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The Love Movement

The Love Movement is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, and their last album released during group member Phife Dawg's lifetime. Released on September 29, 1998, by Jive Records, it is a concept album, exploring the lyrical theme of love. Musically, it is a continuation of the group's previous album, Beats, Rhymes and Life, featuring minimalist R&B and jazz-oriented production by The Ummah. The lead single, "Find a Way", charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and was followed by a second single, "Like It Like That". The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 1, 1998. The group announced its disbandment a month before the album's release.

Background
The roots of The Love Movement trace back to 1997, when Q-Tip produced a beat intended for The Notorious B.I.G.'s album Life After Death. The Notorious B.I.G. enjoyed the beat when it was played for him, however, Life After Death had already been completed and the beat was not used before his death later that year. Eventually, the beat was used for the song "The Love" on The Love Movement.

The album was originally slated for release in May 1998. However, on February 7, 1998, a fire at Q-Tip's home recording studio destroyed his entire record collection and a computer containing many unreleased songs by the group, including collaborations with producer Jay Dee, delaying the album until September of that year. A month before the album's release, the group announced that it was disbanding.

Music and lyrics
The Love Movement is a continuation of the stripped-down R&B and jazz-infused sound that The Ummah created on Beats, Rhymes and Life. The album contains an instrumental track, "4 Moms", which features a guitar solo by jazz guitarist Chalmers "Spanky" Alford. Lyrically, love is the album's predominant theme, while Q-Tip and Phife Dawg were noted for their "mature", "subtle" and "laid-back" rhymes. The featured rappers were given praise for making the album sound "livelier", as it was criticized for being "a little monotonous" overall. Thomas Golianopoulos of Spin hailed the single "Find a Way" as the group's "final glorious moment" before breaking up.

Reception
The Love Movement debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on November 1, 1998, with shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States.

The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Josef Woodard of Entertainment Weekly described it as "a slamming, seductively textured, and tough display of virtuosic rhyming and tale spinning." Dele Fadele of NME praised it for demonstrating "the continued survival of hip-hop as an artform", calling the album's songs "drug-free psychedelic experiences in which subsonic bass and weird-sounding beats play a large part." Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield believed that the "mature, accomplished niceness" of the album "proves that the Tribe still have the skills — they're just short on thrills." In a negative review, Tim Haslett of Spin wrote that the spontaneity that made The Low End Theory "so much fun" had been "replaced by a shiny patina and a flabby George Benson-esque seriousness, so that the record feels like it was conceived and executed around a major-label conference table."

In a review for AllMusic, critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that "there are plenty of pleasures to be had from careful listening" of the album, and despite its love concept, he felt that "the overall effect is quite similar" to Beats, Rhymes and Life. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club stated, "While not as immediately accessible as Tribe's first three albums, it's still consistently solid enough to stand up to repeat listens."

The Love Movement was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, presented at the 41st Grammy Awards in 1999.

Track listing

 * All songs produced by The Ummah, except track 11 produced by The Ummah and Bay-Lloyd.

Notes
 * Tracks 1–4, 7, 8, 11, and 13 credited as "initiated by JD of The Ummah".

Samples
Start It Up Find a Way Steppin' It Up Give Me Pad & Pen
 * "Sweet Georgia Brown" by The Singers Unlimited
 * "Technova" by Towa Tei
 * "Flash It to the Beat" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
 * "Leo: Rosebud" by Cannonball Adderley
 * "Give Me" by I-Level
 * "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men
 * "Yearning for Your Love" by The Gap Band
 * "Graduate Medley" by Gap Mangione

Busta's Lament Hot 4 U Against the World The Love Rock Rock Y'all
 * "Goin' Through Changes" by Feather
 * "New Horizons" by The Sylvers
 * "Jingling Baby" by LL Cool J
 * "La Di Da Di" by Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick
 * "Little Sunflower" by Freddie Hubbard
 * "What Can You Bring Me" by Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band

Personnel
Credits are adapted from AllMusic.

 * A Tribe Called Quest – primary artist
 * Busta Rhymes – guest artist
 * D-Life – guest artist
 * Jane Doe – guest artist
 * Mos Def – guest artist
 * Noreaga – guest artist
 * Punchline – guest artist
 * Redman – guest artist
 * Spanky – guest artist, guitar
 * Wordsworth – guest artist

 * Q-Tip – composer
 * James Yancey (Jay Dee) – composer
 * Ali Shaheed Muhammad – composer
 * Phife Dawg – composer
 * The Ummah – engineer, mixing, production
 * David Kennedy – engineer, mixing
 * Tom Coyne – mastering
 * Nick Gamma – art direction, design
 * Ron Croudy – design
 * Pascal Lewis – make-up
 * Robert Maxwell – photography

title: The Love Movement


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Almadraba

Almadraba (almadrava) is an elaborate and ancient technique for trapping and catching Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) originally used by the Phoenicians and developed to its current form in southeastern Iberia during the Islamic period.

The technique, in its most simple iteration, consists in setting up net barriers so as to trap the tuna when they migrate into the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean (February to July), on their way to spawn and until recently, on their return journey, ("al revés"); the bycatch contains, among others, bullet tuna (auxis rochei), little tunny (euthynnus alletteratus), Atlantic bonito (sarda sarda), bigeye tuna (thunnus obesus) and swordfish (xiphias gladius). It is a traditional form of fishing practiced mainly in southeastern Spain (Andalusia, Murcia and southern Valencian Community), Morocco and southern Portugal (the Algarve). Almadrabas have been set from the ports of Cádiz, Chiclana de la Frontera, Conil de la Frontera, Barbate, Rota, Zahara de los Atunes, La Línea de la Concepción, Nueva Umbría, Isla Cristina, Ceuta and Tarifa, among other ports.

A similar technique exists in Sicily known as mattanza (a borrowing from the Spanish word matanza, meaning 'slaughter'), introduced either by the Moors during Sicily's own Islamic period or by the Spanish afterwards.

In film

 * Rupert Murray's The End of the Line (2009 film) demonstrates almadraba when discussing declining catches.
 * Portuguese short documentary film pt::A Almadraba Atuneira, directed by Antonio Campos.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Almadraba


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Kitchener City Hall

Kitchener City Hall is the seat of municipal government of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It has gone through many iterations through the 20th century, culminating in the current building, which opened in 1993.

History
The original location of the municipal seat was on the block bound by King, Frederick, Duke and Scott streets and home today to Market Square Shopping Centre; the first city hall was built in 1919 by William Henry Eugene Schmalz (son of Mayor W.H. Schmalz) faced King, with the area towards Duke hosting the weekly Kitchener Farmer's Market (operating from 1869 to 1872 which relocated to building in rear), rebuilt 1907 and lasted until 1973. The last of the city halls on the site was built in 1924 replacing the Victorian structure topped with a clockless cupola (and with a Weather vane) with a three-story Renaissance Revival (similar to St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto) porticoed building topped with a clock tower. It was demolished in 1973 in a decision controversial to this day. The stones and workings of the clock tower were labelled and stored. While City Hall moved, the Farmer's Market was relocated within the same small location (in Market Square Mall) from 1973 to 2004.

The city moved its offices across Frederick Street to the upper floors of the Oxlea office tower in 1973. Municipal affairs continued in leased space at this unremarkable location for the next twenty years; the former site was converted to the Market Square shopping centre, which housed the Farmers' Market below its parking garage.

The clock tower of the 1924 city hall was finally reassembled 22 years after being dismantled, and placed on a new base in Victoria Park in view of the new city hall, in 1995.

Current building
In the 1990s, during the mayoral term of Dom Cardillo, the city decided that it should operate from a dedicated, modern building again. It purchased the complete block enclosed by King, College, Duke, and Young streets, and held an architectural competition to design the building. The winner was Toronto architects Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (Mertins & Wright, 1990) who laid out an open square facing King Street complete with a fountain/skating rink. The design plans for the building are kept at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. The Kitchener City Hall is enclosed on two sides by three-storey wings, with the main building at the back of the square. The west side of the edifice houses the council chamber; a central, open rotunda defines an indoor public space, and the east elevation consists of a twelve-storey office tower.

The parts of the building are named for former names of Kitchener; the wings surrounding the square are named for Sandhills and Ebytown, while the Berlin Tower carries the most recent of the former names. The square at front was simply named Civic Square for its first 21 years; it was renamed Carl Zehr Square in late 2014, in honour of the mayor who retired that year. Gardens and other open space face Duke Street at the rear. The new City Hall opened with generally enthusiastic support in 1993.

The textures of the building are varied. Much of both the interior and exterior is in red sandstone imported from India; domestic granite makes up pavement and floors. A unique feature is the 'green wall'; passing from the south on a parallel with Gaukel Street, this bulwark of green stone continues, at various heights, through the square and building across the entire block. The council chamber is a modern, approachable space, where the mayor and councillors sit at a circular furnishing, surrounded by staff facilities and observed by the visitors' gallery. The building's rotunda hosts many events, from art exhibits to public gatherings.

Popular culture
The city hall makes appearances in the sitcom Dan for Mayor as the Wessex City Hall. It was also featured in the music video for Hemorrhage (In My Hands) by Fuel.

Cenotaph
A cenotaph was built at Frederick Street near King Street in 1929, relocated near City Hall in 1949 and relocated to current site at Duke and Frederick Streets in 1973.

title: Kitchener City Hall


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Gaslight (1944 film)

Gaslight is a 1944 American psychological thriller film directed by George Cukor, and starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Angela Lansbury in her film debut. Adapted by John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, and John L. Balderston from Patrick Hamilton's play Gas Light (1938), it follows a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is descending into insanity.

A remake of the 1940 British film of the same name directed by Thorold Dickinson, Cukor's version had a larger scale and budget than the earlier film, and lends a different feel to the material. To avoid confusion with the first film, Cukor's version was originally titled The Murder in Thornton Square in the UK. The film features numerous deviations from the original stage play, though the central drama remains that of a husband trying to drive his wife insane in order to distract her from his criminal activities.

Gaslight was released theatrically on May 4, 1944, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to critical acclaim, and received seven nominations for the 17th Academy Awards, including for the Best Picture, winning two: Best Actress (for Bergman), and Best Production Design. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
In 1875, after world-famous opera singer Alice Alquist is murdered at her London home, her orphan niece Paula is sent to Italy to follow in her footsteps. As an adult, Paula marries her accompanist Gregory Anton after a two-week whirlwind romance. They agree to settle in London and occupy her late aunt's long-vacant townhouse.

Paula grapples with the memory of her aunt's murder, and Gregory suggests storing Alice's furnishings in the attic. When Paula finds a letter to her aunt from a man named Sergis Bauer, Gregory reacts violently but apologizes. He hires a young maid, Nancy, and insists that she never bother his "high-strung" wife.

Paula is surprised when Gregory chides her supposed forgetfulness, but on a visit to the Tower of London, she cannot find an heirloom brooch he gave her, although it was stored safely in her handbag. She is plagued by noises coming from the boarded-up attic, and notices the gaslights dimming for no apparent reason when Gregory is not home, which he assures her is only her imagination.

Gregory flirts with Nancy, whose disdain for his wife only worsens Paula's nerves. Her anxious behavior is noticed by Inspector Brian Cameron of Scotland Yard, a childhood admirer of Alice. Struck by Paula's resemblance to her aunt, Cameron attempts to reopen the cold case, discovering that a gift of royal jewels was not recovered after Alice's murder.

Isolating his wife from the world, Gregory convinces her that she is a kleptomaniac, responsible for hiding a painting, and is too unwell to be in public. Unable to prevent her from attending a party hosted by her old family friend, Gregory accuses Paula of stealing his watch. When he "finds" it in her handbag, Paula becomes hysterical in front of the guests. Taking Paula home, Gregory angrily claims that her mother died in an asylum, and that the letter she discovered from Sergis Bauer never existed. Doubting her own sanity, Paula breaks down.

Meanwhile, Cameron has recruited a patrolman to watch Gregory, who they learn often visits an abandoned house nearby, and is planning to institutionalize Paula. While Gregory is out, Cameron offers Paula his help, confirming that the attic noises and flickering gaslights are indeed real. He deduces that Gregory has been entering his own attic through a skylight via the neighboring vacant house, to search through Alice's belongings. When he turns on the attic lights, the gas to the downstairs lights is reduced.

Cameron pries open Gregory's desk, and Paula finds the letter from Bauer that her husband insisted was a delusion. "Gregory" is actually Sergis Bauer, who murdered Alice but was interrupted before he could find her jewels. His marriage to Paula was a scheme to gain access to her aunt's home, followed by a cunning strategy to have Paula institutionalized and so gain full access to Alice's estate.

At the same time, Sergis discovers the jewels hidden in plain sight, sewn into one of Alice's famous costumes. He returns downstairs to find his desk unlocked. The mentally exhausted Paula admits that she was visited by a man. To protect Paula, the kindly cook Elizabeth assures Sergis that this was merely a figment of her imagination, driving Paula to despair. Cameron appears and confronts Sergis, chasing him into the attic and tying him to a chair.

Finally convinced of her own sanity, Paula is left alone with Sergis, who urges her to cut him free. Instead, Paula taunts him, musing that the knife in her hand might not be real and also finding the "missing" brooch. As the police drive Sergis away, Cameron expresses interest in seeing Paula again.

Production
Encouraged by the success of the play and the British 1940 film, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought the remake rights, but with a clause insisting that all existing prints of the first film be destroyed, even to the point of trying to destroy the negative. Evidently that order was not honored to the letter, since the 1940 Gaslight remains available for both theatrical exhibition, television screenings, and DVD release.

Denominalization of the play's title
Self-help and popular psychology authors sometimes denominalize the film's title (also known as "verbing") and use it as a verb. Gaslighting, in this context, refers to manipulating a person or a group of people, in a way similar to the way the protagonist in the film was manipulated.

Box office
According to MGM records the film earned $2,263,000 in the US and Canada and $2,350,000 in other markets resulting in a profit of $941,000.

Critical response
Critics generally consider the American remake to also be a classic. Bergman's Oscar-winning performance has long been considered among the greatest of all time, while Boyer's portrayal of Gregory was also Oscar nominated. The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther praised the actors. He wrote, "And with Mr. Boyer doing the driving in his best dead-pan hypnotic style, while the flames flicker strangely in the gas-jets and the mood music bongs with heavy threats, it is no wonder that Miss Bergman goes to pieces in a most distressing way. Both of these popular performers play their roles right to the hilt. Nice little personality vignettes are interestingly contributed, too, by Joseph Cotten as a stubborn detective, Dame May Whitty and Angela Lansbury as a maid."

Film critic Manny Farber, writing in The New Republic registered this appraisal of Bergman’s performance:

"A lot of the credit for the quality of [the picture] is due to Miss Bergman, who is able to strike variations of hysteria, perplexity or love that make actually static episodes seem adequately flexible and meaningful…she is one of the few actresses who are expected—and allowed—to do this in films. Her acting zeal and ability sometimes run her on unnecessarily…but she gives a nice rendition of an unwary and unworldly woman being hurt and bewildered, and her more notorious ability to portray the most adoring and lovely of wives makes the nature of the tragedy and cruelty seem even more extreme."

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 89% based on reviews from 35 critics.

Noir analysis
In 2006, film critic Emanuel Levy discussed the film noir aspects of the film:

"A thriller soaked in paranoia, Gaslight is a period films [sic] noir that, like Hitchcock's The Lodger and Hangover Square, is set in the Edwardian age. It's interesting to speculate about the prominence of a film cycle in the 1940s that can be described as 'Don't Trust Your Husband'. It began with three Hitchcock films: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941), and Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and continued with Gaslight and Jane Eyre (both in 1944), Dragonwyck (1945), Notorious and The Spiral Staircase (both 1946), The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), and Sorry, Wrong Number and Sleep, My Love (both 1948). All of these films use the noir visual vocabulary and share the same premise and narrative structure: The life of a rich, sheltered woman is threatened by an older, deranged man, often her husband. In all of them, the house, usually a symbol of sheltered security in Hollywood movies, becomes a trap of terror."

Accolades
The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in the following lists:
 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #78

title: Gaslight (1944 film)


text:
User:P0wermac

p0wermac

More info to be posted.

title: User:P0wermac


text:
File:TomCora with TheEx.jpg

Summary
Tom Cora performing with The Ex.

Fair use for Tom Cora (1953–1998) and The Ex (band)
The use of this image in the articles named above is claimed as Fair use of copyrighted material because:
 * 1) This image is being used for informational purposes only and shows Tom Cora performing with The Ex;
 * 2) The articles named above concerns the subject of the image;
 * 3) The inclusion of the image in the named articles makes a significant contribution to the article because it:
 * 4) identifies the subject of the articles;
 * 5) identifies the subject of the image;
 * 6) A public domain image of Tom Cora performing with The Ex has not yet been found;
 * 7) Tom Cora is no longer living, so no new photographs of this collaboration can be taken.

title: File:TomCora with TheEx.jpg


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Northside High School

Northside High School or North Side High School or Northside Christian School or Northside School ir similar can refer to:

Alabama

 * Northside High School (Northport, Alabama), a high school in Alabama (West Point Colored High School)

Arkansas

 * Northside High School (Fort Smith, Arkansas)

Florida

 * Havana Northside High School, Havana, Florida
 * Northside Christian School (St. Petersburg, Florida), a high school in Florida

Georgia

 * Northside High School, which merged into North Atlanta High School, Atlanta, Georgia
 * Northside High School (Columbus, Georgia)
 * Northside High School (Warner Robins, Georgia)

Illinois

 * Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, Illinois

Indiana

 * North Side High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Louisiana

 * Northside High School (Lafayette, Louisiana)

Mississippi

 * Northside High School (Mississippi), in Shelby
 * Northside School (Mississippi), a landmark in Clay County, Mississippi

Montana

 * Northside School (Montana), on the National Register of Historic Places in Park County, Montana

North Carolina

 * Northside Christian Academy, Charlotte, North Carolina
 * Northside High School (Jacksonville, North Carolina)
 * Northside High School (Pinetown, North Carolina), part of Beaufort County Schools (North Carolina)

Ohio

 * Northside Christian School, Westerville, Ohio

South Carolina

 * Northside Christian School (North Charleston, SC), North Charleston, South Carolina

Tennessee

 * North Side High School (Jackson, Tennessee)
 * Northside High School (Memphis, Tennessee)

Texas

 * John Marshall High School (Leon Valley, Texas) (formerly Northside High School), Leon Valley, Texas
 * North Side High School (Fort Worth, Texas)
 * Northside School (Fargo, Texas)
 * Northside High School (Houston), Texas

Virginia

 * Northside High School (Roanoke, Virginia)

Washington

 * North Side High School, former name of Whatcom Middle School, Washington

title: Northside High School


text:
Sylvia Engdahl

Sylvia Louise Engdahl (born November 24, 1933) is an American writer, known best for science fiction. Her debut novel Enchantress from the Stars, published by Atheneum Books in 1970, was the 1971 Newbery Honor Book (see Newbery Medal), was a Geffen Award finalist in 2008, Best Translated YA Book, and she won the Phoenix Award for that work twenty years later.

Biography
Engdahl was born in Los Angeles, California. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database lists 11 books by Engdahl that were published from 1970 to 1981, including two anthologies she edited and three nonfiction books. Her first six books were all published by Atheneum Books. From 1985 to 1995 she taught graduate courses for Connected Education, a pioneer in online education. She lives in Oregon.

In August 2007, Engdahl published a new adult science fiction/visionary fiction novel, Stewards of the Flame: The Hidden Flame Book 1, which she followed with Promise of the Flame: The Hidden Flame Book 2 (September 2009). She followed this duopoly with a trilogy that can be read separately, Defender of the Flame: The Rising Flame Book 1 (April 2013), Herald of the Flame: The Rising Flame Book 2 (October 2014), and her most recent novel, Envoy of the Flame: The Rising Flame Book 3 (June 2021).

Selected works
Among 73 Library of Congress Online Catalog records of books created by Engdahl through 2014 (which may include multiple editions of some), all but the first 16 are nonfiction anthologies she edited while working as a freelance editor.

Science fiction novels
Engdahl wrote six science fiction novels published from 1970 to 1981 by Atheneum, all of which have been republished in the 21st century. Her latest novels, a duology published in 2007 and 2009 and a trilogy published in 2013, 2014, and 2021 respectively, are adult science fiction, not YA.
 * Enchantress from the Stars (1970), illustrated by Rodney Shackell
 * Journey Between Worlds (1970), illustrated by James and Ruth McCrea – updated 2006
 * The Far Side of Evil (1971), illustrated by Richard Cuffari – updated 2003
 * This Star Shall Abide (1972), illustrated by Richard Cuffari (UK title, Heritage of the Star)
 * Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains (1973), illustrated by Richard Cuffari
 * The Doors of the Universe (1981)
 * Children of the Star (2000) – omnibus edition of the Star trilogy: This Star Shall Abide, Beyond the Tomorrow Mountains, and The Doors of the Universe, published as adult SF (the three books had been issued as young adult SF)
 * Stewards of the Flame (2007) – first in an adult science fiction duology, The Hidden Flame
 * Promise of the Flame (2009)
 * Defender of the Flame (2013) - first in an adult science fiction trilogy, The Rising Flame
 * Herald of the Flame (2014)
 * Envoy of the Flame (2021)

Other

 * Planet-girded Suns: The Long History of Belief in Exoplanets—revised edition (2012), illustrated by Richard Cuffari
 * Universe ahead: stories of the future (1975), selected and introduced by Engdahl and Rick Roberson, illustrated by Richard Cuffari
 * ''Anywhere, Anywhen: stories of tomorrow (1976), edited by Engdahl
 * Subnuclear Zoo: new discoveries in high energy physics (1977), by Engdahl and Roberson
 * Tool for Tomorrow: new knowledge about genes (1979), by Engdahl and Roberson
 * Our World Is Earth (1979) - picture book

Awards

 * Enchantress from the Stars is the 1971 Newbery Honor Book (see Newbery Medal).
 * Enchantress from the Stars was a Geffen Award finalist in 2008, Best Translated YA Book.
 * Enchantress from the Stars also won the 1990 Phoenix Award. The latter, from the Children's Literature Association, designated the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity.
 * This Star Shall Abide won the 1973 Christopher Award.
 * Stewards of the Flame won a bronze medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards.

Enchantress from the Stars has also been runner-up for a few awards and has been named to several book lists.
 * Runners-up and book lists

 * 1970: Junior Literary Guild selection; ALA Notable Children's Books
 * 1971: Horn Book Fanfare; Newbery Honor
 * 1998: New York Public Library 100 Favorite Children's Books
 * 2001: Teen People Book Club selection
 * 2002: Book Sense Book of the Year finalist, Rediscovery category; CBC Not Just For Children Anymore, Classics category; CCBC Choices
 * 2004: ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

title: Sylvia Engdahl


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Gaslight (1940 film)

Gaslight (released in the United States as Angel Street) is a 1940 British psychological thriller film directed by Thorold Dickinson which stars Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard, and features Frank Pettingell. The film adheres more closely to the original play upon which it is based – Patrick Hamilton's Gas Light (1938) – than does the 1944 MGM remake. The play had been performed on Broadway as Angel Street, so when the MGM remake was released in the United States, it was given the same title as the American production.

Plot
In Pimlico, London, Alice Barlow (Marie Wright) is murdered by an unknown man, who then ransacks her house, ripping her furniture apart as if desperately searching for something. The house remains empty for many years, until newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move in. Bella (Diana Wynyard) soon finds herself misplacing small objects; and, before long, Paul (Anton Walbrook) has her believing she is losing her sanity. B. G. Rough (Frank Pettingell), a former detective involved in the original murder investigation, begins to suspect him of Alice Barlow's murder.

Paul lights the gas lamps to search the closed-off upper floors, which causes the rest of the lamps in the house to dim slightly. When Bella comments on the lights' dimming, he tells her that she is imagining things. Bella is persuaded that she is hearing noises, unaware that Paul enters the upper floors from the house next door. The sinister interpretation of the change in light levels is part of a larger pattern of deception to which Paul subjects Bella, including berating her for losing a brooch he gave her which he actually took and hid inside his locked rolltop desk.

Rough gets wind of Paul's plan to have Bella certified insane and institutionalised so that he can carry on with Nancy, their promiscuous maid, and summons Bella's concerned cousin Vincent Ullswater for help in getting her out of Paul's grasp. After Paul verbally abuses Bella before leaving to attend a music hall show with Nancy, Rough comes to the house and reveals to Bella that Paul is really the wanted Louis Bauer, who has returned to the house to search for the rubies he was unable to find after murdering his aunt, Alice Barlow. Furthermore, due to Bauer's bigamous marriage to another woman in Australia, his marriage to Bella is invalid. Rough forces open Paul's desk in search of evidence that Paul is Bauer, but is interrupted when Bella sees the gaslight flicker shortly before Bauer returns to the house. Rough confronts him with their knowledge and Bauer mockingly opens the desk drawer which he is confident contains no evidence. Inside is Bella's missing brooch, and she reveals that the brooch has a secret compartment in which the rubies had been hidden. When the brooch is opened Alice Barlow's initials can be seen inside. Bella also tells Rough that she hid the rubies inside a vase on the mantelpiece. The cornered Bauer attacks them both with a chair, but is knocked unconscious by Rough. Bauer attempts to coerce Bella into freeing him from his restraints, but she denounces him at knifepoint before he is led away by the police.

Reception
Rotten Tomatoes tallied a 100% score, based on six professional reviews.

Leonard Maltin gave the film $3 1/2$ stars (out of 4): "Electrifying atmosphere, delicious performances, and a succinctly conveyed sense of madness, and evil lurking beneath the surface of the ordinary".

The Time Out critic wrote, "Nothing like as lavish as the later MGM version ... But in its own small-scale way a superior film by far. Lurking menace hangs in the air like a fog, the atmosphere is electric, and Wynyard suffers exquisitely as she struggles to keep dementia at bay."

Encouraged by the success of the play and film, MGM bought the remake rights, but with a clause insisting that all existing prints of Dickinson's version be destroyed, even to the point of trying to destroy the negative, so that it would not compete with their more highly publicised 1944 remake starring Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, and Joseph Cotten. "Fortunately they failed, and now the British film has been restored by the BFI and issued in the UK on Blu-ray in a pristine print." Since 2017 the film has been viewable on the YouTube platform.

Denominalisation of the play's title
Self-help and popular psychology authors sometimes denominalise the film's title (also known as "verbing") and use it as a verb ("gaslighting"). Gaslighting, in this context, refers to manipulating a person or a group of people, in a way similar to the way the protagonist in the play was manipulated.

title: Gaslight (1940 film)


text:
Beautiful Life (Guy Sebastian album)

Beautiful Life is the second album by Guy Sebastian. It was released 18 October 2004 on Sony BMG Australia and peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was followed by the Beautiful Life concert tour of Australia. During the 8-month course of creating the album, Sebastian travelled to the United States and Europe to work with various songwriters, including Brian McKnight, with whom he penned the song "Wait", and Robin Thicke, whom he co-wrote a number-one charting first single, "Out with My Baby", and "Fiend for You". "How", an original by Thicke, is also included. The album reached Platinum status in Australia and eventually shipped over 100,000 copies.

Track listing

 * 1) "Out with My Baby" (Guy Sebastian/Robin Thicke/James Gass)
 * 2) "Kryptonite" (Sebastian/Beau Dozier)
 * 3) "Sweetest Berry" (Jamey Jaz/David Ryan Harris)
 * 4) "Wait" (Sebastian/Brian McKnight)
 * 5) "Back in the Day" (Sebastian/Fredrik "Fredro" Odesjo/Mats Berntoft)
 * 6) "I Wish" (Stevie Wonder)
 * 7) "Anthem of Why" (Sebastian/Karlsson/Pontus Winnberg/Henrik Jonback)
 * 8) "Story of a Single Man" (Sebastian/Julian Bunetta)
 * 9) "How" (Thicke)
 * 10) "Forever with You" featuring Mýa (Sebastian)
 * 11) "Make Heaven Wait" (Jack Kugell/Jamie Jones/Jason Pennock/Martin Kember/David Garcia)
 * 12) "Fiend for You" (Sebastian/Thicke/Robert Daniels/James Gass)
 * 13) "Oh Oh" (Sebastian/Jarrad Rogers)
 * 14) "Beautiful Life featuring Rahsaan Patterson" (Sebastian/Rogers/Rahsaan Patterson)

title: Beautiful Life (Guy Sebastian album)


text:
Beaton

Beaton may refer to:

Places

 * Beaton, British Columbia, locality in Canada
 * Beaton Creek, tributary of Columbia River, Canada

Surname

 * Beaton (surname), a surname with multiple origins, list of people with the name
 * Beaton medical kindred, a Scottish family
 * Cecil Beaton, English photographer
 * David Beaton Archbishop of St Andrews
 * Janet Beaton Lady of Branxholme and Buccleugh
 * John Beaton Football referee
 * Kate Beaton Webcomic artist
 * Steve Beaton Darts player

Given name

 * Beaton Tulk (born 1944), Canadian politician
 * Beaton Squires (1881–?), Canadian football player and lawyer

title: Beaton


text:
Criss Angel

Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos (Χριστόφορος Νικόλαος Σαραντάκος; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, illusionist and musician. He is often referred to as one of the world's most successful illusionists, generating in excess of $150 million in tourism revenue for Las Vegas in one year.

Angel began his career in New York City, before moving his base of operations to the Las Vegas Valley. He is known for starring in the hit television show MINDFREAK and the stage show Criss Angel MINDFREAK LIVE! (previously Criss Angel Believe) at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas. Following his departure from The Luxor after a decade-long run, Angel opened the new MINDFREAK show in the Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. He also produced and starred in the TV series Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars on CW, Criss Angel BeLIEve on Spike TV, a one-hour special Trick'd on A&E, and the reality competition show Phenomenon on NBC.

He also holds multiple world records made during his magic performances, and was named Magician of the Decade in 2009, Magician of the Century in 2010 by the International Magicians Society. In 2017, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Vanish magazine awarded him the "Greatest of All Time" award in 2019. In addition to his career as an illusionist, Angel was the lead singer for his industrial band Angeldust, which released five albums. He also authored the book Mindfreak: Secret Revelations.

Early life
Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967, at Hempstead General Hospital in Hempstead, on Long Island, New York. He is of Greek descent. Angel was raised in Elmont until fourth grade, when his family moved to East Meadow, New York. His father, John Sarantakos, owned a restaurant and doughnut shop. He developed an interest in magic at age seven and took inspiration from the great illusionist, Harry Houdini. Angel performed for an audience after five years of practising his craft at age 12, for which he was paid $10. By age 14, Angel was performing throughout high school at restaurants in East Meadow, including the Wine Gallery. Angel's first major illusion was making his mother float in their family den. Early in his career he was helped by animal breeder and reality-television host Marc Morrone, who helped Angel find and train a set of doves for his act.

By the time he graduated from East Meadow High School, he had decided to pursue a career as a professional magician instead of attending college as his parents wanted. According to the Biography Channel, "Angel hit the road and began touring with other traveling performance acts. Between traveling and performing, he attempted to further his education on his own by studying the history of magic in public libraries. He also studied the art of mysticism, music, martial arts and even dance."

Early career
Angel has said that, "I stayed away from magicians when I was younger because I didn't want to think like them and wanted to create my own style." His first television appearance was in 1994, where he performed as a part of Secrets, a one-hour ABC primetime special. One of the early supporters of Angel was horror director Clive Barker. In 1995, Barker asked Angel to work with him on his film Lord of Illusions. He also later recorded the intro to Angel's album World of Illusion: System One. Barker started in the mid-1990s, "Criss Angel is extraordinary, a spectacular mix of visionary magic. This is the future, and it can't come quickly enough." During that year, he collaborated with musician Klayton to form Angeldust, a show that combined magic with music. They released their first album, Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusions, in 1998. Also that year, Angel performed a 10-minute show over the course of the "World of Illusion" conference in Madison Square Garden, performing 60 shows per day. However, by 2000, Klayton's name was removed from Angel's website.

Angel also starred in the 1997 television movie The Science of Magic and its 2003 sequel The Science of Magic II. Criss Angel Mindfreak, which would later become Angel's first television series, was originally an off-Broadway show by Angel, which in 2001 was picked up by the World Underground Theatre. When not performing the show, Angel worked the streets promoting the show to pedestrians. Criss Angel Mindfreak ran for more than 600 performances between 2001 and 2003 at the World Underground Theater in Times Square. His 24 hours in a tank of water set a world record for the longest amount of time for a human to be completely submerged under water. This performance would also become a part of his first television special.

Angel has also been known to actively discourage a belief in mediumship, stating that there is no way for mediums to speak with people beyond the dead. He has said, "If somebody's doing that for entertainment purposes, that's one thing. But if they claim to be communicating with the dead, I don't care if they're from my hometown, I don't care if they're my family members: I'll expose them and tell them what they really are."

Water torture cell in Times Square (2002)
In August 2002, Angel spent 24 hours shackled underwater in a phone booth-sized water torture cell in New York's Times Square. The act was said to be inspired by the great escape artist, Harry Houdini. WWE corporation being the owners of the World Underground Theatre where Angel had been performing his stage show. To prepare for the trick, he practiced in a neighbor's backyard swimming pool next to his mother's house in East Meadow, New York. Prior to the performance he had only managed to spend 12 consecutive hours in the water. He fasted for 24 hours before the performance to make it through the period without need to exit and use the bathroom. During the trick, he went through 16 oxygen tanks. After the trick, he was required to remove his own shackles and chains before exiting the water. Within an hour, his skin began to react substantially to the water.

At the end of the performance, according to Ted Shaffrey, "Before he emerged from the phone-booth sized contraption of clear plastic and steel, Angel yanked out the air hose that allowed him to breathe. Then assistants pulled a black curtain over the 220-gallon (832-liter) chamber to block the view of television cameras and about 100 people gathered outside the window in which he was displayed. Under cover, Angel apparently escaped from the shackles that bound his arms, legs and neck, before pulling himself from the watery chamber with a celebratory scream." Upon successfully completing the trick, he was described as having "skin crinkled and his eyes bloodshot", and upon emerging from the tank he was taken to St. Clare's Hospital and treated for severe dehydration. He reported afterwards that he had suffered from overheating, jaw fatigue, and semi-consciousness while in the tank.

Television specials and promotional appearances (2002–2005)
On October 20, 2002, Angel performed in the ABC Family television special named Criss Angel Mindfreak: Postmodern illusionist, an hour-long performance and tribute to Harry Houdini. The special aired again on December 24, 2002, on Channel 4 in the U.K. The Birmingham Evening Mail reviewed the show, writing, "Criss Angel is currently making a name for himself as a more provocative, darker alternative to [other illusionists]. He walks the streets of New York, hypnotising passers-by, turning cups of take-away coffee into cockroaches and suspending himself from the ceiling by inserting hooks into his back. The piece de resistance of all these mind games is an update of the Houdini underwater trick - an attempt to stay in a (cell) tank of water for 24 hours, padlocked and restrained. All seems to be going well, until the filter system breaks down and the water begins to heat up."

On October 31, 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel aired the one-hour special Supernatural starring Angel. Kate O'Hare said of the special that, "Filmed in part at Universal Theme Park in Orlando, Fla., "Supernatural" finds Angel crawling up buildings, passing a quarter through his skin, spontaneously combusting and having otherworldly creatures burst from his chest." When asked about his process in creating television specials, Angel said that, "I like to have my hand in everything on my TV specials. I'm the executive producer; I direct it; I create it. I write all the music for my TV specials and my live performances. It's on my label. I write it; I produce it." During the special Angel performed stunts, including lighting himself on fire and making a tarantula emerge from a pedestrian's soda can. In 2003, Angel was also featured in the two-hour TBS special Made in Japan.

In early 2003, Angel performed at the release of the new branding for Miller Lite beer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the 80th anniversary of Houdini's last performance in that city. For the performance, he was suspended ten stories in the air and bound in a straitjacket, from which he escaped. He also performed an illusion at Ozzfest in 2005. During this period Angel also earned money selling signed merchandise, making up to $50,000 a day.

Criss Angel Mindfreak television series
In 2005, Angel became the creator, director, and executive producer of the A&E Network show Criss Angel Mindfreak, and had entered production in January. Seasons 1 and 2 were filmed at The Aladdin in Las Vegas, with Season 3 at the Luxor Las Vegas. Premiering on July 20, 2005, the show's illusions included walking on water, levitating, walking up the side of Luxor Hotel (in the light of 39 focused lamps that can be seen from space ), floating between two buildings, causing a Lamborghini to disappear, surviving in an exploding C4 Crate, cutting himself in half in full view of an audience and getting run over by a steamroller while lying on a bed of broken glass.

The first season of the show was released on DVD after it completed its on-screen run. The show also released its Halloween special, along with two special episodes, on an additional one-disc DVD offering. The show returned for a second season in May 2006, and was named one of the best shows of the summer by the Tulsa World newspaper. The show was renewed for a third season in July 2006; as of that third season the show was A&E's number one rated show, with more than 1.5 million viewers. That year he promoted the show with a performance where he was suspended within a cube encased in concrete above Times Square, escaping from the block before it was set to crash to the ground. Magic effects creator Sean Field stated of Angel this year that, "Criss Angel is the biggest name in magic since Houdini ... No other magician has invaded pop culture to the degree that Criss Angel has. He has changed the image of magic and made it cool." The show became one of the most popular foreign television shows in parts of Asia, including China.

The television show was noted as a part of the mid-2000s films, television, and books that drove a resurgence of the public popularity of magic. Criss Angel Mindfreak was the first weekly magic television show to air in 40 years. Daily Variety reviewed the premiere writing, "The stunts alone are impressive. But what makes the show fascinating are the down-home touches in which we see the kid from New York, who first honed his magic skills at the age of 6. Keenly aware of the camera at all times, Angel manages to offer some personality, especially where family is involved. Viewers follow the illusionist as he contemplates new and more dangerous stunts, while his crew, including his often-fretful brothers, offer insight as to what, other than ego, drives someone in this profession."

The show ran from 2005 until 2010, at which point he had been featured for more hours on prime time television than any other magician in history. Other tricks performed in the show included the performance of séances, as well as other tricks in order to teach his audience about con men and how to avoid scams intended to manipulate money out of people.

In July 2008, Angel escaped from a beachside hotel before its demolition in front of a crowd of about 50,000 people, an illusion that also aired on the television program. After the illusion, Angel showed the audience step by step how he achieved the escape. He first picked open a set of handcuffs that had him shackled to a balcony railing. He then smashed the window of the room in order to enter the hotel, and picked padlocks on both the room's internal door and the door to the stairwell. The escape was initially supposed to occur via a ladder that dangled above the hotel's roof 30 seconds before collapse, after picking through five locks on the roof's door. Instead, Angel emerged from the rubble after the collapse, claiming that the initial plan was always to escape via the helicopter. The total time allotted for the entire illusion was four minutes, with dynamite located on the first, second, and fourth floors of the building.

Stage show
In 2006, Angel partnered with Cirque du Soleil to produce the stage show Criss Angel Believe (stylized as "Criss Angel BeLIEve"), premiering the show at the Luxor Las Vegas on September 26, 2008. It became the bestselling live magic show in the world. The name of the show was taken from Harry Houdini, for the mythology of Houdini choosing the word "believe" as the codeword for communicating with Houdini after his death. Luxor's parent company, MGM Mirage, financed the show with $100 million.

After several delays, the show was set for a gala opening on October 31, 2008, with preview shows in late September on the 82nd anniversary of Harry Houdini's death. The initial preview received mixed reactions and reviews. Reporters for the Las Vegas Sun, Los Angeles Times, and Las Vegas Review-Journal cited a lack of the magic Angel is known for, as well as a confusing and uninteresting theme. They also opined that neither Angel nor Cirque du Soleil were able to perform to their capabilities during these initial performances. On the positive side, the Las Vegas Sun later quoted Star Pulse, stating, "He has created a live show that is everything a perfect magic performance should be — and then some. It's not just remarkable magic — it's transcendent art that won't just blow your mind; it will quite possibly change your life."

In April 2009, Angel ended a performance of Believe by "hurling obscene insults" at blogger Perez Hilton, an audience member. Hilton reportedly had texted to his fans during the performance that the show was "unbelievably BAD" and that he'd "rather be getting a root canal", and word had gotten back to Angel by the end of the performance. Cirque du Soleil later apologized to Hilton for Angel's remarks.

In 2010, the Las Vegas Sun critic John Katsilometes, after being unimpressed by the initial show, said Believe had improved by reducing the narrative elements and focusing on the magic. In 2011, the Toronto Star wrote: "The show is easily the most exciting thing now on stage in Vegas!" That year the show attracted an estimated $150 million in ticket sales. The show ran through 2019, and was the best selling magic show in Las Vegas as of 2013.

In 2019, he began his new show "Mindfreak Live" at Planet Hollywood, where he currently performs 5 nights a week.

Television series
The stage show celebrated its fifth anniversary of appearing on stage in October 2013. That month a cable television series based upon the show entitled Criss Angel BeLIEve was broadcast on Spike TV. The first season included 11 one-hour episodes, including 118 different illusions. Guests on the show include Ludacris, Ice-T, Randy Couture and Shaquille O'Neal. When asked about the three years between the last episode of Mindfreak and his return to television, Angel stated that, "I didn't take long at all to go back to television. It was my choice to work on the live Cirque show and to get that where I wanted it to be.

"Now that that show is just humming and doing amazing business — it's the #1 bestselling magic show in the world as far as ticket sales and the perception that people are experiencing and coming back to see it multiple times — I felt it was in a great place and I could think about television again. Obviously, "Believe" will continue to evolve until its last performance because I always want to add new magic, I'm always tweaking and transforming it. I missed being on television, I had something new creatively to say, and Spike became the perfect home to do it." Endemol purchased the foreign distribution rights for the show, and was the "most-watched new original series [on Spike TV] in more than 18 months" according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the episode "Lord of Illusions — Death Premonition", Angel paid homage to Clive Barker, the director of the horror movie of the same name. In the episode, Angel performed the closing stunt from the film, in which he laid beneath a circle of suspended swords, and predicted the correct order of six falling swords to avoid becoming stabbed through his body after their release. The swords were selected by the audience with the help of a randomly bouncing ball. According to the Las Vegas Sun, "Criss is the only, and first, magician in the world granted permission from the inventor and filmmaker to re-create the film's death-defying stunt."

For another episode for the series filmed in New York City he was asked by the NYPD not to pre-announce the performance, as crowd control for some Angel performances had become a concern for the police. This trick saw Angel hanging his feet, while bound with two straitjackets and a noose around his neck which were attached to metal weights. While he was successful in the trick, Angel tore his shoulder muscles and this required surgery in January 2014. This resulted in the temporary closing of the Believe stage show between January and April 2014, while he was recovering from the surgery and returning to performance shape. He did however host a new stage show featuring other magicians between February and March 2014 in lieu of performing in his own show. Clips from the show also became the most watched YouTube magic clips in the history of the site, with more than 15 million views.

In the show, Angel revealed the secrets behind some of his illusions to the audience. This included the "Lord of Illusions" trick, where he revealed that he had the swords in a preset order so that he could avoid them. The episode featuring this illusion also includes a meeting between Angel and his team discussing a problem with the trick and how to ensure it does not happen again.

Phenomenon
Starting in October 2007, he appeared as a judge on Phenomenon with Uri Geller. In a CNN interview about the show, he told Larry King "no one has the ability, that I'm aware of, to do anything supernatural, psychic, talk to the dead. And that was what I said I was going to do with Phenomenon. If somebody goes on that show and claims to have supernatural psychic ability, I'm going to bust [him] live and on television."

On the October 31, 2007, episode of the reality show Phenomenon, paranormalist Jim Callahan performed a summoning, purportedly of deceased author Raymond Hill, to help discover the contents of a locked box. Although fellow judge Uri Geller praised the performance, Angel called it "comical" and subsequently challenged both Callahan and Geller to guess the contents of two envelopes he pulled out of his pocket, offering a million dollars of his own money to whoever could do so. This led to an argument between Callahan and Angel, during which Callahan walked toward Angel and called him an "ideological bigot", with the two pulled apart as the show promptly went to a commercial break. Angel has since revealed the contents of one envelope and at the unveiling he challenged Geller one more time. Geller responded, "Although we were born one day apart - I was born on the 20th of December and you on the 19th - a lot of years between us - 40 years, you were one year old when I came out with my spoon bending..." Criss Angel cut him off at this point, saying, "I guess this is a 'no,'" and proceeded to open the envelope. The envelope contained an index card with the numbers "911" printed on it for September 11, 2001. Angel's explanation was this: "If on 9-10 somebody could have predicted that 9-11 was going to happen, they could have saved thousands of lives". The other envelope's contents were scheduled to be revealed on the first episode of Season 4 of Criss Angel: Mindfreak.

Criss Angel Magicjam
The temporary replacement show for Believe was entitled Criss Angel Magicjam, which was performed in the same Luxor theatre. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the show included, "Longtime Las Vegas comedy-illusionist Nathan Burton; Banachek, the world's premiere mentalist; and new female magician Krystyn Lambert, who has been prominently featured in the Spike series ... joined by grandmaster manipulators Jason Byrne and Tony Clarke, supreme close-up artist Armando Vera and the magic comedy of Russ Merlin." The production was written and directed by Criss Angel. In January 2014, Angel announced that he planned on taking Criss Angel Magicjam on a North American tour during the summer of 2014. The show also featured Angel's own illusions, which he performed for about 40 minutes of the show. Robin Leach said of the show that, "Magicjam is great fun and a high-energy show packed with mind-blowing magic."

Touring show
In 2014, Angel premiered the stage show Mindfreak LIVE! The touring show features illusions from Angel himself, which received positive reviews. The demonstrations used in the show were developed in Angel's illusion laboratory in Las Vegas, located in a 60,000 square foot warehouse. His international touring with the show marked the first time that Angel had traveled with his show in about six years. The premiere show of the performance occurred at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut during November 2014.

Planet Hollywood residency
Following on from the success of his touring show, Angel announced his Mindfreak stage show would become a residency show at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas. The first show at Planet Hollywood ran initially from Wednesdays through Sundays in a showroom named after Angel as the Criss Angel Theater. A small number of shows took place in December 2018, before its premiere in mid-January 2019. John Katsilometes at the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated the new show "recast what a magic show is supposed to feel like," due to the extensive use of special effects, pyrotechnics and technology. The show is still running as of 2023, with the latest dates beginning on March 1, 2023.

The Supernaturalists
The Supernaturalists premiered in June 2015 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino's The Fox Theater, with Angel serving as creator, director and executive producer. Performers for the show include illusionist Landon Swank, magician Krystyn Lambert, escape artist Spencer Horsman, mentalist Banachek, dog conjuror Johnny Dominguez, magician Stefan, and close up magician Adrian Vega. Robin Leach reviewed the show as having "overwhelming positive reactions" and wrote that it contained "the most mind-blowing magic spectacle that's playing anywhere". Angel has stated that the show is a culmination of ten years of development, which he began in 2005, and is intended as a global touring show and as a premiering venue for several new illusions from each magician.

Variety show appearances and guest spots
Angel has made numerous special television guest appearances on WWE Raw, including acting as guest star on March 8, 2010. He also appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, including the premiere episode of its 24th season. During a 2007 episode of the show, he successfully guessed the number between 1 and 100 he asked Winfrey to think of without telling him. Angel has appeared on other talk shows including The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Megan Mullally Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, AVN Awards Show 2007 and Larry King Live on CNN. He was also a guest on The Tonight Show, Late Show with David Letterman, America's Got Talent, and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. He also made a guest acting appearance on the hit television shows CSI: NY, Las Vegas and Rules of Engagement. In 2011, Angel also appeared in an Orville Redenbacher Pop-Up Bowl popcorn commercial.

In May 2005, Angel introduced honoree Ozzy Osbourne at the VH1 Rock Honors awards, biting the head off a bat as a part of the introduction in homage to Osbourne's early career onstage antics. At the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Angel performed an illusion as a part of the musical performance by Britney Spears and helped to plan her stage show, which opened the television broadcast. He was also hired as the illusionist for the planned 2009 Michael Jackson O2 arena concerts before Jackson's death. In 2013, Angel had a cameo in the feature film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and Jim Carrey's character in the movie "Steve Gray" has been said to be modeled after Angel. There is a wax statue of Angel in the Madame Tussauds wax museum in Las Vegas.

Music
Angel has a passion for music and claims to have been a musician longer than a magician. In 1989, he fronted the short-lived heavy metal band Angel and produced a promotional music video for the song "Don't You Want My Love", incorporating several magic tricks. Angel later went on to collaborate with industrial rock musician Klay Scott for a new band titled Angeldust in 1995. Angeldust released its debut album Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusion in 1998. He later released the albums System 1, System 2, and System 3. In 2003, he released the album Supernatural. His musical style continues to be in the heavy metal style, though when describing his musical style he has said, "There are elements where it's more electronic, and there are orchestrated sections. I decided to take it in different places because I'm inspired by emotion and by giving people a connection, a sense of a feeling — whether it's excitement or crying or being happy." He also produced soundtracks for his television series Mindfreak, including collaborations with members of Korn and Godsmack.

Books
Angel is the author of the book Mindfreak: Secret Revelations, published by HarperEntertainment in 2007. Mindfreak: Secret Revelations appeared on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list that year. According to the Las Vegas Sun, "The 295-page book details the early beginnings of his career, memorable demonstrations from his TV show and personal reflections. "Secret Revelations" also contains several pictures and provides step-by-step instructions for 40 of his basic Mindfreaks. Laura Morton helped the magician write the book." California Bookwatch wrote that it "tells of Criss Angel's evolution as a performance artist, magician and musician, charting his rise to fame beginning at age 6 and adding details of his life and his artistic philosophy and influences ... His survey covers the 'Mindfreaks' which allow him to push for excellence in very different worlds".

Internet
Criss Angel is the most watched magician in Internet history since the late 2000s. His clip "Walk on Water" had received more than 39 million views by 2010, and more than 46 million by 2013. By early 2013, his videos had achieved more than 200 million views. Another highly watched clip is "Rip Bodies Apart", taken from the premiere episode of BeLIEve, which had more than twelve million views within a month.

Merchandise
In 2010, Angel partnered with IdeaVillage to release the Criss Angel Magic Collection, which contained six Mindfreak Magic Tricks instructions, 250 tricks, and a magic kit for children. The product was backed by $50 million in marketing.

Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars
Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars aired weekly episodes on The CW, beginning in late 2022. Numerous stars appeared in the first season including Donny Osmond, Randy Couture and Michael Ian Black.

Each week two celebrities compete against each other after they are trained by Angel. There are three categories which are performed in front of a live audience and judged by Angel, Loni Love and Lance Burton.

Awards
Angel won the International Magician Society's Magician of the Year award in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008, in addition to its "Magician of the Decade" title in 2009 and "Magician of the Century" title in 2010. He was the 22nd recipient of the Louie Award for outstanding achievement in the art of magic. He has also appeared on the covers of Magic and Genii magazines. In 2008, Angel was one of the inaugural nominees for the Harry Houdini Award, awarded by the Harry Houdini Museum. Angel is the youngest magician to ever be inducted into the International Magician Society's Magic Hall of Fame. He is also the only man to have won the Merlin Magician of the Year award on two occasions, in 2001 and 2004.

In 2011, he was awarded the World Magic Legacy Awards' Living Legend award. During the same year, Angel was inducted to the International Magicians Society's Hall of Fame. As a result, it made him the youngest IMS inductee to date, aged 43. On July 20, 2017, Angel was the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located next to The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and across the street from the star of his childhood idol, Harry Houdini. The International Brotherhood of Magicians presented Angel with a Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2018, becoming only the sixth illusionist to receive the award. Vanish Magic magazine awarded Angel "The Greatest of All Time" illusionist award in 2022.

Body suspension (held 2002-2008)
In February 2002, Angel broke the world record for the longest body suspension, setting a record of 5 hours 42 minutes. The record was set in Times Square, New York, where he performed the record-breaking stunt, suspended by eight fishhooks in his body. He held the world world record until it was broken in 2008.

Others
He set the fastest time to perform the "Metamorphosis" illusion at less than one second. He is also the holder of the Guinness world record for "The most people to disappear in an illusion", for making 100 people disappear on May 26, 2010, during a performance of Believe at the Luxor.

Personal life
In 2002, Angel married his longtime girlfriend JoAnn Winkhart. The couple filed for divorce four years later. Although Angel was seen with his wife in the buried alive illusion (season 1, episode 6, 2005) and the body suspension illusion (season 1, episode 5, 2005), she was not credited as his wife; rather, she was listed as "Criss's Girl". In November 2008, Angel began dating Holly Madison, former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner. The relationship ended in February 2009. He proposed to Sandra Gonzalez on September 7, 2011, in Cabo San Lucas during a sunset dinner. They broke up shortly after. Since 2012, Angel has been dating Australian singer Shaunyl Benson. The couple have two sons together, born in 2014 and 2019, and a daughter born in 2021. In 2015, the couple's first child was diagnosed with b-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

As of 2010, Big Bear Choppers had produced seven custom-made motorcycles for Angel, who featured the motorcycle designers on his show Criss Angel Mindfreak. He also had a Harley Davidson motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers, which he rode in the intro filmed for Criss Angel Mindfreak. As a philanthropist, Angel created the Believe Foundation 'Believe Anything is Possible', and was awarded the Make-A-Wish Foundation award for most supportive celebrity on May 19, 2010. He was also awarded the foundation's Chris Greicius Celebrity Award in 2007. As of 2016, Angel's business interests made about $70 million in revenues annually.

title: Criss Angel


text:
Jacques Touchard

Jacques Touchard (1885–1968) was a French mathematician. In 1953, he proved that an odd perfect number must be of the form 12k + 1 or 36k + 9. In combinatorics and probability theory, he introduced the Touchard polynomials. He is also known for his solution to the ménage problem of counting seating arrangements in which men and women alternate and are not seated next to their spouses.

Touchard's Catalan identity
The following algebraic identity involving the Catalan numbers

 * $$ C_k ={ 1\over{k+1}}{{2k}\choose {k}},\quad k \ge 0 $$

is apparently due to Touchard (according to Richard P. Stanley, who mentions it in his panorama article "Exercises on Catalan and Related Numbers" giving an overwhelming plenitude of different definitions for the Catalan numbers). For n ≥ 0 one has

 * $$ C_{n+1} =\sum_{k \,\le\, n/2} 2^{n-2k} {n \choose 2k} C_k. \,$$

Using the generating function

 * $$ C(t)=\sum_{n \ge 0} C_n t^n ={{1-\sqrt{1-4t}}\over {2t}} $$

it can be proved by algebraic manipulations of generating series that Touchard's identity is equivalent to the functional equation

 * $$ {t \over {1-2t}} C\left({t^2\over (1-2t)^2}\right) = C(t)-1 $$

satisfied by the Catalan generating series C(t).

title: Jacques Touchard


text:
Dynamic currency conversion

Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) or cardholder preferred currency (CPC) is a process whereby the amount of a credit card transaction is converted at the point of sale, ATM or internet to the currency of the card's country of issue. DCC is generally provided by third party operators in association with the merchant, and not by a card issuer. Card issuers permit DCC operators to offer DCC in accordance with the card issuers' processing rules. However, using DCC, the customer is usually charged an amount in excess of the transaction amount converted at the normal exchange rate, though this may not be obviously disclosed to the customer at the time. The merchant, the merchant's bank or ATM operator usually impose a markup on the transaction, in addition to the exchange rate that would normally apply, sometimes by as much as 18%.

Without DCC, the currency conversion would take place by the card issuer when the transaction is charged to the card holder's statement, usually a day or two later, but for an increasing number of cards in real time. Even though the card issuer will publish the exchange rate used for conversion on the statement, most do not disclose the exchange rate used to convert a transaction at the time of payment. Both Visa and Mastercard state that the rates they publish in advance of a transaction posting to a cardholder's statement are indicative, since the rates they use for conversion correspond to the date and time they process the transaction, as opposed to the actual transaction date.

With DCC, the currency conversion takes place at the point of sale. Unlike a credit card company, a DCC operator must disclose the exchange rate used for conversion at the time of the transaction according to credit card company rules which govern how DCC is offered. The DCC exchange rate must be based on a wholesale interbank rate, to which any additional markup is then applied. Visa requires that this markup be disclosed to the cardholder. The credit card company may still charge an additional fee for charges made outside the card holder's home country, even when the transaction has been processed in their home currency with DCC.

Proponents of DCC argue that customers can better understand prices in their home currency, making it easier for business travelers to keep track of their expenses. They also point out that the customer has full transparency inclusive of conversion fees, and can make an informed choice whether or not to use DCC. The financial benefit to the merchant or their card processor may be an incentive for the merchant to offer DCC even when it would be disadvantageous to the customer. Opponents of DCC argue that many customers do not understand DCC, and point out that DCC markups are usually higher than the card issuers' currency conversion fees, and therefore, in almost all cases, opting for DCC will result in a higher cost to the cardholder.

Due to the strategic threat posed by DCC on Visa's core revenues (namely, currency conversions), in 2010 Visa attempted to ban DCC. However, the Federal Court of Australia found that Visa acted anti-competitively to protect its own revenues and was fined $A18 million.

History
A currency conversion service was offered in 1996 and commercialized by a number of companies including Monex Financial Services and Fexco.

Prior to the card schemes (Visa and MasterCard) imposing rules relating to DCC, cardholder transactions were converted without the need to disclose that the transaction was being converted into a customer's home currency, in a process known as "back office DCC". Visa and MasterCard now prohibit this practice and require the customer's consent for DCC, although many travelers have reported that this is not universally followed.

Visa Chargeback reason code 76 explicitly covers situations where the "Cardholder was not advised that Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) would occur" or "Cardholder was refused the choice of paying in the merchant’s local currency". Customers have a strong chance of successfully disputing such transactions, especially in situations where they pay with a credit card and where 3-D Secure (such as Verified by Visa or SecureCode) is not involved. Mastercard DCC Compliance team investigates the case and then notifies the Acquirer of their findings. If appropriate, the Acquirer will also be asked to take action to remedy the complaint.

Mastercard take seriously any complaint from a customer by investigating the case for compliance with DCC rules, and if the customer was not given a choice in a DCC transaction, the customer's bank has the possibility to refund the customer with a chargeback sent to the merchant's bank.

How it works
DCC is provided by DCC operators, in association with the merchant, and not by a credit card company. Merchants who wish to provide a DCC option to their customers would sign up for the facility with a DCC operator. The DCC operator would provide the merchant with a special DCC-POS terminal.

When a customer is ready to pay for a transaction and chooses to pay with a credit card, the DCC-POS terminal of a DCC merchant will determine the card's country of issue from the card's issuer identification number (first 6 digits of the card number). If it detects a foreign card is being used, then the transaction will be routed through the DCC provider. The terminal will send to the DCC operator the transaction details, and the DCC operator would perform the usual card verification checks, and determine using its own criteria whether to offer DCC to the customer. To this point, the customer is not aware that the card and transaction information had been forwarded to the DCC operator. The customer also does not know who the DCC operator is.

If the DCC operator is going to offer the customer DCC, the POS terminal will also display the transaction amount in the customer's home currency. Visa and Mastercard require the DCC provider to disclose the exchange rate and margin to the cardholder, but not all merchants comply with this obligation, and other card issuers may not have that obligation. The cardholder can then select whether the transaction is to be processed in the local or home currency.

If the cardholder chooses to pay in their home currency, the DCC provider will cause the cardholder's account to be debited by the transaction amount in the home currency, and the merchant's account to be credited with the amount in the local currency. At regular periods, usually monthly, the merchant would also be credited with the commission for DCC transactions. The exchange rate risk is borne by the DCC operator, which may carry that risk or set up some hedging arrangement to minimise or transfer that risk.

Some card issuers impose an additional foreign transaction fee on DCC transactions, even though they are denominated in the card's home currency.

Practical example
An example of the difference with DCC can be seen in the following image, where the same GBP purchase is made twice just after each other: one with DCC and one without DCC. In both cases, the original amount is GB£6.90 and is paid with a Visa card denominated in EUR.

The difference in charges can be seen on the customer's card statement. With DCC (left part of the above image), the amount becomes EUR 8.20, at an exchange rate of 1.1882. The DCC provider, in this example the merchant itself, also disclosed that it is using the Reuters Wholesale Interbank exchange rate plus 2.95%. Without DCC (right part of the above image), the amount can vary with fluctuations between the GBP and EUR currencies, but on the date of this transaction it was EUR 8.04 (image below).

In this example, difference is just over 2%. Though this difference may seem a small amount for the customer, it can result in a big income stream for the DCC provider and merchant. One should also realise that even without DCC the card issuer converts the transaction amount using its own exchange rates and margins, which in this example was 1.16522.

Limitations
The merchant's point-of-sale terminal can only detect the card's country of issue and not the currency of the account that is to be selected. The DCC makes an assumption that the account home currency is the currency of the card's country of issue. This assumption can result in DCC being offered incorrectly. For example, a DCC-enabled terminal in the Eurozone will offer DCC to a customer paying with a debit card issued in the United Kingdom on a Euro bank account. If the customer mistakenly chooses DCC, then the transaction will first be converted from EUR to GBP by the DCC provider, and then from GBP back to EUR by the UK card issuer, often with its markup.

Here is a detailed step by step demonstration of a representative DCC misuse – enable DCC in foreign transactions with sole US dollar account credit cards issued in China. Due to foreign exchange controls, China's banks issue large amount of such credit cards for international use. In the worst situation, cardholders may have to experience 3 conversions to finish the transactions:
 * 1) From merchant's local currency to CNY with markup carried by DCC provider, but card issuing bank cannot process;
 * 2) From CNY to USD with markup (sometimes waived by card issuing bank) carried by Visa or Mastercard and enters bank account;
 * 3) Cardholder buys US dollar from bank to pay statement balance before due date (card issuing bank may do this automatically).

There have reported cases of point-of-sale terminals allowing merchants to change the transaction amount and currency after the cardholder has entered their PIN and handed the terminal back to the merchant. In this scenario, DCC is carried out without the cardholder's consent, even though the receipt subsequently printed states falsely that the cardholder has given their consent.

DCC on the Internet and ATMs
DCC operates similarly with Internet transactions. When payment card information is entered to finalize payment, the system can detect the home country of the cardholder and offer the cardholder the option of paying in their home currency.

Many commercial websites can detect the country from which a query has come and quote prices in terms of the enquirer's country. Often the prices in the local currency of the supplier are not indicated, and the exchange rate used to convert prices is often also not disclosed.

Visa issued a rule making DCC available for cash withdrawals at ATMs as of 13 April 2019. Mastercard now does the same.

In the VISA example, when DCC is NOT chosen, Visa converts currency at the wholesale (!) rate and adds a 1% charge for performing the conversion. The customer gets the "real" exchange rate (no commission) unless the card issuer adds a charge for international transactions. American banks, for example, often charge 3%, even though the debit order they receive is already presented for collection in US dollars. Some banks and other issuers make no extra charge, so the full international transaction cost is just the 1%.

When DCC is applied, the alternate companies do the exchange and add the commissions described above, which have no limit. The bank card company, such as Visa, still takes its 1%.

Visa rule 5.9.8.3 of 13 April 2019 says that ATM customers must be given a clear choice whether to use DCC or not:

"A Merchant or ATM Acquirer that offers Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) must comply with all of the following: . . . "5 Acceptance

"—Inform the Cardholder that DCC is optional and not use any language or procedures that may cause the Cardholder to choose DCC by default

"-- Ensure that the Cardholder is given all the relevant information to allow them to make a clear and transparent decision to expressly agree to a DCC Transaction"

The reality is otherwise. The screen on an ATM announces the exchange rate that will be used and asks whether the customer accepts or refuses that rate. It appears to be "take it or leave it." There is NO explanation that refusal will not end the transaction, but rather means the exchange will be done without charging the commission. The clear "choice" required by the rule is not presented. In addition, there is usually very small type giving the % of the commission and saying this is not an additional charge (which is false). On some screens there will be advice to be sure to know the rules, but no way is provided to learn the rules and bank tellers are generally unaware of them.

Impact
DCC enables merchants to profit from the foreign exchange conversion that occurs during the payment process for a foreign denominated credit card. The merchant would normally earn a margin on the transaction with no exchange rate risk, which is borne by the DCC operator.

Credit card acquirers and payment gateways also profit on the foreign exchange conversion that occurs during the payment process for foreign denominated credit card when DCC is used.

Advantages
DCC enables a customer to know the cost of a transaction in their home currency. In a non-DCC transaction the customer would not know the exchange rate that the credit card company will apply (and the final cost) until the transaction appears on a monthly statement.

Other advantages to customers, according to proponents, are:
 * the ability to view and therefore understand prices in foreign countries in their home currency,
 * the ability to enter expenses more efficiently and promptly, especially for business travellers, and
 * EU regulation 2560/2001 could make non-eurozone cash withdrawals within the European Economic Area cheaper for eurozone customers because euro cash withdrawals are regulated. A Swedish law (SFS 2002:598) combined with the EU resolution does the same thing for Swedish cards if the transaction is in SEK or EUR. Generally, Eurozone banks charge a fixed fee for non-EEA and non-EUR cash withdrawals while EEA withdrawals in EUR are free of charge. For example, if a Eurozone card is used for a withdrawal in the UK, with DCC there are two options – processing the transaction in GBP (card issuer's exchange rate but a fixed cash withdrawal fee) or processing the transaction in EUR (DCC marked-up exchange rate but no fixed cash withdrawal fee). For small amounts, the latter option will often be cheaper.

Disadvantages
The main objection to DCC is the unfavorable exchange rates and fees being applied on the transaction, resulting in a higher charge on their credit card, and that in many cases the customer is not aware of the additional and often unnecessary cost of the DCC transaction.

The size of the foreign exchange margin added using DCC varies depending on the DCC operator, card acquirer or payment gateway and merchant. This margin is in addition to any charges levied by the customer's bank or credit card company for a foreign purchase. In most cases, customers are charged more using DCC than they would have been if they had simply paid in the foreign currency.

Regulatory issues
In May 2010 Visa Inc attempted to ban DCC on its network citing strategic issues and ultimately (as described by the ACCC) significant financial losses to its business. Many protests were made by merchants, financial institutions, and regulators.

In 2015, Visa was fined approximately 18 million plus $2 million in costs for engaging in anti-competitive conduct, in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. The action was taken after Visa partially blocked the use of DCC 1 May 2010 to 6 October 2010.

In 2019, the EU legislator has passed Regulation 2019/518, amending Regulation 924/2009. The regulation introduced transparency obligations for card-based payment transactions at ATMs and terminals and for online transactions. Payment service providers must inform their contractual partners of the total currency conversion charges as a percentage mark-up compared to the latest available euro foreign exchange reference rate.

DCC providers
The main DCC providers are:
 * Alliex based in South Korea
 * ConCardis based in Germany
 * Cuscal based in Australia
 * Euronet Worldwide based in the United States
 * Pure Commerce based in Australia
 * Continuum Commerce Solutions based in Ireland
 * Elavon based in USA
 * Fexco based in Ireland
 * First Data based in the United States
 * Global Blue based in Switzerland
 * Monex Financial Services based in Ireland
 * Planet global company with HQ in the UK
 * Six Payment Services based in Switzerland
 * Travelex based in the United Kingdom
 * Worldline based in France

title: Dynamic currency conversion


text:
Restraint on alienation

A restraint on alienation, in the law of real property, is a clause used in the conveyance of real property that seeks to prohibit the recipient from selling or otherwise transferring their interest in the property. Under the common law such restraints are void as against the public policy of allowing landowners to freely dispose of their property. Perhaps the ultimate restraint on alienation was the fee tail, a form of ownership which required that property be passed down in the same family from generation to generation, which has also been widely abolished.

However, certain reasonable restraints will be given effect in most jurisdictions. These traditionally include:
 * 1) A prohibition against partition of property for a limited time.
 * 2) The right of first refusal – for example, if Joey sells property to Rachel, he may require that if Rachel later decides to sell the property, she must first give Joey the opportunity to buy it back.
 * 3) The establishment of public parks and gardens, as was the case for The Royal Parks of London in the UK. These public spaces were created under such terms by the Crown Estate; which meant that these parks were held in perpetuity for the public to use.

Some specific restraints on alienation in the United States include:

 * Disabling restraints : To be effective the grantor must sue the grantee for enforcement. The effectiveness of the lawsuit could prevent the transfer from being made.  In addition, if the disabling restraint is found to be unconstitutional the restraint will not be effective.
 * Promissory restraints : If the promissory note is breached by the grantee, the grantor may sue for damages. Unlike disabling restraints, the effectiveness of the lawsuit does not prevent the transfer from being made. However, the Supreme Court says promissory restraints are not permissible.  The promissory note discourages the person getting ready to sell the property which is the same effect as the disabling restraint.
 * Forfeiture restraints : In the event of a breach the property returns to the grantor or the grantor's heirs. The return happens automatically, hence the argument can be made that there is no state actions.  However, according to a constitutional argument the mere fact that the state recognizes the validity of an automatic transfer makes it a state action.

To be effective the restraint must be reasonable and the restraint must be the same as a real covenant or equitable servitude.

There are six factors to determine if a restraint on alienation is reasonable:
 * 1) Type of price (fixed or not fixed; courts prefer non-fixed)
 * 2) Purpose: Is it a legitimate purpose, or not? (courts prefer legitimate)
 * 3) Equal bargaining power of the parties
 * 4) Duration (a time limit to the restraint is preferred)
 * 5) Limit to the number of persons to which transfer is prohibited
 * 6) A restraint that increases the value of property is more reasonable.

There are five basic conditions that must be met in order for there to be an effective real covenant and equitable servitude:
 * 1) It must be enforceable.  To be enforceable it must not be too vague, it must not violate a statute or the constitution, it must not violate public policy, and it must meet the requirements under the statute of frauds.
 * 2) It must touch and concern the land.
 * 3) It must be intended to run.
 * 4) There must be privity between the successive occupants.
 * 5) There must be notice of the existence of a real covenant/equitable servitude.

New Zealand law
In New Zealand, Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993/Maori Land Act 1993 puts restrictions on alienation of land owned by a Māori person, or by a group which is predominantly Māori. Sections 146 and 147 of the Act force an owner of Māori land who wishes to alienate their interest in the land to give right of first refusal to people belonging to "preferred classes of alienees". These preferred classes include whanaunga (blood relations) of the owner, other current owners, and members of the owner's hapu.

title: Restraint on alienation


text:
Margi Clarke

Margi Clarke (born 25 May 1954) is an English actress and radio and television presenter. She had a leading role in the film Letter to Brezhnev (1985), a low-budget film which had an international release. Later, Clarke played Jackie Dobbs in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (1998–1999, 2008–2010).

Early life and career
Clarke was born and raised in Kirkby, Lancashire. Her career as a presenter began in 1978 on the late-night television magazine show What's On, broadcast only in the Granada region. From 1978 to 1985, she was the lead singer of various punk rock bands; including, Margox and the Zincs: which initially featured Holly Johnson and Andrew Schofield as guitarists.

In 1983, Clarke appeared as Fran, a CND campaigner, in two early episodes of the Liverpool-set Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, credited as Margi MacGregor.

She featured in the low-budget film Letter to Brezhnev (1985), the screenplay being adapted by her brother from his own play. It concerns two working-class Liverpool young women who meet two Russian sailors; the other lead part was played by Alexandra Pigg. The film was made for around £50,000 (Clarke called this "the cocaine budget on Rambo"), and became an international hit. At the next Evening Standard British Film Awards, Clarke was awarded the prize for "Most Promising Newcomer". Margi had originated her role of Theresa in Letter to Brezhnev a few years earlier when she played the role in a modest run at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1983.

Clarke followed Letter to Brezhnev with a European trilogy for Finnish brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismäki: Helsinki Napoli All Night Long, I Hired a Contract Killer and L.A. Without a Map.

Film actress and TV presenter
Clarke had a lead role in the films Letter to Brezhnev (1985), The Dressmaker (1988) and Strike It Rich (1990), and appeared in the Pet Shop Boys' video for their 1987 single,"Rent". She was the stand-in host for Paula Yates on Channel 4's The Tube on several occasions. Clarke was also the voice for the character of Bixie in Weetabix adverts.

In 1989, she was cast as Queenie in the BBC series Making Out, set in a Manchester electronics factory and written by Debbie Horsfield. The show ran for three series. In 1991, she returned to presenting, this time on the late night ITV show The Good Sex Guide which gained audience figures of 13 million. She received a Royal Television Society (RTS) Award for "Best Female Presenter" in 1994. A second series and third series followed. the last entitled The Good Sex Guide Abroad. Clarke turned down an offer to take the series into a late night chat show format, the host eventually being Toyah Willcox.

In 1991, Clarke performed with Half Man Half Biscuit on the single "No Regrets", a cover of the song, "Non, je ne regrette rien", best known from the version recorded by Édith Piaf. In the same year, she also portrayed Ronnie O'Dowd, a 'sexy' female boxer who follows her father into the world of 'pugilism' and rescues him from being 'on the skids' in New York to bring him back to Liverpool with her winnings in Blonde Fist.

Following the success of The Good Sex Guide, the ITV franchise holder Carlton offered Clarke her own day-time show, and the resulting programme, Swank, co-presented with fashion designer David Emanuel, ran for two series. In 1994, Clarke tried a new venture, stand-up comedy, and took her one-woman show 21st Century Scutt around the country - the tour included a stint at the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank. She was a regular guest on Channel 4's music show The Word, including one occasion where she tricked presenter Terry Christian into showing his testicles in a hidden camera set-up.

Around this time, Clarke's partner was the artist Jamie Reid and she was paid an undisclosed sum to pose nude while nine months pregnant with their daughter Rowan. (The couple split up around 1997.) The resulting pictures were a response to the then recent Vanity Fair spread of actress Demi Moore, in which she was shown nude while also nine months pregnant. The pictures of Clarke were published in the Sunday People tabloid. She also published her own vegetarian cookery book, Margi Clarke's Better than Sex Cookbook. In 1994, Clarke worked with Welsh political band Anhrefn for the single "Clutter from the Gutter".

Her last role before taking a three-year sabbatical, following the death of her mother and birth of her daughter, was in the BBC1 serial, Soul Survivors co-starring Ian McShane. She returned to acting in 1998, joining the soap opera Coronation Street, playing Jackie Dobbs. She left in 1999, and joined the cast of Five soap opera Family Affairs, staying for just under a year, as well as guesting in an episode of the BBC's Casualty.

She also had roles in two films released in 2002, Revengers Tragedy (adapted from the 17th century play), directed by Alex Cox and 24 Hour Party People, the biopic of the Factory/Hacienda days in Manchester, which Clarke participated in during her 'Margox' days of the 1970s. In feature film The Boys from County Clare (2003) she played the role of Dove.

Since 2004
In 2004, Clarke appeared on the Five reality TV show The Farm and had a leading role in the theatrical film School for Seduction co-starring Kelly Brook. In 2006, Clarke had a role in an episode of the Hollyoaks spin-off Hollyoaks: In the City and around the same time she was also a contestant on a celebrity version of the BBC gameshow The Weakest Link.

Clarke is often referred to as "The Queen of Liverpool" by the media. This tag was originally attributed to Clarke by music promoter Malcolm McLaren. In 2005, she began her successful on-line health and beauty range "Soul Rinse" which she runs parallel to her acting career. In 2006–2007, she was heard on the airwaves of North-West radio station 105.4 Century Radio as co-presenter of the breakfast show and their late night phone-in shows.

In August 2007, Clarke was a guest on Big Brother's Big Mouth on Channel 4 with Pete Burns, a Liverpool-born friend and performer for many years. At the end of 2007 it was reported in the Liverpool Echo that Clarke would be playing the role of Kath in a revival of the Joe Orton play Entertaining Mr Sloane, as part of the city's Capital of Culture celebrations for 2008.

On 11 January 2008, as part of the opening night celebrations of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture year, Clarke was one of around a hundred local celebrities hoisted hidden in a blue container by a crane 30 feet into the air, landing on the main stage at St. George's Hall in the city. The celebrities stepped out of the container marked "Precious Cargo" to rapturous applause. The same evening Clarke appeared as a panel guest on the BBC Two late-night show Newsnight Review, talking about her home town's Capital of Culture celebrations.

In January 2008, Clarke joined Liverpool's talk radio station City Talk 105.9, presenting a late night show on Saturday evenings.

Clarke returned to a prime-time starring role in the second series of the British sitcom Benidorm on ITV in 2008 and reprised her role as Jackie Dobbs in Coronation Street on 2 January 2009, and again on 22 February 2010.

Also in February 2010, Clarke appeared with her daughter Rowan in an episode of the BBC's Celebrity Cash in the Attic.

Clarke appeared in Scousers in St Helens on 26 October 2010 alongside Tina Malone, Billy Butler and several others. In late 2010, she recorded numerous music tracks such as Like a Memory and Holographic Disco which are available on iTunes and in November 2010 she released her autobiography Margi Clarke – Now You See Me.

She appeared in an episode of the BBC drama series Waterloo Road in May 2011 and participated in Celebrity MasterChef in 2011. She also appeared in the UK Christmas edition of Come Dine With Me in December 2012.

title: Margi Clarke