisfy my passionate nature at all events. ...'
But no, she knew in her heart that it could not be. 'To be nailed to a continuation and exaggeration of my present life ... to put it out of my power ever to be able to seize the chance of forming for myself a true and rich life'--that would be a suicide. She made her choice, and refused what was at least a certain happiness for a visionary good which might never come to her at all. And so she returned to her old life of waiting and bitterness. 'The thoughts and feelings that I have now,' she wrote, 'I can remember since I was six years old. A profession, a trade, a necessary occupation, something to fill and employ all my faculties, I have always felt essential to me, I have always longed for. The first thought I can remember, and the last, was nursing work; and in the absence of this, education work, but more the education of the bad than of the young... Everything has been tried-- foreign travel, kind friends, everything. My God! What is to become of me?' A desirable young man? Dust and ashes! What was there desirable in such a thing as that? 'In my thirty-first year,' she noted in her diary, 'I see nothing desirable but death.'
Three more years passed, and then at last the pressure of time told; her family seemed to realise that she was old enough and strong enough to have her way; and she became the superintendent of a charitable nursing home in Harley Street. She had gained her independence, though it was in a meagre sphere enough; and her mother was still not quite resigned: surely Florence might at least spend the summer in the country. At times, indeed, among her intimates, Mrs. Nightingale almost wept. 'We are ducks,' she said with tears in her eyes, 'who have hatched a wild swan.' But the poor lady was wrong; it was not a swan that they had hatched, it was an eagle.


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Saab removes its risk in regional aircraft lease portfolio
Saab removes its risk in regional aircraft lease portfolio Saab announces a Financial Risk Insurance Program which will isolate the performance of its existing portfolio from future risk and volatility in the regional aircraft market The insurers are a consortium of highly rated international insurance companies. Income guaranteed through insurance is USD 1,170 m. after deduction of a 10 % first loss borne by the insured. The transaction cost is USD 43 m. after tax and is covered by current provisions. The Saab aircraft lease portfolio consists of 302 Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft on lease with 30 airlines world-wide. The insurance policy covers 203 Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft. The 99 Saab 340 aircraft not included in the policy represent minimum exposure for Saab since 57 are funded with non-recourse long term loans and 42 are covered by asset value insurance issued by EKN, the Swedish government agency for Export Guarantees. The policy secures the deemed lease income for the 203 aircraft during the coming 15 years from market cycles, competition, obsolescence and customer default. The market value of the portfolio's contracted and expected lease income and the associated financing outflow obligations balance with the present provision. The insurance policy has been implemented under the leadership of BAE SYSTEMS using MMC Enterprise Risk, an operating entity of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) as the insurance broker. The policy is based upon the Financial Risk Insurance Program entered into in 1998 by BAE SYSTEMS for its regional aircraft portfolio. Saab will continue to manage the placement of its regional aircraft portfolio to enhance shareholder value by minimizing its first loss position and also by maximizing income. Bengt Halse, CEO of Saab, said: - "Whilst we believe we have adequately provided against the downside risk for our regional aircraft, recognizing the time scales over which this activity must be assessed, and the cyclicality of this activity it is prudent to draw a line under our exposure in this way. Our focus is on enhancing income from the Saab fleet and servicing our customer needs, thus delivering added value to our shareholders." Peter Sandehed, Senior Vice President Corporate Treasury, said: - "This strengthens Saab's financial position by virtually eliminating the downside risk from the fleet of regional aircraft, and takes away the uncertanities around the valuation of the leasing portfolio." Peter added: - "We are pleased to have worked with BAE SYSTEMS and MMC Enterprise Risk as our advisors as well as with our lead re-insurers - Winterthur International Strategic Risk Solutions, Swiss Re New Markets, Mitsui Marine International and AMBAC - to achieve this highly innovative approach to managing aircraft risk using the international insurance markets." Saab is northern Europe's leading high technology company, mainly active in the defense, aviation and space industry, and offers advanced products and systems based on sophisticated information technology. The business areas within Saab are Infomatics, Aerospace, Dynamics, Technical Support and Services, Space and Aviation Services. For further information please contact: Peter Sandehed, Senior Vice President Corporate Treasury tel. +46 13 18 21 12 Agneta Kammeby, Manager Investor Relations tel. +46 13 18 71 25 www.saab.se ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/11/24/20001124BIT00030/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/11/24/20001124BIT00030/bit0002.pdf
Saab Provides Camouflage Systems to France
Saab has signed a framework contract for the supply of its Barracuda multispectral camouflage systems with the French defence procurement agency, Direction générale de l'armement (DGA). The contract includes the delivery of new camouflage systems as well as a system adaptation phase in cooperation with the DGA. The contract is for eight years and provides for annual deliveries.
Saab to Deliver Upgrade for Hungarian Gripen Fleet
The Hungarian Government Commissioner Office responsible for defence development and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) have successfully completed the negotiations for the MS20 Block 2 capability upgrade to the Hungarian fleet of Gripen fighter aircraft. Saab will deliver the upgrade.
Lithuania Joins Framework Agreement on Carl-Gustaf
Saab has signed a framework agreement with the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence for the Carl-Gustaf® M4 weapon and ammunition. A first order for ammunition with a value of approximately SEK 150 million was placed by the Lithuanian Defence Materiel Agency in connection with the signing of the framework agreement.


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Alison Wilson thinks she is happily married until her husband Alec dies and a woman turns up on her doorstep claiming that she is the real Mrs. Wilson. Alison is determined to prove the validity of her own marriage – and her husband's love for her – but is instead led into a world of disturbing secrets.
Based on the remarkable story of Ruth Wilson's grandparents.
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Disgraced poet Ted Wallace is summoned to his friend's country manor to investigate a series of unexplained miracles.
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Djata is a care-free 12-year-old growing up in a brutal dictatorship shut off from the outside world. When the government imprisons his father, Peter, and Djata and his mother Hannah are labeled traitors, the boy will not rest until he sees his father again.
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Read Game of Queens Online
Authors: Sarah Gristwood
Game of Queens
BOOK: Game of Queens
4.4Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
As religion divided sixteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary group of women – queens, consorts and thinkers – rose to power. Despite finding themselves on opposing sides of power struggles both armed and otherwise, through family ties and patronage they educated and supported each other in a brutal world where the price of failure was disgrace, exile or even death. Theirs was a unique culture of feminine power that saw them run the continent for decades. And yet, as the sixteenth century waned the Virgin Queen of England found herself virtually alone as a ruler — a queen surrounded by kings once more.
From mother to daughter and mentor to protégée, Sarah Gristwood follows the passage of power from Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu through Anne Boleyn – the woman who tipped England into religious reform – and on to Elizabeth I and Jeanne d'Albret, heroine of the Protestant Reformation. Unravelling a gripping historical narrative, she reveals the unorthodox practices adopted by these women in the face of challenges that retain an all-too familiar aspect today, and assesses their impact on the era that began the shaping of the modern world. Epic in scale, this game of queens is a remarkable spectacle of skill and ingenuity.
For my eldest niece, Emily West
Illustration Credits
Game of Queens: Who's Who
PART I: 1474–1513
1 Entrance
2 'Lessons for my Daughter'
3 Youthful experience
4 'Fate is very cruel to women'
5 Princess Brides
6 Repositioning
7 'False imputations'
8 Flodden
PART II: 1514–1521
9 Wheel of Fortune
10 'a splendid New Year's gift'
11 'One of the lowest-brought ladies'
12 'inestimable and praiseworthy services'
13 The Field of Cloth of Gold
14 Repercussions
PART III: 1522–1536
15 'Wild for to hold'
16 Pavia
17 'a true, loyal mistress and friend'
18 New pieces on the board
19 'ladies might well come forward'
20 The Ladies' Peace
21 Exits and entrances
22 'Thus it will be'
23 'a native-born Frenchwoman'
24 'inclined towards the Gospel'
25 'to doubt the end'
PART IV: 1537–1553
26 Daughters in jeopardy
27 Pawns and princesses
28 New winds
29 Accommodations
30 'device for the succession'
PART V: 1553–1560
31 'Herculean daring'
32 'not one year of rest'
33 Sisters and rivals
34 'if God is with us'
35 'maidenly estate'
36 Trouble in Scotland
PART VI: 1560–1572
37 'Rancour and division'
38 'Two Queens in One Isle'
39 Challenge and conciliation
40 'Majesty and love do not sit well together'
41 'daughter of debate'
42 The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Day
PART VII: 1572 onwards
43 Turning points
44 Prise
Plate Section
A note on sources
Game of Chess
, 1555, Anguissola, Sofonisba (c.1532–1625): Museum Narodowe, Poznan, Poland/Bridgeman Images.
Isabella of Castile, Ms 604/1339 f.64v King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, from the 'Devotionary of Queen Juana the Mad', c.1482 (vellum): Musee Conde, Chantilly, France/Bridgeman Images.
Anne de Beaujeu, detail of the right leaf of the Triptych of the Virgin in glory, 1498–1499, by Jean Hey or Hay (ca.1475–ca.1505), known as the Master of Moulins, sacristy of the church of Notre-Dame in Moulins, France: DeAgostini/Getty Images.
The Field of the Cloth of Gold
: Wikimedia Commons.
Margaret of Austria, c.1490 (oil on oak panel), Master of Moulins (Jean Hey), (fl.c.1483–c.1529): Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA/Bridgeman Images.
Manuscript miniature showing french queen Louise of Savoy: PVDE/Bridgeman Images.
Marguerite of Navarre, c.1527, by Jean Clouet (c.1485–1541), found in the collection of Walker Art Gallery: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images.
Margaret Tudor: Sir Francis Ogilvy/The National Library of Scotland.
Anne Boleyn, 1534 (oil on panel), English School: Hever Castle, Kent, UK/Bridgeman Images.
Katherine of Aragon: Universal History Archive/Getty Images.
Elizabeth I when a Princess, c.1546, attributed to William Scrots (1537–53): Royal Collection Trust/© Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.
Queen Mary I (1516–58) 1554 (oil on panel), Mor, Anthonis van Dashorst (Antonio Moro) (c.1519–1576/77): Prado, Madrid, Spain/Bridgeman Images.
An Allegory of Tudor Succession: The Family of Henry VIII
Mary of Guise (1515–1560), 1537, found in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images.
Mary of Austria (a.k.a. Mary of Hungary), c.1520 (oil on vellum on panel), Maler, Hans or Johan (fl.1510–1523): Society of Antiquaries of London, UK/Bridgeman Images.
Margaret of Parma: Stedelijk Museum 'Het Prinsenhof', Delft, Netherlands/Lessing Images.
Jeanne d'Albret: Peter Horree/Alamy Stock Photo.
Catherine de Medici (1519–89) (oil on panel), French School: Musee Conde, Chantilly, France/Bridgeman Images.
François Dubois (1529–1584) – St. Bartholomew's Night, August 24, 1572: DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images.
Elizabeth I: His Grace the Duke of Bedford and the Trustees of the Bedford Estates, from the Woburn Abbey Collection.
Portrait of Mary Queen of Scots by François Clouet (1510–1572): World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo.
Game of Queens: Who's Who
Spain and the Habsburg Empire
Isabella of Castile (1451–1504)
Queen Regnant of Castile from 1474, Isabella's marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452–1516) united the two main Spanish kingdoms. They famously ruled together as the mighty Catholic monarchs, producing only a short-lived son but several influential daughters. On Isabella's death Castile was inherited by their eldest surviving daughter, Juana 'the Mad' (1479–1555), but Ferdinand proved reluctant to lose his power in that kingdom.
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459–1519)
After his marriage to Mary of Burgundy (1457–1482), ruling duchess of what would later be known as the Netherlands, Maximilian's ambition was to unite as much of Europe as possible under the hands of his Habsburg family. The marriage of his son Philip of Burgundy (1478–1506) to Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter Juana produced (among other children) the future Charles V.
Margaret 'of Austria' (1480–1530)
Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy also had a daughter, Margaret. Contracted to the young French king Charles VIII, she was sent as a toddler to be raised in that country. When that alliance collapsed she married Isabella and Ferdinand's son and heir Juan and then, after his early death, the Duke of Savoy. But when he too died she returned to the Netherlands, which she ruled as regent for many years on behalf of her nephew Charles; the twelve-year-old Anne Boleyn was one of her maids.
Charles V (1500–1558)
Charles inherited the Austrian lands of his paternal grandfather Maximilian, as well as the elective title of Holy Roman Emperor, which Maximilian also held, the Burgundian inheritance of his father Philip (the Netherlands), the Castile of his mother Juana and the Aragon of his maternal grandfather Ferdinand, to say nothing of lands in the New World. He found the inheritance personally wearing and ultimately ceded the Austrian lands, power in Eastern Europe and eventually leadership of the Holy Roman Empire to his younger brother Ferdinand (1503–1564). This concentration of territories into the hands of one family established the Habsburg dominance of the sixteenth century.
Mary 'of Hungary' (1505–1558)
Another sibling of Charles V and Ferdinand, Mary was married to the King of Hungary until the Battle of Jarnac made her a youthful widow. She then held Habsburg power on Ferdinand's behalf against the advance of the Ottoman Turks. The niece of Margaret of Austria, who brought her up, she then became Margaret's successor as Regent of the Netherlands. Mary's three sisters all became queens consort: Eleanor (1498–1558) first of Portugal, then of France, Isabella (1501–1526) of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and Catherine (Catalina, 1507–1578) of Portugal, which she later ruled as regent.
Christina of Denmark (1521–1590)
Daughter of Isabella and her husband King Christian of Denmark, after her father was deposed Christina was raised by Isabella's aunt Margaret of Austria and sister Mary of Hungary. Married first to the Duke of Milan and then the Duke of Lorraine, she was considered as a possible bride for Henry VIII of England. She was a determined player on the European political scene, attempting to regain her father's Scandinavian kingdoms, and a key negotiator of the important Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis.
Beach Ride by Bonnie Bryant
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
Dead Ends (Main Street Mysteries Book 2) by Sandra Balzo
Love on the Rocks (with Salt) by Charlene Ross
Edsel Grizzler by James Roy
Sharing Steven - A Tale of Roles and Passion (The Education of Steven - Book 1) by Owens, Marilyn
Faerie Magic by Emma L. Adams
Showdown at Dead End Canyon by Robert Vaughan
Awake by Egan Yip
The Treasure by Iris Johansen


text:
Vere Henry Louis Foster (or Lewis) (25 April 1819 – 21 December 1900) was an English educationist and philanthropist.

Life
Born in Copenhagen on 25 April 1819, he was the third son of Sir Augustus John Foster, 1st Baronet and his wife, Albinia Jane (died 28 May 1867), daughter of George Vere Hobart, and granddaughter of George Hobart, 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Eton College, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 30 May 1838.

Leaving Oxford without a degree, Foster joined the diplomatic service. From 1842 to 1843 he was attached to the diplomatic mission of Sir Henry Ellis in Rio de Janeiro, and from 1845 to 1847 to that of Sir William Gore Ouseley in Montevideo.

In 1847 Foster visited a family estate in County Louth, Ireland at the time of the Great Famine, with his eldest brother, Sir Frederick George Foster. They became involved in famine relief. In 1848 their father died, Vere Foster underwent a crisis in his life, and he came to concentrate on philanthropy in Ireland.

Foster made three voyages to the United States as a steerage passenger in a ship of emigrants, finding the accommodation bad, and the treatment of emigrants exploitative. Through his cousin Vere Hobart, Lord Hobart he was able to influence parliament, and the Passengers Act 1851. He also took practical steps to promote Irish emigration to the USA.

Later, Foster took up the improvement of education in Ireland. This was a time of Catholic suspicion of the national education system introduced by Richard Whately. Foster contributed to the provision of better school accommodation and apparatus, and gave grants in aid of building several hundred new school-houses.

In 1879, with the Land War in Ireland, Foster concentrated on promoting female emigration to the United States and the British colonies. Young women were assisted, numbering 18,000 in 1880–3. He was supported in his projects by both Catholic and Protestant clergy.

Foster died, unmarried, at Belfast on 21 December 1900. He was buried in Belfast City Cemetery.

Works
Foster was known also for a series of copybooks widely used in the United Kingdom, designed for Irish pupils:

 Elementary Drawing Copybooks, 1868.
 Copybooks, 1870.
 Drawing Copybooks, 1870.
 Advanced Water-colour Drawing, 1872.
 Public School Writing Copybooks, 1881.
 Simple Lessons in Watercolour, 1883.
 Drawing Books ... in Pencil and Watercolours, 1884.
 Painting for Beginners, 1884.
 Upright Writing Charts, 1897.

In 1898 he edited, as The Two Duchesses, the family correspondence of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1757–1806) and
Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (1759–1824).

Further reading
Mary McNeill, Vere Foster, 1819–1900: An Irish Benefactor, Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971. "A publication of the Institute of Irish Studies, the Queen's University, Belfast."

References

Attribution

1819 births
1900 deaths
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
English philanthropists
English educational theorists
19th-century British philanthropists
Burials at Belfast City Cemetery
Younger sons of baronets

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Кондесуйос (, ) — одна из 8 провинций перуанского региона Арекипа. Площадь составляет 6958,4 км². Население — 18 963 человека. Столица — город Чукибамба.

География
Граничит с провинциями Ла-Уньон (на северо-западе), Кастилья (на западе), Камана (на юге), Каравели (на западе) и регионом Куско (на севере).

Административное деление
В административном отношении делится на 8 районов:
 Чукуибамба
 Андарай
 Каярани
 Чичас
 Ирай
 Рио-Гранде
 Саламанка
 Янакуиуа

Провинции региона Арекипа


Janos Acs was born in Hungary. He was born to a very musical family and was the youngest of four children. His brother also was the well known hungarian pianist as a child. His father was a music teacher and saw János Ács' talent and his outstanding sense for the details of classical music. He started studying piano and flute with his father as a small child until he entered the conservatory of Budapest and graduated from it at eighteen. Not only his remarkable talent was honored, but his wide ranging musical passion. While still young he developed a great affinity to the italian operas and in summer 1974 he went to Italy and acquired the italian nationality. He became a rehearsal pianist for operas in big italian theaters like the "Teatro alla Scala" in Milano, "La Fenice" in Venice and the "Teatro Comunale" in Florence. He was led by great conductors like Carlo-Maria Giulini, Giuseppe Patane and Claudio Abbado, for years he was the "conductor assistant" of Peter Maag. Janos Acs conducted in many of the country's opera houses and his extraordinary career began. His success in Italian Operas led to further apperiances and to his appointment as a music director of the city theater in Pretoria, South Africa. The next seven years he was the principal conductor of the Opera Colorado in Denver, USA. Back in italy in 1991 János Ács met Luciano Pavarotti and became his collaborator and conducted many of his world tour concerts in four continents. János Ács was known by Luciano Pavarotti for his sense to "complete the work of art" He always gave maximum attention to solo voices, orchestra and chorus and together with the artists he made concerts like "Pavarotti a Valencia, Under chitzen -ITZA's piramide in Mexico, Luciano Pavarotti e Roberto Carlos in Concert, Brasil, Pavarotti a Budapest, Finnland and Bilbao, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Lyon, Hannover and "Recital di Luciano Pavarotti in Spoleto" memorable. Not for nothing they were all registered for the television. From 1994 he was the artistic director of Salerno´s Municipal Teatro in Italy. The zeniths of his career went on in 1996 János Ács had the debut of the world premier of Franz Liszt's "De Profundis" together with his brother, the pianist in Milans Guiseppe Verdi Conservatory. 1998 he accompanied Aretha Franklin at the Grammy Awards in New York with the orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera Houses. In december 2000 he celebrated an event with the Three Tenors as a conductor in Chicago's Unite Centre, with an auditorium of 60.000 people. Concerts in Bejing and Hong-Kong followed in summer 2001, he also was their conductor in Japan, Korea and Mexico until he was the one and only conducting them in their historic last Three Tenors concert in Bath, England. János Ács is one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century lasting into the 21th Besides his famous Performances, he has been a recital pianist and teacher for Katia Ricciarelli, Samuel Ramey, Mariella Devia, Ruggiero Raimondi and Nicola Martinucci. In addition to his special carrer he holds masterclasses on italian opera with singers like Mirella Freni, Eva Marton, Gianni Raimondi and many more. He is a former teacher at the Verona's Conservatorio di Musica and a professor at the Musashino Academy of Tokyo. He is often invited as a member of the international Jury for singing competitions, associated with Giuseppe di Stefano, Franco Corelli, Joan Sutherland, Guiseppe Taddei, Giulietta Simionato and Peter Glossop. His last CD was " Millenium", edited by Hungaroton, feat. works by Járdányi Pál.


Monsters, aliens and cable ties all feature in the set designs of the young Filippino Leeroy New. It's the first part of a series showcasing up-and-coming cinematic talents from around the world.
Ridley Scott's science fiction film hit cinemas in 1982, later earning die-hard fans. "Blade Runner 2049," to be released on October 6 in the US, links to this legacy. But what makes "Blade Runner" a cult hit today?


text:
Stanley Norman Bottrill[1]
1929 - 2007 (78 years) Submit Photo / Document
Name Stanley Norman Bottrill
Born 1929 Walsall, West Midlands, England
Registration Between 1 Apr 1929 and 30 Jun 1929 Walsall, West Midlands, England [2]
Volume 6b, Page 1138
Died 22 Jun 2007 Towyn, Merionethshire, Wales
Father Norman Nicklin Bottrill
b. 1903, Walsall, West Midlands, England
Mother Winifred Meek Stanley
b. 7 Jan 1906
Married 1928 Walsall, West Midlands, England
Registration Sep 1928 Walsall, West Midlands, England [3]
Born - 1929 - Walsall, West Midlands, England
Registration - Birth - Between 1 Apr 1929 and 30 Jun 1929 - Walsall, West Midlands, England
Died - 22 Jun 2007 - Towyn, Merionethshire, Wales
Funeral Service at St. Cadfan's Church, Tywyn on 3rd July 2007 followed by cremation at Aberystwyth Crematorium.
[S9816] Alive for the 1939 Register, (accessed 24 Feb 2016). (Reliability: 3), 24 Feb 2016.
People who should be alive for the 1939 Register
[S328] Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, (Ancestry.co.uk), Jun 1929, Walsall, West Midlands, Volume 6b, Page 1138 (Reliability: 3), 28 Mar 2007.
Stanley N Bottrill, Mother's maiden surname Stanley
[S328] Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages, (Ancestry.co.uk), Sep 1928, Walsall, West Midlands, Volume 6b, Page 1590 (Reliability: 3), 28 Mar 2007.
Norman N. Bottrill + Winifred M. Stanley


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