Michael Powell

Michael Latham Powell (1905 –1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a series of classic British films, notably The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951).

His controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, which was so vilified on first release that it seriously damaged his career, is now considered a classic and a contender for the first "slasher movie". Many renowned filmmakers, such as Francis Ford Coppola, George A. Romero and Martin Scorsese have cited Powell as an influence.

In 1981, he received the BAFTA Fellowship along with his partner Pressburger, the highest honour the British Academy of Film and Television Arts can bestow upon a filmmaker.

Atabek Naderizadeh

Atabek Naderizadeh is an Iranian film and television actor. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in acting from Azad University and a master's degree in performing arts from the Ministry of Guidance.

Atabek Naderi comes from a family of artists; he is the cousin of Mohammad Naderi, a film, theater and television actor while his nephew Solmaz Naderi is a theater actor.

He has appeared in numerous films, such as "X-Ray", "Mansour", "8th Landing", "Immortality", "Perhaps a Miracle", "High Power", "Fanousek Hai Abadi" and "Rahai".

Kasra Nouri

Kasra Nouri is an Iranian journalist and political activist. He was the CEO of "Majzooban-e noor" website, which covered news about the Dervish religious community.

Nouri was last arrested with his family during 2018 Dervish protests and sentenced to 12 years in prison and 148 lashes.

He is serving a 12-year sentence on anti-state charges in Adel-Abad prison near the central city of Shiraz, after initially being held in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. Tehran’s Appeals Court upheld his sentence in March 2019.

Curt L. Tofteland / Shakespeare Behind Bars

Curt L. Tofteland was raised in a town of fewer than 100 people in North Dakota, 100,000 acres of farmland, his backyard. The eldest of five, Curt was charged with taking care of his brothers and sister. They all slept in the same room, and he watched out for them and told them stories.

Now, Tofteland is Producing Artistic Director of the annual Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Louisville and leads a theater troupe consisting entirely of convicted felons.  Not one of the 34 Shakespeare Behind Bars participants who won parole or served out their sentence has returned to prison for committing new crimes.

Ardéche Winefest

For more than 40 years, the Fête des Vignerons Ardéchois in Ruoms has been the unmissable summer event for wine lovers.

It's a great celebration for young and old under the sign of grapes and red fruits from local vines. Numerous activities, such as tasting stands, dinners, a lottery, games for young and old, cycle tours, a parade of mule drivers in the village on the theme of vineyards and viticulture are on offer.

Every year, musicians, singers, dancers and comedians come to perform for the pleasure of locals and tourists.

Douglas Motorcycles

Douglas was a British motorcycle manufacturer from 1907 to 1957 based in Kingswood, Bristol, owned by the Douglas family, and especially known for its horizontally opposed twin cylinder engined bikes and as manufacturers of speedway machines. The company also built a range of cars between 1913 and 1922.

During World War I Douglas was a major motorcycle supplier, making around 70,000 motorcycles for military use.

In the 1920s Douglas built the first disc brakes, and had a Royal Warrant for the supply of motorcycles to the Princes, Albert and Henry.

Motorcycle production continued into World War II and was extended to generators. In 1948, Douglas was in difficulty and reduced its output to the 350 cc flat twin models. The first of these models designated the T35 was one of the first production motorcycles to be fitted with rear suspension (swinging arm) unique in that the springing medium was a longitudinal torsion bar. The 1955 350 cc Douglas Dragonfly was the last model produced.

The Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company Ltd bought Douglas out and production of Douglas Motorcycles ended in 1957. Douglas continued to import Vespa scooters into the UK and later imported and assembled Gilera motorcycles.

Douglas gained significant attention in 1932–1933 when Robert Edison Fulton, Jr. became the first known man to circumnavigate the globe on a 6 hp Douglas twin fitted with automobile tyres. Fulton went on to write a book on his adventure titled "One Man Caravan".

💐New Milestone for the Beret Spy🍾

 The Beret Spy turns 66 today!

Yes, my famous brother Emile, aka The Beret Spy is celebrating another milestone today - congratulations Bro💐🍾!

Pictured here the latest harvest of boineros/as in the Netherlands.

Pietro Annigoni

Pietro Annigoni, OMRI was an Italian artist, portrait painter, fresco painter and medallist, best known for his painted portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. His work was in the Renaissance tradition, contrasting with the modernist style that prevailed in his time. 

After his successful completion of his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II in London, Annigoni returned to Florence and posed for his special portrait for the Daily Mirror of Annigoni as seen by Annigoni. He is seen on the roof top of his Florence studio, with the Cathedral of Florence in the background. 20th March 1970.

Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley OBE (1973) is a British historian, author, curator and television presenter.

She is joint chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces but is best known as a presenter of BBC Television and Channel 5 series on historical topics.

Lucy Worsley studied Ancient and Modern History at New College, Oxford, graduating in 1995 with a BA First-class honours degree. In 2001, she was awarded a DPhil degree from the University of Sussex.

In 2005, she was elected a senior research fellow at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London; she was also appointed visiting professor at Kingston University in west London.

High Society

British high society aiming for a workman's suntan at the beach at Biarritz, 1927.

Antonio Lopez

Antonio Lopez (Molina de Segura - Spain)

What are You doing about Education?

 British World War II poster.

Jerzy Zawieyski

Jerzy Zawieyski, born Henryk Nowicki, (1902–1969) was a Polish playwright, prose writer, Catholic political activist and amateur stage actor. He wrote psychological, social, moral and historical novels, dramas, stories, essays and journals.

As a secretary of the Towarzystwo Uniwersytetów Robotniczych, he did organizing work for the workers' educational and theatrical movement. Then he was an activist of the Związek Młodzieży Wiejskiej Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. During the German occupation of Poland, he was active in the underground cultural movement.

Zawieyski was homosexual. In 1933 he met Stanisław Trębaczkiewicz. They fell in love and lived together until Zawieyski's death in 1969. They were buried next to each other in the Laski Cemetery near Warsaw.

Petworth Park

 
A man and a woman ice skating in Petworth Park (West Sussex), February 1933.

Abdulla's Book of Beauty

 Abdullas Book for Beauty - Seventeen, 1935. 

From Punch, or the London Charivari. - March 6, 1935.

Pat Kensit

Patricia Jude Kensit (1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s.

Beginning her career as a child actor, including the Rod Steiger film Hennessy (1975), Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Birds Eye frozen peas. She then went on to appear in the films The Great Gatsby (1974), Gold (1974), Alfie Darling (1975), The Blue Bird (1976) and Hanover Street (1979). Balancing a dual career as both an actress and a singer, in 1983, Kensit formed and became the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder. 

The group produced several successful singles including "I'm Not Scared" and "Cross My Heart" before their split in 1989.

Sailboats & Berets

NIVEA ("doesn't do gay")

Nivea is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG. This was the origin of Eucerin brand. Nivea comes from the Latin adjective niveus, nivea, niveum, meaning "snow-white".

 In World War II, the trademark "NIVEA" was expropriated in many countries. After the war, Beiersdorf bought the rights back.

In June 2019, marketing and media industry journal Ad Age reported that FCB, Nivea's long-time ad agency, had ended its relationship with the company. 

Among the primary reasons cited was NIVEA's rejection of a proposed ad that featured two men's hands touching because, according to a NIVEA executive, "we don't do gay at NIVEA." FCB had ended the relationship of more than a century. 

At MacKenzies

 Smashed avocado and eggs at MacKenzies. 

Punks for Pussies

John Nikolai, a photographer and painter who once taught at MIT and worked at CBGB simultaneously, began rescuing homeless cats in October 2017 because someone was poisoning cats in a rough neighborhood in Downtown L.A. 

Selby (top) was found in 2018 near the building where Nikolai worked. She was eventually adopted by L.A.-based punk musician Mike Livingston

There he met Linda, a homeless woman living in her car with her cat and two dogs, who told him about a nearby auto graveyard where homeless cats were having babies in and under wrecked cars dating back to the 1950s. They began rescuing kittens and finding them homes. Calling it his "mission from God," Nikolai began getting the adults sterilized, getting the sick and injured medical attention, and providing hospice care. 

Several musicians from the original L.A. punk scene became involved, adopting the cats and playing benefit concerts, and the "rescue disorganization," Punks For Pussies was formed. Getting more organized, it became a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity in 2020, under the name of Lifelines For Felines, Inc.