Zhouli, (Chinese: “Rites of Zhou”) Wade-Giles romanization Chou-li, also called Zhouguan (“Offices of Zhou”), one of three ancient ritual texts listed among the Nine, Twelve, and Thirteen Classics of Confucianism. Though tradition ascribed the text to the political figure Zhougong (flourished 12th century BC), the work is considered by modern scholars to have been an anonymous utopian “constitution” written perhaps about 300 BC. For many centuries Zhouli was joined to Liji (“Record of Rites”) and thus constituted one of the Six Classics (Liujing) of Chinese literature.

Influenced by legalist as well as Confucian ideas, Zhouli discusses government in general under the title “Offices of Heaven,” education under “Offices of Earth,” social and religious institutions under “Offices of Spring,” the army under “Offices of Summer,” justice under “Office of Autumn,” and population, territory, and agriculture under “Office of Winter.” In the 12th century Zhouli was given special recognition by being placed among the Six Classics as a substitute for the long-lost Classic of Music (Yuejing).

Confucianism, the way of life propagated by Confucius in the 6th–5th century BCE and followed by the Chinese people for more than two millennia. Although transformed over time, it is still the substance of learning, the source of values, and the social code of the Chinese. Its influence has also extended to other countries, particularly Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Confucianism, a Western term that has no counterpart in Chinese, is a worldview, a social ethic, a political ideology, a scholarly tradition, and a way of life. Sometimes viewed as a philosophy and sometimes as a religion, Confucianism may be understood as an all-encompassing way of thinking and living that entails ancestor reverence and a profound human-centred religiousness. East Asians may profess themselves to be Shintōists, Daoists, Buddhists, Muslims, or Christians, but, by announcing their religious affiliations, seldom do they cease to be Confucians.

Although often grouped with the major historical religions, Confucianism differs from them by not being an organized religion. Nonetheless, it spread to other East Asian countries under the influence of Chinese literate culture and has exerted a profound influence on spiritual and political life. Both the theory and practice of Confucianism have indelibly marked the patterns of government, society, education, and family of East Asia. Although it is an exaggeration to characterize traditional Chinese life and culture as Confucian, Confucian ethical values have for well over 2,000 years served as the source of inspiration as well as the court of appeal for human interaction between individuals, communities, and nations in the Sinitic world.

Zhi Gang Sha (Chinese: 沙志鋼; born 1956) is a spiritual leader.

Life and ideas

Sha is a strong promoter of forms of spirituality. He has published 20 books, including ten New York Times bestselling books, including Soul Healing Miracles: Ancient and New Sacred Wisdom, Knowledge, and Practical Techniques for Healing the Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, and Physical Bodies, which has sold more than 300,000 copies since its release in November 2013. His 2014 book, Soul Mind Body Science System, debuted on the Amazon Top 100 Bestseller List.[citation needed]

Sha is a registered acupuncturist in Canada. He is also a Tai Chi practitioner. He was the lead acupuncturist for the World Health Organization[citation needed], has been named Qigong Master of the Year and in 2006 was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission Award for his humanitarian efforts.[1] He teaches his patients that chanting mantras in Mandarin Chinese can heal their ailments.[2][3] and practices what he refers to as "soul healings".

Publications

Sha has written twenty-four books, including Zhi Neng Medicine: Revolutionary Self-Healing Methods from China (Zhi Neng Press, 1996), Power Healing: The Four Keys to Energizing Your Body, Mind and Spirit (HarperSanFranciso, 2002), Soul Mind Body Medicine: A Complete Soul Healing System for Optimum Health and Vitality (New World Library, 2006), Living Divine Relationships (Heaven's Library Publication Corp., 2006), Soul Wisdom I: Practical Soul Treasures to Transform Your Life (Heaven's Library Publication Corp., 2007), and Soul Communication: Opening Your Spiritual Channels for Success and Fulfillment (Heaven's Library Publication Corp., 2007).

In 2008, Sha partnered with Atria Books, a major division of Simon and Schuster, to create the "Soul Power" series: The Power of Soul (2009), Divine Soul Songs: Sacred Practical Treasures to Heal, Rejuvenate, and Transform You, Humanity, Mother Earth, and All Universes (2009) and Divine Soul Mind Body Healing and Transmission System: The Divine Way to Heal You, Humanity, Mother Earth, and All Universes (2009), Tao I: The Way of All Life (2010), Divine Transformation: The Divine Way to Self-clear Karma and Transform Your Health, Relationships, Finances, and More (2010), Tao II: The Way of Healing, Rejuvenation, Longevity, and Immortality (2010), Tao Song and Tao Dance: Sacred Sound, Movement, and Power from the Source for Healing, Rejuvenation, Longevity, and Transformation of All Life (2011), and Divine Healing Hands: Experience Divine Power to Heal You, Animals, and Nature, and to Transform All Life (2012). Soul Healing Miracles: Ancient and New Sacred Wisdom, Knowledge, and Practical Techniques for Healing the Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, and Physical Bodies (BenBella Books, 2013).

Courtesy – Wikipedia

z

Yuna Kim (Korean: 김연아; born September 5, 1990), also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a retired South Korean competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and 2014 Olympic silver medalist in ladies' singles, the 2009 & 2013 World champion, the 2009 Four Continents champion, a three-time (2006–2007, 2007–2008, 2009–2010) Grand Prix Final champion, the 2006 World Junior champion, the 2005 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a six-time (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014) South Korean national champion.

Kim is the first South Korean figure skater to win a medal at an ISU Junior Grand Prix or ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event, the ISU Figure Skating Championships, and the Olympic Games. She is the first female skater ever to win every major international competition, namely, the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships, and the Grand Prix Final. She is also the first figure skater ever to complete a Super Slam, having won every major senior and junior competition.[10][11] She is one of the most highly recognized athletes and media figures in South Korea. As a result of her numerous accomplishments and popularity, she is frequently referred to as Queen Yuna by various media across the world.

She is the former record holder for ladies in the short program, free skate and combined total[15] under the ISU Judging System. She has broken world record scores 11 times[15][16][17] under the ISU Judging System since 2007, eight of which being records she herself set. She is also the first female skater to surpass the 140-point and 150-point free skating mark[17] and the 200-point, 210-point and 220-point total mark, as well as the first and only figure skater to have never finished off the podium in her entire career under the current ISU Judging System. She has been beaten by only seven skaters throughout her career. Due to her strong artistry, musicality, skating skills, mental strength, solid and consistent competitive record, she is regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time. She is also noted for her great rivalry with three-time World champion Mao Asada from Japan.

Kim was the highest paid athlete at the 2010 Winter Olympics,[23] and the fifth, seventh, sixth and fourth top-earning sportswoman in the world in 2010,[24] 2012,[25] 2013[26] and 2014[27] respectively according to Forbes. The business magazine has also listed her in their 30 under 30 and Philanthropy[28] lists. She was included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 of World's Most Influential People in 2010. Kim was the first to top Forbes Korea Power Celebrity and was ranked in the top 10 from 2009 to 2015 and in 2018.

Kim was born on September 5, 1990,[29] in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, and moved to Gunpo when she was six years old.[30] In 2013, Kim graduated from Korea University with a degree in Sports Education.

Between 2008 and 2010, Kim headlined the ice show Festa on Ice, produced by her former agency, IB Sports. IB Sports produced another ice show, Ice All Stars, which took place in Seoul on August 14–16, 2009. Michelle Kwan, who is Kim's idol and the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, joined the ice show.

In April 2010, Kim left IB Sports and set up her own agency called All That Sports Corp. (AT Sports) with the support of her mother.[141] They organized an ice show, All That Skate.[142] In October 2010, Kim and her management debuted All That Skate LA, a US version of their Korean ice show brand, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show, directed by Canadian choreographer David Wilson, featured Michelle Kwan, the reigning Olympic champions from three skating disciplines including Kim, and many world champions. It received positive reviews from both figure skating fans and critics for bringing a new style of skating show to the US and for overall high production quality.

On June 17, 2012, Kim took part in Artistry on Ice in China. According to Li Sheng, president of SECA, the host of the show, it took two years to lure Kim. He added, "It's a breakthrough in Artistry on Ice, and even in China's figure skating history, although she only took part in the Shanghai stop."

Kim became a Roman Catholic in 2007 after a devout Catholic doctor helped heal severe skating injuries incurred in 2006–2007.[229] Her Confirmation name is Stella from "Stella Maris" in Latin, meaning Our Lady, Star of the Sea, an ancient title of The Blessed Virgin Mary. She often makes the Sign of the Cross and wears a rosary ring during competitions.

On July 25, 2022, it was confirmed that Kim would marry singer Ko Woo-rim of Forestella, with whom she had been in a relationship for three years.[230] They married in a private ceremony on October 22, 2022, at Hotel Shilla in Seoul.

Courtesy – Wikipedia

Yumiko Kurahashi (倉橋 由美子, Kurahashi Yumiko, October 10, 1935 – June 10, 2005) was a Japanese writer. Her married name was Yumiko Kumagai (熊谷 由美子, Kumagai Yumiko), but she wrote under her birth name.

Her work was experimental and antirealist, questioning prevailing societal norms regarding sexual relations, violence, and social order. Her antinovels employed pastiche, parody, and other elements typical of postmodernist writing.

Early life and education

Kurahashi was born in Kami, Japan, the eldest daughter of Toshio and Misae Kurahashi.[1] Her godfather was Tokutomi Sohō, who knew her father. Her father was a family dentist in the town of Kami in Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. After one year studying Japanese literature at the Kyoto Women's University, she moved under pressure from her father to Tokyo to obtain a certificate as a dental hygienist and for medical training. Following her completion of the requirements to take the state exam for medical practice, however, she instead entered the Department of French Literature at Meiji University, where she attended lectures by prominent Japanese post-war literary figures such as Mitsuo Nakamura, Kenji Yoshida, and Ken Hirano. During her university years, Kurahashi was enthusiastically introduced to the body of modern literature, reading Rimbaud, Camus, Kafka, Blanchot, and Valéry. Her thesis was devoted to an analysis of Sartre's treatise Being and Nothingness.

Kurahashi and Kenzaburō Ōe have some biographical similarities: like Kurahashi, Ōe also was born in 1935, grew up on Shikoku, and moved to Tokyo, where he studied French literature, did graduate work on Sartre, and debuted in their student days with politically tinged short stories which drew the recognition of Ken Hirano. At a certain point, though, their paths diverge. Ōe went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature while the path chosen by Kurahashi led to her ostracization by the Japanese literary world.

Literary beginnings and controversy

While studying for her master's degree, Kurahashi made her literary debut in 1960 with the publication in the Meiji University literary magazine of the story The Party (パルタイ, Parutai), an acute satire on the communist left-wing sentiment commonplace among students at that time, as well as the bureaucratic dogmatism of the Japan Communist Party (JCP) (which was not named but strongly alluded to by the title).[2] The story won a university-wide prize and was commended by the prominent literary critic Ken Hirano in his review in the Mainichi Shimbun. A controversy erupted when Hirano used his influence within the Bundan to have Kurahashi's story reprinted in the prominent literary magazine Bungakukai.[2] The so-called "Parutai Debate" (Parutai ronsо̄) broke out across several literary magazines as Japanese writers and critics debated whether Kurahashi's story had "literary merit" and the propriety of Hirano's promoting it, in what became a proxy war for competing views on the influence of the Communist Party in the literary world.[2] Historian Nick Kapur argues that the Parutai debate also reflected unspoken displeasure within the male-dominated Bundan that a critic as prominent as Hirano was promoting the work of a young female author, in their view at the expense of males.[2] Although the Parutai controversy never reached any definitive conclusion, it won Kurahashi many spoken and unspoken enemies and would shadow her throughout her career.

Also in 1960, Kurahashi published the short novel End of Summer (夏の終り, Natsu no owari), which was also championed by Hirano and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. Although Kurahashi did not win, she was considered, along with other new writers debuting at the same time - Takeshi Kaiko, Shintaro Ishihara, and Kenzaburō Ōe - to be ranked highly among the so-called "third wave" generation of young Japanese writers.

Kurahashi's 1961 novel (in fact antinovel) Blue Journeys (暗い旅, Kuroi tabi), written in the formal second person caused much controversy among critics and led Jun Etō to accuse her of plagiarism. In Etō's view, Kurahashi's novel simply imitated the earlier novel La modification (Second Thoughts) by the French writer Michel Butor. A fierce debate broke out in the press; Kurahashi's defenders were joined by Takeo Okuno [ja]. Whether influenced by the dispute or by the death of her father in 1962, after this Kurahashi left the graduate school.

Later life and works

In 1964 Kurahashi married Tomihiro Kumagai, who was then working as a producer for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Despite significant health problems, in 1966 she went to study at the University of Iowa in the United States, where she spent about a year with a Fulbright scholarship.

In 1969 Kurahashi published the phantasmagoric and dystopian novel Adventures of Sumiyakisto Q (スミヤキストQの冒険). A dramatic turnaround in her work was heralded by her novels such as Virginia (1970), Anti-Tragedies (反悲劇) (1971), and The Bridge of Dreams (夢の浮橋) (1971). While she continued to author both short and long stories such as A castle inside the castle (城の中の城) (1981), Symposion (シュンポシオン) (1985), and Popoi (1987), her Cruel Fairy Tales for Adults (大人のための残酷童話), and Kurahashi's Short Ghost Stories (倉橋由美子の怪奇掌編) became her most popular works during her lifetime. In 1987 she was awarded the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature for her massive antiutopian work Journey to Amanon (アマノン国往還記).

Final years

In her later years, despite her deteriorating health, Kurahashi authored several books, including Kôkan (交歓) (1989), Yume no Kayoiji (夢の通ひ路) (1989), The Gallery of Fantasy Art (幻想絵画館) (1991), Between the Earthly World and the Other World (よもつひらさか往還) (2002), and Cruel Fairy Tales for Old People (老人のための残酷童話) (2003). Kurahashi is also known for her translation of children's literature such as Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece (ぼくを探しに) (1977) and The Missing Piece Meets the Big O (ビッグ・オーとの出会い : 続ぼくを探しに) (1982). Her last work was a new translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, which she finished one day before her death.

Yumiko Kurahashi died at the age of 69 of dilated cardiomyopathy. The disease was incurable, but Kurahashi consistently refused even those operations which could have prolonged her life.

Courtesy – Wikipedia

Yumiko Kurahashi (倉橋 由美子, Kurahashi Yumiko, October 10, 1935 – June 10, 2005) was a Japanese writer. Her married name was Yumiko Kumagai (熊谷 由美子, Kumagai Yumiko), but she wrote under her birth name.

Her work was experimental and antirealist, questioning prevailing societal norms regarding sexual relations, violence, and social order. Her antinovels employed pastiche, parody, and other elements typical of postmodernist writing.

Early life and education

Kurahashi was born in Kami, Japan, the eldest daughter of Toshio and Misae Kurahashi.[1] Her godfather was Tokutomi Sohō, who knew her father. Her father was a family dentist in the town of Kami in Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. After one year studying Japanese literature at the Kyoto Women's University, she moved under pressure from her father to Tokyo to obtain a certificate as a dental hygienist and for medical training. Following her completion of the requirements to take the state exam for medical practice, however, she instead entered the Department of French Literature at Meiji University, where she attended lectures by prominent Japanese post-war literary figures such as Mitsuo Nakamura, Kenji Yoshida, and Ken Hirano. During her university years, Kurahashi was enthusiastically introduced to the body of modern literature, reading Rimbaud, Camus, Kafka, Blanchot, and Valéry. Her thesis was devoted to an analysis of Sartre's treatise Being and Nothingness.

Kurahashi and Kenzaburō Ōe have some biographical similarities: like Kurahashi, Ōe also was born in 1935, grew up on Shikoku, and moved to Tokyo, where he studied French literature, did graduate work on Sartre, and debuted in their student days with politically tinged short stories which drew the recognition of Ken Hirano. At a certain point, though, their paths diverge. Ōe went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature while the path chosen by Kurahashi led to her ostracization by the Japanese literary world.

Literary beginnings and controversy

While studying for her master's degree, Kurahashi made her literary debut in 1960 with the publication in the Meiji University literary magazine of the story The Party (パルタイ, Parutai), an acute satire on the communist left-wing sentiment commonplace among students at that time, as well as the bureaucratic dogmatism of the Japan Communist Party (JCP) (which was not named but strongly alluded to by the title).[2] The story won a university-wide prize and was commended by the prominent literary critic Ken Hirano in his review in the Mainichi Shimbun. A controversy erupted when Hirano used his influence within the Bundan to have Kurahashi's story reprinted in the prominent literary magazine Bungakukai.[2] The so-called "Parutai Debate" (Parutai ronsо̄) broke out across several literary magazines as Japanese writers and critics debated whether Kurahashi's story had "literary merit" and the propriety of Hirano's promoting it, in what became a proxy war for competing views on the influence of the Communist Party in the literary world.[2] Historian Nick Kapur argues that the Parutai debate also reflected unspoken displeasure within the male-dominated Bundan that a critic as prominent as Hirano was promoting the work of a young female author, in their view at the expense of males.[2] Although the Parutai controversy never reached any definitive conclusion, it won Kurahashi many spoken and unspoken enemies and would shadow her throughout her career.

Also in 1960, Kurahashi published the short novel End of Summer (夏の終り, Natsu no owari), which was also championed by Hirano and was nominated for the Akutagawa Prize. Although Kurahashi did not win, she was considered, along with other new writers debuting at the same time - Takeshi Kaiko, Shintaro Ishihara, and Kenzaburō Ōe - to be ranked highly among the so-called "third wave" generation of young Japanese writers.

Kurahashi's 1961 novel (in fact antinovel) Blue Journeys (暗い旅, Kuroi tabi), written in the formal second person caused much controversy among critics and led Jun Etō to accuse her of plagiarism. In Etō's view, Kurahashi's novel simply imitated the earlier novel La modification (Second Thoughts) by the French writer Michel Butor. A fierce debate broke out in the press; Kurahashi's defenders were joined by Takeo Okuno [ja]. Whether influenced by the dispute or by the death of her father in 1962, after this Kurahashi left the graduate school.

Later life and works

In 1964 Kurahashi married Tomihiro Kumagai, who was then working as a producer for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Despite significant health problems, in 1966 she went to study at the University of Iowa in the United States, where she spent about a year with a Fulbright scholarship.

In 1969 Kurahashi published the phantasmagoric and dystopian novel Adventures of Sumiyakisto Q (スミヤキストQの冒険). A dramatic turnaround in her work was heralded by her novels such as Virginia (1970), Anti-Tragedies (反悲劇) (1971), and The Bridge of Dreams (夢の浮橋) (1971). While she continued to author both short and long stories such as A castle inside the castle (城の中の城) (1981), Symposion (シュンポシオン) (1985), and Popoi (1987), her Cruel Fairy Tales for Adults (大人のための残酷童話), and Kurahashi's Short Ghost Stories (倉橋由美子の怪奇掌編) became her most popular works during her lifetime. In 1987 she was awarded the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature for her massive antiutopian work Journey to Amanon (アマノン国往還記).

Final years

In her later years, despite her deteriorating health, Kurahashi authored several books, including Kôkan (交歓) (1989), Yume no Kayoiji (夢の通ひ路) (1989), The Gallery of Fantasy Art (幻想絵画館) (1991), Between the Earthly World and the Other World (よもつひらさか往還) (2002), and Cruel Fairy Tales for Old People (老人のための残酷童話) (2003). Kurahashi is also known for her translation of children's literature such as Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece (ぼくを探しに) (1977) and The Missing Piece Meets the Big O (ビッグ・オーとの出会い : 続ぼくを探しに) (1982). Her last work was a new translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, which she finished one day before her death.

Yumiko Kurahashi died at the age of 69 of dilated cardiomyopathy. The disease was incurable, but Kurahashi consistently refused even those operations which could have prolonged her life.

Courtesy – Wikipedia

Yogi Minocher K. Spencer was a Parsi author and spiritual healer who lived in Karachi, Pakistan where he also worked as a metal merchant. Spencer was born in Pune, Maharashtra, India on 4 October 1888 and died 30 August 1958.[1] He claimed that he was guided by the spirit of a deceased guru, Rishi Ram Ram,[2] and later by Sai Baba of Shirdi (also deceased). He claimed to have attained 'Jeevan Mukti' during his life.[3] He wrote a number of books that were published posthumously, including:

How I found God

The other world

Joyous mysticism

Great mystics saints of the world

Understanding the divine mysteries

Romance of the soul (1954)

The most important of his books is How I found God. In this book, Spencer wrote all his experiences first hand. His cousin H. Spencer also helped him in his journey to God.[4][page needed][clarification needed] His life can be divided in different phases according to spiritual development. His life changed in 1930 when he met a mystic in Lahore. That mysterious person with occult powers told him that he had hidden spiritual powers of becoming a medium. He started writing articles in local newspaper on a weekly basis where he was criticised by few persons of theosophical society for his view for spirituality. Later he met a lady in London which catalysed his spiritual growth.[citation needed]

In his second phase of intensification of love for God, he came in contact with "spiritual healing center, Coimbatore (South India)". Rishi Ram Ram was the spiritual guide of the center at that time. Rishi Ram Ram was born 2500 years ago in Orissa, India. He was living in spiritual plane at that time and helping souls eager to know God's love. Rishi Ram Ram promised him to help. Later, in 1960 Rishi Ram Ram left spiritual plane and merged in God. M.K. Spencer was told to read holy scriptures and write spiritual stuff. He followed the same. During that time he wrote Oneness with God.[5][page needed] Slowly and steadily his desire of meeting God intensified. He spent more and more time in his altar room. His meditation sessions started at 2 am and lasted late into the night. He forgot his daily mundane work and worries. Later Rish Ram Ram handed him over to Shirdi Sai Baba, saint of the saints. Sai baba helped him in achieving the perfection and purity required to meet God.

Courtesy – Wikipedia

Xavier Marcel Boulestin (1878 – 20 September 1943) was a French chef, restaurateur, and the author of cookery books that popularised French cuisine in the English-speaking world.

Born in Poitiers in France (Poitou region), Boulestin tried a number of occupations before finding his role as a restaurateur. He worked as secretary and ghostwriter to the author "Willy" (Henry Gauthier-Villars) in Paris, and then moved to London, where he made his home and career from 1906 onward. There, he opened an interior design shop, which failed to make enough money. He wrote extensively, and was commissioned to write a simple French cookery book for English readers. It was a huge success, and thereafter his career was in cooking.

The Restaurant Boulestin, known as the most expensive in London, opened in 1927. Its fame, and the long series of books and articles that Boulestin wrote, made him a celebrity. His cuisine was wide-ranging, embracing not only the French classics but also dishes familiar to British cooks.

Among those influenced by Boulestin was the English food writer Elizabeth David, who praised Boulestin in her books and adopted many of his precepts.

Early years

Born in Poitiers, France, Boulestin was raised by his mother and his maternal grandmother in Poitiers. His parents lived apart, and the young Boulestin spent a month each summer with his father in Saint-Aulaye.[2] He was educated in Poitiers, and later in Bordeaux, where he was nominally a law student, but in practice was a full-time concert-goer and member of the musical scene of the city. He wrote "Letter from Bordeaux" for Courrier Musical, a musical review, and published his first book, a dialogue, Le Pacte, for which the humorous writer Willy (Henry Gauthier-Villars), husband of the novelist Colette, wrote a preface. Despite Willy's endorsement, the book was not a success.

After compulsory military service in 1899, Boulestin moved to Paris and worked for Willy as a secretary and as one of the several ghostwriters he employed for his sensational and well-selling books, among them Curnonsky and Colette. Willy's stories and novels often included characters taken from his friends and collaborators. His Claudine and Minne series and other novels sketched Colette's youth, peppered with characters taken from other spheres, like the clearly homosexual "Hicksem" and "Blackspot", both taken from Boulestin's personality.[4] Willy's novel En Bombe (1904) portrayed his life with Boulestin and his other secretaries, illustrated with 100 posed photos showing Willy himself as Maugis, Marcel Boulestin as Blackspot, another secretary Armory as Kernadeck, Colette as Marcelle, Marcelle as Jeannine, and Colette's dog Toby-Chien. Also, in 1905, Boulestin's French translation of The Happy Hypocrite by Max Beerbohm was published in the Mercure de France, with a caricature of Boulestin by Beerbohm.[5] Boulestin had to convince a sceptical editor that Beerbohm really existed and was not an invention of Boulestin's.[5] He also acted on occasion, alongside Colette, in several plays written by Willy.

Last years

In the summer of 1939, Boulestin and Adair were taking their customary holiday in a house that Boulestin had built in the Landes. When France was invaded by Germany, Adair was ill, and unable to escape; Boulestin remained with him. Adair was interned as an enemy alien by the Germans, and held first in Bayonne and then nearer Paris. Boulestin moved to Paris to be close to him, and died there after a brief illness, aged 65.

Adair was released at the end of the war and returned to England, becoming the cookery correspondent of the British magazine Harper's Bazaar.[33] He died in 1956.[34] Boulestin's restaurant continued under various managements until 1994.

Courtesy – Wikipedia

William McGuire Bryson OBE HonFRS (/ˈbraɪsən/; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British author of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has been a resident of Britain for most of his adult life, returning to the U.S. between 1995 and 2003, and holds dual American and British citizenship. He served as the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011.

Bryson came to prominence in the United Kingdom with the publication and accompanying television series of Notes from a Small Island (1995), an exploration of Britain. He received widespread recognition again with the publication of A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), a book widely acclaimed for its accessible communication of science. In October 2020 he announced that he had "retired" from writing books.

Bryson was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of Bill Bryson Sr., a sports journalist who worked for 50 years at the Des Moines Register, and Agnes Mary (née McGuire), the home furnishings editor at the same newspaper. His mother was of Irish descent.[8] He had an older brother, Michael (1942–2012), and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth. In 2006, Bryson published The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a humorous account of his childhood years in Des Moines. In 2006 Frank Cownie, the mayor of Des Moines awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day."

Bryson attended Drake University for two years before dropping out in 1972, deciding instead to backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, Matt Angerer (the pseudonymous Stephen Katz). Bryson wrote about some of his experiences from the trip in his book Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe.

Bryson has received numerous awards for his ability to communicate science with passion and enthusiasm. In 2004, he won the Aventis Prize for best general science book that year, with A Short History of Nearly Everything. In 2005, the book won the European Union's Descartes Prize for science communication. In 2005, he received the President's Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry for advancing the cause of the chemical sciences. In 2007, he won the Bradford Washburn Award, from the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts, for contributions to the popularization of science. In 2012, he received the Kenneth B. Myer Award, from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience, in Melbourne, Australia.

With the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Bill Bryson Prize for Science Communication was established in 2005. The competition engages students from around the world in explaining science to non-experts.

He was made an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his contribution to literature on 13 December 2006. In 2007, he was awarded the James Joyce Award by the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin. After he received British citizenship, his OBE was made substantive.

On 22 November 2012, Durham University officially renamed the Main Library the Bill Bryson Library for his contributions as the university's 11th chancellor (2005–2011). The library also has a cafe named after Bryson's book Notes from a Small Island.

Bryson was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2013, becoming the first non-Briton to receive this honour. His biography at the Society reads:

Bill Bryson is a popular author who is driven by a deep curiosity for the world we live in. Bill's books and lectures demonstrate an abiding love for science and an appreciation for its social importance. His international bestseller, A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), is widely acclaimed for its accessible communication of science and has since been adapted for children.

Courtesy-wikipedia