Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams, 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who founded Penguin Books, bringing high quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.

Early life and family[link]

Allen Lane Williams was born in Bristol to Camilla (née Lane) and Samuel Williams, and studied at Bristol Grammar School. In 1919 he joined the publishing company Bodley Head as an apprentice to his uncle and founder of the company John Lane. In the process, he and the rest of his family changed their surname to Lane to retain the childless John Lane's company as a family firm. Lane married Lettice Lucy Orr on 28 June 1941 and had three daughters, the older two of whom were Clare and Christine. He was knighted in 1962.

Career as a publisher[link]

He rose quickly in the business becoming managing editor in 1925 following the death of his uncle. After conflict with the board of directors who were wary at first — for fear of being prosecuted — of publishing James Joyce's controversial book Ulysses, Lane left in 1936 to set up Penguin Books. The legend goes that on a train journey back from visiting Agatha Christie in 1934, Lane found himself on an Exeter station platform with nothing available worth reading. He conceived of paperback editions of literature of proven quality which would be cheap enough to be sold from a vending machine; the first was set up in Charing Cross Road and dubbed the "Penguincubator". Lane was also well aware of the Hamburg publisher Albatross Books and adopted many of its innovations. The paperback venture was extremely successful, and he expanded into other areas such as Puffin Books in 1940 and the Penguin Classics series in 1945. Lane was responsible for the decision to publish an unexpurgated edition of D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover as a means of testing the Obscene Publications Act 1959.

In 1965, during an attempt by chief editor Tony Godwin and the board of directors to remove him, Lane stole a book's entire print run and burnt it. (The book was called Massacre and was by the French cartoonist Siné: it was reportedly deeply offensive.) Lane fired Godwin, and retained control of Penguin, but was forced to retire shortly afterwards after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. He died in 1970 at Northwood, Middlesex.^[1]

References[link]

1. ^ About Penguin: Company History, Penguin Books Ltd. Retrieved 2010-08-18.

Bibliography[link]

• Morpurgo, J. E. (1979) Allen Lane: King Penguin. London: Hutchinson
• Hare, Steve (1995) Penguin Portrait: Allen Lane and the Penguin Editors, 1935-1970. London: Penguin Books

External links[link]

• University of Bristol Library Special Collections. "Penguin Archive". http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/library/collections/specialcollections/archives/penguin/. 
• Works by or about Allen Lane in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Horatio Morpurgo, Lane's grandson. "Lady Chatterley's Defendant: Allen Lane and the Paperback Revolution (a portrait of Allen Lane)". http://www.threemonkeysonline.com/als/allen_lane_lady_chatterley.html. 
• Toby Clements (19 February 2009). "History of the Penguin Archive". London: The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/4691018/History-of-Penguin-archive.html. Retrieved 23 April 2010. 
• BBC Radio 4 programme about Allen Lane by author Michael Morpurgo, his son-in-law

This biography of a publisher is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since August 2011. It may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since August 2011.

Allan "Rocky" Lane (September 22, 1909 – October 27, 1973) was a studio leading man and the star of many cowboy B-movies in the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared in more than 125 films and TV shows in a career lasting from 1929 to 1966. He also did the voice of the talking horse on the television series Mister Ed, beginning in 1961.

Biography[link]

Lane was born as Harry Leonard Albershardt in Mishawaka, Indiana to William H. Albershardt and his wife, Linnie Anne.^[1] He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.^[2] Lane had been a photographer, model and stage actor by the time he was 20 years old. He was spotted by Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century Fox) talent scouts and was signed to a contract. His first film role for Fox was as a romantic lead opposite June Collyer in the 1929 release, Not Quite Decent (now a lost film). He made several other films at Fox but jumped ship to Warner Bros. in the early 1930s.^{[citation needed]}.

Film career[link]

While at Warner his career foundered, and after a number of bit parts he left films in the early 1930s. By 1936, Lane returned to films and to 20th Century Fox, taking supporting roles in the drama Laughing at Trouble and the Shirley Temple film Stowaway. After several more supporting roles at Fox, Lane longed for a starring role; therefore, he took the lead in a Republic Pictures' short feature, The Duke Comes Back (1937).

From 1929 through 1936, he appeared in twenty-four films. In 1937 his career began to soar; he was a hit in 1938's The Law West of Tombstone. In 1940, he portrayed "RCMP Sergeant Dave King," the role becoming one of his most notable successes. The first was King of the Royal Mounted, a 1940 serial adaptation of Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted, with Lane playing the lead role. He starred in several Canadian Mounted Police films, including the serials The Yukon Patrol and King of the Mounties. He is best remembered for these today. In 1946 and 1947, he portrayed "Red Ryder" in seven films. The following year, he became "Rocky Lane" in western films.

Between 1940-1966, Lane made eighty-two film and television series appearances, mostly in westerns. Between 1947-53, he made over 30 B-movie westerns (as "Rocky" Lane) with his faithful horse 'Black Jack'. His last roles were in voice over acting, including providing the speech for Mister Ed (1961–1966). In 2003 he won the TV Land Award for the category "Favorite Pet-Human Relationship" as Mr. Ed.^[3]

Filmography[link]

• The Forward Pass (1929)
• Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937)
• Maid's Night Out (1938)
• Having Wonderful Time (1938)
• Twelve Crowded Hours (1939)
• Panama Lady (1939)
• King of the Royal Mounted (1940)
• King of the Mounties (1942)
• Daredevils of the West (1943)
• The Dancing Masters (1943)
• The Tiger Woman (1944)
• A Guy Could Change (1946)
• Stagecoach to Denver (1946)
• Trail of Robin Hood (1950)
• Fort Dodge Stampede (1951)
• Hell Bent for Leather (1960)
• Posse from Hell (1961)

Television[link]

Series

• Mister Ed, 1961-1966 syndicated and later CBS TV series. Lane provided the voice for Mister Ed
• Red Ryder, 1956-1957 TV series. Lane portrayed Red Ryder

Guest appearances

• Cheyenne, episode "Massacre at Gunsight Pass", originally aired May 1, 1961
• Gunsmoke, episode "Long Hours, Short Pay", originally aired April 29, 1961
• Bonanza, episode "The Blood Line", originally aired December 31, 1960
• Gunsmoke, episode "The Badge", originally aired November 12, 1960
• Lawman, episode "The Payment", originally aired May 8, 1960
• Bronco, episode "Death of an Outlaw", originally aired March 8, 1960
• Colt .45, episode "Arizona Anderson", originally aired February 14, 1960
• Tales of Wells Fargo, episode "The Reward", originally aired April 21, 1958
• Wagon Train, episode "The Daniel Barrister Story", originally aired April 16, 1958
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents, episode "Lamb to the Slaughter", originally aired April 13, 1958
• Gunsmoke, episode "Texas Cowboys", originally aired April 5, 1958
• Mike Hammer, episode "Husbands Are Bad Luck", originally aired 1957

Death[link]

Lane retired after 1966, and was residing in Woodland Hills, California at the time of his death to cancer in 1973, aged 64. He is buried in Inglewood Park Cemetery.

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Allan Lane at the Internet Movie Database
• Allan Lane at AllRovi
• Rocky Lane westerns
• Recollections of Allan Lane
• FanBase page - Notre Dame Football

Rocky Lane

Location of Rocky Lane Alberta

Rocky Lane is a locality in northern Alberta, Canada within the Boyer 164 Indian reserve^[1] of the Beaver First Nation. It is located 8 km (5.0 mi) south of Highway 58, 51 km (32 mi) east of High Level.

Amenities[link]

The Rocky Lane area features the Rocky Lane Community Hall, completed and opened by the Rocky Lane Agricultural Society in 2011,^[2] and the Rocky Lane Nordic Ski Club, which features 13 km (8.1 mi) of cross-country ski trails and equipment rentals.^[3] The Machesis Lake Provincial Recreation Area, located to the southwest of Rocky Lane, consists of a lake, day use sites, and overnight campsites.^[4]

References[link]

v t e Subdivisions of Alberta Subdivisions Regions Census divisions Municipal districts (counties) Specialized municipalities School districts Regional health authorities Communities Cities Towns Villages Summer villages Hamlets Indian reserves Métis settlements Ghost towns Designated places Cities and urban service areas Airdrie Brooks Calgary Camrose Cold Lake Edmonton (capital) Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande Prairie Lacombe Leduc Lethbridge Lloydminster Medicine Hat Red Deer Sherwood Park Spruce Grove St. Albert Wetaskiwin Category Portal WikiProject

Coordinates: 58°26′45″N 116°15′59″W / 58.44583°N 116.26639°W / 58.44583; -116.26639 (Rocky Lane)

This Northern Alberta location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (Malayalam: വി. കെ. കൃഷ്ണമേനോന്‍) (3 May 1896 – 6 October 1974) was an Indian nationalist, diplomat and statesman, described as the second most powerful man in India by Time magazine and others,^[1][2] after his ally and intimate friend, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Described as "vitriolic, intolerant, impatient, and exigent – yes, but generous, sensitive, considerate, a great teacher too, and a great man" by Lord Listowell, the last British secretary of state for India, Menon was an influential and controversial figure on the world scene, and the architect of the Third Bloc foreign policy of non-alignment. He headed India's diplomatic missions to both the United Kingdom and United Nations, and was repeatedly elected to both houses of the Indian Parliament from multiple constituencies, serving as Defence Minister from 1957 to 1962.

Menon cofounded Penguin Books in 1935 with Sir Allen Lane^{[citation needed]}, and also created the Sainik Schools. He is the first Malayalee to have won the Padma Vibhushan.

Early life and education[link]

Menon was born at Panniyankara in Kozhikkode, Kerala, in the Vengalil family of British Malabar. His father Vakil [Adv] Komathu Krishna Kurup, Ayancheri, Vatakara, the son of Orlathiri Udayavarma Raja of Kadathanadu and Komath Sreedevi Kettilamma Kurup, was a wealthy and influential lawyer. His mother was the granddaughter of Raman Menon who had been the Dewan of Travancore between 1815 and 1817, serving Gowri Parvati Bayi. Menon had his early education in Thalassery. In 1918 he graduated from Presidency College, Chennai, with a B.A. in History and Economics.

While studying in the Madras Law College, he became involved in Theosophy and was actively associated with Annie Besant and the Home Rule Movement. He was a leading member of the 'Brothers of Service', founded by Annie Besant who spotted his gifts and helped him travel to England in 1924.

Life and activities in England[link]

In London, Menon pursued further education at the London School of Economics and University College, London, where Harold Laski described him as the best student he had ever had.^[3] In 1930 Menon was awarded an M.A. in Psychology with First Class Honours from University College, London, for a thesis entitled "An Experimental Study of the Mental Processes Involved in Reasoning", and in 1934 he was awarded an M.Sc. in Political Science with First Class Honours from the London School of Economics, for a thesis entitled "English Political Thought in the Seventeenth Century", becoming a barrister at law in the Middle Temple shortly thereafter.

India League and the Independence Movement[link]

During these years, Menon became a passionate proponent of India's freedom, working as a journalist and as secretary of the India League from 1929 to 1947, and a close friend of fellow Indian nationalist leader and future Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as well as such political and intellectual figures as Bertrand Russell, J.B.S. Haldane, Michael Foot, Aneurin Bevan, and E.M. Forster, whose A Passage to India he secured the publication of, according to Shashi Tharoor.^[4] Menon's legendary relationship with Nehru would later be analogized by Sir Isaiah Berlin as like that of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.

Founding of Penguin and Pelican Books[link]

During the 1930s he worked as an editor for Bodley Head and Twentieth Century Library, and in 1934 cofounded Penguin and Pelican Books with colleague Sir Allen Lane. In 1934 he was admitted to the English bar, and after joining the Labour Party he was elected borough councillor of St. Pancras, London. St. Pancras later conferred on him the Freedom of the Borough, the only other person so honoured being George Bernard Shaw. In 1932 he inspired a fact-finding delegation headed by Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson to visit India, and edited its report entitled "Conditions In India", obtaining a preface from his friend Betrand Russell. Menon also worked assiduously to ensure that Nehru would succeed Mahatma Gandhi as the moral leader and executive of the Indian independence movement, and to clear the way for Nehru's eventual accession as the first Prime Minister of an independent India. As Secretary, he built the India League into the most influential Indian lobby in the British Parliament, and actively turned British popular sentiment towards the cause of Indian independence.^[5]

The origins of what would become the policy of non-alignment were evident in Menon's personal sympathies even in England, where he simultaneously condemned both the British Empire and Nazi Germany, although he did march several times in anti-Nazi demonstrations. When asked whether India would prefer to be ruled by the British or the Nazis, Menon famously replied that "(one) might as well ask a fish if it prefers to be fried in butter or margarine".^[6]

Diplomacy and foreign affairs[link]

High Commissioner to the United Kingdom[link]

After India gained independence in 1947, Menon was appointed high commissioner to the United Kingdom, a post in which he remained until 1952. Menon's intense distrust of the West extended to the United Kingdom itself, and his frequent thwarting of British political maneuvers eventually led MI5 to deem him a "serious menace to security". From 1929 onwards Menon had been kept under surveillance, which only intensified following Menon's 1946 meeting in Paris with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, and Indian independence.^[7] In 2007, hundreds of pages of MI5 files documenting their coverage of Menon were released, including transcripts of phone conversations and intercepted correspondences with other statesmen and Nehru himself.^[8][9]

During his tenure as the high commissioner, Menon was accused of being involved in the Jeep scandal case of 1948, but the Government closed the case in 1955, ignoring suggestion by the Inquiry Committee.^[10]

United Nations[link]

Diplomacy and Non-Alignment[link]

In 1952, Menon accepted the command of the Indian delegation to the United Nations, a position he would hold until 1962. He earned a reputation for brilliance in the UN, frequently engineering elegant solutions to complex international political issues, including a peace plan for Korea, a ceasefire in Indo-China, the deadlocked disarmament talks, and the French withdrawal from the UN over Algeria.^[5] During this period, Menon pioneered a novel foreign policy for India, which he dubbed non-alignment in 1952,^[11] charting a third course between the USA and USSR. Menon was particularly critical of the United States, and frequently expressed sympathies with Soviet policies, earning the ire of many Indians by voting against a UN resolution calling for the USSR to withdraw troops from Hungary,^[12] although he reversed his stance three weeks later under pressure from New Delhi.^[13]

China and the United Nations[link]

Menon also supported the admission of China to the United Nations, which earned him the enmity of many American statesmen, including Senator William F. Knowland. In 1955, Menon intervened in the case of several American airmen who had been held by China, meeting with Chinese premier Zhou En-Lai before flying to Washington to confer with and counsel American President Dwight Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, at the request of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden.^[14][15]

Soviet Russia[link]

In 1953, Menon was the last foreign official to visit Joseph Stalin before the latter's death, meeting him on 17 February during an executive visit to the Soviet Union.

Nuclear Disarmament[link]

Menon was a passionate opponent of nuclear weapons, and partnered with many in his quest against their proliferation. Throughout the 1950s, Menon liased with Bertrand Russell, with whom he had previously collaborated in the India League.

Suez Crisis[link]

During the Suez crisis, Menon attempted to persuade a recalcitrant Gamal Nasser to compromise with the West, and was instrumental in moving Western powers towards an awareness that Nasser might prove willing to compromise.^[16] During the emergency conference on Suez convened in London, Menon offered a counterproposal to John Foster Dulles plan for resolution, in which Egypt would be allowed to retain control of the Suez Canal. Menon's proposal was initially estimated by US diplomats to have more support than the Dulles plan, and was widely viewed as an attempt to hybridize the Dulles plan with Egypt's claims. Ultimately, the Dulles plan passed, with Menon voting against, alongside Russia, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. Menon, however, markedly softened his opposition in the final hours, leaving only Soviet Foreign Minister Dimitri Shepilov in absolute contraposition.^[17]

Speech on Kashmir[link]

On 23 January 1957 Menon delivered an unprecedented eight-hour speech defending India’s stand on Kashmir; to date, the speech is the longest ever delivered in the United Nations Security Council,^[18] covering five hours of the 762nd meeting on the 23 of January, and two hours and forty-eight minutes on the 24th,^[19] reportedly concluding with Menon's collapse on the Security Council floor.^[12] During the filibuster, Nehru moved swiftly and successfully to consolidate Indian power in Kashmir. Menon's passionate defense of Indian sovereignty in Kashmir enlarged his base of support in India, and led to the Indian press temporarily dubbing him the 'Hero of Kashmir'.

Return to India[link]

Minister Without Portfolio, 1956-7[link]

Krishna Menon became a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1953. On 3 February 1956, he joined the Union Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio.

In 1957, Menon sought a seat in the Lok Sabha, contesting a constituency from North Bombay. Widely viewed as a hero for his defense of India's sovereignty in Kashmir on the world stage, Menon was met with rapturous receptions on the campaign trail, and ultimately won in a straight contest against PSP candidate Alvares Peter Augustus by 47,741 votes (171,708 to 123,967).

Minister of Defence[link]

After his electoral victory, he was named Minister of Defence in the April of that year. Menon was a substantially more powerful and high-profile figure than his predecessors, and brought with him a degree of governmental, public, and international attention that India's military had not previously known. He upended the seniority system within the army, replacing it with a merit-based method of promotion, and extensively restructured much of India's military command system, eventually leading to the resignation of the Chief of the Army Staff, General K.S. Thimayya.^[20] Critics accused Menon of disregarding tradition in favor of personal caprice; Menon countered that he was seeking to improve the efficiency of the military.

Menon also, in the face of intense opposition, began the creation of a domestic military industrial complex to supply the Indian armed forces with weaponry and provisions.^[21] Although Menon's oversight of the development of India's military infrastructure was initially overshadowed by India's unpreparedness in the Sino-Indian War, later analysis and scholarship has increasingly focused on the importance of Menon's vision and foresight in military development, with political figures as varied as President and Minister of Defence R. Venkataraman and Chief Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court of India analyzing and defending Menon's role in India's rise as a military power.^[22]

1961-3[link]

Elections in North Bombay[link]

Western publications frequently attacked Menon's socialist sympathies and policy of non-alignment.]]In the October 1961, Menon, the sitting Defence Minister, was challenged by the 74-year-old Acharya Kripalani, a previous president of the Indian National Congress and close associate of the deceased Mohandas Gandhi. The race soon became the highest-profile in India, with the Sunday Standard remarking that "no political campaign in India has ever been so bitter or so remarkable for the nuances it produced". The race, which witnessed the direct intervention of Jawaharlal Nehru, was widely viewed as of tremendous importance due to personas and influence of the two candidates, who were seen as avatars for two distinct ideologies.^[1] Having previously endorsed Menon's foreign policies, Kripalani relentlessly attacked Menon's persona, seeking to avoid direct confrontation with the prestige of Nehru and the Congress Party.

Invasion of Goa[link]

With the race looming, Menon aggressively addressed the issue of Indian sovereignty over the Portuguese colony of Goa, in a partial reprise of his earlier defense of Indian Kashmir. In New York, Menon met US Ambassador and two-time presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson behind closed doors,^[23] before meeting with President John F. Kennedy, who had expressed his reservations about Menon's anti-imperialism during the state visit of Jawaharlal Nehru. Menon lectured Kennedy on the importance of US-Soviet compromise, before returning to India. On 17 December 1961, Menon and the Indian Army overran Goa, leading to widespread Western condemnation. In his typical style, Menon dismissed the admonishments of Kennedy and Stevenson as "vestige(s) of Western imperialism". Menon's spearheading of the Indian annexation of Goa had subtle ramifications throughout Asia, as in the case of Indonesian president Sukarno, who refrained from invading the Portuguese colony of East Timor partially from fear of being compared to Menon.^[24] The invasion also spawned a complex mass of legal issues relating to differences between eastern and western interpretations of United Nations law and jurisdiction.^[25]

Ultimately, Menon won in a landslide, nearly doubling the vote total of Kripalani, and winning outright majorities in all six of North Bombay's districts. The electoral results established Menon as second only to Nehru himself in Indian politics.^[26]

The Sino-Indian War[link]

In 1962, China invaded India, leading to the brief Sino-Indian War, and a temporary reversal in India's non-aligned foreign policy. A chagrined Menon, widely blamed for India's lack of military readiness, tendered his resignation as minister of defence.^[27]

Election to Parliament from Midnapore[link]

In 1969, Menon contested a seat in the Lok Sabha from the Bengal constituency of Midnapore, running as an independent in a by-election, and defeating his Congress rival by a margin of 106,767 votes in the May of that year.^[28]

Election to Parliament from Trivandrum[link]

In 1971 Menon contested and won a seat in Parliament from Trivandrum, in his homestate of Kerala.

Krishna Menon Museum, Calicut, where original oil portraits of Menon, as well as personal belongings, letters, news clips and other materials related to Menon, are kept for public display

Personal life[link]

Menon was an intensely controversial figure during his life, and has remained so even well after his death. Widely described as brilliant^[29] and arrogant,^[12][30] he was known for the sheer force of his personality.

A complex man, Menon dressed expensively in bespoke Savile Row suits, while maintaining an otherwise ascetic lifestyle, abstaining from tobacco, alcohol, and meat.^[6]

Menon was widely reviled by Western statesmen who loathed his arrogance, outspokenness, and fiercely anti-Western stances. American President Dwight Eisenhower considered the outwardly courteous Menon a "menace ... governed by ambition to prove himself the master international manipulator and politician of the age". Western publications routinely referred to him as "India's Rasputin" or "Nehru's Evil Genius".

Death[link]

Menon died at the age of 78 on 6 October 1974, whereupon Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi remarked that "a volcano is extinct".

Notes[link]

• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Thazhe_Komath_Sri_Durga_Bhagavathy_Temple_Ayancheri_And_Komath_Tharavadu.pdf

Further reading[link]

• V. K. Krishna Menon: a personal memoir by Janaki Ram (1997)
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Thazhe_Komath_Sri_Durga_Bhagavathy_Temple_Ayancheri_And_Komath_Tharavadu.pdf
• Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon
• P. N. Haksar: Krishna: As I knew him
• Statements by V. K. Krishna Menon at the United Nations
• T. J. S. George: `Krishna Menon', Jonathan Cape, 1964.
• Theft of two statues of Menon from a London park
• Neglect of Krishna Menon memorial project alleged
• `Yours Krishna Menon', play on Krishna Menon by Lalit Mohan Joshi

External links[link]

• The short film Longines Chronoscope with Vengalil Krishna Menon is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

v t e Indian independence movement History Colonisation East India Company British India French India Portuguese India Plassey Buxar Anglo-Mysore Wars Anglo-Maratha Wars First Second Third Polygar War Vellore Mutiny First Anglo-Sikh War Second Anglo-Sikh War Rebellion of 1857 British Raj more Philosophies and ideologies Indian nationalism Swaraj Hindu nationalism Gandhism Satyagraha Muslim nationalism in South Asia Swadeshi Socialism Khilafat Movement Events and movements Partition of Bengal Revolutionaries Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy The Indian Sociologist The Sedetious conspiracy Champaran and Kheda Rowlatt Committee Rowlatt Bills Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Non-Cooperation Kakori conspiracy Qissa Khwani Bazaar massacre Flag Satyagraha Bardoli 1928 Protests Nehru Report Fourteen Points of Jinnah Purna Swaraj Salt Satyagraha Round table conferences Act of 1935 Legion Freies Indien Cripps' mission Quit India Indian National Army Bombay Mutiny Coup d'État de Yanaon Provisional Government of India Organisations Indian National Congress All-India Muslim League Anushilan Samiti Jugantar Arya Samaj Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh India House Berlin Committee Ghadar Home Rule Khaksar Tehrik Khudai Khidmatgar Hindustan Republican Association Swaraj Party Indian Independence League All India Kisan Sabha Azad Hind more Social reformers Bal Gangadhar Tilak Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Iqbal Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Acharya Kripalani Rahul Sankrityayan Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Gopal Ganesh Agarkar Shahu Maharaj Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Dhondo Keshav Karve Vitthal Ramji Shinde Mahadev Govind Ranade Swami Dayananda Saraswati Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Swami Vivekananda Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Vinoba Bhave Baba Amte Ram Mohan Roy Gopal Hari Deshmukh Indian independence activists Puli Thevar Yashwantrao Holkar Rahul Sankrityayan Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Tipu Sultan Veerapandiya Kattabomman Sangolli Rayanna Baba Ram Singh Mangal Pandey Rae Ahmed Nawaz Khan Kharal Bakht Khan Veer Kunwar Singh Rani of Jhansi Bahadur Shah Zafar Swami Dayanand Saraswati Bal Gangadhar Tilak Gopal Krishna Gokhale Dadabhai Naoroji Bhikaiji Cama Shyamji Krishna Varma Annie Besant Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Har Dayal Subramanya Bharathi Lala Lajpat Rai Bipin Chandra Pal Rash Behari Bose Chittaranjan Das Bidhan Chandra Roy Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Maulana Azad Ashfaqullah Khan Ram Prasad Bismil Chandrasekhar Azad Rajaji K. M. Munshi Bhagat Singh Hemu Kalani Sarojini Naidu Achyut Patwardhan Purushottam Das Tandon Alluri Sitaramaraju Muhammad Ali Jinnah Sardar Patel Acharya Kripalani Subhash Chandra Bose Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Jawaharlal Nehru Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Allama Mashriqi Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar V. K. Krishna Menon more British leaders Clive Outram Dalhousie Irwin Linlithgow Wavell Cripps Mountbatten more Independence Simla Conference Cabinet Mission Indian Independence Act Partition of India Political integration Constitution Republic of India

Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin at Northeastern University on April 11, 2007
Born	(1973-05-25) May 25, 1973 (age 39) New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	Since 2002
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, musical comedy, wit/wordplay, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday Life, American Culture, Random Subjects
Influences	Steven Wright, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Socrates
Notable works and roles	· Demetri Martin. Person.  · Correspondent on The Daily Show  · Himself/Various on Important Things with Demetri Martin  · Elliot Tiber in Taking Woodstock (2009)
Website	www.demetrimartin.com

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life[link]

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family^[1] in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest.^[2] Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.^[3]

Career[link]

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show If I....^[4] The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[5] In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace.^[6] On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show, talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.^[7]

He also had a part in the movie The Rocker (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season.^[8] The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that Important Things will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film Taking Woodstock (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled This Is a Book by Demetri Martin.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans[link]

Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role.^[9] He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.^[10]

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.^[11]

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] If I

If I is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[12] It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.^[13]

Comedic style[link]

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once.^[14] He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.^[15]

Personal life[link]

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.^[3]

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.^[16]

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.^[17]

Filmography[link]

• Invite Them Up (2005)
• These Are Jokes (2006)
• Demetri Martin. Person. (2007)
• Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009–2010)

Filmography and television work[link]

Written works[link]

• This Is a Book, April 2011, ISBN 978-0446539708.

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

• Official website
• Demetri Martin on Myspace
• Demetri Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club
• Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia
• Article, in The Scotsman
• Article, in Gelf Magazine
• Interview by Brian M. Palmer
• MP3 Audio Interview on The Sound of Young America public radio show and podcast
• Interview Believer Mag
• New Jersey Monthly Magazine
• Fresh Air, NPR.org