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  1. #1776
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    Paul Torday Dies at 67; Wrote ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’
    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    Published: December 19, 2013



    Paul Torday, the British author who had a surprise success with his debut novel, “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” died on Wednesday at his home in Northumberland, England. He was 67.

    His death was announced by his publisher, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The cause was not given.

    Mr. Torday began his writing career in his late 50s. “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” the story of a rich sheikh who dreams of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to his desert country, was published in 2007. It was adapted into a 2011 film starring Ewan McGregor as a cynical fishery expert and Emily Blunt as the sheikh’s representative.

    Mr. Torday received a degree in English literature but spent years in the engineering business before turning to writing. He wrote six more novels and two e-books after the success of the first novel.

    Kirsty Dunseath of Weidenfeld & Nicolson said in a statement that Mr. Torday “was a gentle observer of the foibles of human nature and our social behavior” whose novels were “infused with a deep social awareness.”

    His survivors include his wife, Penelope; two sons, Piers and Nicholas; and two stepsons, Jonathan and Charles.

  2. #1777
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    Graham Mackay - obituary

    Graham Mackay was a businessman who created the second largest brewery group in the world



    Graham Mackay, former chief executive of SABMiller


    Graham Mackay , who has died aged 64, was the South African-born chief executive and chairman of the world’s second largest brewery group, SABMiller.


    Mackay became chief executive in 1997 of South African Breweries, which had grown in the apartheid era into a sprawling conglomerate of local interests ranging from supermarkets and textile factories to casinos and hotels.


    As right-hand man to SAB’s executive chairman Meyer Kahn, Mackay brought a new strategic focus on opportunities in the global brewing industry, and led the company’s listing on the London stock exchange in 1999 as well as the shift of its headquarters from Johannesburg to Mayfair. Those decisions provided the platform for a bold series of takeovers, of which the most significant was the Miller Brewing Co of Milwaukee in 2002, following which the group renamed itself SABMiller.


    Acquisitions of the Bavaria breweries in Latin America, Italy’s Birra Peroni, Pilsner Urquell in the Czech Republic, and latterly Australia’s Foster’s lager, completed a decade of growth that took SABMiller to 75 countries as well as into the FTSE100 index. Besides producing more than 20 billion litres of lager annually under 150 different labels, the group is also one of the world’s largest Coca-Cola bottlers.


    Mackay was sometimes criticised for paying high prices — Foster’s cost SABMiller A$10.5 billion — but contrary to many other companies’ experiences on the acquisition trail, his major purchases all added value and profit to the group, whose share price rose sixfold. And his critics were certainly outnumbered by those who admired him as a thoughtful leader with a courteous and understated style .

    Reservations were expressed by corporate governance watchdogs when it was announced in April 2012 that — contrary to convention — Mackay was to be elevated from chief executive to succeed Meyer Kahn as executive chairman. But the group’s biggest shareholders expressed themselves content, and Kahn praised his successor for his vision of the future of the beer industry .






    Mackay had to stand aside from executive duties after an operation for a brain tumour in April this year; having returned as non-executive chairman in September, he stepped down again last month.

    Ernest Arthur Graham Mackay was born in Johannesburg on July 26 1949 and spent his childhood in Swaziland, Natal and Rhodesia. His father was a farmer who, having been shot down as a wartime pilot at El Alamein and held as a PoW, afterwards “went off to find his soul in the African bush on plantations”. Graham was educated at St Andrew’s College, Grahamstown, and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied Engineering.

    He went on to take a Commerce degree at the University of South Africa before joining South African Breweries in 1977 to work on its computer systems. He became general manager for Northern Transvaal and the Orange Free State in 1982; managing director in 1987; and chairman of the South African operations in 1992.

    Interviewed by a website for aspiring teenage entrepreneurs, Mackay said that the key to good management of a global business employing 70,000 people was “decentralised decision-making, close to the markets”, and that his best advice was “be prepared to work very hard; try things out and adjust as you go; your customers have to trust you, so give them reasons to do so”.

    Mackay was a former deputy chairman of the Standard Bank of South Africa, and sat on the boards of Philip Morris International and Reckitt Benckiser, where he was the senior non-executive director. He enjoyed squash, tennis, bridge and listening to opera, and declared Pilsner Urquell to be his favourite beer.

    He was twice married, and had three sons of each marriage.


    Graham Mackay, born July 26 1949, died December 18 2013

  3. #1778
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    Audrey Totter - obituary

    Audrey Totter was a Hollywood actress whose cool, seductive good looks ranked her at the forefront of film noir’s femmes fatales




    Audrey Totter, who has died aged 95, epitomised the tough, hard-boiled blonde femme fatale during the Hollywood heyday of film noir, dark crime dramas that proliferated in the 1940s and 50s.


    She was a performer of great versatility, ranging from the murderous floozy Claire Quimby in Tension (1950), and the long-suffering wife of the ageing fighter (Robert Ryan) in The Set-Up (1949), to John Garfield’s saucy girlfriend in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), co-starring Lana Turner.


    She was also adept at comedy, as in The Sailor Takes a Wife (1946); Westerns, such as Woman They Almost Lynched (1953); and family dramas like My Pal Gus (1952).



    Audrey Mary Totter was born on December 20 1917 in Joliet, Illinois. Her father was Austrian, her mother Swedish. One of her first acting roles was as Violet in a touring version of My Sister Eileen.

    On reaching New York she became a favourite of radio producers, one of whom dubbed her “The Girl of 1,000 Voices”. Although hoping to break into the Broadway scene, she was offered film contracts by both Twentieth Century-Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.



    After a bidding war, she accepted MGM’s offer, and remained with them for six years. The studio trained her to sing, dance and act, she took tennis and riding lessons, and was taught to swim in the MGM pool used by Esther Williams. Audrey Totter made her film debut in Main Street After Dark (1944) .

    Most of her early films were “programme pictures” — short second features about an hour long. “Lionel Barrymore once told me I would not become a big star because I was too versatile,” she recalled. “He was right. I never became a Hedy Lamarr or a Lana Turner. But then I never had their burning ambition either.”

    After The Postman Always Rings Twice, Audrey Totter appeared in a screen adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s Lady in the Lake (1947), with Robert Montgomery as the private eye Philip Marlowe, a film shot entirely from his point of view.



    She received top billing when she played the psychiatrist Dr Ann Lorrison in another film noir, The High Wall (1947) with Robert Taylor and Herbert Marshall, and in the same year her character was murdered by Claude Rains in The Unsuspected. She appeared in Beginning of the End (1947), about the development of the atom bomb, and played second fiddle to Ray Milland in another forgotten noir gem Alias Nick Beal (1949).

    Towards the end of her MGM contract, Audrey Totter starred with Clark Gable in Any Number Can Play (1950), which she considered “just awful”.

    “MGM were putting me in terrible films that damaged my star status,” she said.

    “Gable knew I was terribly unhappy and did all he could to get me off the picture.

    The studio threatened me with suspension so I stayed on and completed it. I found Gable a caring and sensitive man, not at all like the rough and tumble characters he so often played on screen.”

    She subsequently signed with Columbia, but when she met her future husband, Fred Leo, a doctor, she agreed to reduce her working hours in order to start a family.

    After the birth of her daughter, she confined herself to small cameo parts in television series such as Rawhide, with Clint Eastwood.

    During the 1970s Audrey Totter appeared in the daytime television soap opera Medical Center, and soon afterwards disappeared from view. In the 1980s, following the death of her husband, she was occasionally seen at film galas, including the Academy Awards, often on the arm of the actor Turhan Bey.

    Her daughter survives her.


    Audrey Totter, born December 20 1917, died December 12 2013

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    Wing Commander Jimmy Flint - obituary

    Wing Commander Jimmy Flint was a bomber pilot who, uniquely, won two gallantry awards for his actions on a single hellish flight



    Jimmy Flint and a Lancaster at RAF Coningsby during the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Britain Photo: PA


    Wing Commander Jimmy Flint, who has died aged 100, had the unique distinction of receiving two gallantry awards for separate actions during the same flight.


    On the night of July 5/6 1941 Flint and his all-sergeant crew took off in their twin-engined Hampden bomber to attack Osnabruck. Shortly after crossing the Dutch coast at 10,000ft the aircraft was caught and held in enemy searchlights.

    Flint took violent evasive action, but a night fighter attacked, causing extensive damage to the aircraft. As Flint dived away the fighter inflicted further damage. Eventually, after 10 minutes, and by descending to 500ft, Flint was able to shake off the fighter and escape.


    Unperturbed, he climbed back to bombing height and headed for the target. But the aircraft was again caught by searchlights, and was unable to evade them until Flint had jettisoned the bombs. He finally escaped at 1,000ft, when he headed for the North Sea.


    The Hampden was 50 miles from the English coast when two Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters appeared and set up a series of devastating coordinated attacks.

    Flares were ignited in the cockpit, and the aircraft’s radio and internal communication system was damaged, making it impossible for the crew to contact one another.


    The fighters made three more attacks, and the port engine of the bomber was set on fire and some of the crew wounded. Flint turned off the fuel to the damaged engine and flew a few feet above the sea before the fighters finally broke away.


    As he approached the coast near Cromer, Flint realised that he would be unable to climb over the cliffs. He turned away and ditched the bomber 800 yards from the shore.

    Two of the crew were able to get out of the aircraft, only to discover that the dinghy had been holed. Flint also escaped, but immediately realised that the navigator was missing. He crawled back into the sinking bomber, where he found his badly wounded comrade. As the aircraft began to go down, Flint hauled the helpless navigator through the escape hatch. With no dinghy, Flint supported the unconscious navigator as he swam and dragged him towards the shore. Fifty yards short of the beach a soldier arrived to help, allowing Flint to scramble ashore. There was no sign of the air gunner, and he asked for boats to search for the missing man.

    Flint refused to leave the beach until it was clear that the air gunner had been lost. He then walked a mile to a waiting ambulance and was taken to hospital.

    He was awarded an immediate DFM for his “cool courage and determination to strike at the enemy”. When the full extent of his gallant efforts to save his crew became clear, he was also awarded a George Medal, the citation concluding: “This airman displayed great gallantry, fortitude and disregard of personal safety in his efforts to save his helpless navigator.” Sadly, the navigator succumbed to his wounds.

    James Flint was born on May 24 1913 at Nottingham and educated at the Trent Bridge Central School, which he left at 14. The company he worked for soon went bust, but the liquidators were so impressed by him that they offered him a job. In August 1938 he joined the RAF and trained as a pilot.

    He joined No 49 Squadron at Scampton near Lincoln in February 1941 and flew his first operations as second pilot and navigator. These included attacks against targets in Germany and minelaying operations off the Brest Peninsula and the German coast.

    When Flint became captain of his own aircraft, Bomber Command was concentrating on attacks against the U-boat ports and the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau battle cruisers in Brest. Minelaying also remained a priority task and, during April, Berlin was attacked. On one occasion Flint’s Hampden was badly damaged, but he managed to nurse the aircraft back to Lincolnshire, where he was forced to crash-land in a field. Shortly after scrambling from the wreck he and his crew were met by a farmer’s wife carrying a tray on which she had laid out a breakfast for the four men. When Flint took off on his eventful flight in July it was his 32nd operation against the enemy.

    Flint was rested and commissioned and spent the next two years as an instructor at a bomber training unit. In April 1944 he returned to operations, flying the Lancaster. He was appointed CO of No 50 Squadron.

    The squadron flew in support of the Allied landings in Normandy before returning to the strategic bomber offensive over Germany in August 1944. The CO of a Lancaster squadron was expected to fly only occasionally on operations, but Flint completed 20 sorties before relinquishing command in spring 1945. He was awarded a DFC and received the Air Efficiency Award.

    Flint returned to Nottingham, where he spent the rest of his life. During his youth he had been an outstanding sportsman, excelling at cricket and football; and after demobilisation he was offered a job with the large sports outfitters and suppliers Redmayne and Todd.

    Always immaculately dressed, Flint was a great supporter of activities in Nottingham. For many years he was president of the Nottingham Club (formerly the Nottingham and Notts United Services Club), where a room was named after him.

    He was also a stalwart of RAF associations, and served as vice-president of No 50/61 Squadron’s Association, rarely missing an annual reunion. In July 2012 he attended the unveiling of the Bomber Command Memorial in London. His portrait hangs in the officers’ mess at the RAF’s HQ Air Command at High Wycombe.

    Jimmy Flint was an excellent golfer, playing off a handicap of seven, and a fine fly fisherman.

    His wife, Joyce, whom he married in 1944, predeceased him in 2003.


    Wing Commander Jimmy Flint, born May 24 1913, died 16 December 2013

  5. #1780
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    Michael Ryle - obituary

    Michael Ryle was a House of Commons clerk whose book on Parliament is considered a classic




    Michael Ryle, who has died aged 86, was a House of Commons clerk for 38 years and had a considerable influence over the way its procedures were reformed in the late 20th century.


    He was a founder in 1964, with the academics Bernard Crick and John Griffiths, of the Study of Parliament Group, many of whose proposals were taken up over the decades. Ryle pressed particularly for a system of select committees to monitor each Whitehall department.


    The Public Accounts Committee had long kept an eye on the public finances, but Ryle had to take on entrenched interests for any others to be set up. Richard Crossman took forward his proposal for a Science and Technology Select Committee in the late 1960s, and a few others followed. But it was 1980 before a comprehensive system of select committees was introduced by Norman St John Stevas, Margaret Thatcher’s Leader of the Commons.


    The reforms encouraged by Ryle and his group went with the grain of organic change. For instance, allocating greater responsibility to individual backbenchers was possible because the power of the party whips was declining.

    Ryle’s expertise was acknowledged when, in 1993, the Hansard Society appointed him secretary to its commission on the legislative process under the former Conservative minister Lord Rippon. When its report produced no immediate response, Rippon told him: “Don’t worry, Michael. It will come one day, water dripping on stones.” A number of its proposals were indeed implemented after the New Labour landslide of 1997, when incoming MPs demanded more social working hours and less mumbo-jumbo.



    In the new century Ryle pressed for clearer explanation to the public of what Parliament was doing. He said it was no longer the case – as in Gladstone’s time – that any piece of legislation could be “intelligible to the average reader, especially the reader sitting in the Athenaeum”.

    Michael Thomas Ryle was born on Tyneside on July 30 1927, the son of Peter Ryle, an electrical engineer, and the former Rebecca Boxall, and educated at Newcastle upon Tyne Royal Grammar School. Commissioned into the Royal Artillery, he served in Malaya and stayed on in the TA after National Service. He went up to Merton College, Oxford, taking a First in PPE in 1951.



    Robert Rogers, Clerk of the House of Commons and Chief Executive, gives an insight into the workings of the Commons at an Open Lecture on 19 October 2012.

    Ryle joined the Clerk’s department straight from Oxford, during the final weeks of Clement Attlee’s Labour government. Despite remodelling after bomb damage, facilities in the Palace of Westminster were still Victorian, with most MPs lacking an office but many rooms left unoccupied. There was also an undeclared “war” between the Clerk of the House and the Serjeant at Arms, the former military figure appointed by the Crown who held autocratic sway over the premises and their security.

    Apart from a brief spell as assistant to Robert Carr, the development minister, on a tour of India and an attachment to the Nova Scotia legislature, Ryle stayed at the Commons until his retirement as Clerk of Committees in 1989.

    As well as servicing select and standing committees, he served in turn as clerk of the Overseas Office; principal clerk at the Table Office where questions and motions are lodged (he had to judge which of Tam Dalyell’s myriad and provocative questions over the sinking of the Belgrano fell within the rules of order); and Clerk of the Journals.

    In retirement Ryle was a consultant to the parliaments of Belarus, Slovakia and Ukraine, and in 1996 chaired the Liberal Democrats’ working group on Commons reform. He chaired the Study of Parliament Group (1975-78) and was subsequently its president. For 20 years he was on the council of the Hansard Society.

    Ryle was also at various times vice-chairman of the Exmoor Society and a council member of the Royal Institute of Public Administration .

    He co-wrote several books on the Commons, with Parliament (1989) widely regarded as a classic.

    Michael Ryle married, in 1952, Bridget Moyes, with whom he had a son and two daughters.


    Michael Ryle, born July 30 1927, died December 7 2013

  6. #1781
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    David Coleman: Former BBC sports broadcaster dies at 87



    Coleman (centre) hosted the BBC's Question of Sport for 18 years



    Former BBC sports broadcaster David Coleman has died aged 87 after a short illness, his family has confirmed.

    He first appeared on air for the BBC in 1954, covering 11 Olympic Games from Rome in 1960 to Sydney 2000 and six football World Cups.

    Coleman presented some of the BBC's leading sporting programmes, including Grandstand and Sportsnight, and was the host of Question of Sport for 18 years.
    He was awarded an OBE in 1992 and retired from the BBC in 2000.

    Later that year he became the first broadcaster to receive the Olympic Order award, in recognition of his contribution to the Olympic movement.
    David enriched so many lives and that was down to his brilliant commentary and presentation at all the major sporting events of the world” - Brendan Foster Fellow commentator
    A statement from his family said: "We regret to announce the death of David Coleman OBE, after a short illness. He died peacefully with his family at his bedside."

    The BBC's director general Tony Hall led the corporation's tributes.

    "David Coleman was one of this country's greatest and most respected broadcasters," he said. "Generations grew up listening to his distinctive and knowledgeable commentary. Whether presenting, commentating or offering analysis, he set the standard for all today's sports broadcasters.

    "Our thoughts are with his family and many friends."

    Director of sport Barbara Slater added: "David Coleman was a giant in the sports broadcasting world, an iconic and hugely respected figure. In a BBC career that spanned over 40 years he set the standard that so many others have tried to emulate.

    "His was one of broadcasting's most authoritative and identifiable voices that graced so many pinnacle sporting moments. From his famous football and athletic commentaries to his presentation of events and programmes such as the Olympics, the World Cup, Question of Sport and Grandstand, he was quite simply the master of his craft.

    "David had many friends at BBC Sport and was admired by audiences in their millions. We send sincere condolences to his family."



    Coleman began presenting Grandstand in 1958 and worked there for 10 years

    A former keen amateur runner, Coleman began work as a reporter on the Stockport Express and wrote for an army newspaper during his national service.

    When injuries ruled him out of trials for the 1952 British Olympic team he wrote to a BBC editor to suggest that he covered athletics in the Saturday evening sports programme.

    He began presenting Grandstand in 1958 and worked on the magazine programme for 10 years before being replaced by Frank Bough.

    Coleman fronted the midweek Sportsnight show and began to co-host the BBC Sports Review of the Year in 1961, a role he only ended in 1983.

    In 1971 he became the BBC's senior football commentator, covering five FA Cup finals before handing over to John Motson in 1979.


    'Privilege to know'

    After continuing with football for two more years, Coleman focused his attention on athletics.

    Although he was a dedicated and knowledgeable presenter with an encyclopaedic knowledge of sport, he was famously prone to gaffes, many of which were reproduced in Private Eye's Colemanballs column.

    Ironically, many of those attributed to him were not, in fact, his.
    Fellow commentator Brendan Foster said Coleman was the "greatest sports broadcaster that ever lived".

    He added: "David enriched so many lives and that was down to his brilliant commentary and presentation at all the major sporting events of the world.

    "In my view, everybody had a David Coleman quote they could use. It could have been about Pele, Charlton, Toshack or Keegan, or just 'one-nil'.

    "It was a privilege to know him, to have him commentating on races during my career, to work with him and to call him a friend."

    Athlete turned BBC broadcaster Steve Cram said Coleman had been a big influence on his career.

    "When I first came into the British team as a youngster, I would watch back my races and I could tell from his commentaries that he knew what he was talking about," he said.

    "When I met him at major championships, such as the Olympics in Moscow in 1980, he would say things that turned out to be incredible helpful, such as advice on travel and how to deal with the media.

    "He had a reputation within broadcasting for being tough and demanding, but I always found him an incredibly generous bloke.

    "Yes, he had high standards but I think that came from his athletics background. Broadcasting, like athletics, is in a sense about performance and he wanted to produce the best he could. He used to always tell me that I should endeavour to work with the best to get the best results."

    UK Athletics chair Ed Warner said his organisation was saddened by Coleman's death.

    "David has been the voice of some of our most memorable moments over the years. A truly iconic broadcaster," he said

  7. #1782
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    Lovely man. RIP David

  8. #1783
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    The grim reaper's been busy.

    Nice work Mr. Lick

  9. #1784
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    So many imitators, but only Coleman could do these. Quite remarkable! But what happened Next?!

    "He is one of the great unknown champions because very little is known about him."

    "If that had gone in, it would have been a goal."

    "We estimate, and this isn't an estimation, that Greta Waltz is 80 seconds behind."

    "He is accelerating all the time. The last lap was run in 64 seconds and the one before in 62."

    "And the line-up for the final of the women's 400 metres hurdles includes three Russians, two East Germans, a Pole, a Swede and a Frenchman."

    "The front wheel crosses the finish line, closely followed by the back wheel."

    "The Republic of China: back in the Olympic Games for the first time."

    "That's the fastest time ever run, but it's not as fast as the world record."

    "Forest have now lost six matches without winning."

    "There is a fine line between serendipity and stalking."

    "This evening is a very different evening from the morning we had this morning."

    "He's seven seconds ahead and that's a good question."

    "I think there is no doubt, she'll probably qualify for the final."

    “Don’t tell those coming in the final result of that fantastic match, but let’s just have another look at Italy’s winning goal.”

    “He’s 31 this year – last year he was 30.”

    “He just can’t believe what’s not happening to him.”

    “In a moment we hope to see the pole vault over the satellite.”

    “It’s gold or nothing ... and it’s nothing. He comes away with the silver medal.”

    “There is Brendan Foster, by himself with 20,000 people.”

    “And here’s Moses Kiptanui – the 19-year-old Kenyan who turned 20 a few weeks ago.”

    “Nobody has ever won the title twice before. He (Roger Black) has already done that.”

    “Both of the Villa scorers – Withe and Mortimer – were born in Liverpool as was the Villa manager Ron Saunders who was born in Birkenhead.”
    Last edited by harrybarracuda; 22-12-2013 at 12:36 PM.

  10. #1785
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  11. #1786
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    Assault rifle inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov dies at 94




    Festivities were held at the Kremlin four years ago to celebrate Kalashnikov's 90th birthday

    The inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94, Russian TV reports.

    The automatic rifle he designed became one of the world's most familiar and widely used weapons.

    Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain.

    Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower.

    Mikhail Kalashnikov was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding in November.

    He was born on 10 November 1919 in western Siberia, one of 18 children

  12. #1787
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    How many lives has that bloke cost?

    Best firearm ever made.

  13. #1788
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    I'd hazzard a guess that it's responsible for more deaths than any other man made killing machine. (apart from the car) Worth a google.


    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Lick
    one of 18 children
    Maybe this had something to do with it. As they say "Competition is the mother of invention" or something similar.

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince
    "Competition is the mother of invention"

    I just googled that and no one says it.

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    I just did and my wife said in return, what are you talking about? Farang Bah!

  16. #1791
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by The Fresh Prince
    "Competition is the mother of invention"

    I just googled that and no one says it.
    Because it's ......

    Curiousity is the mother...

    Lazyness is the mother....



    Makes sense

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    Necessity.............

  18. #1793
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    And curiousity killed the cat
    as well as a few other's so i'm told.

  19. #1794
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    Sir Christopher Curwen -obituary


    Sir Christopher Curwen was the MI6 Chief who oversaw one of his Service’s greatest coups — getting Oleg Gordievsky out of Moscow

    Sir Christopher Curwen , who has died aged 84, was head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6) from 1985 to 1988, and it was under his aegis that the Service brought off one of its most spectacular coups, the exfiltration from Moscow of the agent Oleg Gordievsky.

    Successively code-named FELIKS and OVATION after being recruited by SIS in 1974, Gordievsky was its star source inside the KGB. He had provided valuable reports at a critical time in the Cold War, a period in which paranoia at the Kremlin had become so pronounced that Nato’s 1983 ABLE ARCHER exercise had been misinterpreted in Moscow as a possible cover for a surprise attack on the Soviet Bloc.

    As well as producing enormous quantities of documents from the rezidentura (KGB station) in London, where he had been posted in June 1982 , Gordievsky had identified KGB personnel in the First Chief Directorate ’s British and Scandinavian department and had shed light on dozens of past cases.
    While posted to Copenhagen, Gordievsky had alerted SIS to two of the KGB’s most important sources in Norway: Gunvar Haavik and Arne Treholt. Code-named GRETA, Haavik was a secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and had been spying since she had conducted a love affair in 1947 with a Soviet while she was working at the Norwegian embassy in Moscow. Haavik had been arrested in January 1977 in the act of passing information to her KGB case officer in an Oslo suburb, and confessed to having been a spy for almost 30 years. Arne Treholt, also employed by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, was arrested in January 1984 in possession of 66 classified documents . He was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
    Gordievsky’s greatest triumph, however, was to prevent a potentially massive breach of security in MI5. This was the unmasking of Michael Bettaney, who since December 1982 had been working for the Soviet counter-espionage section, and had made three anonymous approaches to the KGB rezident (head of station) in London, Arkadi Gouk, offering to supply him with MI5 secrets. SIS’s tip from Gordievsky led to a discreet mole-hunt, swiftly conducted inside MI5 by Eliza Manningham-Buller, who identified the culprit without compromising the source of the original tip. In April 1984 Bettaney was sentenced to 23 years’ imprisonment .

    With scalps such as these, Gordievsky was considered SIS’s most valuable source, and elaborate measures had been taken to protect him. He was, for example, given the front-door key to a flat, close to the Soviet embassy in London, to which he could disappear with his family should the need arise.
    Curwen’s appointment as “C” (as the head of MI6 is known) coincided with just such a crisis. On Friday May 17 1985, having just been promised the job of rezident (head of station) in London , Gordievsky was suddenly summoned back to Moscow, supposedly for consultations.
    On his arrival Gordievsky realised that his apartment had been searched; and when he reached FCD headquarters he was accused of being a spy. When he denied it, his interrogators used drugs in an unsuccessful attempt to extract a confession, and he concluded that, although the KGB had been tipped off to his dual role, there was insufficient evidence to justify an arrest. Although he remained under constant surveillance, in late July Gordievsky was able to shake off his watchers while jogging in a park and send an emergency signal to SIS requesting a rescue .
    The “signal” was nothing more elaborate than Gordievsky’s appearing on a pre-arranged street corner, at a particular time, carrying a Harrods shopping bag — but it was enough to prompt Curwen to brief Margaret Thatcher’s Foreign Office private secretary, Charles Powell, who immediately flew to Scotland, where the Prime Minister was staying with the Queen at Balmoral. After consultation with the Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, Mrs Thatcher approved a high-risk plan to get Gordievsky out of Moscow and into the West.
    The ruse — originally conceived by John Scarlett, himself a future Chief of SIS — was for MI6’s Moscow station commander, Viscount Asquith, to play the “Good Samaritan” by driving a pregnant member of the embassy staff in his Saab for medical treatment in Helsinki; Gordievsky — having evaded his KGB watchers — joined the car at a rendezvous outside Leningrad andÎjé driven over the frontier with Finland at Viborg. He was then driven to Trömso in Norway, and the next day flew from Oslo to London.
    Gordievsky was briefly accommodated at a country house in the Midlands, where Curwen visited him, and then at Fort Monckton, Gosport, where he underwent an 80-day debriefing conducted by SIS’s principal Kremlinologist, Gordon Barrass. Among Gordievsky’s other visitors was the US Director of Central Intelligence, Bill Casey, who was flown down to the fort for a lunch hosted by Curwen, a celebration of one of SIS’s most impressive post-war coups.
    Although Gordievsky’s safe exfiltration was a source of great pride for Curwen and his staff, there remained considerable concern about precisely how the agent had been compromised. One possibility was that, after so many setbacks, the KGB had worked out for itself that a mole had been at work within the organisation. Or had Gordievsky’s dual role somehow been leaked by a mole?

    It was not until the CIA arrested the Soviet spy Aldrich Ames in February 1994 that an explanation was offered. Ames claimed to having identified Gordievsky to the Soviets as a source who had penetrated the KGB in Denmark and London — although there were doubts that he was telling the truth.
    Gordievsky’s defection was nevertheless a devastating blow for the KGB, and the expulsion of the London rezidentura, ordered on the basis of his information, had a colossal impact on the organisation .
    Resettled under a new identity near London, Gordievsky published his memoirs, Last Stop Execution, in 1994. As well as describing his role in compromising KGB spies in Norway and in Sweden, he revealed that the KGB rezidentura in London had cultivated several highly-placed trade union leaders (among them Richard Briginshaw and Ray Buckton), and that the Soviet embassy had been in touch with what he termed “confidential contacts” – influential individuals (including three Left-wing Labour MPs, Joan Lester, Jo Richardson and Joan Maynard) who could be relied upon to take the Kremlin’s lead on political controversies.
    The constitutional implications of Gordievsky’s disclosures were considered sufficiently important for Curwen to brief the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robin Butler, who in turn called in Tony Blair, as leader of the Opposition, to explain the situation to him.

    The son of a vicar, Christopher Keith Curwen was born on April 9 1929 and educated at Sherborne, where he was a friend of David Sheppard, later the Anglican Bishop of Liverpool. During National Service as a second-lieutenant with the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars in Malaya, Curwen was mentioned in dispatches for his gallantry in jungle warfare against communist guerrillas. An officer who served alongside him in Malaya said of Curwen: “There are some people you’d go into the jungle with and some you wouldn’t. I would be very happy to go back into the jungle with Chris... He was tough and fair. He was an excellent officer and his men liked him very much.”
    Curwen went up to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he was a keen rower and occasional rugby player. He joined the Cambridge Union but seems to have shown little interest in politics. In the summer of 1951 he drove across the Sahara after visiting his elder brother, then working in the Colonial Service in Nigeria.
    In July 1952 he joined SIS and two years later, in 1954, was posted to Thailand to work for Robert Hemblys-Scales, where he became fluent in Thai. In July 1956 he was moved to Vientiane, where he married his first wife, Vera Noom Tai, a physiotherapist who later worked at St Thomas’s Hospital.
    Curwen returned to head office in Broadway in 1958, but by 1961 he was back in Bangkok, before spending two years in Kuala Lumpur. After another spell in London , in May 1968 he began a three-year appointment as SIS’s liaison officer in Washington, DC . A Washington colleague described him as “a very gentle chap. I can’t think of anyone more low-key than him.”

    Other diplomats who worked alongside Curwen described him as hardworking and discreet. “[He] was very scrupulous,” one recalled. “He used to refer all his activities for approval to me and I give him full marks for that. Of course, there may have been some that he didn’t refer to me.”
    In 1977 Curwen’s first marriage was dissolved, and in the same year he married his secretary, Helen Stirling. He was posted to Geneva as head of station, and in May 1980 was back in London as “C”’s Deputy, succeeding Sir Colin Figures in July 1985 — just in time to be confronted by the Gordievsky crisis.
    Mrs Thatcher had been less than impressed by MI6’s performance in the months leading up to the Argentine invasion of the Falklands in 1982. It is said that Curwen’s appointment as C was promoted by Sir Antony Duff, the director-general of MI5.
    His selection as “C” was unusual in that “Far East Hands” are rarely appointed to the post, which more usually goes to a Kremlinologist or Middle East specialist. Curwen’s four-year tenure had the advantage of a burgeoning budget, after the Prime Minister insisted that more funds be made available for SIS after years of financial cuts.
    Curwen was appointed CMG in 1982 and KCMG in 1986.
    On his retirement in November 1988, Curwen succeeded Colin Figures as the Cabinet Intelligence Coordinator, helping the Prime Minister to manage administrative issues across the whole of the intelligence community. In 1991 he recommended in a review, undertaken on behalf of the Cabinet Office’s Joint Intelligence Committee, that MI5 should continue to lead the Metropolitan Police Special Branch in operations against the Provisional IRA.
    He finally retired in 1991, when he took on a part-time role as a member of the Security Commission, a body which became redundant when the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee was created three years later .
    Sir Christopher Curwen, who retired near Bath, listed his interests in Who’s Who as books, gardening and motoring.
    He had five children: a son and two daughters with his first wife, and a son and a daughter with his second.
    Sir Christopher Curwen, born April 9 1929, died December 18 2013

  20. #1795
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    Legendary Detroit jazz musician and composer Yusef Abdul Lateef, who came of age in the 1940s and ’50s, moved to New York and helped shape modern jazz, died Monday in his home in Massachusetts.

    “He considered Detroit his home — an incubator for wonderful musicians,” his wife, Ayesha Lateef, said. “He expanded into the area that few ventured into in that time.”

    Mr. Lateef, a Grammy award winner, struggled with age-related complications, according to Lateef. He was 93.

    Mr. Lateef was born William Emanuel Huddleston on Oct. 9, 1920, in Chattanooga, Tenn., and moved to Detroit with his family in 1925, according to his website. He was raised over a jazz club in Detroit, where Ayesha Lateef said “he was drawn to the music.”

    Growing up in Detroit, the friends he played with were all future jazz legends: Milt Jackson, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, Hank, Thad and Elvin Jones, Kenny Burrell and others, according to his website biography. His first instrument was tenor saxophone, and he was already touring with swing jazz orchestras as a teenager.

    But his love for music transcended sound, his wife said.

    “He would call his music autophysiopsychic, music for the soul, body and spirit,” she said.

    Although known for playing the saxophone, Mr. Lateef was unique in incorporating oboe and bassoon as well as infusing African, Asian and Middle Eastern sounds into the jazz mainstream, according to his friend Charles Boles, pianist for the Charles Boles Quartet.

    In 1949, Dizzy Gillespie invited him to join his orchestra. He later studied composition and flute at Wayne State University.

    He converted to Islam in the early '50s, and changed his name to Yusef Lateef.

    He returned to New York in 1960. Lateef toured and recorded with Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis and Gillespie, and also as the leader of his own group. His recordings of "Love Theme from Spartacus" and "Morning" are still heard often on jazz radio stations.

    Upon his conversion to Islam, Boles said Mr. Lateef became a mentor to younger musicians like himself. “He was one of the great fathers of us all,” Boles said. “He was a mentor for a lot of young musicians. He lived a real clean life.”

    Love of mentoring led him to teaching. He served as a professor of music and music education at five colleges from 1987 to 2002. In 2010, Mr. Lateef earned the National Endowment for the Arts Award.

    In 1987, he won the Grammy for Best New Age Album for “Yusef Lateef’s Little Symphony.”

    Mr. Lateef continued touring and performing worldwide until this summer, when he last played at a jazz festival in Vienne, France, at 92.

    He was predeceased by his wife Tahira Lateef; a daughter; and a son. He is survived by another son, Yusef Lateef; granddaughter Iqbal; and a number of great-grandchildren.

  21. #1796
    Thailand Expat Boon Mee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    How many lives has that bloke cost?

    Best firearm ever made.
    Got that right. Like him or don't, he designed a rifle that works even when dropped in the mud. it's popular, and simple. Our world has changed because of this guy.



    Too Cool:

    Last edited by Boon Mee; 25-12-2013 at 07:45 AM.

  22. #1797
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    Former Crystal Palace owner Ron Noades dies at 76
    Tuesday, Dec 24, 2013, 21:31 IST | Place: London | Agency: Reuters

    Former Crystal Palace owner and chairman Ron Noades has died at the age of 76 following a year-long battle with lung cancer. "The club are saddened to learn of the passing of ... Ron Noades," Palace said on their website (Official Website of the Eagles - Crystal Palace FC latest news, photos and videos) on Tuesday.

    "Ron was diagnosed with lung cancer just over a year ago and received chemotherapy, brain radiotherapy and radiotherapy."

    Noades, who also had spells as chairman of Wimbledon and Brentford, was in charge of Palace from 1981-98. The club finished third in the top flight in 1991 and lost the 1990 FA Cup final to Manchester United at Wembley.

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    Studio drummer Ricky Lawson, a collaborator with musicians including Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins and Whitney Houston, died at a Los Angeles hospital following a brain aneurysm.

    He had become disoriented during a performance on December 13 and was diagnosed with the aneurysm.

    His uncle, Paul Riser, said Lawson, 59, was removed from life support 10 days after the diagnosis and died about 7pm on Monday.

    Lawson was being treated at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles.

    The Detroit native learnt to play drums at 16 and entered the music business before graduating from Cooley High School, developing into one of the US's top studio musicians in the 1980s.

    His work appears on Houston's version of I Will Always Love You.

    He also performed with Al Jarreau, George Benson, Bette Midler, Quincy Jones and many others.

    Lawson won a Grammy Award in 1986 for R&B instrumental performance for the song And You Know That by his group, Yellowjackets.

    Drummer Questlove of the Roots called Lawson "the master" on Twitter in a message on December 18.

    Drummer Sheila E tweeted on Tuesday: "We lost a great man, drummer, father, brother and son. mr Ricky Lawson. He passed away yesterday. Please pray for his family. we will miss u."

    AP

  24. #1799
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boon Mee View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    How many lives has that bloke cost?

    Best firearm ever made.
    Got that right. Like him or don't, he designed a rifle that works even when dropped in the mud. it's popular, and simple. Our world has changed because of this guy.


    The plagiator Kalashnikov is dead, famous for copying the StG 44 first?

    Boon Mee: 'Israel is the 51st State. De facto - but none the less, essentially part & parcel of the USA.'

  25. #1800
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    The mechanics of the AK47 are far superior, which is why it's been the weapon of choice for decades.

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