Some context: Willson was born in Mason City, Iowa, to John David Willson and Rosalie Reiniger Willson, and he had a brother two years his senior, John Cedrick, and a sister 12 years his senior, the children's author Dixie Willson. He attended Frank Damrosch's Institute of Musical Art (which later became the Juilliard School) in New York City. He married his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth "Peggy" Wilson, on August 29, 1920. A flute and piccolo player, Willson was a member of John Philip Sousa's band (1921-1923), and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini (1924-1929).
Willson penned a number of very well known songs, such as "You and I," which was a No. 1 for Glenn Miller in 1941 on the Billboard charts. It was also recorded by Bing Crosby, and by Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra on vocals. Three songs from The Music Man have become American standards: "Seventy-Six Trombones," "Gary, Indiana," and "Till There Was You." The last was recorded by The Beatles for their 1963 UK album With The Beatles. (The album's American equivalent, Meet The Beatles!, was issued in 1964.) Other popular songs composed by Willson include "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (published as "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas"), "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You," and "I See the Moon." He wrote the University of Iowa's fight song Iowa Fight Song, and Iowa State University's "For I for S Forever." He also wrote the fight song for his hometown high school "Mason City, Go!" He honored The Salvation Army with a musical tribute, "Banners and Bonnets." An oddity in Willson's body of work is "Chicken Fat," written in 1962. In school gymnasiums across the nation, this was the theme song for President John F. Kennedy's youth fitness program. It was time to get the country's youth into shape, and Willson's song had youngsters moving through basic exercises at a frenetic pace: push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, torso twists, running in place, pogo springs, and plenty of marching. With an energetic lead vocal by Robert Preston, orchestral marching band, and full chorus, it was likely recorded during sessions for the Music Man film. Two versions of the song exist: a three-minute, radio-friendly length, and a longer, six-minute version for use in the gymnasium. In 2014 "Chicken Fat" was used in a television commercial for the iPhone 5S. In 1974 he offered a marching song, "Whip Inflation Now," to the Ford Administration, but it was not used.
What was his latest song released?
A: In 1974 he offered a marching song, "Whip Inflation Now," to the Ford Administration, but it was not used.
Some context: Means was born in Porcupine, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, to Theodora Louise Feather and Walter "Hank" Means. His mother was a Yankton Dakota from Greenwood, South Dakota, and his father, an Oglala Lakota. As well as Russell, the family had two other boys (William "Bill" and Warren ) and three girls (Madonna, Mabel Ann and Phyllis). He was given the name Wanbli Ohitika by his mother, which means "Brave Eagle" in the Lakota language.
In the 1980s, AIM divided into several competing factions, in part over differences among members regarding support for the indigenous peoples in Nicaragua. Means supported the Miskito group MISURASATA (later known as YATAMA), which was allied with the Contras. He traveled to Nicaragua in 1985 and 1986 on fact-finding tours. He came to believe that the Miskito as a people were being targeted for elimination. Some AIM members supported the Sandinistas of the national government, although they had forced removal of thousands of Miskito from their traditional territory. At that time, the "Grand Governing Council" of AIM, based in Minnesota, asked Means to cease representing himself as a leader of AIM. Other chapters of AIM continued to support Means. On January 8, 1988, Means held a press conference to announce his retirement from AIM, saying it had achieved its goals. That January, the "AIM Grand Governing Council", headed by the Bellecourt brothers, released a press release noting this was the sixth resignation by Means since 1974, and asking the press to "never again report either that he is a founder of the American Indian Movement, or [that] he is a leader of the American Indian Movement". The "AIM General Governing Council" noted there were many open issues and legislation regarding Native Americans for which they were continuing to work. In 1993, the organization divided officially into two main factions: "AIM Grand Governing Council", based in Minnesota, which copyrighted the name; and American Indian Movement of Colorado, based in Colorado and allied with Means.
Did AIM ever have a press conference?
A: On January 8, 1988, Means held a press conference to announce his retirement from AIM,
Some context: Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 - 14 March 2014), originally known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn, but later as Tony Benn, was a British politician, writer, and diarist. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 47 years between the 1950 and 2001 general elections and a Cabinet minister in the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the 1960s and 1970s. Originally a moderate, he was identified as being on the party's hard left from the early 1980s, and was widely seen as a key proponent of democratic socialism within the party. Benn inherited a peerage on his father's death (as 2nd Viscount Stansgate), which prevented his continuing as an MP.
Benn's father had been created Viscount Stansgate in 1942 when Winston Churchill increased the number of Labour peers to aid political work in the House of Lords; at this time, Benn's elder brother Michael was intending to enter the priesthood and had no objections to inheriting a peerage. However, Michael was later killed in an accident while on active service in the Second World War, and this left Benn as the heir to the peerage. He made several unsuccessful attempts to renounce the succession. In November 1960, Lord Stansgate died. Benn automatically became a peer, preventing him from sitting in the House of Commons. The Speaker of the Commons, Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, did not allow him to deliver a speech from the bar of the House of Commons in April 1961 when the by-election was being called. Continuing to maintain his right to abandon his peerage, Benn fought to retain his seat in a by-election caused by his succession on 4 May 1961. Although he was disqualified from taking his seat, he was re-elected. An election court found that the voters were fully aware that Benn was disqualified, and declared the seat won by the Conservative runner-up, Malcolm St Clair, who was at the time also the heir presumptive to a peerage. Benn continued his campaign outside Parliament. Within two years, though, the Conservative Government of the time, which had members in the same or similar situation to Benn's (i.e., who were going to receive title, or who had already applied for writs of summons), changed the law. The Peerage Act 1963, allowing lifetime disclaimer of peerages, became law shortly after 6 pm on 31 July 1963. Benn was the first peer to renounce his title, doing so at 6.22 pm that day. St Clair, fulfilling a promise he had made at the time of his election, then accepted the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, disqualifying himself from the House (outright resignation not being possible). Benn returned to the Commons after winning a by-election on 20 August 1963.
What is peerage?
A:
Labour peers to aid political work in the House of Lords;