New Years Eve

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve takes place annually on 31 December which is the seventh day of the Christmas season and is the last day of the year. In many countries, New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat, drink alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some Christians attend a watchnight service. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into New Year’s Day, 1 January. Samoa, Tonga and Kiritimati (Christmas Island), part of Kiribati, are the first places to welcome the New Year while American Samoa and Baker Island in the United States of America are among the last.

In the United States, New Year’s Eve is celebrated with formal parties, family-oriented activities, and other large public events. The most prominent celebration in the country is the “ball drop” held in New York City’s Times Square. Inspired by the time balls that were formerly used as a time signal, at 11:59 p.m. ET, an 11,875-pound (5,386 kg), 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter Waterford crystal ball located on the roof of One Times Square is lowered down a pole that is 70 feet high, reaching the roof of the building sixty seconds later to signal the start of the New Year. The event has been held since 1907, and has seen an average attendance of 90,000 yearly. The popularity of the spectacle has inspired similar events outside of New York City, which often use objects that represent a region’s culture, geography, or history—such as Atlanta’s “Peach Drop”, representing Georgia’s identity as the “Peach State”, and Brasstown, North Carolina’s controversial lowering of a live opossum in a glass enclosure.

Radio and television broadcasts of festivities from New York City helped to ingrain them in American pop culture; beginning on the radio in 1928, and on CBS television from 1956 to 1976 with ball drop coverage, Guy Lombardo and his band, The Royal Canadians, presented an annual New Year’s Eve broadcast from the ballroom of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The specials were best known for the Royal Canadians’ signature performance of “Auld Lang Syne” at midnight, which made the standard synonymous with the holiday. Following Lombardo’s death in 1977, the competing program New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (which premiered for 1973 on NBC before moving to its current home, ABC, for 1975), succeeded the Royal Canadians as the dominant New Year’s Eve special on U.S. television. Its creator and host, Dick Clark, intended the program to be a modern and youthful alternative to Lombardo’s big band music. Including ABC’s special coverage of the year 2000, Clark would host New Year’s Eve coverage on ABC for 33 straight years.Sadly Dick Clark Suffered a stroke in December 2004 so Regis Philbin guest hosted for 2005. Clark retired as full-time host of the special for the 2006 edition, and was succeeded by Ryan Seacrest. Clark continued to make limited appearances on the special until his death in 2012.

Other notable celebrations include those on the Las Vegas Strip, where streets are closed to vehicle traffic on the evening of New Year’s Eve, and a fireworks show is held at midnight which spans across multiple buildings on the Strip. Los Angeles, a city long without a major public New Year celebration, held an inaugural gathering in Downtown’s newly completed Grand Park to celebrate the beginning of 2014. The event included food trucks, art installations, and culminating with a projection mapping show on the side of Los Angeles City Hall near midnight. The inaugural event drew over 25,000 spectators and participants. For 2016, Chicago introduced an event known as Chi-Town Rising. Alongside the festivities in Times Square, New York’s Central Park hosts a “Midnight Run” event organized by the New York Road Runners, which culminates in a fireworks show and a race around the park that begins at midnight. Major theme parks may also hold New Year’s celebrations; Disney theme parks, such as Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland in Anaheim, California, are traditionally the busiest during the days up to and including New Year’s Eve.

In the Roman Catholic Church, 1 January is a solemnity honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus; it is a Holy Day of Obligation in most countries (Australia being a notable exception), thus the Church requires the attendance of all Catholics in such countries for Mass that day. However a vigil Mass may be held on the evening before a Holy Day; thus it has become customary to celebrate Mass on the evening of New Year’s Eve. (New Year’s Eve is a feast day honoring Pope Sylvester I in the Roman Catholic calendar, but it is not widely recognized in the United States.)
Many Christian congregations have New Year’s Eve watchnight services. Some, especially Lutherans and Methodists and those in the African American community, have a tradition known as “Watch Night”, in which the faithful congregate in services continuing past midnight, giving thanks for the blessings of the outgoing year and praying for divine favor during the upcoming year.

In the English-speaking world, Watch Night can be traced back to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism,who learned the custom from the Moravian Brethren who came to England in the 1730s. Moravian congregations still observe the Watch Night service on New Year’s Eve. Watch Night took on special significance to African Americans on New Year’s Eve 1862, as slaves anticipated the arrival of 1 January 1863, when Lincoln had announced he would sign the Emancipation Proclamation.
The most prominent New Year’s celebration in England is that of Central London, where the arrival of midnight is greeted with the chimes of Big Ben. In recent years, a major fireworks display has also been held, with fireworks launched from the nearby London Eye ferris wheel. On New Year’s Eve 2010, an estimated 250,000 people gathered to view an eight-minute fireworks display around and above the London Eye which was, for the first time, set to a musical soundtrack. The celebrations in London continued into 1 January, with the New Year’s Day Parade, held annually since 1987. The 2011 parade involved more than 10,000 musicians, cheerleaders and performers. Other major New Year events are held in the cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Newcastle.

In Scotland, New Year’s is celebrated as Hogmanay. This involves several different customs, such as First-Footing, which involves friends or family members going to each other’s houses with a gift of whisky and sometimes a lump of coal. Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, hosts one of the world’s most famous New Year celebrations. The celebration is focused on a major street party along Princes Street. The cannon is fired at Edinburgh Castle at the stroke of midnight, followed by a large fireworks display. Edinburgh hosts a festival of four or five days, beginning on 28 December, and lasting until New Year’s Day or 2 January, which is also a bank holiday in Scotland. Other cities across Scotland, such as Aberdeen, Glasgow and Stirling have large organised celebrations too, including fireworks at midnight. BBC Scotland broadcast the celebrations in Edinburgh to a Scottish audience, with the celebrations also screened across the world. STV covers both worldwide New Year celebrations, and details of events happening around Scotland.

In Wales on New Years day (Calennig) The Welsh have a tradition of giving gifts and money on New Year’s Day (Welsh: Calennig) is an ancient custom that survives in modern-day Wales, though nowadays it is now customary to give bread and chees. A Mari Lwyd is also Traditionally carried from door to door during Calennig in Wales in Cardiff Thousands of people descend to enjoy live music, catering, ice-skating, funfairs and fireworks. With Many of the celebrations taking place at Cardiff Castle and Cardiff City Hall. The Nos Galan road race (Rasys Nos Galan), a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) running race, is also held in Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley, Rhondda Cynon Taf, South Wales. The race celebrates the life and achievements of Welsh runner Guto Nyth Brân. Founded in 1958 by local runner Bernard Baldwin, it is run over the 5 kilometre route of Guto’s first competitive race. The main race starts with a church service at Llanwynno, and then a wreath is laid on Guto’s grave in Llanwynno graveyard. After lighting a torch, it is carried to the nearby town of Mountain Ash, where the main race takes place. The race consists of a double circuit of the town centre, starting in Henry Street and ending in Oxford Street, by the statue of Guto. Traditionally, the race was timed to end at midnight, but in recent times it was rescheduled for the convenience of family entertainment, now concluding at around 9pm. Over the years This has grown, and the proceedings now start with an afternoon of street entertainment, and fun run races for children, concluding with the church service, elite runners’ race and presentations.

Saint Sylvester Day

Saint Sylvester’s Day, also known as Silvester (also spelled Sylvester, Szilveszter, or Sylwester) or the Feast of Saint Sylvester, is celebrated annually on December 31. It is the day of the feast of Pope Sylvester I, a Roman Christian who served as Pope of the Western Church from 314 until his death in 335 and oversaw both the First Council of Nicaea and Roman Emperor Constantine I’s conversion to Christianity. Among the Western Christian Churches, the feast day is held on the anniversary of Saint Sylvester’s death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, has coincided with New Year’s Eve. For these Christian denominations, Saint Sylvester’s Day liturgically marks the seventh day of Christmastide. Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate Sylvester’s feast on a different day that the Western Churches, 2 January. Saint Sylvester’s Day celebrations are marked by church attendance at Midnight Mass or a Watchnight service, as well as fireworks, partying, and feasting.
Pope Sylvester witnessed the divisions between Christians caused by the rise of Arianism, a doctrine concerning the nature of Christ, so he sent two representatives to the Council of Nicea. Convened by Emperor Constantine, the Council debated and rejected Arianism.  Under the reign of Pope Sylvester I, several of the magnificent Christian churches were also built, including Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Santa Croce Church, and Saint Peter’s Basilica, among others. During the papacy of Saint Sylvester, the Nicene Creed, which is recited by communicants of the vast majority of the world’s Christian denominations, was formulated. Saint Sylvester is said to have healed, in the name of Christ, the emperor Constantine the Great of leprosy. After dying, Saint Sylvester was buried on December 31 in the Catacomb of Priscilla.
Saint Sylvester’s  day was established on 31 December 1227 by Pope Gregory IX for symbolic reasons for, Just as December 31 ushers in a new year, so, too, did the conversion of the emperor Constantine usher in a new epoch in the history of Christianity.
Many European Countries celebrate St. Sylvester’s Day Including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Slovenia. In Kraków, Poland they celebrate Saint Sylvester’s Day with a fireworks display, while in Vienna the capital of Austria, people walk pigs on leashes for their Saint Sylvester’s Day celebration in hope to have good luck for the coming year. Many Christian households in Germany mark the Saint Sylvester’s Day by practicing the custom of Bleigiessen using Silvesterblei (Silvester lead), in which Silvesterblei is melted over a flame in an old spoon and dropped into a bowl of cold water; one’s fortune for the coming year is determined by the shape of the lead. If the lead forms a ball (der Ball), luck will roll one’s way, while the shape of an anchor (der Anker) means help in need, and a star (der Sterne) signifies happiness
Christians of Belgium have a tradition that a maiden who does not finish her work by the time of sunset on Saint Silvester’s Day will not get married during the coming year. Elsewhere In Brazil they celebrate St.Sylvester’s day with exploding fireworks, and the Saint Silvester Road Race also takes place, this is Brazil’s most oldest and prestigious running event, and is dedicated to Pope Sylvester. In Israel, there is a belief among some that conflates the Soviet tradition of Novy God with this feast day, contributing to the belief that it is a celebration of an anti-Semitic pope who convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem and promoted anti-Semitic legislation. A possible source of this belief is the fact that the feast day was known by many immigrants from Europe who came to the country around the time it became a Jewish state. In Italy lentils and slices of sausage are eaten On Saint Sylvester’s Day, because they look like coins and symbolize good fortune and the richness of life for the coming year. In Switzerland during the morning of Saint Sylvester’s Day, the children of a Christian family compete with one another to see who can wake up the earliest; the child who arises the latest is playfully jeered. Men have, for centuries, masqueraded as Silvesterklaus on Saint Sylvester’s Day.

Henri Matisse

French artist Henri Matisse was Born 31 December 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord, he is known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. Matsse was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter commonly regarded, along with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, as one of the three artists who helped to define the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting and sculpture. Although he was initially labelled a Fauve (wild beast), by the 1920s he was increasingly hailed as an upholder of the classical tradition in French painting. His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.

Matisse was recognized as a leader of an artistic movement known as Fauvism which began 1900 and continued beyond 1910. The leaders of the movement were Matisse & André Derain; who were friendly rivals, each with his own followers. Other members were Georges Braque, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck. The Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) was the movement’s inspirational teacher who pushed his students to think outside of the lines of formality and to follow their visions. In 1905, Matisse and a group of artists exhibited together & The paintings expressed emotion with wild, often dissonant colours, without regard for the subject’s natural colours. Matisse showed Open Window and Woman with the Hat at the Salon. Matisses’s fondnes for bright and expressive colour became more pronounced after he spent the summer of 1904 painting in St. Tropez with the neo-Impressionists Signac and Henri Edmond Cross. In 1904 he painted the most important of his works , Luxe, Calme et Volupté. In 1905 he travelled southwards again to work with André Derain. His paintings of this period are characterized by flat shapes and controlled lines, and use pointillism in a less rigorous way than before.

Around April 1906 he met Pablo Picasso, & The two became lifelong friends as well as rivals and areoften compared; one key difference between them is that Matisse drew and painted from nature, while Picasso was much more inclined to work from imagination. The subjects painted most frequently by both artists were women and still life, . Matisse and Picasso were first brought together at the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B. Toklas, who became important collectors and supporters of Matisse’s paintings during the first decade of the 20th century. They also collected many paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Picasso at the Salon and Gertrude Stein’s two American friends , the Cone sisters Claribel and Etta,also became major patrons of Matisse and Picasso, collecting hundreds of their paintings. The Cone collection is now exhibited in the Baltimore Museum of Art.

In 1917 Matisse relocated to Cimiez on the French Riviera, a suburb of the city of Nice. His work of the decade or so following this relocation shows a relaxation and a softening of his approach. After 1930 a new vigor and bolder simplification appeared in his work. American art collector Albert C. Barnes convinced him to produce a large mural for the Barnes Foundation, The Dance II, completed 1932; the Foundation owns several dozen other Matisse paintings. This move towards simplification and a foreshadowing of the cutout technique are also evident in his painting Large Reclining Nude.In 1941, he underwent surgery and started using a wheelchair, and was cared for by , Lydia Delektorskaya who was formerly one of his models, Then With the aid of assistants he set about creating cut paper collages, often on a large scale, called gouaches découpés. His Blue Nudes series feature prime examples of this technique he called “painting with scissors”;

During World War II Matisse, was shocked to learn that his daughter Marguerite, was active in the Résistance and had been captured & tortured in Rennes prison and sentenced to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, but avoided further imprisonment by escaping from the Ravensbrück-bound train and survived in the woods until rescued by fellow members of the Resistance. In 1947 Matisse published Jazz, a limited-edition book containing about one hundred prints based on his colorful paper cutouts accompanied by his written thoughts. In the 1940s he also worked as a graphic artist and produced black-and-white illustrations for several books and over one hundred original lithographs at the Mourlot Studios in Paris. Matisse was much admired and repeatedly referred to by the Greek Nobelist poet Odysseas Elytis. Elytis was introduced to Matisse through their common friend Tériade, during the work on the Cutouts. Matisse had painted the wall of the dining room of Tériade’s residence, the Villa Natacha in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat,In 1951 Matisse finished designing the interior, the glass windows and the decorations of the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence, often referred to as the Matisse Chapel. This project was the result of the close friendship between Matisse and Sister Jacques-Marie’ He had hired her as a nurse and model in 1941 before she became a Dominican nun and they met again in Vence and started the collaboration.

In 1952 he established a museum dedicated to his work, the Matisse Museum in Le Cateau, and this museum is now the third-largest collection of Matisse works in France. Matisse’s final work was the design for a stained-glass window installed at the Union Church of Pocantico Hills near the Rockefeller estate north of New York City. “It was his final artistic creation; the maquette was on the wall of his bedroom when he died on November 3rd 1954 after having a heart attack at the age of 84. He is interred in the cemetery of the Monastère Notre Dame de Cimiez, near Nice . German media have also recently revealed th discovery of Nazi plundered art worth €1bn in Munich, including lost works by Picasso and Matisse.

Donna Summer

The late great Queen of Disco Donna Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on 31st December 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts. Summer’s performance debut occurred at church when she was ten years old after being invited to perform by the local pastor. Summer attended Boston’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School where she performed in school musicals and was considered popular. She was also something of a troublemaker, skipping home to attend parties, circumventing her parents’ strict curfew. In 1967, just weeks before graduation, Summer left for New York where she was a member of the blues rock band Crow.

Summer auditioned for a role in the musical, Hair. When Melba Moore was cast in the part, Summer agreed to take the role in the Munich production of the show. She moved to Munich, Germany after getting her parents’ reluctant approval. She achieved fame after signing as a solo artist to the pioneering disco label, Casablanca, in 1975 and her soaring voice and effervescent stage presence helped to propel her first single “Love to Love You Baby” to No 4 in the UK charts and ignited the disco craze of the 1970s, which was defined by sex, drugs and extravagant clothes. She participated in the musicals Ich bin ich (the German version of The Me Nobody Knows), Godspell and Show Boat and moved to Vienna. In 1968, Summer released her first single, a German version of the title “Aquarius” from the musical “Hair,” followed in 1971 by a second single, a cover of The Jaynetts’ “Sally Go ‘Round the Roses”, in 1972 she released the single “If You Walkin’ Alone” and married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973 and had a daughter, Mimi, the same year. Sadly she later divorced Sommer Citing marital problems caused by her affair with German artist (and future live-in boyfriend), Peter Mühldorfer. However She kept his last name, but anglicized it to “Summer”.

She provided backing vocals on producer-keyboardist, Veit Marvos’ 1972 Record Nice to See You. Summer then met German-based producers, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte while at a recording session at Munich’s Musicland Studios and The trio began collaborating on songs together. Summer’s first album, Lady of the Night contained the songs “The Hostage” and “Lady of the Night”. Summer and Morodor then released the song love to Love You and an American label requested that Moroder produce a longer version for discothèques. So Moroder, Bellotte and Summer returned with a 17-minute version. The song generated controversy due to Summer’s moans and groans and some American and European radio stations, including the BBC, refused to play it. Despite this “Love to Love You Baby” became incredibly successful And was followed by “Try Me, I Know We Can Make It”, “Could It Be Magic”, “Spring Affair”, and “Winter Melody”, she released The albums love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love and Then In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday, which included the song “I feel Love”.

She released Another concept album, Once Upon a Time and In 1978, released “MacArthur Park” and “Heaven Knows”. In 1978 Summer married Bruce Sudano & acted in the film Thank God It’s Friday playing a singer determined to perform at a hot disco club. This contained the song “Last Dance” which won a Grammy Award. In 1979, Summer performed at the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert, joining ABBA, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for a TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world’s children. Summer’s next album Bad Girls became a huge success spawning the hits “Hot Stuff”, “Dim All the Lights”. With “MacArthur Park”,“Bad Girls” and the Barbra Streisand duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)”, these together with the songs. “Heaven Knows”, “Last Dance”, “Dim All the Lights” and “On the Radio” (from her upcoming double-album). “Hot Stuff” later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

in 1979 Summer released On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, her first (international) greatest hits set, Which featured A new song “On the Radio”. Summer signed with Geffen Records in 1980 Summer’s first Geffen album, The Wanderer, featured an eclectic mixture of sounds similar to Bad Girls combined with rock, rockabilly, new wave and gospel music. And contained the Singles The Wanderer, “Cold Love” and “Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’,”. Eventually, though Moroder, Bellotte and Summer left Geffen and hired top R&B and pop producer Quincy Jones to produce Summer’s next album, Donna Summer which contained the songs “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” “State of Independence” and “The Woman in Me”.

Summer’s next album featured the song She Works Hard for the Money. This became a major hit & garnered another Grammy nomination as well as “Unconditional Love” & “Love Has A Mind of Its Own”. Donna Summer’s next release. Cats Without Claws included the Songs “There Goes My Baby”, “Eyes” and “I’m Free,” . On January 19, 1985, she sang at the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. then In 1987, Summer returned with the album All Systems Go, featuring the singles “Dinner with Gershwin,” and “All Systems Go”. For Summer’s next album, She teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman (or SAW), who had incredible success writing and producing for such acts as Kylie Minogue, Dead or Alive, Bananarama and Rick Astley, , entitled Another Place and Time, The album featured the singles “This Time I Know It’s for Real” “I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt” and “Love’s About to Change My Heart”. Then In 1990, the compilation, The Best of Donna Summer, was released. In 1991 Summer released the album Mistaken Identity containing the song “When Love Cries” and in 1992 Summer embarked on a world tour to promote the album and later that year received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1993, the two-disc set The Donna Summer Anthology was released, containing 34 tracks. In 1994 Summer released the Christmas album Christmas Spirit which included renditions of classic Christmas songs such as “O Holy Night” and “Joy to the World” together with Summer-penned songs. Then Summer released Another hits collection, Endless Summer: Greatest Hits, featuring eighteen songs that were single cuts of the songs differentiating from the Anthology set, on which fuller length recordings were featured.

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n 1992, she reunited with Giorgio Moroder, to record the dance song “Carry On”, which won Summer the first Grammy given to anyone in its dance category, then In 1995 she released the dance tune “Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)”. Summer was also offered a guest role on the sitcom Family Matters as Steve Urkel’s (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona, making a second appearance in 1997. Summer received a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best Dance Recording, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, “Carry On”, was released in 1997. Then In 1999, Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled Donna Summer – Live and More Encore, Featuring the songs “I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)” and “Love Is the Healer”. In 2000, Summer participated in VH1’s third annual Divas special, dedicated to Diana Ross, singing her own material and In 2003, Summer issued her autobiography, Ordinary Girl: The Journey, and released a best-of set titled The Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer. In 2004, Summer was inducted into theDance Music Hall of Fame alongside the Bee Gees and Barry Gibb as an artist. In 2004 and 2005, Summer released the songs “You’re So Beautiful” and “I Got Your Love”. Summer also claimed that whilst living in Manhattan she had a premonition concerning The September 11 Attacks one month before they occurred.

In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of fully original material in 17 years, entitled Crayons, which contained the songs “I’m a Fire”, “Stamp Your Feet”, “Fame (The Game)”,”The Queen is Back”,the ballad “Sand on my Feet” and “Mr. Music” with J.R. Rotem and Evan Bogart, the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. On December 11, 2009, Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in honor of American President Barack Obama, backed by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. In August 2010, she released the single “To Paris With Love”, and also appeared in the PBS television special Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends. In it Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs “Un-Break My Heart / Crazy / On the Radio” before closing the show with “Last Dance”. On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity singing alongside rising star Prince Poppycock on the television show America’s Got Talent. On October 16, 2010, she performed at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Symphony. On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show Platinum Hit in an episode entitled “Dance Floor Royalty”. In July 2011, Summer worked Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer Omega Red, producing the song “Angel”.

Sadly After having a glittering career that spanned four decades, Donna Summer tragically passed away on 17th May 2012 in Florida, while attempting to put the finishing touches to her 24th album after having a short but acute battle with lung cancer which she beleived was the result of inhaling toxic dust from the collapsed Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attack. Donna was announced to be one of the 2013 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was inducted on April 18, 2013, at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater. During her incredible music career Summer made 24 albums putting the disco into discography, won five Grammys and in 2012 she was a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to celebrate her extraordinary life,long-lasting career and her continuing legacy.

Andy Summers (The Police)

Andy Summers, British guitarist with rock band The Police was born December 31st 1942. Formed in London in 1977.The Police consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

They made many great albums including Regatta de Blance, Zenyatta Mondatta and Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, which reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over 8 million copies in the US. Sadly The group disbanded in 1986, however they reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour lasting until August 2008. The band has won a number of music awards throughout their career, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group once, an MTV Video Music Award, and in 2003, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Police have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and became the world’s highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour.

THE POLICE GREATEST HITS – http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLarJd9RZ0sKcG8H8R4gHV-8o87vEZIUlV

Danny McNamara (Embrace)

Danny McNamara, the lead singer with the indie rock band Embrace was born 31st December 1970. Embrace are an English band from Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse, West Yorkshire and consists of brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth, keyboardist Mickey Dale, and drummer Mike Heaton.The band was begun in a small outbuilding at the bottom of a garden in Bailiff Bridge in 1990. A bass player joined the McNamara brothers, Richard playing guitar and Danny singing. The three of them started creating songs, with the aid of a cassette recorder, and soon a drum machine was added. In 1992 The band recorded a three track demo in a 16 track recording studio in Huddersfield which was sold at concerts.A single, “All You Good Good People” was released in February 1997. their debut album The Good Will Out was released on 8 June 1998 and went to number 1 in the UK Albums Chart. In 27 March 2000 the band released Drawn from Memory. the album was supported by an acclaimed tour, during which they were supported by then-fledgling Coldplay.

Their third studio album If You’ve Never Been, was released on 3 September 2001. In 2004 they released the album Out of Nothing, which reached number one in the UK in 2004 and contained The single “Gravity”, which had been written by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Danny McNamara and Martin having become friends after Coldplay had supported Embrace in 2000. In October 2005, the band released their first b-side compilation, called Dry Kids: B-Sides 1997–2005, featuring b-sides from their previous album and including many fan-favourites such as “Blind” and a live rendition of D12′s “How Come”.
The band’s fifth studio album, This New Day was released on 27 March 2006, with the single “Nature’s Law”. The band then had a break during much of 2007 until 2010. Albums released so far by Embrace include The Good Will Out (1998), Drawn from Memory (2000), If You’ve Never Been (2001), Out of Nothing (2004), This New Day and the self titled album Embrace which was released in 2014. Embrace’s latest album “Love is a Basic need” was released in 2018.

Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith)

Tom Hamilton, The Bass Player with rock Band Aerosmith celebrates his birthday on 31st December. Sometimes referred to as “The Bad Boys from Boston” and “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston, Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by their 1974 album Get Your Wings.

In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars.The band released two more albums, toured extensively, and charted a string of Hot 100 singles. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the “Blue Army”. However, drug addiction and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford in 1979 and 1981, respectively; they were replaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. Aerosmith released the album Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes. Perry and Whitford returned in 1984 and the band signed a new deal with Geffen Records. After a comeback tour, the band recorded Done with Mirrors, which won some critical praise but failed to come close to commercial expectations. It was not until the band sobered up and released 1987′s Permanent Vacation that they regained the level of popularity they had experienced in the 1970s.Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the band scored several hits including Dude, looks like a lady Walk this Way (Featuring RUN DMC) and “love in an elvator“, and won numerous awards for music from the multi-platinum albums Pump, Get a Grip, and Nine Lives.

The band also became a pop culture phenomenon with popular music videos and notable appearances in television, film, and video games. Their comeback has been described as one of the most remarkable and spectacular in rock ‘n’ roll history. Additional albums followed in 2001 and 2004 including the songs Crazy (Featuring Alicia Silverstone & Liv Tyler) and I don’t Wanna Miss a Thing, from the film Armageddon. After 42 years of performing, the band continues to tour and record music. Their latest album, Music from Another Dimension, was released in 2012. Aerosmith is the best-selling American rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million albums worldwide,including 66.5 million albums in the United States alone. They also hold the record for the most gold and multi-platinum albums by an American group. The band has scored 21 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and were included among both Rolling Stone’s and VH1′s lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

I am currently reading The Secret Commonwealth : book of Dust Volume Two, by Philip Pullman. The Secret Commonwealth sees Lyra, now twenty years old and an Undergraduate at Oxford where she meets and befriends a fellow student called Miriam. Then her dæmon Pantalaimon witnesses a murder being committed by two attackers on the towpath by the canal and obtains a wallet. He informs Lyra and they both decide to investigate. This leads them to the Lost Luggage at Oxford Railway Station where they obtain a mysterious rucksack containing numerous plant seeds and samples, a notebook of names and addresses, and the murdered man’s diary which details an expedition the man took to a mysterious building in the middle of a deep desert and mentions a special species of Rose whose oil has numerous medicinal properties and is sought by both pharmaceutical companies and the Magisterium. Lyra also learns about the important part Malcolm Polestead played in her early life.

Lyra then learns about how she was rescued by Malcolm before ending up at Jordan College, Oxford. So she seeks help from the Gyptians and joins her old friend Farder Coram in The Fens. Lyra then embarks on a dangerous journey across Europe where she encounters a bookseller in Prague, and an Alchemist who has been conducting sinister experiments who advises her to travel towards Syria and find the mysterious “Blue Hotel”. Meanwhile sinister forces in the shape of Marcel Delamare, Marisa Coulter’s brother, and a brilliant young scholar named Oliver Bonneville, son of Gerard Bonneville, set off to track down and kill Lyra, Malcolm and Pantalaimon before they can reach their destination.

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Rudyard Kipling

English short-story writer, poet, and novelist Joseph Rudyard Kipling Was born 30 December 1865 in Bombay. However He moved to London, England when he was five years old. In 1891, Kipling visited South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and India. However, he cut short his visit and returned to London where his first novel was published Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”), Just So Stories (1902), Kim (1901) (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888); and his poems, including “Mandalay” (1890), “Gunga Din” (1890), “The White Man’s Burden” (1899), and “If—” (1910). He was also acquainted with British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who gave Kipling an extended golf lesson which he enjoyed.

Kipling also loved the outdoors especially Autumn in Vermont, describing how a Maple began changing colour, flaming blood-red of a sudden against the dark green of a pine-belt. Next morning there was an answering signal from the swamp and Three days later, the hill-sides as fast as the eye could range were afire, and the roads paved, with crimson and gold. Then a wet wind blew, until nothing remained but pencil-shadings of bare boughs, and one could see into the most private heart of the woods. Sadly On a visit to the United States in 1899, Kipling and Josephine developed pneumonia, from which she eventually died. Kipling began collecting material for another of his children’s classics, Just So Stories for Little Children, this was published in 1902, the year after Kim. In 1906 Kipling wrote the song “Land of our Birth, We Pledge to Thee” and two science fiction short stories, With the Night Mail (1905) and As Easy As A. B. C (1912), both set in the 21st century in Kipling’s Aerial Board of Control universe. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and he published two connected poetry and story collections: Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906), and Rewards and Fairies (1910). Which contained the poem “If”.

During the First World War Kipling was an active patriot and wrote political pamphlets and poems which enthusiastically supported the UK’s war aims of restoring Belgium after being occupied by Germany. He also actively encouraged his young son John to go to war. Tragically Though John was killed in the First World War, at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, at age 18. After having been rejected twice And who only managed to enlist due to the intervention of Lord Roberts, commander-in-chief of the British Army, and colonel of the Irish Guards, with whom Rudyard had been friends and his body was not found until 1992. In September 1914, Kipling was asked by the British government to write propaganda, an offer that he immediately accepted. Kipling’s pamphlets and stories were very popular with the British people during the war with his major themes being glorifying the British military as the place for heroic men to be, German atrocities against Belgian civilians and the stories of women being brutalized by a horrific war unleashed by Germany, yet surviving and triumphing in spite of their suffering. Kipling was enraged by reports of the Rape of Belgium together with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, which he saw as a deeply inhumane act, which led him to see the war as a crusade for civilization against barbarism. Kipling was deeply critical of the British Army as opposed to the war itself, which he ardently supported, complaining as early as October 1914 that Germany should have been defeated by now, and something must be wrong with the British Army. he was also appalled by the heavy losses, blaming the entire pre-war generation of British politicians, for not learning lessons from the Boer war, resulting in heavy casualties in France and Belgium.

After the first world war, Kipling remained skeptical about the Fourteen Points and the League of Nations, but he admired Theodore Roosevelt and hoped that the post-war world would be dominated by an Anglo-French-American alliance, but was saddened by Roosevelt’s death in 1919. Kipling joined Sir Fabian Ware’s Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), who were responsible for the garden like British War Graves dotted along the Western Front. He also chose the biblical phrases “Their Name Liveth For Evermore” (Ecclesiasticus 44.14, KJV) found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war graves, “Known unto God” for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen and “The Glorious Dead” on the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London. In 1923 he published a two-volume history of the Irish Guards, which is considered to be one of the finest examples of regimental history. He also published the moving short story, “The Gardener”, which depicts visits to the war cemeteries, and the poem “The King’s Pilgrimage” (1922) about King George V’s, tour of the cemeteries and memorials belonging to the Imperial War Graves Commission.

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Kipling also became a motoring correspondent for the British press, and wrote enthusiastically of his trips around England and abroad, despite usually being driven by a chauffeur. In 1920 Kipling co-founded the Liberty League with Haggard and Lord Sydenham. promoting classic liberal ideals in response to the rising power of Communist tendencies within Great Britain. In 1922 Kipling, Was asked to assist University of Toronto civil engineering professorHerbert E. T. Haultain to develop a dignified obligation and ceremony for graduating engineering students an produced “The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer”. Today, engineering graduates all across Canada are presented with an iron ring at the ceremony as a reminder of their obligation to society. In 1922 Kipling also became Lord Rector of St Andrews University in Scotland, a three-year position.

Kipling argued very strongly for an Anglo-French alliance to uphold the peace, and repeatedly warned against revising the Treaty of Versailles in Germany’s favour, predicting it would lead to a new world war, arguing that Germany’s larger economy and birthrate had made that country stronger than France, which had been devastated by the war and suffered heavy losses while Germany was mostly undamaged with a higher birth rate. Kipling also opposed the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald as “Bolshevism without bullets”, and believed that Labour was a Communist front organisation which took instructions from Moscow. Kipling’s admired Benito Mussolini but was against fascism, writing that Sir Oswald Mosley was “a bounder and an arriviste”, But by 1935 he was calling Mussolini a deranged and dangerous egomaniac writing that “The Hitlerites are out for blood”. In 1934 he published a short story in Strand Magazine, “Proofs of Holy Writ”, Suggesting that William Shakespeare had helped to polish the prose of the King James Bible Less than one year before his death And gave a speech (titled “An Undefended Island”) to the Royal Society of St George on 6 May 1935 warning of the danger which Nazi Germany posed to Britain.
Kipling sadly died 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 after Suffering a haemorrhage in his small intestine following surgery, for a perforated duodenal ulcer. He died two days before King George V. And was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, northwest London, and his ashes were buried in Poets’ Corner, In the South Transept of Westminster Abbey, next to Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.

Neil Innes (Bonzo dog doo dah band, Rutles, Monty Python

Best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Rutles and Monty Python, the English writer, comedian and musician Neil Innes sadly died on 29 December 2019. He is survived by His wife Yvonne and their three sons, Miles, Luke and Barney, and three grandchildren, Max, Issy and Zac,

Neil Innes was born 9 December 1944 in Danbury Essex. He took piano lessons from age 7 to 14 and taught himself to play guitar. His parents were supportive of their sons’ interests. His father showed some artistic ability as well; he frequently drew and painted. Innes later attended Thorpe Grammar School and the Norwich School of Art. Because Norwich lacked a particular art curriculum in which he was interested, he transferred to Goldsmiths, where he studied drama. At Goldsmiths he met Yvonne Catherine Hilton, whom he married on 3 March 1966. They have three sons, Miles (b. 1967), Luke (b. 1971), and Barney (b. 1977). They have two grandchildren.

Innes graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from Goldsmiths in 1966. He and several other art school students also started a band which was originally named The Bonzo Dog Dada Band after their interest in the art movement Dada, but which was soon renamed the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (later shortened to The Bonzo Dog Band). Innes met Vivian Stanshall at the Central School of Art, where both studied drawing. Together they wrote most of the band’s songs, including “I’m the Urban Spaceman”, their sole hit (produced by Paul McCartney and Gus Dudgeon under the collective pseudonym Apollo C. Vermouth), and “Death Cab for Cutie” (which inspired an American musical group of the same name), which was featured in The Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour. Innes won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Novel(ty) Song in 1968 for “I’m the Urban Spaceman”. In the late 1960s, Innes appeared with the Bonzo Dog Band on both seasons of the UK children’s television series Do Not Adjust Your Set which also featured some future members of the Monty Python comedy team.

Following the break-up of the Bonzo Dog Band, Innes joined with former Dog Band bassist Dennis Cowan, drummer Ian Wallace and guitarist Roger McKew to form The World, a band hoping for “more commercial” success with music ranging from rock to pure pop, yet still retaining some Doo-Dah flavour and even some of the humour. Unfortunately for them, by the time their sole album Lucky Planet was released in 1970, the members had already disbanded and were moving on to other projects. In 1973 Neil worked with Andy Roberts, Adrian Henri, Roger McGough, Mike McGear, Brian Patten, John Gorman, David Richards, John Megginson, Ollie Halsall, and Gerry Conway in the band GRIMMS, who released their self-titled album and Rocking Duck in 1973 followed by their last album Sleepers in 1976.

During the mid-1970s, Innes became closely associated with the TV series Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He played a major role in performing and writing songs and sketches for the final series in 1974 (after John Cleese left). He wrote a squib of a song called “George III” for the episode “The Golden Age of Ballooning”, which was sung by The Flirtations, but billed onscreen as the Ronettes. He also wrote the song “When Does a Dream Begin?”, used in “Anything Goes: The Light Entertainment War”. He co-wrote the “Most Awful Family in Britain” sketch and played a humorous stilted guitar version of the theme song, The Liberty Bell March, during the credits of the last episode, “Party Political Broadcast”. He is one of only two non-Pythons to ever be credited writers for the TV series, the other being Douglas Adams (who co-wrote the “Patient Abuse” sketch, also featured in “Party Political Broadcast”).

He appeared on stage with the Pythons in New York City in 1976, performing the Bob Dylanesque “Protest Song” (complete with harmonica) on the album Monty Python Live at City Center. He was introduced as Raymond Scum. After his introduction he told the audience, “I’ve suffered for my music. Now it’s your turn.” In 1980 he travelled to the States with the Pythons again, subsequently appearing in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. He performed the songs “How Sweet to Be an Idiot” and “I’m the Urban Spaceman”. He also appeared as one of the singing “Bruces” in the Philosopher Sketch and as a Church Policeman in that sketch. Innes wrote original songs for the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, such as “Knights of the Round Table” and “Brave Sir Robin”. He appeared in the film as a head-bashing monk, the serf crushed by the giant wooden rabbit, and the leader of Sir Robin’s minstrels. He also had a small role in Terry Gilliam’s Jabberwocky. His collaborations with Monty Python and other artists were documented in the musical film The Seventh Python (2008).
After Python finished its original run on UK television, Innes joined with Python’s Eric Idle on the series Rutland Weekend Television. This was a Python-esque sketch show based in a fictional low-budget regional television station. It ran for two series in 1975–76. Songs and sketches from the series appeared on a 1976 BBC LP, The Rutland Weekend Songbook. This show spawned The Rutles (the “prefab four”), an affectionate pastiche of The Beatles, in which Innes played the character of Ron Nasty, who was loosely based on John Lennon. Innes played Nasty in an American-made spin-off TV movie All You Need Is Cash, with Idle. The project also yielded the commercially successful soundtrack album The Rutles, released by Warner Bros..

The songs written by Innes so closely parodied the original source material that he was taken to court by the owners of The Beatles’ catalogue. Innes had to testify under oath that he had not listened to the songs at all while composing The Rutles’ songs, but had created them completely originally based on what he remembered various songs by The Beatles sounding like at different times. Ironically, Innes himself would go on to sue Beatles-influenced band Oasis over their 1994 song “Whatever”, as it directly lifted parts of its melody from Innes’s 1973 song “How Sweet to Be an Idiot”. This event was subsequently referenced in The Rutles song “Shangri-La” for their 1996 re-union album The Rutles released Archaeology, itself a parody of The Beatles Anthology. After Rutland Weekend Television, Idle moved to the United States, and Innes went on to make a solo series in 1979 on BBC television, The Innes Book of Records, which ran for three seasons and contained a few of Innes’ previous music compositions along with new ones written for the show.

In the 1980s, Innes played the role of the Magician in the live-action children’s television series Puddle Lane, made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and voiced the 1980s children’s cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls, a motley collection of “rejects” from a toy factory. The 65 episodes for Yorkshire Television included the characters Sad Sack, Hi-Fi, Lucy, Dotty, Back-to-Front, Princess and Claude. He also composed the music for children’s television including Puddle Lane, The Raggy Dolls, The Riddlers and Tumbledown Farm. In addition. He also adapted Monty Python’s Terry Jones’s fairy-tale book East of the Moon for television. He contributed all the stories and music on this production. He was involved with the enormously popular children’s show Tiswas,

The Rutles also released a new album in 1996 entitled Archaeology. In 1998, Innes hosted a 13-episode television series for ITV Anglia, called Away with Words, and took part, along with the remaining Monty Python members, in the 2002 Concert for George, in memory of George Harrison. Innes was occasionally heard (often as the butt of jokes) standing in as the pianist for the BBC Radio 4 panel game I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. Then In 2006 Innes toured the UK and produced a new Bonzo CD as part of the Bonzo Dog Band’s 40th Anniversary tour. In 2008 he undertook the Neil Innes and Fatso 30th Anniversary tour. In 2008 A film about Neil Innes called The Seventh Python premiered at the Mods & Rockers. Film Festival and He also occasionally guests on keyboards for the Comedy Store Players at the London Comedy Store. Innes formed ‘The Idiot Bastard Band’ a comedy musical collective featuring himself, Adrian Edmondson, Phill Jupitus, Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron. In 2011 Jupitus was unable to attend and was replaced by several special guests, including Paul Whitehouse and Nigel Planer. Following the death of Simon, the band performed a further tour in 2012.