IN: Erich Honecker (German: ['e:RIc 'honeka]; 25 August 1912 - 29 May 1994) was a German politician who, as the General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until the weeks preceding the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. From 1976 onward he was also the country's official head of state as chairman of the State Council following Willi Stoph's relinquishment of the post. Honecker's political career began in the 1930s when he became an official of the Communist Party of Germany, a position for which he was imprisoned during the Nazi era. Following World War II, he was freed and soon relaunched his political activities, founding the youth organisation the Free German Youth in 1946 and serving as the group's chairman until 1955.

Honecker was married three times. After being liberated from prison in 1945 he married the prison warden Charlotte Schanuel (nee Drost), nine years his senior, on 23 December 1946. She died suddenly from a brain tumour in June 1947. Details of this marriage were not revealed until 2003, well after his death. By the time of her death, Honecker was already romantically involved with the Free German Youth official Edith Baumann, whom he met on a trip to Moscow. With her he had a daughter, Erika (b. 1950), who later gave him his granddaughter Anke. Sources differ on whether Honecker and Baumann married in 1947 or 1949, but in 1952 he fathered an illegitimate daughter, Sonja (b. December 1952), with Margot Feist, a People's Chamber member and chairperson of the Ernst Thalmann Pioneer Organisation. In September 1950, Baumann wrote directly to Walter Ulbricht to inform him of her husband's extramarital activity in the hope of him pressuring Honecker to end his relationship with Feist. Following his divorce and reportedly under pressure from the Politburo, he married Feist, however sources again differ on both the year of his divorce from Baumann and of his marriage to Feist; depending on the source, the events took place either in 1953 or 1955. For more than twenty years, Margot Honecker served as Minister of National Education. In 2012 intelligence reports collated by West German spies alleged that both Erich and his wife had secret affairs but did not divorce for political reasons, however, his bodyguard Bernd Bruckner in a book about his time spent in Honecker's service, refuted the claims. Honecker had three grandchildren from his daughter Sonja, who had married the Chilean-born exile Leonardo Yanez Betancourt; Roberto, (b. 1974) Mariana, (b. 1985) who died in 1988 at the age of two leaving Honecker himself heartbroken, and Vivian (b. 1988). Roberto's origins are debated; he is claimed to be the illegally adopted son of Mrs. Heidi Stein, Dirk Schiller, born on 13 June 1975 in Gorlitz, who disappeared in March 1979, due to alleged physical similarities between Dirk and Leonardo Mrs Stein suspecting that her son might have been kidnapped at 3 years old by Stasi agents for Honecker's younger daughter. Honecker's daughter, (who divorced Leonardo in 1993) grandson and granddaughter still live in Santiago.

Why was he under pressure from Politburo and/or what does that have to do with remarrying?

OUT: political reasons,

IN: The Darkness are an English rock band from Lowestoft, Suffolk, formed in 2000. The band consists of Justin Hawkins (lead vocals, guitar), his brother Dan Hawkins (guitar, backing vocals), Frankie Poullain (bass, backing vocals) and Rufus Tiger Taylor (drums). The Darkness came to prominence with the release of their debut album, Permission to Land, in 2003. Backed by the singles "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Growing on Me", "Get Your Hands off My Woman", and "Love is Only a Feeling", the album was certified quadruple platinum in the United Kingdom, with sales of over 1,300,000.

The Darkness were directed by manager Sue Whitehouse, who had managed them since Justin Hawkins' time as a creator of music jingles and their original band days as Empire. The Darkness were renowned for their live show, and such was the popularity of the band, they had a Carling Homecoming gig booked for the London Astoria before they had even signed a record deal. The band already had music industry interest from their days as Empire through connections with Sue Whitehouse, who was based at Savage & Best in Camden. Joe Taylor, Aled Jones and Paul Scaife at The Tip Sheet first heard about the band through a post on The Tip Sheet message board, and featured Love Is Only A Feeling in January 2002. They started Record of the Day, and featured the song again around the time of SXSW in March 2003. They wanted to feature Friday Night too but they were told the band was saving it for an album. According to A&R Nick Raphael in an interview with HitQuarters, there was no initial clamour to sign the band, "There couldn't have been less of a buzz, and only two record labels showed any interest in them." He believes the reason for lack of interest was that "The business as a whole thought they were uncool. In fact, people were saying that they were a joke and that they weren't real." However, throughout their career critics around the world would label them as a "joke band." As part of Sony Music UK, Raphael had attempted to sign them but the band instead opted to go with Atlantic Records.

How did the gig end up?

OUT:

IN: Oldman was born in New Cross, London, the son of Leonard Bertram Oldman (1921-1985), a former sailor who also worked as a welder, and Kathleen (nee Cheriton; born 1919). He has stated that Leonard was an alcoholic who left the family when Oldman was seven years old. Oldman attended West Greenwich School in Deptford, leaving school at the age of 16 to work in a sports shop. He was a pianist as a child, and later a singer, but gave up his musical aspirations to pursue an acting career after seeing Malcolm McDowell's performance in the 1971 film The Raging Moon.

In 2015, Oldman played the head of police that investigates Tom Hardy's character in Child 44, alongside Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman, and had a supporting role in the post-apocalyptic American thriller Man Down, directed by Dito Montiel, and starring alongside Shia LaBeouf and Kate Mara. In 2016, Oldman played a CIA chief in Criminal, directed by Ariel Vromen, and starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds, Alice Eve, and Gal Gadot. He also starred in The Space Between Us with Asa Butterfield, which was released on 3 February 2017. In 2017, Oldman appeared as a villain in The Hitman's Bodyguard with Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, and Salma Hayek, and starred in Darkest Hour, as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Oldman has received positive notice in the USA and in the UK for this performance, including winning Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama, Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Oldman is starring in Hunter Killer, with Gerard Butler, Billy Bob Thornton, and Linda Cardellini, and is slated to direct a biopic about Eadweard Muybridge entitled Flying Horse. In 2018, Oldman is starring in horror-thriller Mary directed by Michael Goi. He will also start in Netflix's sci-fi project titled Tau directed by Federico D'Alessandro alongside Ed Skrein and Maika Monroe. Oldman is also slated to star in an adaptation of John Le Carre's Smiley's People, with Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, and Douglas Urbanski producing.

What is another example of his current work?

OUT:
had a supporting role in the post-apocalyptic American thriller Man Down,