The Hindenburg Disaster Collection: 26 signed photos, 2 letters

One year after I started The Hindenburg Disaster Collection, the photos are finally on the wall. It took 3 months to have back 4 of the 6 letters I wrote to the last survivors. I received back 26 signed photos, 2 letters. Total amount of money invested: $40. But then it took me more time to find two newspapers (8 pages each) from the next day of the disaster (May 7th, 1937) and an original list o wines served on a previous transatlantic flight of the zeppelin (in german language). 

The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board (36 passengers and 61 crewmen), there were 35 fatalities. There was also one death of a ground crewman.
The disaster was the subject of spectacular newsreel coverage, photographs, and Herbert Morrison's recorded radio eyewitness reports from the landing field, which was broadcast the next day. A variety of hypotheses have been put forward for both the cause of ignition and the initial fuel for the ensuing fire. The incident shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and marked the end of the airship era.
The disaster is well recorded due to the significant extent of newsreel coverage and photographs, as well as Herbert Morrison's eyewitness radio report for station WLS in Chicago, which was broadcast the next day. Heavy publicity about the first transatlantic passenger flight of the year by Zeppelin to the United States attracted a large number of journalists to the landing. (The airship had already made one round trip from Germany to Brazil that year.)

Morrison's broadcast remains one of the most famous in history. Parts of it were later dubbed onto the newsreel footage, giving the impression that the words and film were recorded together. His plaintive "Oh, the humanity!" has been widely used in popular culture. Part of the poignancy of his commentary is due to its being recorded at a slightly slower speed, so that when it is played back at normal speed, it seems to have a faster delivery and higher pitch. When corrected, his account is less frantic sounding, though still impassioned.

The spectacular film footage and Morrison's passionate reporting shattered public and industry faith in airships and marked the end of the giant passenger-carrying airships. Also contributing to the Zeppelins' downfall was the arrival of international passenger air travel and Pan American Airlines.^{[N 3]} Aircraft regularly crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans much faster than the 130 km/h (80 mph) speed of the Hindenburg. The one advantage that the Hindenburg had over aircraft was the comfort that she afforded her passengers, much like that of an ocean liner.
There had been a series of other airship accidents, prior to the Hindenburg fire; many were caused by bad weather. The Graf Zeppelin had flown safely for more than 1.6 million kilometers (1.0 million miles), including the first circumnavigation of the globe by an airship. The Zeppelin company's promotions had prominently featured the fact that no passenger had been injured on any of its airships.

Success 2014: Marco van Basten, Dutch football manager and former football player. Winner of the Ballon d'Or. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992, and European Footballer of the Year three times (1988, 1989 and 1992)

Marcel "Marco" van Basten is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who played for Ajax and A.C. Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and has scored 277 goals in a high-profile career, but played his last game in 1993 at the age of 28 due to an injury which caused his retirement two years later. He was later the head coach of Ajax and the Netherlands national team.
Playing for the Netherlands, Van Basten won Euro 1988 where he was the player of the tournament, scoring five goals, including a memorable volley in the final against the Soviet Union.At club level he won three Eredivisie titles and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup with Ajax, and three Serie A titles and two European Cups with Milan.
Known for his strength on the ball, tactical awareness and spectacular strikes and volleys, Van Basten was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992, and European Footballer of the Year three times (1988, 1989 and 1992). In 1999, Van Basten was ranked sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll, tenth in the European player of the Century election held by the IFFHS, and he was voted twelfth in the IFFHS' World Player of the Century election.He was also voted eighth in a poll organised by the French magazine France Football consulting their former

Ballon d'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. In 2004, he was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers at a FIFA awards ceremony. In 2004, a nationwide poll in the Netherlands was held for the 100 greatest Dutch people (De Grootste Nederlander) and Van Basten was number 25, the second highest for a football player, behind Johan Cruyff. In 2007, Sky Sports ranked Van Basten first on its list of great athletes who had their careers cut short.

Van Basten's talent was already noticed at a young age and he was called up for the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship. He made his senior debut that same year. At the UEFA Euro 1988, Van Basten scored a total of five goals, including a hat trick against England, the winning goal in the semi-final against West Germany, and a spectacular volley in the final against the Soviet Union. He finished top scorer and was named player of the tournament.
The Dutch national team exited early in the World Cup in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, losing to West Germany in the second round. Van Basten never scored in the World Cup Finals.
The Netherlands reached the semi-final of UEFA Euro 1992 when they lost to Denmark in a penalty shootout, with Peter Schmeichel saving a penalty shot from Van Basten.

Success 2014: Caro Emerald, a Dutch pop and jazz singer. Her debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor set a new all-time Dutch chart record on 20 August 2010

Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw (born 26 April 1981), best known by her stage name of Caro Emerald, is a Dutch pop and jazz singer. She debuted on 6 July 2009 with her single "Back It Up". Her 2009 single "A Night Like This" reached the number 1 position in the Netherlands.
Her debut album Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor set a new all-time Dutch chart record on 20 August 2010, spending its 30th week at number one on the country's albums chart, beating the previous record set by Michael Jackson's Thriller by one week. The album became the biggest selling album of 2010 in the Netherlands and has sold over 300,000 copies so far. In total more than a million copies have been sold. On 3 October 2010, Van der Leeuw was awarded the Dutch music prize "Edison Award" for Best Female Artist.
In April 2013, her second studio album The Shocking Miss Emerald went to No. 1 in the UK album chart, becoming her first UK No. 1 album.
Caroline Esmeralda van der Leeuw was born on 26 April 1981 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands to a Dutch father and an Aruban mother. She started singing lessons at age 12 with James Gilloffo in Amsterdam and joined a girl vocal group, Les Elles, under his guidance. Following high school she trained as a jazz vocalist at the Amsterdam Conservatory, graduating in 2005.
In early 2007 Dutch producer Jan van Wieringen invited van der Leeuw to sing the vocal on a demo track he was co-producing with songwriter and producer David Schreurs. The song, "Back It Up", had been written by Schreurs together with Canadian songwriter Vince Degiorgio and was based on a hip-hop beat created by Jan and Robin Veldman. Caro's jazzy vocal style was considered a "perfect match" for the new song.
The song demo was pitched to various publishers and labels but although the reaction was positive they struggled to imagine it suiting any particular artist and didn't believe it had a strong enough chart potential.  In the meantime, however, the song was posted on YouTube reaching public notice around the world. Radio stations picked it up and the song gained popularity.

When Degiorgio, Schreurs and van Wieringen discovered van der Leeuw's sound had such potential, they set about working on a full album presenting Emerald as the star in the summer of 2008 and used "Back It Up"'s mix of 40s–50s jazz, easy listening, orchestral Latin, combined with infectious beats as a model. Adopting a sample based approach but with live instrumentation, the writing sessions drew from a wide range of influences including jazz organist Jackie Davis, exotica composer Martin Denny, mambo king Perez Prado, 20s/30s jazz and van der Leeuw's own vocal inspirations of The Andrews Sisters, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. The usual method would be for Schreurs to produce the backing tracks at home and then get together with top line writer and lyricist Degiorgio to write the song. Van der Leeuw would occasionally pitch in her own melody and lyrical ideas, and Van Wieringen co-created the tracks for "The Other Woman" and "Dr Wanna Do".
After the record labels they approached failed to sign van der Leeuw, Schreurs, van Wieringen and van der Leeuw created their own label Grandmono Records and released "Back It Up" as the first single on 6 July 2009. It was an instant hit and listed in the Dutch Top 40 for 12 weeks, peaking at No. 12. Kraak & Smaak provided a remix of the song. "Back It Up" was the most played song on Dutch radio station 3FM in 2009.Follow up A Night Like This became a No. 1 hit in The Netherlands.
In 2011 Emerald recorded a version of Brook Benton's 1963 hit "You're All I Want for Christmas", sampling the original song to produce a duet with Benton, who died in 1988. The song was released in December 2011.
On New Year's Eve 2011/2012 Emerald appeared on BBC Two television on Jools Holland's Hootenanny show backed by the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.
In early 2012, Emerald won two German awards: a Goldene Kamera for Best Musik International and an Echo Award for Best Newcomer International, beating out other Echo nominees who included Lana Del Rey, Gotye, and LMFAO. She made her American debut in January 2013, performing in Los Angeles and New York.
In April 2013, her 2nd studio album The Shocking Miss Emerald was released it went to No1 in the UK album chart, becoming her first UK No1 album. She performed in the UK at The BBC Radio Theatre it was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Red Button.

Success 2014: Tony Blair, a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the  Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. Blair led Labour to a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, winning 418 seats, the most the party has ever held. The party went on to win two more elections under his leadership, in 2001 and 2005, with a significantly reduced majority in the latter.


Blair was elected Labour Party leader in the leadership election of July 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith. Under his leadership, the party used the phrase "New Labour" to distance it from previous Labour policies. Blair declared opposition to the traditional conception of socialism, and declared support for a new conception that he referred to as "social-ism", involving politics that recognised individuals as socially interdependent, and advocated social justice, cohesion, equal worth of each citizen, and equal opportunity.Critics of Blair denounced him for having the Labour Party abandon genuine socialism and accepting capitalism.
At 43 years old, Blair became the youngest Prime Minister since Lord Liverpool in 1812. In the first years of the New Labour government, Blair's government implemented a number of 1997 manifesto pledges, introducing the National Minimum Wage Act, Human Rights Act and Freedom of Information Act, and carrying out devolution, establishing the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Blair's role as Prime Minister was particularly visible in foreign and security policy, including in Northern Ireland, where he was involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. From the start of the War on Terror in 2001, Blair strongly supported the foreign policy of US President George W. Bush, notably by participating in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair is the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime Minister, the only person to have led the Labour Party to more than two consecutive general election victories, and the only Labour Prime Minister to serve consecutive terms more than one of which was at least four years long.
He was succeeded as Leader of the Labour Party on 24 June 2007 and as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007 by Gordon Brown. On the day he resigned as Prime Minister, he was appointed the official Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. In May 2008, Blair launched his Tony Blair Faith Foundation.^[5] This was followed in July 2009 by the launching of the Faith and Globalisation Initiative with Yale University in the US, Durham University in the UK and the National University of Singapore in Asia to deliver a postgraduate programme in partnership with the Foundation

Success 2014: Petr Čech, footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Czech Republic as a goalkeeper

Petr Čech is a Czech footballer, who plays for Chelsea and the Czech Republic as a goalkeeper. Čech previously played for Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, and Rennes. He was voted into the all-star team of Euro 2004 after helping his country reach the semi-finals. Čech also received the individual award of Best Goalkeeper in the 2004–05, 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons of the UEFA Champions League. In addition, he was named in the FIFPro and UEFA Champions League teams of the season in 2006. He is considered to be one of the best and most respected goalkeepers of all time.
Čech holds a number of goalkeeping records, including the Premier League record for fewest appearances required to reach 100 clean sheets, having done so in 180 league appearances. He also holds a Czech professional league record of not conceding a goal in 903 competitive minutes. In addition, he has a club record at his former club Sparta Prague, having gone 928 minutes unbeaten in all competitions in 2001–02, when his unbeaten run in Czech league competition was combined with his performances in the UEFA Champions League. During the 2004–05 season, Čech went 1,025 minutes without conceding a goal – a Premier League record, until it was surpassed by Edwin van der Sar of Manchester United on 27 January 2009. Čech also won the Golden Glove in both the 2004–05 and 2009–10 seasons as the Premier League goalkeeper with the most clean sheets. As of 11 January 2014, Čech has kept a club record 209 clean sheets for Chelsea in all competitions.

Čech trialled with Chelsea in 2003. Their then-manager, Claudio Ranieri, wanted Čech to be understudy to Carlo Cudicini, and made a transfer bid for Čech in January 2004. Although an initial bid was rejected, Rennes agreed to Čech's move to Chelsea for £7 million in February. Čech signed a five-year contract, to commence in July 2004, becoming the most expensive goalkeeper in Chelsea's history. Čech's was one amongst many British club transfers that came under the spotlight in the 2006 football corruption investigation for being potentially in breach of transfer regulations. The Stevens inquiry report, published in June 2007, found no evidence of illegal payments.

Success 2014: Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, the president of South Africa

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, (born 12 April 1942) is the President of South Africa, elected by parliament following his party's victory in the 2009 general election.

Zuma is the President of the African National Congress (ANC), the governing political party, and was Deputy President of South Africa from 1999 to 2005. Zuma is also referred to by his initials JZ and his clan name Msholozi.Zuma became the President of the ANC on 18 December 2007 after defeating incumbent Thabo Mbeki at the ANC conference in Polokwane. He was re-elected as ANC leader at the ANC conference in Manguang on 18 December 2012, defeating challenger Kgalema Motlanthe by a large majority. Zuma was also a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP), briefly serving on the party's Politburo until he left the party in 1990. On 20 September 2008, Thabo Mbeki announced his resignation after being recalled by the African National Congress's National Executive Committee. The recall came after South African High Court Judge Christopher Nicholson ruled that Mbeki had improperly interfered with the operations of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), including the prosecution of Jacob Zuma for corruption.
Zuma has faced significant legal challenges. He was charged with rape in 2005, but was acquitted. In addition, he fought a long legal battle over allegations of racketeering and corruption, resulting from his financial advisor Schabir Shaik's conviction for corruption and fraud. On 6 April 2009, the National Prosecuting Authority decided to drop the charges, citing political interference.
He officially announced the death of the anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first democratically elected president, in a press conference on December 5th, 2013.

Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, a former Formula One racing driver from England regarded as "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship". An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame

Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE (Fellow of the Institute of Engineers) (born 17 September 1929) is a former Formula One racing driver from England. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame his success in a variety of categories placed him among the world's elite—he is regarded by some commentators as "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship".

Moss, who raced from 1948 to 1962, won 212 of the 529 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix. He would compete in as many as 62 races in a single year and drove 84 different makes of car over the course of his racing career, including Lotus, Vanwall, Maserati, Jaguar, Ferrari and Porsche. Like many drivers of the era, he competed in several formulae—very often on the same day.
He retired in 1962 after a crash left him in a coma for a month, as afterwards he felt unable to continue driving at a professional level. In spite of this early retirement he has continued to be the focus of media attention and consequently, a well-known figure.
Moss was one of the first customers of the Cooper Car Company when,using money won from his horse riding events, he put a deposit on a racing car. He eventually managed to persuade his father, who was very much against Stirling becoming a racing driver, wanting him to become a dentist, to allow him to purchase one of the new Cooper 500 cars. He quickly demonstrated his ability with numerous wins, at national and international level, and continued to compete in Formula Three, both in Coopers and Kieft cars long after graduating to the senior categories.
His first major international race victory was in the 1950 RAC Tourist Trophy for sports cars on the Dundrod circuit in Northern Ireland. He went on to win the Tourist Trophy six more times: 1951 (Jaguar C-Type), 1955 (Mercedes-Benz 300SLR), 1958 & 1959 (Aston Martin DBR1) and 1960 & 1961 (Ferrari 250 GT).
Moss was a pioneer in the British Formula One racing scene and was second in the Drivers' Championship four times in a row from 1955 to 1958.
Moss was also a competent rally driver and is one of only three people to have won a Coupe d'Or (Gold Cup) for three consecutive penalty-free runs on the Alpine Rally (Coupe des Alpes). In addition, he finished second in the 1952 Monte Carlo Rally driving a Sunbeam-Talbot 90 with co-driver John Cooper.
In 1954, he became the first foreign driver to win the 12 Hours of Sebring, sharing the Cunningham team's 1.5-liter O.S.C.A. MT4 with American Bill Lloyd.
Mercedes racing boss Alfred Neubauer approached Moss's manager Ken Gregory in 1953, and showed an interest in Moss's services, but after having seen Moss do well in a mediocre car, Neubauer wanted to see how Moss would do in a better car, and suggested that they buy a Maserati for the 1954 season, which they did. Moss did not get high up in the championship points because of unreliability, but he often qualified alongside the Mercedes frontrunners and performed very well; the best of these performances being at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where he passed both men who at time were considered to be the two best Formula One drivers at the time- Juan Manuel Fangio in a Mercedes and Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari for the lead. Ascari retired with engine problems, and Moss led until lap 68 until he too developed engine problems, and Fangio went by to take the victory, with Moss pushing his Maserati 250F to the finish line. Neubauer, already impressed having seen Moss test the W196 at Hockenheim, promptly then signed Moss up to drive for the 1955 season.
Moss's first Formula One win was his home race, the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree. He became the first British driver to win the British Grand Prix. His Mercedes-Benz W196 led home a 1–2–3–4 win for the German marque. It was the first race where he finished in front of Fangio, his teammate, friend, mentor, and archrival at Mercedes. It is sometimes debated whether Fangio, one of the all-time great gentlemen of sport, allowed Moss to win in front of his home crowd. Moss himself asked Fangio repeatedly, "Did you let me win?" and Fangio always replied, "No. You were just better than me that day."
One of his best remembered drives was in the 1955 Mille Miglia, which he won in the record time of 10 hours 7 minutes 48 seconds, finishing almost half an hour ahead of teammate Fangio in second place. Moss' navigator in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR #722 (indicating the time of the start) was journalist Denis Jenkinson. As navigator, Jenkinson supported Moss with pace notes in the form of a Roller Map, which listed all the details of the long road trip, then an innovative technique. This assistance helped Moss compete against drivers who had a lot of local knowledge of the route. Jenkinson later wrote extensively about the experience.
Moss won the Nassau Cup at the 1956 and 1957 Bahamas Speed Week. Also in 1957 he won on the longest circuit ever to hold a World Championship Grand Prix, the daunting 25 km (16 mi) Pescara Circuit, again demonstrating his skills at high speed, long distance driving. He beat Fangio, who started on pole, by a little over 3 minutes over the course of a gruelling 3-hour event.
Moss believed the manner in which the battle was fought was as important as the outcome. This sporting attitude cost him the 1958 Formula 1 World Championship. When rival Mike Hawthorn was threatened with a penalty in the Boavista Urban Circuit in Porto, Portugal, Moss defended Hawthorn's actions. Hawthorn was accused of reversing in the track after spinning and stalling his car on an uphill section of the track. Moss himself shouted the suggestion to Hawthorn that he steer downhill, against traffic, to bump-start the car, which Hawthorn did. Moss's quick thinking and then gracious defence of Hawthorn before the stewards preserved Hawthorn's 6 points for his second-place finish (behind Moss). Hawthorn went on to beat Moss for the title by one point even though he won only one race that year to Moss's four, making Hawthorn Britain's first World Champion.
Moss was as gifted at the wheel of a sports car as he was in a Grand Prix car. In addition to the Tourist Trophy, Sebring 12 hours and Mille Miglia victories described above for three consecutive years (1958–1960) he won the gruelling 1,000 km (620 mi) race at Germany's Nürburgring, the first two years in an Aston Martin (in which he won almost single-handedly) and the third in the memorable Tipo 61 "birdcage" Maserati, co-driving with the American driverDan Gurney. The pair lost nearly six minutes when an oil hose blew off, but in miserable conditions they regained the time and won going away.
In the 1960 Formula One season, Moss took the top step of the podium at Monaco, winning in Rob Walker's Coventry-Climax-powered Lotus 18.^[7] Moss had a huge accident at the Burnenville sweep during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and was severely injured in what was to be one of the darkest weekends in the history of Formula One. He missed 3 races and did not race for most of that year. He recovered sufficiently to return to competition late in the year and won the season-ending US Grand Prix at Riverside, California.
For the 1961 F1 season, which was run under the new 1.5-litre rules, Enzo Ferrari rolled out his state-of-the-art "sharknose" Ferrari 156 with an all-new V6 engine.^[8] Moss was stuck with an underpowered Climax-engined Lotus, but managed to win the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix by 3.6 seconds (beating the 156s of Richie Ginther, Wolfgang von Trips, and Phil Hill),^[8] and later also the partially wet 1961 German Grand Prix. Some observers have noted that, while taking nothing away from Moss's superlative performances in those races, there were other factors at play. At Monaco, the tight circuit negated the horsepower advantage of the powerful but heavy and ill-handling Ferraris; and at the Nürburgring, Moss and manager Ken Gregory made a risky but inspired decision to fit rain tyres on the Lotus after a pre-race shower had soaked the track. Had the skies cleared and the track dried, the decision would have been disastrous for Moss. When rain returned, Moss was able to drive away from Hill and Trips (while nursing rapidly deteriorating tyres) to take the win.
In 1962, Moss was badly injured in a crash at Goodwood in a Lotus in the Glover Trophy. The accident put him in a coma for one month and partially paralysed the left side of his body for six months^. He recovered but decided to retire from racing after a private test session in a Lotus 19 the next year. During this session, he lapped a few tenths slower than before, and did not feel he had the command of the car to which he was accustomed. Many racing and medical observers have speculated that Moss simply tried to return too soon – that another six months of recovery and training would have allowed him to regain most of the physical acuity that distinguished him.
Away from driving, in 1962 he acted as a colour commentator for ABC's Wide World of Sports for Formula One and NASCAR races. He eventually left ABC in 1980 when he made a brief driving comeback in the British Touring Car Championship with Audi, alongside Martin Brundle. Previous to this he also competed in the 1974 World Cup Rally in a Mercedes-Benz but retired from the event in the Algerian Sahara, he shared a Holden Torana with Jack Brabham in the 1976 Bathurst 1000 which was rammed from behind on the grid and eventually retired with engine failure, and a Volkswagen Golf GTI with Denny Hulme in the 1979 Benson & Hedges 500 at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand.