Passage 1:Prince of LiesPrince of Lies or The Prince of Lies may refer to:Hellstorm: Prince of Lies, a short lived comic book seriesPrince of Lies, a single from Scottish music group CindytalkPrince of Lies (novel), bookfour in The Avatar Series by James LowderThe Prince of Lies, a common nickname for SatanThe Prince of Lies, a nickname for Cyric, a fictional deity in the Forgotten Realms campaign of Dungeons & DragonsThe Princeof Lies, a vampire in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universePassage 2:The Book of LiesThe Book of Lies may refer to:The Book of Lies (Crowley), a 1913 title by Aleister CrowleyThe Book of Lies (Picano novel), a 1999title by Felice PicanoThe Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult, a 2003 compilation edited by Richard MetzgerThe Book of Lies (Moloney novel), a 2004 title by James MoloneyThe Book of Lies(Meltzer novel), a 2008 title by Brad MeltzerBook of Lies (album), a 2008 recording by Australian band End of FashionThe Book of Lies (Horlock novel), a 2011 title by Mary HorlockPassage 3:Iraqi nationality lawIraqinationality is transmitted by one's parents.HistoryThe first nationality law was passed in 1924, and that year, on 6 August, all people within the bounds of Iraqi jurisdiction automatically acquired Iraqi citizenship.According to Zainab Saleh,  "The 1924 Iraqi Nationality Law and its amendments bring to light the haunted origins of Arab nationalism" by defining Iraqis of Persian descent as second-class citizens.NaturalisationThe lawgoverning naturalisation is Law No. 43 of 1963 and Law No. 5 of 1975. Naturalisation is only available to those over 18 years of age. There is a requirement of good repute, and a clean criminal record. Generally, theperson seeking naturalisation is required to be an ethnic Arab, or otherwise married to an Iraqi man for not less than 5 years with residence within the country. Naturalised citizens are required to take an oath ofallegiance before a competent person authourised to receive the same within 90 days.It ought to be noted that naturalised citizens will be barred from holding the office of Member of Parliament or Minister, for at least10 years after the date of naturalisation, in addition, naturalised citizens are unable to hold the office of Prime Minister of Iraq or President of Iraqi.Dual citizenshipIraq recognizes dual nationality.Travel freedomIn 2016,Iraqi citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 30 countries and territories. Thus, the Iraqi passport ranks 102nd in the world, according to the Visa Restrictions Index.See alsoNationality lawIraqi passportIraqNational CardPassage 4:Body of LiesBody of Lies can refer to:Body of Lies (novel), a 2007 spy thriller by David Ignatius, about a CIA operative.Body of Lies (film), a 2008 film by director Ridley Scott, based on the 2007novel.Body of Lies (soundtrack), soundtrack to the 2008 film.Body of Lies, a 2002 novel by Iris Johansen.Passage 5:Moira CameronMoira Cameron is a retired Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London, United Kingdom.She is the first woman to ever hold the position. In 2007, after a 22-year career in the British Army, Cameron became one of the 35 resident Warders in the Tower of London, commonly known as theBeefeaters.Originally prison guards, the Yeoman Warder's position dates back to 1485. It is now a largely ceremonial role, with responsibility for conducting guided tours and generally looking after public visitors to theTower, as well as conducting certain other duties both inside and outside the Tower.CareerBritish ArmyCameron joined the Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC) in June 1985 at the age of 20. She was trained as a DataTelegraphist with the Royal Corps of Signals before transferring to the Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) in 1988 to train as a Military Accountant, and in 2000 Cameron was awarded her Long Service and Good ConductMedal. In 1992, WRAC and RAPC were replaced by the Adjutant General's Corps, and Cameron worked her way through the ranks in its Staff and Personnel Support Branch, completing 22 years service in the army inJune 2007. Having seen service in England, Northern Ireland and Cyprus, Cameron ended her Army career at the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2, holding the post of Superintendent Clerk in 145 (Home Counties)Brigade in Aldershot.Yeoman WarderCameron officially became the first ever female Yeoman Warder in July 2007 but didn't get to wear her uniform until 3 September 2007. Cameron is one of 37 Yeoman Wardersbased in the Tower of London, a position which dates back to 1485. Styled as Yeoman Warder Cameron, her full and proper title is Yeoman Warder of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, andMembers of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard in the Extraordinary.Camerons' duties are mostly connected to the Tower, but can involve some outside ceremonies. Within the Tower, Cameron's role is totake care of public visitors to the Tower and perform guided tours, guard the Crown Jewels, perform the Ceremony of the Keys and look after the Ravens of the Tower. Outside the Tower, Warders duties are to attendthe Coronation of the Sovereign, lying-in-state, the Lord Mayor's Show, and other state and charity functions. As a Yeoman Warder, Cameron has two tailored-to-fit uniforms, the Scarlet ceremonial dress, and the'undress' blue uniform for day-to-day duties (each in three variants of varying thickness for different seasons).On 25 November 2009, two Yeoman Warders were dismissed after being found guilty of gross misconductfor bullying Cameron due to her gender. Three Warders had been suspended, and one was subsequently re-instated following the month-long investigation, with his role 'unproven'. One of the three also received apolice caution for defacing Cameron's Wikipedia biography.Cameron retired in Autumn 2022 after having served 15 years as a Yeoman Warder.First female Yeoman WarderThe post of Yeoman Warder had neverspecifically been barred to women, although due to the rules governing women in the British Army, it was only in the modern era that women were able to have a career able to meet the entry requirements. To applyfor the job, applicants had to be aged between 40 and 55, have completed at least 22 years' service in either the Army, Royal Air Force or Royal Marines reaching the rank of Warrant Officer or SeniorNon-Commissioned Officer (NCO), and have been awarded the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. It was announced on 3 January 2007 that an unnamed female would be replacing a retiring Yeoman Warder inSeptember 2007, with WO2 Cameron, still in the Army at the time, publicly named as this replacement eight days later. Cameron had long been interested in the job of Yeoman Warder, and applied to an advertisementplaced in Soldier Magazine in Summer 2006. Cameron was not the first woman to apply for the job of Yeoman Warder, but she was the first to pass the interview process, beating five male candidates for thevacancy.Personal lifeBorn in 1964, Cameron grew up in Furnace, Argyll on the west coast of Scotland, and joined the Army at the suggestion of her mother, who thought she 'needed to see the world'. As part of her jobas a Yeoman Warder, she lives in the Tower of London in a subsidised apartment. In February 2011, Cameron was made a patron of The Kit Wilson Trust for Animal Welfare, an animal welfare charity based in EastSussex.See alsoTourism in LondonWomen in the militaryPassage 6:Tower of London (disambiguation)The Tower of London is a former Royal residence in London.Tower(s) of London may also refer to:GeographyTowerof London Range, Northern Rockies, CanadaLondon Tower (Alaska), a mountain in Denali National ParkArts, media, and entertainmentFilmsTower of London (1939 film) Peter Pan (1953 film) as an animated model ofthe buildingTower of London (1962 film)Mary Poppins (1964 film) as Peter Ellenshaw's Cloudy London setCarry On Henry seen in the opening credits and the closing titlesLiteratureThe Tower of London (novel), a19th-century novel by William Harrison AinsworthThe Tower of London (Soseki novel), a short story by Natsume SosekiMusicTowers of London (band)"Towers of London" (song)"Tower of London", a song by ABC fromthe album How to Be a ... Zillionaire!Television"Tower of London" (The Goodies), an episode of The GoodiesOther usesTower of London test, a neuropsychological testPassage 7:The Tower of LiesThe Tower of Lies is a1925 American silent drama film directed by Victor Sjöström. It was written by Agnes Christine Johnston and Max Marcin, based upon Selma Lagerlöf's 1914 novel The Emperor of Portugallia (MGM actually purchasedthe story rights in 1922). The film was supposed to be called The Emperor of Portugallia, but was later changed to The Tower of Lies.Released one year after He Who Gets Slapped, the film marks the secondcollaboration between Sjöström, Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer. Also starring are William Haines, Ian Keith and Lew Cody.The film's sets were designed by the art director James Basevi and Cedric Gibbons. The filmwas shot on location in the Sacramento River Delta, Lake Arrowhead and the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles. It took 53 days to complete at a cost of $185,000. It grossed $653,000 worldwide."Film Mercury" votedChaney's performance as one of the year's best. It is considered a lost film, although rumors persist that a print may exist in Denmark. Stills exist showing Chaney in his "Jan" makeup, which took him three hours eachday to apply.PlotJan (Lon Chaney) is a Swedish farmer and Glory (Norma Shearer) is his beloved daughter. When she was a child, she and her father used to role-play being the Emperor and Empress of Portugallia, afairy tale land where dreams come true, and a neighboring farm boy named August would play the Prince. Glory grows up to be a beautiful young woman, and both August and Jan's vile landlord Lars (Iam Keith) vie forher attention.Jan incurs some debts he cannot pay, and to save him from bankruptcy, his daughter temporarily moves to the big city supposedly to get a job (finally allowing Lars to lead her into prostitution). After atime, the landlord tells Jan his daughter has succeeded in paying off his debts, but will not tell him how she earned the money. Realizing that his daughter has been selling herself to help him avoid bankruptcy, Jan'smind slowly begins to unravel. Years pass and his daughter never returns to the farm, and every day Jan waits down by the riverboat hoping she will come home.Eventually she does return to him, but by this time,Jan's mind has snapped and he actually believes that he is the Emperor of Portugallia and she is his Empress. Jan has taken to wearing a strange military uniform and a circus hat, and his hair and long beard have allturned gray (see photo). Glory's fine attire leads the villagers to believe that she has been living as a prostitute and they demand she leave town. Only August is willing to stand by her and protect her honor.Gloryboards the local steamboat at the docks in order to leave town, and her father follows her, falling off the pier in his haste and drowning. When the ship's captain throws the boat into reverse in an attempt to save Jan,Lars (who is taunting Glory from the ship's deck) is thrown into the paddlewheel and crushed to death. Glory winds up marrying August and settling down in town with him.CastCritical Comments"Notwithstanding thatTOWER OF LIES is a sincerely made picture and excellent from the artistic and literary viewpoints, it is too heavy for the picture audiences. When finished the impression left is that one more prostitute has reformed andbeen forgiven...The acting is aces and the direction masterful. But with all this, TOWER OF LIES can never be anything more than a soggy picture made bearable by the leavening forces of Seastrom, Chaney andShearer." ---Variety"THE TOWER OF LIES is a beautiful production with a flash of poignant drama at its end...Chaney and Miss Shearer especially are splendid." ---Moving Picture World"It seems as if Mr. Chaney hadhad too much to say about his own performance, for he overacts and his make-up, consisting largely of a rich crop of iron gray hair and whiskers and beard, seem to fit well without looking as if they belonged to him.Mr. Chaney's exaggerated actions and expressions appear to have been contagious, for Mr. Seastrom himself betrays a weakness for overemphasizing a number of points." ---The New York Times"A distinctive and rareartistic achievement... A very worthy effort and yet probably not the best box office. Chaney passes by his usual grotesque characterization and does something just a bit different." ---Film Daily"(Chaney) does notresort to the grotesque, but from the first sequences, where he appears as the tiller of the soil who neither loves nor hates....to the last when he becomes a demented old man, his interpretation is patheticallyconvincing." --- Movie Magazine"Mr. Chaney's performance struck me as being a notable one. Toward the close of the film, Chaney is far more than a mere artificer. He really is Jan, the gnarled, mad old peasant."---New York Tribune"Though Mr. Seastrom's direction and the acting of the players are masterful, the theme is not very pleasant. Some picture-goers may like this picture very well, while others will not. Mr. Chaneydoes excellent work and awakens warm sympathy in a role that is the exact opposite in nature to thse he has been given in pictures lately." ----Harrison's ReportsPreservationThe Tower of Lies is now considered a lostfilm. The last known surviving copy of the film was reportedly destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire.See alsoList of lost filmsPassage 8:Victor SjöströmVictor David Sjöström (Swedish: [vktr østrœm](listen); 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving toHollywood in 1924. Sjöström worked primarily in the silent era; his best known films include The Phantom Carriage (1921), He Who Gets Slapped (1924), and The Wind (1928). Sjöström was Sweden's most prominentdirector in the "Golden Age of Silent Film" in Europe. Later in life, he played the leading role in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (1957).BiographyBorn in Årjäng/Silbodal, in the Värmland region of Sweden, he wasonly a year old when his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died in 1886, he was seven years old. Sjöström returned to Sweden where he lived with relatives in Stockholm,beginning his acting career at 17 as a member of a touring theater company.Drawn from the stage to the fledgling motion picture industry, he made his first film in 1912 under the direction of Mauritz Stiller. Between1912 and 1923, he directed another forty-one films in Sweden, some of which are now lost. Those surviving include The Sons of Ingmar (1919), Karin, Daughter of Ingmar (1920) and The Phantom Carriage (1921), allbased on stories by the Nobel Prize–winning novelist Selma Lagerlöf. Many of his films from the period are marked by subtle character portrayal, fine storytelling and evocative settings in which the Swedish landscapeoften plays a key psychological role. The naturalistic quality of his films was enhanced by his (then revolutionary) preference for on-location filming, especially in rural and village settings. He is also known as a pioneerof continuity editing in narrative filmmaking.In 1923, Sjöström accepted an offer from Louis B. Mayer to work in the United States. In Sweden, he had acted in his own films as well as in those for others, but inHollywood he devoted himself solely to directing. Using an anglicized name, Victor Seastrom, he made the drama film Name the Man (1924) based on the Hall Caine novel, The Master of Man. He directed stars of theday such as Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney, and Norma Shearer in another eight films in America before his first talkie in 1930. His 1926 film The Scarlet Letter, starring Lillian Gish as the adulterousHester Prynne, allows Hester a certain voluptuousness; when she leaves the bare rooms of the town for a date with her lover in the verdant woods, she defiantly pulls off her scarlet letter A, takes off her cap as well,and we see her beautiful, rich head of hair.Uncomfortable with the modifications needed to direct sound films, Victor Sjöström returned to Sweden where he directed two more films before his final directing effort, anEnglish-language drama filmed in the United Kingdom Under the Red Robe (1937). Over the following fifteen years, Sjöström returned to acting in the theatre, performed a variety of leading roles in more than a dozenfilms and was a company director of Svensk Film Industri. Aged 78, he gave his final acting performance, probably his best remembered, as the elderly professor Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman's film Wild Strawberries(1957).Personal lifeSjöström was married three times. His daughter was actress Guje Lagerwall (1918-2019).Victor Sjöström died in Stockholm at the age of 80, and he was interred in the Norra begravningsplatsen(Northern cemetery).FilmographyDirectorActorPassage 9:The Tower of Silence (film)The Tower of Silence (German: Der Turm des Schweigens) is a 1925 German mystic melodrama directed by Johannes Guter andstarring Xenia Desni and Nigel Barrie. The Tower of Silence is a silent film, and one of the few films by Guter to survive. In 2007, it became the director's first film to be restored for modern audiences.PlotThe Tower ofSilence centres around Eva (Xenia Desni), a beautiful woman kept in a high tower by her grieving widowed father. When an attractive explorer, Arved (Nigel Barrie), is saved by Eva after crashing his car near the tower,he introduces her into high society. When Arved, who was previously believed to be dead, discovers that he has lost his fiancée to ex-partner and aviator Wilfred, he must decide whether to reveal a secret that willdestroy his old friend.CastXenia Desni as EvaNigel Barrie as Arved HollFritz Delius as Wilfred DurianAvrom Morewski (Abraham Morewski) as Eldor VartalunGustav Oberg as CeelHanna Ralph as LianeHermann Leffler asMac FarlandPhilipp Manning as Werner NeuwittJenny Jugo as EviPassage 10:Bed of Lies"Bed of Lies" is a song by Trinidadian-American rapper and singer Nicki Minaj, taken from her third studio album, The Pinkprint(2014). The song was first premiered at the 2014 MTV EMAs in Glasgow, Scotland and was later released on November 16, 2014, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Republic Records as thefourth single from the album. The track features American singer-songwriter Skylar Grey on the chorus plus additional vocals on the verses as well as piano playing and was written by the latter along with Minaj. "Bed ofLies" features a restrained keyboard and lyrics that touch upon themes of "heartfelt litany of grievances" about an ex-lover.The song peaked at number 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and became Minaj's 56th Hot 100entry, tying her with Madonna and Dionne Warwick for the third-most entries among women. It peaked at number seven in Australia and number 13 in New Zealand. "Bed of Lies" was certified platinum by theAustralian Recording Industry Association and gold by Recorded Music NZ.BackgroundMinaj debuted the song at the 2014 MTV EMAs in Glasgow, Scotland with Skylar Grey. In an interview with Billboard, Grey revealedthat she had written and recorded a demo version of the track before it had been sent to Minaj who wrote and recorded verses of her own to the song. Grey commented, "She liked the demo of it enough to keep me onthe song. I knew it was maybe gonna happen, but she released a lot of different singles first. So I didn’t really know when she was gonna drop this song. And then about a week ago I got a call from her team and theywondered if I could come to Scotland and do the song with them." On November 15, the full song premiered on Saturday Night Online; it was made available on iTunes the next day.Composition"Bed of Lies" is a hip hopand pop song, written in the key of B major with a moderate tempo of 86 beats per minute.  The vocals in the song span from G3 to B4, and the song follows a chord progression of B – F/A – Gm – F/A –B.Critical receptionDeniqua Campbell from The Source gave the song a positive review, saying Minaj has yet to let up her unrelenting push to re-ignite her rapping flame and that "Bed of Lies" "appeals to Minaj's moreserene nature". Caitlin White from MTV News praised the song, saying "Nicki has always done emotional with just the right touch of vulnerability and strength". Christina Lee from Idolator called it "a more pointed anddetailed version of debut Pinkprint single 'Pills n Potions'". Lindsey Weber from Vulture said "Nicki takes a sickly sweet Skylar Grey hook and wraps a nasty ode around it". Sharan Shetty from Slate called "Bed of Lies"


Passage 1:Pal Pal Dil Ke PaasPal Pal Dil Ke Paas (transl. Every moment, close to the heart) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language Romance film written and directed by Sunny Deol and produced by Sunny Sounds Pvt Ltd and Zee Studios. This was Deol's third movie as director after Dillagi and Ghayal Once Again. The film was released on 20 September 2019.Principal photography began on 21 May 2017. Dharmendra's Grandson Karan Deol   and Sahher Bambba were cast for the lead roles. Over 400 girls were auditioned for Sahher's role.With a box office revenue of 10 crore against a 30 crore budget, the film was commercially unsuccessful.PlotSaher Sethi, a vlogger from Delhi, goes to Manali to review a solo trekking trip organized by Camp Ujhi Dhaar, run by Karan Sehgal. She thinks that the costly solo trip is a scam, and she would expose the camp's owner. Although they started on a bitter note, things began to improve between them during their journey, leading to Karan falling for her. He doesn't confess his feelings but tells her that he is afraid of attachment. Saher admits that she wanted to become a singer but couldn't follow her passion as Viren, her boyfriend, made fun of her at an open mic. He takes Saher to his childhood spot, where he sees a snow leopard, and remembers his mother, who died in an avalanche when she tried to capture a snow leopard on her camera. The trip finally comes to an end, Karan drops Saher at the airport, and both bid farewell to each other.On reaching Delhi, Saher realizes that she has fallen in love with Karan and breaks up with Viren. She informs Karan that she is performing again at an open mic and indirectly asks him to come to Delhi. Karan unexpectedly shows up at the Open Mic, and they both confess their love for each other and share a kiss. The next day, at Saher's house party, Karan is introduced to Saher's family members and meets Viren, who invites Karan to his party the next day. Seeing Saher and Karan close and happy with each other, Viren feels devastated and becomes angry and pledges that he will do anything to be with Saher, whether right or wrong. The next Day, Saher's father talks to Karan in anger, and when Saher asks him, he replies that Viren told him everything. Saher speaks to Viren over the phone about lying to his parents, but he blackmails her about leaking her photos, which he took secretly on the Goa trip. Karan goes to Viren, and when Viren abuses Saher and Karan's mother, he thrashes him. Feeling insulted, Saher posts a video online of being eve-teased by Viren, who gets to know about this, goes to Saher's house and gets involved in a fight with her. The fight leads to Saher falling off the first floor. With Saher now in an unconscious condition, Viren's parents use political power to turn the case against Saher and beat up Karan.Seeing Saher's condition deteriorate and her family suffering all the disrespect, Karan goes to Viren's house, beats him up, drags him to the hospital, and tells him to apologize to Saher. When he refuses, Karan chokes him, almost killing him, but Viren's mother asks him to leave him, and she apologizes to everyone.Saher soon recovers from the accident, and in the end credits, Karan and Saher are shown as a happily married couple.FilmingThe film was mostly shot at various locations in the Pir Panjal Mountain Range covering Spiti Valley, Kunzum La, Rohtang La, Tabo, Chandra Taal, Kaza, Lahaul Valley and Manali region in Himachal Pradesh; while a substantial part was shot at locations in New Delhi, including a racing car sequence at Buddh International Circuit in NCR.CastKaran Deol as Karan Sehgal, Saher's husbandSahher Bambba as Saher Sehgal (Nee' Sethi), Karan's wife & Viren's ex-girlfriendSimone Singh as Vandana Sethi (Saher's mother)Sachin Khedekar as Ajay Sethi (Saher's father)Kallirroi Tziafeta as Karan's motherAakash Ahuja as Viren Narang, Saher's ex-boyfriend and the main antagonistKamini Khanna as Saher's grandmotherMeghna Malik as Central minister Ratna Narang, Viren's motherArsh Wahi as Rohan VermaRishi Singh as Saher's uncleBhavna Aneja as Anuradha, Saher's auntRavi Dudeja as Natasha's FatherMadhu Khandari as Natasha's MotherRitika Thakur as Aditi Thakur (Karan's best friend)Akash Dhar as MP Sushant Narang, Viren's brotherNupur Nagpal as Natasha Sabharwal, Saher's childhood friendKapil Negi as Vikram Thakur (Karan's mentor and Aditi's father)Suhani Sethi as Saachi Sethi (Saher's sister)Vijayant Kohli as Kapil Kumar GuptaRahul Singh as SachinMannu Sandhu as Sushant's wifePooja Katyal as Pooja, Viren's friendDiksha Bahl as VaishaliReuben Israel as Viren's fatherSoundtrackThe music of the film is composed by Sachet–Parampara and Tanishk Bagchi (noted) while lyrics are by Siddharth-Garima.ReceptionThe film mostly received mixed to negative reviews.Monika Rawal Kukreja writing for Hindustan Times noted that the film had done justice to its genre and praised Karan Deol and Sahher Bambba for their onscreen freshness. Also praising cinematography and music, she criticised the writing for lacking punch dialogues and effective humour. Concluding she opined, "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas is definitely one of your run-of-the-mill love stories, but it makes you smile, cry, laugh and brings a sense of freshness."Gaurang Chauhan of Times Now rated it 2.5 stars out of 5, stated that "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas is a visually stunning film with some good tunes but the movie somehow misses the mark due to its overlong length and a mediocre screenplay. Sahher Bambba impresses".Parina Taneja of India TV gave 2 stars out of 5 and opined, that it was a love story that failed to leave the audience with lingering moments. Agreeing with Chauhan, Tanejapraised the performance of Bambba, direction and cinematography. Criticising screenplay and pace of the film she noted that music though melodious didn't add value to the film. Concluding, she wrote, "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas is a one time watch only if you really want to enjoy the breathtaking visuals of Himachal Pradesh.Further NDTV rated the movie 1 out of 5 and wrote "Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas lacks the freshness that one would expect from a film with a new romantic pair. The reason is obvious: the plot is as old, but not as sturdy, as the hills."Box officeThe film performed poorly at the box office, collecting 10.03 crore against a 30 crore budget. Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas collected 1.15 crore on the opening day with a total opening weekend collection of  4.15 crore.Passage 2:Coney Island Baby (film)Coney Island Baby is a 2003 comedy-drama in which film producer Amy Hobby made her directorial debut. Karl Geary wrote the film and Tanya Ryno was the film's producer. The music was composed by Ryan Shore. The film was shot in Sligo, Ireland, which is known locally as "Coney Island".The film was screened at the Newport International Film Festival. Hobby won the Jury Award for "Best First Time Director".The film made its premiere television broadcast on the Sundance Channel.PlotAfter spending time in New York City, Billy Hayes returns to his hometown. He wants to get back together with his ex-girlfriend and take her back to America in hopes of opening up a gas station. But everything isn't going Billy's way - the townspeople aren't happy to see him, and his ex-girlfriend is engaged and pregnant. Then, Billy runs into his old friends who are planning a scam.CastKarl Geary - Billy HayesLaura Fraser - BridgetHugh O'Conor - SatchmoAndy Nyman - FrankoPatrick Fitzgerald - The DukeTom Hickey - Mr. HayesConor McDermottroe - GerryDavid McEvoy - JoeThor McVeigh - MagicianSinead Dolan - JuliaMusicThe film's original score was composed by Ryan Shore.External linksConey Island Baby (2006) at IMDbMSN - Movies: Coney Island BabyPassage 3:Rakka (film)Rakka is a 2017 American-Canadian military science fiction short film made by Oats Studios and  directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was released on YouTube and Steam on 14 June 2017.PlotChapter 1: WorldIn the near future, Earth will be attacked by technologically superior and highly aggressive reptilian aliens called the Klum (pronounced "klume"). Humanity is nearing extinction with millions dead or enslaved. The Klum transform the Earth in favor of their own ideal living conditions. They do this at first by burning forests and destroying cities. Then they build megastructures that alter the atmosphere by pumping out methane. The gas makes it progressively harder for terrestrial life to breathe. And it warms the climate, which leads to flooding of coastal cities.The story begins in 2020, from the viewpoint of resistance fighters in Texas, a group of US Army soldiers and many others who have banded together. Most human survivors live underground or among ruins. They have barely enough provisions, weapons, and ammunition. The humans fight by using whatever they can against the primary Klum weapon: an omnipresent nanite in their weaponry, and telepathic control over any human that makes direct eye contact with them.The resistance makes "brain-barriers" that block thismind control. The Klum know, however, that a scarcity of materials means a scarcity of brain barriers. They hope, therefore, to win a war of attrition against the human survivors.Some prisoners are living incubators for the Klum's young, which inevitably kills the victims. Others are dissected. Still other humans are converted into human loudspeakers that urge humans to surrender into "conservatories". Very few humans ever escape.After the Klum destroy a militia convoy with an airstrike, one of the surviving soldiers witnesses an angel-like being materialize from thin air. The narration describes ″them″ as mankind's saviours.Chapter 2: Amir & NoshNosh is a tech-savvy pyromaniac and bomb-maker, eking out a living in a scrapyard far from the resistance. The resistance despises Nosh for his murderous glee and demands - giving the sick or suicidal over as bait during his many IED ambushes. They must, however, give in to Nosh's demands tosecure the IEDs and the brain-barriers he makes.The resistance stumble across Amir, a mute who has escaped from the Klum. He has extensive cybernetics across his head and shoulders. Amid opposition from her lieutenants, the resistance leader, Jasper, releases Amir from her custody into the care of a resistance fighter named Sarah.Sarah, having lost her daughter to the Klum's experiments, takes a liking to him. She gives Amir food and drink while trying to persuade him to help the resistance fight the Klum by using the precognitive abilities he acquired via the aliens' experiments.Chapter 3: SiegeAmir recovers physically and mentally. Then, because of his implant, he has a premonition involving a wounded Klum on the run from militia forces.Sarah pleads with Amir to help the militia officers to stop the genocide. The more she talks to him, the more his eyes change, seeing the premonition of the impending attack more clearly. Amir, still mute, foresees the militia successfully shooting down an alien aircraft, and the pilot is the alien on the run.Sarah asks Amir if they will be able to learn how to hunt the Klum and teach them how to fear. Unable to answer, he foresees the Klum telekinetically bashing one of the militia soldiers, disconnecting his brain barrier and causing him to be mind-controlled, turning on his comrades, who are forced to kill him.Sarah tells Amir that he now has the abilities the aliens have and that he is to use them for humanity. Back in the vision, the militia surround the Klum; Jasper orders the militia to cut off its head. The film ends with Sarah urging Amir to use his abilities because he is humanity's last hope.CastSigourney Weaver as JasperEugene Khumbanyiwa as AmirRobert Hobbs as CarlCarly Pope as SarahBrandon Auret as NoshMike Huff as PolicemanOwen McCrae as KlumConnor Page as ChildJay Anstey as A suicide bomberJustin Shaw as Man in medical deviceCarla Marais as eight-year-old girlRyan Angilley as MartinezAlec Gillis as Militia officer 1Ruan Coetzee as Militia officer 2Paul Davies as Militia officer 3Pieter Jacobz as Militia officer 4Passage 4:Royal Tramp IIRoyal Tramp II is a 1992 Hong Kong film based on Louis Cha's novel The Deer and the Cauldron. The film is a sequel to Royal Tramp, which was released earlier in the same year.PlotHaving been revealed as the false Empress Dowager, Lung-er returns to the Dragon Sect camp. There, the sect leader reminds her of their mission to support Ng Sam-kwai's, a military general, campaign for the throne before abdicating her title to Lung-er.Siu-bo lounges at the brothel where he once worked but is then attacked by disciples of the One Arm Nun, an anti-Qing revolutionary figure, before being quickly subdued. When Siu-bo tries to take advantage of them, Ng Ying-hung, Ng Sam-kwai's son, exposes his lies. Scorned and unaware of the stranger's title, Siu-bo sends his men after Ying-Hung, but Lung-er, now disguised as Ying-hung's male bodyguard, easily fends them off.At the palace, The Emperor, wary of Ng Sam-kwai's intentions, marries off the Princess to Ying-hung and assigns Siu-bo to be the Imperial Inspector General of the wedding march, so that he can keep his eyes on the general's activities. This complicates Siu-bo's relationship with Princess when she tells Siu-bo she's pregnant with his child.The One Arm Nun and her disciple, Ah Ko, later ambushes the procession. Fighting to a standstill with Lung-er, the assailants escape with Ying-hung and Siu-bo. However, Siu-bo garners some respect from her when he reveals his dual identity as a Heaven and Earth Society commander. Lung-er finally catches up to them with reinforcements at an inn but only manages to rescue Siu-bo. Having been saved by Ying-hung before, Ah Ko elopes with him amid the confusion.At the Dragon Sect camp, Ying-hung and Fung Sek-fan secretly poisons Lung-er and turn the followers against her. She escapes with Siu-bo but must have sex with a man before dawn, otherwise she will die. However, this will transfer 4/5th of her martial arts' power to whomever she sleeps with. Despite Siu-bo's lecherous personality, Lung-er accepts his blunt honesty as a sign of virtue and chooses to sacrifice her virginity to Siu-bo and becomes his third wife.When Siu-bo gets back to the Princess, they execute a plan to castrate Ying-hung. With her betrothed no longer able to produce heirs, the Princess is taken by Siu-bo as his fourth wife. Enraged by the end of his family line, Ng Ying-hung prematurely gathers his troops and sets out to wage war with the Emperor. He tasks Fung Sek-fan with killing the Princess and Siu-bo. Though Chan Kan-nam manages to intervene and lets his disciple escape.Later, the One Arm Nun captures the elopers, Ying-hung and Ah Ko, and offers them to Siu-bo. Siu-bo pardons them and even takes Ah Ko as his fifth wife. Afterward, Fung Sek-fan is promoted when he surrenders Ng Sam-kwai's battle plans and Chan Kan-nam to the Emperor. Given Siu-bo's muddied history with the Heaven and Earth Society, the Emperor tasks him with Chan's execution. Siu-bo's newfound power is difficult for him to control, and Chan helps him master it in time for him to use it against Fung. Siu-bo also uncovers the secret of the 42 Chapters books after burning them in frustration, revealing hidden stones that are left unburned, revealing map coordinates to the location of the treasure all major parties have been attempting to locate.In order to save his master, Siu-bo defeats Fung with his newly acquired martial arts power after both falling into a hidden cave wherein the treasure is found, and swaps Feng's body with Chan's before the execution to save his master. And just as he was about to escape with his wives and Chan, the Emperor arrives with his troops, having been sold out by Siu-bo's opportunistic friend To-lung who is now involved romantically with Siu-bo's sister. But seeing that they are friends, his sister is in love with Siu-bo, and with Siu-bo bluffing that he's strong enough to demolish the Emperor and his entire army if he wanted, the Emperor lets them go, declaring that Siu-bo has died and no longer exists as far as he's concerned. Siu-bo laughs afterward that the Emperor fell for his bluff.CastStephen Chow as Wai Siu-boBrigitte Lin as Lung-erChingmy Yau as Princess Kin-ningMichelle Reis as Ah Ko/Li Ming-koNatalis Chan as To-lungDamian Lau as Chan Kan-namDeric Wan as Hong-hei EmperorKent Tong as Ng Ying-hung, Sam-kwai's sonPaul Chun as Ng Sam-kwaiSandra Ng as Wai Chun-faFennie Yuen as Seung-yee twinVivian Chan as Seung-yee twinYen Shi-kwan as Fung Sek-fanHelen Ma as Kau-nan/one-armed Divine nunSharla Cheung as Mo Tung-chu / Empress DowagerLaw Lan as founder of Divine Dragon SectTam Suk-moi as Ah NongHoh Choi-chow as Palace guard Wen Shan LunYeung Jing-jingWan Seung-lamLee FaiCheng Ka-sangHo Wing-cheungKwan YungTo Wai-woPassage 5:Pal Pal Dil Ke SsaatPal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat is a 2009 Hindi-language film directed by V.K.Kumar, starring Ajay Jadeja, Vinod Kambli, Mahi Gill, Satish Shah and Sushma Seth.CastAjay Jadeja as Ajay KapoorMahie Gill as DollyVinod Kambli as HimselfSatish Shah as John AbrahamSushma Seth as Mrs. KapoorVivek Mishra as PanikerAnshul Nagar as Vinit KhannaTanvir Azmi as Makhan SinghPassage 6:Pyar Ki Jeet (1948 film)Pyar Ki Jeet   (Love's Victory) is a 1948 Indian Bollywood film. It was the third highest grossing Indian film of 1948.The film was directed by O. P. Dutta for Famous Pictures. It had music composed by Husnlal Bhagatram. The film starred Suraiya, Rehman, Gope, Raj Mehra, Manorama, Leela Mishra, Yashodhara Katju and Niranjan Sharma. Iss Dil ke Tukde Hazar hue, sung by Mohammed Rafi is still popular.CastSuraiyaas the lead actressRehman as HeroGope as ComedianRaj Mehra as Supporting actorManoramaGyaniLeela MisraYashodhara KatjuNiranjan Sharma as Supporting actorManmohan as Supporting actorSoundtrackThe music was composed by Husnlal Bhagatram and the film song lyricists were Qamar Jalalabadi and Rajinder Krishan.Passage 7:Another EarthAnother Earth is a 2011 American science fiction drama film directed by Mike Cahill and starring Brit Marling, William Mapother, and Robin Lord Taylor. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January, and was given a limited theatrical release on July 22, 2011, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film earned two nominations at the 38th Saturn Awards for Marling's performance and for Cahill and Marling's writing. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it slow paced but soulful.PlotRhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a brilliant 17-year-old girl who has spent her young life fascinated by astronomy, is delighted to learn that she has been accepted into MIT. She celebrates, drinking with friends, and in a reckless moment, drives home intoxicated. Listening to a story on the radio about a recently discovered Earth-like planet, she gazes out her car window at the stars and inadvertently hits a stopped car at an intersection, putting John Burroughs (William Mapother) in a coma and killing his pregnant wife and young son. After serving her four-year prison sentence, Rhoda becomes a janitor at her former high school and struggles with guilt and regret.Hearing more news stories about the mirror Earth, Rhoda enters an essay contest sponsored by a millionaire entrepreneur who is offering a civilian space flight to the mirror Earth.One day Rhoda sees John laying a toy at the accident site. She visits his house, intending to apologize. He answers the door and she loses her nerve. Instead, she pretends to be a maid offering a free day of cleaning as a marketing tool for a cleaning service. John, who has dropped out of his Yale music faculty position, has been letting his home and himself go, and accepts Rhoda's offer. He has no idea who she is, and when she finishes asks her to come back the next week. In time, a caring relationship develops and they have sex.Rhoda wins the essay contest and is chosen to be one of the first to travel to the other Earth. John asks her not to go, believing they might have a future together. She finally decides to tell him the truth about who she is. He is upset and throws her out of the house.Rhoda hears an astrophysicist talking on television, describing a "broken mirror" hypothesis which states that upon the sighting of the twin-Earth the synchronicity of events happening in both the Earths was broken. Rhoda rushes back to John's house, but he refuses to let her in. She breaks into his house, and he begins to strangle her. He stops, and when she recovers she tells him about the theory and that there might be a possibility for his family to still be alive on the other Earth. She leaves him the ticket. In time, she learns that John accepted the gift and becomes one of the first civilian space travelers to the other Earth.Four months later, on a foggy day, Rhoda approaches her house, discovering her other self from Earth 2 standing in front of her.CastBrit Marling as Rhoda WilliamsWilliam Mapother as John BurroughsJordan Baker as Kim WilliamsRobin Lord Taylor as Jeff WilliamsFlint Beverage as Robert WilliamsKumar Pallana as PurdeepDiane Ciesla as Dr. Joan TallisRupert Reid as Keith


Passage 1:NarathihapateNarathihapate (Burmese: , pronounced [na θìhapt]; also Sithu IV of Pagan; 23 April 1238 – 1 July 1287) was the last king of the Pagan Empire who reigned from 1256 to 1287. The king is known in Burmese history as the "Taruk-Pyay Min" ("the King who fled from the Taruks") for his flight from Pagan (Bagan) to Lower Burma in 1285 during the first Mongol invasion (1277–87) of the kingdom. He eventually submitted to Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty in January 1287 in exchange for a Mongol withdrawal from northern Burma. But when the king was assassinated six months later by his son Thihathu, the Viceroy of Prome, the 250-year-old Pagan Empire broke apart into multiple petty states. The political fragmentation of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery would last for another 250 years until the mid-16th century.The king is unkindly remembered in the royal chronicles, which in addition to calling a cowardly king who fled from the invaders, also call him "an ogre" and "glutton" who was "great in wrath, haughtiness and envy, exceeding covetous and ambitious." According to scholarship, he was certainly an ineffective ruler but unfairly scapegoated by the chronicles for the fall of the empire, whose decline predated his reign, and in fact had been "more prolonged and agonized".Early lifeThe future king was born to Crown Prince Uzana and a commoner concubine from Myittha on 23 April 1238. For much of his early years, he was known at the palace as Min Khwe-Chi (lit. "Prince Dog's Dung") as a harmless royal. Even when his father became king in 1251, Khwe-Chi was not in line for the throne; the position belonged to his half-brother Thihathu, the eldest son of the chief queen Thonlula.ReignRise to powerBut fate came calling. In early May 1256, Uzana died from a hunting accident, and Thihathu claimed the throne. The court led by the powerful chief minister Yazathingyan did not accept a head-strong Thihathu, and placed their preferred candidate, Khwe Chi, whom they believed they could control, on the throne on 6 May 1256. Thihathu was arrested and executed. Narathihapate held the coronation ceremony in November 1256. He assumed the regnal name "Śrī Tribhuvanādityapavara Dhammarāja" ().Governing styleThe young king turned out be quick-tempered, arrogant, and ruthless. Soon after his accession, he sent Yazathingyan, the man who put him on the throne, into exile. But he soon had to recall Yazathingyan to quell the rebellions in Martaban (Mottama) (1258–1259) and Arakan (1258–1260). Yazathingyan put down the rebellions but died on the return journey. With the old minister's death removed the only person that could have controlled the ruthless, inexperienced king.Narathihapate was incompetent in both domestic and foreign affairs. Like his father and grandfather before him, he too failed to fix the depleted royal treasury, which had been deteriorating for years because the continued growth of tax-free religious landholdings. But unlike his grandfather Kyaswa, who would rather build a small temple than to resort to forced labor, Narathihapate built a lavish temple, the Mingalazedi Pagoda with forced labor. The people, sinking under his rule, whispered: "When the pagoda is finished, the king shall die".Mongol invasionsBorder war (1277–78)The existential threat to the Burmese kingdom came from the north. The Mongols, who conquered the Dali Kingdom (later renamed as Yunnan in 1274) in 1253–57, first demanded tribute from Pagan in 1271–72. When the Burmese king refused, Emperor Kublai Khan himself sent a mission in 1273 to demand tribute once again. The king refused again. The Mongol army of the Yuan dynasty in 1275–76 consolidated the Pagan–Yunnan borderlands as part of their drive to close off escape routes of the Song refugees, and in the process went on to occupy a Burmese vassal state in present-day Dehong Prefecture). Narathihapate sent the army to reclaim the region but the army was driven back in April 1277 at the battle of Ngasaunggyan (modern Yingjiang). The Mongol troops reached as far south as Kaungsin, which guarded the Bhamo Pass, the gateway into the Irrawaddy, before retreating in 1278 due to excessive heat. Later in 1278, the army reestablished its forts at Kaungsin and Ngasaunggyan.Invasion (1283–85)Narathihapate's troubles were not over. In 1281, the Mongol emperor again demanded tribute. When the king refused, the emperor ordered an invasion of northern Burma. In September 1283, the Mongol forces again attacked the Burmese fort at Ngasaunggyan, which fell on 3 December 1283. Kaungsin fell six days later, and the Mongols took Tagaung on 5 February 1284. But the Mongols found the heat excessive and retreated from Tagaung. The Burmese forces retook Tagaung on 10 May 1284. The Mongol resumed their drive southward in the following dry season (1284–85), and reached as far south as Hanlin by February 1285. Although the Mongols did not have the order to attack Pagan, the king nonetheless fled south to Lower Burma.Exile in Lower Burma (1285–87)At Lower Burma, Narathihapate found himself isolated. Although his three sons controlled three key ports (Bassein (Pathein), Dala and Prome (Pyay)) there, he could not gain their support. He did not trust them in any case, and settled at Hlegya, west of Prome, at the border between Central Burma and Lower Burma. The presence of the king and his small army impressed no one. Pegu (Bago) revolted soon after, and drove back the king's small army twice. With Martaban (Mottama) also in rebellion, the breakaway of Pegu meant the entire eastern half of Lower Burma was now in revolt. His three sons remained in control of the western half of Lower Burma but he could not count on them for their support. At Hlegya, the king was literally at the periphery of Lower Burma.Mongol vassal (1287)He decided to return to central Burma even if it meant making peace with the Mongols. In December 1285, he sent the chief minister and general Ananda Pyissi and Gen. Maha Bo to negotiate a ceasefire. The Mongol commanders at Hanlin, who had organized northern Burma as a protectorate named Zhengmian (Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: Cheng-Mien) agreed to a ceasefire but insisted on a full submission. They repeated their 1281 demand that the Burmese king send a formal delegation to the emperor. A tentative agreement was reached among the negotiators on 3 March 1286; Central Burma would now be organized as a sub-province of Mianzhong (Chinese: ;  Wade–Giles: Mien-Chung), and the Burmese king would send a formal embassy to the emperor. After a long deliberation, in June 1286, the Burmese king decided to agree to the terms, and sent an embassy led by Shin Ditha Pamauk, the chief primate, to the emperor's court.In January 1287, the embassy arrived at Beijing, and was received by the emperor. The Burmese delegation formally acknowledged Mongol suzerainty of their kingdom, and agreed to pay annual tribute tied to the agricultural output of the country. Northern Burma would continue to be organized as Zhengmian (Cheng-Mien) while central Burma would be organized as Mianzhong (Mien-Chung). In exchange, the emperor agreed to withdraw his troops. The Burmese embassy arrived back at Hlegya in May 1287, and reported the terms to the king.DeathAbout a month later, the king and his small retinue left Hlegya for Pagan. But he was captured en route by his son Thihathu, the Viceroy of Prome. On 1 July 1287, the king was forced to take poison. To refuse would have meant death by the sword, and with a prayer on his lips that in all his future existences "may no male-child be ever born to him again", the king swallowed the poison and died.AftermathNarathihapate's death was promptly followed by the breakup of the kingdom. Nearly 250 years of Pagan's rule over the Irrawaddy basin and its periphery was over. In Lower Burma, the Hanthawaddy Kingdom of the Mons emerged in 1287. In the west, Arakan was now de jure independent. In the north, the Shans who came down with the Mongols came to dominate Kachin hills and Shan hills, and went on dominate much of western and central mainland Southeast Asia.The Mongols deemed the treaty void and invaded south toward Pagan. But the invaders suffered heavy casualties, and retreated back to Tagaung. It would be nearly two years until 30 May 1289 when one of his sons Kyawswa emerged as the king of Pagan. By then, the Pagan Empire had ceased to exist. The Mongols had occupied down to Tagaung, and the occupation would last until April 1303. Even in central Burma, Kyawswa controlled only around the capital. The real power now rested with the three brothers from Myinsaing who would later found the Myinsaing Kingdom in 1297, replacing over four centuries of Pagan Kingdom.LegacyThe king is unkindly remembered in Burmese history as the "Taruk-Pyay Min" ("the King who Fled from the Taruk [Chinese]") for his flight to the south, instead of defending the country. The royal chronicles paint an especially harsh description of the king, portraying him as "an ogre" and "glutton" who was "great in wrath, haughtiness and envy, exceeding covetous and ambitious." According to scholarship, he was certainly an ineffective ruler but unfairly scapegoated by the chronicles for the fall of the empire, whose descent predated his reign and in fact had been "more prolonged and agonized."HistoriographyVarious royal chronicles report different dates about his life.NotesPassage 2:AnacyndaraxesAnacyndaraxes (Greek: νακυνδαράξης) was the father of Sardanapalus, king of Assyria.Notes This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Anacyndaraxes". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 157-158.Passage 3:Arthur BeauchampArthur Beauchamp (1827 – 28 April 1910) was a Member of Parliament from New Zealand. He is remembered as the father of Harold Beauchamp, who rose to fame as chairman of the Bank of New Zealand and was the father of writer Katherine Mansfield.BiographyBeauchamp came to Nelson from Australia on the Lalla Rookh, arriving on 23 February 1861.He lived much of his life in a number of locations around the top of the South Island, also Whanganui when Harold was 11 for seven years and then to the capital (Wellington). Then south to Christchurch and finally Picton and the Sounds. He had business failures and was bankrupted twice, in 1879 and 1884. He married Mary Stanley on the Victorian goldfields in 1854; Arthur and Mary lived in 18 locations over half a century, and are buried in Picton. Six of their ten children born between 1855 and 1893 died, including the first two sons born before Harold.Beauchamp represented the Picton electorate from 1866 to 1867, when he resigned.  He had the energy and sociability required for politics, but not the private income then required to be a parliamentarian. He supported the working man and the subdivision of big estates, opposed the confiscation of Māori land and was later recognised as a founding Liberal, the party that Harold supported and was a "fixer" for. Yska calls their life an extended chronicle of rootlessness, business failure and almost ceaseless family tragedy and Harold called his father a rolling stone by instinct. Arthur also served on the council of Marlborough Province and is best-remembered for a 10-hour speech to that body when an attempt was made to relocate the capital from Picton to Blenheim.In 1866 he attempted to sue the Speaker of the House, David Monro. At the time the extent of privilege held by Members of Parliament was unclear; a select committee ruled that the case could proceed, but with a stay until after the parliamentary session.See alsoYska, Redmer (2017). A Strange Beautiful Excitement: Katherine Mansfield's Wellington 1888-1903. Dunedin: Otago University Press. pp. 91–99. ISBN 978-0-947522-54-4.Passage 4:Obata ToramoriObata Toramori (, 1491 – July 14, 1561) was Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku Period. He is known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen" He also recorded as having been wounded 41 times in 36 encounters. He was the father of Obata Masamori.See alsoIsao ObataPassage 5:A. R. RawlinsonLieutenant-Colonel Arthur Richard Rawlinson, OBE (9 August 1894 – 20 April 1984) was a British Army officer who served on the Western Front, and then in military intelligence in both World Wars. He served as head of MI.9a, and of MI.19. In peacetime, he developed a very successful career as a screenwriter and also produced several films.Early lifeRawlinson was born in London, England, on 9 August 1894, the son of barrister Thomas Arthur Rawlinson and Gertrude Hamilton, daughter of barrister William Melmoth Walters. The Rawlinsons were Hampshire landed gentry, Thomas Arthur Rawlinson being nephew of the judge Sir Christopher Rawlinson.He was educated at Windlesham House School, Rugby School and Pembroke College, Cambridge.War serviceAlready a cadet in the Officer Training Corps, Rawlinson was commissioned on 1 September 1914 as a temporary second lieutenant in the war-raised 6th (Service) Battalion of The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He was promoted to temporary lieutenant on 29 December 1914. After a year's service he obtained a regular commission with the York and Lancaster Regiment, serving again as a second lieutenant. On 26 June 1916, he was seconded to the newly formed Machine Gun Corps and promoted back to lieutenant on 21 December 1916. After he was wounded in action he began a career in Military Intelligence, 'employed at the War Office' in MI.1(a) as an acting major. He was awarded an MBE for his war service and resigned his commission on 27 February 1919.On 14 April 1939, he transferred from the Reserve of Officers of the York and Lancaster Regiment to the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) and returned to active service. During World War II he served with the rank of major as the head of MI.9(a), a department of MI.9 responsible for vetting enemy prisoners of war. The department was later reconstituted as MI.19 in its own right. He retired from the service with the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel on 5 January 1946.Honours and decorationsIn the 1945 New Year Honours, the then Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Rawlinson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), an advance on the recognition he had received after the previous war. On 23 May 1947, he was appointed Officer of the Legion of Merit "in recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies".Personal lifeRawlinson married Alisa Margaret Harrington Grayson on 20 December 1916. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Grayson, Bt., the Conservative Member of Parliament for Birkenhead from 1918 to 1922. They had two sons: Michael Grayson Rawlinson (born 27 March 1918, died 1941 KIA), and Peter Anthony Grayson Rawlinson (born 26 June 1919, died 28 June 2006), who became the life-peer Lord Rawlinson of Ewell.Rawlinson had a strong bond with the Grayson family. He was at Pembroke with Dennys Grayson, who served with the Irish Guards in Great War along with his brother, Rupert Grayson, and John Kipling, son of Rudyard Kipling. The shell that wounded Rupert Grayson in 1915 was the one that killed John Kipling. Dennys Grayson gave his son the distinctive name of Rudyard - as opposed to the unremarkable John - when the child was born the following year. Rawlinson married the sister of the Grayson brothers, Alisa, and the friends became family. Rudyard Kipling was keen to maintain contact with the young people who knew his beloved son, especially Rupert. It was through Rupert that Rawlinson was introduced to Kipling and was commissioned to write the screenplays to some of his works.Rawlinson died 20 April 1984 in West Sussex, England.Partial filmographyLeap Year (1932)The Blarney Stone (1933)A Cuckoo in the Nest (1933)Aunt Sally (1933)Menace (1934)The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)Man of the Moment (1935)Lancashire Luck (1937)The Last Curtain (1937)Missing, Believed Married (1937)King Solomon's Mines (1937)Strange Boarders (1938)John Halifax (1938)Crackerjack (1938)The Face at the Window (1939)The Chinese Bungalow (1940)This England (1941)The White Unicorn (1947)Calling Paul Temple (1948)The Story of Shirley Yorke (1948)Meet Simon Cherry (1949)Celia (1949)Dark Secret (1949)There Was a Young Lady (1953)Gaolbreak (1962)Passage 6:Hardy SawSaw Hardy (born 1916) was a Burmese boxer. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1948 Summer Olympics.Passage 7:John Templeton (botanist)John Templeton (1766–1825) was a pioneering Irish naturalist, sometimes referred to as the "Father of Irish Botany". He was a leading figure in Belfast's late eighteenth century enlightenment, initially supported the  United Irishmen, and figured prominently in the town's scientific and literary societies.FamilyTempleton was born in Belfast in 1766, the son of James Templeton, a prosperous wholesale merchant, and his wife Mary Eleanor, daughter of Benjamin Legg, a sugar refiner. The family resided in a 17th century country house to the south of the town, which been named Orange Grove in honour of William of Orange who had stopped at the house en route to his victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.Until the age of 16 Templeton attended a progressive, co-educational, school favoured by the town's liberal, largely Presbyterian, merchant class. Schoolmaster David Manson sought to exclude "drudgery and fear" by combining classroom instruction with play and experiential learning. Templeton counted among his schoolfellows brother and sister Henry Joy and Mary Ann McCracken, and maintained a warm friendship with them throughout his life.In 1799, Templeton married Katherine Johnson of Seymour Hill. Her family had been touched by the United Irish rebellion the previous year: her brother-in-law, Henry Munro, commander of the United army at the Battle of Ballynahinch, had been hanged. The couple had five children: Ellen, born on 30 September 1800, Robert, born on 12 December 1802, Catherine, born on 19 July 1806, Mary, born on 9 December 1809 and Matilda on 2 November 1813.The union between the two already prosperous merchant families provided more than ample means enabling Templeton to devote himself passionately to the study of natural history.United IrishmanLike many of his liberal Presbyterian peers in Belfast, Templeton was sympathetic to the programme and aims of the Society United Irishmen:  Catholic Emancipation and democratic reform of the Irish Parliament. But it was several years before he was persuaded to take the United Irish " test" or pledge. In March 1797 his friend, Mary Ann McCracken, wrote to her brother: [A] certain Botanical friend of ours whose steady and inflexible mind is invulnerable to any other weapon but reason, and only to be moved by conviction has at last turned his attention from the vegetable kingdom to the human species and after pondering the matter for some months, is at last determined to become what he ought to have been months ago.She hoped his sisters would "soon follow him." Having committed himself to the patriotic union of Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, Templeton changed the name of the family home from loyalist Orange Grove to Irish "Cranmore" (crann mór, 'big tree').Templeton was disenchanted by the Rebellion of 1798, and mindful of events in France , repelled by the violence. He nonetheless withdrew from the Belfast Literary Society, of which he had been a founding member in 1801, rather than accept the continued presence of Dr. James MacDonnell. MacDonnell's offence had been to subscribe forty guineas in 1803 for the capture (leading to execution) of the unreformed rebel Thomas Russell who had been their mutual friend. (While unable to "forget the amiable Russell", time, he conceded,  "softened a little my feelings": in 1825, Templeton and MacDonnell met and shook hands).GardenThe garden at Cranmore spread over 13-acre garden was planted with exotic and native species acquired on botanical excursions, from fellow botanists, nurseries, botanical gardens and abroad: "Received yesterday a large chest of East Indian plants which I examined today." "Box from Mr. Taylor".Other plants arrived, often as seeds from North America, Australia, India, China and other parts of the British Empire  Cranmore also served as a small animal farm.for experimental animal husbandry and a kitchen garden.BotanistJohn Templeton's interest in botany began with this experimental garden laid out according to a suggestion in Rousseau's 'Nouvelle Heloise' and following Rousseau's 'Letters on the Elements of Botany Here he cultivated many tender exotics out of doors (a list provided by Nelson and began


Passage 1:Rolf Olsen (actor)Rolf Olsen (26 December 1919 – 3 April 1998) was an Austrian actor, screenwriter and film director. He appeared in 60 films between 1949 and 1990. He also wrote for 51 films and directed a further 33 between 1947 and 1990. He was born in Vienna, Austria and died in Munich, Germany.Selected filmographyPassage 2:Our Crazy Aunts in the South SeasOur Crazy Aunts in the South Seas (German: Unsere tollen Tanten in der Südsee) is a 1964 Austrian comedy film directed by Rolf Olsen and starring Gunther Philipp, Gus Backus, and Udo Jürgens. It was the final part in a trilogy of films that also included Our Crazy Aunts and Our Crazy Nieces. Barbara Frey was cast in the role that had been played by Vivi Bach in the two previous films.The film's sets were designed by the art director Leo Metzenbauer. Location shooting took place in the Canary Islands.CastPassage 3:Wale AdebanwiWale Adebanwi (born 1969) is a Nigerian-born first Black Rhodes Professor at St Antony's College, Oxford where he was, until June 2021, a Professor of Race Relations, and the Director of the African Studies Centre, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, and a Governing Board Fellow. He is currently a Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Adebanwi's research focuses on a range of topics in the areas of social change, nationalism and ethnicity, race relations, identity politics, elites and cultural politics, democratic process, newspaper press and spatial politics in Africa.Education backgroundWale Adebanwi graduated with a first degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, and later earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Ibadan. He also has an MPhil. and a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge.CareerAdebanwi worked as a freelance reporter, writer, journalist and editor for many newspapers and magazines before he joined the University of Ibadan's Department of Political Science as a lecturer and researcher. He was later appointed as an assistant professor in the African American and African Studies Department of the University of California, Davis, USA. He became a full professor at UC Davis in 2016.Adebanwi is the co-editor of Africa: Journal of the International African Institute and the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.WorksHis published works include:Nation as Grand Narrative: The Nigerian Press and the Politics of Meaning (University of Rochester Press, 2016)Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency (Cambridge University Press, 2014)Authority Stealing: Anti-corruption War and Democratic Politics in Post-Military Nigeria (Carolina Academic Press, 2012)In addition, he is the editor and co-editor of other books, including.The Political Economy of Everyday Life in Africa: Beyond the Margins (James Currey Publishers, 2017)Writers and Social Thought in Africa (Routledge, 2016)(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Governance and the Crisis of Rule in Contemporary Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: Critical Interpretations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Nigeria at Fifty: The Nation in Narration (Routledge, 2012)(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Encountering the Nigerian State (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).AwardsRhodes Professorship in Race Relations awarded by Oxford University to Faculty of African and Interdisciplinary Area Studies.Passage 4:Hassan ZeeHassan "Doctor" Zee is a Pakistani-American film director who was born in Chakwal, Pakistan.Early lifeDoctor Zee grew up in Chakwal, a small village in Punjab, Pakistan. as one of seven brothers and sisters  His father was in the military and this fact required the family to move often to different cities. As a child Zee was forbidden from watching cinema because his father believed movies were a bad influence on children.At age 13, Doctor Zee got his start in the world of entertainment at Radio Pakistan where he wrote and produced radio dramas and musical programs.  It was then that he realized his passion for storytelling At the age of 26, Doctor Zee earned his medical doctorate degree and did his residency in a burn unit at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. He cared for women who were victims of  "Bride Burning," the archaic practice used as a form of punishment against women who fail to provide sufficient dowry to their in-laws after marriage or fail to provide offspring.  He also witnessed how his country’s transgender and intersex people, called “hijras”, were banned from having jobs and forced to beg to survive. These experiences inspired Doctor Zee to tackle the issues of women’s empowerment and gender inequality in his films.In 1999, he came to San Francisco to pursue his dream of filmmaking and made San Francisco his homeEducationHe received his early education from Jinnah Public School, Chakwal. He got his medical doctor degree at Rawalpindi Medical College, Pakistan.Film careerDoctor Zee's first film titled Night of Henna was released in 2005. The theme of the film dealt with "the conflict between Old World immigrant customs and modern Western ways..." Night of Henna focused on the problems of Pakistani expatriates who found it hard to adjust in American culture. Many often landed themselves in trouble when it came to marrying off their children.His second film Bicycle Bride came out in 2010, which was about "the clash between the bonds of family and the weight of tradition." His third film House of Temptation that came out in 2014 was about a family which struggles against the temptations of the Devil. His fourth film “Good Morning Pakistan”, concerned a young American’s journey back to Pakistan where he confronts the contradictory nature of a beautiful and ancient culture that's marred by economic, educational and gender inequality His upcoming fifth film, "Ghost in San Francisco" is a supernatural thriller starring Felissa Rose, Dave Sheridan, and Kyle Lowder where a soldier comes home from Afghanistan to discover that his wife is having an affair with his best friend. While battling with his inner ghosts and demons, he meets a mysterious woman in San Francisco who promises him a ritual for his cure.Passage 5:Dearest (2014 film)Dearest is a 2014 Chinese-language film directed by Peter Chan on kidnapping in China, based on a true story, starring Zhao Wei, Huang Bo, Tong Dawei, Hao Lei, Zhang Yi and Zhang Yuqi. It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.PlotFollowing years of unrelenting search, Tian Wenjun (Huang Bo) and ex-wife Lu Xiaojuan (Hao Lei) finally locate their abducted son in a remote village. After the boy is violently taken away from the village, the abductor's widow Li Hongqin (Zhao Wei) — the boy's foster mother — also loses her foster daughter to a state-owned orphanage in Shenzhen. Heartbroken, Li goes on a lone but determined journey to get her daughter back.Theme songs"Qin'ai de Xiaohai" (; "Dear Child") sung by cast members Huang, Tong, Zhao, Zhang Yi and Hao. It was originally sung by Su Rui as the theme song of the 1985 film The Unwritten Law."Mei Yi Ci" (; "Every Time") sung by Huang. It was originally sung by Zhang Hongsheng as an insert song in the 1990 TV series Kewang."Yinxing de Chibang" (; "Invisible Wings") sung by Huang and parents of missing children. It was originally sung by Angela Chang in her 2006 album Pandora.CastZhao WeiHuang BoTong DaweiHao LeiZhang YiZhang YuqiZhang GuoqiangZhu DongxuYi QingWang ZhifeiProductionPrincipal photography for Dearest took place in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Chengde. It began from January 2014 and concluded on 18 April 2014.Portraying a rural mother, Zhao Wei spoke the Lower Yangtze Mandarin dialect (the predominant dialect in her hometown of Wuhu) rather than Standard Mandarin in the film.AccoladesSee alsoLost and Love – another film dealing with child kidnapping in ChinaPassage 6:Peter ChanPeter Ho-sun Chan (born 28 November 1962) is a film director and producer.Early lifeChan was born in British Hong Kong to Chinese parents. He and his family moved to Thailand when he was 11, where he grew up amongst the international Chinese community in Bangkok. He speaks Thai as fluently as a Thai person.He later studied in the United States where he attended film school at UCLA, with a minor in accountancy. He returned to Hong Kong in 1983 for a summer internship in the film industry. Chan never returned to UCLA to complete his studies.CareerHe served as second assistant director, translator, and producer on John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears (1986), which was set in Thailand. He then was a location manager on three Jackie Chan films, Wheels on Meals (1984), The Protector (1985) and Armour of God (1986), all of which were shot overseas.He joined Impact Films as a producer in 1989, guiding projects such as Curry and Pepper (1990) to completion.His directorial debut, Alan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye, was crowned best film at the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild in 1991. It also won best actor at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Eric Tsang, who would become a frequent collaborator with Chan.Chan was a co-founder of United Filmmakers Organization (UFO) in the early 1990s, which produced a number of box-office and critical hits in Hong Kong, including his own: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father.  Other critical and commercial successes followed, including Tom, Dick and Hairy, He's a Woman, She's a Man and Comrades, Almost a Love Story.In the late 1990s, Chan worked in Hollywood, directing The Love Letter, which starred Kate Capshaw, Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Selleck.In 2000, Chan co-founded Applause Pictures with Teddy Chen and Allan Fung.  The company's focus was on fostering ties with pan-Asian filmmakers, producing such films as Jan Dara by Thailand's Nonzee Nimibutr, One Fine Spring Day South Korea's Hur Jin-ho, Samsara by China's Huang Jianxin, The Eye by Danny and Oxide Pang and cinematographer Christopher Doyle.Chan's 2005 film, the musical Perhaps Love closed the 2005 Venice Film Festival and was Hong Kong's entry for an Academy Awards nomination in the best foreign film category.  Perhaps Love became one of the year's top-grossing films in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and received a record 29 awards. Chan next directed The Warlords (2007) and produced Derek Yee's Protégé (2007). The two films were the two highest grossing Hong Kong-China co-productions of 2007. The Warlords grossed a record RMB220 million in China and over US$40 million across Asia, and garnered 8 Hong Kong Film Awards and 3 Golden Horse Awards, including Best Director and Best Feature Film.In 2009, Chan produced Teddy Chen's Bodyguards and Assassins, which has garnered RMB300 million in China box office alone, accumulating over US$50 million Asia-wide. It has scored 8 awards in the Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Film. It also won Best Actor awards for Wang Xueqi in the Asian Film Awards and the HK Film Critics Society Awards, adding up to 146 awards out of 231 nominations for Chan's awards track record.In a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council during the 2010 Hong Kong Filmart, Chan was voted "the most valuable filmmaker", which was strongly backed by his box-office track records.Personal lifeChan dated Kathleen Poh for a brief period in 1993 before Poh moved to Singapore permanently. Chan currently has a daughter Jilian Chan (born in 2006) with Hong Kong actress Sandra Ng, although the two have no intention of getting married.FilmographyAs directorAs producerAs actorDuo ming ke (1973)Millionaires Express (1986) – Firefighter / Security officerSan dui yuan yang yi zhang chuang (1988) – Man betting on fight in loungeTwin Dragons (1992)C'est la vie, mon chéri (1993) – Man at PartyWan 9 zhao 5 (1994) – (final film role)Passage 7:Hartley LobbanHartley W Lobban (9 May 1926 – 15 October 2004) was a Jamaican-born first-class cricketer who played 17 matches for Worcestershire in the early 1950s.Life and careerLobban played little cricket in Jamaica. He went to England at the end of World War II as a member of the Royal Air Force, and settled in Kidderminster in Worcestershire in 1947, where he worked as a civilian lorry driver for the RAF. He began playing for Kidderminster Cricket Club in the Birmingham League, and at the start of the 1952 season, opening the bowling for the club's senior team, he had figures of 7 for 9 and 7 for 37.Worcestershire invited him to play for them, and he made his first-class debut against Sussex in July 1952. He took five wickets in the match (his maiden victim being Ken Suttle) and then held on for 4 not out with Peter Richardson (20 not out) to add the 12 runs needed for a one-wicket victory after his county had collapsed from 192 for 2 to 238 for 9. A week later he claimed four wickets against Warwickshire, then a few days later still he managed 6 for 52 (five of his victims bowled) in what was otherwise a disastrous innings defeat to Derbyshire. In the last match of the season he took a career-best 6 for 51 against Glamorgan; he and Reg Perks (4 for 59) bowled unchanged throughout the first innings. Worcestershire won the game and Lobban finished the season with 23 wickets at 23.69.He took 23 wickets again in 1953, but at a considerably worse average of 34.43, and had only two really successful games: against Oxford University in June, when he took 5 for 70, and then against Sussex in July. On this occasion Lobban claimed eight wickets, his most in a match, including 6 for 103 in the first innings. He also made his highest score with the bat, 18, but Sussex won by five wickets.In 1954 Lobban made only two first-class appearances, and managed only the single wicket of Gloucestershire tail-ender Bomber Wells. In his final game, against Warwickshire at Dudley, his nine first-innings overs cost 51. He bowled just two overs in the second innings as Warwickshire completed an easy ten-wicket win. Lobban played one more Second XI game, against Glamorgan II at Cardiff Arms Park; in this he picked up five wickets.He was also a professional boxer and played rugby union for Kidderminster.He later moved to Canada, where he worked as a teacher in Burnaby, British Columbia. He and his wife Celia had a son and two daughters.Passage 8:Henry Moore (cricketer)Henry Walter Moore (1849 – 20 August 1916) was an English-born first-class cricketer who spent most of his life in New Zealand.Life and familyHenry Moore was born in Cranbrook, Kent, in 1849. He was the son of the Reverend Edward Moore and Lady Harriet Janet Sarah Montagu-Scott, who was one of the daughters of the 4th Duke of Buccleuch. One of his brothers, Arthur, became an admiral and was knighted. Their great grandfather was John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1783 to 1805. One of their sisters was a maid of honour to Queen Victoria.Moore went to New Zealand in the 1870s and lived in Geraldine and Christchurch. He married Henrietta Lysaght of Hāwera in November 1879, and they had one son. In May 1884 she died a few days after giving birth to a daughter, who also died.In 1886 Moore became a Justice of the Peace in Geraldine. In 1897 he married Alice Fish of Geraldine. They moved to England four years before his death in 1916.Cricket careerMoore was a right-handed middle-order batsman. In consecutive seasons, 1876–77 and 1877–78, playing for Canterbury, he made the highest score in the short New Zealand first-class season: 76 and 75 respectively. His 76 came in his first match for Canterbury, against Otago. He went to the wicket early on the first day with the score at 7 for 2 and put on 99 for the third wicket with Charles Corfe before he was out with the score at 106 for 3 after a "very fine exhibition of free hitting, combined with good defence". Canterbury were all out for 133, but went on to win the match. His 75 came in the next season's match against Otago, when he took the score from 22 for 2 to 136 for 6. The New Zealand cricket historian Tom Reese said, "Right from the beginning he smote the bowling hip and thigh, going out of his ground to indulge in some forceful driving." Canterbury won again.Moore led the batting averages in the Canterbury Cricket Association in 1877–78 with 379 runs at an average of 34.4. Also in 1877–78, he was a member of the Canterbury team that inflicted the only defeat on the touring Australians. In 1896–97, at the age of 47, he top-scored in each innings for a South Canterbury XVIII against the touring Queensland cricket team.Passage 9:Our Crazy NiecesOur Crazy Nieces (German: Unsere tollen Nichten) is a 1963 Austrian comedy film directed by Rolf Olsen and starring Gunther Philipp, Vivi Bach, and Paul Hörbiger. It was the second part in a trilogy of films which began with Our Crazy Aunts in 1961 and finished with Our Crazy Aunts in the South Seas.The film's sets were designed by the art director Wolf Witzemann. It was shot at the Sievering Studios in Vienna.CastPassage 10:Our Crazy AuntsOur Crazy Aunts (German: Unsere tollen Tanten) is a 1961 Austrian comedy film directed by Rolf Olsen and starring Gunther Philipp, Gus Backus, and Vivi Bach. It was followed by two sequels Our Crazy Nieces and Our Crazy Aunts in the South Seas.The film's sets were designed by the art director Felix Smetana.Cast


Passage 1:Helperich von Plötzkau, Margrave of the NordmarkHelperich (Helferich) (d. 1118), Count of Plötzkau and Walbeck, and Margrave of the Nordmark, son of Dietrich, Count of Plötzkau, and Mathilde vonWalbeck, daughter of Conrad, Count of Walbeck, and Adelheid of Bavaria.  The count's sister Irmgard was married to Lothair Udo III, Margrave of the Nordmark, and was the mother of Helperich's successor in ruling themargraviate, Henry II.Helperich inherited the title Count of Plötzkau upon his father’s death and the title Count of Walbeck from his mother, although this title was mostly ceremonial at this point.  In 1112, EmperorHenry V deposed Rudolf I as Margrave of the Nordmark because of conspiracy against the crown in his alliance with Lothair of Supplinburg, then Duke of Saxony (and later Holy Roman Emperor).  The margraviate wasgiven to Helperich as an interim measure until Henry II, nephew of Rudolf and heir to the title, was of age.In 1106, Helperich married Adele, daughter of Kuno of Northeim and Kunigunde of Weimar-Orlamünde, widowof Dietrich III, Count of Katlenburg.  Helperich and Adele had four children:Bernhard (d. 1147), Count of PlötzkauConrad, Margrave of the NordmarkIrmgard, Abbess of HecklingenMathilde.Halperich died in 1118 andwas buried at the Hecklingen Monastery.  Upon his death, he was succeeded as Count of Plötzkau by his son Bernhard.  Henry II assumed the role of Margrave of the Nordmark in 1114.SourcesHucke, Richard G., DieGrafen von Stade. 900–1144. Genealogie, politische Stellung, Comitat und Allodialbesitz der sächsischen Udonen. Stade 1956Passage 2:Lothair Udo III, Margrave of the NordmarkLothair Udo III (1070-1106), Margraveof the Nordmark and Count of Stade (as Lothair Udo IV), son of Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Oda of Werl, daughter of Herman III, Count of Werl, and Richenza of Swabia.  Brother of his predecessorHenry I the Long.Lothair Udo was betrothed to Eilika of Saxony, daughter of Magnus, Duke of Saxony, and Sophia of Hungary. However, his attention was diverted to the House of Helperich, towards Count Helperich'senticing sister Ermengardam.  He married this woman, the count's sister Irmgard, daughter of Dietrich, Count of Plötzkau, and Mathilde von Walbeck, daughter of Conrad, Count of Walbeck.  Eilika moved on andmarried Otto the Rich, Count of Ballenstedt, and was mother to Albert the Bear, the last Margrave of the Nordmark and first Margrave of Brandenburg.  This provides an interesting twist in the history of the county ofStade.Lothair Udo and Irmgard had four children:Henry II, Margrave of the Nordmark, also Count of Stade (as Henry IV)A daughter whose name is not knownIrmgard von Stade, married Poppo IV, Count ofHennebergAdelheid von Stade, married Henry II, Margrave of Meissen.Lothair Udo was succeeded by his brother Rudolf as margrave and count upon his death.SourcesHucke, Richard G., Die Grafen von Stade.900–1144. Genealogie, politische Stellung, Comitat und Allodial- besitz der sächsischen Udonen, Selbstverlag des Stader Geschichts und Heimatvereins, Stade, 1956Raffensperger, Christian, Reimagining Europe,Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012Passage 3:Albert II, Margrave of BrandenburgAlbert II (c. 1177 – 25 February 1220) was a member of the House of Ascania who ruled as the margrave of Brandenburgfrom 1205 until his death in 1220.LifeAlbert II was the youngest son of Otto I and his second wife Ada of Holland. His father Otto I promoted and directed the foundation of German settlement in the area, which hadbeen Slavic until the 10th century.Count of ArneburgAlbert II was, from 1184 onwards, Count of Arneburg in the Altmark.  The Altmark belonged to Brandenburg, and his older brother Otto II claimed that this impliedthat the Ascanians owned Arneburg.When Henry of Gardeleggen died in 1192, he left his domains to Albert II. But that caused a conflict between himself and his brother. He was temporarily imprisoned in 1194 byOtto.In 1197, he joined the German Crusade of 1197. He was present at the inaugural meeting of the Teutonic Knights in 1198 in Acre.Margrave of BrandenburgAlbert II inherited the Margraviate in 1205, after thedeath of his eldest brother Otto II.In the dispute about the imperial crown between the Houses of Hohenstaufen and Guelph in the early 13th century, Albert initially supported the Hohenstaufen King Philip of Swabia,like Otto before him.  After Philip's assassination in 1208, however, he changed sides, because Emperor Otto IV had assisted him in securing the Margraviate against the Danes, and had confirmed Ascanian ownership ofBrandenburg in a deed in 1212.During this period, Albert II had a lengthy dispute with Archbishop Albert I of Magdeburg. He also played an important rôle in the Brandenburg tithe dispute.Albert II definitively securedthe regions of Teltow, Prignitz and parts of the Uckermark for the Margraviate of Brandenburg, but lost Pomerania to the House of Griffins.Death and successionAlbert II died in 1220.  At the time, his two sons were stillminors.  Initially, archbishop Albert I of Magdeburg acted as regent.  In 1221, however, Albert's widow, Countess Matilda, took up the regency.  After her death in 1225, the brothers were declared legal adults andbegan ruling the Margraviate jointly.LegacyStephan Warnatsch describes Otto I's children as follows:[They] continued the territorialisation drive that had been initiated [by their father] and, from the end of the 12thCentury, as the influx of settlers grew stronger, and, consequently, more people were available to develop the territory, started to expand into the areas of Ruppin, and in particular, Barnim and Teltow.  Moreover, theOder region and the southern Uckermark were also targets of the Ascanian expansion.  In all these areas, the Ascanians ran into opposition from competing local princes.Marriage and issueIn 1205, Albert marriedMatilda of Groitzsch (1185–1225), daughter of the Count Conrad II of Lusatia, a member of the House of Wettin, and wife Elizabeth, from the Polish Piast dynasty.  They had four children:John I (born: c. 1213; died: 4April 1266)Otto III "the Pious" (born: 1215; died: 9 October 1267)Matilda (died: 10 June 1261), married in 1228 Duke Otto I "the Child" of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1204–1252), a member of the House of GuelphElizabeth(born: 1207; died: 19 November 1231), married in 1228 Landgrave Henry Raspe of Thuringia (1201–1247)Passage 4:Henry II, Margrave of Baden-HachbergHenry II, Margrave of Baden-Hachberg (before 1231 – c.1297/1298) was the ruling Margrave of Baden-Hachberg from 1231 to 1289.LifeHenry II was the eldest son of Margrave Henry I of Baden-Hachberg and his wife, Agnes, a daughter of Count Egino IV of Urach.  In 1231,he succeeded his father as Margrave of Baden-Hachberg.  Since he was a minor at the time, he initially stood under the guardianship of his mother.  He was the first in his line of the House of Zähringen to style himselfMargrave of Hachberg.  In 1232, he purchased the Lordship of Sausenburg from St. Blaise Abbey.  Soon afterwards, he built Sausenburg Castle, which was first mentioned in 1246.He had disputes with the spiritualrulers in the area and with the Counts of Freiburg about the entangled rights and privileges they had (or claimed to have) on each other's possessions.  In 1250, some imperial and Hohenstaufen possessions becameavailable for the taking after Emperor Frederick II had died.  Henry II grabbed some of these land and managed round off his territory.For several years, he supported Count Rudolph of Habsburg in his disputes againstthe bishops of Basel and Strasbourg.  In 1273, he supported Rudolph in his bid to become King of the Romans.  He also supported Rudolph in his dispute against the main line of the Margraves of Baden.  During the waragainst Bohemia, Henry II fought on the imperial side in the decisive Battle on the Marchfeld.He was a patron of the monasteries Tennenbach and Adelhausen.Henry II abdicated in 1289, and joined the TeutonicKnights.Marriage and issueHenry II was married to Anne, a daughter of Count Rudolph II of Üsingen-Ketzingen.  They had the following children:Henry III, his successor as Margrave of Baden-HachbergRudolf I, the firstMargrave of Hachberg-SausenbergFrederick, who also joined the Teutonic KnightsVerena, married Egino I, Count of FürstenbergHerman I, joined the Knights HospitallerKunigunde, a nun at AdelhausenAgnes, marriedWalter of ReichenbergElisabeth, also a nun at AdelhausenPassage 5:Henry II, Margrave of the NordmarkHenry II (1102 – 4 December 1128), Margrave of the Nordmark, also Count of Stade (as Henry IV), son of LothairUdo III, Margrave of the Nordmark, and  Irmgard, daughter of Dietrich, Count of Plötzkau, and Mathilde von Walbeck.Henry assumed the title of Margrave of the Nordmark in 1114 from Helperich of Plötzkau, who wasappointed margrave until Henry came of age. The previous margrave in this dynasty was Henry’s uncle Rudolf I, who was also his guardian.  Rudolf was deposed by Emperor Henry V because of conspiracy against thecrown, and was replaced by Helperich as an interim measure.  Henry assumed the titles of Count of Stade and Margrave of the Nordmark in 1114.Henry was married to Adelaide of Ballenstedt, a daughter of Otto, Countof Ballenstedt, and Eilika of Saxony.  Adelaide was therefore the sister of Albert the Bear. There are no known children as a result of this union.  Henry was succeeded as margrave by the son of Helperich, Conrad ofPlötzkau.SourcesKrause, Karl Ernst Hermann, Lothar Udo II. und das Stader Grafenhaus. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. Band 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig, 1884== External links ==Passage 6:Henry II,Margrave of MeissenHenry II (1103–1123) was the Margrave of Meissen and the Saxon Ostmark (as Lusizensis marchio: margrave of Lusatia) from his birth until his death. He was the posthumous son of MargraveHenry I and Gertrude of Brunswick, daughter of Egbert I of Meissen. He was by inheritance also Count of Eilenburg. He was the second Meissener margrave of the House of Wettin.He was initially under the regency offirst his mother and after her death in 1117 under his great uncle Thimo. He died young and without children in 1123. His lands were inherited by his half-sister Richenza of Northeim. He left a widow, Adelaide, daughterof Lothair Udo III, Margrave of the Nordmark. The succession to the marches was disputed after his death.Passage 7:Rudolf II, Margrave of the NordmarkRudolf II (died 14 March 1144), Margrave of the Nordmark, andCount of Stade, Dithmarschen and Freckleben, son of Rudolf I, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Richardis, daughter of Hermann von Sponheim, Burgrave of Magdeburg.Rudolf, the traditional heir to the margraviateassumed the title upon the death of his predecessor Conrad von Plötzkau.A chronicle of the 15th century reported that Rudolf resided in Burg, Dithmarschen (Bökelnburg). He ruled with a heavy hand and demanded hisgrain tithe even after several years of drought. The Dithmarscher farmers used a ruse to get rid of their unpopular regent. Hidden in sacks of corn were weapons.  As agreed, they opened the bags at the sound of thebattle cry "Röhret de Hann, snidet de sac spell!" (Shall ye touch hands, cuts the bag volumes). They set the castle on fire, killed the count and so won their freedom. This event is still recounted today in performances atthe castle. His widow, Elizabeth, later married Henry V, Duke of Carinthia.Rudolf was married to Elisabeth, daughter of Leopold I the Strong, Margrave of Styria. No children are recorded of this union. With the death ofRudolf, the male line of the Margraves of the Nordmark died out.After the death of Rudolf, his brother Hartwig transferred his inheritance to the Archbishopric of Bremen in return for a regrant of a life interest,presumably to obtain a powerful protector against the aggression of Henry the Lion.  The move was ineffective, as Henry took possession of the lands and captured both Hartwig and the archbishop Adelbero, releasingthem only after they agreed to recognize his claim.Rudolf’s successor as Margrave of the Nordmark was Albert the Bear.  Upon Rudolf's death, his brother Hartwig succeeded him as Count of Stade.Passage 8:Henry Ithe Long, Margrave of the NordmarkHenry I the Long (c. 1065 – 27 June 1087), Margrave of the Nordmark, also Count of Stade (as Henry III), son of Lothair Udo II, Margrave of the Nordmark, and Oda of Werl,daughter of Herman III, Count of Werl, and Richenza of Swabia.Henry married Eupraxia of Kiev, daughter of Vsevolod I, Grand Prince of Kiev, and his second wife Anna.  There were no children as a result of thismarriage, and Eupraxia, widowed, married next Henry IV, then King of Saxony, who became Holy Roman Emperor.Raffensperger suggests that Henry's motivation in marrying Eupraxia was to bring Saxony closer toKiev.  In fact, the marriage may have been arranged by Oda of Stade, daughter of Lothair Udo I, Margrave of the Nordmark, who had married Sviatoslav II, Grand Prince of Kiev. Oda is identified as a relative of Henry’sfather Lothair Udo II as well as a niece of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Pope Leo IX.Upon his death, Henry was succeeded as margrave and count by his brother Lothair Udo III.NotesSourcesVernadsky, George,Kievan Russia, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1948, ISBN 9780300010077Raffensperger, Christian, Reimagining Europe: Kievan Rus' in the Medieval World, Harvard University Press, Cambridge,Massachusetts, 2012H. Rüß, ‘Eupraxia-Adelheid. Eine biographische Annäherung,‘ Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 54 (2006), 481–518.== External links ==Passage 9:Theodoric I, Margrave of MeissenTheodoric I(11 March 1162 – 18 February 1221), called the Oppressed (Dietrich der Bedrängte), was the Margrave of Meissen from 1198 until his death. He was the second son of Otto II, Margrave of Meissen and Hedwig ofBrandenburg.BiographyTheodoric, called in German Dietrich, the younger son of Otto II, Margrave of Meissen, fell out with his brother, Albert the Proud, after his mother persuaded his father to change the succession sothat Theodoric was given the Margraviate of Meissen and Albrecht (although the older son) the margraviate of Weissenfels. Albert took his father prisoner to try to make him return the succession to the way it had been.After Otto obtained his release by an order of the emperor Frederick I, he had only just renewed the war when he died in 1190. Albert then took back the Meissen margraviate from his brother. Theodoric attempted toregain the margraviate, supported by Landgraf Hermann I of Thuringia, his father-in-law. In 1195, however, Theodoric left on a pilgrimage to Palestine.Albrecht's DeathAfter Albrecht's death in 1195, leaving nochildren, Meissen, with its rich mines, was seized by the emperor Henry VI as a vacant fief of the empire. Dietrich finally came into possession of his inheritance two years later on Henry's death.At the time of thestruggle between the two rival kings Philip of Swabia and Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Phillip gave Dietrich the tenure of the march of Meißen again. After that time, Dietrich was on Phillip's side and remained true tothe Staufer even after Phillip was murdered in 1208.Dietrich became caught up in dangerous disagreements with the city of Leipzig and the Meißen nobility. After a fruitless siege of Leipzig, in 1217 he agreed to asettlement but then took over the city by trickery, had the city walls taken down and built three castles of his own within the city, full of his own men.DeathMargrave Dietrich died on 18 February 1221, possibly poisonedby his doctor, instigated into doing so by the people of Leipzig and the dissatisfied nobility. He left behind a widow, Jutta of Thuringia, daughter of Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia. Some of his children had alreadydied.Marriages and issueChildren from his marriage to Jutta of Thuringia, daughter of Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia:Hedwig (d. 1249) married Count Dietrich V of Cleves (1185–1260)Otto (d. before 1215)Sophia(d. 1280) married Count Henry of Henneberg-Schleusingen (d. 1262)Jutta married Mestwin II, Duke of PomeraniaHenry the Illustrious (1218–1288) Margrave of MeissenChildren from extramaritalliaisons:KonradDietrich II (not the same as Dietrich von Kittlitz)HeinrichPassage 10:William, Margrave of the NordmarkWilliam (died 10 September 1056) was the Margrave of the Nordmark from 1051 until his death.He was the eldest son and successor of the Margrave Bernard by a daughter of Vladimir the Great. He died fighting the Slavs in the Battle of Pritzlawa. Upon his death, he was succeeded by his half-brother Otto asMargrave of the Nordmark.SourcesBury, J. B. (editor), The Cambridge Medieval History: Volume III, Germany and the Western Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1922, page 306