In 2004, Blessed sang on "Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes", impersonating Luciano Pavarotti. He is known for his football knowledge and appeared as an expert on the British satellite station UKTV G2 during the 2006 World Cup. He also appeared on "A Question of Sport" in 2006 and again in 2011 and was a guest host of "Have I Got News for You" in May 2008, alongside guests Alan Duncan and Marcus Brigstocke (also making a surprise appearance in the Christmas special later in the year). His madcap manner quickly made the show deviate from its usual format, with Paul Merton remarking "Does anyone remember how this show used to be like?" In the same month he appeared as a guest on "The Paul O'Grady Show".
Blessed was President of the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) in 2007–2008 and presented the 2008 TRIC Awards at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane. TRIC is an organisation which honours achievers in the film and radio industries. He has honorary degrees from the University of Bradford, awarded in July 2003, and Sheffield Hallam University, awarded in 2004.
He also stars in the "Living Legend" show in Jersey, Channel Islands. It features many celebrity faces, such as Roger Lloyd Pack, Samantha Janus, Kevin Whately and Tony Robinson. The story is of the history of the island.
In 2009, he featured on the song "Army of the Damned", part of the debut album "Beneath the Veiled Embrace" by UK power-metal band Pythia, reading the poem "Suicide in the Trenches" by Siegfried Sassoon. He also contributed to "The Joust" by Eden Burning in 1994.
In June 2011, a campaign by Cambridge graduates resulted in Blessed's being nominated for the post of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
In February 2013, a piece of DLC for the PC game "War of the Roses" will feature narration from Blessed.
Blessed lives in Windlesham, Surrey. He married actress Hildegarde Neil in 1978 and they have one daughter, Rosalind. He also has a number of dogs and is a patron of Hopefield Animal Sanctuary.
Leif Erikson Day
Leif Erikson Day is a holiday that happens on October 9. It honors Leif Ericson, the Norse explorer who brought the first Europeans known to be in North America.
"America Not Discovered by Columbus" by Rasmus B. Anderson was published in 1874. This book helped make popular the idea that Vikings were the first Europeans in the New World. In 1925, American President Calvin Coolidge recognised Leif Erikson as the Discoverer of America. This was due to research by Norwegian-American scholars such as Knut Gjerset and Ludvig Hektoen.
In 1930, Wisconsin became the first state to officially adopt Leif Erikson Day as a state holiday. A year later, the state of Minnesota did the same. By 1956, Leif Erikson Day was an official holiday seven states (Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, and California) and one Canadian province (Saskatchewan).
In 1963, the U.S. Representative from Duluth, John Blatnik, introduced a bill to observe Leif Erikson Day in the rest of the United States. In 1964, the United States Congress authorized and requested the President to create the observance through a yearly proclamation. Lyndon B. Johnson and each President since have done so. Presidents have used the proclamation to praise the spirit of discovery and the contributions of Americans of Nordic descent generally. Some states officially commemorate Leif Erikson Day, particularly in the Upper Midwest, where large numbers of people from the Nordic countries settled.
October 9th is not related with any event in Leif Erikson's life. The date was chosen because the ship "Restauration" coming from Stavanger, Norway, arrived in New York Harbor on October 9, 1825. This was the start of the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States.
Sample proclamations:
Guelders
Guelders or Gueldres (, ) is the name of a historical county. This became a duchy ("lands ruled by a duke or duchess") of the Holy Roman Empire, in the Low Countries.
The duchy was named after the town of Geldern ("Gelder") in what is now called Germany. The present province of Gelderland (English also "Guelders") in the Netherlands occupies most of the area. However, the former duchy also included parts of the present Dutch province of Limburg and the territories in the present-day German state of North Rhine-Westphalia that were acquired by Prussia in 1713.
The duchy had four special parts, which had their own centres:
and was separated from the Lower Quarters (Gelderland):
The county was first mentioned in about 1096, when Gerard III of Wassenberg was first documented as "Count of Guelders". It was then in the territory of Lower Lorraine, in the area of Geldern and Roermond. Its main stronghold was at Montfort (built 1260). Count Gerard's son Gerard II in 1127 got the County of Zutphen in northern Hamaland by marriage. In the 12th and 13th century, Guelders became larger very quickly downstream along the sides of the Maas, Rhine, and IJssel rivers. It even claimed the lands in the Duchy of Limburg. In 1288, it lost the Battle of Worringen against Berg and Brabant.
Guelders was often at war with its neighbours. Not only with Brabant, but also with the County of Holland and the Bishopric of Utrecht. Its territory did not only grow because of its success in warfare, it also did very well in times of peace. William II, count of both Holland and Zeeland, gave Nijmegen in use to Guelders in return of a loan. However he was not able to repay the debts, so these lands became integral parts of Guelders.
In 1339 Count Reginald II of Guelders became a duke as ordered by Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV of Wittelsbach. When Reginald died without an heir in 1371, William I of Jülich inherited Guelders. In 1423 Guelders passed to the House of Egmond. Duke Adolf was fighting with his father Arnold about the inheritance of the land. Arnold came under pressure from the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold, who put him in prison in 1471. When Arnold died in 1473, Duke Charles added Guelders to his Burgundian Netherlands.
The last independent Duke of Guelders was Adolf's son Charles of Egmond (1492-1538). He increased the size of the duchy northward, and included what is now the Province of Overijssel. He left the duchy to Duke William the Rich of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in his will. However, he was not able to hold on to it and Emperor Charles V of Habsburg soon moved in. Guelders finally lost its independence, when it was united with the Seventeen Provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands in 1543.
Charles V stood down in 1556. He decided that the territories of the Burgundian Circle should be part of the monarchy of Spain. The northern Netherlands stood up against King Philip II of Spain in the Dutch Revolt. The three northern quarters of Gelderland joined the Union of Utrecht and became part of the United Provinces when the 1581 Act of Abjuration was agreed. Only the Upper Quarter remained a part of the Spanish Netherlands.
The Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713. The Spanish Upper Quarter was again divided between Prussian Guelders (Geldern, Viersen, Horst, Venray), the United Provinces (Venlo, Montfort, Echt), Austria (Roermond, Niederkrüchten, Weert), and the Duchy of Jülich (Erkelenz).
In 1795 Guelders was conquered and incorporated by the French First Republic. It was divided between the départements of Roer and Meuse-Inférieure.
The coat of arms of the region changed during the ages.
Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid () is a Scottish theatre actor and director. He was born 11 August 1944. He has also made some appearances on movie and television .
Worldwide, he is most famous for his role as Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars live action movie series. He was in both the original and prequel trilogies. McDiarmid has been in 47 movies since 1976.