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Chancellor (Latin: cancellarius) is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the audience. A chancellor's office is called a chancellery or chancery. The word is now used in the titles of many various officers in all kinds of settings (government, education, religion etc.) Nowadays the term is most often used to describe:

• the head of the government
• a person in charge of foreign affairs
• a person with duties related to justice
• a person in charge of financial and economic matters

Head of government[link]

• The Chancellor of Germany or Bundeskanzler (meaning "Federal Chancellor" in German), is the title for the head of government in Germany. Bundeskanzlerin is the feminine form. In German politics the Bundeskanzler position is equivalent to that of a prime minister and is elected by the Bundestag, the German Parliament, every four years. The current German Bundeskanzlerin is Angela Merkel.

The former German Empire, the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany had the equivalent position of Reichskanzler ("Chancellor of the Realm"), as the head of the executive appointed by the German Emperor from 1871 until 1918, and then as the head of government until 1945.

• The Chancellor of Austria, also titled Bundeskanzler, is the head of government in Austria, a nation whose political system is similar to that of Germany, its neighbor. Werner Faymann is the current Bundeskanzler in Austria.
• In Switzerland, the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler, Chancelier fédéral, Cancelliere della Confederazione) is elected by the Swiss parliament. He or she heads the Federal Chancellery, the general staff of the seven-member executive Federal Council, the Swiss government. The Chancellor participates in the meetings of the seven Federal Councilors with a consultative vote and prepares the reports on policy and activities of the council to parliament. The chancellery is responsible for the publication of all federal laws.

Foreign minister[link]

In Latin America, the terms Canciller (Spanish) or Chanceler (Portuguese), equivalent to "chancellor", are commonly used informally to refer to the post of foreign minister. Likewise, the ministry of foreign affairs in many Latin American countries is referred to as the Cancillería or (in Brazil) Chancelaria. However, in Spain the term canciller refers to a civil servant in the Spanish diplomatic service responsible for technical issues relating to foreign affairs.

Functions related to justice and the law[link]

• In Finland the Chancellor of Justice (Oikeuskansleri, Justitiekanslern) supervises the legality of actions taken by the government and monitors the implementation of basic civil liberties. In this special function the chancellor also sits in the Finnish Cabinet, the Finnish Council of State.
• In Sweden the Chancellor of Justice or Justitiekanslern acts as the Solicitor General for the Swedish Government. The office was introduced by Charles XII of Sweden in 1713. Historically there was also a Lord High Chancellor or Rikskansler as the most senior member of the Privy Council of Sweden. There is in addition to this a University Chancellor or Universitetskansler, who leads the National Agency for Higher Education.

• In the legal system of the United Kingdom, the term can refer to two officials:
  • The Lord Chancellor (Lord High Chancellor, King's Chancellor) is the occupant of one of the oldest offices of state, dating back to the Kingdom of England, and older than Parliament itself. Theoretically, the Lord Chancellor is the "Chancellor of Great Britain"; there was formerly an office of "Chancellor of Ireland" which was abolished in 1922, when all but Northern Ireland left the United Kingdom. The Lord Chancellor is the second highest non-royal subject in precedence (after the Archbishop of Canterbury). In addition to various ceremonial duties, he is head of the Ministry of Justice, which was created in May 2007 from the Department for Constitutional Affairs (which was created in 2003 from the Lord Chancellor's Department). In this role, he sits in the Cabinet. Until the Constitutional Reform Act of 2005, the Lord Chancellor had two additional roles:
    • Head of the English, but not Scottish, judiciary. In previous centuries, the Lord Chancellor was the sole judge in the Court of Chancery; when, in 1873, that court was combined with others to form the High Court, the Lord Chancellor became the nominal head of the Chancery Division. The Lord Chancellor was permitted to participate in judicial sittings of the House of Lords; he also chose the committees that heard appeals in the Lords. The de facto head of the Chancery Division was the Vice-Chancellor, and the role of choosing appellate committees was in practice fulfilled by the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
    • De facto speaker of the House of Lords. These duties are now undertaken by the Lord Speaker. The Lord Chancellor Jack Straw, was the first who is a member of the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords or its predecessor, the Curia Regis, since Sir Christopher Hatton in 1578.^[1][2]
  • The Chancellor of the High Court is the head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. Before 2005, the judge occupying this position was known as the Vice-Chancellor, the Lord Chancellor being the nominal head of the Division.

• Some U.S. states, like Delaware and Mississippi, still maintain a separate Court of Chancery with jurisdiction over equity cases. Judges who sit on those courts are called chancellors.

Other[link]

• Denmark. The office of chancellor (or royal chancellor) seems to have appeared in the 12th century, and until 1660 it was the title of the leader of the state administration (a kind of a "Home Office" but often with foreign political duties). Often he appeared to be the real leader of the government. From 1660–1848, the title continued as "Grand Chancellor" or "President of the Danish Chancellery", and was replaced in 1730 by the title "Minister of Domestic Affairs."^[3]

• Estonia. A Chancellor (Kantsler) directs the work of a ministry and coordinates institutions subject to the ministry. A ministry can also have one or several Vice-Chancellors (Asekantsler), who fulfill the duties of the Chancellor, when he is absent.^[4] The Chancellor of Justice (Õiguskantsler, Currently Indrek Teder) supervises the legality of actions taken by the government and monitors the implementation of basic civil liberties.^[5]

• United Kingdom.
  • Chancellor of the Exchequer, the minister with overall responsibility for the Exchequer or Treasury. This is an ancient title dating back to the Kingdom of England. It is roughly the equivalent of the Minister of Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other governmental systems. In recent years, when the term chancellor is used in British politics, it is taken as referring to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Second Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor has an official residence at 11 Downing Street, next door to the First Lord of the Treasury, the Prime Minister, at 10 Downing Street, in London.
  • Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, an ancient office of state, the Chancellor being the Minister of the Crown responsible in theory for the running of the Duchy of Lancaster, a duchy in England belonging to the Crown but historically maintained separately from the rest of the kingdom, whose net revenues personally belong to the monarch. In reality, the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, effectively like a chairman of trustees, carries minimal work and responsibilities, so it is used in effect as a minister without portfolio position, often given to the chairman of the party in power to give her or him a seat in the cabinet.
  • The Consistory courts of the Church of England are each presided over by a Chancellor of the Diocese: see Chancellor (ecclesiastical).
  • The Chancellor of Cornwall, Keeper of the Great Seal, second only to the Lord Warden of the Stannaries within the Duchy.

• United States of America. In the United States, the only "chancellor" established by the federal government is the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, a largely ceremonial office held by the Chief Justice of the United States. As the Smithsonian is a research and museum system, its use of the title is perhaps best thought of as akin to a university's chancellor.

Ecclesiastical[link]

The chancellor is the principal record-keeper of a diocese or eparchy, or their equivalent. The chancellor is a notary, so that he may certify official documents, and often has other duties at the discretion of the bishop of the diocese: he may be in charge of some aspect of finances or of managing the personnel connected with diocesan offices, although his delegated authority cannot extend to vicars of the diocesan bishop, such as vicars general, episcopal vicars or judicial vicars. His office is within the "chancery." Vice-chancellors may be appointed to assist the chancellor in busy chanceries. Normally, the chancellor is a priest or deacon, although in some circumstances a layperson may be appointed to the post.^[6] In the eparchial curia a chancellor is to be appointed who is to be a presbyter (priest) or deacon and whose principal obligation, unless otherwise established by the particular law, is to see that the acts of the curia are gathered and arranged as well as preserved in the archives of the eparchial curia. ^[7]

In the United Methodist Church, each Annual Conference has a Conference Chancellor, who is either an active or retired lawyer or judge who serves as the Annual Conference's legal adviser and representative. While the Annual Conference will usually hire outside professional counsel in legal matters requiring legal representation, that hiring and representation is done under the supervision, and with the consent, of the Conference Chancellor.^[8]

Educational usage[link]

A Chancellor is the leader (either ceremonial or executive) of many public and private universities and related institutions.

The heads of the New York City Department of Education and the District of Columbia Public Schools, who run the municipally-operated public schools in those jurisdictions, carry the title of Chancellor. New York State also has a Chancellor of the University of the State of New York, the body that licenses and regulates all educational and research institutions in the state and many professions (not to be confused with the State University of New York, an actual institution of higher learning).

In a few instances, the term chancellor is used for a student or faculty member within a high school or an institution of higher learning being either appointed or elected as chancellor in order to preside on the highest ranking judicial board or tribunal. They handle non-academic matters such as violations of behavior.

Historical uses[link]

• The Chancellor of China was the second highest rank after the Emperor of China.
• There are two ancient Egyptian titles sometimes translated as chancellor. There is the "royal sealer" (xtmtj-bity or xtmw-bity), a title attested since the First Dynasty (about 3000 BC).^[9] People holding the post include Imhotep and Hemaka.^[10]

The other title translated as chancellor is "Keeper of the Royal Seal" (or overseer of the seal or treasurer—imy-r xtmt^[11][12]). Officials holding the post include Bay or Irsu, Khety^[13] Meketre,^[14] and Nakhti.^[15]

The first title (royal sealer) announced a certain rank at the royal court, the second (supervisor of the sealed goods, i.e. treasurer) was responsible for the state's income. This position appears around 2000 BC.

• For centuries, the King of France appointed a chancellor or Chancelier de France, a Great Officer of the Crown, as an office associated with that of keeper of the seals. The chancelier was responsible for some judicial proceedings. During the reigns of Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis Philippe, the Chancellor of France presided over the Chamber of Peers, the upper house of the royal French parliament.

• In the Kingdom of Poland from the 14th century, there was a royal chancellor. In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), the four chancellors were among the ten highest officials of the state. Poland and Lithuania each had a Grand Chancellor and a Deputy Chancellor, each entitled to a senatorial seat, responsible for the affairs of the whole Kingdom, each with his own chancery. See Offices in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

• In the Russian Empire, the chancellor was the highest rank of civil service as defined by the Table of Ranks and on the same grade as field marshal and General Admiral. Only the most distinguished government officials were promoted to this grade, such as foreign ministers Alexander Gorchakov and Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin.

See also[link]

• Logothete

References[link]

Van Chancellor
Van Chancellor at the 2005 Women's Final Four in Indianapolis.
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Assistant to Athletic Director at LSU, Color Analyst for Southland Conference Television Nework
Biographical details
Born	(1943-09-27) September 27, 1943 (age 68) Louisville, Mississippi, U.S.
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 1997 WNBA Championship 1998 WNBA Championship 1999 WNBA Championship 2000 WNBA Championship 2004 Olympic Gold Medal 2008 NCAA Final Four

Van Chancellor (born September 27, 1943 in Louisville, Mississippi, United States) is the former Louisiana State University women's basketball coach.^[1] He was named head coach on April 11, 2007, replacing Pokey Chatman. In 2001, Van Chancellor was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee.^[2] He was enshrined as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2007.^[3] Van Chancellor currently serves as an analyst for the Southland Conference Television Network for all women's games and some men's games.

Early years[link]

Van Chancellor played two years of basketball at East Central Junior College in Decatur, Mississippi, before transferring to Mississippi State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics & physical education in 1965.

During his senior year at Mississippi State, he served as head coach of the boy’s basketball team at Noxapater High School. Chancellor went on to coach boy’s and girl’s basketball at Horn Lake High School and Harrison Central High School in Mississippi. Chancellor received his master’s degree in physical education from the University of Mississippi in 1973.

University of Mississippi[link]

Chancellor spent 19 seasons (1978–1997) as the head coach of the University of Mississippi Lady Rebels, compiling an overall record of 439-154 (.740). As the Ole Miss head coach, Chancellor guided the Lady Rebels to the NCAA Tournament 14 times, including 11 consecutive appearances from 1982 to 1992.

Chancellor’s teams won at least 20 games 15 times, including a school-record 31 wins in 1978-1979. He also led the Lady Rebels to top 20 final rankings 13 times, with top 10 finishes four times (#5 in 1992, #6 in 1985, #8 in 1987, and #10 in 1984).

Chancellor led Ole Miss to the Elite Eight at the NCAA Tournament four times, while his teams made the Sweet 16 on three other occasions. Chancellor was named the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year three times, including the 1992 season when the Lady Rebels were 29-3 overall and claimed the SEC regular season title with a perfect 11-0 mark. He was also named the 1992 National Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball News Service.

Houston Comets[link]

Chancellor served for 10 years as head coach of the Houston Comets from 1997-2006. During that time, Chancellor was named the WNBA Coach of the Year three times (1997, 1998, 1999) and he led the Comets to the league’s first four titles (1997–2000). Under Chancellor, the Comets were the only team in the WNBA to make the playoffs in each of the first seven seasons of the league. His 1998 Houston Comets team holds the record for highest winning percentage in the history of both the NBA and WNBA basketball (27-3, .900).

In 10 years with the Houston Comets, Chancellors’ teams posted a 211-111 record (.655), making him the winningest coach in the history of the WNBA. Chancellor coached the Western Conference All-Star Team three times during his career and was named the coach of the WNBA’s All-Decade Team in June 2006.

During his time as head coach of the Comets, Chancellor also served as a television analyst for women’s college basketball, working for both ESPN and SEC-TV.

USA Basketball[link]

Chancellor has recorded an unblemished 38-0 record in international competition as head coach of the United States National Team. His teams won first place at the 2002 Opals World Challenge, a gold medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championships, and a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

LSU Lady Tigers[link]

In his first year as head coach at LSU, Chancellor led the Lady Tigers to an SEC championship game and to the Final Four. Chancellor was also named 2008 SEC Coach of the Year.^[4] Chancellor resigned as being head coach on March 16, 2011. He will spend the rest of his contract as an Assistant to Athletic Director Joe Alleva. Chancellor spent four seasons at LSU.^[5]

Head coaching record[link]

Ole Miss Lady Rebels[link]

Houston Comets[link]

USA Basketball[link]

LSU Lady Tigers[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• LSUSports.net Official Bio

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009)

Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed at Cambridge Film Festival 2007
Born	(1936-10-09) 9 October 1936 (age 75)[1][2] Mexborough, England
Occupation	Actor, author, director, TV presenter
Years active	1962–present
Spouse	Hildegarde Neil (1978–present)

Brian Blessed ( /ˈblɛsɪd/; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".^[3]

Early life[link]

The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born at the Montague Hospital^[4] in the town of Mexborough, England.^[5] He attended Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, but after his father suffered an industrial accident, he was forced to leave school early at 14 and spent several years working at a variety of jobs, ranging from undertaker to plasterer's assistant. At the age of eighteen, he suffered a nervous breakdown, from which he gradually recovered with the help of friends and family. He completed his National Service as a parachutist in the Royal Air Force. He began his acting training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, alongside Patrick Stewart. He has written about his early life in his autobiography, Dynamite Kid (1992).

Career[link]

An early role was that of PC 'Fancy' Smith in the BBC police drama Z-Cars from 1962 to 1965. In 1966, Blessed appeared in "Incident at Vichy" at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as The Avengers (1967, 1969) and the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969). He portrayed Caesar Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius. He portrayed the father of Robin Hood, Lord Locksley, in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He has appeared in a number of Shakespearean roles on both stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh: as The Duke of Exeter in Henry V (1989), Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Ghost of Hamlet's Father in Hamlet (1996) and the dual role of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It (2006). He also provided the voices of Bob in the animated series Kika & Bob (2008)^[6] and Grampy Rabbit in Peppa Pig.

Other roles have emphasised his comedic abilities: notably Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980) – for which he is frequently remembered for the famous line "Gordon's alive!"; the mad, comic figure of Richard IV in the first series of The Black Adder (1983); and Spiro in the BBC adaptation of My Family and Other Animals (1987).^[7] He also played the role of General Yevlenko in the 1988 miniseries War and Remembrance. Blessed jokes he almost starred in Blackadder II (1986) as Queen Elizabeth but he wasn't available at the time of filming.^[8]

He provided the vocal links on the Sony-Award-winning Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio and introduced adverts for Orange mobile phones. At Christmas 2006, he presented a panto Cinderella for Virgin Radio starring actors such as David Tennant and Thandie Newton. In November 2006, Blessed made a surprise appearance on the midday talk show Loose Women. Also, he is featured reading the story "The White City Part 1" which is the final piece on the album Late Night Tales: Nightmares on Wax. Blessed was also the voice of Jean Valjean in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's audio dramatic adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

Blessed has also starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones during the original West End theatre production. In 2002, under the direction of Royal Shakespeare Company director, Adrian Noble, Blessed originated the role of Baron Bomburst for the stage musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

During December 2005 to January 2006, Blessed headlined the pantomime production of Peter Pan, alongside CBBC Television presenter Kirsten O'Brien at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich. In late 2007 and early 2008, Blessed starred in the panto version of Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable. He played the same role again in "Peter Pan" in late 2007, early 2008 and again at Christmas 2008 at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

Since October 2008, Blessed presents the UK showings of the Japanese gameshow Unbeatable Banzuke on the Challenge channel under the name Banzuke Brian. He also guest hosted an episode of Have I Got News for You in May 2008.