Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Bill Walton

William Theodore "Bill" Walton III was born on 5 November, 1952 in La Mesa, California, USA. Bill Walton is a retired American basketball player and current television sportscaster. The “Big Red-Head”, as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s and winning 3 straight College Player of the Year Awards and went on to have a prominent career in the NBA. Bill Walton was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on 10 May, 1993 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. Bill Walton is the father of current Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton.

Bill Walton is the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton. At the age of 17, he played for the United States men's national basketball team at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.

Bill Walton played college basketball for John Wooden at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1971 to 1974, winning the national title in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 87-66 win over Memphis State in which the big redhead from San Diego made an impressive 21 of 22 field goal attempts and scored 44 points. Some regard this as the greatest ever offensive performance in American college basketball. The Walton-led 1971-72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30-0, in the process winning its games by an average margin of more than 30points. Bill Walton was the backbone of 2 consecutive 30-0 seasons and was also part of UCLA's NCAA record 88 game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost 5 years, in which Bill Walton's high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time), and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college.

Bill Walton was the 1973 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Bill Walton also received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year as the top college basketball player in the country 3 years in a row while attending UCLA, at the same time earning Academic All-American honours 3 times. Some college basketball historians rate Bill Walton as the greatest who ever played the game at the college level. In Bill Walton's senior year during the 1973-74 season, the school's 88 game winning streak ended with a 71-70 loss to Notre Dame. Coincidentally, the Bruins' last loss was to Notre Dame and Austin Carr in 1971 (89-81). Bill Walton admits the loss to Notre Dame (coached by Digger Phelps) to end the 88-game streak still bothers him more than any other loss in his career. During the same season, UCLA's record 7 consecutive national titles was broken when North Carolina State defeated the Bruins 80-77 in double overtime in the NCAA semi-finals. With Bill Walton's graduation in 1974 and legendary Bruin coach John Wooden's retirement after UCLA's 1975 national title, the unprecedented UCLA dynasty came to an end.

Bill Walton was drafted number 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers and was hailed as the saviour of the franchise. Bill Walton's 1st 2 seasons were marred by injury (at different times he broke his nose, foot, wrist and leg) and the Blazers missed the playoffs both years. It was not until the 1976-77 season that he was healthy enough to play 65 games and, spurred by new head coach Jack Ramsay, the Trail Blazers became the Cinderella team of the NBA. Bill Walton led the NBA in both rebounds per game and blocked shots per game that season and he was selected to the NBA All-Star Game but did not participate due to an injury. Bill Walton was named to the NBA's 1st All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA 2nd Team for his regular season accomplishments. In the postseason, Bill Walton led Portland to a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals (famously outplaying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the series) and went on to help the Trail Blazers to the NBA title over the favoured Philadelphia 76ers despite losing the 1st 2 games of the series. Bill Walton was named the Finals MVP.

The following year, the Blazers won 50 of their 1st 60 games before Bill Walton suffered a broken foot in what turned out to be the 1st in a string of foot and ankle injuries that cut short his career. Bill Walton nonetheless won the league MVP that season (1978) and the Sporting News NBA MVP, as well. Bill Walton played in his only All-Star Game in 1978 and was named to both the NBA's 1st All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA 1st Team. Bill Walton returned to action for the playoffs but was reinjured in the 2nd game of a series against the Seattle SuperSonics. Without Bill Walton to lead them, Portland lost the series to Seattle in 6 games. As it turned out, Bill Walton would never play for the Trail Blazers again. During the offseason, Bill Walton demanded to be traded, citing unethical and incompetent treatment of his and other players' injuries by the Blazers' front office. Bill Walton did not get his wish and sat out the 1978-79 season in protest, signing with the San Diego Clippers when he became a free agent in 1979.

Bill Walton spent several seasons alternating between the court and the disabled list with his hometown San Diego Clippers. After the 1984-85 campaign, Bill Walton called on 2 of the league's premier teams, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. After several players on the Celtics said they liked the idea of having Bill Walton as a teammate backing up Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, Red Auerbach made the deal happen. One anecdote that particularly illustrates Bill Walton's decision to choose the Boston Celtics over the Los Angeles Lakers is about Larry Bird, who happened to be in Auerbach's office when Bill Walton called and said that if Bill Walton felt healthy enough to play that it was good enough for him, as opposed to Los Angeles Lakers GM Jerry West, who was hedging his interest in Bill Walton pending a doctor's report. Boston Celtics acquired Bill Walton by sending popular forward Cedric Maxwell to the San Diego Clippers along with a 1st-round draft pick. Providing a reliable backup to Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, Bill Walton received the NBA 6th Man Award that season en route to the NBA Championship, becoming the only player to have ever won an NBA Finals MVP, 6th Man Award, and regular season MVP. Bill Walton is the last player to win a 6th Man Award the same year he played on an NBA Champion-winning team.

Bill Walton injured himself again the following season, but returned for the 1987 playoffs. Bill Walton spent the 1987-88 season on the injured list. Bill Walton attempted a comeback in February 1990, but injury intervened and he retired from the game. Bill Walton's ankle problems became so severe years later that he had both his ankles surgically fused. Bill Walton's saga of injury and failed rehabs was connected to the use of pain killers by the doctor who was assigned to his case. Bill Walton has said repeatedly in his broadcasts that he is just as much to blame for taking the medication as the doctor was for giving it to him. Yet his experience with injuries and the circumstances surrounding them have come to serve as a warning for professional athletes who undergo major injury as well as being an interesting case study for medical ethics. Bill Walton's injuries, along with his 1978-1979 year-long protest, gave him an unpleasant, if not odd, record. Bill Walton holds the record for the most games missed during an NBA playing career, when taking into account the number of years he was officially listed as a player on a team roster.

Bill Walton was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and had his number 32 retired by the Blazers in 1989. In 1996, he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time.

Since his retirement as a player, Bill Walton has overcome a severe stuttering problem to become a successful and controversial NBA colour commentator for NBC(1990-2002), Los Angeles Clippers (1990-2002) and ABC/ESPN (since 2002).

Bill Walton's trademark catchphrases include, "That's a terrible call! Terrible," "Where in the world is [x]?" (for a player who has disappeared from a game), "What is a foul?", "Dial a violation," "He couldn't even inbound the ball!", "Throw it down, big man! Throw it down!", and "Basketball is a game played by men competing for the ultimate prize". In addition after a predominantly one-handed player makes a basket going to his strong hand Bill Walton will summarize the action and then say, "He's left-handed by the way Marv" or "Someone should tell player x that player y is left-handed and promises to be so for the remainder of the game," intimating that perhaps the defender should defend that side of the player. Bill Walton typically is paired up with Steve "Snapper" Jones for NBA games due to him and Steve Jones having a point-counterpoint banter during games. Despite their frequent on-air argumentative banter they are actually good friends as was evidenced in Bill Walton's short lived 2003 TV series Bill Walton's Long Strange Trip.

In addition, his commentary during games is notable for his frequent use of hyperbole. In one instance where Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs had a pass deflected out of bounds by a defender, Bill Walton stated, "Tony Parker just made the worst pass in the history of Western civilization!" Often this is done to intentional or perhaps unintentional comedic effect. Bill Walton also is rumoured to have challenged Marv Albert to a wrestling cage match and was considered "out of line" for the provocation. During one game he announced, Bill Walton stated, "I am the hero, I am No. 1, I can go in there and shake and bake all those youngins and teach them some real basketball so they can stop their complaining".

Bill Walton currently resides in his hometown of San Diego with his wife Lori. Bill Walton and his 1st wife, Susie, have 4 sons: Adam, Nathan, Luke, and Chris. Luke, although not as tall as his father, played collegiately for the University of Arizona and now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers as a forward. Another of Bill Walton's sons, Chris, played for San Diego State University. Nate, his middle son, played basketball at Princeton University but then entered the corporate world and earned his MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. (Bill Walton himself attended Stanford Law School for 2 years but never graduated.) Nate was also on the ballot for the 2003 California Recall Election, receiving 1,697 votes. Bill Walton's other son, Adam, also played NCAA basketball at LSU.

Bill Walton is also a well-known fan of the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young, Phish, and Bob Dylan. Bill Walton attended more than 650 Grateful Dead concerts, including traveling with the band to Egypt for its famous 1978 performance before the Pyramids (joining the band on drums), quotes Dead lyrics in TV and radio interviews. To fellow Deadheads, Bill Walton is fondly known as "Grateful Red" and the "Big Red Deadhead" and "World's Tallest Deadhead". In the video for "Touch of Grey", Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart is wearing a Celtics jacket that was given to him by Bill Walton. In 2001, Bill Walton was officially inducted into The Grateful Dead Hall of Honour.

Bill Walton expounds upon his music interests on his own satellite radio show, One More Saturday Night (named after the Dead song "One More Saturday Night"), heard during late prime time on Sirius Radio's Jam On channel. Bill Walton has stated in his online introduction to his radio show column that he enjoys going to concerts alone because then he has fewer things in between him and reaching the omega point that all concert goers seek at shows.

Bill Walton still has a committed relationship with the Boston Celtics, if not professionally, as a fan. Despite the area where he grew up, and the team his son Luke plays for, Bill Walton is careful to point out, "Even though I grew up in the heart of Laker country, the Boston Celtics were always MY team". Bill Walton also keeps a picture of the floor of the old Boston Garden in his kitchen.

In June 2008, he was asked by ESPN to predict the outcome of the NBA finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, their 1st meeting in the finals since 1987, his 2nd and final as player for Boston Celtics. Bill Walton predicted the Boston Celtics would take the series in 6 games, a prediction that came true on 17th of that month.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Austin Pendleton

Austin Pendleton was born on 27 March, 1940 in Warren, Ohio, USA. Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.

Austin Pendleton is a graduate of Yale University, where he was a member of Scroll and Key Society. As a stage actor, he has appeared in The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance), The Diary of Anne Frank, Grand Hotel, Goodtime Charley, The Little Foxes, Fiddler on the Roof, and Up from Paradise.

Austin Pendleton penned the plays Uncle Bob, Booth, and Orson's Shadow, all of which were staged off-Broadway. Austin Pendleton's direction of Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes garnered him a Tony Award nomination. Additional directing credits include Spoils of War by Michael Weller, The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt, and The Size of the World by Charles Evered.

Austin Pendleton served as Artistic Director for Circle Repertory Company with associate artistic director Lynne Thigpen.

Austin Pendleton is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. began his artistic relationship there by directing Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie for the 1979-80 season. In addition to directing at Steppenwolf, Austin Pendleton has appeared as an actor in such Steppenwolf productions as Uncle Vanya, Valparaiso and Educating Rita.

Austin Pendleton has had several television roles as well including a recurring role on HBO's Oz as the mentally unstable murderer William Giles. Austin Pendleton did his voice-over work as Gurgle in Finding Nemo.

In August 2006, Austin Pendleton appeared as the Chaplain in Bertholt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater production directed by George C. Wolfe at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York City.

In 2007, he appeared as Friar Lawrence in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Austin Pendleton Pendleton currently teaches acting at the HB Studio and directing at The New School for Drama, both in Greenwich Village.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Arthur Blank

Arthur M. Blank was born on 27 September, 1942, in Sunnyside, New York, USA. Arthur Blank is an American businessman and a co-founder of Home Depot. Today he is known for his philanthropy and his ownership of the Atlanta Falcons team in the National Football League and the Georgia Force team in the Arena Football League.

Arthur Blank grew up in Flushing, New York, with his father, Max, his mother, Molly, and his older brother, Michael. Arthur Blank graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and went on to attend Babson College, where he graduated in 3 years in 1963 with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. In 2009, Arthur Blank was awarded by prestigious Georgia Speaker of the Year by Emory's Barkley Forum Debate Society.

After graduating from college, Arthur Blank was hired by Handy Dan Hardware, and worked his way up through the company to become a regional manager. Arthur Blank was fired in 1978 for a disagreement with executives.

In 1978, Arthur Blank co-founded Home Depot with Bernie Marcus, another former Handy Dan manager. New York investment banker Ken Langone assembled the initial group of investors. The store revolutionized the home improvement business with its warehouse concept and Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus became billionaires as a result. Arthur Blank spent 19 years as the company's chief financial officer before succeeding Bernie Marcus as CEO. Arthur Blank retired from the company in 2001 as co-chairman.

In February 2002, Arthur Blank purchased the Atlanta Falcons franchise in the National Football League from longtime owner Taylor Smith. In September 2004, he bought the Arena Football League franchise, the Georgia Force; he moved the team back to the city of Atlanta after it had spent several years in suburban Gwinnett County.

Arthur Blank has expressed serious interest in purchasing other Atlanta franchises. In early 2006, he temporarily withdrew from contention as a potential buyer of the Major League Baseball team Atlanta Braves. Some months later, Arthur Blank re-entered serious talks with Time Warner and a report indicated that a sale was imminent. However, in February 2007, the Atlanta Braves completed the sale of the team to Liberty Media. Arthur Blank has also spoke of purchasing an expansion franchise in Major League Soccer. Atlanta is currently being considered for MLS expansion.

Arthur Blank is the Chairman, President, and CEO of AMB Group, LLC, and the Arthur Blank Family Foundation. Arthur Blank serves on the Board of Trustees of Emory University. Arthur Blank is married with Stephanie and they have 6 children and 2 grandchildren. As of 17 September, 2008, his net worth was estimated at $1.3,000,000,000. Arthur Blank was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2006. Arthur Blank and his wife reside in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, along with their 3 youngest children. A strong believer in work-life balance, Arthur Blank still makes time daily for working out and spending time with family.

In 2009, Arthur Blank was named Georgia Speaker of the Year by the Barkley Forum debating society of Emory University.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Enoch Bennett

Enoch Arnold Bennett was born on 27 May 1867 in a modest house in Hanley, one of a conurbation of 6 towns which joined together at the beginning of the 20th century as Stoke-on-Trent, in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Enoch Bennett died on 27 March 1931 of typhoid at his home in Baker Street, London, England, UK. Enoch Bennett's ashes are buried in Burslem cemetery. Their daughter Virginia Eldin lived in France and was president of the Arnold Bennett Society.

Enoch Bennett was an English novelist.

Enoch Bennett's father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the family were able to move to a larger house between Hanley and Burslem. The younger Enoch Bennett was educated locally in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Enoch Bennett was employed by his father - his duties included rent collecting. Enoch Bennett was unhappy working for his father for little financial reward, and the theme of parental miserliness is important in his novels. In his spare time he was able to do a little journalism, but his breakthrough as a writer was to come after he had moved from his native Potteries. At the age of 21, he left his father's practice and went to London as a solicitor's clerk.

Enoch Bennett won a literary competition in Tit-Bits magazine in 1889 and was encouraged to take up journalism full time. In 1894, he became assistant editor of the periodical Woman. Enoch Bennett noticed that the material offered by a syndicate to the magazine was not very good, so he wrote a serial which was bought by the syndicate for £75.00. Enoch Bennett then wrote another. This became The Grand Babylon Hotel. Just over 4 years later, his 1st novel A Man from the North was published to critical acclaim and he became editor to the magazine.

From 1900 he devoted himself full time to writing, giving up the editorship and writing much serious criticism, and also theatre journalism, one of his special interests. Enoch Bennett moved to Trinity Hall Farm, Hockliffe, Bedfordshire, on Watling Street, which was the inspiration for his novel Teresa of Watling Street, which came out in 1904. Enoch Bennett's father Enoch Bennett died there in 1902, and is buried in Chalgrove churchyard. In 1902, Anna of the 5 Towns, the 1st of a succession of stories which detailed life in the Potteries, appeared.

In 1903, he moved to Paris, where other great artists from around the world had converged on Montmartre and Montparnasse. Enoch Bennett spent the next 8 years writing novels and plays. In 1908 The Old Wives' Tale was published, and was an immediate success throughout the English-speaking world. After a visit to America in 1911, where he had been publicised and acclaimed as no other visiting writer since Dickens, he returned to England where Old Wives' Tale was reappraised and hailed as a masterpiece. During the First World War, he became Director of Propaganda at the War Ministry. Enoch Bennett refused a knighthood in 1918. Enoch Bennett won the 1923 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Riceyman Steps and in 1926, at the suggestion of Lord Beaverbrook, he began writing an influential weekly article on books for the Evening Standard newspaper.

Osbert Sitwell, in a letter to James Agate, notes that Enoch Bennett was not, despite current views, "the typical businessman, with his mean and narrow outlook". Osbert Sitwell cited a letter from Enoch Bennett to a friend of James Agate, who remains anonymous, in Ego 5:

I find I am richer this year than last; so I enclose a cheque for £500.00 for you to distribute among young writers and artists and musicians who may need the money. You will know, better than I do, who they are. But I must make one condition, that you do not reveal that the money has come from me, or tell anyone about it.

Enoch Bennett separated from his French wife in 1922, and fell in love with the actress Dorothy Cheston, with whom he stayed for the rest of his life.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Antonio Bassolino

Antonio Bassolino, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was born on 20 March, 1947 in Afragola, Campania. Antonio Bassolino is an Italian politician. Antonio Bassolino is currently President of the Campania region.

At the age of 17 he entered the Federation of Young Italian Communists, and in 1970 became member of the regional council for the Italian Communist Party (PCI), and, the following year, secretary of the party section in Avellino. Antonio Bassolino held the latter position until 1975, when he became regional secretary for the PCI; from 1972, he was member of the party's national committee. In 1987, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in the college of Catanzaro, becoming president of the Parliament media committee in 1990.

In the process leading to the split-up of the PCI into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Party of the Communist Refoundation (PRC), Antonio Bassolino represented the moderate wing that sought mediation. Eventually, he joined the PDS.

In 1992, he was re-elected to the Chamber, and, in 1993, he was sent to Naples to reform the local section of PDS — which had been involved in the Tangentopoli bribe scandal. It was there that he gained fame as a "hardman," a reputation which surfaced during the subsequent election for mayor, which he won by defeating the right-wing candidate, Alessandra Mussolini.

Antonio Bassolino's years as mayor of Naples are generally viewed as a period of civil, economical and social renaissance for the city. In 1997 he was re-elected, this time with the 72.9% of the votes. In October 1998, Premier Massimo D'Alema nominated him Minister of Welfare; however, after the assassination of his advisor Massimo D'Antona in October 1999, Antonio Bassolino resigned in order to focus his activities on Naples.

In 2000, he ran for the presidency of Campania, which raised some controversies. Antonio Bassolino was elected with 54.3% of the votes, and, in the elections of April 2005, with 61.6%. Among his accomplishments as governor of Campania are the construction of a regional metropolitan rail service and the new TAV station for high-speed trains in his native Afragola. Antonio Bassolino received the "Gold Star" Prize for his commitment to developing tourism and cultural ventures in Naples during his years as mayor. Antonio Bassolino's essays include Mezzogiorno alla prova (1980) and La repubblica delle città (1996).

However, it has been argued that, under his administration, the regional debt has doubled. Moreover and more importantly Antonio Bassolino has a considerable share of responsibility in the environmental disaster in the Campania region due to the deficiencies of the rubbish collection and treatment systems. In fact Antonio Bassolino is 1 of the 29 people remanded for trial and accused of involvement in ongoing aggravated fraud against the State and fraud regarding public works. The collapse of the services which were supposed to collect and treat the rubbish led to accumulation or garbage in the streets of the major urban centres to the point that schools and other public places had to be closed for some days and tourism declined substantially in 2008. As a result of this an increasing number of citizens and associations have been vocally calling for Antonio Bassolino's resignation.

Antonio Bassolino is married to Anna Maria Carloni and was elected to the Senate in the XV legislature.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Aneurin Bevan

Aneurin Bevan, usually known as Nye Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, in the South Wales Valleys and on the northern edge of the South Wales coalfield and died on 6 July 1960. Aneurin Bevan was a Welsh Labour politician. Aneurin Bevan was a key figure on the left of the party in the mid-20th century and was the Minister of Health responsible for the formation of the National Health Service.

Aneurin Bevan was the son of miner David Bevan. Both Aneurin Bevan's parents were Nonconformists; his father was a Baptist and his mother a Methodist. 1 of 10 children, Aneurin Bevan did poorly at school and his academic performance was so bad that his headmaster made him repeat a year. At the age of 13, Aneurin Bevan left school and began working in the local Tytryst Colliery. David Bevan had been a supporter of the Liberal Party in his youth, but was converted to socialism by the writings of Robert Blatchford in the Clarion and joined the Independent Labour Party.

David Bevan's son also joined the Tredegar branch of the South Wales Miners' Federation and became a trade union activist: he was head of his local Miners' Lodge at only 19. Aneurin Bevan became a well-known local orator and was seen by his employers, the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company, as a revolutionary. The manager of the colliery found an excuse to get him sacked. But, with the support of the Miners' Federation, the case was judged as one of victimisation and the company was forced to re-employ him.

In 1919, he won a scholarship to the Central Labour College in London, sponsored by the South Wales Miners' Federation. At the college he gained his life-long respect for Karl Marx. Reciting long passages by William Morris, Aneurin Bevan gradually began to overcome the stammer that he had since he was a child.

Upon returning home in 1921, he found that the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company refused to re-hire him. Aneurin Bevan did not find work until 1924 in the Bedwellty Colliery, and it closed down after 10 months. Aneurin Bevan had to endure another year of unemployment and in February 1925, his father died of pneumoconiosis.

In 1926, he found work again, this time as a paid union official. Aneurin Bevan's wage of £5 a week was paid by the members of the local Miners' Lodge. Aneurin Bevan's new job arrived in time for him to head the local miners against the colliery companies in what would become the General Strike. When the strike started on 3 May, 1926, Aneurin Bevan soon emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. The miners remained on strike for 6 months. Aneurin Bevan was largely responsible for the distribution of strike pay in Tredegar and the formation of the Council of Action, an organisation that helped to raise money and provided food for the miners.

Aneurin Bevan was a member of the Cottage Hospital Management Committee around 1928 and was chairman in 1929/30.

In 1928, Aneurin Bevan won a seat on Monmouthshire County Council. With that success he was picked as the Labour Party candidate for Ebbw Vale (displacing the sitting MP), and easily held the seat at the 1929 General Election. In Parliament he soon became noticed as a harsh critic of those he felt opposed the working man. Aneurin Bevan's targets included the Conservative Winston Churchill and the Liberal Lloyd George, as well as Ramsay MacDonald and Margaret Bondfield from his own Labour party (he targeted the latter for her unwillingness to increase unemployment benefits). Aneurin Bevan had solid support from his constituency, being one of the few Labour MPs to be unopposed in the 1931 General Election.

Soon after he entered parliament Aneurin Bevan was briefly attracted to Oswald Mosley's arguments, in the context of Ramsay Macdonald's government's incompetent handling of rising unemployment. However, in the words of his biographer John Campbell, "he breached with Oswald Mosley as soon as Oswald Mosley breached with the Labour Party". This is symptomatic of his lifelong commitment to the Labour Party, which was a result of his firm belief that only a Party supported by the British Labour Movement could have a realistic chance of attaining political power for the working class. Thus, for Aneurin Bevan, joining Oswald Mosley's New Party was not an option. Aneurin Bevan is said to have predicted that Oswald Mosley would end up as a Fascist.

Aneurin Bevan married fellow socialist MP Jennie Lee in 1934. Aneurin Bevan was an early supporter of the socialists in Spain and visited the country in the 1930s. In 1936 he joined the board of the new socialist newspaper the Tribune. Aneurin Bevan's agitations for a united socialist front of all parties of the left (including the Communist Party of Great Britain) led to his brief expulsion from the Labour Party in March to November 1939 (along with Stafford Cripps and C.P. Trevelyan). But, he was readmitted in November 1939 after agreeing "to refrain from conducting or taking part in campaigns in opposition to the declared policy of the Party."

Aneurin Bevan was a strong critic of the policies of Neville Chamberlain, arguing that his old enemy Winston Churchill should be given power. During the war he was one of the main leaders of the left in the Commons, opposing the wartime Coalition government. Aneurin Bevan opposed the heavy censorship imposed on radio and newspapers and wartime Defence Regulation 18B, which gave the Home Secretary the powers to intern citizens without trial. Aneurin Bevan called for the nationalisation of the coal industry and advocated the opening of a 2nd Front in Western Europe in order to help the Soviet Union in its fight with Germany. Winston Churchill responded by calling Aneurin Bevan "... a squalid nuisance".

Aneurin Bevan believed that the 2nd World War would give Britain the opportunity to create "a new society". Aneurin Bevan often quoted an 1855 passage from Karl Marx: "The redeeming feature of war is that it puts a nation to the test. As exposure to the atmosphere reduces all mummies to instant dissolution, so war passes supreme judgment upon social systems that have outlived their vitality." At the beginning of the 1945 general election campaign Aneurin Bevan told his audience: "We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers, now we are the builders. We enter this campaign at this general election, not merely to get rid of the Tory majority. We want the complete political extinction of the Tory Party."

After World War II, when the Communists took control of China. Parliament debated the merits of recognizing the Communist government. Winston Churchill, no friend of Aneurin Bevan or Mao Zedong, commented that recognition would be advantageous to the United Kingdom for various reasons and added, "Just because you recognize someone does not mean you like him. We all, for example, recognize the Right Honourable Member from Ebbw Vale."

The 1945 General Election proved to be a landslide victory for the Labour Party, giving it a large enough majority to allow the implementation of the party's manifesto commitments and to introduce a programme of far-reaching social reforms that were collectively dubbed the 'Welfare State'. The new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, appointed Aneurin Bevan as Minister of Health, with a remit that also covered Housing. Thus, the responsibility for instituting a new and comprehensive National Health Service, as well as tackling the country's severe post-war housing shortage, fell to the youngest member of Clement Attlee's Cabinet in his first ministerial position. The free health service was paid for directly through government income, with no fees paid at the point of delivery. Government income was increased for the Welfare state expenditure by a severe increase in marginal tax rates for wealthy business owners in particular, as part of what the Labour government largely saw as the redistribution of the wealth created by the working class from the owners of large-scale industry to the workers.

On the "appointed day", 5 July 1948, having overcome political opposition from both the Conservative Party and from within his own party, and after a dramatic showdown with the British Medical Association, which had threatened to derail the National Health Service scheme before it had even begun, as medical practitioners continued to withhold their support just months before the launch of the service, Aneurin Bevan's National Health Service Act of 1946 came into force. After 18 months of ongoing dispute between the Ministry of Health and the BMA, Aneurin Bevan finally managed to win over the support of the vast majority of the medical profession by offering a couple of minor concessions, but without compromising on the fundamental principles of his NHS proposals. Aneurin Bevan later gave the famous quote that, in order for the broker to the deal, he had "stuffed their mouths with gold". Some 2,688 voluntary and municipal hospitals in England and Wales were nationalised and came under Aneurin Bevan's supervisory control as Health Minister.

Substantial bombing damage and the continued existence of pre-war slums in many parts of the country made the task of housing reform particularly challenging for Aneurin Bevan. Indeed, these factors, exacerbated by post-war restrictions on the availability of building materials and skilled labour, collectively served to limit Aneurin Bevan's achievements in this area. 1946 saw the completion of 55,600 new homes; this rose to 139,600 in 1947, and 227,600 in 1948. While this was not an insignificant achievement, Aneurin Bevan's rate of housebuilding was seen as less of an achievement than that of his Conservative (indirect) successor, Harold Macmillan, who was able to complete some 300,000 a year as Minister for Housing in the 1950s. Harold Macmillan was able to concentrate full-time on Housing, instead of being obliged, like Aneurin Bevan, to combine his housing portfolio with that for Health (which for Aneurin Bevan took the higher priority). However critics said that the cheaper housing built by Harold Macmillan was exactly the poor standard of housing that Aneurin Bevan was aiming to replace. Harold Macmillan's policies led to the building of cheap, mass-production high-rise tower blocks, which have been heavily criticised since.

Aneurin Bevan was appointed Minister of Labour in 1951 but soon resigned in protest at Hugh Gaitskell's introduction of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles -- created in order to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War. 2 other Ministers, John Freeman and Harold Wilson resigned at the same time.

In 1952 Aneurin Bevan published In Place of Fear, "the most widely read socialist book" of the period, according to a highly critical right-wing Labour MP Anthony Crosland. Aneurin Bevan begins: "A young miner in a South Wales colliery, my concern was with the one practical question: Where does power lie in this particular state of Great Britain, and how can it be attained by the workers?" In 1954, Hugh Gaitskell beat Aneurin Bevan in a hard fought contest to be the Treasurer of the Labour Party.

Out of the Cabinet, Aneurin Bevan soon initiated a split within the Labour Party between the right and the left. For the next 5 years, Aneurin Bevan was the leader of the left-wing of the Labour Party, who became known as Bevanites. They criticised high defence expenditure (especially for nuclear weapons) and opposed the more reformist stance of Clement Attlee. When the 1st British hydrogen bomb was exploded in 1955, Aneurin Bevan led a revolt of 57 Labour MPs and abstained on a key vote. The Parliamentary Labour Party voted 141 to 113 to withdraw the whip from him, but it was restored within a month due to his popularity.

After the 1955 general election, Clement Attlee retired as leader. Aneurin Bevan contested the leadership against both Morrison and Labour right-winger Hugh Gaitskell but it was Hugh Gaitskell who emerged victorious. Aneurin Bevan's remark that "I know the right kind of political Leader for the Labour Party is a kind of desiccated calculating machine" was assumed to refer to Hugh Gaitskell, although Aneurin Bevan denied it (commenting upon Hugh Gaitskell's record as Chancellor of the Exchequer as having "proved" this). However, Hugh Gaitskell was prepared to make Aneurin Bevan Shadow Colonial Secretary, and then Shadow Foreign Secretary in 1956. In this position, he was a vocal critic of the government's actions in the Suez Crisis, noticeably delivering high profile speeches in Trafalgar Square on 4 November 1956 at a protest rally, and devastating the government's actions and arguments in the House of Commons on 5 December 1956. That year, he was finally elected as party treasurer, beating George Brown.

Aneurin Bevan dismayed many of his supporters when, speaking at the 1957 Labour Party conference, he decried unilateral nuclear disarmament, saying "It would send a British Foreign Secretary naked into the conference-chamber". This statement is often misconstrued. Aneurin Bevan argued that unilateralism would result in Britain's loss of allies. One interpretation of Aneurin Bevan's metaphor is that the nakedness comes from the lack of allies, not the lack of weapons. According to the journalist Paul Routledge, Donald Bruce, a former MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary and adviser to Aneurin Bevan, had told him that Aneurin Bevan's shift on the disarmament issue was the result of discussions with the Soviet government where they advised him to push for British retention of nuclear weapons so they could possibly be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States. It should be noted that the UK was the only country apart from the superpowers of the USA and USSR to possess nuclear weapons at the time.

In 1959 despite suffering from terminal cancer, Aneurin Bevan was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Aneurin Bevan could do little in his new role and died the next year at the age of 62.

Aneurin Bevan's last speech in the House of Commons, in which Aneurin Bevan referred to the difficulties of persuading the electorate to support a policy which would make them less well-off in the short term but more prosperous in the long term, was quoted extensively in subsequent years.

In 2004, over 40 years after his death, he was voted 1st in a list of 100 Welsh Heroes, this being credited much to his contribution to the Welfare State after World War II.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Alvin Lucier

Alvin Lucier was born on 14 May, in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1931. Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. Alvin Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma. Much of his work is influenced by science and explores the physical properties of sound itself: resonance of spaces, phase interference between closely-tuned pitches, and the transmission of sound through physical media.

Alvin Lucier educated in Nashua public and parochial schools and the Portsmouth Abbey School, Yale University and Brandeis University. In 1958 and 1959, Alvin Lucier studied with Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland at the Tanglewood Center. In 1960, Alvin Lucier left for Rome on a Fulbright Fellowship, where he befriended American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski and witnessed performances by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor that provided compelling alternatives to his classical training. Alvin Lucier returned from Rome in 1962 to take up a position at Brandeis as director of the University Chamber Chorus, which presented classical vocal works alongside modern compositions and new commissions. At a 1963 Chamber Chorus concert at New York's Town Hall, Alvin Lucier met Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley, experimental composers who were also directors of the ONCE Festival, an annual multi-media event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A year later, Mumma and Ashley invited the Chamber Chorus to the ONCE Festival; and, in 1966, Alvin Lucier reciprocated by inviting Mumma, Ashley, and mutual friend David Behrman to Brandeis for a concert of works by the 4 composers. Based on the success of that concert, Alvin Lucier, Mumma, Ashley, and Behrman embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe under the name the Sonic Arts Group (at Ashley's suggestion, the name was later changed to the Sonic Arts Union). More a musical collective than a proper quartet, the Sonic Arts Union presented works by each of its members, sharing equipment and assisting when necessary. Performing and touring together for a decade, the Sonic Arts Union became inactive in 1976. In 1970, Alvin Lucier left Brandeis for Wesleyan University. In 1972, Alvin Lucier became a musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company, a position he held until 1979.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Alfred Kazin

Alfred Kazin was born on 5 June, 1915 and died on 5 June, 1998. Alfred Kazin was an American writer and literary critic, many of whose writings depicted the immigrant experience in early 20th century America.

Alfred Kazin is regarded as one of "The New York Intellectuals", and like many other members of this group he was born in Brooklyn and attended the City College of New York. However, his politics were more moderate than most of the New York intellectuals, many of whom were socialists. Alfred Kazin wrote out of a great passion-- or great disgust -- for what he was reading and embedded his opinions in a deep knowledge of history, both literary history and politics and culture. Alfred Kazin was a friend of the political theorist Hannah Arendt. In 1996 he was awarded the 1st Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award for literary criticism.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................

Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Aesop

Aesop (also spelled Æsop or Esop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος—Aisōpos) (620-560 BC), known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a slave (δούλος) who was a contemporary of Croesus and Peisistratus in the mid-sixth century BC in Acient Greek.

The various collections that go under the rubric "Aesop's Fables" are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for various entertainments, especially children's plays and cartoons.

Most of what are known as Aesopic fables is a compilation of tales from various sources, many of which originated with authors who lived long before Aesop.

Aesop himself is said to have composed many fables, which were passed down by oral tradition. Socrates was said by Plato in the Phaedo to have spent his time turning Aesop’s fables into verse while he was in prison. Demetrius Phalereus, another Greek philosopher, made the first collection of these fables around 300 BC. This was later translated into Latin by Phaedrus, a slave himself, around 25 BC. The fables from these 2 collections were soon brought together and were eventually retranslated into Greek by Babrius around A.D. 230. Many additional fables were included, and the collection was in turn translated to Arabic and Hebrew, further enriched by additional fables from these cultures.

Most of Aesop's fables had animals as main characters, such as the Tortoise and the Hare, or the Ant and the Grasshopper.

The place of Aesop's birth was and still is disputed: Amorium, Phrygia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Samos, Athens, Sardis and Thrace all claimed the honour. It has been argued by modern writers that he may have been of African origin: the scholar Richard Lobban has argued that his name is likely derived from "Aethiopian", a word used by the Greeks to refer mostly to dark-skinned people of the African interior. Aesop continues by pointing out that the stories are populated by animals present in Africa, many of the creatures being quite foreign to Greece and Europe.

The 31st Sura of the Qu'ran refers to a man named Lokman. Often confused with Aesop, and having lived several centuries earlier, Aesop's fables may be derived from the works of Lokman.

The life of Aesop himself is shrouded in obscurity. Aesop is said to have lived as a slave in Samos around 550 B.C. An ancient account of his life is found in The Book of Xanthus the Philosopher and His Slave Aesop.

According to the sparse information gathered about him from references to him in several Greek works (he was mentioned by Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle), Aesop was a slave for someone called Xanthus (Ξανθος), who resided on the island of Samos. Aesop must have been freed, for he conducted the public defense of a certain Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 20). Aesop subsequently lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the 7 Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. During the reign of Peisistratus he was said to have visited Athens, where he told the fable of The Frogs Who Desired a King to dissuade the citizens from attempting to depose Peisistratus for another ruler. A contrary story, however, said that Aesop spoke up for the common people against tyranny through his fables, which incensed Peisistratus, who was against free speech.

According to the historian Herodotus, Aesop met with a violent death at the hands of the inhabitants of Delphi, though the cause was not stated. Various suggestions were made by later writers, such as his insulting sarcasms, the embezzlement of money entrusted to him by Croesus for distribution at Delphi, and his alleged sacrilege of a silver cup. A pestilence that ensued was blamed on his execution, and the Delphians declared their willingness to make compensation, which, in default of a nearer connection, was claimed by Iadmon (Ιάδμων), grandson of Aesop's former master.

Popular stories surrounding Aesop were assembled in a vita prefixed to a collection of fables under his name, compiled by Maximus Planudes, a 14th-century monk. Aesop was by tradition extremely ugly and deformed, which is the sole basis for making a grotesque marble figure in the Villa Albani, Rome, a "portrait of Aesop". This biography had actually existed a century before Planudes. It appeared in a 13th-century manuscript found in Florence. However, according to another Greek historian Plutarch's account of the symposium of the 7 Sages, at which Aesop was a guest, there were many jests on his former servile status, but nothing derogatory was said about his personal appearance. Aesop's deformity was further disputed by the Athenians, who erected in his honour a noble statue by the sculptor Lysippus.

Aesop must have received his freedom from Iadmon, or he could not have conducted the public defence of a certain Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 20). According to the story, he subsequently lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the Seven Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. During the reign of Peisistratus he is said to have visited Athens, on which occasion he related the fable of The Frogs asking for a King, to dissuade the citizens from attempting to exchange Peisistratus for another ruler. The popular stories current regarding him are derived from a life, or rather romance, prefixed to a book of fables, purporting to be his, collected by Maximus Planudes, a monk of the 14th century. In this he is described as a monster of ugliness and deformity, as he is also represented in a well-known marble figure in the Villa Albani at Rome. That this life, however, was in existence a century before Planudes, appears from a 13th-century MS. of it found at Florence. The obscurity in which the history of Aesop is involved has induced some scholars to deny his existence altogether.

It is probable that Aesop did not commit his fables to writing; Aristophanes (Wasps, 1259) represents Philocleon as having learnt the "absurdities" of Aesop from conversation at banquets, and Socrates whiled away his time in prison by turning some of Aesop's fables "which he knew" into verse (Plato, Phaedo, 61 b). Demetrius of Phalerum (345-283 B.C.) made a collection in ten books, probably in prose (Lopson Aisopeion sunagogai) for the use of orators, which has been lost. Next appeared an edition in elegiac verse, often cited by Suidas, but the author's name is unknown. Babrius, according to Crusius, a Roman and tutor to the son of Alexander Severus, turned the fables into choliambics in the earlier part of the 3rd century A.D. The most celebrated of the Latin adapters is Phaedrus, a freedman of Augustus. Avianus (of uncertain date, perhaps the 4th century) translated 42 of the fables into Latin elegiacs. The collections which we possess under the name of Aesop's Fables are late renderings of Babrius's Version or Progumnasmata, rhetorical exercises of varying age and merit. Syntipas translated Babrius into Syriac, and Andreopulos put the Syriac back again into Greek. Ignatius Diaconus, in the 9th century, made a version of 55 fables in choliambic tetrameters. Stories from Oriental sources were added, and from these collections Maximus Planudes made and edited the collection which has come down to us under the name of Aesop, and from which the popular fables of modern Europe have been derived.

Keep visiting: www.lifechums.com more celebrities featuring shortly ................