Ilie Balaci, fost jucător de fotbal din România și actual antrenor. Supranumit și „Minunea blondă”, Balaci este unul dintre cei mai mari jucători români de fotbal

Ilie Balaci (n. 13 septembrie 1956, Bistreț, județul Dolj), este un fost jucător de fotbal din România și actual antrenor. Supranumit și „Minunea blondă”, Balaci este unul dintre cei mai mari jucători români de fotbal. Cariera sa de fotbalist se leagă de marile succese obținute de Universitatea Craiova la începutul anilor 1980. 

Din păcate, a avut un final prematur de carieră, din cauza deselor accidentări. 

Cea mai gravă dintre ele, care practic a pus punct carierei de fotbalist a lui Balaci, a fost provocată de fundașul băimărean Vasile Arezanov, într-un meci de campionat, jucat la Baia Mare, la 21 februarie 1984.

Ca antrenor, deși nu a avut aceleași succese ca și jucător, a avut totuși performanțe notabile cu echipe din Africa de nord și zona țărilor arabe.

Performanțe

Ca jucător

• Campion național: 3 titluri, în 1974, 1980 și 1981
• Cupa României: 4 victorii, în 1977, 1978, 1981 și 1983
• Fotbalistul nr.1 în România: 2 titluri, în 1981 și 1982
• 347 prezențe în Divizia A, 84 de goluri
• Debut în Divizia A: 12 august 1973: Jiul Petroșani - Universitatea 1-1
• 69 prezențe în echipa națională, 8 goluri
• 38 prezențe în cupele europene, 7 goluri
• Debut în echipa națională: 23 martie 1974, Franța - România 1-0 (este cel mai tânăr debutant în echipa națională; avea numai 17 ani și 6 luni!)

Ca antrenor

• 

• Cupa Campionilor Africii, în 1992, cu Club Africain Tunis (Tunisia)
• Cupa Cupelor țărilor arabe, în 1993 și 1994, cu Olimpique Casablanca (Maroc)
• Cupa Campionilor Golfului, în 1997, cu Al Nassr Riad, și 1998, cu Al Hilal (ambele din Arabia Saudită)
• Cupa Cupelor țărilor arabe, în 2000, cu Al Ain (Emiratele Arabe Unite)
• Supercupa Asiei, în 2000, cu Al Ain
• Cupa Cupelor țărilor arabe, în 2000, cu Al Sadd (Qatar)

Ilie Balaci ( born 13 September 1956 in Bistreţ, Dolj County) is a retired Romanian football midfielder.

He is considered one of the greatest Romanian footballers of all time, along with Gheorghe Hagi, Nicolae Dobrin, Gica Popescu and Florea Dumitrache.

Balaci is a product of Universitatea Craiova's youth system. He made his first team debut in 1973, at the age of 16, and won the league titlein his first season. He soon managed to become one of the youngest players ever to score in the Romanian League. Balaci went on to play twelve seasons with Craiova, helping them to win two consecutive league titles in 1980 and 1981. He also won the Romanian Cup four times, in the years 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1983. He became an integral part of the team helping them reach the 1982–83 UEFA Cup semi-finals, before moving to Olt Scorniceşti in the winter of 1984. In December 1982, he signed a pre-contract with Italian side AC Milan, but the transfer did not materialize because of the communist regime in Romania.

In the 1986–87 season, he jointed Bucharest rivals Dinamo Bucureşti together with Craiova teammate Rodion Cămătaru. He spent two seasons at the club, under the leadership of Mircea Lucescu. However, Balaci did not win any major trophies whilst he was playing for them.

Balaci made his full international debut on 23 March 1974 in a friendly match against France at the age of 17. He earned 65 caps and scored 8 goals for the Romanian national team between 1974 and 1986.

He also became captain of the national team during the UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying campaign, but he was unable to play for Romania atUEFA Euro 84 due to an injury.

After retiring as a footballer, Balaci went on to coach lower league sides Pandurii Târgu Jiu and Drobeta-Turnu Severin. In 1991, he coached clubs in North Africa and the Arab world, he become one of the most successful managers there having won over 22 major trophies domestic and international.^[

He took charge of Tunisia’s Club Africain and Moroccan club Olympique Casablanca in the early 1990s. He then managed UAE, Qatari and Saudi Arabian clubs Al Shabab, Al Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al Ain and Al Sadd. In June 2003, he was appointed manager of Al Ahli until January 2005. He then went on to join Qatari side Al-Arabi in the 2005–06 season, before moving to the United Arab Emirates club Al Shabab for a second spell. In August 2007, Balaci was hired as general manager of Universitatea Craiova whom he also coached in two periods, and remained there for two seasons. On 22 July 2009, Balaci was named head coach of Kuwait club Kazma. He had an impressive start with the Kuwaiti side at the 2010 AFC Cup.

On 11 July 2011, he returned to Morocco signing for Raja Casablanca but was sacked in September after just two months. Raja appointedBertrand Marchand as his replacement.

On 4 June 2013, Balaci signed a contract with newly promoted Saudi Premier League side Al-Nahda.In September 2013, he resigned his contract with the club.

Success 2014: Linda Evans, an American actress known primarily for her roles on television. She became famous for the role of Krystle Carrington in the 1980s Dynasty

Linda Evans (born on November 18, 1942) is an American actress known primarily for her roles on television. In the 1960s, she first gained fame after playing Audra Barkley in the Western television series, The Big Valley (1965–1969). However Krystle Carrington in the 1980s ABC prime time soap opera Dynasty, a role she played from 1981 to 1989.
She is most prominently known for the role of Evans' first guest-starring role was on a 1960 episode of Bachelor Father, which starred her future screen husband, John Forsythe. She would co-star with him twenty years later on Dynasty. After several guest roles in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet between 1960–62, and guest appearances on television series such as Wagon Train and Outlaws, Evans gained her first regular role in 1965 in The Big Valley. Playing Audra Barkley, daughter of Victoria Barkley (played by Barbara Stanwyck), Evans was credited in the series until it ended in 1969, though she was only a semi-regular castmember during the last two seasons.
On December 31, 1967, John Derek recruited his wife to operate one of his cameras after he had been commissioned by daredevil Evel Knievel to film his motorcycle jump of the fountains at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. It was Evans who captured the iconic images of Knievel's devastating crash as the jump failed.^[1]
Throughout the 1970s, Evans continued to appear on television largely in guest roles. She appeared in a slew of detective shows such as The Rockford Files, Mannix, Harry O, Banacek, McCloud and McMillan & Wife. In 1976, she starred with James Franciscus in the espionage drama series Hunter, though the show lasted for only 13 episodes.
In 1980, Evans was cast as John Forsythe's wife, Krystle Carrington, in Aaron Spelling's opulent new primetime soap opera, Dynasty. Intended as ABC Television's answer to the hit CBS series Dallas, the show first aired in January 1981. Although initially sluggish in the ratings, audience figures improved after the show was revamped and British actress Joan Collins was brought in to play opposite Evans and Forsythe as the evil Alexis Carrington. By the 1984-85 season, Dynasty was the number one show on American television, even outranking Dallas. Audiences became enthralled by the onscreen rivalry and infamous catfights between Krystle and Alexis, and Evans and Collins became two of the most celebrated television stars of the decade. Evans was nominated five times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV Drama series (every year from 1982 to 1986), winning in 1982 in a tie with Barbara Bel Geddes of rival soap Dallas. Evans also won five People's Choice Awards as Favorite Actress in a Drama Series in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead actress in a Drama Series in 1983. Due to her character's name on Dynasty, Evans appeared in an ad campaign for Crystal Light beverages, starting in 1984.
After she left Dynasty in 1989 (only months before the series came to an end), Evans semi-retired from acting and made only occasional television appearances. Instead, she devoted her time to fitness issues and set up a small chain of fitness centers. In the 1990s, Evans hosted infomercials for Rejuvenique, a mask for toning facial muscles. She had previously written the "Linda Evans Beauty and Exercise" book in 1983.
In 1991, she returned to the role of Krystle Carrington for the television miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion. Following this, she appeared in three made-for-TV movies in the 1990s, but then retired from screen acting altogether in 1997.
In 2005, actress Melora Hardin portrayed Evans in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictionalized television movie based on the creation and behind the scenes production of Dynasty.
In 2006, Evans reunited with her Dynasty castmates for the non-fiction reunion special Dynasty: Catfights and Caviar. She then starred in the stage play Legends opposite her former Dynasty rival Collins. In 2009, Evans appeared in and won the British TV program Hell's Kitchen, working under Michelin-starred chef Marco Pierre White.
Evans has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Success 2014: Lorella Cuccarini, an Italian dancer, singer, television host and actress

Lorella Cuccarini (born August 10, 1965) is an Italian dancer, singer, television host and actress.

Born in Rome, at nine years old Cuccarini started to attend the dance school of Enzo Paolo Turchi^(it) (coreographer and husband of Carmen Russo). After some experiences as a a chorus girl, Cuccarini made her television debut at twenty years old alongside Pippo Baudo in the sixth edition of Fantastico, then she worked for RAI and Mediaset in many successful variety shows, including Festivalbar, seven editions of Paperissima and of Trenta ore per la vita, three editions of Buona Domenica

Cuccarini is also a singer, with several top-ten charting singles and albums; in 1995 she entered the competition at the Sanremo Music Festival (she had hosted two years earlier), ranking tenth.

Discography

Albums

• Lorel (1987)
• Voci (1993)
• Voglia di fare (1995)
• Le più belle canzoni (2002)

Singles

• "Sugar Sugar" (1985)
• "Kangarù" (1986)
• "Tutto matto" (1987)
• "L'amore è" (1987; with Alessandra Martines)
• "Io ballerò" (1987)
• "La notte vola" (1988)
• "Magic" (1990; English version of "La notte vola")
• "Ascolta il cuore" (1991)
• "Liberi liberi" (1991)
• "Un altro amore no" (1995)
• "Uno di noi" (2002)
• "Un'onda d'amore" (2008)

Success 2014: Frank Roeder, Master of Wine

Frank  Roeder, Master of Wine, is founder and chief executive of VIF Weinhandel, a wine distribution company based in Saar, Germany, and since 2004, the sole distributor of Cortes de Cima wines in Germany. VIF have 8 franchise partners spread throughout Germany, as well as their own Online shop. However running VIF is only a spare time hobby for Frank. His main job is as a long distant air pilot captain for Lufthansa!

What is a Master of Wine

Master of Wine is recognized as the highest achievement in the global wine community and equips those that have attained the qualification with a unique understanding and set of skills for dealing with all aspects of the business of wine. For more than 50 years the Institute of Masters of Wine has been promoting professional excellence and the highest educational standards in the art, science and business of wine: leading to the qualification of Master of Wine. 

Success 2014: Jane Masters, Master of Wine

 Jane Masters, MW is a fresh face with a different perspective on wine. A graduate of Bordeaux’s famous Institut d’Oenologie, Jane Masters was elected to the Institute of Masters of Wine in 1997. In the United Kingdom, Jane worked for Marks & Spencer, with responsibility for the technical management of wine supply and quality assurance. Having almost single-handedly managed a purchasing budget equal to that of most of the Liquor Boards, Jane knows about pressure.

Jane is currently the Deputy Vice Chair of the Council of the Institute of Masters of Wine; she regularly speaks at industry seminars and finds time to be a Panel Chair for the International Wine Challenge, all of which she fits seamlessly into her busy social life living close to London and in the south of France.

What is a Master of Wine

Master of Wine is recognized as the highest achievement in the global wine community and equips those that have attained the qualification with a unique understanding and set of skills for dealing with all aspects of the business of wine. For more than 50 years the Institute of Masters of Wine has been promoting professional excellence and the highest educational standards in the art, science and business of wine: leading to the qualification of Master of Wine. 

source: opim.ca 

There are currently 314 MWs in the world. 

Success 2014: Petula Clark, an English singer, actress, and composer that sold more than 68 million records. During the 1960s she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway"

Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.
Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1950s she started recording in French and having international success in both French and English, with such songs as "The Little Shoemaker", "Baby Lover", "With All My Heart", and "Prends Mon Cœur". During the 1960s she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "Colour My World", "A Sign of the Times", and "Don't Sleep in the Subway". She has sold more than 68 million records throughout her career.

Clark was born to an English father, Leslie Norman Clark, and a Welsh mother, Doris (Phillips) Clark. Both were nurses at Long Grove Hospital, in Epsom, Surrey, England. Her father invented her first name and joked it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla.
As a child, Clark sang in the chapel choir and showed a talent for mimicry, impersonating Vera Lynn, Carmen Miranda and Sophie Tucker for her family and friends. Her father introduced her to theatre when he took her to see Flora Robson in a 1938 production of Mary Tudor; she later recalled that after the performance "I made up my mind then and there I was going to be an actress ... I wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more than anything else in the world." However, her first public performances were as a singer, performing with an orchestra in the entrance hall of Bentall's Department Store in Kingston upon Thames for a tin of toffee and a gold wristwatch, in 1939.
Career start
From a chance beginning as a nine-year-old, Clark would appear on radio, film, print, television and recordings by the time she turned seventeen.
In October 1942, nine-year-old Clark made her radio debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father. Attending in the hope of sending a message to an uncle stationed overseas, the broadcast was delayed by an air raid. During the bombing, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery theatre audience, and she volunteered a rendering of "Mighty Lak' a Rose" to an enthusiastic response. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the troops.[5] In addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Nicknamed the "Singing Sweetheart", she performed for George VI, Winston Churchill and Bernard Montgomery. Clark also became known as "Britain's Shirley Temple," and was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle.
In 1944, while performing at London's Royal Albert Hall, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, who cast her as precocious orphaned waif Irma in his weepy war drama Medal for the General. In quick succession, she starred in Strawberry Roan, I Know Where I'm Going!, London Town, and Here Come the Huggetts, the first in a series of Huggett Family films based on a British radio series. Although some of the films she made in the UK during the 1940s and 1950s were B-films,[citation needed] she worked with Anthony Newley in Vice Versa (directed by Peter Ustinov) and Alec Guinness in The Card as well as the aforementioned I Know Where I'm Going! which is a Powell and Pressburger feature film now generally regarded as a masterpiece (Clark's part was small).
In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic strip Radio Fun, in which she was billed as "Radio's Merry Mimic".
In 1946, Clark launched her television career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons, which led to her being signed to host her own afternoon series, titled simply Petula Clark. A second, Pet's Parlour, followed in 1949.
In 1947, Clark met Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson at the Maurice Publishing Company. The two collaborated musically, and were linked romantically over the coming decade. In 1949, Henderson introduced Clark to Alan A. Freeman, who, together with her father Leslie, formed Polygon Records, for which she recorded her earliest hits. Clark had recorded her first release that year, "Put Your Shoes On, Lucy," for EMI. Because neither EMI nor Decca, for whom she also had recorded, were keen to sign her to a long-term contract, her father, whose own theatrical ambitions had been thwarted by his parents, teamed with Freeman to form the Polygon record label in order to better control and facilitate her singing career.[citation needed] This project was financed with Clark's earnings. She scored a number of major hits in the UK during the 1950s, including "The Little Shoemaker" (1954), "Majorca" (1955), "Suddenly There's a Valley" (1955) and "With All My Heart" (1956).'The Little Shoemaker' was an international hit reaching the coveted No 1 position in Australia, giving her the first of many No 1 records in her career. Although Clark released singles in the United States as early as 1951 (the first was "Tell Me Truly" b/w "Song Of The Mermaid" on the Coral label),[citation needed] it would take thirteen years before the American record-buying public would discover her.[citation needed]
Near the end of 1955, Polygon Records was sold to Nixa Records, then part of Pye Records, which led to the establishment of Pye Nixa Records (subsequently simply Pye). This turn of events effectively signed Clark to the Pye label in the UK, for whom she would record for the remainder of the 1950s, throughout the 1960s, and early into the 1970s.[citation needed]
During this period, Clark showed a keen interest for encouraging new talent. She suggested Henderson be allowed to record his own music, and he enjoyed five chart hits on Polygon/Pye between 1955 and 1960.

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.