The Sum Of Us, a Russell Crowe movie; as are Proof and No Way Back. He also played Maximus in Gladiator.

The man on the left is Tom Cruise, famous for his portrayal of Maverick (real name Pete Mitchell) in the movie “Top Gun”.

The man on the right is James Garner, who played Bret Maverick, an adventurous card sharp, in the late 1950s TV series Maverick. The series was remade as a 1994 movie with Mel Gibson in the title role and Garner and Jodie Foster co-starring.

The word “maverick” came into the language thanks to an American heretic of sorts named Samuel A. Maverick who, among other things, chose not to brand his cattle. Today, besides meaning unbranded range animal, the word maverick is associated with an independent individual who refuses to conform to his group.

The Mary Celeste, a 103 foot brigantine, set sail from New York for Genoa on November 7, 1872. She was found abandoned at sea on December 14, 1872 at 38"29'N, 17"15'W (590 miles west of Gibraltar) by the Dei Gratia.

Craig David. Harold Lloyd. Boy George. (George O'Dowd).

David Lloyd George (1863 - 1945) British Liberal statesman and prime minister (1916-22).

Kabaddi. In Kabaddi, two teams compete with each other for higher scores, by touching or capturing the players of the opponent team. Each team consists of 12 players, of which seven are on court at a time, and five in reserve. The two teams fight for higher scores, alternating defence and offence. The game consists of two 20-minute halves, with a break of five minutes for change of sides.

The kabaddi playing area is 12.50 m x 10 m, divided by a line into two halves. The side winning the toss sends a 'raider', who enters the opponents' court chanting, 'kabaddi-kabaddi'. The raider's aim is to touch any or all players on the opposing side, and return to his court in one breath. The person, whom the raider touches, will then be out. The aim of the opposing team, will be to hold the raider, and stop him from returning to his own court, until he takes another breath. If the raider cannot return to his court in the same breath while chanting 'kabaddi', he will be declared out. Each team alternates in sending a player into the opponents' court. If a player goes out of the boundary line during the course of the play, or if any part of his body touches the ground outside the boundary, he will be out, except during a struggle.

The team scores a lona ( a bonus of two points), if the entire opposition is declared out. The game then continues by putting all the players on both sides. Matches are staged on the basis of age-groups, and weight. Seven officials supervise a match - one referee, two umpires, two linesmen, a time-keeper and a scorer.

I'll never forget seeing this one on telly for the first time: It's the Indian game of Kabaddi - also known as Chedugudu or Hu-Tu-Tu in southern parts of India, Hadudu (Men) and Chu - Kit-Kit (women) in eastern India. The most striking feature of the game is that one member of the team (the "raider") has to enter the opponents' court, chanting 'kabaddi' without taking a new breath, and while trying to touch as many opponents as possible, returning to his own court before running out of breath. The opponents also try to hold him down so that he cannot return before needing to take a breath (I think I've got that right). So you get the bizarre spectacle of players chanting as quietly as possible so as to conserve breath, which makes it one of the oddest games I've ever seen.

Kabbadi - attacking players have to repeat the sport's name (kabaddi-kabaddi-kabaddi-etc) to prove they are only using one breath of air during the attack.

Tintoretto, Jacopo (Jacopo Robusti) (1518, 1594) The Bathing Susanna 1560-62 Oil on canvas, 146,6 x 193,6 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The Sun King, Louis XIV of France "L'etat c'est moi"

From : http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/ssh4.htm

From 1661, when he threw his chief minister into prison, until his death in 1715, the king ruled personally. "L'etat c'est moi" (I am the state), he said. Louis 14 gave absolutism new meanings. He established a system that meant the French aristocracy were preoccupied with the social activities of his court, and deprived of any real power. From the time of Louis 14, French absolutism meant that power was concentrated in the king. .

Neil Peart of the rock band “Rush” – This overhead photograph was taken by Andrew Macnaughtan during the Presto tour in 1989. Neil had requested that Andrew shoot a portrait to be used as an advertisement for Zildjian Cymbals, but the ad was never run. This is the same photo. I love their song “Tom Sawyer”.

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them; one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

A distant splash is heard 6 seconds later. Therefore 6 seconds is the time taken by the pebble to fall down the well AND for the sound to travel back up.

If “S” is the depth of the well and “t” is the time taken for the pebble to strike the water, then given that the pebble is dropped, S = gt2/2, where “g” is the acceleration due to gravity = 9.8 m/s2

The speed of sound depends upon the properties of the medium it is passing through. When we look at the properties of a gas, we see that only when molecules collide with each other can the condensations and rarefactions of a sound wave move about. So, it makes sense that the speed of sound has the same order of magnitude as the average molecular speed between collisions. In a gas, it is particularly important to know the temperature. This is because at lower temperatures, molecules collide more often, giving the sound wave more chances to move around rapidly. At freezing (0º Celsius), sound travels through air at 331 m/s. But, at 20ºC, room temperature, sound travels at 343 m/s. Assuming the speed of sound is cs = 343 m/s, S = cs x (6-t) Solving the quadratic for “t” gives t = 5.5586 s. Therefore the depth of the well is S = 151.40

October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August and February. -- Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens).

Robert III.

King of Scotland.

Born: 1337

Acceded: 14 AUG 1390

Died: 4 APR 1406

However, when their father died, John, being the eldest, was made King. And there was much rejoicing. (Yea)

"But he's feeble minded" cried Robert

"But I am the oldest" replied John

"But John is an unlucky name for a king."

"How so?"

"Remember King John of Scotland? No, of course not. Well he had not fared well against the English. Then there was King John of England"

"The one with Robin Hood?"

"Yes, exactly. Not only was he unlucky in his own country but he did even worse against the French. And then there was King John of France who was captured by the English."

"And your point?" said John.

"You can't be king. Your name is too unlucky"

"Then I'll change my name. To Robert."

"But that's my name." complained Robert.

"True, but it is also our father's name and our great-grandfather's. If it was a good name for them it shall be a good name for me."

So, John Stuart tried to change his luck by taking his father's name, Robert.

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, French President Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, superimposed on a background of the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre, Paris.