JOHN RUSKIN

A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of money. 

Born in London, John Ruskin is mainly known for his magnificent work in the field of art, literature and architecture. A fervent art critic, Ruskin is also remembered for his ideas of socialism and immense contribution towards promoting Gothic architecture. He gained popularity as a social critic and a poet in the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

John Ruskin was born in London on 8 February 1819. His father was a wine importer who owned a company that later became known as Allied Domecq. The only child of his father, John Ruskin began his education at home and then enrolled in to King’s College in London. Later he took admission in Christ Church, Oxford University to further his studies, where he won the Newdigate Prize for his poetry. Though he was never an outstanding performer, the University granted him a voluntary fourth class degree.

  

John first wrote for an Architecture Magazine in 1836-7 which was published as The Poetry of Architecture and soon afterwards, in 1839, his work the Transactions of the Meteorological Society was published. His initial work was not of much significance and went unnoticed, before his first major writing Modern Painters came in 1843. The work, which was published under the unspecified identity, became promoter of modern landscape painters- specifically J.M.W. Turner, who in Ruskin’s opinion, were far greater than several old artists of that era. As an artist, John himself was very close to nature and his painting often revolved around his observation of nature, such as clouds, trees seas and water. The remark brought him under fire and drew criticism from the people who had discarded Turner’s work as meaningless mess. The remark was taken as an affront to the great artists of that era. However, According to Ruskin-unlike old masters-Turner expressed a more thoughtful knowledge of truths of the nature.

In another controversy, Ruskin was alleged to have destroyed several paintings of Turner, who was a member of the Royal academy and a friend of John Ruskin- because of their obscene theme. However, the recent findings have proved these claims wrong. After working upon nature for sometime, John shifted to the subject of architect. His two major writings on the subject were The Seven Lamps of Architecture and The Stones of Venice, where he strongly viewed that architecture can not be separated from integrity. These writings were published in his name and became his road to the fame.

In 1848, John Ruskin married Effie Gray- the girl he had fancied and wrote his early novel The King of the Golden River dedicating to her. The marriage was unsuccessful though, and finally broke up in 1854. Later, Effie Gray- who had demanded divorce on the ground of his so-called impotency- married the artist John Everett Millais. 

Ruskin’s and Millais association goes long back in later 1840’s, when one of Millais’s paintings Christ in the House of his Parents came in to controversies. Ruskin defended Millais until the intimacy between Effie Gray and Millais was disclosed. Millais, who was a co founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood- an organization highly influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin- denounced the organization, while the other Pre-Raphaelite artists continued to receive financial and written support from Ruskin.

Ruskin again fell in love. Rose La Touché, a deeply religious girl met him in 1858. After a long period of ambivalence, she finally rejected him in 1872 and died soon after. Devastated by her death, Ruskin slipped into a state of mental illness and despair and suffered several breakdowns.

In 1885, John Ruskin established the School of Art in Sidney Street, Cambridge which later became known as Anglia Ruskin University. Meanwhile he continued to write critical reviews of the art work exhibited every year. He advocated the Gothic style for modern culture and urged architectures to adopt the same. He had great respect for old buildings and he strongly advocated the conservation of the ancient buildings.

A fervent critic, Ruskin renounced art criticism in later years of 1850’s and embarked upon commentary on politics. His idea of socialism matured during this period and he gave away most of his assets after his father’s death as he believed that a rich person can not be a socialist. In 1870, he established a charity Guild of St George and supported it with his art collection worth millions. During this period, he was a visiting faculty and became the first Slade Professor of Fine Arts in 1869 at the Working Men’s College, London.   

Ruskin’s outlook in socialism played a key role in the growth of Christian socialism. He believed that the best deserves first. That is, the employment system should be such that the only best worker gets employed first, rather than one who offers to do the work at half the rate. He endorsed the fixed wage system, which, in his opinion sustains the quality work and promote a healthy competition.

In his later life, Ruskin continued writing contemptuous reviews and articles that often made him face legal consequences. In one of such cases, he was sued by James McNeill Whistler in 1878. Though he was ordered to pay only a small amount as compensation, Ruskin’s reputation was badly affected after the incident. 

During the Aesthetic movement and Impressionism Ruskin estranged from the modern art world and began writing on other issues and continuing his support humanitarian movements, such as Home Arts and Industries Association. In his later life, Ruskin lived in Brantwood, a house on the shores of Coniston, where the Ruskin Museum was established in 1901 after his death on 20 January 1900.

LEONARDO DA VINCI

Common Sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.

 Known to have carried the Mona Lisa painting with him everywhere he went until it was finished, Leonardo da Vinci was to become one of the world’s most renowned painters, sculptors, inventors, philosophers, architects and brilliant thinkers of his time. While his sketches and notebooks reveal a great about his own life, a self-portrait entitled Portrait in Red Chalk and a biography written by Giorgio Vasari are all that remain of this man who was most definitely ahead of his time.

Born near Vinci, Leonardo grew up in Florence where he began sketching, drawing, and eventually painting. At age fourteen, Leonardo began an apprenticeship with Andrea del Verrocchio. However, his work was so admired that he was soon employed by the Duke of Milan from circa 1480 to 1500. Under the duke, Leonardo was to construct a huge bronze horse statue called Gran Cavallo. But, as the French soon attacked the city, the bronze had to be used for weaponry. However, his drawings and sketches of how the horse would look and be built still exist.

For a few years starting in 1513, Leonardo lived in Rome and was in rank with the greatest artists of the time, Michelangelo and Rafael. There, he was commissioned for various artistic endeavors and lived comfortable on his earnings. His wrangles with Michelangelo meant fierce artistic onslaughts and criticisms of each other’s artistic abilities. Leonardo even had Michelangelo’s Statue of David moved from its original location.

Leonardo da Vinci, according to his biography, was a man of strict moral character. Feeling at one with animals, he was an outspoken vegetarian, or by today’s standards, a vegan. He believed that animals were divine and should not be used callously by man. He thought that one day Nature would have its revenge upon man.

Although his first early work of genius was Madonna and Child, which led to his later work known worldwide as The Last Supper, Leonardo also designed court festival arenas for the Duke. He also pursued his engineering sketches and was given several apprentices to aid him in his work. 

Included in his artwork are his nearly 15,000 pages of sketches and engineering notes. He was also left-handed and mastered writing backwards then using a mirror since the use of a quill pen was difficult to ‘push’ rather than to ‘pull’. It has been stated that this also helped him to keep his works from being easily read by others who might use his inventions for malice – such as his invention of the modern tank. Designs of a robot called “Leonardo’s Robot” were not discovered until the 1950s. These sketches included drawings on how the heart would pump the blood to the muscles of the ‘created’ being. He also produced drawings and sketches of how humans could fly. By studying birds, he invented the glider, parachute, a machine that would later allow humans to fly – the helicopter.

SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL

What you do today can improve all your tomorrows. 

Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Group, India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service provider; IT Man of the Year Award 2002 from Dataquest and CEO Of the Year, 2002 Award from World HRD Congress.

Sunil Mittal can be called as originator of cellular phone revolution in India. He is the founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Group and runs India's largest GSM-based mobile phone service. 

Sunil Bharti Mittal's father was an M.P. Sunil did not followed his father's footsteps. After graduating from Punjab University in 1970s, he set up a small bicycle business in Ludhiana in partnership with his friend. By 1979, Sunil Mittal realized that his ambitions could not be fulfilled in Ludhiana, so he moved out to Mumbai from Ludhiana. 

He spent a few years in Mumbai and in 1982, Sunil Mittal started a full-fledged business selling portable generators imported from Japan. This gave him a chance to acquaint himself with the nitty-gritty's of marketing and advertising. His business was running smoothly but later on the government banned the import of generators as two Indian companies were awarded licenses to manufacture generators locally.

In 1986, Sunil Bharti Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. Gradually he expanded his business and by early 1990s, Sunil Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. 

In 1992, when the Indian government was awarding licenses for mobile phone services for the first time, Sunil Mittal clinched Delhi cellular license in collaboration with French telecom group Vivendi. In 1995, Sunil Mittal founded Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) to offer cellular services under the brand name AirTel. Soon, Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti Cellular Limited also rolled out India's first private national as well as international long-distance service under the brand name IndiaOne. In 2001, BCL entered into a joint venture with Singapore Telecom International for a $650-million submarine cable project, India's first ever undersea cable link connecting Chennai in India and Singapore. 

Today, Sunil Mittal runs a successful empire with a market capitalization of approximately $ 2 billion and employing over 5,000 people. He has been honored with several awards. Sunil Bharti Mittal was chosen as one of the top entrepreneurs in the world for the year 2000 and amongst 'Stars Of Asia', by 'Business Week'. He also received IT Man of the Year Award 2002 from Dataquest and CEO Of the Year, 2002 Award (World HRD Congress).

CHARLES DICKENS

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. 

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Chatham, and Dickens considered his years there as the happiest of his childhood. In 1822, the family moved to London, where his father worked as a clerk in the navy pay office. Dickens' family was considered middle class, however, his father had a difficult time managing money. His extravagant spending habits brought the family to financial disaster, and in 1824, John Dickens was imprisoned for debt.

Charles was the oldest of the Dickens children, and a result of his father's imprisonment, he was withdrawn from school and sent to work in a shoe-dye factory. During this period, Dickens lived alone in a lodging house in North London and considered the entire experience the most terrible of his life. Nevertheless, it was this experience that shaped his much of his future writing.

After receiving an inheritance several months later, Dickens' father was released from prison. Although Dickens' mother wanted him to stay at work, resulting in bitter resentment towards her, his father allowed him to return to school. His schooling was again interrupted and ultimately ended when Dickens was forced to return to work at age 15. He became a clerk in a law firm, then a shorthand reporter in the courts, and finally a parliamentary and newspaper reporter.

In 1833, Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals. He then provided a comic narrative to accompany a series of engravings, which were published as the Pickwick Papers in 1836. Within several months, Dickens became internationally popular. He resigned from his position as a newspaper reporter and became editor of a monthly magazine entitled Bentley's Miscellany. Also during 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. Together, they had nine surviving children, before they separated in 1858.

Dickens' career continued at an intense pace for the next several years. Oliver Twist was serialized in Bentley's Miscellany beginning in 1837. Then, with Oliver Twist only half completed, Dickens began to publish monthly installments of Nicholas Nickleby in 1838. Because he had so many projects in the works, Dickens was barely able to stay ahead of his monthly deadlines. After the completion of Twist and Nickleby, Dickens produced weekly installments of The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge.

After a short working vacation in the United States in 1841, Dickens continued at his break-neck pace. He began to publish annual Christmas stories, beginning with A Christmas Carol in 1843. Within the community, Dickens actively fought for social issues; such as education reform, sanitary measures, and slum clearance, and he began to directly address social issues in novels such as Dombey and Son (1846-48).

In 1850, Dickens established a weekly journal entitled Household Words to which he contributed the serialized works of Child's History of England (1851-53), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1860-61). At the same time, Dickens continued to work on his novels, including David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-53), Little Dorrit (1855-57), and Our Mutual Friend (1864-65). As his career progressed, Dickens became more and more disenchanted. His works had always reflected the pains of the common man, but works such as Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend expressed his progressing anger and disillusionment with society.

In 1858, Dickens began a series of paid readings, which became instantly popular. Through these readings, Dickens was able to combine his love of the stage with an accurate rendition of his writings. In all, Dickens performed more than 400 times. The readings often left him exhausted and ill, but they allowed him to increase his income, receive creative satisfaction, and stay in touch with his audience.

After the breakup of his marriage with Catherine, Dickens moved permanently to his country house called Gad's Hill, near Chatham in 1860. It was also around this time that Dickens became involved in an affair with a young actress named Ellen Ternan. The affair lasted until Dickens' death, but it was kept quite secret. Information about the relationship is scanty.

Dickens was required to abandon his reading tours in 1869 after his health began to decline. He retreated to Gad's Hill and began to work on Edwin Drood, which was never completed. died suddenly at home on June 9, 1870. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

BERTRAND RUSSELL

We have two kinds of morality side by side:  one which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach.

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (May 18, 1872 - February 2, 1970) was one of the most influential mathematicians, philosophers and logicians working (mostly) in the 20th century, an important political liberal, activist and a populariser of philosophy. Millions looked up to Russell as a sort of prophet of the creative and rational life; at the same time, his stance on many topics was extremely controversial. He was born in 1872, at the height of Britain's economic and political ascendancy, and died of influenza in 1970, when Britain's empire had all but vanished and her power had been drained in two victorious but debilitating world wars. At his death, however, his voice still carried moral authority, for he was one of the world's most influential critics of nuclear weapons and the American war in Vietnam. 

In 1950, Russell was made Nobel Laureate in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought". 

On November 20, 1948, in a public speech at Westminster School, addressing a gathering arranged by the New Commonwealth, Russell shocked some of his less careful listeners by seeming to advocate a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union. Russell argued that war between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed inevitable, so it would be a humanitarian gesture to get it over with quickly. Currently, Russell argued, humanity could survive such a war, whereas a full nuclear war after both sides had manufactured large stockpiles of more destructive weapons was likely to result in the extinction of the human race. Russell later relented from this stance, instead arguing for mutual disarmament by the nuclear powers. Starting in the 1950s, Russell became a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons. With the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs he released the Russell-Einstein Manifesto with Albert Einstein and organized several conferences. In 1961, he was imprisoned for a week in connection with his nuclear disarmament protests. He opposed the Vietnam War and along with Jean-Paul Sartre organized a tribunal intended to expose U.S. war crimes; this came to be known as the Russell Tribunal. Russell wrote against Victorian notions of morality. His early writings expressed his opinion that sex between a man and woman who are not married to each other is not necessarily immoral if they truly love one another. This might not seem extreme by today's standards, but it was enough to raise vigorous protests and denunciations against him during his first visit to the United States. (Russell's private life was rather more hedonistic than his published writings revealed, but that was not yet well known at the time.) He was an early critic of the official story in the John F. Kennedy assassination; his "16 Questions on the Assassination" from 1964 is still considered a good summary of the apparent inconsistencies in that case. In matters of religion, Russell classified himself as a philosophical agnostic and a practical atheist. He wrote that his attitude towards the Christian God was the same as his attitude towards the Greek gods: strongly convinced that they don't exist, but not able to rigorously prove it. His position is explained in the essays Am I An Atheist Or An Agnostic? and Why I am not a Christian ISBN 0671203231. Politically he envisioned a kind of benevolent democratic socialism. He was extremely critical of the totalitarianism exhibited by Stalin's regime. Russell's life Bertrand Russell was from an aristocratic English family. His paternal grandfather Lord John Russell had been a prime minister in the 1840s, and was himself the second son of the 6th Duke of Bedford, of a leading Whig/ Liberal family. His mother Viscountess Amberley (who died when he was 2) was herself from an aristocratic family, and was the sister of Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle. His parents were extremely radical for their times; his father Viscount Amberley (who died when Bertrand was 4) was an atheist who had consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor. His godfather was Utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill. Despite this eccentric background, Russell's childhood was relatively conventional. After his parents' death, Russell and his older brother Frank (the future 2nd Earl) were raised by their stauchly Victorian grandparents - the Earl and Countess Russell (Lord John Russell and his second wife Lady Frances Elliot). However, Russell departed from his grandparents' expectations of him starting with his marriage. Russell first met the American Quaker, Alys Pearsall Smith, when he was seventeen years old. He fell in love with the puritanical, high-minded Alys who was connected to several educationists and religious activists, and married her in December 1894. Their marriage was ended by separation in 1911. Russell had never been faithful; he had passionate affairs with, among others, Lady Ottoline Morrell (half-sister of the 6th Duke of Portland) and the actress Lady Constance Malleson. Russell studied philosophy and logic at Cambridge University, starting in 1890. He became a fellow of Trinity College in 1908. In 1920, Russell travelled to Russia and subsequently lectured in Peking on philosophy for one year. In 1921, after Russell had lost his professorship, he divorced Alys and married Dora Russell nee Dora Black. Their children were John Conrad Russell (who briefly succeeded his father as 4th Earl Russell) and Lady Katherine Russell, now Lady Katherine Tait). Russell supported himself during this time by writing popular books explaining matters of physics, ethics and education to the layman. Together with Dora, he founded the experimental Beacon Hill school in 1927. Upon the death of his elder brother in 1931, Russell became 3rd Earl Russell. It is, however, quite rare for him to be referred to by this title. After Russell's marriage to Dora broke up over her adultery with an American journalist, in 1936 he took as his third wife, an Oxford undergraduate named Patricia ("Peter") Spence. She had been his children's governess in the summer of 1930. Russell and Peter had one son, Conrad. In the spring of 1939, Russell moved to Santa Barbara to lecture at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was appointed professor at the City College of New York shortly thereafter, but after public outcries, the appointment was annulled by the courts: his radical opinions made him "morally unfit" to teach at the college. He returned to Britain in 1944 and rejoined the faculty of Trinity College. In 1952, Russell divorced Peter and married his fourth wife, Edith (Finch). They had known each other since 1925. Edith had lectured in English at Bryn Mawr College, near Philadelphia. Bertrand Russell wrote his three volume autobiography in the late 1960s and died in 1970 in Wales. His ashes were scattered over the Welsh mountains. He was succeeded in his titles by his son by his second marriage to Dora Russell Black, and then by his younger son (by his third marriage to Peter). His younger son Conrad, 5th Earl Russell, is an elected hereditary peer to the British House of Lords, and a respected British academic.

RAJIV GANDHI

"There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether the attitude is positive or negative. "

 Became Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. Led Congress to its greatest victory in the Lok Sabha elections, winning about 80 per cent of seats. Played a key role in the introduction of computers in India.

Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India. He became Prime Minister at the age of 40. Rajiv Gandhi came from a family that had great political lineage. He was the eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi. Her mother Indira Gandhi and grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru were Prime Ministers of India. As a Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a valuable contribution in modernizing Indian administration. He had the vision and foresight to see that information technology will play a key role in the 21 century and worked actively to develop India's capacity in this realm.

Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944 in Bombay (Mumbai) in India's most famous political family. His grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru played a stellar role in India's freedom struggle and became independent India's first Prime Minister. His parents lived separately and Rajiv Gandhi was raised at his grandfather's home where her mother lived. Rajeev Gandhi did his schooling from the elite Doon school and then studied at the University of London and at Trinity College, Cambridge in Britain. At Cambridge, Rajiv Ghandi met and fell in love with an Italian student Sonia Maino and they got married in 1969.

Returning to India, Rajeev Ghandi became a commercial airline pilot. His younger brother Sanjay Gandhi entered politics and became a trusted lieutenant of her mother Indira Gandhi. After Sanjay's death in a plane crash in 1980, Rajiv reluctantly entered politics at the instance of his mother. He won his first Lok Sabha election in 1981 from Amethi-the erstwhile constituency of his brother. Soon he became the General Secretary of the Congress Party. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984 he became the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. He called for general elections in 1984 and riding on a massive sympathy wave led Congress to a thumping victory. Congress garnered 80 percent of the seats in the lower house and achieved its greatest victory since independence.

In his initial days as Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi was immensely popular. During his tenure as Prime Minister of India, he brought a certain dynamism to the premiership, which had always been occupied by older people. He is credited with promoting the introduction of computers in India. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi began leading in a direction significantly different from Indira Gandhi's socialism. He improved bilateral relations with the United States and expanded economic and scientific cooperation. He increased government support for science and technology and associated industries, and reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based industries, especially computers, airlines, defence and telecommunications. He worked towards reducing the red tape in the governance and freeing administration from bureaucratic tangles. In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi announced a national education policy to modernize and expand higher education programs across India.

Rajiv Gandhi authorised an extensive police and army campaign against the militants in Punjab. Rajiv's government suffered a major setback when its efforts to broker peace between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE rebels backfired. As per the peace accords signed in 1987, the LTTE would disarm to the Indian Peace Keeping Force which was sent to Sri Lanka. But distrust and a few incidents of conflict broke out into open fighting between the LTTE militants and Indian soldiers. Over a thousand Indian soldiers were killed, and at last Rajiv Gandhi had to pull out Indian forces from Sri Lanka. It was a failure of Rajiv's diplomacy.

Although Rajeev Gandhi promised to end corruption, he and his party were themselves implicated in corruption scandals. The major scandal being Bofors Gun scandal involving alleged payoffs by the Swedish Bofors arms company. The scandal rapidly eroded his popularity and he lost the next general elections held in 1989. A coalition comprising government came to the power but it could not last its full term and general elections were called in 1991. While campaigning for elections in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 by a suicide bomber belonging to LTTE.

PAMELA ANDERSON

Our five senses are incomplete without the sixth - a sense of humor.

Pamela Anderson was born on July 1, 1967 to a working class family in British Columbia. After high school, she worked as a fitness instructor until she was "discovered" at a Canadian football game. Anderson, wearing a form-fitting Labatt's tee shirt, was broadcast over the stadium's giant screen. She was then hired by Labatt's to appear in their advertisements.

An offer from Playboy soon followed. She would go on to appear in five more issues of the magazine.

Anderson parleyed her modeling success into a series of bit parts on television programs. She got her first big break in 1991 as the "Tool Time Girl" on the sitcom Home Improvement. While there, she attracted the attention of casting agents from Baywatch, who were looking to replace Erika Elaniak, the shows then-current blonde bombshell. The hour-long show portraying the lives of Malibu lifeguards was a nearly plotless vehicle for semi-nude video montages and the critics panned it accordingly. However, fueled by frequent shots of the voluptuous Anderson, the show became the highest rated program worldwide.

Anderson's television success did not transfer well to the big screen. Despite mass publicity, including an appearance by Anderson at the Cannes Film Festival clad in a skintight cat suit, her first effort, Barb Wire, was both a critical and commercial failure.

Anderson returned to television as the executive producer and star of V.I.P, in which she plays the owner of a bodyguard agency staffed exclusively by models. The series remains a success in syndication.

Anderson's 1995 marriage to Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee captured persistent media attention. They couple had two children, Brandon Thomas and Dylan Jagger. However, the marriage was continually fraught with controversy, including an incident in which stolen honeymoon tapes of the couple having sex were broadcast over the Internet. The marriage ended in divorce in 1998 after Lee was arrested and convicted for spousal abuse.

In March of 2002, Anderson went public with the news that she has hepatitis-C. She claimed she contracted the disease by sharing a tattoo needle with Lee. The personal tragedy failed to derail Anderson's year-long romance with rapper Kid Rock (a.k.a. Robert Ritchie). The two married on July 29, 2006, on a yacht near St. Tropez France. In November 2006, it was announced that Anderson miscarried. A few weeks later, she filed for divorce from Kid Rock, citing irreconcilable differences.

That same month, Anderson made headlines when she appeared in the mockumentary hit, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan starring British comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen. In the film, Anderson played herself in what appeared to be a real-life botched kidnapping. Audiences debated whether or not the appearance was planned or a surprise. Anderson refused to comment, but told MTV that Cohen was "such a nice guy." The film was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

Anderson announced she was engaged to socialite Rick Salomon. The couple married in October of that year, but they filed for divorce shortly after, on December 14th. Two days later, the exes were seen shopping together, and Anderson announced that the two were working on their relationship. Their truce, however, was brief: In March of 2008, after only nine weeks of marriage, the couple officially annuled their union citing issues of fraud.

Anderson is currently starring in her own television series, Pam: Girl on the Loose which debuted in August of 2008. She also starred in two more comedy films that year, Blonde and Blonder and Superhero Movie. Her newest project, Hollywood & Wine is slated for release in 2009.

Off-screen, the life-long vegetarian is also an outspoken advocate for PETA, protesting the use of fur and the hunting of seals. Most recently, she auctioned off a 2000 Viper sports car that appeared in Pam: Girl on the Loose to support the nonprofit organization.

SALMA HAYEK

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost. 

Actress, director, producer. Born on September 2, 1966 in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico. Raised in a well-to-do Catholic home, Hayek is the daughter of a Spanish mother and Lebanese father. She attended a convent school in Louisiana at the age of 12 and lived with her aunt in Houston, Texas, during her teens. After a brief stint at a university in Mexico City, she dropped out to pursue a career in acting, eventually becoming a soap star in her native Mexico.

In 1991, the ambitious Hayek moved to Los Angeles, determined to improve her English and become a Hollywood actress. After small gigs, she landed a role opposite Antonio Banderas in 1995's Desperado. The success of the film garnered her work in relatively lackluster movies, including the teen thriller The Faculty, 1999's Wild Wild West and 1997's Fools Rush In. Subsequently, Hayek became engaged with smaller, independent pictures and started her own production company, Ventanarosa.

Hayek's increasingly intellectual and passionate approach to filmmaking culminated in her dream role in 2002'sFrida, in which she both produced and starred. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Hayek, who was the first Latin actress to be nominated in the category.

Large-scale projects followed the success of Frida, including directing 2002's The Maldonado Miracle, starring in the final episode of the Desperado trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and appearing in the heist thriller After The Sunset with Pierce Brosnan.

Emmy-winner and Oscar nominee Salma Hayek is executive producer of the hit television series Ugly Betty which is based on the Colombian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty La Fea." The show premiered on ABC in September 2006 and won a Golden Globe for Best Comedy in 2007. Also in 2007, the show's star, America Ferrera, won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Demonstrating her comedic skills, Hayek made a series of guest appearances on the popular sitcom 30 Rock in 2009. She played a nurse who becomes romantically involved with a television network executive played by Alec Baldwin. She is also slated to appear opposite Adam Sandler in upcoming comedy Grown Ups.

Engaged to luxury goods Francois-Henri Pinault, Hayek gave birth to daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault on September 21, 2007, in Los Angeles. The couple later married on Valentine's Day in 2009 in Paris and held a second ceremony soon after in Venice. Hayek previously dated several actors, including Edward Norton, Edward Atterton, and Richard Crenna, Jr.

JOHN F KENNEDY

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

 On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die.

Of Irish descent, he was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when his PT boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, Kennedy, despite grave injuries, led the survivors through perilous waters to safety.

Back from the war, he became a Democratic Congressman from the Boston area, advancing in 1953 to the Senate. He married Jacqueline Bouvier on September 12, 1953. In 1955, while recuperating from a back operation, he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history.

In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President.

His Inaugural Address offered the memorable injunction: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country." As President, he set out to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. His economic programs launched the country on its longest sustained expansion since World War II; before his death, he laid plans for a massive assault on persisting pockets of privation and poverty.

Responding to ever more urgent demands, he took vigorous action in the cause of equal rights, calling for new civil rights legislation. His vision of America extended to the quality of the national culture and the central role of the arts in a vital society.

He wished America to resume its old mission as the first nation dedicated to the revolution of human rights. With the Alliance for Progress and the Peace Corps, he brought American idealism to the aid of developing nations. But the hard reality of the Communist challenge remained.

Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy permitted a band of Cuban exiles, already armed and trained, to invade their homeland. The attempt to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro was a failure. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union renewed its campaign against West Berlin. Kennedy replied by reinforcing the Berlin garrison and increasing the Nation's military strength, including new efforts in outer space. Confronted by this reaction, Moscow, after the erection of the Berlin Wall, relaxed its pressure in central Europe.

Instead, the Russians now sought to install nuclear missiles in Cuba. When this was discovered by air reconnaissance in October 1962, Kennedy imposed a quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba. While the world trembled on the brink of nuclear war, the Russians backed down and agreed to take the missiles away. The American response to the Cuban crisis evidently persuaded Moscow of the futility of nuclear blackmail.

Kennedy now contended that both sides had a vital interest in stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and slowing the arms race--a contention which led to the test ban treaty of 1963. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward his goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born in Frankfurt on August 28, 1749. In his youth Goethe studied the usual school subjects Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Hebrew plus painting and music and wrote his first funny and devotional verses in the style of the time. In the fall of 1765 Goethe left Frankfurt and went to Leipzig as a student of jurisprudence. Rather neglecting his studies, he took drawing lessons instead and had lessons in copperplate engraving, woodcutting and etching techniques.

At the age of 17 he fell in love with Kätchen Schönkopf, daughter of his landlord, wrote poems and his first plays for the theater. Having split up with Kätchen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe returned to his parents' house in Frankfurt in August 1768, where he devoted himself to reading mystical and natural philosophical texts. 

In 1769 Goethe's first collection of poems was published. At the end of his studies in 1770 Goethe traveled to Strasbourg, where he met Herder. This encounter brought about an inner change for the young writer and determined the subsequent years. In 1771, after having received his doctorate in jurisprudence, he returned to Frankfurt, where he worked as a lawyer.

Most of his time was, however, dedicated to his literary ambition. In May 1772 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe went to Wetzlar for an internship at the Reichskammergericht and fell in love with Charlotte Bluff, a love which turned out to be unhappy and unreturned. When Goethe realized that Charlotte would not love him as hoped, he left the city hastily. Using the experience of this unhappy love, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began work on "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" in Frankfurt.

The book was published in 1774 and over night became the bestseller of its time. The scandalous act of suicide in particular made the book a symbol of protest. The great public reception of this novel made Goethe immediately famous. In 1775 Frankfurt Johann Wolfgang von Goethe got engaged to Anna Elisabeth "Lilli" Schönemann. When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was invited to Weimar by Duke Carl August in 1775, however, he met Charlotte von Stein. He decided to stay in Weimar, was appointed privy legation councilor and took on numerous political and administrative duties. He broke off his engagement to Lilli.

The subsequent ten successful years of his career, including "Iphigenie auf Tauris", his appointment as privy councilor, heading the War and Highway Commission and his relationship with Charlotte von Stein, left their marks on Goethe. He suffered from a nervous disposition. After a rehabilitation spa in Karlsbad, Goethe secretly and under a false name traveled to Italy, where he stayed for 2 years. When he returned to Weimar in 1788, many of his friends turned their back on him and his relationship with Charlotte ended. Goethe began writing his famous "Faust". He met the young 23-year-old Christiane Vulpuis and fell in love with her. In 1789 she gave birth to their son August.

In 1797 he wrote his great ballads. Some days after Napoleon's occupation of Weimar, Goethe married his long-term companion Christiane Vulpuis. In 1806 he finished the first part of "Faust" and in 1809 his novel "Die Wahlverwandtschaften" was published. In 1831 he finally completed his life's work "Faust 2", a comprehensive poem on the world, which became the most impressive poetic work ever to be published in the German language. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe sealed the manuscript with a note, saying that it must not be published before his death. Around noon on March 22, 1832, Goethe passed away at the age of eighty three.

JOHN WAYNE

Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

John Wayne (May 26, 1907 - June 11, 1979), nicknamed "Duke", was an American film actor whose career spanned the evolutionary phase of American cinema, appearing in silent movies and "talkies" alike. He remains, by many accounts, the most popular star in the history of American film. He was born Marion Robert Morrison in Winterset, Iowa, but the name became Marion Michael Morrison when his parents decided to name their next son Robert. His family moved to Glendale, California in 1911; it was neighbors in Glendale who started calling him "Big Duke", because he never went anywhere without his Airedale dog, who was Little Duke. He preferred "Duke" to "Marion", and the name stuck for the rest of his life. After nearly gaining admission to the U.S. Naval Academy, he attended the University of Southern California, where he also played on the football team under legendary coach Howard Jones. An injury while swimming at the beach curtailed his athletic career, however; Wayne would later note that he was too terrified of Jones' reaction to reveal the actual cause of his injury. While at the university, Wayne began working around the local film studios. Western star Tom Mix got him a summer job in the prop department in exchange for football tickets, and Wayne soon moved on to bit parts, establishing a long friendship with director John Ford. His first starring role was in the movie The Big Trail; it was the director of that movie, Raoul Walsh, who gave him the stage name "John Wayne", after Revolutionary War general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. His friendship with Ford led them to work together on films which featured some of Wayne's most iconic roles. Beginning with three minor parts in 1928, Wayne would appear in over twenty of Ford's films in the next 35 years, including Stagecoach (1939), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), The Wings of Eagles (1957), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Wayne appeared in many strong masculine ("macho") roles in western films and war films, but he also had a down-to-earth sense of humour which allowed him to appear in a pink bunny suit for an episode of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, as well as in comedy movies. According to the Internet Movie Database Wayne played the male lead in 142 of his film appearances, an as yet unsurpassed record. One of Wayne's best roles was ironically in one of the few films he made that wasn't a Western or war picture. The film was The High And The Mighty released in 1954. The movie was directed by William Wellman and based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann. Wayne played the co-pilot of a plane that develops serious engine problems in flight. His portrayal of the heroic airman won widespread acclaim. Sadly, this film has not been seen for many years due to lawsuits and copyright issues with Wayne's estate. The film co-starred Robert Stack and Jan Sterling. Despite his prolific output John Wayne won only a single Best Actor Oscar, for the 1969 movie True Grit. He received a nomination for Best Actor in Sands of Iwo Jima, and another as the producer of Best Picture nominee The Alamo, which he also directed. His production company was called Batjac, an accidental misspelling of his character in Reap the Wild Wind. In 1973, he released a best-selling spoken word album, that was nominated for a Grammy, and re-released with similar success in 2001. John Wayne died of lung cancer on June 11, 1979 in Newport Beach, California, and was interred in the Pacific View Memorial Park cemetery in Corona del Mar, Orange County, California. Some trace his cancer back to his work in The Conqueror, filmed about 100 miles downwind of Nevada nuclear-weapons test sites. Wayne was married three times; to Josephine Alicia Saenz, Esperanza Baur, and Pilar Palette. He had four children with Josephine, three with Pilar, most notably Patrick Wayne. All but one of his children went on to have minor Hollywood careers. He is the most celebrated utterer, and apocryphal coiner, of the tmesis "ri-goddamn-diculous". There is an airport named after him, John Wayne Airport, in Orange County, California. John Wayne was entered into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1974, and is mentioned in the Paula Cole song Where Have All the Cowboys Gone. Character deaths A frequently asked trivia question is: In how many films did John Wayne's character die? The answer is as follows: His death is seen in the following films: The Shootist - He is killed in a gunfight in at the end of the film.  The Cowboys - He is killed by Bruce Dern's character.  The Alamo - Playing Davy Crockett, he is killed by a Mexican soldier's lance.  Sands of Iwo Jima - He is killed by a sniper's bullet at the end of the film.  Wake of the Red Witch - He dies as the ship sinks.  The Fighting Seabees - He is shot by a sniper.  Reap the Wild Wind - He is killed by a giant squid.  His character death is not shown in the following: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - His character is dead at the beginning of the film and the story is told in flashback by James Stewart who is attending his funeral.  The Sea Chase - Lana Turner and Wayne are on a ship when it sinks, but the possibility that the characters survived is left open.  The Deceiver - Ian Keith's character died, but the corpse was played by John Wayne.  Central Airport - John Wayne has a very minor role as the co-pilot of an aircraft that crashes into the ocean.  Partial Filmography The Big Trail (1930)  Stagecoach (1939)  Reap the Wild Wind (1942)  They Were Expendable (1945)  Fort Apache (1948)  Red River (1948)  She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)  Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)  Rio Grande (1950)  The Quiet Man (1952)  Hondo (1953)  The Conqueror (1956)  The Searchers (1956)  The Wings of Eagles (1957)  Rio Bravo (1959)  The Alamo (1960)  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)  McClintock (1963)  The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)  El Dorado (1966)  The Green Berets (1968)  True Grit (1969)  Rio Lobo (1970)  Big Jake (1971)  Rooster Cogburn (1975)  The Shootist (1976)

SARDAR VALLABHBHAI PATEL

For the friendship of two, the patience of one is required.

The way to overcome the angry man is with gentleness, the evil man with goodness, the miser with generosity and the liar with truth.

Successfully led Kheda Satyagraha and Bardoli revolt against British government; elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922, 1924 and 1927; elected Congress President in 1931; was independent India's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister; played a key role in political integration of India; conferred Bharat Ratna in 1991. 

Sardar Patel was popularly known as Iron Man of India. His full name was Vallabhbhai Patel. He played a leading role in the Indian freedom struggle and became the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India. He is credited with achieving political integration of India.

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31, 1875 in Nadiad, a small village in Gujarat. His father Jhaverbhai was a farmer and mother Laad Bai was a simple lady. Sardar Vallabhai's early education took place in Karamsad. Then he joined a school in Petlad. After two years he joined a high school in a town called Nadiad. He passed his high school examination in 1896. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a brilliant student throughout his schooling. 

Vallabhbhai wanted to become a barrister. To realize this ambition he had to go to England. But he did not have the financial means to even join a college India. In those days a candidate could study in private and sit for an examination in Law. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel borrowed books from a lawyer of his acquaintance and studied at home. Occasionally he attended courts of law and listened attentively to the arguments of lawyer. Vallabhbhai passed the Law examination with flying colours.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel started his Law practice in Godhra. Soon his practice flourished. He got married to Jhaberaba. In 1904, he got a baby daughter Maniben, and in 1905 his son Dahyabhai was born. Vallabhbhai sent his elder brother Vitthalbhai, who himself was a lawyer, to England for higher studies in Law. Patel was only thirty-three years old when his wife died. He did not wish to marry again. After his brother's return, Vallabhbhai went to England. He studied with single-minded devotion and stood first in the Barrister-at-Law Examination.

Sardar Patel returned to India in 1913 and started his practice in Ahmedabad. Soon he became popular. At the urging of his friends, Patel contested and won elections to become the sanitation commissioner of Ahmedabad in 1917. Sardar Patel was deeply impressed by Gandhiji's success in Champaran Satyagraha. In 1918, there was a drought in the Kheda division of Gujarat. Peasants asked for relief from the high rate of taxes but the British government refused. Gandhiji took up peasants cause but could not devote his full time in Kheda. He was looking for someone who could lead the struggle in his absence. At this point Sardar Patel volunteered to come forward and lead the struggle. He gave up his lucrative legal practice and entered public life.

Vallabhbhai successfully led peasants revolt in Kheda and the revolt ended in 1919 when the British government agreed to suspend collection of revenue and roll back the rates. Kheda Satyagraha turned Vallabhbhai Patel into a national hero. Vallabhbhai supported Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement, and as president of the Gujarat Congress, helped in organizing bonfires of British goods in Ahmedabad. He gave up his English clothes and started wearing Khadi. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was elected Ahmedabad's municipal president in 1922, 1924 and 1927. During his terms, Ahmedabad was extended a major supply of electricity and underwent major education reforms. Drainage and sanitation systems were extended over all the city.

In 1928, Bardoli Taluka in Gujarat suffered from floods and famine. In this hour of distress the British government raised the revenue taxes by thirty percent. Sardar Patel took up cudgels on behalf of the farmers and appealed to the Governor to reduce the taxes. The Governor refused and the government even announced the date of the collection of the taxes. Sardar Patel organized the farmers and told them not to pay even a single pie of tax. The government tried to repress the revolt but ultimately bowed before Vallabhbhai Patel. It was during the struggle and after the victory in Bardoli that caused intense excitement across India, that Patel was increasingly addressed by his colleagues and followers as Sardar.

Disobedience Movement in 1930. After the signing of Gandhi-Irwin pact in 1931, Sardar Patel was released and he was elected Congress president for its 1931 session in Karachi. Upon the failure of the Round Table Conference in London, Gandhiji and Sardar Patel were arrested in January 1932 and imprisoned in the Yeravada Central Jail. During this term of imprisonment, Sardar Patel and Mahatma Gandhi grew close to one another, and the two developed a close bond of affection, trust, and frankness without reserve. Sardar Patel was finally released in July 1934.

In August 1942, the Congress launched the Quit India Movement. The government jailed all the important leaders of the Congress, including Vallabhai Patel. All the leaders were released after three years. After achieving independence on 15th of August 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of independent India and Sardar Patel became the Deputy Prime Minister. He was in charge of Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of States.

There were 565 princely states in India at that time. Some of the Maharajas and Nawabs who ruled over these were sensible and patriotic. But most of them were drunk with wealth and power. They were dreaming of becoming independent rulers once the British quit India. They argued that the government of free India should treat them as equals. Some of them went to the extent of planning to send their representatives to the United Nations Organization. Patel invoked the patriotism of India's monarchs, asking them to join in the freedom of their nation and act as responsible rulers who cared about the future of their people. He persuaded the princes of 565 states of the impossibility of independence from the Indian republic, especially in the presence of growing opposition from their subjects. With great wisdom and political foresight, he consolidated the small kingdoms. The public was with him. He tackled the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Junagarh who initially did not want to join India. Sardar Patel's untiring efforts towards the unity of the country brought success. He united a scattered nation without much bloodshed. Due to the achievement of this massive task, Sardar Patel got the title of 'Iron Man'. Sardar Patel died of cardiac arrest on December 15, 1950. For his services to the nation Sardar Patel was conferred with Bharat Ratna in 1991.