Clarke was born in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England and was educated at the University of Cambridge. He became the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe at the 1970 general election and became a Queen's Counsel in 1980. He held a number of lower positions in government under Margaret Thatcher until she promoted him to Health Secretary in 1988. He became Education Secretary in 1990 and when Thatcher resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced with John Major he stayed on as Health Secretary until 1992 when he was promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer. He stayed as Chancellor until 1997 when the Conservatives were defeated in the General Election.
John Major resigned as leader of the Conservative Party soon after he was defeated in the general election and Clarke stood for election to replace him as leader and therefore become the Leader of the Opposition. However he was defeated by William Hague in this contest. When Hague himself resigned after losing the 2001 General Election Clarke again stood for leader but was defeated by Iain Duncan Smith. In 2005 he stood for the leadership for a third time but was defeated by David Cameron. It is thought that Clarke was unable to become leader because many in the Conservative Party do not wish to see the United Kingdom replace the pound with the Euro as the main currency whereas Clarke has always been very much in favour of this policy.
Clarke returned to the Conservative front bench in 2009 as the Shadow Business Secretary where he has the job of monitoring the performance of the current Business Secretary Peter Mandelson. When the coalition government was formed on 11 May 2010 Clarke was made the Justice Secretary.
Swansea City A.F.C.
Swansea City AFC are a Welsh football (soccer) team who have played in the English Premier League since 2011. Before being promoted to the Premier League for the 2011–12 season, they had played in the English Football League since 1920. They were founded in 1912 as Swansea Town and played at the Vetch Field ground until 2005 when they moved to the Liberty Stadium. Their most successful period as a team was in the early 1980s under their manager John Toshack when they played in the old First Division from 1981-1983 (which was the highest tier of English football at the time). Swansea play their home games in an all white strip. Their main rivals are Cardiff City and a match between the two sides is known as the South Wales derby. As well as competing in the English League they have also won the Welsh Cup ten times and the Football Association of Wales Premier Cup twice. In 2011, they were promoted to the Premier League after winning the Football League Championship play-offs after finishing third in the league. They avoided relegation in their first Premier League season ending up in 11th place. The 2017-18 Premier League season is their seventh consecutive season in the Premier League.
Hartlepool United F.C.
Hartlepool Utd F.C are an English football team playing in the English Football League. They were founded in 1908 as ‘Hartlepools Utd’ and currently play at the Victoria ground. The well known football manager Brian Clough started his career as a manager with Hartlepool in 1965 before leaving to go on and manage Derby County.
Tippi Hedren
Tippi Hedren (born Nathalie Kay Hedren, January 19, 1930) is an American actress. Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants. Her maternal ancestry is German and Norwegian. She is best known for her performances in two movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock: "The Birds" and "Marnie". She is the mother of actress Melanie Griffith and has acted in movies with her daughter.
Japanese morning glory
Japanese morning glory, also called the "Ipomoea nil", is an attractive cultivated plant, a climbing annual commonly with white edges, also named white-edge morning glory. It is found in US Florida to South America, also in Galapagos Islands.
Pyrrhic victory
A Pyrrhic victory is battle won at too great a cost.
It is one in which the side that won the victory suffers very badly. A Pyrrhic victory may take place when the victorious army has lost a huge number of men or when the enemy army has reinforcements about to arrive which greatly outnumber the winning army and mean that the chances of a second victory are very low. A Pyrrhic victory is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus. He won a battle against the Romans in 280 BC but many of his men and most of his friends and top commanders died in the battle.
Iain Duncan Smith
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a British politician who is the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2016 - 2016. He was the leader of the Conservative Party from September 2001 to November 2003 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Chingford and Woodford Green.
Iain Duncan Smith served in the Scottish part of the British Army, the Scots' Guard from 1975 to 1981. He became a Conservative Party MP at the 1992 General Election for the constituency of Chingford (called Chingford and Woodford Green from 1997). He became a member of William Hague's shadow cabinet in 1997 and became Shadow Defence Secretary in 1999. When Hague resigned in 2001, Iain Duncan Smith was elected leader of the Conservative Party, defeating Kenneth Clarke and Michael Portillo. In November 2003, Conservative Party MPs passed a Vote of No Confidence in Iain Duncan Smith because they believed he could not win the general election. He was replaced by Michael Howard. After the 2010 General Election, Iain Duncan Smith was made the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He resigned in March 2016.
Iain Duncan Smith was the first leader of the Conservative Party to have been Roman Catholic and was the first to have been born in Scotland since Arthur Balfour.
Bill Hicks
William 'Bill' Hicks (16 December 1961 - 26 February 1994) was an American stand-up comedian known for his controversial act which made fun of religion and politics amongst other areas. Since then, many other stand-up comedians in the United States and United Kingdom have said they have been very influenced by his work, which is still very popular today.
Hicks was born in Valdosta, Georgia and raised in Houston, Texas. He died of pancreatic cancer in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Gene Wilder
Gene Wilder (Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, comedian, movie director, screenwriter and author. He was most famous for his acting work and in particular for the movies he made with Mel Brooks which include "The Producers", "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein". He also played the part of Willy Wonka in the musical movie "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory".
Wilder studied Communication and Theatre Arts at the University of Iowa.
Wilder was drafted into the Army on September 10, 1956.
An unauthorized biography of Wilder called "Gene Wilder: Funny and Sad" by Brian Scott Mednick was published in December 2010 by BearManor Media.
Wilder died from Alzheimer's disease on August 29, 2016 in Stamford, Connecticut at age 83.
Exeter City F.C.
Exeter City F.C. is an English association football club currently competing in the English Football League. They were founded in 1904 and currently play at the St James Park ground.
Possibly their most famous game was when they drew 0-0 against Manchester United in an FA Cup match in 2005 at United's home ground of Old Trafford.
Die Lollipops
Die Lollipops is a children's band which formed in Germany in the summer of 2000 under the Edelkids label, a division of a German company named Edel Music. According to the label's website, the primary intended audience for the band is German-speaking children between 4 and 10 years old.
Their music can be divided into three basic types:
Examples of famous international children's songs whose melody has been borrowed and given entirely new lyrics: