Richard Bona, jazz bassist and musician. He currently holds a professorship of music at New York University

Richard Bona (born October 28, 1967 in Minta, Cameroon) is a jazz bassist and musician. His actual African name, as he said live in Montreal in a show with Bobby McFerrin, is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo.

Bona was born into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a young age. His grandfather was a griot-- a West African singer of praise and storyteller-- and percussionist, and his mother was a singer. At 4 years old, Bona started to play the balafon. At the age of 5, he began performing at his village church. Not being wealthy, Bona made many of his own instruments: including flutes and guitars (with cords strung over an old motorcycle tank).
His talent was quickly noticed, and he was often invited to perform at festivals and ceremonies. Bona began learning to play the guitar at age 11, and in 1980 aged just 13, he assembled his first ensemble for a French jazz club in Douala. The owner befriended him and helped him discover jazz music, in particular that of Jaco Pastorius, which inspired Bona to switch his focus to the electric bass.

 Bona emigrated to Germany at the age of 22 to study music in Düsseldorf, soon relocating to France, where he furthered his studies in music.
Whilst in France, he regularly played in various jazz clubs, sometimes with players such as Manu Dibango, Salif Keita, Jacques Higelin and Didier Lockwood.
In 1995, Richard left France and established himself in New York, where he still lives and works. In New York he played bass guitar with artists like Joe Zawinul, Larry Coryell, Michael and Randy Brecker, Mike Stern, George Benson, Branford Marsalis, Chaka Khan, Bobby McFerrin, and Steve Gadd.
In 1998, Richard was the Musical Director on Harry Belafonte's European Tour.
His first solo album, Scenes from My Life, was released in 1999. He has also been prominently featured in Jaco Pastorius Big Band albums, as well as many other albums by various top-tier jazz musicians.
In 2002 Bona went on a world tour with the Pat Metheny Group as a percussionist/vocalist.
In 2005 Bona released his fourth album Tiki, which included a collaboration with John Legend on one track, entitled "Please Don't Stop."
He currently holds a professorship of music at New York University.

Discography

Richard Bona, 3 August 2006

• 1999 : Scenes from my life Columbia Jazz
• 2000 : Kaze Ga kureta Melody, Columbia Jazz
• 2001 : Reverence, Columbia Jazz
• 2003 : Munia: The Tale, Universal Music France
• 2004 : Toto Bona Lokua, No Format! with Lokua Kanza & Gerald Toto
• 2005 : Tiki, Universal Music France
• 2008 : Bona Makes You Sweat - Live, Universal Jazz France
• 2009 : The Ten Shades Of Blues, Universal Jazz France
• 2013 : Bonafied, Universal Jazz France

Fritz d'Orey, a former racing driver, from Brazil. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix

Frederico José Carlos Themudo "Fritz" d'Orey (born March 25, 1938 in São Paulo) is a former racing driver, from Brazil. He participated in three Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on July 5, 1959.
Although he was Brazilian by birth, Fritz d’Orey’s parents were Portuguese nationals and his grandfather a German. The family settled in São Paulo where they earned a more than comfortable living by importing Packard cars from America. Fritz wanted for nothing, and what he wanted was to go racing.

That was with a Porsche initially before the 20 year old bought Chico Landi’s Ferrari 375 that was now fitted with a V8 Corvette engine. Victory in the Interlagos endurance race of 1958 and further national success persuaded d’Orey to race in Europe.

Formula 1 career with Centro Sud and Tec-Mec

He joined Scuderia Centro Sud for the following season and his Maserati 250F was 10th at the 1959 French Grand Prix. The youngster was wild and ragged and a heavy crash during the subsequent British GP ended his immediate plans.

D’Orey also competed in hillclimbs, sports car races and Formula Junior events during 1959. He won an FJ race at Messina and was second in the United States GP support race at Sebring. D’Orey also made his third and final GP start that day with Camoradi USA’s Tec-Mec F415 – a strangely modified Maserati 250F

whose reshaped body certainly made the car no quicker. D’Orey retired early on in what was Tec-Mec’s only Formula 1 appearance.

Instead of open-wheel racing, the Brazilian planned a season in sports cars in 1960. He finished sixth in the Sebring 12 Hours with William Sturgis’s Ferrari 250GT but then crashed while testing before the Le Mans 24 Hours. D’Orey suffered severe head injuries in the accident and was hospitalised for eight months. Although he recovered fully, he was finished with racing. Instead he returned to work for his father’s business and eventually settled in Rio de Janeiro.

Ray Manzarek, an American musician, singer, producer, film director, and author, best known as a member of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, which he co-founded with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison

Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. (né Manczarek; February 12, 1939 – May 20, 2013) was an American musician, singer, producer, film director, and author, best known as a member of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, which he co-founded with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison. Manzarek was notable for performing on a keyboard bass during many live shows and some recordings, taking on a role usually filled by a bass guitar player.
Manzarek recorded on every track of all eight Doors studio albums, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. He was a co-founding member of Nite City from 1977 to 1978, and of Manzarek–Krieger from 2001 until his death in 2013. USA Today defined him as "one of the best keyboardists ever."

Following his return to the United States, he re-enrolled in UCLA's graduate film program in 1962, where he received a M.F.A. in cinematography in 1965.^[7][8] During this period, he met future wife Dorothy Fujikawa and undergraduate film student Jim Morrison. At the time, Manzarek was in a band called Rick & the Ravens with his brothers Rick and Jim.^[9] Forty days after finishing film school, thinking they had gone their separate ways, Manzarek and Morrison met by chance on Venice Beach in California. Morrison said he had written some songs, and Manzarek expressed an interest in hearing them, whereupon Morrison sang rough versions of "Moonlight Drive", "My Eyes Have Seen You" and "Summer's Almost Gone". Manzarek liked the songs and co-founded The Doors with Morrison at that moment.
During this period, Manzarek met guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore at a Transcendental Meditation lecture and recruited them for the incipient band. Densmore said, "There wouldn't be any Doors without Maharishi."^[10]

In January 1966, The Doors became the house band at the London Fog on the Sunset Strip. According to Manzarek, "Nobody ever came in the place...an occasional sailor or two on leave, a few drunks. All in all it was a very depressing experience, but it gave us time to really get the music together." The same day The Doors were fired from the London Fog, they were hired to be the house band of the Whisky a Go Go.^[11]
The Doors' first recording contract was with Columbia Records. After a few months of inactivity, they learned they were on Columbia's drop list. At that point, they asked to be released from their contract. Following a few months of live gigs, Jac Holzman "rediscovered" The Doors and signed them to Elektra Records.
The Doors lacked a bass guitarist (except during recording sessions), so at live performances Manzarek played the bass parts on a Fender Rhodes Piano Bass. His signature sound was that of the Vox Continental combo organ, an instrument used by many other psychedelic rock bands of the era. He later used a Gibson G-101 Kalamazoo combo organ (which looks like a Farfisa) because the Continental's plastic keys frequently broke.
During the Morrison era, Manzarek was the group's regular backing vocalist. He occasionally sang lead, as exemplified by covers of Muddy Waters's "Close To You" (released on 1970s Absolutely Live) and "You Need Meat (Don't Go No Further)" (recorded during the L.A. Woman sessions and initially released as the B-side of "Love Her Madly"). He went on to share lead vocals with Krieger on the albums (Other Voices and Full Circle) released after Morrison's death.

Richard J. Roberts, an English biochemist and molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing

Sir Richard John Roberts (born 6 September 1943) FRS^[5] is English biochemist and molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Phillip Allen Sharp for the discovery of introns in eukaryotic DNA and the mechanism of gene-splicing. He currently works at New England Biolabs.

In 1992, Roberts received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at Uppsala University, Sweden.^[15] After becoming a Nobel Laureate in 1993 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath in 1994.^[16]
Roberts was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1995^[5] and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in the same year.^[6] In 2005, a multimillion-pound expansion to the chemistry department at the University of Sheffield, where he had been a student, was named after him. A refurbished science department at Beechen Cliff School (previously City of Bath Boys' School) was also named after Roberts, who had donated a substantial sum of his Nobel prize winnings to the school.^[17]
Roberts is an atheist and was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.^[18][19] He was knighted in the 2008 Birthday Honours.
Roberts is a member of the Advisory Board of Patient Innovation (https://patient-innovation.com), a nonprofit, international, multilingual, free venue for patients and caregivers of any disease to share their innovations.
Roberts has been a keynote speaker at the Congress of Future Medical Leaders (2014, 2015, 2016).^{[citation needed]}
He also is the chairman of The Laureate Science Alliance, a non-profit supporting research worldwide.

Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania

Klaus Werner Iohannis (also spelled Johannis; born 13 June 1959) is president of Romania. He became leader of the National Liberal Party (PNL) in 2014, after having served as leader of the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR/FDGR) from 2001 to 2013. Iohannis was a physics teacher and a school inspector before entering full-time politics.
Iohannis was elected the mayor of the city of Sibiu in 2000, representing the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania. Although the German population of the once predominantly German-speaking city of Sibiu (German: Hermannstadt, Transylvanian Saxon dialect: Härmeschtat) had declined to a tiny minority, Iohannis won a surprise victory and was re-elected by landslides in 2004, 2008, and 2012. Iohannis is credited with turning his city into one of Romania's most popular tourist destinations, and the city was declared the European Capital of Culture in 2007. In February 2013, Iohannis became a member of the National Liberal Party, accepting an invitation from then liberal leader Crin Antonescu, and was immediately elected the party's First Vice President, eventually becoming the PNL President during the following year.
In October 2009, four of the five political groups in the Parliament, excluding the Democratic Liberal Party of then-President Traian Băsescu, proposed him as a candidate for the office of Prime Minister of Romania; however, Băsescu refused to nominate him despite the Parliament's adoption of a declaration supporting his candidacy.^[3] He was again the candidate for Prime Minister of the National Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party in the elections in the same year.^[4]
Iohannis is the first Romanian president to come from an ethnic minority.^[5] He is a Transylvanian Saxon, part of Romania's German minority which settled in Transylvania in the 12th century. He was re-elected in the 2019 Romanian presidential election.

Helmuth Duckadam, retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, won by his main club Steaua Bucureşti, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history

Helmuth Robert Duckadam (born 1 April 1959) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and the current president of FC FCSB.
He was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his display in the 1986 European Cup Final, won by his main club Steaua Bucureşti, where he saved all four penalties against Barcelona in the penalty shootout, for the first time in football history. He represented three other teams in a 14-year senior career.
Duckadam regularly appears as a studio guest on Digi Sport's "Fotbal Club" programme.

Born in Semlac, Arad County of Banat Swabian descent, Duckadam started playing in his regional leagues, before moving to FC UTA Arad in 1978 to become professional. He earned two full caps for Romania in 1982 and, subsequently, was signed by country giants FC Steaua Bucureşti.
capital side to two consecutive Liga I titles, was also between the posts for the 1986 European Cup final against FC Barcelona, which was played in Seville, on 7 May 1986. He saved four consecutive penalty shots in the shootout, from José Ramón Alexanko, Ángel Pedraza, Pichi Alonso and Marcos, being the first one to do so in an official European competition. Steaua won the shootout 2–0 and Europe's most important club trophy for the first time, and much of the credit for the surprise victory was given to him; he scored one goal for his main club, through a penalty kick against AFC Progresul Bucureşti in the domestic cup.^[1]


In 1986, Duckadam suffered a rare blood disorder only few weeks after the Seville performance,^[2] and would only resume his career three years later, finishing it with lowly Vagonul Arad in the second division. According to a personal interview given in 1999, he had become a major with the Romanian Border Police (Poliția de Frontieră) in his hometown; additionally, he opened a football school in the city, named after himself.^[3]
 
On 25 March 2008, Duckadam was decorated by the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – ("The Sportive Merit" Order – class II), for his part in winning the 1986 European Cup. Two years later, on 11 August, he was named Steaua's president.

Mario Andretti, an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport

Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport.^[1] He is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship, and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney). He also won races in midget cars and sprint cars.

During his career, Andretti won the 1978 Formula One World Championship, four IndyCar titles (three under USAC-sanctioning, one under CART), and IROC VI. To date, he remains the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), Daytona 500 (1967) and the Formula One World Championship, and, along with Juan Pablo Montoya, the only driver to have won a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, Formula One, and an Indianapolis 500. No American has won a Formula One race since Andretti's victory at the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.^[2] Andretti had 109 career wins on major circuits.^[3]

Andretti had a long career in racing. He was the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades (1967, 1978, and 1984).^[4] He was also one of only three drivers to have won major races on road courses, paved ovals, and dirt tracks in one season, a feat that he accomplished four times.^[4] With his final IndyCar win in April 1993, Andretti became the first driver to have won IndyCar races in four different decades^[5] and the first to win automobile races of any kind in five.^[4]
In American popular culture, his name has become synonymous with speed, as with Barney Oldfield in the early twentieth century and Stirling Moss in the United Kingdom.
In 1986, he was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. In 2000, the Associated Press and RACER magazine named him Driver of the Century.^[53] He was the Driver of the Year (in the United States) for three years (1967, 1978, and 1984),^[54] and is the only driver to be Driver of the Year in three decades.^[16] Andretti was named the U.S. Driver of the Quarter Century in 1992.^[3] He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2001,^[3] the United States National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996,^[7] the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America^[55] in 1990, the Hoosier Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1970,^[7] the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Diecast Hall of Fame in 2012.
On October 23, 2006, Andretti was awarded the highest civilian honor given by the Italian government, the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (known as the Commendatore), in honor of his racing career, public service, and enduring commitment to his Italian heritage.^[53] Enzo Ferrari is the only other recipient of the Commendatore from the world of automobile racing.
In 2007, Andretti was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.
From 2007 Mario Andretti is the "Mayor" (Sindaco) of the "Free Commune of Motovun in Exile" (Libero Comune di Montona in esilio), an association of Italian exiles from Motovun.

Taco Ockerse, singer that reached No. 1 on the american Cashbox charts with the single "Puttin' on the Ritz"

Taco Ockerse (born July 21, 1955), better known by his stage name Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch singer and entertainer who started his career in Germany.
Taco Ockerse born in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 21, 1955, has spent many of his childhood years moving around the world residing in the Netherlands, the United States, Singapore, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany.He attended the International School of Brussels, Belgium, and graduated in 1973. Afterward, he studied interior decoration and finished acting school in Hamburg. He held lead roles in numerous school productions, including You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Carousel, The Fantasticks, and Fiddler on the Roof.
In 1975, he began his first professional theatrical engagements in Hamburg. This included roles in Children's Theater, and roles as an ensemble member of the Thalia Theater in a number of plays, including Sweet Charity, Chicago, and Three Musketeers. He also directed and choreographed for the musical Nightchild. In 1979, he played "Chino" in John Neumeier's West Side Story at Hamburg Opera House. He founded his first band, Taco's Bizz, in 1979.

In 1981, Taco signed his first record contract with Polydor (Germany) for two record releases, whereon he released his first single, "Puttin' on the Ritz". Not long after, in 1982, his single, "Puttin' on the Ritz" was picked up by RCA for US release. The single was widely played throughout the U.S. by late summer of 1983 eventually peaking at no. 4 in September, 1983 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as no. 1 on the Cashbox charts.Although the single eventually earned him a Gold-certification in USA for selling over one million copies, it was Taco's only top-40 hit in the U.S. Between 1983 and 1984, he performed extensive touring throughout Europe. While the single "Puttin' on the Ritz" topped the charts in Sweden and New Zealand, it entered the Top-5 in numerous countries including Norway, Austria and Canada. His subsequent album release of After Eight was released in over 40 countries and managed to reach no. 4 in Norway, no. 5 in Canada, no. 11 in Austria, no. 17 in New Zealand and no. 23 in U.S. and no. 59 in Germany. The album earned Taco number of Gold certifications including one in Finland for selling over 25,000 copies.
Taco's second single "Singing in the Rain" was only a moderate success peaking at No. 49 in Germany and No.46 in Canada.

He appeared as a guest on The Bob Hope Show, The Merv Griffin Show, Alan Thicke, Solid Gold, Good Morning America, and many other TV shows while touring.
Taco's follow-up album, Let's Face the Music was recorded in 1984 for Polydor (Germany) which peaked at no. 58 at his home of Germany and managed to enter the top-100 in Canada peaking at no. 92. Taco continued to record, focusing mostly on the German market with albums Swing Classics/In the Mood of Glenn Miller in 1985 and Tell Me That You Like It in 1986 for Polydor. In 1987 he recorded the self-titled album Taco.
In 1989 he briefly flirted with contemporary dance music by releasing a pair of singles, "Love Touch" and "Got to Be Your Lover", that were styled after the high energy disco sound popularized by Stock Aitken Waterman. Afterwards, he repositioned himself as a swing/soul singer. He has collaborated with Geff Harrison of Kin Ping Meh fame.

Between 1989 to 1996, Taco worked intensively as an actor. He had television acting roles in Friedrichstadt Palast and Das Erbe der Guldenburgs, and an appearance in the film Karniggels. He also appeared as "Chico" in the theater production of Marx Brothers Radio Show, and played lead roles in Shakespeare Rock n Roll in Berlin and Shakespeare as We Like It in Austria.
He currently resides in Germany, performing with his band and as a gala artist.
On October 11, 2009 the first channel of Russian TV, 1TV, filmed the program Songs of the 20th Century. Taco appears with "Puttin' on the Ritz" in the sequence about the 1930s. The show was broadcast in January 2010. On November 27, 2009 he performed "Puttin' on the Ritz" and "Singin' in the Rain" at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. Furthermore, he was the star guest in the "New Year's Eve Show 2009" of Russian TV, which had about 84 million viewers in more than 20 countries.
In July 2010 Cleopatra Records - Los Angeles released an entirely new re-recording of "Puttin' on the Ritz". Taco's vocals were recorded in Germany and the backing tracks with top studio musicians in their studio in L.A.
On March 1, 2011 DingDing Music released the original song "Timeless Love" that was written and produced by Edgar Rothermich and Matthias Muentefering in the late 1980s. The studio recording that Taco performed as a duet with the female singer Rozaa Wortham in Berlin was remixed in late 2010 in the U.S. and is now available for download.

Robert Woodrow Wilson, an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel prize in physics for their discovery

Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel prize in physics for their discovery.

While working on a new type of antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, they found a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain.^[1] After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory.

Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on January 10, 1936, in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar High School in River Oaks, in Houston,^[2] and studied as an undergraduate at Rice University, also in Houston, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society. He then earned a PhD in physics at California Institute of Technology.
Wilson and Penzias also won the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977.^[3]
Wilson remained at Bell Laboratories until 1994, when he was named a senior scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[4]
Wilson has been a resident of Holmdel Township, New Jersey.^[5]
Wilson married Elizabeth Rhoads Sawin^[6] in 1958.

Simona Halep, a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019

Simona Halep (born 27 September 1991) is Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019. In total, she has been No. 1 for 64 weeks, which ranks tenth in the history of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. Halep was the year-end No. 1 in 2017 and 2018. She has finished each year ranked no lower than No. 4 since 2014 and has the longest active streak of being ranked in the top 10. She has won 19 WTA singles titles and has finished runner-up 17 times. Halep has won two Grand Slam singles titles: the 2018 French Open and the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
a
Halep first broke into the world's top 50 at the end of 2011, reached the top 20 in August 2013, and then the top 10 in January 2014. She won her first six WTA titles in the same calendar year in 2013, and was the first to do so since Steffi Graf in 1986. This led to her being named the WTA Most Improved Player at the end of the year. Halep reached three Grand Slam finals at the 2014 French Open, the 2017 French Open, and the 2018 Australian Open before winning her first Grand Slam singles title at the 2018 French Open against Sloane Stephens. A former junior champion there, she became just the sixth player to win both the girls' singles and women's singles titles at the French Open. Halep also finished runner-up at the 2014 WTA Finals to Serena Williams despite inflicting the worst loss of Williams' career at that point in the round robin stage. She did not defeat Williams a second time until the final of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.
Halep was the WTA Most Popular Player of the Year for two consecutive years in 2014 and 2015, as well as the WTA Fan Favorite Singles Player of the Year for three consecutive years in 2017, 2018, and 2019. She is a recipient of the Patriarchal Cross of Romania and the Order of the Star of Romania, and was named an honorary citizen of Bucharest. She is the third Romanian to be in the top 10 of the WTA rankings after Virginia Ruzici and Irina Spîrlea, and the second Romanian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title after Ruzici. She is also the first Romanian woman to be ranked No. 1 and the first Romanian player to win a Wimbledon singles title. Halep is regarded as one of the best returners on the WTA Tour, while also building her game around being aggressive and being able to hit winners from defensive positions.

Ranulph Fiennes, an English explorer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a writer, poet and co-creator of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Great British Rum

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Ranulph Fiennes, and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is an English explorer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a writer, poet and co-creator of Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Great British Rum.
Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years, including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the Army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1984, he was the world's greatest living explorer. Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists.
Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an expedition leader. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway's Jostedalsbreen Glacier in 1970. One notable trek was the Transglobe Expedition he undertook between 1979 and 1982 when he and two fellow members of 21 SAS, Oliver Shepard and Charles R. Burton, journeyed around the world on its polar axis, using surface transport only. Nobody else has ever done so by any route before or since.^[9][10][11]
As part of the Transglobe Expedition, Fiennes and Burton completed the Northwest Passage. They left Tuktoyaktuk on 26 July 1981, in an 18 ft open Boston Whaler and reached Tanquary Fiord on 31 August 1981.^[12] Their journey was the first open boat transit from West to East and covered around 3,000 miles (2,600 nautical miles or 4,800 km) taking a route through Dolphin and Union Strait following the south coast of Victoria Island and King William Island, north to Resolute Bay via the Franklin Strait and Peel Sound, around the south and east coasts of Devon Island, through Hell Gate and across Norwegian Bay to Eureka, Greely Bay and the head of Tanquary Fiord.^[12] Once they reached Tanquary Fiord, they had to trek a further 150 miles via Lake Hazen to Alert before setting up their winter base camp.^{[citation needed]}
In 1992 Fiennes led an expedition that discovered what may be an outpost of the lost city of Iram in Oman. The following year he joined nutrition specialist Dr Mike Stroud to become the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported; they took 93 days. A further attempt in 1996 to walk to the South Pole solo, in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign, was unsuccessful due to a kidney stone attack and he had to be rescued from the operation by his crew.
In 2000 he attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole. The expedition failed when his sleds fell through weak ice and Fiennes was forced to pull them out by hand. He sustained severe frostbite to the tips of all the fingers on his left hand, forcing him to abandon the attempt. On returning home, his surgeon insisted the necrotic fingertips be retained for several months before amputation, to allow regrowth of the remaining healthy tissue. Impatient at the pain the dying fingertips caused, Fiennes cut them off himself with an electric fretsaw,^[13] just above where the blood and the soreness was.

Colin Hay, a Scottish–Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, the lead vocalist of the band Men at Work

Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish–Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist of the band Men at Work and later also as a solo artist. Hay's music has been frequently used by actor and director Zach Braff in his work, which helped a career rebirth in the mid-aughts.

Men at Work

In 1978, Hay met Ron Strykert and the men began playing acoustic music as a duo. Hay and Strykert formed the core of the band Men at Work, with Hay on vocals, guitar and keyboards, and Strykert on guitar, vocals and bass guitar. Hay and Strykert added Jerry Speiser (drums), John Rees (bass guitar and backing vocals), and Greg Ham (flute, saxophone, keyboards, vocals).^[3] The group released their debut album Business as Usual in 1981.
The success of Men at Work, and of their albums Business as Usual and Cargo, prompted Hay to relocate to Los Angeles in 1989.^[4] He settled in the Topanga region of the city, and has resided in the USA since; in January 2016, he became a U.S. citizen.^[5]
Hay joined as guest vocalist with The Incredible Penguins in 1985 for a cover of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", a charity project for research on little penguins, which peaked at No. 10 on the Australian Kent Music Report in December

Later career

Following the breakup of Men at Work in 1985, Hay released several major label solo albums, including Looking for Jack (Columbia) and Wayfaring Sons (MCA), to differing commercial success. In 2011, Hay commented on his early solo career, stating, "After Men at Work, for the better part of a decade, I was stumbling around being unfocused. It was pre-internet; I really had to try to find my audiences by going out on tour. Men at Work really didn't build a foundational audience. We came in as a pop band with enormous radio success; once that goes away and the band breaks up the audience tends to go away with it. You're left with what you want to make of it. When you start out doing those tours, you start again [and] you tend not to attract a very big number of people. I'd play to a hundred people or sometimes less."^[8]
In 2004 he contributed to the Garden State soundtrack with his solo song "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You".
In addition to recording, Hay also established his own recording label, Lazy Eye Records,^[9] somewhat incorrectly named for his own divergent ocular condition (exotropia, or divergent strabismus; the usage of lazy eye generally refers to Amblyopia). He has made appearances in cult movies such as Cosi and in television shows such as The Larry Sanders Show, JAG, The Mick Molloy Show, A Million Little Things, and Scrubs. Scrubs, along with episodes of ABC's What About Brian, NBC's The Black Donnellys, CBS's Cane, and the BBC hospital drama Casualty, have included performances of some of his previous songs; in Scrubs he performs an acoustic version of the Men at Work hit "Overkill".
In December 2005, Hay and Heather Mills released "My Brilliant Feat" as a charity single as a tribute to football player George Best, who died on 25 November of that year. Proceeds were forwarded to the Donor Family Network, supporting organ donor families and promoting organ and tissue donation. The single is available on iTunes with a bonus music-video tribute to Best.^[10][11]
In 2006 Hay provided his voice for one of the characters in the animated movie The Wild. He has also been a member of Ringo Starr's eighth, tenth and thirteenth All-Starr Bands. He continues to perform regularly, including playing some folk venues. On 13 February 2009, former Men at Work band member Ron Strykert was arrested for allegedly making death threats against Hay.^[12][13]
Hay released his 10th album, "American Sunshine", on 18 August 2009 on Compass Records.
In 2009, Hay's former group, Men at Work, was named in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement by Larrikin Music, which owns the rights to the "Kookaburra" song. Larrikin Music claimed that part of a flute riff from the band's 1981 single "Down Under" was copied from "Kookaburra" originally written by a music teacher, Marion Sinclair, who died in 1988. In February 2010, a court ruled in favour of Larrikin Music. Although the petition from Larrikin Music requested 40% to 60% of royalties dating back to 1981 and future royalties, in July 2010 a judge awarded the plaintiff only 5% of royalties dating back to 2002 and the same amount of future royalties.^[14]
In May 2009, Hay performed at the Artist for the Arts Foundation benefit at Barnum Hall, Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica, California. Performing alongside Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Fee Waybill (Tubes) and Venice and over 70 members of the Santa Monica High School Orchestra and Girls Choir, the benefit helped to provide funds for the continuation of music education in public schools. In August 2010, Hay performed in Missoula, Montana with a Los Angeles Roots rock band named Patrolled By Radar.^[15]
In December 2013, Hay announced on his website that he was done touring "for the time being" and would spend 2014 writing and recording.^[16]
In 2015 he joined the Last Summer on Earth tour with Violent Femmes and Barenaked Ladies.
On 4 August 2015, Colin Hay: Waiting for my Real Life, a documentary film about the singer, debuted at the Melbourne International Film Festival^[17]
Hay made an appearance on BNL Rocks Red Rocks by Barenaked Ladies, a live album recorded on the Last Summer on Earth 2015 tour. ^[18]
On 27 January 2017, he released the first single "A Thousand Million Reasons" from his new album, Fierce Mercy, released 3 March 2017. He toured in support of the album throughout the US, UK and Australia. Also in 2017, Hay released his first audio book, Aesop's Fables with Colin Hay, published by Devault-Graves Digital Editions, for which he narrated 24 of Aesop's Fables written by author Tom Graves.