IN: Anthony McPartlin, OBE (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly, OBE (born 25 September 1975), known collectively as Ant & Dec, are an English comedy TV presenting, television producing, acting and former music duo from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The duo met as actors on the children's television show Byker Grove, during which and in their subsequent pop career they were respectively known as PJ & Duncan - the names of the characters they played on the show. They have had a successful career as television presenters, presenting shows such as SMTV Live, CD:UK, Friends

Ant & Dec got their first presenting job in 1994, while they were still releasing music under the alias of PJ & Duncan. They co-presented a Saturday-morning children's show entitled Gimme 5, which was broadcast on CITV. The show only lasted two series before being dropped from the airwaves. In 1995, the duo were once again offered a job on CBBC, this time presenting their own series, entitled The Ant & Dec Show. The series was broadcast from 1995 to 1997, and in 1996, Ant & Dec won two BAFTA Awards, one for 'Best Children's Show' and one for 'Best Sketch Comedy Show'. In 1997, a VHS release, entitled The Ant & Dec Show - Confidential, was made available in shops, and featured an hour of the best bits from three years of the programme, as well as specially recorded sketches and music videos. In 1998, the duo switched to Channel 4, presenting an early-evening children's show entitled Ant & Dec Unzipped. This show also won a BAFTA, but was dropped from the airwaves after just one series. ITV soon signed the duo in August 1998, and within weeks, were assigned to present ITV1's Saturday morning programmes SMTV Live and CD:UK, alongside old friend Cat Deeley. The duo presented the shows alongside Deeley for three years, becoming the most popular ITV Saturday morning show. The programme's success was the mix of games such as Eat My Goal, Wonkey Donkey and Challenge Ant, sketches such as "Dec Says" and the "Secret of My Success", and the chemistry between Ant, Dec and Cat. Two SMTV VHS releases, compiling the best bits from both shows, were released in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Ant & Dec also starred in the children's TV series Engie Benjy during their time on SMTV. Ant & Dec made their permanent departure from children's television in 2001 after trying out formats like Friends Like These for BBC One in 2000 and Slap Bang with Ant & Dec for ITV in 2001 (which was basically SMTV in the evening even playing Challenge Ant against adults). They have since said that the main reason they left SMTV was because the Pop Idol live finals were due to begin on Saturday nights on ITV in December 2001.
QUESTION: Did they win any awards?
IN: The overseas expansion under the crown of Castile was initiated under the royal authority and first accomplished by the Spanish conquistadores. The Americas were incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil and Canada, and the crown created civil and religious structures to administer the region. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions. Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and continuing control of vast territory for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America (including present day Mexico, Florida and the Southwestern and Pacific Coastal regions of the United States).

The Spanish conquest of Mexico is generally understood to be the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519-21) which was the base for later conquests of other regions. Later conquests were protracted campaigns with less spectacular results than the conquest of the Aztecs. The Spanish conquest of Yucatan, the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the war of Mexico's west, and the Chichimeca War in northern Mexico expanded Spanish control over territory and indigenous populations. But not until the Spanish conquest of Peru was the conquest of the Aztecs matched in scope by the victory over the Inca empire in 1532. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire was led by Hernan Cortes. The victory over the Aztecs was relatively quick, from 1519 to 1521, and aided by his Tlaxcala and other allies from indigenous city-states or altepetl. These polities allied against the Aztec empire, to which they paid tribute following conquest or threat of conquest, leaving the city-states' political hierarchy and social structure in place. The Spanish conquest of Yucatan was a much longer campaign, from 1551 to 1697, against the Maya peoples in the Yucatan Peninsula of present-day Mexico and northern Central America. Hernan Cortes' landing ashore at present day Veracruz and founding the Spanish city there on April 22, 1519 marked the beginning of 300 years of Spanish hegemony over the region. The assertion of royal control over the Kingdom of New Spain and the initial Spanish conquerors took over a decade, with importance of the region meriting the creation of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Established by Charles V in 1535, the first viceroy was Don Antonio de Mendoza. Spain colonized and exerted control of Alta California through the Spanish missions in California until the Mexican secularization act of 1833.
QUESTION: What was so spectacular about the conquest of the Aztecs?
IN: The son of well-known surfer Jeff Johnson, Jack was born and raised on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. He began to learn how to surf at the age of five. At seventeen he became the youngest invitee to make the finals of the Pipeline Masters, one of surfing's most prestigious surfing events, on Oahu's North Shore. One week later, however, his stint as a professional surfer ended when he suffered a surfing accident at the Pipeline that put more than 150 stitches in his forehead and removed a few of his teeth; this later became the inspiration for the song "Drink the Water".

Jack Johnson's big break was writing and contributing vocals for the song "Rodeo Clowns" which was featured on G. Love's 1999 album Philadelphonic. The song would later become the most famous single of the album. In addition to his later success as a musician, Johnson is also an accomplished filmmaker. Johnson directed the surf films Thicker Than Water (2000) and The September Sessions (2002), in which he also starred. Both movie soundtracks were also products of Johnson. Johnson also starred in the 2004 surf film A Brokedown Melody. Suela released a four track demo that caught the attention of Ben Harper's producer, J. P. Plunier, who worked with Johnson to produce his debut album Brushfire Fairytales during December 2000 with Harper and his Weissenborn lap steel guitar making a guest appearance. Brushfire Fairytales was released on February 1, 2001, and led to Johnson becoming the opening act in late February 2001 for the last twenty-three cities of Ben Harper's "Innocent Criminals" tour of the United States. Johnson went back into the studio with Adam Topol (drums, percussion) and Merlo Podlewski (bass), who played on Brushfire Fairytales, and Mario Caldato Jr on production duties, to record his second full-length album On and On. It was the first album to be recorded at Johnson's Mango Tree Studio in Johnson's home town of North Shore, Oahu, and the first to be released through The Moonshine Conspiracy Records. On and On was released on May 6, 2003. The Moonshine Conspiracy Records was later changed to Brushfire Records; Johnson turned the offices and studios of his Los-Angeles based record company into a model of eco-friendliness, with solar power, recyclable CD packaging, and power-saving air conditioners.
QUESTION:
Did he win any awards