Succes 2011: Agnetha Fältskog, singer that reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA. She's known as "Greta Garbo the second" in Sweden

Agneta Åse Fältskog (she added the "H" later in life) (born 5 April 1950) is a Swedish recording artist and entertainer. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide,making it the fourth best–selling music artist in history and the second best–selling band in history.Agnetha (known as Anna in some countries) Fältskog was born on 5 April 1950 in Jönköping, Småland, Sweden. She was the first of two daughters of department store manager Knut Ingvar Fältskog (1922—1995) and his wife Birgit Margareta Johansson (1923—1994).Her younger sister, Mona Fältskog Ericsson (1955), works as a nurse in Stockholm^.Ingvar Fältskog showed much interest in music and showbusiness, whereas Birgit Fältskog was a very calm and careful woman who devoted herself to her children and household.Fältskog cites Connie Francis, Marianne Faithfull, Aretha Franklin and Lesley Gore as her strongest musical influences.Fältskog wrote her first song at the age of six, entitled "Två små troll" ("Two Little Trolls").

In 1958, she began taking piano lessons, and also sang in a local church choir. In early 1960, Fältskog formed a musical trio, The Cambers, with her friends Lena Johansson and Elisabeth Strub. They performed locally in minor venues and soon dissolved due to a lack of engagements. At age 15, Fältskog decided to leave school and pursue a career.
Fältskog worked as a telephonist for a car firm while performing with a local dance band, headed by Bernt Enghardt. The band soon became so popular that she had to make a choice between her job and her musical career. She continued singing with the Bernt Enghardt band for two years. During that time, Fältskog broke up with her boyfriend Björn Lilja; this event inspired her to write a song that would soon raise her to media prominence, "Jag var så kär".  At that time, Karl Gerhard Lundkvist, a relative of one of the band's members, retired from his successful rock and roll career and began working as a record producer at Cupol Records. Enghardt sent him a demo recording of the band, but Lundkvist showed interest in Fältskog and her song only.

She was worried because he was not interested in the band and they were not to be included on the record. However, she decided to accept the offer, and signed a recording contract with CBS Records.Her début single "Jag var så kär", written by herself, was released through Cupol Records in 1967, and topped the Swedish Chart on 28 January 1968 and sold more than 80.000 copies.She also submitted the song "Försonade" to Melodifestivalen, the Swedish heats of the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was not selected for the final.Fältskog developed a career as one of Sweden's most popular pop music artists, participating in a television special about pilots in 1968.The same year, she released the single "Zigenarvän" about a young girl attending a Gypsy wedding and falling in love with the bride's brother.

Its release coincided with a heated debate about Gypsies in the Swedish media, and Fältskog was accused of deliberately trying to make money out of the situation by writing the song.
Her success continued throughout the late 1960s. She then met German songwriter/producer Dieter Zimmerman, to whom she became engaged. Thus Fältskog's albums were reaching German charts, and Zimmerman promised Fältskog she would achieve great success in Germany.When she went there and met with record producers, she refused to meet their demands, describing their chosen material as "horrible". Fältskog soon ended her engagement to Zimmerman and returned to Sweden. In 1970, she released "Om tårar vore guld", which was perhaps her most successful song in Sweden before ABBA.This was in spite of a claim from a Danish composer that she had used 22 bars from his composition "Tema", even though it had been written in the 1950s and had never been recorded.

 The case dragged on until 1977, when a settlement was reached and Fältskog paid the Dane SEK5,000.In 1972, Fältskog portrayed Mary Magdalene in the Swedish production of the international musical hit Jesus Christ Superstar.Fältskog met Björn Ulvaeus, a member of the Hootenanny Singers, in 1969. Her relationship with Ulvaeus, as well as her friendship with Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, with whom Ulvaeus had already written songs, eventually led to the formation of ABBA. Fältskog and Ulvaeus married on 6 July 1971 in the village Verum, with Andersson playing the organ at their wedding. Their first child, Linda Elin Ulvaeus, was born on 23 February 1973, and their son Peter Christian Ulvaeus on 4 December 1977. The couple decided to separate in late 1978, and Fältskog moved out of their home on Christmas night, 25 December 1978.

 In January 1979, the couple filed for divorce, which was finalised in June 1980. Both Fältskog and Ulvaeus agreed not to let their failed marriage interfere with their responsibilities with ABBA.The failure of their marriage inspired Ulvaeus to write "The Winner Takes It All", one of ABBA's greatest hits.
In 1975, during the same period as her bandmate Anni-Frid Lyngstad recorded her Swedish number one album Frida ensam, Fältskog recorded and produced her solo album Elva kvinnor i ett hus. These albums were both recorded between sessions and promotion for the ABBA albums Waterloo and ABBA. Even though ABBA was already a number one act in Sweden by 1975, Fältskog's album failed to reach the Top 10 on the Swedish album charts, peaking at number 11. However, Elva Kvinnor I Ett Hus did spend 53 weeks on the chart, even longer than any of ABBA's albums, and it also contained three further Svensktoppen entries for Fältskog: her Swedish language version of ABBA's "SOS" (also number 4 on the single sales chart); "Tack För En Underbar Vanlig Dag"; and "Doktorn!". Except for the version of "SOS", all the songs had lyrics by Bosse Carlgren and music by Fältskog herself. The album had been underway since 1972, when Agnetha started writing the songs, but it was delayed because of the work with ABBA and her pregnancy. In 1974, she and Carlgren agreed on a concept for the album; it should consist of 12 songs, sung by 12 different women living in the same apartment building, each having a distinct name, identity, etc. In the end, only 11 songs were put onto the album, and the concept was never fully developed.

Between the years 1968 and 1980, Fältskog had a total of 18 entries on the Svensktoppen radio chart, starting with debut single "Jag Var Så Kär" in January 1968 (peak position number 1) and ending with "När Du Tar Mig I Din Famn" from the compilation Tio år med Agnetha twelve years later, in January 1980 (peak position number 1). The 18 entries, most of which were composed or co-written by Fältskog herself, spent a total of 139 weeks on the chart during this time, with the biggest hit being 1970's "Om Tårar Vore Guld" (number 1, 15 weeks).^{[citation needed]} Fältskog also recorded the Swedish Christmas album Nu tändas tusen juleljus with daughter Linda Ulvaeus which peaked at number 6 on the Swedish album sales chart in December 1981. Chartwise Fältskog was, therefore, by far the most successful solo artist of the four ABBA members, both before and during the band's international career.
Fältskog is also the only member of ABBA to have participated in Melodifestivalen again after having won Eurovision with "Waterloo" in 1974, albeit only as a composer. In 1981, she wrote the ballad "Men Natten Är Vår" ("But the Night Is Ours") with lyrics by Ingela Forsman, but instead of performing the song in the contest herself, she chose new talent Kicki Moberg. The single, which Fältskog produced in the Polar Studios with the same musicians as on contemporary ABBA recordings, was backed with the Swedish version of "I'm Still Alive", entitled "Här Är Mitt Liv" ("Here Is My Life"), a song which she herself had sung on ABBA's 1979 world tour. Moberg's recording of the song remains the only version to have been officially released to date.
In the 1980s, Fältskog released three English-language solo albums. The records did well in Europe and Scandinavia.

At the end of 1982, she duetted with Swedish singer (and former ABBA backing vocalist) Tomas Ledin on a song called "Never Again", which became a Top Five hit in Sweden, Norway, Belgium, and South America.The song was also released in a Spanish language version, entitled "Ya Nunca Más". In the summer of the same year, Fältskog starred in the hit Swedish movie Raskenstam,and received positive reviews for her film début. The film was also a blockbuster hit in Sweden.

In May 1983, Fältskog released her first post-ABBA solo album, Wrap Your Arms Around Me. The album became a moderate hit in North America and Australia, and reached the higher regions of the charts across Europe, including number 1 in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium and Denmark (where it became the biggest-selling album of the year), and number 18 in the UK. Agnetha sold 1.2 million records of her first solo album after ABBA.  Two singles from the album became hits in continental Europe. "The Heat Is On" became a number 1 hit in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands, but only just scraped into the UK Top 40. The title track also peaked at number 1 in Belgium as well as the Top Five in the Netherlands, Germany and South Africa. In North America, the album track "Can't Shake Loose" was released as the lead-off single, reaching No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 23 on the RPM Top 50 singles chart in Canada.^{[citation needed]}
The same year, Fältskog was voted by the readers of Aftonbladet as Best Female Artist of the Year, and received the Music Award Price Rockbjörnen.^{[citation needed]}
Her next studio album, Eyes of a Woman, produced by Eric Stewart of 10cc, was released in March 1985. "She is quite content to grace the works of various other lesser mortals with her immaculate, sugar-sweet voice," wrote Barry McIlheney in Melody Maker. The album sold well in parts of Europe, peaking at number 2 in Sweden and the Top 20 in Norway and Belgium, but failed to match the success of Wrap Your Arms Around Me.^{[citation needed]} Lead single "I Won't Let You Go", composed by Fältskog herself, however, enjoyed considerable chart success in both Continental Europe and Scandinavia.

In 1986, Fältskog recorded another duet, "The Way You Are", with Swedish singer Ola Håkansson, which became another number 1 hit in Sweden. In mid-1987, Fältskog travelled to Malibu, California to record the album I Stand Alone, produced by Peter Cetera and Bruce Gaitsch (fresh off Madonna's La Isla Bonita collaboration). Released in November of that year, it was a minor hit in Europe, except for Sweden where it spent eight weeks at number 1 and became the best-selling album of 1988 and entering the Top 15 in Norway. The single from the album, "I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)", on which Fältskog duetted with Peter Cetera, was released primarily in North America, and became her second solo single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 93.It was also a Top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit. Two tracks were also recorded in Spanish for the Latin American market; "La Ultima Véz" ("The Last Time") and "Yo No Fui Quién Dijo Adiós" ("I Wasn't the One (Who Said Goodbye)").
After the release of I Stand Alone in mid-1988, Fältskog went on hiatus from her musical career and completely withdrew from public life.
In April 2004, Fältskog released a new single, "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" (a cover of the song originally recorded by Cilla Black). It peaked at number 2 in Sweden, number 11 in the UK, and became a sizable hit throughout Europe. "It is exciting to hear her voice, utterly undimmed, delivering a tellingly-titled song," commented London's Music Week.^{[citation needed]} A few weeks later, the album My Colouring Book, a collection of Fältskog's covers of 1960s classic oldies, was released, topping the charts in Sweden, hitting the Top Five in Finland and Denmark, number 6 in Germany and peaking at number 12 in the United Kingdom.The title song "My Colouring Book" is a cover of the song originally recorded by Dusty Springfield. "I love this record," enthused Pete Clark in London's Evening Standard, while Daily Mail pointed out that "it reveals a genuine affection for the era's forgotten pop tunes."
and The Observer shared the same sentiment suggesting that "time hasn't diminished her perfect voice."Reviewing the release in The Guardian, Caroline Sullivan wrote: "Agnetha Fältskog has a vulnerability that gets under the skin of a song. She may be cheating a trifle by including no original material on this collection of 1960s covers, but if anyone can do justice to the likes of "Sealed with a Kiss", it's her. The soaring sentimentality evokes Cilla Black and Sandie Shaw in their mini-skirted pomp, and I don't say that lightly." The release attracted media attention across Europe, but Fältskog staunchly refused to be involved in any extensive promotion of the album (including personal appearances), and thus limited her public exposure to  Yet, the album managed to sell more than 500,000 copies worldwide, 50,000 of those in the United Kingdom alone. A second single release from the album, "When You Walk in the Room", peaked at number 11 in Sweden and also entered the UK Top 40.

Shortly after this release, for the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul 30 years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Fältskog appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video." Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group split. In fact, while Bjorn and Benny filmed their more extensive parts together, Frida and Agnetha were filmed for a very short appearance separately and edited to appear together.
In 2004, Fältskog was nominated for Best Nordic Artist at the Nordic Music Awards, and at Christmas of that year (for the first time in almost 20 years), she gave an extensive interview which was filmed by Swedish TV.Around the same time, Sony Music released a lavishly produced 6 CD boxed set comprising Fältskog's Swedish solo career before ABBA (five original solo albums - 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975 - and an additional compilation disc with bonus tracks).

In January 2007, Fältskog appeared at the final performance of Mamma Mia! in Stockholm (as she had at its opening in 2005). Together with ex-husband and former colleague Björn Ulvaeus, she appeared on stage at the after show party held at Stockholm's Grand Hotel. She also sang a duet, "True Love", with Tommy Körberg of Chess. 
In October 2008, a new compilation album, My Very Best, was released in Sweden. The double CD contains both Swedish (CD 1) and English-language hits (CD 2) from her whole solo career, from 1967 to 2004. It successfully entered as number 4 on the Swedish albums chart and was certified gold within the first week of its release.
On 4 July 2008, Fältskog joined former colleagues Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson at the Swedish premiere of the film version of Mamma Mia!, held at the Rival Theatre (owned by Andersson) in Mariatorget, Stockholm. Fältskog arrived with Lyngstad and movie star Meryl Streep, the three dancing in front of thousands of fans before joining the film's other stars and Andersson and Ulvaeus on the hotel balcony for the first photograph of all four ABBA members together in 22 years.
In February 2010, ABBA World, an extensive multi-million pound exhibition, debuted at London's Earls Court and included an extensive interview with Agnetha filmed in Sweden the previous summer. For the exhibition's Melbourne launch, she recorded a light-hearted opening film together with former ABBA colleague Benny Andersson, shot in Stockholm in June 2010.

In October 2010, Fältskog was at the opening of Mamma Mia! the musical in Denmark with former husband Ulvaeus.

Succes 2011: Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan, a serial killer "pas comme les autres"

Dexter is an American television drama series that centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer. The show debuted on October 1, 2006, on Showtime and the fifth season ended on December 12, 2010. As of December 2, 2010, the show has been renewed for a sixth season. Set in Miami, the show's first season was largely based on the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, the first of his series of Dexter novels. Subsequent seasons have evolved independently of Lindsay's works. It was adapted for television by screenwriter James Manos, Jr., who wrote the first episode.

Dexter structures his killing around "Harry's code", a body of ethics and procedures devised by his adoptive father Harry Morgan (who was a Miami cop) to make sure Dexter never gets caught and to ensure that Dexter kills only morally wrong people. Harry also trained Dexter in how to interact convincingly with other people despite his dissociative mental illness, which Harry believed to be psychopathy, arising from Dexter witnessing the brutal murder of his biological mother, Laura Moser. As an adult, Dexter has largely escaped suspicion (with some exceptions) by being genial and generous and maintaining generally superficial relationships. However, his attachment to his foster (and ultimately adoptive) sister, Debra, his girlfriend (later wife), Rita, his stepchildren, Astor and Cody, and later his biological son, Harrison, have all complicated his double life and made him question his need to kill. In fact, in the first season, his relationship with Rita set in motion the slow but steady humanization of Dexter, progressing further with each season, as Dexter begins to experience a variety of emotions for the first time in decades.
In February 2008, syndicated (edited down to a TV-14 rating) reruns began to air on CBS. The series has enjoyed wide critical acclaim and popularity. Season 4 aired its season finale on December 13, 2009 to a record-breaking audience of 2.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched original series episode ever on Showtime. Michael C. Hall has received several awards and nominations for his portrayal of Dexter, including a Golden Globe. The series was picked up by Showtime for a sixth season, which was not billed as being the final season, leaving possibilities open for a seventh. The sixth season is set to start airing October 2, 2011 at 9:00pm (EST/PST). This show is rated TV-MA-L,S,V (AC, GL, GV, BN) on Showtime.
Orphaned at the age of three due to the murder of his mother, Dexter Morgan is adopted by Miami police officer Harry Morgan and his wife Doris. After discovering that young Dexter has been killing a multitude of neighborhood pets for several years, Harry tells Dexter that he believes the need to kill "got into" him at too young of an age, and that he believes Dexter's need to kill will only grow. To keep Dexter from killing innocent people, Harry begins teaching Dexter "The Code." In this code, Dexter's victims must be killers themselves who have killed someone without justifiable cause and will likely do so again. Dexter must also always be sure that his target is guilty, and thus, frequently goes to extreme lengths to get undeniable proof of his victim's guilt. Most importantly, Dexter must never get caught. Flashbacks throughout the series show Harry, who died several years before, instructing Dexter on how to fake human behaviour, how to cover his tracks after a kill, and even how to stranglehold a target to knock them out and capture them.
Dexter has followed The Code religiously to satisfy his "Dark Passenger" (the name he has assigned to his urge to kill). Like many serial killers, he keeps trophies; before dispatching a wrongdoer, Dexter makes an incision on their cheek with a scalpel and collects a blood sample, which he preserves on a blood slide. He stores his collection in a box concealed inside his air conditioner.
In the beginning of the series, Dexter states that he has no emotions, and he has to work non-stop to appear normal and blend in with the other people around him. Initially, Dexter is (with varying success) able to fake 'normal' emotions and maintain his appearance as an unremarkable friend and neighbor. He does maintain a few personal relationships early on, stating that he is "fond" of his adoptive sister Debra. She is unaware of Harry's training or Dexter's secret life, but harbors lingering jealousy of the perceived preferential treatment Harry gave Dexter. As part of his "disguise" in season one, Dexter dates a woman named Rita who is too traumatized from years of abuse at the hands of her ex-husband, Paul Bennett, to be intimate with Dexter. This suits Dexter, who believes getting intimate will reveal his darker side to Rita. He is fond of (and good with) children in general, particularly Rita's two children, Astor and Cody.

The third season finale on December 14, 2008 was watched by 1.51 million viewers, giving Showtime its highest ratings for any of its original series since 2004, when Nielsen started including original shows on premium channels in its ratings. The fourth season finale aired on December 13, 2009 and was watched by 2.6 million viewers. It broke records for all of Showtime's original series and was their highest rated telecast in over a decade. The fifth season finale was watched by a slightly smaller number of people (2.5 million). However, the fifth season as a whole was the highest rated season of Dexter, as it was watched, either on plain or on-demand TV, by more than 5 million people per week.

Internaționali români de fotbal: Emerich Dembrovschi

Emeric Dembroschi (n. 6 octombrie 1945) este un fost fotbalist și antrenor român, care a jucat în echipa națională de fotbal a României la Campionatul Mondial de Fotbal din Mexic, 1970.






Numele corect al fotbalistului este cel de Emeric Dembroschi, deși în multe articole de presă, emisiuni radio-TV sau chiar cărți apare Emmerich Dembrovschi, Emerich Dembrovschi sau sub alte forme.

 În cartea biografică Emeric Dembroschi - eroul de la Guadalajara scrisă de către scriitorul și jurnalistul sportiv Ilie Dobre de la Radio România Actualități și apărută la Ed. Paralela 45 în anul 2004, sportivul însuși declară că numele său din acte este cel de Emeric Dembroschi.

Emeric Dembroschi, Hungarian: Imre Dembrószky (born 6 October 1945 in Câmpulung la Tisa) is a former Romanian football player, who played as a striker. He played nearly 400 matches in Romanian Liga 1 and also 27 for Romania. He played at the 1970 World Cup in the match against Brazil, scoring a goal.

Succes 2011: Werner Arber, winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Werner Arber (born 3 June 1929 in Gränichen, Aargau) is a Swiss microbiologist and geneticist. Along with American researchers Hamilton Smith and Daniel Nathans, Werner Arber shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of restriction endonucleases. Their work would lead to the development of recombinant DNA technology.
Werner Arber studied chemistry and physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich from 1949 to 1953. Late in 1953 he took an assistantship for electron microscopy at the University of Geneva, in time left the electron microscope, went on to research bacteriophages and write his dissertation on defective lambda prophage mutants.
He received his doctorate in 1958 from the University of Geneva.
Arber then worked at the University of Southern California in phage genetics with Gio ("Joe") Bertani starting in the summer of 1958. Late in 1959 he accepted an offer to return to Geneva at the beginning of 1960, but only after spending "several very fruitful weeks" at each of the laboratories of Gunther Stent (University of California, Berkeley), Joshua Lederberg and Esther Lederberg (Stanford University) and Salvador Luria (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

Back at the University of Geneva, Arber worked in a laboratory in the basement of the Physics Institute, where he carried out productive research and hosted "a number of first class graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and senior scientists." In 1965 the University of Geneva promoted him to Extraordinary Professor for Molecular Genetics. In 1971, after spending a year as a visiting professor in the Department of Molecular Biology of the University of California in Berkeley, Arber moved to the University of Basel. In Basel, he was one of the first persons to work in the newly-constructed Biozentrum, which housed the departments of biophysics, biochemistry, microbiology, structural biology, cell biology and pharmacology and was thus conducive to interdisciplinary research.
Werner Arber is member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board and of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences since 1981. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on January 2011, making him the first Protestant to hold the position.

Succes 2011: Martin Cooper, inventor of the mobile phone

Martin Cooper (born December 26, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is an American former Motorola vice president and division manager who in the 1970s led the team that developed the handheld mobile phone (as distinct from the car phone). Cooper is the CEO and founder of ArrayComm, a company that works on researching smart antenna technology and improving wireless networks, and was the corporate director of Research and Development for Motorola.

After World War II, Cooper, son of Ukrainian immigrants, left the navy and began working at Teletype Corporation, a subsidiary of Western Electric. In 1950, he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). In 1954, he was hired by Motorola, and attended classes and studied at night. He went on to earn a master's degree in electrical engineering from IIT in 1957, and taught night school classes at the university.In 1960, John F. Mitchell, who also received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (1950) from IIT, became chief engineer of Motorola's mobile communications projects.

Cooper reported to Mitchell. In the 1960s, Cooper was instrumental in turning pagers from a technology used in single buildings to one that stretched across cities. Cooper helped fix a flaw in the quartz crystals Motorola made for its radios. This encouraged the company to mass-produce the first crystals for use in wrist watches. Cooper worked on developing portable products, including the first portable handheld police radios, made for the Chicago police department in 1967.
In the early 1970s, Mitchell put Cooper in charge of its car phone division where he led Motorola's cellular research. Cooper envisioned mobile phones that would be used not only in a car, but also small and light enough to be portable. Thanks to years of research and development in portable products directed by Cooper and new technologies from all over the company, when the pressure was on, it took only 90 days in 1973 to create the first portable cellular 800 MHz phone prototype.
After demonstrating the prototype cell phone to reporters, Cooper allowed some of the reporters to make phone calls to anyone of their choosing to prove that the cell phone could function as a versatile part of the telephone network.
Cooper is considered the inventor of the first handheld cellular phone and the first person to make a phone call in public on a handheld cell phone. Cooper and the engineers who worked for him, and Mitchell are named on the patent "Radio telephone system" filed on October 17, 1973.In 1995, Cooper received the Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for his technological innovations in the communication field. Cooper is also a member of Mensa. Martin Cooper was mentioned in Red Herring’s Top ten Entrepreneurs of 2000. In 2009, along with Raymond Tomlinson, Cooper received the Prince of Asturias Award for scientific and technical research. In February 2010, Cooper was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He is an IIT Life Trustee.

Succes 2011: Erich von Däniken, author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture. He is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronaut hypotheses

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (born 14 April 1935 in Zofingen, Aargau) is a Swiss author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, in books such as Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Däniken is one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronaut hypotheses.
Däniken is a co-founder of the Archaeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS RA), and designed the theme park, Mystery Park in Interlaken, Switzerland, that first opened on 23 May 2003.^[1] His 26 books have been translated into more than 20 languages, selling more than 60 million copies worldwide, and his documentary TV shows have been viewed around the world.
His ideas are largely rejected by scientists and academics, who categorize his work as pseudohistory and pseudoarchaeology.

Building on previous works by other authors (including Italian Peter Kolosimo, who was later critical of Däniken), Däniken claimed that intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, has entered the local solar system in the past, and that evidence of this past contact is abundant. He also speculates as to whether human evolution may have been manipulated through means of genetic engineering by extraterrestrial beings.
The evidence that Däniken has put forward to support his paleo-contact hypotheses can be categorized as follows:

• Artifacts have been found which are alleged to represent a higher technological knowledge than existed at the times when they were manufactured. Däniken maintains that these artifacts have been manufactured either by extraterrestrial visitors, or by humans who obtained the necessary knowledge from them. Such artifacts include the Antikythera mechanism, Stonehenge, the statues of Easter Island, and the Piri Reis map.
• In ancient art throughout the world, themes are observed which can be interpreted to illustrate astronauts, air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, and artifacts of a high technology. Däniken also points out details that are similar in the art of unrelated cultures.
• Origins of religions might be a reaction to contact with an alien race by primitive humans. The humans considered the technology of the aliens to be supernatural and the aliens themselves to be gods. According to Däniken, the oral and literal traditions of most religions contain references to visitors from "stars" and vehicles traveling through air and space. These, he says, should be interpreted as literal descriptions which have changed during the passage of time and have become more obscure, rather than as symbolic or mythical fiction. One such is Ezekiel's revelation in the Old Testament, which he interprets as a detailed description of a landing spacecraft.

Däniken's first book, Chariots of the Gods?, was an immediate best seller in the United States, Europe and India, with subsequent books translated into 32 languages and selling more than 62 million copies around the world.
Däniken became popular in India during the 1970s, as a result of his books being translated into the Bengali language by the translator Ajit Dutta. School level students were the first major group of his believers in India. Däniken subsequently visited the Kashmir region to check for the presence of radioactivity in an ancient temple, where he believed that a spacecraft had once landed.
An exhibit, Un Monde Insolite, largely based on Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods was opened in Montreal, Canada, for several summers in the 1970s. The exhibit was located in a former pavilion of the Expo 67 exhibition. It featured replicas of various historical artifacts that Däniken claimed were evidence of past alien visitation.
Several scientists, such as Carl Sagan and I. S. Shklovskii, have written about Däniken's paleocontact and extraterrestrial visitation claims. Although Sagan did not rule out the possibility of visitation, he insisted that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", which Däniken fails to provide.
Däniken claimed that a non-rusting iron pillar in India was evidence of extraterrestrial influence. Later, Däniken admitted in a Playboy interview that the pillar was rusty and man-made, and that as far as supporting his hypotheses goes "we can forget about this iron thing."

Some also question von Däniken's credibility, as he has also knowingly put forward fraudulent evidence to advance his hypotheses, such as photographs of pottery "depicting UFOs", supposedly from an archaeological dig dating back to the biblical era. The PBS television series Nova determined that this was a fraud, and even located the potter who made them. When confronted with this evidence, von Däniken argued that the deception was justified because some people would only believe his ideas if they saw actual proof.
In The Gold of the Gods von Däniken claimed to have been guided through artificial tunnels in a cave under Ecuador, Cueva de los Tayos, containing gold, strange statues and a library with metal tablets, which he wrote was evidence of ancient space visitors. The man who he claimed showed him these tunnels, Juan Moricz, told Der Spiegel that all of von Däniken's descriptions came from a long conversation and that the photos in the book had been "fiddled". Von Däniken eventually told Playboy that although he had seen the library and other places he had described, he had also fabricated some of the events to add interest to his book.
Some have accused Däniken of European ethnocentrism,and suggested that views such as his "constitute the ultimate in racism".
Ronald Story published The Space Gods Revealed in 1976, providing an almost page-by-page refutation of the hypotheses and evidence in Däniken's Chariots of the Gods?.
A 2004 article in Skeptic Magazine states that Däniken plagiarized many of the book's concepts from The Morning of the Magicians, that this book in turn was heavily influenced by the Cthulhu Mythos, and that the core of the ancient astronaut theory originates in H. P. Lovecraft's short stories "The Call of Cthulhu" written in 1926, and "At the Mountains of Madness" written in 1931.

Succes 2011: Kim Clijsters, former World No. 1 tennis player in both singles and doubles

Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters ( born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 29 August 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 3 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles.

Clijsters is the reigning singles champion at the US Open and the Australian Open. She has also won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. She has won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009 and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She has also been runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments, and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003 and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
In June 2011, TIME Magazine named her one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future".
According to Forbes in August 2011, she became the fifth highest-paid female athlete over the past year.

Clijsters is recognized for her deep, powerful, well-placed groundstrokes. She can hit outright winners off both wings and from any part of the court. Her forehand is one of the best and most powerful the women's game has ever seen, yet occasionally erratic and prone to unforced errors; her backhand is more reliable and consistent, and can be hit with heavy slice as a defensive shot. Clijsters is also recognised for her all-court defence, characterized by speed and athleticism. Clijsters, along with Jelena Janković and Svetlana Kuznetsova, is among the few tennis players on either the Association of Tennis Professionals or Women's Tennis Association tours who can slide (or "straddle") on all surfaces. Maria Sharapova, interviewed after losing to Clijsters in the 2005 Nasdaq-100 Open, said, "You just have to expect that she's going to get every ball back". Her first serve, while not overwhelming, is placed well and earns aces and unreturnables. Clijsters tends to rush between first and second serves, which may contribute to her occasional matches with high numbers of double faults. A former World No. 1 player in doubles, Clijsters has exceptional volleys; she has no problem switching from baseline to finishing points at the net with a volley or over-head. Her mental fragility was considered her biggest weakness, and at the earlier stages of her career she was considered a "choker", often surrendering big leads in the latter rounds of Grand Slams. Since winning the 2005 US Open, Clijsters has gained more control over her nerves and since her return to the tour in 2009 she has been known, along with Serena Williams, as among the toughest players to beat mentally. She is now seen as capable of rising to the occasion and playing her best tennis at the important stages of matches. Clijsters is also considered to be one of the most popular players on the tour, known for her grace on the court and even temper. She has been voted the WTA Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award by her fellow players seven times and the WTA Player Service Award three times.

Succes 2011: Chip Taylor, american musician that wrote "Wild Thing". He is the brother of actor Jon Voight

James Wesley Voight (born March 21, 1940), better known by his stage name as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight. He is the uncle of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven.

Taylor's best-known songs are "Wild Thing" which, though originally recorded in 1965 by Jordan Christopher & The Wild Ones, became famous as both a 1966 hit single for The Troggs and a 1967 live performance by Jimi Hendrix, and "Angel of the Morning," a hit for Merrilee Rush in 1968, and then a million-selling single in 1981 for country-pop singer Juice Newton. Other notable pop and country songs written by Talor include "He Sits at Your Table" (Willie Nelson), "I Can't Let Go", "The Baby" (The Hollies), "Worry" (Johnny Tillotson), "Make Me Belong to You"(Barbara Lewis), "I Can Make It With You" (The Pozo Seco Singers, Jackie DeShannon), "Any Way That You Want Me" (The Troggs, Evie Sands, Juice Newton), "Step Out of Your Mind", "Country Girl City Man" (Billy Vera and Judy Clay), "I'll Hold Out My Hand", "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" (Janis Joplin), "Julie" (Bobby Fuller Four), "Lonely Is As Lonely Does" (The Fleetwoods), "Sweet Dream Woman" (Waylon Jennings), "A Little Bit Later On Down the Line" (Bobby Bare) and "Son of a Rotten Gambler" (Emmylou Harris, the Hollies, Anne Murray).
In 2009, Ace Records released a compilation CD of some of Taylor's compositions as recorded by other artists (Wild Thing: The Songs of Chip Taylor).

Taylor has released recordings on Warner Bros., Columbia, and Capitol. His most popular recording is Last Chance, on Warner Bros. In the mid-1970s, Taylor gave up the music business for a career as a professional gambler specializing in blackjack and horse-racing handicapping. But the year 1980 saw Taylor make an appearance in the film Melvin and Howard.Taylor restarted his performing and recording career in 1993. At a South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas in 2001, Chip met singer and violinist Carrie Rodriguez, with whom he performed and recorded Americana music for several years.

The duo recorded Let's Leave This Town in 2002. They released The Trouble With Humans the following year and the critically acclaimed Red Dog Tracks in 2005. Each has since released successful solo albums. Taylor's double-CD Unglorious Hallelujah/Red Red Rose, his first solo album in five years, was quickly hailed as "a future classic" by Sonic Magazine, whose reviewer declared: "This is the best we've heard from Chip Taylor so far." Rodriguez's solo album, Seven Angels on a Bicycle, was released in August 2006. In late 2006 and early 2007, Rodriguez toured on her own but continued to perform with Taylor from time to time.

Taylor has also performed with alt-country singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks, playing bass for Fulks's January 2004 date at Double Door in Chicago. Taylor has done a series of shows with guitarist John Platania and the young singer/fiddler Kendel Carson, and he produced both their 2007 albums. In addition, the reggae rap star Shaggy utilized "Angel of the Morning" as the basis for his hit "Angel" in 2001. The song also used the bass line of the Steve Miller song "The Joker". Both Taylor and Miller received co-writing credit for the song, which became Taylor's second No. 1 hit on the Billboard pop charts, some 35 years after "Wild Thing". "Angel of the Morning" has sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

Succes 2011: Bernhard Langer, the first official number one ranked golf player

Bernhard Langer (born 27 August 1957) is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion, and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 90s, being the first official number one ranked player in 1986. After turning fifty, he became one of the most successful players on the Champions Tour.
Langer was born in Anhausen near Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. He turned professional in 1976 and has won many events in Europe and the United States, among them The Masters in 1985 and 1993. He was the inaugural World Number 1 when the Official World Golf Rankings were introduced in 1986. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001 (but deferred his induction until 2002). He ranks second in career wins on the European Tour, with forty and has also played regularly on the U.S. based PGA Tour, especially in the late 1980s and since 2000. He has shown great durability, finishing in a tie for fifth at The Open Championship the month before his forty-eighth birthday and regaining a place in the top hundred of the rankings three months before his fiftieth birthday. He is one of the game's most successful globetrotters, being one of only a handful of players to have won sanctioned professional tournaments on every continent on which the game is played: Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. He played on 10 Ryder Cup teams (1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2002) and was non-playing captain of the victorious European team in 2004.

Langer has battled the "yips", a term used to denote a strong tendency to flinch or twitch during putting. He has changed his grip on the putter numerous times in an attempt to cure this problem; while he has been mostly successful, this tendency has colored his career. Langer is remembered nearly as much for one particular missed putt as he is for his titles. In the 1991 Ryder Cup, Langer missed a five-foot putt that would have tied the Ryder Cup and allowed the European team to retain the trophy.
Langer has been married to his American wife Vikki Carol since 1984. They have four children: Jackie, Stefan, Christina, and Jason. They maintain homes in Langer's birthplace of Anhausen and in Boca Raton, Florida. Langer is known to be a devout Christian.
In 2006, in recognition of his contribution to the sport of golf, Langer was appointed as an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Shimon Peres, the ninth President of the State of Israel

Shimon Peres (help·info) (born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923) is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years.Peres was elected to the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until 2007, when he became President.
He held several diplomatic and military positions during and directly after Israel's War of Independence. His first high-level government position was as Deputy Director-General of Defense in 1952, and Director-General in 1953 through 1959. During his career, he has represented five political parties in the Knesset: Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, Labor and Kadima, and has led Alignment and Labour. Peres won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks that he participated in as Israeli Foreign Minister, producing the Oslo Accords.
Peres was nominated in early 2007 by Kadima to run in that year's presidential election, and was elected by the Knesset for the presidency on 13 June 2007 and sworn into office on 15 July 2007 for a seven-year term.He is the first former Prime Minister to be elected President of Israel.
In 1947, Peres joined the Haganah, the predecessor of the Israel Defense Forces. David Ben-Gurion made him responsible for personnel and arms purchases.

In 1952, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Defense, and in 1953, at the age of 29, became the youngest ever Director General of the Ministry of Defense. He was involved in arms purchases and establishing strategic alliances that were important for the State of Israel. He was instrumental in establishing close relations with the French, securing massive amounts of quality arms that, in turn, helped to tip the balance of power in the region. Owing to Peres' mediation, Israel acquired the advanced Dassault Mirage III French jet fighter, established the Dimona nuclear reactor and entered into a tri-national agreement with France and the United Kingdom, positioning Israel in what would become the 1956 Suez Crisis.
On 13 June 2007, Peres was elected President of the State of Israel by the Knesset. 58 of 120 members of the Knesset voted for him in the first round (whereas 38 voted for Reuven Rivlin, and 21 for Colette Avital). His opponents then backed Peres in the second round and 86 members of the Knesset voted in his favor,^[23] while 23 objected. He resigned from his role as a Member of the Knesset the same day, having been a member since November 1959 (except for a three month period in early 2006), the longest serving in Israeli political history. Peres was sworn in as President on 15 July 2007.