Julian Assange says he will leave Ecuadorian government office soon

Julian Assange says he will leave Ecuadorian government office soon

Wikileaks organizer, who has inhabited the international safe haven for two years, releases reports that he is to surrender himself to UK powers

Julian Assange affirms he is leaving the Ecuadorian government office Link to feature: Julian Assange says he is leaving the Ecuadorian consulate

Julian Assange has repelled reports that he is wanting to leave the Ecuadorian government office keeping in mind the end goal to hand himself into police, saying just that he will leave "soon".

Media reports had surfaced in front of a public interview on Monday morning proposing that the Wikileaks originator planned quickly to surrender himself to the British powers. Assange has been limited in the international safe haven for more than two years in the wake of being allowed political refuge.

Anyhow when addressed by journalists close by Ecuador's remote priest Ricardo Patiño, Assange said Wikileaks' representative Kristinn Hrafnsson had "affirmed that I am leaving the government office soon, yet maybe not for the reasons the Murdoch press and Sky news are stating right now".

He declined to expand, however talking later, Hrafnsson said: "He is prepared to leave at any minute when the ludicrous attack outside will stop and he is offered safe section." He included that "his sack is stuffed". Approached unequivocally if there were arrangements for Assange to hand himself into British police, who keep up a 24-hour watch outside the government office, Hrafnsson said: "No.

Assange additionally declined to react in subtle element to recommendations reported in a meeting with him on Sunday that he had conceivably life-debilitating wellbeing issues, saying just that the government office was "an environment in which any solid individual would end up soon enough with specific challenges that they would need to oversee".

Patiño rehashed calls distributed in the Guardian for Assange's circumstance to be determined, saying there had been "two lost years" since he entered the consulate. The Australian looked for haven in an offer to maintain a strategic distance from removal to Sweden to face imputations of rape from two ladies. He fears forward removal to the US to face charges identifying with Wikileaks' distributed exercises.

"We by and by approach the universal group, especially on columnists, to join a highly required worldwide crusade to ensure opportunity and human rights for Assange," said the outside priest. "We maintain Julian Assange's status as a political asylee. We keep on offerring him our security and we keep on being prepared to converse with the British government and the Swedish government to attempt to discover an answer for this genuine rupture of Julian Assange's human rights."

He said he trusted "over the advancing weeks" to set up a gathering with the British outside secretary, Philip Hammond, to talk about the cas

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Anders Jonas Ångström life story in berif

 pic from  Wikipedia)

Anders Jonas Ångström life story in berif

Anders Jonas Ångström,  (conceived Aug. 13, 1814, Lögdö, Swed.—passed on June 21, 1874, Uppsala), Swedish physicist, an originator of spectroscopy for whom the angstrom, an unit of length equivalent to 10-10 meter, was named.

Instructed at the College of Uppsala, Ångström got to be privatdocent (instructor) there in 1839 and succeeded to the chairmanship of the material science division in 1858. In 1843 he got to be eyewitness at Uppsala Observatory.

Ångström's most vital work concerned hotness conduction and spectroscopy. He formulated a system for measuring warm conductivity, demonstrating to it to be relative to electrical conductivity. In 1853 he brought up that the electric flash yields two superposed spectra, one from the metal of the anode and the other from the gas through which it passes. From Euler's reverberation hypothesis Ångström found a rule of range examination: that a brilliant gas discharges beams of the same refrangibility as those it can retain.

Ångström's investigations of the sun based range prompted his disclosure, affirmed in 1862, that hydrogen is available in the Sun's climate. In 1868 was distributed his extraordinary guide of the typical sun powered range, which since quite a while ago stayed legitimate. He was the initially, in 1867, to analyze the range of the Aurora Borealis and to discover and measure the trademark splendid line in its yellow-green district, however he was mixed up in assuming that this same line is likewise to be seen in the zodiacal light.

Ångström's child Knut Johan Ångström was additionally a physicist who worked in spectroscopy and taught at the C

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5 ways to liven your audience analysis and adaptation

Has a boring speaker ever put you to sleep? Your head begins to nod as you fight off the urge to slip mercifully into the Land of the Z’s. Or has your mind ever wandered during someone’s dull presentation? Although you appear to listen intently, what you are really thinking about are the million tasks waiting for you at home.

Sure, this has happened to all of us, more than we would like to admit. However, don’t let it happen to you when you are the speaker. The key to keeping your audience from taking a mental exit is to involve them in your talk. Yes! Studies show that the more you involve your audience, the more they retain. Why? Because they are listening!

You can involve your audience in several ways, and I have listed 5 of my favorites below. Select those that will work well with your presentation and that feel genuine to you. If it feels uncomfortable, it will look uncomfortable—so don’t use it.

1. Ask questions.
Questions will cause your audience members to try to think of an answer. They can’t help it – it is simply how our brains are wired. If the energy in the room starts to drop, ask a question and select a member of your audience to respond. Then, thank him or her for participating and move on to the next person. Don’t worry about loosing control of your audience. Sales guru Brian Tracy emphasizes, “He (she) who asks questions is in control.” I personally prefer questions like “How many of you . . .,” and then I ask for a show of hands. These closed-ended questions get your audience involved both mentally and physically.

2. Finish your sentence.
For example, if you said to your audience, “Lions and tigers and bears . . .” and did not finish the sentence, what do you think they would say? As long as they are familiar with the movie The Wizard of Oz, they would respond with “Oh my!” This is a fun way to get your audience to participate. If they know the answer, they will blurt it out. If they don’t, you answer it. Choose something that should be so obvious they will absolutely get it.

3. High-five.
This is one of my personal favorites, and if you have attended one of my talks you have experienced it firsthand. If you ever feel like the energy in the room is heavy, you can change it by using this technique. Simply ask a question (remember the power of asking questions). Ask, “Is this good stuff?” When your audience responds with “Yes,” say “Then, turn to the people on either side of you and give them a high-five and say ‘This is good stuff!’” Most people get a kick out of it. However, if you have an individual in your audience who does not want to participate, don’t worry about it. Some people simply just don’t want to have fun.

4. Do exercises.
I learned this trick from the famous millionaire T. Harv Ecker when I took his “Train the Trainer” course. He says, “Get your audience to do the work.” To accomplish this, ask them to break into groups of two or three (with people that they don’t know) and give them an exercise that is congruent with your presentation. Afterward, ask them to share openly with the rest of the group and thank them for doing so.

5. Give them candy.
Reward your audience for participating, and they will participate even more. Simply ask a question and when someone answers it, gently throw a small piece of candy to that person. I find that chocolate works best. You will find that it becomes a game and people will compete for the chocolate. I don’t use this throughout my entire speech, only for a few minutes in the middle of my talk.

There are many other ways and techniques to get your audience involved. What is important as a speaker is for you to come up with as many different ways as you can think of that are appropriate for your audience and for you as a speaker. Believe me, your audience will thank you.

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Ernest Hemingway life story

Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists, and is known for works like A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.

Ernest Hemingway - Mini Biography (TV-14; 03:38) Ernest Hemingway was one of the most important writers of the 20th Century. His brief writing style in his novels "A Farewell to Arms," "The Sun Also Rises," and "The Old Man and the Sea" changed literature forever.

Synopsis

Born on July 21, 1899, in Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois, Ernest Hemingway served in World War I and worked in journalism before publishing his story collection In Our Time. He was renowned for novels like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, which won the 1953 Pulitzer. In 1954, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize. He committed suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho.

Early Life and Career

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois. Clarence and Grace Hemingway raised their son in this conservative suburb of Chicago, but the family also spent a great deal of time in northern Michigan, where they had a cabin. It was there that the future sportsman learned to hunt, fish and appreciate the outdoors.
In high school, Hemingway worked on his school newspaper, Trapeze and Tabula, writing primarily about sports. Immediately after graduation, the budding journalist went to work for the Kansas City Star, gaining experience that would later influence his distinctively stripped-down prose style.
He once said, "On the Star you were forced to learn to write a simple declarative sentence. This is useful to anyone. Newspaper work will not harm a young writer and could help him if he gets out of it in time."

Military Experience

In 1918, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army. For his service, he was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, but soon sustained injuries that landed him in a hospital in Milan.
There he met a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky, who soon accepted his proposal of marriage, but later left him for another man. This devastated the young writer but provided fodder for his works "A Very Short Story" and, more famously, A Farewell to Arms.
Still nursing his injury and recovering from the brutalities of war at the young age of 20, he returned to the United States and spent time in northern Michigan before taking a job at the Toronto Star.
It was in Chicago that Hemingway met Hadley Richardson, the woman who would become his first wife. The couple married and quickly moved to Paris, where Hemingway worked as a foreign correspondent for the Star.

Life in Europe

In Paris, Hemingway soon became a key part of what Gertrude Stein would famously call "The Lost Generation." With Stein as his mentor, Hemingway made the acquaintance of many of the great writers and artists of his generation, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso and James Joyce. In 1923, Hemingway and Hadley had a son, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway. By this time the writer had also begun frequenting the famous Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain.
In 1925, the couple, joining a group of British and American expatriates, took a trip to the festival that would later provided the basis of Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises. The novel is widely considered Hemingway's greatest work, artfully examining the postwar disillusionment of his generation.
Soon after the publication of The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway and Hadley divorced, due in part to his affair with a woman named Pauline Pfeiffer, who would become Hemingway's second wife shortly after his divorce from Hadley was finalized. The author continued to work on his book of short stories, Men Without Women.

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Critical Acclaim

Soon, Pauline became pregnant and the couple decided to move back to America. After the birth of their son Patrick Hemingway in 1928, they settled in Key West, Florida, but summered in Wyoming. During this time, Hemingway finished his celebrated World War I novel A Farewell to Arms, securing his lasting place in the literary canon.
When he wasn't writing, Hemingway spent much of the 1930s chasing adventure: big-game hunting in Africa, bullfighting in Spain, deep-sea fishing in Florida. While reporting on the Spanish Civil War in 1937, Hemingway met a fellow war correspondent named Martha Gellhorn (soon to become wife number three) and gathered material for his next novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, which would eventually be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Almost predictably, his marriage to Pauline Pfeiffer deteriorated and the couple divorced. Gellhorn and Hemingway married soon after and purchased a farm near Havana, Cuba, which would serve as their winter residence.
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Hemingway served as a correspondent and was present at several of the war's key moments, including the D-Day landing. Toward the end of the war, Hemingway met another war correspondent, Mary Welsh, whom he would later marry after divorcing Martha Gellhorn.
In 1951, Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea, which would become perhaps his most famous book, finally winning him the Pulitzer Prize he had long been denied.

Personal Struggles and Suicide

The author continued his forays into Africa and sustained several injuries during his adventures, even surviving multiple plane crashes.
In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Even at this peak of his literary career, though, the burly Hemingway's body and mind were beginning to betray him. Recovering from various old injuries in Cuba, Hemingway suffered from depression and was treated for numerous conditions such as high blood pressure and liver disease.
He wrote A Moveable Feast, a memoir of his years in Paris, and retired permanently to Idaho. There he continued to battle with deteriorating mental and physical health.
Early on the morning of July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide in his Ketchum home.

Legacy

Hemingway left behind an impressive body of work and an iconic style that still influences writers today. His personality and constant pursuit of adventure loomed almost as large as his creative talent.
When asked by George Plimpton about the function of his art, Hemingway proved once again to be a master of the "one true sentence": "From things that have happened and from things as they exist and from all things that you know and all those you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing truer than anything true and alive, and you make it alive, and if you make it well enough, you give it immortality."

Ernest Hemingway life story

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James Garner life story

Name

James Garner

Occupation

Film Actor, Television Actor

Birth Date

April 7, 1928

Death Date

July 19, 2014

Education

Hollywood High School, University of Oklahoma

Place of Birth

Norman, Oklahoma

Place of Death

Los Angeles, California

Originally

James Scott Bumgarner

Synopsis

James Garner, born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, on April 7, 1928, rose to fame as the star of the Western TV series Maverick (1957-60). He went on to star in hit films such as The Great Escape (1963), Grand Prix (1966) and the Oscar-winning Victor Victoria (1982). He earned an Oscar nomination for Murphy’s Romance (1985) and a Golden Globe Award for Decoration Day (1990). Garner died on July 19, 2014 at the age of 86.

Early Life

Born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma, James Garner's early childhood in the Great Depression-era Dust Bowl was marked by hardships. He is the youngest of three sons. When he was only four years old, he lost his mother, Mildred Bumgarner, who was half-Cherokee. His father, Weldon Warren "Bill" Bumgarner, eventually abandoned James and his brothers Charles and Jack, leaving them in the care of relatives. The Bumgarner boys reunited with their father after Bill remarried a few years later.  But their home life was far from happy, as their new stepmother was physically and verbally abusive to her stepsons. She and Weldon Bumgarner eventually divorced.
Remaining in Oklahoma when his father moved to Los Angeles, James Garner soon dropped out of school. At age 16, he lied about his age in order to join the Merchant Marine during the last year of World War II. After that, he decided to try living in California with his father, during which time he briefly attended Hollywood High School. But Garner didn't finish school there, either, abandoning his classes to take a job as a model for Janzen bathing suits. "I made 25 bucks an hour!" he remembered. "That's why I quit school. I was making more money than the teachers."
It didn't last long, though. In 1950, Garner became the first Oklahoman drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. Two battlefield injuries and Purple Hearts later, Garner returned to the United States. Although he never finished high school, he did earn his GED.

Big Break

Finally, Garner stumbled into acting. Approached by a talent agent friend and lured by the prospect of a new job, Garner took a small role as a judge in a Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. Although Garner spent most of his time in the background, his participation gave him ample time to learn from the show's legendary lead actor: Henry Fonda. Through watching Fonda, and because he occasionally had the opportunity to read lines during rehearsals, Garner began internalizing what it took to be an actor.
Thanks to that role, Warner Bros. offered him a film contract in 1956. Unlike many future stars, though, Garner always viewed acting as a way to make a living, instead of as a dream fulfilled. "I'm a Spencer Tracy-type actor," Garner said. "His idea was to be on time, know your words, hit your marks and tell the truth." Garner's lunch-bucket approach worked well enough; the actor landed several supporting roles in films, including Sayonara (1957) starring Marlon Brando. His big break was just around the bend. (Meanwhile, Warner Bros. started billing him as Garner instead of Bumgarner, without ever asking for his permission.)
Garner's acting career really picked up when he was awarded the lead role in a Western television series called Maverick, in which he played the title character, Bret Maverick, from 1957-60. The fact that he was already under contract for a regular (and relatively low) fee may have had something to do with the studio's decision to cast him; at least, Garner seemed to think so. Westerns were big on American television in this period, and Maverick was initially conceived to be typical of the genre. Over time, though, the show found its niche by painting Garner's character as somewhat lazy and unwilling to be bothered, yet nonetheless essentially good-hearted and effective at catching the bad guys. Fans embraced the show's gentle mockery of Western conventions and Garner's likeable, unconventional character.

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Making it in Hollywood

Just as he was getting his first taste of what it was like to play a lead role, Garner was also learning about a darker side of the entertainment business. His tenure on Maverick ended with a successful lawsuit against Warner Bros. During a writers' strike in 1960, the studio suspended Garner without pay, claiming that they had no scripts to work from, so they couldn't pay him. A judge sided with Garner; it turned out that the company had plenty of writers writing plenty of scripts during the period, so they had breached Garner's contract by suspending him without pay.
Actually quite happy to be out of his low-paying contract with Warner Bros., Garner moved on, appearing in such feature films as The Great Escape (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Grand Prix (1966). It was only when he returned to television, though, that his career reached another high point.
Garner attained small-screen fame once again as Jim Rockford, a private detective, in the series The Rockford Files (1974-80). Much like Maverick, the series presented a subtle parody of its own genre headed by a likeable anti-hero. Again, too, Garner's tenure on the series would end in a lawsuit. Strenuous production work had aggravated his old Korean War injuries and left him with several new ones, so Garner tried to leave the show. NBC wanted him to fulfill his contract, so he took parts on a couple of short-lived Maverick spin-offs, but those fizzled. Garner ended up suing NBC for cheating him out of his fair share of the profits from The Rockford Files. Garner won the suit, receiving an undisclosed sum from NBC. During the 1970s, Garner also became recognizable for the Polaroid ads he appeared in with Mariette Hartley.
In the 1980s, Garner returned to the big screen. He appeared alongside Julie Andrews in the Oscar-winning Victor Victoria (1982) and was nominated for an Oscar himself for Murphy's Romance (1985), in which he starred opposite Sally Field. Garner also acted in several television movies, racking up awards nominations and winning a best actor Golden Globe for Decoration Day (1990). In 1990, Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Despite this success, the decade also presented major challenges: Garner underwent quintuple bypass heart surgery around the same time.

Death & Legacy

James Garner continued his acting career well into the 2000s, signing for a major role on the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules after the untimely death of its original male lead, John Ritter. Garner took a supporting role in the film Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), and played a husband whose wife is sick with Alzheimer's in 2004's The Notebook. That same year, Garner was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Best Supporting Actor Award, and awarded the SAG Life Achievement Award. According to SAG President Melissa Gilbert, Garner "is a man who has served his peers, his community and his country with integrity and quiet generosity. He epitomizes class, style, wit, and depth. He serves as a role model for all of America's actors."
Garner's career has been one of the longest in Hollywood, and his marriage has lasted nearly as long. Garner married Lois Clarke on August 17, 1956. The pair met at a rally for presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. The couple had only known each other a few weeks before tying the knot. Garner adopted Clarke's daughter from her previous marriage, a then-nine-year-old named Kimberly. Garner and Clarke also have a daughter of their own, Greta (known as Gigi), born in 1958.
Despite suffering a stroke in 2008, James Garner remained relatively healthy and remained one of the most liked and best-respected actors in the history of television. Perhaps his success has had something to do with his insistence on viewing acting as a job, rather than pursuing celebrity for its own sake. He nearly declined the SAG Life Achievement Award, making the excuse that he disliked public speaking: "It scares the devil out of me." When he finally accepted, he said of his speech, "Well, this will be shorter than others." True of his speech, perhaps—but, fortunately for fans, certainly not true of his career. Garner died on July 19, 2014 at the age of 86.

 

 James Garner life story

 

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Nelson Mandela all About

President Bill Clinton with Nelson Mandela, July 4 1993. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nelson Mandela

The South African activist and former president Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) helped bring an end to apartheid and has been a global advocate for human rights. A member of the African National Congress party beginning in the 1940s, he was a leader of both peaceful protests and armed resistance against the white minority’s oppressive regime in a racially divided South Africa. His actions landed him in prison for nearly three decades and made him the face of the antiapartheid movement both within his country and internationally. Released in 1990, he participated in the eradication of apartheid and in 1994 became the first black president of South Africa, forming a multiethnic government to oversee the country’s transition. after retiring from politics in 1999, he remained a devoted champion for peace and social justice in his own nation and around the world until his death in 2013 at the age of 95.

Nelson Mandela’s Childhood and Education

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, into a royal family of the Xhosa-speaking Thembu tribe in the South African village of Mvezo, where his father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (c. 1880-1928), served as chief. His mother, Nosekeni Fanny, was the third of Mphakanyiswa’s four wives, who together bore him nine daughters and four sons. After the death of his father in 1927, 9-year-old Mandela—then known by his birth name, Rolihlahla—was adopted by Jongintaba Dalindyebo, a high-ranking Thembu regent who began grooming his young ward for a role within the tribal leadership.

Did You Know?

As a sign of respect, many South Africans referred to Nelson Mandela as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name.

The first in his family to receive a formal education, Mandela completed his primary studies at a local missionary school. There, a teacher dubbed him Nelson as part of a common practice of giving African students English names. He went on to attend the Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Healdtown, a Methodist secondary school, where he excelled in boxing and track as well as academics. In 1939 Mandela entered the elite University of Fort Hare, the only Western-style higher learning institute for South African blacks at the time. The following year, he and several other students, including his friend and future business partner Oliver Tambo (1917-1993), were sent home for participating in a boycott against university policies.
After learning that his guardian had arranged a marriage for him, Mandela fled to Johannesburg and worked first as a night watchman and then as a law clerk while completing his bachelor’s degree by correspondence. He studied law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he became involved in the movement against racial discrimination and forged key relationships with black and white activists. In 1944, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) and worked with fellow party members, including Oliver Tambo, to establish its youth league, the ANCYL. That same year, he met and married his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase (1922-2004), with whom he had four children before their divorce in 1957.

Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress

Nelson Mandela’s commitment to politics and the ANC grew stronger after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party, which introduced a formal system of racial classification and segregation—apartheid—that restricted nonwhites’ basic rights and barred them from government while maintaining white minority rule. The following year, the ANC adopted the ANCYL’s plan to achieve full citizenship for all South Africans through boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and other nonviolent methods. Mandela helped lead the ANC’s 1952 Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, traveling across the country to organize protests against discriminatory policies, and promoted the manifesto known as the Freedom Charter, ratified by the Congress of the People in 1955. Also in 1952, Mandela and Tambo opened South Africa’s first black law firm, which offered free or low-cost legal counsel to those affected by apartheid legislation.
On December 5, 1956, Mandela and 155 other activists were arrested and went on trial for treason. All of the defendants were acquitted in 1961, but in the meantime tensions within the ANC escalated, with a militant faction splitting off in 1959 to form the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). The next year, police opened fire on peaceful black protesters in the township of Sharpeville, killing 69 people; as panic, anger and riots swept the country in the massacre’s aftermath, the apartheid government banned both the ANC and the PAC. Forced to go underground and wear disguises to evade detection, Mandela decided that the time had come for a more radical approach than passive resistance.

Nelson Mandela and the Armed Resistance Movement

In 1961, Nelson Mandela co-founded and became the first leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”), also known as MK, a new armed wing of the ANC. Several years later, during the trial that would put him behind bars for nearly three decades, he described the reasoning for this radical departure from his party’s original tenets: “[I]t would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and nonviolence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle.”
Under Mandela’s leadership, MK launched a sabotage campaign against the government, which had recently declared South Africa a republic and withdrawn from the British Commonwealth. In January 1962, Mandela traveled abroad illegally to attend a conference of African nationalist leaders in Ethiopia, visit the exiled Oliver Tambo in London and undergo guerilla training in Algeria. On August 5, shortly after his return, he was arrested and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison for leaving the country and inciting a 1961 workers’ strike. The following July, police raided an ANC hideout in Rivonia, a suburb on the outskirts of Johannesburg, and arrested a racially diverse group of MK leaders who had gathered to debate the merits of a guerilla insurgency. Evidence was found implicating Mandela and other activists, who were brought to stand trial for sabotage, treason and violent conspiracy alongside their associates.
Mandela and seven other defendants narrowly escaped the gallows and were instead sentenced to life imprisonment during the so-called Rivonia Trial, which lasted eight months and attracted substantial international attention. In a stirring opening statement that sealed his iconic status around the world, Mandela admitted to some of the charges against him while defending the ANC’s actions and denouncing the injustices of apartheid. He ended with the following words: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Nelson Mandela’s Years Behind Bars

Nelson Mandela spent the first 18 of his 27 years in jail at the brutal Robben Island Prison, a former leper colony off the coast of Cape Town, where he was confined to a small cell without a bed or plumbing and compelled to do hard labor in a lime quarry. As a black political prisoner, he received scantier rations and fewer privileges than other inmates. He was only allowed to see his wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (1936-), who he had married in 1958 and was the mother of his two young daughters, once every six months. Mandela and his fellow prisoners were routinely subjected to inhumane punishments for the slightest of offenses; among other atrocities, there were reports of guards burying inmates in the ground up to their necks and urinating on them.
These restrictions and conditions notwithstanding, while in confinement Mandela earned a bachelor of law degree from the University of London and served as a mentor to his fellow prisoners, encouraging them to seek better treatment through nonviolent resistance. He also smuggled out political statements and a draft of his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” published five years after his release.
Despite his forced retreat from the spotlight, Mandela remained the symbolic leader of the antiapartheid movement. In 1980 Oliver Tambo introduced a “Free Nelson Mandela” campaign that made the jailed leader a household name and fueled the growing international outcry against South Africa’s racist regime. As pressure mounted, the government offered Mandela his freedom in exchange for various political compromises, including the renouncement of violence and recognition of the “independent” Transkei Bantustan, but he categorically rejected these deals.
In 1982 Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland, and in 1988 he was placed under house arrest on the grounds of a minimum-security correctional facility. The following year, newly elected president F. W. de Klerk (1936-) lifted the ban on the ANC and called for a nonracist South Africa, breaking with the conservatives in his party. On February 11, 1990, he ordered Mandela’s release.

Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa

After attaining his freedom, Nelson Mandela led the ANC in its negotiations with the governing National Party and various other South African political organizations for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. Though fraught with tension and conducted against a backdrop of political instability, the talks earned Mandela and de Klerk the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1993. On April 26, 1994, more than 22 million South Africans turned out to cast ballots in the country’s first multiracial parliamentary elections in history. An overwhelming majority chose the ANC to lead the country, and on May 10 Mandela was sworn in as the first black president of South Africa, with de Klerk serving as his first deputy.
As president, Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights and political violations committed by both supporters and opponents of apartheid between 1960 and 1994. He also introduced numerous social and economic programs designed to improve the living standards of South Africa’s black population. In 1996 Mandela presided over the enactment of a new South African constitution, which established a strong central government based on majority rule and prohibited discrimination against minorities, including whites.
Improving race relations, discouraging blacks from retaliating against the white minority and building a new international image of a united South Africa were central to President Mandela’s agenda. To these ends, he formed a multiracial “Government of National Unity” and proclaimed the country a “rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” In a gesture seen as a major step toward reconciliation, he encouraged blacks and whites alike to rally around the predominantly Afrikaner national rugby team when South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
On his 80th birthday in 1998, Mandela wed the politician and humanitarian Graça Machel (1945-), widow of the former president of Mozambique. (His marriage to Winnie had ended in divorce in 1992.) The following year, he retired from politics at the end of his first term as president and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki (1942-) of the ANC.

Nelson Mandela’s Later Years and Legacy

After leaving office, Nelson Mandela remained a devoted champion for peace and social justice in his own country and around the world. He established a number of organizations, including the influential Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Elders, an independent group of public figures committed to addressing global problems and easing human suffering. In 2002, Mandela became a vocal advocate of AIDS awareness and treatment programs in a culture where the epidemic had been cloaked in stigma and ignorance. The disease later claimed the life of his son Makgatho (1950-2005) and is believed to affect more people in South Africa than in any other country.
Treated for prostate cancer in 2001 and weakened by other health issues, Mandela grew increasingly frail in his later years and scaled back his schedule of public appearances. In 2009, the United Nations declared July 18 “Nelson Mandela International Day” in recognition of the South African leader’s contributions to democracy, freedom, peace and human rights around the world. Nelson Mandela died on December 5, 2013 from a recurring lung infection.

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Nelson Mandela  nelson mandela death    nelson mandela quotes  nelson mandela facts  nelson mandela achievements  nelson mandela story  nelson mandela speech  nelson mandela biography

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All About Danielle Big Brother

About Danielle

Danielle lives her life by strict Catholic values and her ‘old-fashioned’ views. She believes in traditional gender roles and feels the ‘1950s housewife was a better role model’, claiming ‘things were better years ago’. She’s against gay marriage but insists she isn’t homophobic.
She is very business minded and aspires to have her own successful business. She is currently working on setting up a firm to make a ‘new type of Wonderbra’ and is trying to secure an investment. She is very focused: ‘I know what I want and I know how to get it’.
Danielle’s idols are God and her mum. She also counted Britney Spears among her heroes ‘until she went crazy’.
The last argument Danielle had was a few weeks before Big Brother with a guy in a club. He got annoyed because he had bought Danielle and her friend drinks and expected them to talk to him – but Danielle had other ideas: ‘He thought that just buying us a drink meant we had to be all over him’.
She tends to go on a night out at least once a fortnight, beginning with her friends coming over to her place. They’d get ready, open some of her ‘vintage champagne’ and then go to a club until about 2am. Sometimes they move on to afterparties, but Danielle is sceptical about these as ‘they can be sleazy’. She has never had a kebab in her life.
She thinks her friends would describe her as ‘confident, savvy, intelligent, determined and sensible’. She is never reckless and will ‘never wholeheartedly let my hair down’.
Danielle is currently single and has only had two long term relationships, both with Catholic boys. She says she will always be ‘upfront about not believing in sex before marriage’.
In the house, she would get on best with ‘well mannered, cultured, mature people’. She likes to keep her cards close to her chest and thinks she may clash with ‘liberal girls’ who tell lots of vulgar stories.
After Big Brother, Danielle wants to be a role model for women and young girls and help them to aim higher. She is disgusted at the trends at the moment for revealing clothes and doesn’t think you need to ‘dress like that’ to be successful. She wants to show people how to have ‘class, flair and charisma’.

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all about Nicky Morgan

Nicky Morgan

Early life

Morgan was born in Kingston upon Thames. She grew up in Surbiton and attended Surbiton High School before studying Jurisprudence at St Hugh's College, Oxford. She qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and worked as a corporate lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions before taking on an in-house counsel role advising on corporate law matters.[2]
Political career

Morgan joined the Conservative Party in 1989 and was the Chair of Wessex Young Conservatives from 1995–97 and Vice-chair, Battersea Conservatives from 1997-99.[3] She fought Islington South and Finsbury in the 2001 General Election.

Morgan was first selected for the Loughborough seat in 2004 and in the 2005 General Election Morgan achieved a swing to the Conservatives in Loughborough, making it the most marginal seat in the East Midlands. Morgan was reselected for the Loughborough seat in 2006.

In the 2010 General Election Morgan was elected as the MP for Loughborough on a swing of 5.5% with a majority of 3,744 votes.[4] She made her maiden speech in a debate on Economic Affairs and Work and Pensions on 8 June 2010.[5] In June, 2010, she was selected as a Conservative member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee but was replaced following promotion in September to Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts.[6]

In March 2012, Morgan was reported as being one of the Conservative MPs to have spoken critically of Party Co-Chairman Sayeeda Warsi at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, following Lady Warsi's handling of Roger Helmer MEP's defection to UKIP.[7]

She was appointed assistant whip in September 2012,[8] and Economic Secretary to the Treasury on 7 October 2013


Following the resignation of Maria Miller from the Cabinet, she became Minister for Women (attending Cabinet) on 9 April 2014[10] and was appointed a Privy Councillor.

On 15 July 2014
 she was appointed Secretary of State for Education in David Cameron's reshuffle, replacing Michael Gove and retaining her post as Minister for Women and Equalities.
Student fees

On 7 November 2010, Morgan appeared on the Politics Show with Lucy Hopkins, Loughborough Students' Union President to continue an earlier on-campus debate on the tripling of student tuition fees. Morgan agreed costs could be daunting but said student numbers were unsustainable, it was fair to ask people to invest in their own education and people should ask more questions about how courses would improve prospects. Hopkins accepted that the Government had tried to find fair options but said students were taking on "excessive debts" which they would still be paying off when their own children went to university, they had no guarantee of a better job and those from poor homes would either have to choose an affordable university or not attend. In response, Morgan said university wasn't a rite of passage, there were other ways of continuing education and she herself had taken eight years to pay her debts. She would advise the Government on the debate.[12]
Other issues

In July 2010, Morgan asked the Prime Minister to join her in congratulating Loughborough University Student Union Rag Committee on raising more money on behalf of the Royal British Legion than any other rag in the country.[13] Both agreed it was an example of the Big Society in action.[13]

In February 2011, she visited the new offices of Dialog Devices at Loughborough Innovation Centre.[14] The company has been awarded a Department of Health grant for development of a device with the potential to provide an early diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease

In 2013, Morgan voted against the introduction of same sex marriage in England and Wales, arguing that marriage could only be between a man and a woman

In January 2014, speaking at a meeting of the Bright Blue Tory think tank, Morgan said Conservatives must send out an optimistic message and not just "the language of hate" if they were to win the next general election. Her comments were thought to show concern at right wing backbenchers' criticisms of Cameron on immigration, welfare and the EU though a party source insisted that she was talking about very few people
Personal life

Morgan and her husband, architect Jonathan, have a son named Alex (born January 2008).

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'Glee' star Becca Tobin's boyfriend found dead in a hotel room

'Glee' star Becca Tobin's boyfriend found dead in a hotel room

There's been another Glee tragedy.
The boyfriend of actress Becca Tobin, who plays Kitty Wilde on the Fox TV series, was found dead Thursday in a hotel room in Philadelphia, according to police, and the cause is still a mystery.
Update: The city medical examiner's office said Friday an autopsy failed to determine how Matt Bendik, 31, died, the Associated Press reported. More studies will be done to try to determine both the cause and manner of death.
Police were called to the Hotel Monaco on Thursday afternoon and soon pronounced 31-year-old Matt Bendik dead.
Tobin's manager, Ricky Rollins of Schumacher Management, says that "with respect to both the Bendik and Tobin families, there is no comment at this time."
Glee star Cory Monteith died of an accidental alcohol and drug overdose in a Canadian hotel last July. Tobin joined the Glee cast in 2012.
Matt Bendik and Tobin were in town for business. They went out afterwards and then returned to their hotel. A maid found his body Thursday afternoon.
Her most recent Instagram post, from July 10, was about a shoe giveaway from ethical brand Sseko Designs. But back in June, she posted a sweet photo of her smooching Bendik on the cheek.

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Mark Simon Cavendish

ark Simon Cavendish, MBE (born 21 May 1985) is a Manx[5] professional road racing cyclist
who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Omega Pharma-Quick Step.[6] Originally a track cyclist specialising in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines, he has competed on the road since 2006, rising to prominence as a sprinter, widely considered to be the fastest road cyclist in the world.

On the track Cavendish won gold in the Madison at the 2005 and 2008 world championships riding for Great Britain, with Rob Hayles and Bradley Wiggins respectively, and in the scratch race at the 2006 Commonwealth Games riding for Isle of Man.

As a road cyclist, Cavendish achieved eleven wins in his first professional season, equalling the record held by Alessandro Petacchi. Cavendish has won twenty-five Tour de France stages putting him third on the all-time list and fourth on the all-time list of Grand Tour stage winners with forty-three victories. He won the road race at the 2011 road world championships, becoming the second British rider to do so after Tom Simpson in 1965. Other notable wins include the 2009 Milan – San Remo classic and the points classification in all three of the grand tours: the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2011 Tour de France, and the 2013 Giro d'Italia. In 2012 he became the first person to win the final Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France in four consecutive years.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011, Cavendish was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to British Cycling.[7] He won the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and in 2012 was named the Tour de France's best sprinter of all time by French newspaper L'Equipe.[8]

Cavendish was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, the son of David also from the Isle, and Adele from Yorkshire, England.[9] He began riding BMX at an early age, racing at the National Sports Centre in Douglas. He said: "I was always riding a bike, getting dropped in little races." Cavendish started racing informally at twelve, as a mountain-bike rider.[10] "My mum would laugh at me, and I said it was because all my mates had mountain bikes, so I asked for a mountain bike for my thirteenth birthday and got one. The very next day I went out and beat everyone."[10] It was at that time that Cavendish met David Millar at a race on the Isle of Man. Cavendish said he was inspired by Millar. Cavendish worked in a bank for two years after leaving school. He concentrated on earning enough money to support himself as a full-time cyclist later on, as he attempted to turn professional.[11]

He won gold in the madison with Rob Hayles at the 2005 track world championships in Los Angeles. They had not raced together before. They finished one lap ahead of the field to claim the gold medal, ahead of the Dutch and Belgian teams, Cavendish's first world title.[12] Cavendish also won the 2005 European championship points race.
Professional career
2005–2007: Early years

Cavendish turned professional in 2005 with Team Sparkasse. He rode Tour of Berlin and Tour of Britain.
Cavendish (center) sprinting for stage six of the 2006 Tour of Britain against Tom Boonen (left) while riding for T-Mobile Team

Cavendish began 2006 with the Continental team, Team Sparkasse, a feeder squad for T-Mobile Team.[13] In June, he won two stages and the points and sprint competitions in the Tour of Berlin. He rode for the Isle of Man on the track at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, riding the scratch race. He lapped the field with three others: Rob Hayles; Ashley Hutchinson of Australia; and James McCallum of Scotland. Hayles then led him out for the sprint to win gold for the Isle of Man. The race time was 23' 25", an average 51.9 km/h (32.2 mph).[14][15] His success at the Tour of Berlin led to a post as a stagiaire with T-Mobile Team from August until the end of the season. His best result on the road was in the Tour of Britain where he came second three times and won the points classification. It brought a full professional contract for 2007 and 2008.

Cavendish's breakthrough came at the 2007 Grote Scheldeprijs race in Belgium, which he won overall.[16] He went on to win stages at the Four Days of Dunkirk[17][18] and the Volta a Catalunya and that brought selection for the Tour de France. He crashed in stages one and two. and abandoned on stage eight as the race reached the Alps, having taken two top-ten placings but unhappy not to have had a top-five placing.[19] His début season continued moving on to ten stage wins, one behind Alessandro Petacchi's record eleven for a début season. Cavendish took his eleventh win in early October—the Circuit Franco-Belge—to equal Petacchi's record.[20] Among the wins were three in UCI ProTour events, the two in the Volta a Catalunya and one in the Eneco Tour.
2008
Cavendish (foreground) handing over to Bradley Wiggins, on their way to winning gold in the madison at the 2008 track world championships in Manchester

In 2008, Cavendish returned to the track for the track world championships in Manchester, Cavendish was brought in to partner Bradley Wiggins in the madison, as Hayles failed a routine blood test, and was subsequently banned.[21] At around halfway through the race they appeared to be out of contention, with their closest rivals all gaining a lap; but with thirty-five laps left to race, Wiggins launched an attack which helped them reach the field ten laps later, taking the lead, due to their superior points they had collected in the sprints. They held on to win the gold medal, finishing with nineteen points, ahead of Germany on thirteen.[22]

On the road, Cavendish won his first stages of a Grand Tour, by picking two victories in the Giro d'Italia and four further stages in the Tour de France, his first coming on stage five. He won again on stage eight, twelve and thirteen.[23] After stage fourteen, Cavendish abandoned the Tour to concentrate on the Olympics in Beijing.[24] He and Team Columbia manager Bob Stapleton agreed that riding the Alps was a risk to his hopes. He paired with Wiggins in the Madison, and as the reigning world champions, they were favourites for the gold medal, but they only finished ninth.[25] Cavendish felt that Wiggins had not performed to the best of his ability in the Madison.[26][27]

The rest of his season was successful, with a total of eleven further race wins, including three each at the Tour of Ireland[28] and the Tour of Missouri, winning his only points classification of the season at the latter. At the Tour de Romandie, Cavendish won the opening time trial, beating compatriot Wiggins and emphasising his short-distance time-trial abilities.[29]
2009

Cavendish's 2009 season began at the Tour of Qatar, where he renewed his rivalry with Quick Step's Tom Boonen.[30] Boonen won the race and one stage, though Cavendish took two stages; he also won two stages at the Tour of California, again beating Boonen in the sprint finishes.[31] The Tour of California also saw Cavendish win his first points of classification of the 2009 season.[32]

Cavendish was a surprise inclusion in the British squad for the track world championships, where he competed in the scratch race and the madison, failing to pick up medals in either.[33] He took up the European season at Tirreno–Adriatico, the Italian one-week stage race, where he won one stage.[34] He then entered his first classic race, Milan – San Remo, and, after a week of uncharacteristically humble pre-race statements, rode effectively over the climbs that his rivals had said made this race impossible for him to win – and then tracked down Cervélo TestTeam rider Heinrich Haussler in the last 200 m to narrowly win the sprint and the race, Cavendish's first victory in a race known as one of the five monuments of cycling.[35]

Cavendish repeated his two-stage victory at the Three Days of De Panne from 2008, also winning the points classification.[36] At the start of the Giro d'Italia Team Columbia-High Road won the team time trial and he was given the pink jersey leaders jersey, becoming the first Manx rider to ever wear it.[37] The first two road stages however were fruitless for Cavendish, who was beaten to the line by Petacchi in the first stage and was caught behind a crash and failed to make it back for the sprint the next day. Cavendish soon asserted his sprinting dominance on the race however, gaining three stage wins before abandoning following stage thirteen, citing a need to rest for beginning preparations for the Tour de France. He continued his preparation by racing the Tour de Suisse where he won stage three and stage six.[23]
Team-mates George Hincapie and Cavendish during stage three of the 2009 Tour de France

During the season, Cavendish developed a remarkable partnership with his lead out man, Mark Renshaw. Continuing his run of success, Cavendish won stage 2, 3, 10, 11, 19 and 21 of the Tour de France.[23] In winning the third stage, he became the first Briton to hold the green jersey for two days in a row.[38] Cavendish's win on stage eleven enabled him to reclaim the green jersey from rival Thor Hushovd of Cervélo TestTeam, and equalled Barry Hoban's British record of eight stage wins.[39] Winning stage nineteen, Cavendish set a new record for Tour de France stage wins by a British rider.[40] In winning the last stage, he led home a one–two for his team, when his team-mate and leadout man, Renshaw, finished second on the Champs-Élysées.[41]

Following on from the Tour de France, Cavendish won the Sparkassen Giro Bochum and took part in the Tour of Ireland, winning stage two.[42] In September he recorded the fiftieth win of his road racing career in a sprint finish in the opening stage of the Tour of Missouri.[43] Before the race he confirmed that he would remain with Team Columbia-High Road in 2010, ending speculation linking him with a move to newly created British team, Team Sky.[43] Cavendish retained the leader's jersey by sprinting to victory on stage two but finished fifth on stage three, losing the overall lead to Hushovd, and was forced to withdraw from the race before stage four due to a lung infection.[44] Although selected for the British team for the road race at the road world championships, his illness prevented him from taking part.[45]
2010

Following a dental problem, Cavendish delayed the start of his 2010 season until the Vuelta a Andalucía, in mid-February. Following the lay off his form was poor, and he failed to defend his victory at the Milan – San Remo, coming in six minutes down in eighty-ninth place.[46] Cavendish's pre-season goals were to win the green jersey in the Tour de France and win the road race at the road world championships. Cavendish also said that he would race in the Tour of Flanders but said he wouldn't win it, stating that the Tour of Flanders requires training, but he sees himself winning it in the future.
Cavendish celebrates winning the opening stage of the 2010 Tour of California, with Juan José Haedo rider of Team Saxo Bank and Alexander Kristoff of BMC Racing Team, second and third respectively.

Following a poor start to the season, Cavendish found form at the Volta a Catalunya, finishing seventh in the time-trial and winning stage two.[47] His team withdrew Cavendish from the Tour de Romandie after he made an offensive gesture after winning the second stage.[48] Missing the Giro d'Italia, Cavendish instead chose to compete at the Tour of California starting in May, where he won stage one, for only his third victory of the season.[49] In June Cavendish crashed heavily whilst sprinting in the closing metres of the stage four of the Tour de Suisse, appearing to veer off line and bring down Haussler and several other riders, raising criticism from other teams regarding his riding style.[50]

Cavendish entered the Tour de France. During stage one, Cavendish crashed out of the final sprint, with just under 3 km (1.9 mi) remaining in the stage. Overhead camera footage showed Cavendish failing to negotiate a corner after entering too fast and turning too late. He then leaned his shoulder into a fellow rider as he travelled away from the racing line.[51][52][53] Cavendish returned to form by winning the stage 5, 6, 11, 18 and 20,[23] bringing his career total to fifteen stage wins.[54] He ended up second in the points classification, eleven points behind Petacchi.[55]

Cavendish's next race was the Vuelta a España, in which his team won the team time trial with Cavendish crossing the line first taking the leader's jersey.[56] He could only place second or third on the subsequent sprint stages, but returned to form later in the race winning stage twelve, thirteen, eighteen and the points classification.[23][57]
2011

Cavendish had a slow start to 2011 failing to win a race until late February when he won the stage six of the Tour of Oman.[58] He continued to race and came to his second victory of the season in the Grote Scheldeprijs, his third following his previous triumphs in 2007 and 2008, brought him to the record tied with Piet Oellibrandt.[59] At the Paris–Roubaix he failed to finish.[60] He came second in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia in contentious circumstances (Cavendish gestured at winner Petacchi for appearing to move across his path in the final sprint), to take the pink jersey into stage three. Cavendish got his first grand tour victory of the year by winning stage ten of the Giro, shrugging off claims that he had illegally held on to his team car when climbing Mount Etna on stage nine.[61] He won his second Giro victory of 2011 on stage twelve before leaving the race.[62] On 11 June it was announced that Cavendish was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours.[63][64]
Cavendish, in the green jersey, being led out to victory by team-mates Matthew Goss and Mark Renshaw on stage fifteen of the 2011 Tour de France.

Cavendish won stage 5, 7, 11, 15 and 21 of the Tour de France — bringing his total to twenty career Tour de France stage wins,[23][65][66] and the first person ever to win the final stage three years in succession. Even though he was docked twenty points for finishing outside the time limit after stage eighteen and again after nine.[67][68] Cavendish went on to win the points classification; in doing so, he became the first British cyclist to ever win the points classification.[69][70]

Over the following weeks Cavendish took part in the post-Tour criteriums. He won the Stiphout Criterium in The Netherlands, beating brothers Andy and Fränk Schleck of Leopard Trek to the line,[71] then he won the Profcriterium Wolvertem-Meise[72] and following that he won the Wateringse Wielerdag.[73] In August Cavendish's team HTC-Highroad announced that they would fold at the end of the season,[74] fuelling speculation of Cavendish moving to Team Sky.[75] The following week, he won the London–Surrey Cycle Classic; racing for Team Great Britain, it was the official test event for the road race at the Olympics and part of the London Prepares series.[76]

Less than a week later, Cavendish started the Vuelta a España, but abandoned during stage four due to the searing heat.[77] After withdrawing from the Vuelta Cavendish was allowed to be a late addition for the line up of the Tour of Britain.[78] Cavendish won stage one in Dumfries to take the leader's jersey at that point in the race,[79] and the final stage in London.[80]
Matthew Goss of Australia, Cavendish and Germany's André Greipel on the podium after the road race at the 2011 road world championships.

At the end of September Cavendish went to the road world championships in Copenhagen taking part in the road race with an eight-strong British team. After the team controlled the whole race it came down to a sprint finish with Cavendish crossing the line in first place taking the rainbow jersey. He became the second British World Champion after Tom Simpson in 1965.[81][82] After much speculation, it was announced Cavendish would join Team Sky for the 2012 season.[83] He was joined by his HTC-Highroad team-mate Bernhard Eisel.[84]

In November Cavendish made a cameo return to the track, competing in the Revolution event at Manchester Velodrome. He won the scratch race, his first win on the track of any kind since 2008.[85] He announced that he was starting his training for the 2012 season earlier than in previous years, with the aim of being more competitive in the Classics.[86] In November he won the 2011 Most Inspirational Sportsman of the Year Award at the Jaguar Academy of Sport Annual Awards at The Savoy Hotel in London.[87] In December Cavendish became the winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award with 169,152 (49.47%) of the votes cast, ahead of Mo Farah and Darren Clarke.[88]
2012

Cavendish began his 2012 season at the Tour of Qatar, where after struggling with illness, he won stage three to take his first victory for Team Sky.[89] He also won stage five later in the week, moving back into the top ten of the overall classification.[90] He finished the race in sixth place, despite crashing on the final stage.[91] Although he did not win any stages at the Tour of Oman, having suffered an injury in the first stage, he returned to win the Kuurne–Brussels–Kuurne.[92] Cavendish targeted a second victory in Milan – San Remo in March, but was dropped on Le Manie, 100 km (62 mi) from the finish.[93] He did not manage to finish high up in any of the other 2012 classics. In the Tour de Romandie, Cavendish showed his ability in short time trials by finishing third in the prologue, but did not take any stage wins.

A week later Cavendish took his season victories to five by winning the sprint on stage two of the Giro d'Italia. The following day, he was again in contention for victory on stage three, but in the sprint Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela's Roberto Ferrari aggressively switched lanes, clipping Cavendish and sending him to the ground and causing the whole field to stack up behind. Among other riders to fall was overall leader Taylor Phinney (BMC Racing Team). Cavendish later tweeted that Ferrari should be "ashamed to take out Pink, Red & World Champ jerseys".[94] He recovered from minor injuries to win stage 5 and 13.[95][96] Cavendish completed the Giro, but lost the points classification to Team Katusha's Joaquim Rodríguez by a single point. He did win the minor Azzurri d'Italia and stage combativeness classifications.[97] Cavendish competed in the Ster ZLM Toer GP Jan van Heeswijk, in mid-June. Despite failing to win any of the four, mostly flat, stages, Cavendish's consistency ensured that he won the overall general classification – the first of his professional career – by eight seconds.[98]
Cavendish won the final stage of the 2012 Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées, for a record fourth successive year.

In July, Cavendish won stage two of the Tour de France, his twenty-first tour stage win.[99] Cavendish was in contention for another stage victory on stage four, but was taken out in a large crash in the final 3 km (1.9 mi). Cavendish then took on a supporting role, with Team Sky attempting to win the race overall with Wiggins, and was seen carrying bottles for team-mates and even setting the pace on a Pyrenean climb.[100] The team repaid Cavendish for his hard work by helping chase down a breakaway on stage eighteen, although Cavendish alone had to chase down Rabobank rider Luis León Sánchez and Nicolas Roche of Ag2r-La Mondiale in the final 200 m to take his 22nd Tour stage win, equalling Lance Armstrong and André Darrigade.[101] Cavendish won the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs-Elysée for a record fourth successive year and, in doing so, became the most successful sprinter in Tour history with twenty-three stage wins.[102] He also became the first person to win on the Champs-Élysées in the rainbow jersey. During the Tour, French newspaper L'Equipe named Cavendish the Tour de France's best sprinter of all time.[103][104]

Cavendish's main target for the season was the road race at the Olympics, which was held six days after the final stage of the Tour de France. A strong British squad of Wiggins, Chris Froome, Ian Stannard and Millar was assembled around Cavendish, with the team aiming to control the race and allow Cavendish to take a sprint victory on The Mall. However, the team were forced to set the pace for the majority of the race, with few nations offering any support, and on the final climb of the Box Hill circuit, a large breakaway group of over thirty riders formed. Despite the best efforts of Stannard, Wiggins, Millar, Froome and Sky team-mate Bernhard Eisel, the breakaway could not be brought back leaving Cavendish to finish twenty-ninth, forty seconds behind the winner, Alexander Vinokurov of Kazakhstan.[105]

Cavendish won three stages of the Tour of Britain, crossing the line first in Dumfries, Blackpool and Guildford.[106]

On 18 October, he signed a three-year contract with Belgian team Omega Pharma-Quick Step for the 2013 season.[107]
2013

Cavendish started the 2013 season by winning the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina on his début for Omega Pharma-Quick Step.[108] He then went on to win the Tour of Qatar, with four consecutive stage victories out of six.[109] In March he won the second stage of the Three Days of De Panne.[110] In April he was denied a chance for a record fourth victory at the Scheldeprijs by defending champion Marcel Kittel of Argos-Shimano, finishing in second place; Omega Pharma-Quick Step helped catch the breakaway, but faded in the final kilometre, leaving Cavendish to launch his sprint around twenty riders back with 200 m remaining.[111]
Cavendish won the red jersey at the 2013 Giro d'Italia, becoming one of only five riders to win the points classification in all three Grand Tours.

In May Cavendish won the opening stage of the Giro d'Italia, taking the pink jersey for the third time in his career.[112] He went on to win stage six from a bunch sprint after a pan-flat stage. This victory moved him above Robert Millar to the top of Cycling Weekly's all-time ranking of British professional riders.[113] He won stage 12, claiming his 100th professional victory and taking the red jersey for the third time in the race.[114] The next day, he timed his finish perfectly to win the punishing stage 13, his fourth victory of the 2013 race. His fifth victory of the Giro came on the final stage, wrapping up the points classification which he had led for much of the race. By doing so, Cavendish became only the fifth rider to win the points classification in all three Grand Tours.[115]

On 23 June, Cavendish won the national road race championship, around the street circuit in Glasgow. He overtook David Millar on the home straight and held off the challenge of Stannard, who recovered from a puncture in the penultimate lap to claim silver.[116]

In July, Cavendish won stage five of the Tour de France, giving him 24 career Tour stage wins. He was greeted on the line by André Darrigade, the previous holder of the record for most Tour stages won by a sprinter.[117] In the 11th stage, a 33 kilometre individual time trial, a spectator doused Cavenidsh with urine.[118][119] On the 13th stage from Tours to Saint-Amand-Montrond, he rode with a 14-man breakaway with 30 km (18.6 mi) to go and out-sprinted Peter Sagan to win the stage – his 25th Tour de France stage win.[120] Later that month Cavendish decided to ride the Danmark Rundt, where he won the race's final stage.[121]

In September, Cavendish returned to the track for the first time since the Olympic Games in Beijing, competing at the velodrome in Ghent for the International Belgian Open. Finishing second in the scratch race and third the Madison with Owain Doull, Cavendish hasn't ruled out the prospect of competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro having earned enough point to qualify for the World Cup.[122]

On 18 September, Cavendish took victory in stage 4 of the Tour of Britain, outsprinting Elia Viviani in Llanberis in the Snowdonia national park. He repeated the win 3 days later to take stage 7 – once again out-sprinting Italy's Elia Viviani to the finish on Guildford High Street.
2014

Cavendish had a quiet start to the year, deciding not to compete in the Giro d'Italia. He won four stages and the points classification at the Tour of Turkey.[123]

In the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France, which took place in Yorkshire, England, from Leeds to Harrogate, Cavendish crashed out during a collision in the final few seconds of the sprint finish. He suffered a dislocated shoulder and did not start the next stage.[124]
Riding style

Cavendish has been compared to an athletics sprinter pushing on the starting blocks.[125] At the 2009 Tour de France the points that he gained in the intermediate sprint in stage 14 were removed after he was judged to have driven Thor Hushovd too close to barriers on the course.[126] After stage 19 he said that he was "embarrassed" for his comments about "deserving" green jersey wearer Hushovd.[40] After stage four of the 2010 Tour de Suisse, Cavendish was found to be at fault for a crash involving himself and Heinrich Haussler during the end of stage sprint.[127] The crash caused Haussler, Arnaud Coyot and Lloyd Mondory to quit the race because of their injuries, though Cavendish was able to continue.[128] Cavendish received a thirty second penalty and a CHF200 fine. The start of the next stage was disrupted by fellow riders protesting at Cavendish's riding and style, and what they claimed was a lack of respect from Cavendish.[128]
Personal life
Cavendish during a press conference at the 2010 Tour of California, with his autobiography Boy Racer.

He has three homes, one on the Isle of Man which he says will always be his real home, a home in Essex which he shares with his wife, and has a training base in Quarrata, Tuscany, Italy.[129][130] Having been brought up in a strong friendly community on the Isle of Man, Cavendish prefers to live in that kind of community rather than in a city.[131]

Cavendish is in a relationship with former glamour model and Page 3 girl Peta Todd. On 3 April 2012, Cavendish announced the birth of their daughter, Delilah Grace Cavendish.[132] On 5 October 2013, he married Todd in London.[133]

Cavendish has been described as confident, even arrogant. In 2008 he said: "When journalists at the Tour de France ask me if I am the best sprinter, I answer Yes, and that's seen as arrogance, but if they don't ask me, I don't say I'm the best sprinter in the world."[125] In June 2009 his autobiography, Boy Racer, which covered his career to date, was published.[9] At a press conference in London ahead of the 2009 Tour de France, Cavendish explained that the book was "more a biography of last year's Tour stage wins" than an autobiography.[134] His "biggest motivation for writing it had been to explain himself better", to counter the way he came across during interviews immediately after races.[134]

Cavendish has a 'photographic' memory for the details of race routes. Jonathan Liew interviewed him in 2013 and he said, "If I do a circuit then after three laps I could tell you where all the potholes were." As a test Jonathan asked him to recount the close of his win in Sanremo five years earlier. It took Cavendish five minutes to recite every detail of the last 10 kilometres. This is an obvious asset to Cavendish in planning and timing his races.[131]

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