name	Bill Thomas
image name	Bill Thomas, official photo portrait color.jpg
birth date	December 06, 1941
birth place	Wallace, Idaho
alma mater	Garden Grove High School, Santa Ana College, San Francisco State University
occupation	college professor
state	California
district	22nd
term start	January 3, 1979
term end	January 3, 2007
preceded	William M. Ketchum
succeeded	Kevin McCarthy
party	Republican
religion	Baptist
spouse	Sharon Thomas
residence	Morro Bay, California }}

William Marshall Thomas (born December 6, 1941), commonly known as Bill Thomas, is an American politician, and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979–2007, finishing his tenure representing California's 22nd congressional district and as the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Early life and family

Thomas was born in Wallace, Idaho, moving with his parents to the Southern California area. He graduated from Garden Grove High School, attended Santa Ana College, earning an associate's degree before transferring to San Francisco State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree and master's degree in political science in 1963 and 1965, respectively. He became an instructor at Bakersfield College before running in the California State Assembly in 1974. He won election to the House of Representatives in 1978, representing the 18th congressional district.

Thomas married the former Sharon Lynn Hamilton in 1968. They have two grown children. He and his wife are Baptists.

Career

When ''Washingtonian'' magazine polled congressional aides on the "best and worst" of Congress, Thomas was voted #2 for "brainiest", #3 for "workhorse", and #1 for "meanest" and overwhelmingly for "hottest temper" in the House. Thomas is known for being able to comprehend and communicate the intricacies of obscure legislative matters, studying testimony and research reports himself instead of relying on executive summaries from his aides. Thomas is also known for losing his temper when people are unprepared, earning a reputation for sharp interrogations. "He's revered, but he's also reviled to some degree", fellow representative Mark Foley told ''CQ Weekly''.

Thomas was a key proponent of several of President George W. Bush's agenda items, including three major tax cut bills and the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (PL 108-173), and was also instrumental in the passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

On March 6, 2006, Thomas announced he would not seek reelection, retiring after 28 years in the House. A major influence on his decision was the internal GOP term limits that would require him to relinquish his Ways and Means chairmanship even if he were re-elected. Thomas endorsed a former aide, Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, who was elected to replace him.

In 2007, after leaving the House, Thomas joined the American Enterprise Institute as a visiting fellow working on tax policy, trade policy, and health care policy. Thomas also joined law and lobbying firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney.

Election history

1978 — Defeated Bob Sogge - 59%-41%

1980 — Defeated Mary Pat Timmermans - 71%-29%

1982 — Defeated Robert J. Bethea - 68%-32%

1984 — Defeated Michael T. LeSage - 71%-29%

1986 — Defeated Jules H. Moquin -73%-27%

1988 — Defeated Lita Reid - 71%-27%

1990 — Defeated Michael Thomas — 60%-34%

1992 — Defeated Deborah Vollmer — 65%-35%

1994 — Defeated John Evans — 69%-28%

1996 — Defeated Deborah Vollmer — 66%-27%

1998 — Defeated John Evans — 79%-21%

2000 — Defeated Pete Martinez — 72%-25%

2002 — Defeated Jaime Corvera — 73%-24%

2004 — Unopposed

Congressional committees

U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means — Chairman (2001–2006)

U.S. House Committee on Administration — Chairman (1995–2001)

1992 Congressional banking scandal

In the 1992 Rubbergate banking scandal, involving House members writing checks when the funds were not available, Bill Thomas bounced 119 checks, more than any other Republican member of Congress, and was tenth on the overall list of worst offenders, though not in terms of the most money involved.

2001 Alleged affair with lobbyist

The Bakersfield Californian published an article on Thomas about an affair with Deborah Steelman, a lobbyist for Cigna, Pfizer, Aetna, United Healthcare Corporation, the Healthcare Leadership Council, and Prudential. Thomas was then chair of the House subcommittee that regulates HMOs. "Any personal failures of commitment or responsibility to my wife, family or friends are just that, personal," the former congressman wrote in an "open letter to friends and neighbors." Neither he nor Deborah Steelman explicitly denied the allegations. Deborah Steelman was pormoted to VP of Eli Lilly, steered huge campaign gifts to Thomas' war chest and the health care industry scored big with the passage of Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.

2003 controversy involving U.S. Capitol police

In July 2003, Thomas called the U.S. Capitol Police to eject Democrats from a meeting room. A few days later, he tearfully apologized on the House floor for what he called his "just plain stupid" decision to ask the police to eject the Congressmen.

External links

OnTheIssues

Voting record maintained by the Washington Post

Voting record maintained by the Vote-Smart.org

References

Category:1941 births Category:American Enterprise Institute Category:Living people Category:Members of the California State Assembly Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from California Category:San Francisco State University alumni Category:California Republicans Category:Baptists from the United States

name	The Midnight Beast
background	group_or_band
origin	London, United Kingdom
genre	Comedy
years active	2009–present
website	http://themidnightbeast.com/
current members	Stefan AbingdonDru WakelyAshley Horne

The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy music group from London, perhaps most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 worldwide hit single TiK ToK by American pop artist Ke$ha. The group currently consists of its three founding members, Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.

Members

Stefan Abingdon

Stefan James Donald John Abingdon (born 19 January 1989) is a graduate of The BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology. Prior to the formation of TMB, Abingdon was a member of numerous non-comedic music projects, including Ink, Icarus Burning, Killafornia, R.U.Twin, The Clik Clik, Perfect People, and Chapters, as well as recording songs as a solo act. Abingdon is a multi-instrumentalist, and can be seen playing acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards and ukeleles in YouTube videos with his various bands. When performing with the group live, Abingdon sings and plays both guitars and keyboards. In 2011, Abingdon wrote and produced the title track for Selena Gomez & the Scene's third studio album When the Sun Goes Down.

Dru Wakely

Andrew Francis Wakely (born 10 January 1987) was also a musician prior to the formation of TMB, playing drums alongside Abingdon in Icarus Burning, The Clik Clik, and Perfect People. When performing with the group live, Wakely sings, and also provides drums and percussion. Many of the groups early songs, including the "TiK ToK " parody and "Daddy", make comedic reference to Wakely's supposed feelings of abandonment towards his father. As described in "Daddy", his father left the house on Christmas Eve to pick up some milk at the store, and never returned. Wakely eventually discovered that his father had left him and his mother to run off and start a family with their Spanish housekeeper. While the songs treat these claims as a comedic exaggeration, their authenticity has not been confirmed or denied by Wakely himself.

Ashley Horne

Ashely Neil Horne (born 4 January 1989) is the only member of the group with no known professional musical experience prior to forming TMB, although Horne can be seen playing the bass guitar in concert with the group. Horne was originally pursuing an acting career, and had bit parts in a number of British television series, including ''Foyle's War'', ''EastEnders'' and ''Doctor Who''. A number of the group's songs, "Booty Call", "Just Another Boy Band" and "The Dance Routine" among them, make comedic toungue-in-cheek references to Horne being gay. Like Wakely's childhood stories, they are treated in a very comical light; however, Horne's orientation has not been stated by Horne himself.

Reception

The Midnight Beast have a rather large following on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, with over 273,000 subscribers and a combined 39 million views on their YouTube channel alone, as well as over 300,000 Facebook fans as of August 2011. The group's songs often appear on iTunes music charts, and their accompanying music videos routinely reach over 1 million veiws on YouTube. The group has also had songs reach positions on national music charts in the U.K. and Australia.

The band and their music have achieved high levels of success not only with fans, but critics as well. Music and internet culture critics have often mentioned the band's instant "internet fame", and the transition of that fame into the real world. On Christmas Day 2009, the "TiK ToK" parody was featured on the front page of MTV.com, and the group have made videos in collabaration with BBC Comedy and MTV Rocks.

The group has also garnered praise from artists that they have parodied. Both Ke$ha and Jay Sean have tweeted positive reactions to the group's parody of their respective songs, TiK ToK and Down, with Ke$ha stating "''holy. shit. this is better than my version.''", and Jay Sean posting "''Hahha brilliant. Someone should mix this with "pants on the ground"...''". Ke$ha would go on to state the she wished the group had directed her own music video.

The group has also attracted minor controversy with its music. In an online post from February 2011, Metro, a British newspaper, raised issue with the lyrics of "Use Your Head", a sexual education-themed skit made for the Marie Stopes International charity's Have A Larc organization, which promotes safe sex. The paper cited the lines "One up the bum and it’s no harm done" and "One up the bum and you won’t be a mum", stating that it appeared that the group was suggesting anal sex as a birth control method. It also quoted unnamed critics who mentioned that the video failed to point out that anal sex could still lead to the transmission of STDs. The story eventually reached the front page of the paper. The song 'Pizza in Ibiza' also attracted some controversy, magazines criticised the throwing of food into the sea and use of condoms.

Discography

EPs

Year	Title	Label	Chart Positions
			UK
2010	''Booty Call EP''	Midnight Beast RecordsAWAL Records

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions			Album
		! width="33"	! width="33"	! width="33"
2009
"Ninjas"
"Lez Be Friends"
"Friends For Never"
"Daddy"
"Booty Call"
"Just Another Boy Band"
	"The Dance Routine"
"Pizza In Ibiza"

Other Songs, Parodies and Skits

''Nerds'' and ''Drunk Girls'', two songs originally performed as solo recordings by Abingdon; the group only plays these songs live

''XXXmas Buddies (How To Get A Xmas...)'', a holiday-themed adult parody of All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff

''Walk With Us'', a comdeic skit

''Dubstep On My Mouth'', a comedic skit revolving around the genre of Dubstep music

''Fashion Innit'', a gonzo report for MTV Rocks; Fashion Innit was included on the Booty Call EP

''House Party'', a skit made for BBC Comedy revolving around the 2010 elections

''Camden Crawling'', a gonzo report for MTV Rocks about the Camden Crawl Festival

''All Time Low Parody'' featuring Tom Deacon, a parody of All Time Low by The Wanted.

''Walk With Us Xmas Special'', a holiday-themed version of the original ''Walk With Us'' skit

''Use Ya Head'', a sexual education-themed skit released in support of the Marie Stopes charity

''Friday Parody'', a "parody" of Friday by Rebecca Black; contrary to the title, it is not a parody, but a full on cover, as in Stefan's words, 'The lyrics are already funny enough'

''E.T. Parody'', a parody of E.T. by Katy Perry and Kanye West

Tours

Unnamed 2010 tour (October 17-October 25)

Unnamed 2011 tour (February 15-February 24)

The Wednesday Tour (June 22-August 24, 2011)

References

External links

http://www.myspace.com/chapterstheband

The Midnight Beast Fansite

Category:British comedy musical groups Category:Musical groups from London

de:The Midnight Beast fi:The Midnight Beast

name	Max Brown
birth place	Ilkley, Yorkshire, England
death date
occupation	Actor
awards	}}

Max Brown (born 10 February 1981) is an English actor. Max was born in Ilkley, Yorkshire, England, but spent most of his childhood, and refers to it as his home, in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Early life

He grew up in Shrewsbury with his family: Two sisters, Chloe and Phoebe. According to an interview, Max's father is a civil servant and his mother a governor at a family support charity. Max was drawn to acting from an early age after moving schools at a young age. He performed in plays regularly at the local Music Hall in Shrewsbury.

Career

He first appeared on screens playing the heartthrob Danny Hartston in ''Grange Hill'' (2001). He has gone on to appear in many popular TV shows, including ''Crossroads'', ''Hollyoaks'', ''Heartbeat'', ''Mistresses'', ''Foyle's War'' and ''The Tudors''. He has also been seen in films including ''Turistas'' and ''Daylight Robbery''. In 2010 he played the role of Wagner in ''Flutter'', a British independent comedy, and MI-5 agent, Dimitri Levendis in ''Spooks''.

Filmography

Films

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
	''Fallen Angels''	Brad
	''True True Lies''	Chad
''Turistas''	Liam	Also known as ''Paradise Lost''
		Doctor
	''Act of God''	Richard Short
	''Red Tails''	Mortamus' Intel Officer	Post-Production
	Wagner	Post-Production
	''Love Tomorrow''	Dominic	Post-Production

TV

! Year	! Show	! Role	! Notes
	''Grange Hill''	Danny Hartston	Series regular
	Mark Russell	Series regular
	''Hollyoaks''	Kristian Hargreaves	Series regular
		Leon	1 episode: ''Tall Tales''
	Kenny Parks	1 episode: ''Is There a Doctor in the House?''
	Simon Broughton	1 episode: ''Brief Encounters''
		Pete Grimshaw	1 episode: ''Give Peace a Chance''
		Sam Grey	Series 1 only
	''Foyle's War''	Adam Wainwright	Series 7 only
	''The Tudors''	Edward Seymour	Series regular
	''Spooks''	Dimitri LevendIs	Series regular

Personal life

Max Brown is recently engaged to British model Annabelle Horsey.

References

External links

http://www.grangehillfans.co.uk/starfile/brown.php

Category:1981 births Category:English actors Category:Living people Category:People from Ilkley Category:People from Shrewsbury

es:Max Brown it:Max Brown he:מקס בראון

:''This article is about the British actress. For the album of the same name, see Honeysuckle Weeks (album).''

name	Honeysuckle Weeks
birth name	Honeysuckle Hero Susan Weeks
birth date	August 01, 1979
birth place	Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales
occupation	Actress
yearsactive	1993-present
spouse	Lorne Stormonth-Darling (2007–present) }}

Honeysuckle Weeks (born 1 August 1979) is a British actress, best known for her starring role as Samantha Stewart in the British TV series ''Foyle's War'', since 2002.

Background

Weeks was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Robin and Susan (née Wade) (who have since divorced), and grew up in Chichester and Petworth, both in West Sussex. Her parents named her after honeysuckle flowers because they were in bloom when she was born. She has a younger sister and brother, Perdita and Rollo, both of whom have also developed successful acting careers.

Weeks was educated at Roedean School and Pembroke College, Oxford, where she read English (graduating with upper-second class honours). She also spent time studying art in Italy. As a child she was a member of the Chichester Festival Theatre's Youth Theatre.

She was engaged to Anno Birkin for a short period before his death, aged 20, in a car crash in Italy in 2001.

In July 2007 she married hypnotherapist Lorne Stormonth-Darling, who is 16 years her senior. They live together in London. The couple had previously been married in an impromptu Buddhist wedding ceremony while on holiday in the Himalayas in 2005.

Career

Her acting career started with the juvenile lead in a television series (an adaptation of Anne Fine's ''Goggle Eyes'', 1993, alongside Perdita); since then she has appeared in many programmes, including children's series ''The Wild House'', and the long-running series ''Midsomer Murders'' and ''Poirot''. In 1997 Honeysuckle and Perdita were both in Catherine Cookson's ''The Rag Nymph'', where Perdita played the younger version of her sister's character. Her film roles include Anne Ridd in ''Lorna Doone'' (2000) and Sarah in ''My Brother Tom'' (2001). She also starred in The Bill in 2008 as Julie Nowak.

Weeks is currently best known, however, for her parts in three television series: ''Close Relations'' (1998), ''Ladies & Their Gentlemen'' (2002–2006) and ''Foyle's War'' (2002–2010). In the latter, a BAFTA-award winning detective series set in Hastings during and just after World War II, she starred opposite Michael Kitchen. In 2007, Weeks appeared as Tania Thompson in ''The Inspector Lynley Mysteries''. Her character was based on Karla Homolka. In 2008, she appeared as Harriet Pringle in the Radio 4 adaptation of ''Fortunes of War''. Weeks is currently appearing as Eliza Doolittle in a production of "Pygmalion" at the Chichester Festival Theatre in West Sussex.

Awards and nominations

In 2004, Weeks was nominated in the Most Popular Newcomer category at the National Television Awards.

References

Sources and external links

"Honeysuckle Weeks in ''Foyle's War''"

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Category:Audio book narrators Category:English film actors Category:English radio actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English vegetarians Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Old Roedeanians Category:People from Cardiff Category:People from Chichester

de:Honeysuckle Weeks it:Honeysuckle Weeks nl:Honeysuckle Weeks no:Honeysuckle Weeks pl:Honeysuckle Weeks sv:Honeysuckle Weeks