Category Archives: Celebrities and Entertainment

Mahatma Gandhi

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Mahatma Gandhi

“Where there is love there is life.” – Mahatma Gandhi

  • Mahatma Gandhi was an Indian political activist, a firm believer of nonviolent resistance, and the primary influence of India’s independence and freedom from Britain in 1947.
  • The full name of Mahatma Gandhi is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, born on the 2 October, 1869, in India’s Porbandar, in Asia, and he has also been known as ‘Bapu’, ‘Gandhiji’, ‘Father of the Nation’, and ‘Father of India’, and the title ‘Mahatma’, meaning ‘great soul’ or similar, was first used in relation to him in 1914.
  • Abiding by Indian tradition, Mahatma Gandhi married the similarly aged Kasturbai Makhanji at age thirteen years, in 1883 by an arranged marriage, and had five children, although only four boys survived, with the first child dying days after birth.
  • Mahatma Gandhi studied law in London, in Europe’s England in 1888, returning to India in 1891 after graduation, but then moved to South Africa to work for an Indian trader group in 1893 as a legal representative, where he remained until moving back to India in 1915.
  • While in South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi observed and experienced violent racism, and as a result rallied for the rights of Indians in the country, and when he returned home to India after more than 20 years, he began to campaign for his country’s independence.
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Mahatma Gandhi
Image courtesy of Nagarjun Kandukuru/Flickr
  • Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by bullet at 78 years of age, on 30 January, 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a representative of a disagreeing Hindu fundamentalist group, in the area of Birla House, New Delhi in India, which was later renamed Gandhi Smriti and was transformed into a museum.
  • While he studied many different religions, Mahatma Gandhi was mostly influenced by Hinduism and Jainism, and during his lifetime he wrote over 50,000 pages of literature, some of which was previously released, although the whole lot was published collectively by the government in India in the 1960s.
  • Despite being nominated five times, Mahatma Gandhi was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize during his lifetime, although the story of his life was adapted into the Academy Award winning film Gandhi (1982), starring Ben Kingsley as the main character.
  • Since 2007, the 2nd October has been celebrated each year as the International Day of Non-Violence, in honour of Mahatma Gandhi, which is the Indian’s birthday, and also a public holiday in India, known as ‘Gandhi Jayanti’.
  • Mahatma Gandhi was the subject of at least five failed assassinations, one of which is said to have been the derailing of a train a year and a half before his death.
Bibliography:
Mahatma Gandhi, 2014, History, http://www.history.co.uk/biographies/mahatma-gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

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Hello Kitty

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Hello Kitty

“Happiness comes in all colours of the rainbow!” – Hello Kitty

  • Hello Kitty is a licensed, cartoon-style character created as an icon and promotional device for Sanrio, a Japan-based company, and it has become the biggest seller for the company, as well as having been one of the top grossing characters in Japan.
  • ‘Hello Kitty’ is known as ‘Harōkiti’ in Japanese-rōmaji and her complete name is ‘Kitty White’ or ‘Kiti Howaito’ in rōmaji; her birthday is the 1st of November; and she is known as a ‘symbol of friendship’.
  • Hello Kitty has the appearance of a clothed, upright, white, Japanese bobtail cat with a red or pink bow on the left ear and  human personality traits, and she is as tall as 5 apples and weighs as much as 3 apples.
  • Hello Kitty is described as a kind and happy British girl from London, that loves to bake, make new friends, listen to music, travel and read, and she has a twin sister named ‘Mimmy’, a pet hamster named ‘Sugar’, and a pet cat named ‘Charmmy Kitty’.
  • Hello Kitty was originally designed by Japanese designer, Yuko Shimizu, for Sanrio in 1974, due to the company noticing that cute designs increase sales, while the second designer was Setsuko Yonekubo, and the third designer was Yuko Yamaguchi.
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Hello Kitty
Image courtesy of Sanrio
  • Hello Kitty’s image was first sold on a purse in 1974, increasing company profits significantly, and appearing in the United States in 1976, although by the late 1970s she had lost popularity.
  • Hello Kitty does not have a mouth, which means she can portray a variety of emotions, and consumers can relate differently to her, depending on their mood.
  • Hello Kitty overcame her significant slump in the late 1970s after Yuko Yamaguchi, her third designer, took over, as she created a story for her, and improved the appearance and style of the character.
  • Hello Kitty was originally designed for young girls, although this market was enlarged to encompass teens and adults by the 1990s, and in 2008, Hello Kitty was featured on 50,000 products, and was worth $7 billion on the icon’s 40th anniversary in 2014.
  • Hello Kitty has been depicted on products ranging from clothing, personal items, credit cards, cafes, household items and transport, and she has been featured in video games and a number of television series, as well as a music album.
Bibliography:
Hello Kitty, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty
Hello Kitty, My Melody, Badtz-Maru and other Sanrio characters at SanrioTown.com, 2011, Sanriotown, http://hello-kitty.sanriotown.com/
Interview: Third Hello Kitty Designer Yuko Yamaguchi, 2014, Tokyo Otaku Mode, http://otakumode.com/news/53856f4a935d07d66400069c/

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Barrel of Monkeys

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Barrel of Monkeys

It is ‘more fun than a barrel of monkeys’.

  • Barrel of Monkeys is a game or toy that contains plastic linkable monkeys and a container that they are held in.
  • The main object of the Barrel of Monkeys game is to make the longest monkey chain by linking the arms, before dropping any.
  • Barrel of Monkeys was invented in 1965 by Leonard Marks, who came from New York’s Roslyn, in the United States, who is said to have sold the game to Lakeside Toys around that time.
  • Barrel of Monkeys was most likely an improvement on a similar form of entertainment of detachable hooks and links, that was possibly first invented in 1953 by Lawrence Reed from the United States, and was patented in 1955.
  • It is believed that ‘Barrel of Monkeys’ was originally to be named ‘Barrel of Fun’, but due to copyright issues it was named after a well known phrase.

Barrel of Monkeys, chain, coloured, blue, red, green, yellow, assorted, plastic, game, Milton Bradley, Ten Random Facts, Australia

  • The monkeys in the Barrel of Monkeys game were originally, until 1968, stored in cardboard cylinders, but this was changed to a plastic barrel.
  • Barrel of Monkeys traditionally contains twelve monkeys, though twenty-four is the barrel’s capacity, and the monkeys are generally coloured similar to the barrel – red, blue, green or yellow.
  • Barrel of Monkeys is manufactured by the Milton Bradley Company, which in 2014 was owned by the game and toy corporation Hasbro.
  • Two Barrel of Monkeys’ monkeys are said to be able to be linked in eighty different ways, using arms, legs, heads and the like, and they can been used in 3D models to create polyhedral chemical structure models of viruses and proteins.
  • In 2011, Barrel of Monkeys was given the 53rd place in the ‘All-TIME 100 Greatest Toys’ list.
Bibliography:
Barrel of Monkeys: One of the All-TIME 100 greatest toys, n.d., Answers, http://invent.answers.com/toys-and-games/barrel-of-monkeys-one-of-the-all-time-100-greatest-toys
Barrel of Monkeys (Game), 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_of_Monkeys_(game)
Leonard, M 1968, ‘Interconnectable toy elements having hook members’, Google Patents, no. US3414265, 5 July, accessed 10 September 2014, <http://www.google.com/patents/US3414265>
Reed, L 1955, ‘Detachable link and hook game-piece’, Google Patents, no.US2712444, 5 July, accessed 10 September 2014, <http://www.google.com/patents/US2712444>

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Robin Williams

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Robin Williams

“You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it” – Robin Williams

  • Robin Williams was a prominent actor, comedian, screenwriter and film producer, that started acting in the early 1970s, continuing on until his death in 2014, and a significant component of his work was unscripted and improvised.
  • Robin McLaurin Williams, or ‘Robin Williams’ as he was known, was born in Chicago in the United States state of Illinois, on 21 July, 1951, and he was the great, great grandson of governor Anselm J McLaurin from Mississippi.
  • Robin Williams was nominated for and received numerous awards during his lifetime, gaining two Emmys, five Grammys, four Golden Globes, an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the film Good Will Hunting, and the Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award for ‘outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment’.
  • Robin Williams died on 11 August, 2014, in California’s Marin County, in the United States, and despite being a well-loved actor, it is believed he hung himself after suffering from significant depression.
  • Robin Williams attended New York’s Juilliard School and became successfully popular as an alien in 1978 on Happy Days, a television show, that launched his acting career and led to his leading role in the television series Mork and Mindy that ran from 1978 to 1982.
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Robin Williams
Image courtesy of Eva Rinaldi/Flickr
  • Robin Williams has been featured in 80 films, including Popeye (1980), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poet’s Society (1989), Aladdin (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Night at the Museum (2006) and Happy Feet (2006), and also made numerous television appearances.
  • In 1993, Robin Williams had a dispute with The Walt Disney Company, due to the belief that the company broke their agreement of the use of his character, Genie in the marketing of the Aladdin film, in 1992.
  • From the 1970s to 1980s, Robin Williams was addicted to drugs and alcohol, and after years of self-restraint, he resumed drinking alcohol in 2003, although later he attended rehabilitation to overcome his addiction.
  • Robin Williams was married to Valerie Velardi from 1978 to 1988, Marsha Garces from 1989 to 2008 and Susan Schneider from 2011 until his death in 2014, and he had three children named Zachary, Zelda and Cody, born in the years of 1983, 1989 and 1991, respectively.
  • Robin Williams enjoyed playing electronic games and was an avid cyclist and enthusiast, and in 2003 is said to have owned more than 50 bicycles.
Bibliography:
Robin Williams, 2014, Bio, http://www.biography.com/people/robin-williams-9532797
Robin Williams, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams

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Princess Diana

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Princess Diana

“Helping people in need is a good and essential part of my life, a kind of destiny,” – Diana, Princess of Wales

  • Princess Diana was a prominent English noblewomen and became a princess when she married Charles, Prince of Wales, of the British Royal Family in the 1980s.
  • Princess Diana was born on 1 July, 1961, as Diana Frances Spencer, into a family of royal heritage, in England’s Sandringham in Norfolk, in the United Kingdom.
  • While ‘Princess Diana’ is often referred to as such, it is incorrect to say so, and correct titles during various stages of her life included ‘The Honourable Diana Frances Spencer’, ‘Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales’, ‘Diana, Princess of Wales’, and ‘Lady Diana Frances Spencer’, which was often shortened to ‘Lady Di’.
  • When Princess Diana was eight years of age, her parents divorced and her father, Edward John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer, gained custody of her.
  • In her lifetime, Princess Diana suffered from depression and a food related mental disorder, bulimia nervosa; had significant interest and concern for children; was involved in extensive charitable work; had skills in dance and music; and was often regarded as the ‘most photographed woman in the world’.
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Princess Diana
Image courtesy of Sougata Ghosh/Flickr
  • Princess Diana married Charles, the Prince of Wales on 29 July, 1981, after they first met each other in late 1977, and they officially divorced in 1996, after a very troubled marriage.
  • With Prince Charles, Princess Diana had two sons, Prince William in 1982 and Prince Henry (or ‘Prince Harry’ as he is commonly known) in 1984, that were cared for lovingly by Diana.
  • Princess Diana died due to a car crash in France’s Paris while fleeing from paparazzi, along with Diana’s then boyfriend Dodi Fayed, on 31 August, 1997.
  • As Princess Diana was a highly celebrated public figure, her death was a great shock, the funeral was watched by millions around the world and metres of flowers, left as tributes, surrounded Diana’s home, Kensington Palace.
  • Princess Diana owned a large quantity of dresses, including the famous Travolta dress, many of which were sold at various auctions to raise money for charitable causes.
Bibliography:
Diana, Princess of Wales, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana,_Princess_of_Wales
Princess Diana, 2014, Bio, http://www.biography.com/people/princess-diana-9273782

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Cleopatra VII Philopator

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Cleopatra VII Philopator

“I will not be triumphed over.” – Cleopatra VII Philopator

  • Cleopatra VII Philopator was the second last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, in Africa, but often regarded as the last, due to her son’s short reign before he was killed 11 days after the death of his mother.
  • ‘Cleopatra VII Philopator’ is also known simply as ‘Cleopatra’, and her name comes from the Geek word ‘Kleopatra’, meaning ‘glory of the father’.
  • Cleopatra VII Philopator was born in Egypt’s Alexandria, in 69 BC, and her father was Ptolemy XII Auletes, and her mother was possibly Cleopatra V Tryphaena, although this is uncertain.
  • Cleopatra VII Philopator first ruled at 18 years of age, along with her 10 year old brother Ptolemy XIII, whom she quickly excluded from official responsibilities and with whom she fell out of favour.
  • Unlike the rest of her family and predecessors who spoke Greek, Cleopatra VII Philopator also learnt Egyptian, and is believed to have known six to nine languages in all.
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A depiction of Cleopatra
Image courtesy of Noel Cruz/Flickr
  • Along with Julius Caesar of Ancient Rome, Cleopatra VII Philopator launched an attack on her brother, then Pharaoh of Egypt, to regain Egyptian reign.
  • Cleopatra VII Philopator was officially married to her younger brother, and had an eldest son with Julius Caesar, and after Caesar’s death she married Mark Antony, also from Ancient Rome, with whom she had three more children.
  • According to ancient texts, Cleopatra VII Philopator was considered very beautiful, and very intelligent, although her beauty may have come from her charm rather than her looks, but whatever the case, she was said to be influential among males.
  • Cleopatra VII Philopator committed suicide on 12 August, 30 BC, most likely by asp (venomous snake) bite, after the successful conquest of the Roman enemy, Octavian.
  • Cleopatra VII Philopator is depicted in many artworks, film media, and literature, and most notably in the Shakespearean play ‘Antony and Cleopatra’.
Bibliography:
Cleopatra, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra
Cleopatra: the woman behind the name, 2013, Tour Egypt, http://www.touregypt.net/cleopatr.htm

 

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