bknebel

2008-05-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

Northamptonshire (abbreviated Northants or N'hants) is a landlocked county in central England with a population of 629,676 (2001 census). It has borders with Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire (including the Borough of Milton Keynes), Oxfordshire, and Lincolnshire (England's shortest county boundary: 19 metres). The county town is Northampton.
Northamptonshire has often been called the county of "squires and spires" due to its wide variety of historic buildings and country houses. The county has also been described as "England's Pancreas", most notably by the popular presenter Alan Titchmarsh in has 2007 series The Nature of Britain. This is due to its shape and location within the UK, and because it is regularly overlooked, especially compared to neighbouring Warwickshire, known as "The Heart of England".
Northamptonshire's county flower is the Cowslip.

Peter Bone (C)
Tim Boswell (C)
Brian Binley (C)
Philip Hollobone (C)
Phil Hope (L)/(Co-op)
Sally Keeble (L)
South Northamptonshire
Northampton
Daventry
Wellingborough
Kettering
Corby
East Northamptonshire Geography
These are the main settlements in Northamptonshire with a town charter, a population over 5,000, or otherwise notable. For a complete list of settlements see List of places in Northamptonshire

Brackley, Braunston, Brixworth,
Corby
Daventry, Desborough
Kettering
Long Buckby
Naseby, Northampton
Oundle
Pitsford
Raunds, Rothwell, Rushden
Silverstone
Towcester, Thrapston
Weedon Bec, Wellingborough Places
The Soke of Peterborough, including the City of Peterborough, was historically associated with Northamptonshire as the county diocese is focused upon the cathedral there. Under the Local Government Act 1972 Peterborough became a district of Cambridgeshire.

Peterborough
Main article History of Northamptonshire
Pre-Celtic and Celtic peoples settled in the region, and there are some traces of Roman settlements and roads. Most notably the Watling Street passed through the county, and there was an important Roman settlement called Lactodorum on the site of modern day Towcester. There were other Roman settlements at the site of Northampton, and along the Nene Valley near Raunds.
After the Romans left, the area became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and Northampton functioned as an administrative centre. The area was overrun by the Danes (Vikings) in the 9th century and briefly became part of the Danelaw, but was later re-claimed by the Saxons. Consequently, it is one of the few counties in England to have both Saxon and Danish town-names and settlements.
The county was first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (1011), as Hamtunscire: the scire (shire) of Hamtun (the homestead). The "North" was added to distinguish Northampton from the other important Hamtun further south: Southampton.
Later, Rockingham Castle was built for William the Conqueror and was used as a Royal fortress until Elizabethan times. The now-ruined Fotheringhay castle was used to imprison Mary, Queen of Scots before her execution. In 1460, during the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Northampton took place and King Henry VI was captured.
During the English Civil War Northamptonshire strongly supported the Parliamentarian cause, and the Royalist forces suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Naseby in 1645 in the north of the county. King Charles I was later imprisoned at Holdenby House.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, parts of Northamptonshire became industrialized. Northampton and its surrounding areas, gained a sizeable shoe making and leather industry and by the end of the nineteenth century it was almost definitely the boot and shoe making capital of the world. And in the north of the county a large ironstone quarrying industry developed. In the 20th century, during the 1930s, the town of Corby was established as a major centre of the steel industry. Much of Northamptonshire nevertheless remains largely rural.
After the Second World War Northampton and Corby were designated as new towns. As of 2005 the government is encouraging development in the South Midlands area, including Kettering and Corby.

History

Politics
Northamptonshire returns six members of Parliament. Following the 2005 general election, four MPs belong to the Conservative Party, while the other two represent the Labour Party.

National representation
Like most English shire counties, Northamptonshire has a two-tier structure of local government. The county has an elected county council based in Northampton, and is also divided into seven districts each with their own district councils.
These districts are: Corby, Daventry district, East Northamptonshire, Kettering, Northampton, South Northamptonshire, Wellingborough (see map). The district council offices for East Northamptonshire are based in Thrapston, and those for South Northamptonshire are based in Towcester. Northamptonshire also has a large number of civil parishes.
Until 2005, Northamptonshire County Council, for which each of the 73 electoral divisions in the county elects a single councillor, had been held by the Labour Party since 1993; before then it had been under no overall control since 1981. The councils of the rural districts — Daventry, East Northamptonshire, and South Northamptonshire — are strongly Conservative, whereas composition in the urban districts is more mixed. At the 2003 local elections, Labour lost control of Kettering, Northampton, and Wellingborough, retaining only Corby. Elections for the entire County Council are held every four years — the last were held on 5 May 2005 when control of the County Council changed from the Labour Party to the Conservatives. The County Council uses a leader and cabinet executive system and has recently (from April 2006) abolished its area committees.
Northampton itself is somewhat unusual in being the most populous urban district in England not to be administered as a unitary authority (even though several smaller districts are unitary). During the 1990s local government reform, Northampton Borough Council petitioned strongly for unitary status, which led to fractured relations with the County Council.
Northamptonshire is policed by Northamptonshire Police, and is covered by Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Before 1974, the Soke of Peterborough was considered part of Northamptonshire for ceremonial purposes, although it had had a separate county council since the 19th century, and separate Quarter Sessions courts before then. The City of Peterborough is now part of the county of Cambridgeshire.

Local government
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Northamptonshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Northamptonshire has some nationally important companies. Historically, it is home to footwear manufacturing companies. The Dr. Martens company in the UK is based in Wollaston near Wellingborough, where the boots used to be made. Weetabix is made at Burton Latimer near Kettering. Carlsberg is brewed in Northampton. Daventry has many distribution centres.

Economy
Northamptonshire operates a complete comprehensive system with 30 state secondary schools and 4 independent schools. There are no selective schools. However, selection by house price instead may be taking place. At GCSE, for those obtaining 5 GCSEs at grades A-C including Maths and English, the England average is 45.8%; the Northamptonshire average is 42.1% - below average. The best state school in Northamptonshire is Brooke Weston CTC in Corby with 89%, followed by the Bishop Stopford School in Kettering with 81% and then the Northampton School For Boys with 80%. These are excellent results for comprehensive schools. For the Brooke Weston result, this is substantially (three times) better than other schools in Corby, and Brooke Weston is often in the top five comprehensives in England. It is almost like a selective system in Corby. The same could be said for Northampton, with only the Northampton schools for boys and girls producing good results. Wellingborough is also the same to a lesser extent, with only the Sir Christopher Hatton School producing good results. At A level, the best state schools are the Campion School in Bugbrooke, South Northamptonshire; followed by the Ferrers Specialist Arts College in Higham Ferrers; then the Moulton Schools and Science College in Moulton, Daventry district; and then the Northampton School for Boys. These produce good results for comprehensives. The Brooke Weston CTC does not achieve particularly high results at A level, but above average. Overall at A-level, the independent Northampton High School (girls school) in Hardingstone is the best.
Northamptonshire boasts an extensive music and performing arts service that provides peripatetic music teaching to schools in the area. It also supports 15 local Saturday morning music and performing arts centres around the county as well as providing a range of county level music groups.

Education
% of pupils with 5 grades A-C including English and Maths; compare this table to average house price by district.

1. South Northamptonshire 51.5
2. East Northamptonshire 48.4
3. Kettering 47.8
4. Daventry 44.0
5. Northampton 37.5
6. Corby 36.2
7. Wellingborough 34.8 Average score at GCSE by council district (%)
The gap in the hills at Watford Gap meant that many southeast to northwest routes passed through Northamptonshire. The Roman Road Watling Street (now part of the A5) passed through here, as did later canals, railways and major roads.

Transport
Major roads such as the M1 motorway and the A14 provide Northamptonshire with valuable transport links, both north-south and east-west. The A43 joins the M1 to the M40, passing through the south of the county to the Junction west of Brackley. The former steelworks town of Corby is now home to large areas of warehousing and distribution companies.

Roads
See also: Rivers in Northamptonshire
Two major canals - the Oxford and the Grand Union — join in the county at Braunston. Notable features include a flight of 17 locks on the Grand Union at Rothersthorpe, the canal museum at Stoke Bruerne, and a tunnel at Blisworth which, at 3076 yards (2813 m), is the third-longest navigable canal tunnel on the UK canal network.
A branch of the Grand Union Canal connects to the River Nene in Northampton and has been upgraded to a "wide canal" in places and is known as the Nene Navigation. It is famous for its guillotine locks.
For last five years Northamptonshire County Council is in partnership with WS Atkins, Europe's largest Engineering Consultants to manage and maintain all highways functions.

Rivers and Canals
Two trunk railway routes, the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line traverse the county. At its peak, Northamptonshire had 75 railway stations. It now has only five, at Northampton and Long Buckby (on the WCML), Kettering and Wellingborough (on the Midland Main Line), along with King's Sutton, which is a matter of yards from the boundary with Oxfordshire on the London-Banbury line.
Corby is one of the largest towns in Britain without a railway station. A railway runs through the town (from Kettering to Oakham in Rutland), but is currently used only by freight traffic and occasional diverted passenger trains (which do not call). The line through Corby was once part of a main line to Nottingham via Melton Mowbray but the stretch between Melton and Nottingham was closed in 1968. In the 1980s, an experimental passenger shuttle service was tried between Corby and Kettering, but this was proved unsuccessful. A bus link operated by Midland Mainline provides access to Corby from Kettering station. As of 2005, there are plans to build a new station in Corby - one providing direct access to St Pancras in London and not just a branch line service to Kettering, but these are not yet off the ground.
Northamptonshire was hit hard by the Beeching Axe in the 1960s, with stations such as Towcester's being slowly left to rot. [1] One of the most notable closures was that of the line connecting Northampton to Peterborough by way of Wellingborough, Thrapston, and Oundle. Its closure left eastern Northamptonshire devoid of railways. Part of this route has been re-opened as the Nene Valley Railway, with a small section of line, and the station at Yarwell junction being within Northamptonshire.
A section of one of the closed lines, the Northampton to Market Harborough line, is now the Northampton & Lamport heritage railway, while the route as a whole forms a part of the National Cycle Network, as the Brampton Valley Way.
As early as 1897 Northamptonshire had its own putative Channel Tunnel rail link with the creation of the Great Central Railway, which was intended to connect to a tunnel under the English Channel. Although the complete project never came to fruition, the rail link through Northamptonshire was constructed, and had stations at Charwelton, Woodford Halse, Helmdon, and Brackley. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 (and of British Railways in 1948) before its closure in 1966.
Before nationalization of the railways in 1948 and the creation of British Railways), Northamptonshire was home to three of the "Big Four" railway companies; the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and Great Western Railway. Only the Southern Railway was not represented. Post nationalisation, it is served by Silverlink, London Midland, Chiltern Railways and Midland Mainline. So from having 75 stations in 1948 and three operators it has 5 stations with four operators.

Railways
Northamptonshire has a local BBC radio station, BBC Radio Northampton, which broadcasts on two FM frequencies — 104.2 MHz for the south and west of the county (including Northampton and surrounding area) and 103.6 MHz for the north of the county (including Kettering and Corby). There are three commercial radio stations. Northants 96 (96.6 MHz FM) is part of GCap Media, whilst AM station Classic Gold (1557 kHz) also forms part of a national network. The former Kettering and Corby Broadcasting Company (KCBC) station originally broadcast on 1530 (later 1584) kHz AM before eventually moving to 107.4 MHz FM. Its studios and FM frequency are still in use following a merger with Wellingborough-based Connect FM which now broadcasts on 97.2 and 107.4 MHz.
National digital radio is also available in Northamptonshire, though coverage is limited. As of 2005 a multiplex for local DAB stations had yet to be set up.
In regional radio and television terms, the county is not usually considered as part of the East Midlands; unusually, it is associated with East Anglia, being part of the BBC East region and the Anglia Television region of ITV, the latter having an office adjacent to BBC Radio Northampton in Abington Street, Northampton. These services are broadcast from the Sandy Heath transmitter.

Media
Northamptonshire is home to a number of football teams, the most prominent being the professional sides Northampton Town F.C. of League One and Rushden & Diamonds F.C., who are in the Football Conference. Other teams include Kettering Town F.C., who play in the Conference North, though having been higher. Wellingborough Town F.C. claims to be the sixth oldest in the country.
Northamptonshire is more successful in rugby union, though Northampton Saints were relegated from the Guinness Premiership (the highest league) at the end of the 2006/2007 season. Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is presently in Division Two of the County Championship.
Silverstone has a major motor racing circuit, notably used for the British Grand Prix.
Rockingham Speedway in Corby is the largest stadium in the UK with 130,000 seats. It is a US-style elliptical racing circuit (the largest of its kind outside of the US), and is used extensively for all kinds of Motor Racing events.

Places of interest

British Grand Prix at Silverstone
Burghley Horse Trials
Crick Boat Show
Hollowell Steam Rally
Northampton Balloon Festival
Rothwell Fair
Rushden Cavalcade
St Crispin Street Fair Colleges

People from Northamptonshire
History of Northamptonshire - Bandwidth saved by RSScache.com (http://www.rsscache.com)

2008-05-01T09:22:00.001-07:00

Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two sides on the side of the North Sea consist of dunes; the rest of its coastline is made up of dykes. Middelburg ("Middleborough") lies at its centre; this city is the provincial capital and Vlissingen 9 km to the south is the main harbour. The third municipality is Veere.
Originally, Walcheren was an island, but polders and a dam across the Sloe strait have connected it to the (former) island of Zuid-Beveland, which in turn has been connected to the North Brabant mainland.

History
Already in Roman days, the island was the point of departure for ships going to England and it had a temple of the goddess Nehalennia who was popular with those who wished to brave the waters of the North Sea. The Romans called it "Wallacra". Walcheren was the seat of the Danish Viking Harald, who conquered the present Netherlands together with his compatriate Rorik (or Rurik) in the 9th century. One fringe theory has it that it was the island described by Ibn Rustah as the seat of the khagan of the Rus'.
Starting on July 30, 1809 a British armed force of 39,000 men landed on Walcheren, the Walcheren Campaign, with a view to assisting the Austrians in their war against Napoleon, and attacking the French fleet moored at Flushing (Vlissingen). The expedition was a disaster - the Austrians had already been defeated at the Battle of Wagram and were suing for peace, the French fleet had moved to Antwerp, and the British lost over 4,000 men to a disease called "Walcheren Fever", thought to be a combination of malaria and typhus. The force was withdrawn in December.
During World War II, the area was fought over in 1940 by Dutch and German troops. The area was again contested in 1944 during the Battle of the Scheldt in the Battle of Walcheren Island. The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division cleared South Beveland to the east and approached the island on 31 October 1944. The plan was to cross the Slooe Channel, but leading troops of the 5th Canadian Brigade found that assault boats were useless in the deep much of the channel. The only route open was the 40 metre wide Walcheren Causeway, a mile-long land bridge from South Beveland to the Island. The Canadian Black Watch sent a company across on the evening of 31 October but were stopped. The Calgary Highlanders sent two companies over in succession, the second attack opening up a bridgehead on the island. The Highlanders were eventually thrown back, having lost 64 killed and wounded. Le Regiment de Maisonneuve relieved them on the causeway, followed by the Glasgow Highlanders of the British Army. Meanwhile, on November 1, 1944, the British Special Service Brigade landed on the western end of the island in order to silence the German coastal batteries looking out over the Scheldt, which was the key opening shipping lanes to Antwerp. The amphibious assault (Operation Infatuate) proved a success and by November 8 all German resistance on the island had been overrun.

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2008-04-30T10:32:00.001-07:00

The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of four language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Nuristani, and Dardic. The term Aryan languages is also used to refer to the Indo-Iranian languages . The speakers of the Proto-Indo-Iranian language, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are usually associated with the late 3rd millennium BC Sintashta-Petrovka culture of Central Asia. Their expansion is believed to have been connected with the invention of the chariot.
The contemporary Indo-Iranian languages form the largest sub-branch of Indo-European, with more than one billion speakers in total, stretching from Europe (Romani) and the Caucasus (Ossetian) to East India (Bengali and Assamese). SIL in a 2005 estimate counts a total of 308 varieties, the largest in terms of native speakers being Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu, ca. 540 million), Bengali (ca. 200 million), Punjabi (ca. 80 million), Marathi and Persian (ca. 70 million each), Gujarati (ca. 45 million), Pashto (40 million), Oriya (ca. 30 million), Kurdish and Sindhi (ca. 20 million each).

Subdivisions
Indo-European topics
Iranian Group:
Indo-Aryan Group:
Dardic languages (sometimes also classified as Indic):
Nuristani languages:

Eastern Iranian

Northeastern
- Avestan (extinct)
  Scythian (extinct)
  - Saka (extinct)
    Ossetian
    Sogdian (extinct)
    Yaghnobi
    Bactrian (extinct)
    Southeastern
    - Pashto
      Pamiri
      Western Iranian
      - Northwestern
        
        Dari language of Zoroastrians
        Balochi
        Gilaki
        Kurdish
        Talysh
        Zazaki
        Southwestern ("Persid")
        
        Old Persian (extinct)
        Middle Persian (extinct)
        New Persian
        
        Tajik
        
        Bukhori
        Luri / Bakhtiari
        Tat
        Vedic Sanskrit
        Sanskrit
        Pāli
        Central Zone
        
        Hindustani
        
        Hindi
        Urdu
        Romani/Romany
        Eastern Zone (Magadhan Prakrit languages)
        
        Angika
        Assamese
        Bengali
        Bhojpuri
        Magadhi
        Maithili
        Oriya
        Northern Zone (Pahari languages)
        
        Nepali
        Northwestern Zone
        
        Punjabi
        Sindhi
        Khojki
        Kutchi
        Rajasthani
        Southern Zone
        
        Dhivehi / Mahl
        Sinhala
        Western Zone
        
        Gujarati
        Konkani
        Marathi
        Dameli
        Domaaki
        Gawar-Bati
        Kalsha-mun
        Kashmiri
        Khowar
        Kohistani
        Ningalami
        Pashayi
        Palula
        Shina
        Shumashti
        Ashkunu (Ashkun)
        Kamkata-viri (Bashgali)
        Vasi-vari (Prasuni)
        Tregami
        Kalasha-ala (Waigali) - Bandwidth saved by RSScache.com (http://www.rsscache.com)

2008-04-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

Fort Ross is a former Russian settlement in what is now Sonoma County, California in the United States. It is a unique site that has recently been the subject of intensive archaeological investigation, and is designated as a National Historic Landmark. Most of the existing buildings on the site are reconstructions. The only original structure remaining is Rotchev House, the residence of the last manager.
The exact origin of the toponym "Ross" is unknown but it is generally considered to be a poetical shortened version of "Rossiya," which is "Russia" in Russian.

History
Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov, a skillful Russian-American Company administrator, served for 22 years in Alaska. He was the founder of Fort Ross and was its colonial administrator from 1812 to 1821.
List of all administrators of the Fort Ross colony:

Ivan A. Kuskov, 1812—1821
Karl J von Schmidt, 1821—1824
Paul I. Shelikhov, 1824—1830
Peter S. Kostromitinov, 1830—1838
Alexander G. Rotchev, 1838—1841 Other meanings

1784 — Russians settle at Kodiak Island, Alaska.
1799 — Russians establish a post at Sitka, Alaska.
1806–1811 — Nikolai Rezanov, representing the Russian-American Company, visits the Presidio of San Francisco and susequently recommends to the Company that a settlement in California be established to supply the Alaskan colonies with food. Ivan Kuskov explores the coast of Alta California.
1812 — Kuskov brought 25 Russians and 80 native Alaskans to the California coast and established Fort Ross.
1821 — Kuskov leaves Fort Ross and is replaced by Karl Schmidt.
1824 — Schmidt leaves Fort Ross and is replaced by Paul Shelikhov.
1830 — Shelikhov leaves Fort Ross and is replaced by Peter Kostromitinov.
1838 — Kostromitinov leaves Fort Ross and is replaced by Alexander Rotchev.
1841 — Rotchev sells Fort Ross to John Sutter.
1906 — The San Francisco earthquake nearly destroys Fort Ross.
1916 — Fort Ross is restored.
1970 — A fire at Fort Ross again nearly destroys the former settlement.
1971 — Fort Ross is once again restored. Buildings

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2008-04-27T08:47:00.001-07:00

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Sweden
Alliance for Sweden (Swedish: Allians för Sverige) is a political alliance in Sweden. It consists of the four centre-right parties in the Riksdag. Although it was formed while in opposition, it achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006, forming the current coalition government.

Constitution
King: Carl XVI Gustaf
Parliament

Speaker: Per Westerberg
Members
Government
- Prime Minister: Fredrik Reinfeldt
  - Cabinet
    Ministries
    - Agencies
      Supreme Court
      Counties
      - Governors
        Administrative Boards
        Councils
        Municipalities
        Sami Parliament
        Elections: 2002 - 2006 - 2010
        Referendums
        Political parties
        Foreign relations
        EU Politics Membership of the Alliance
        Swedish politics has been dominated by the Social Democratic Party for over 70 years. They have been in government for all but nine years (summer of 1936, 1976-1982, 1991-1994) since 1932. The opposition parties decided that this was partly because they did not present a clear and viable alternative government. At a meeting held in the Centre Party leader Maud Olofsson's home in the village of Högfors, the four party leaders decided to form an alliance. The meeting ended on 31 August 2004 with the presentation of a joint declaration outlining the principles under which the four parties intended to fight the election [1]. A year later a similar meeting was held at Christian Democrat leader Göran Hägglund's home in Bankeryd, resulting in the affirmation of the alliance and another declaration [2].
        
        The Alliance in government
        
        Sweden general election, 2006
        Government of Sweden
        Cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt - Bandwidth saved by RSScache.com (http://www.rsscache.com)

2008-04-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

Scots law This article is part of the series: Courts of Scotland
Administration
Scottish Executive Justice Department

Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Scottish Court Service

College of Justice
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
Scottish Prison Service
Civil courts
Privy Council
House of Lords
Court of Session

Lord President
Lords of Session
Sheriff Court

Sheriff
Criminal courts
High Court of Justiciary

Lord Justice-General
Lords Commissioner of Justiciary
Sheriff Court

Sheriff Principal
Sheriff
District Court

Justice of the Peace
Special courts
Court of the Lord Lyon

Lord Lyon King of Arms
Children's Hearings
Criminal justice
Lord Advocate

Crown Office
Advocate Depute
Procurator Fiscal
Advocates and solicitors
Faculty of Advocates

Advocate
Law Society of Scotland

Solicitor-Advocate
Solicitor
Arthur Campbell Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, PC (born Glasgow, 10 June 1942), is Scotland's most senior judge. He was chosen as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session in November 2005, succeeding Lord Cullen.
Arthur Campbell Hamilton was born in Glasgow and attended Glasgow High School. He studied at the University of Glasgow, Worcester College, Oxford University and Edinburgh University, where he gained an LLB in 1967.
He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1968 and became a QC in 1982. He was an Advocate Depute (1982–1985), Chairman of the Medical Appeals Tribunals (1988–1992) and President of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Scotland) (1992–1995). Over several months in 1992–1993, during the indisposition of the Sheriff Principal of Tayside, Central and Fife, he acted as a temporary Sheriff Principal in that sheriffdom. From 1988 to 1995 he was a Judge of Appeal of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey.
In 1995 he was appointed as a Senator of the College of Justice. Between 1997-2000 he was a full-time commercial judge dedicated to commercial business and responsible for oversight of that aspect of Court of Session business. In January 2002 he was appointed as a Judge of the Inner House of the Court of Session where he sat principally on appellate business.
On 24 November 2005, the Scottish Executive announced that he would succeed Lord Cullen as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session. He took up office on 2 December. He took full-time sick leave from April 2006, prompting emergency legislation (the Senior Judiciary (Vacancies and Incapacity) (Scotland) Act 2006) to be passed through the Scottish Parliament in June. He has since returned to work, without the need for the legislation to be invoked.
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2008-04-25T09:47:00.001-07:00

Best Supporting Actress 1974 Murder on the Orient Express
1982 A Woman Called Golda
Best Actress - Miniseries 1983 A Woman Called Golda
Ingrid Bergman (help·info) (pronounced [ˈbærjman] in Swedish, but usually [ˈbɝgmən] in English, IPA notation) (August 29, 1915 – August 29, 1982) was a three-time Academy Award-winning and two-time Emmy Award-winning Swedish actress. She also won the Tony Award for Best Actress in the first Tony Award ceremony in 1947. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute.

Biography
Bergman, named after Princess Ingrid of Sweden , was born in Stockholm, Sweden on August 29, 1915 to a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, and a German mother, Friedel Adler Bergman. When she was three years old, her mother died. Her father passed away when she was thirteen. She was then sent off to live with an aunt, who died of heart complications only six months later. Afterwards she was raised by another aunt and uncle, who had five children.
At the age of 17, Ingrid Bergman auditioned for and was accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. During her first summer break, she was hired at a Swedish film studio, which consequently led to her leaving the Royal Dramatic Theater to work in films full time, after having attended for only one year. Her first film role after leaving the Royal Dramatic Theater was a small part in 1935's Munkbrogreven (She had previously been an extra in the 1932 film Landskamp).
On July 10, 1937, at the age of 21, she married a dentist, Petter Lindström (who would later become a neurosurgeon). On September 20, 1938, she gave birth to a daughter, Pia Lindström.
After a dozen films in Sweden (including En kvinnas ansikte which would later be remade as A Woman's Face with Joan Crawford) and one in Germany, Bergman was signed by Hollywood producer David O. Selznick to star in the 1939 English language remake of her 1936 Swedish language film, Intermezzo. It was an enormous success and Bergman became a star, described as "Sweden's illustrious gift to Hollywood". Some things that set her apart from other female stars in Hollywood at that time were that she did not change her name, her appearance was entirely natural with little to no makeup, and that she was one of the tallest leading ladies.

Early years: 1915-1938
After completing one last film in Sweden and appearing in three moderately successful films in the United States, Bergman joined Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 classic film Casablanca, which remains her best known role.
That same year, she received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), which was also her first color film. The following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Gaslight (1944). She received a third consecutive nomination for Best Actress with her performance as a nun in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). Bergman had been considered for the role of Mother Maria-Veronica in 1944's The Keys of the Kingdom, but the part ultimately went to Rose Stradner, who was then the wife of the film's producer, Joseph Mankiewicz.
Later, she would receive another Best Actress nomination for Joan of Arc (1948), an independent film produced by Walter Wanger and initially released through RKO. Bergman had championed the role since her arrival in Hollywood, which is one of the reasons she had played it on the Broadway stage in Maxwell Anderson's Joan of Lorraine. Partly because of the scandal with Rossellini, the film, based on the Anderson play, was not a big hit, and received disastrous reviews. It was subsequently shorn of 45 minutes, and it was not until its restoration to full length in 1998 and its 2004 appearance on DVD that later audiences could see it as it was intended to be shown.
Bergman also starred in the Alfred Hitchcock films Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946), and Under Capricorn (1949). Unlike her earlier Hitchcock films, Under Capricorn was a slow-paced costume drama, slow to such a degree that Bergman's reputation and the film's release suffered from this, in addition to the gathering adverse publicity over Bergman's affair with Rossellini.
Between motion pictures, Bergman appeared in the stage plays Liliom, Anna Christie, and Joan of Lorraine. Furthermore, during a press conference in Washington, D.C. for the promotion of Joan of Lorraine, she protested against segregation after seeing it first hand at the theater she was acting in. This led to a lot of publicity and some hate mail.
Ingrid Bergman also went to Alaska during World War II in order to entertain troops. Soon after the war ended, she also went to Europe for the same purpose, where she was able to see the devastation caused by the war. It was also during this time that she began a relationship with the famous photographer Robert Capa.

Hollywood period: 1938-1949
In 1949, Bergman met Italian director Roberto Rossellini in order to make the film Stromboli (1950), after having been a fan of two of his previous films that she had seen while in the United States. During the making of this movie, she fell in love with him and became pregnant with a son, Roberto Ingmar Rossellini (born February 7, 1950).
The pregnancy caused a huge scandal in the United States. It even led to her being denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Edwin C. Johnson, a senator from Colorado, who referred to her as "a horrible example of womanhood and a powerful influence for evil." In addition, there was a floor vote, which resulted in her being made persona non grata. The scandal forced Ingrid Bergman to exile herself to Italy, leaving her husband and daughter in the United States. Her husband, Dr. Petter Lindström, eventually sued for desertion and waged a custody battle for their daughter.
Ingrid Bergman married Roberto Rossellini on May 24, 1950. On June 18, 1952, she gave birth to twin daughters, Isabella Rossellini, who is a famous actress and model, and Isotta Ingrid Rossellini. Over the next few years, she appeared in several Italian films for Rossellini, including Giovanna d'Arco al rogo (Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, Joan of Arc at the Stake, 1954), a 1935 dramatic oratorio by Arthur Honegger about Joan of Arc. Their marriage ended in divorce on November 7, 1957.
After separating from Rossellini, she starred in Jean Renoir's Elena and Her Men (Elena et les Hommes, 1956), a romantic comedy where she played a Polish princess caught in political intrigue. Although the film wasn't a success, it has since come to be regarded as one of her best performances.
During her time in Italy, anger over her private life had continued unabated in the United States, with Ed Sullivan at one point infamously polling his TV show audience as to whether she should be forgiven.

Later years: 1957-1982
Ingrid Bergman died in 1982 on her 67th birthday in London, England, following a long battle with breast cancer. Her body was cremated in Sweden. Most of her ashes were scattered in the sea with the remainder being interred in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm next to her parents. A single violin played the song "As Time Goes By", the theme from Casablanca, recalling her most famous role, that of Ilsa Lund.

Death
In 1980, Bergman's autobiography was published under the title Ingrid Bergman: My Story. It was written with the help of Alan Burgess, who had written the book The Small Woman, on which the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness was based. In the book, she discusses her childhood, her early career, her life during her time in Hollywood, the Rossellini scandal and subsequent events. The book was written after her children warned her that she would only be known through rumors and interviews if she did not tell her own story. It was through this autobiography that her affair with Robert Capa became known.

Autobiography
For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Ingrid Bergman has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6759 Hollywood Blvd. She continues to be a cultural icon - not only for her role in Casablanca, but for her career as a whole and for her innocent, natural beauty. In addition, she is considered by many to be one of the foremost actresses of the 20th century.

Legacy

There is a hybrid tea rose named after her.
Although they worked together, Bergman is not related to fellow Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. The fact that Ingmar Bergman married Ingrid von Rosen who subsequently took the name Ingrid Bergman sometimes further contributes to confusion about their relation. Trivia

Awards

Chronology of performances

Filmography

Television credits

Theater credits

Audio recording credits

Radio credits

Ingmar Bergman
Alfred Hitchcock
Gary Cooper
Charles Boyer
Cary Grant
Victor Fleming
Humphrey Bogart
Yul Brynner See also

Notes

Bergman, Ingrid and Burgess, Alan (1980). Ingrid Bergman: My Story. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-440032-99-7.
Chandler, Charlotte (2007). Ingrid: Ingrid Bergman, A Personal Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-9421-1.
Leamer, Laurence (1986). As Time Goes By: The Life of Ingrid Bergman. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-060154-85-3. Biographical profiles

Ingrid Bergman website by her family
Ingrid Bergman site run by CMG
Ingrid Bergman Collection at Wesleyan University Official sites

1943 New York Times Interview
Larry King transcript with Ingrid Bergman's daughters on the 60th anniversary of Casablanca
Excerpt from Isabella Rossellini's Some of Me that describes Ingrid Bergman's passion for cleaning Rich media — video

Radio rich media may be found in the radio credits table.
Ingrid Bergman's Spoken Word Version of The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Audio Recording of Ingrid Bergman in the NY Production of More Stately Mansions (1967) (RealPlayer) - Bandwidth saved by RSScache.com (http://www.rsscache.com)

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Jonathan Wilkes (born August 1, 1978 in Baddeley Green, Stoke-on-Trent) is an English television presenter, actor and musician. Wilkes is arguably as famous as a celebrity footballer as he is for his performance skills, in addition to being best-known as the best friend of singer Robbie Williams.

Performing arts
Wilkes' television career was launched after he won the Cameron Mackintosh Young Entertainer of the Year award in 1996. This led to television work on the BBC Choice (now BBC Three) programme Hype. He soon signed a three-year contract with ITV, fronting You've Been Framed for one series and Love on a Saturday Night. Also a singer, he signed to Innocent Records in 2001 and released "Just Another Day", which charted in many European countries. Recently, he has turned to stage acting and has appeared in recent theatre productions of Grease and The Rocky Horror Show, as well as appearing in Mother Goose - a record-breaking pantomime at The Regent Theatre, in his home town of Stoke-on-Trent. Following record-breaking sales for Mother Goose, Jonathan returned to The Regent Theatre the following year (2006-2007) to appear in Aladdin. Sales for this pantomime surpassed even the previous year and it became the biggest selling show ever at the Stoke-on-Trent theatre.
He joined Robbie Williams on his 2006 Close Encounters Tour, singing two songs (Me and My Shadow and Strong), as well as playing a game of football with Robbie on stage.

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