TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given passages that contain mentions of names of people, places, or things. Some of these mentions refer to the same person, place, or thing. Your job is to write questions that evaluate one's understanding of such references. Good questions are expected to link pronouns (she, her, him, his, their, etc.) or other mentions to people, places, or things to which they may refer. Do not ask questions that can be answered correctly without understanding the paragraph or having multiple answers. Avoid questions that do not link phrases referring to the same entity. For each of your questions, the answer should be one or more phrases in the paragraph, and it should be unambiguous.
PROBLEM: Passage: Sir John Barbirolli, CH (2 December 1899 29 July 1970), ne Giovanni Battista Barbirolli, was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Halle Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, with all of which he made recordings.
Born in London of Italian and French parentage, Barbirolli grew up in a family of professional musicians. After starting out as a cellist, he was given the chance to conduct, from 1926 with the British National Opera Company, and then with Covent Garden's touring company. On taking up the conductorship of the Halle he had less opportunity to work in the opera house, but in the 1950s he conducted productions of works by Verdi, Wagner, Gluck, and Puccini at Covent Garden with such success that he was invited to become the company's permanent musical director, an invitation he declined. Late in his career he made several recordings of operas, of which his 1967 set of Puccini's Madama Butterfly for EMI is probably the best known.
Both in the concert hall and on record, Barbirolli was particularly associated with the music of English composers such as Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams. His interpretations of other late romantic composers, such as Mahler and Sibelius, as well as of earlier classical composers, including Schubert, are also still admired.

SOLUTION: What was the name of the company that Barbirolli declined an invitation to become the music director?

PROBLEM: Passage: Matt Brady comes home from World War I to a city where his older brother Tim is a political kingpin. Matt meets an old friend, Bob Herrick, but an argument leads to a fistfight. He ends up late for a date with Elsie Reynolds, who is furious. Matt angrily replies that he wants nothing more to do with her.
Matt's self-destructive behavior continues at a restaurant, where he intervenes on behalf of a forlorn customer, Lorry Reed, punching a waiter. He not only takes sympathy on her, he impulsively insists they get married.
Regretting his actions the next day, Matt's temper again flares when Tim Brady decides to get the marriage annulled. Matt tells him to mind his own business. Minutes later, Tim dies of a heart attack.
Years go by. Matt, still in a loveless marriage with Lorry, has followed his brother into politics. His unethical methods include making money on a tip from gangster Johnny Mazia and claiming half the profits of a cement business in exchange for guaranteeing it city projects. Bob has married Elsie, meanwhile, and become Matt's lawyer and insurance commissioner.
Matt continues to mistreat Lorry, even giving her a very expensive necklace only to make Elsie envious. A newspaper editor and prosecutor begin investigating Matt, whose net worth also vanishes with the stock market's crash. He goes into business with gangster Johnny, inadvertently becoming an accomplice in a killing spree.
An effort to make things right leads to a fight resulting in Johnny's death, but Matt is indicted and shocked when Bob testifies against him. Lorry leaves, telling Matt how he deluded himself that he had even one friend. Matt ends up by himself, behind bars.

SOLUTION: What is the first name of the brother of the political kingpin?

PROBLEM: Passage: The previous convention's lack of Tejano representation fostered a perception that only newcomers to Texas were dissatisfied. The president of the Convention of 1832, Stephen F. Austin, traveled to San Antonio de Bexar to garner support for the changes the convention had requested. Austin found that the Tejano leaders largely agreed with the result of the convention but opposed the methods by which the resolutions had been proposed. They urged patience; Bustamante was still president and would not look favorably on a petition from settlers who had recently sided with his rival, Santa Anna.As a compromise, the ayuntamiento of San Antonio de Bexar drafted a petition containing similar language to the convention's resolutions. Following legal norms, they submitted this to Musquiz, who forwarded it to the Mexican Congress in early 1833. At this time, the federal and state governments were in flux. Bustamante had resigned the presidency in late December 1832 as part of a treaty to end the civil war. There was no effective state government. The governor of Coahuila y Tejas had died in September 1832, and his replacement, federalist Juan Martin de Veramendi, immediately dissolved the state legislature, which had centralist leanings. Veramendi called elections to seat a new government in early 1833. Due to the political uncertainty, Austin urged that the federal government be given several months to address the petition. If no action was eventually taken, he advised that Texas residents would form their own state government, essentially declaring independence from Coahuila, if not from Mexico.Austin's timeframe was endorsed by Tejano leaders, but it did not pacify the Texian settlers. Towards the end of December, the central committee called for a new convention to meet in San Felipe de Austin in April 1833. Elections were scheduled for March. This action disturbed the Tejano leaders, who saw it as a violation of their agreement with Austin.Communities in Texas elected 56 delegates for the new convention. In a departure from the previous election, San Antonio de Bexar also sent delegates, including James Bowie, the son-in-law of Governor Veramendi. Bowie, like many of his fellow delegates, was known as an agitator who wanted immediate change. The majority of the delegates to the previous convention had been more cautious.

SOLUTION:
What is the first name of the person who urged that the federal government be given several months to address the petition?