OBE may stand for:

• Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
• Out-of-body experience
• Out-Of-Box Experience
• Open Back-End, functionality in computer software
• Off-budget enterprise, type of government body
• Outcome-based education
• Ottawa Board of Education
• Overcome By Events or Overtaken By Events, term from military strategy
• Original Black Entertainment TV, British-based television network available on Sky Digital
• O.B.E., Scottish disco house/funk/punk band
• Operating basis earthquake

Obe may refer to:

• Obe (Afghanistan), town also known as Obwi or Obeh
• Obe District in Afghanistan

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Anthony Peake (born 1954) is a British author whose work focuses on near-death experience, deja vu and the nature of reality.^[1]

Biography[link]

Peake has suggested a different explanation as to what happens to human consciousness at the point of death. This theory, which he terms Cheating the Ferryman was first published in the International Journal of Near Death Studies in 2004 and later described in his book Is There Life After Death? (2006). The theory involves Peake's unorthodox interpretation of the latest theories of quantum mechanics, neurology and consciousness studies and concludes that at the point of death the dying person is presented with a literal minute-by-minute recreation of their life in 'real time' from their subjective viewpoint. This inwardly generated 'reality' is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.^[2]

According to (Pillow, 2010) Peake is a dualist who argues that the human body is occupied by two entities, "one materialistic (ego) and one transcendent (spirit)".^[3] In his book The Daemon (2008) Peake has suggested that migraines and past lives could be linked.^[4]

Peake proposes that four seemingly conflicting theories of quantum physics - the Implicate Order of David Bohm, the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Hugh Everett, the Copenhagen Interpretation of Niels Bohr and the Anthropic Principle of Brandon Carter - can be seen as complementary.

Peake terms this new version of reality the Bohmian IMAX in recognition of Daniel Dennett's Cartesian Theater and the work of David Bohm. Peake therefore suggests purportedly scientifically rational explanations for such puzzling phenomenon as déjà vu, synchronicity and precognition.^[5]

Works published[link]

• Is There Life After Death? The Extraordinary Science Of What Happens When We Die (2006)
• The Daemon: A Guide To Your Extraordinary Secret Self (2008)
• The Out-of-Body Experience: The History and Science of Astral Travel (2011)

See also[link]

• John William Dunne
• H. F. Saltmarsh
• Thomas Warren Campbell
• P. M. H. Atwater

References[link]

External links[link]

• Anthony Peake's web site
• Interview with Anthony Peake. November 2007

Robert Allen Monroe (October 30, 1915–March 17, 1995) was a New York radio broadcasting executive who became known for his research into altered consciousness. His 1971 book Journeys Out of the Body is credited with popularizing the term "out-of-body experience".

Monroe achieved world-wide recognition as an explorer of human consciousness. His research, beginning in the 1950s, produced evidence that specific sound patterns have identifiable, beneficial effects on our capabilities. For example, certain combinations of frequencies appeared to enhance alertness; others to induce sleep; and still others to evoke expanded states of consciousness.

Assisted by specialists in psychology, medicine, biochemistry, psychiatry, electrical engineering, physics, and education, Robert Monroe developed Hemi-Sync, a patented audio technology that is claimed to facilitate enhanced performance.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

He is also notable as one of the founders of the Jefferson Cable Corporation, the first cable company to cover central Virginia.^[6]

Biography[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (December 2011)

Robert Allen Monroe was born in Indiana, weighing twelve pounds. He grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and Columbus, Ohio; his mother, Georgia Helen Jordan Monroe, was a non-practicing medical doctor and cellist and piano player. His father, Robert Emmett Monroe, was a college professor of Romance Languages who led tours in Europe in the summers. Monroe had two older sisters, Dorothy and Peggy, and a younger brother, Emmett, who became a medical doctor.

According to his third book "Ultimate Journey",^[7] he dropped out of Ohio State University in his sophomore year due to a hospital stay for a facial burn that caused him to fall behind in his studies. During almost a year away from college, a desire to find work led him to become a hobo who rode freight trains. He returned to college Ohio State to graduate after having studied pre-med, English, engineering and journalism.

He had an early fascination with flying and music and had great mechanical aptitude. He displayed some ability to read music by age four without having studied the subject, perhaps by listening to his mother and sisters playing piano.

He married Jeanette, a graduate student and daughter of a lawyer, in 1937 and divorced her in 1938 or 1939. He married Mary Ashworth, a divorcee with a daughter Maria, in 1950 or 1951, They had Bob's only biological child together, daughter Laurie. They divorced in 1968. He then married Nancy Penn Honeycutt, a divorcee with four children. They remained married until her death from breast cancer in about 1993 or 1994.

Monroe developed ulcers in young adulthood and so was classified 4F (unfit for service) during World War II. He spent the war years working for a manufacturing company that designed a flight-simulator prototype. He wrote for an aviation column in "Argosy" magazine and was given a job with the National Aeronautic Association (NAA), for whom he produced a weekly radio show called "Scramble!", the primary purpose of which was to interest youth in aviation.

In 1953 Mr. Monroe formed RAM Enterprises, a corporation that produced network radio programs, as many as 28 programs monthly, principally in dramatic and popular quiz shows.

In 1956 the firm created a Research and Development division to study the effects of various sound patterns on human consciousness, including the sleep state. Monroe was especially attracted to the concept of sleep-learning. This was a natural direction to take, applying to this new area the audio production methods used in the firm's commercial activity. The purpose was to find more constructive uses for such knowledge than was ordinarily available, and the results of this research have become internationally known.

According to his own account, while experimenting with sleep-learning in 1958 Monroe experienced an unusual phenomenon, which he described as sensations of paralysis and vibration accompanied by a bright light that appeared to be shining on him from a shallow angle. Monroe went on to say that this occurred another nine times over the next six weeks, culminating in his first out-of-body experience. Monroe recorded his account in his 1971 book Journeys Out Of The Body and went on to become a prominent researcher in the field of human consciousness.^[1][2][3][4] Monroe later authored two more books, Far Journeys (1985) and Ultimate Journey (1994).

In 1962 the company moved to Virginia, and a few years later changed the corporate name to Monroe Industries. In this location it became active in radio station ownership, cable television, and later in the production and sale of audio cassettes. These cassettes were practical expressions of the discoveries made in the earlier and ongoing corporate research program.

In 1985 the company officially changed its name, once again, to Interstate Industries, Inc. This reflected Monroe’s analogy of how the use of Hemi-Sync serves as a ramp from the “local road” to the “interstate” in allowing people to go "full steam ahead" in the exploration of consciousness, avoiding all of the stops and starts.

The research subsidiary was divested and established as an independent non-profit organization, The Monroe Institute, later in 1985. Interstate Industries, Inc. remains a privately-held company, now doing business as Monroe Products.

Robert Monroe's leadership of the entire program of development were supported for more than 50 years by many specialists who continue their participation to this day. His daughter, Laurie Monroe, continued her father’s research into consciousness and the mind’s potential until her death in 2006. Under the current direction of another of Monroe's daughters, Maria Monroe Whitehead, Monroe's stepson, A. J. Honeycutt, and Teresa West, president of Monroe Products, the company's objective is to continue to expand the Hemi-Sync line of products and their benefits into markets worldwide.

Hemi-Sync[link]

In 1975, Monroe registered the first of several patents^[8][9][10] concerning audio techniques designed to stimulate brain functions until the left and right hemispheres became synchronized. Monroe held that this state, dubbed Hemi-Sync (hemispherical synchronization), could be used to promote mental well being or to trigger an altered state of consciousness. Monroe's concept was based on an earlier hypothesis known as binaural beats and has since been expanded upon a commercial basis by the self-help industry.^[11]

Bibliography[link]

Robert Monroe was the author of three books:

• Journeys Out of the Body (1971) ISBN 0-385-00861-9
• Far Journeys (1985) ISBN 0-385-23182-2
• Ultimate Journey (1994) ISBN 0-385-47208-0

See also[link]

• The Monroe Institute
• Hemi-Sync
• Parapsychology
• Out-of-body experience
• Astral projection
• Lucid dreaming

References[link]

External links[link]

• Monroe Products
• The Monroe Institute
• Monroe biography

Sandie Shaw (born 26 February 1947) is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She has been described as "the barefoot pop princess of the 1960s".^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Sandra Ann Goodrich was born and brought up in Dagenham, Essex, England. On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford Dagenham factory, and did some part-time modelling before coming second as a singer in a local talent contest. As a prize, she appeared at a charity concert in London, where her potential was spotted by singer Adam Faith. He introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, who won her a contract with Pye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of "Sandie Shaw".^[2][3]

Taylor teamed Shaw with songwriter Chris Andrews, who wrote her first single, "As Long as You're Happy Baby", which failed to make the charts.^[3] However, for her second single Taylor gave her the Bacharach and David song "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", which had been a #49 US pop hit for singer Lou Johnson.^[4][5] Shaw's version rose quickly to #1 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964,^[1] and also charted in the United States at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the following year.^[4] "I’d Be Far Better Off Without You" was issued as the follow-up, but DJs preferred its B-side, "Girl Don't Come", also written by Andrews, and the sides were switched. "Girl Don't Come" reached #3 in the UK and became her biggest US hit, reaching #42.^[6] It was followed by further hits in the UK including "I'll Stop at Nothing", "Long Live Love", her second UK #1 in 1965, and "Message Understood".^[1][7] The singles were produced by Taylor, Andrews and Shaw herself (though she was never credited), with help from Pye Records arranger Ken Woodman.^{[citation needed]}

Sandie Shaw was a regular on popular British TV programmes of the time such as Top of the Pops, Ready Steady Go! and Thank Your Lucky Stars. She was seen as epitomising the "swinging Sixties", and her trademark barefoot performances endeared her to the public at large.^[2] She also recorded most of her hit singles in Italian, French, German and Spanish boosting her popularity in Europe. She was popular across South America, performed behind the Iron Curtain, and sang at concerts in pre-revolutionary Iran.^{[citation needed]} Shaw also released several original albums in the 1960s: Sandie; Me; Love Me, Please Love Me; The Sandie Shaw Supplement and Reviewing the Situation. These albums generally consisted of Andrews-penned songs mixed with cover versions of songs made popular by other musicians.

By 1967, Shaw's record sales were declining and her manager decided on more of a cabaret appeal.^[8] She was invited by the BBC to represent the UK in that year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. She had reservations as she felt it would destroy her credibility, but performed five songs on The Rolf Harris Show, with the public voting that the one that should represent the country was the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter composition "Puppet on a String".^[2] Although she disliked the song and thought it was unrepresentative of her material, the song won the contest by a near record margin of votes,^[9] and made Shaw the first person to win the contest for the UK.^[1] It gave her a third UK #1 single, a record for a female at the time.^[5] "Puppet on a String" also became a worldwide hit (though not in the US) and the largest-selling single of the year in Germany, qualifying for a gold disc for one million plus sales in the UK and Europe.^[3] Her Eurovision success almost did not happen; the BBC wanted to drop her because she had been the 'other woman' in a divorce case.^[10]

Fashion had become another of Shaw's trademarks, and in 1968 she began the Sandie Shaw fashion label, selling her own brand of clothing and shoes. In the same year she hosted her own TV show, The Sandie Shaw Supplement, and issued an LP of the same title. Her last UK Top 10 hit (her eighth in total) came in the form of 1969's "Monsieur Dupont," originally a German-language song.^[1] At the end of 1969, the single "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" was released, which would become the inspiration for a hit by The Smiths 15 years later. Shaw also produced her own album, Reviewing the Situation, which contained versions of songs by more alternative artists such as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones and made Shaw the first known artist to cover a Led Zeppelin song. Shaw ended 1969 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing There's Always Something There To Remind Me and the German version of Puppet On A String, Wiedehopf Im Mai, live on the show broadcast on BBC1, 31 December 1969.

1970 to present[link]

Although she began writing songs, her contract with Pye expired in 1972. She retired from life as a pop singer and began working on other ventures, including co-writing a full-length rock musical, songwriting, acting in stage productions (she played Ophelia in Hamlet and Joan of Arc in Saint Joan) and writing children's books. In 1977 she released two singles on the CBS label, and the following year began a lifelong commitment to Sōka Gakkai Buddhism.

Her second husband, Nik Powell, introduced her to B.E.F. She recorded a version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for their Music of Quality And Distinction album on the Virgin label,^[6] which brought her back into the public eye. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders invited Shaw to perform a duet rendition of "Girl Don't Come" at a Pretenders performance, and the two women began a long-term friendship. The following year Shaw wrote and recorded an album, Choose Life, to publicise the World Peace Exposition in London in March 1983. Later in the year, a new phase in her career began after she received a letter from "two incurable Sandie Shaw fans" - singer Morrissey and lead guitarist Johnny Marr of The Smiths - telling her that "The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be over yet — there is more to be done." Shaw's husband was a friend of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records, the label to which The Smiths were signed, and she agreed to record some of their songs.^[6] In April 1984, her version of "Hand in Glove" (their first single) was released and peaked just inside the UK Top 30.^[1] She recorded a new version of her first hit "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" for the film Letter to Brezhnev, and then released two covers of Lloyd Cole songs as singles on the Polydor label.^[11] 1986 saw her embark on her first university tour in almost 20 years, followed in 1988 by the album Hello Angel, the name inspired by a postcard from Morrissey. Shaw embarked on two more successful university tours, and made appearances at Gay pride and Peace festivals.

The 1990s saw the release of many compilation albums of Shaw's material on various minor labels, as well as reissues of some of her original albums. Shaw's autobiography, The World at My Feet, was published in 1991, and the following year she began studying at Oxford and the University of London and qualified as a psychotherapist in 1994. During that time, she recorded new versions of some of her 1960s songs for the album Nothing Less Than Brilliant, released in 1994. It was also around this time that Shaw divorced Powell and met her third husband, Tony Bedford. Concentrating on a new career as a psychotherapist, Shaw opened The Arts Clinic in 1997 with her husband, to provide psychological healthcare and creative development to those in the creative industries.^[6] The clinic is now styled Barefoot Therapy: The Arts Clinic and continues to provide psychological support for those in the fields of entertainment, media and sports.^[12] In 1998 she was invited to join the Royal Society of Musicians as an Honorary Professor of Music.

Shaw also embarked on a successful legal battle to establish ownership of her entire recording catalogue, and began working with contemporary acts and producers, reworking much of her 1960s and 1980s material. In 2003, Shaw licensed her recording catalogue worldwide to EMI, continued to develop her Arts Clinic, and began executive coaching and mentoring. Meanwhile, EMI released compilations of her French and Italian recordings, and the following year released similar compilations in Spanish and German. Newly-remastered versions of Reviewing the Situation and Hello Angel also were issued with bonus tracks, and toward the end of the year a 4-CD box set entitled Nothing Comes Easy was released. Also in 2003, actress Ashley Williams portrayed Shaw on an episode of the American television series American Dreams, performing "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" on American Bandstand.

During this decade, she reneged on previous declarations of hatred for the Eurovision Song Contest and announced that she was proud of her Eurovision past on the BBC show Making Your Mind Up. She also briefly sat in for Brian Matthew on his long-running BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show Sounds of the 60s in December 2006. On 26 February 2007, in honour of her 60th birthday, Shaw released a new version of "Puppet on a String" on her website. The re-tooled version, called "Puppet's Got A Brand New String," had a complete overhaul in sound and vocals under the supervision of her friend Howard Jones and mixer Andy Gray. The schlager style of the song was replaced with a calmer melody.

In April 2010, Shaw appeared on the UK ITV television programme Loose Women, and revealed that she was returning to recording and would be singing the theme song to the British film, Made in Dagenham. She also took the opportunity to criticise the Eurovision Song Contest, saying that it was bad when she did it, but has now got even worse.

In August 2010, she appeared at Vintage, an upmarket festival on the Goodwood estate in West Sussex, as a special guest of Wayne Hemingway (Red or Dead) who organised the event. As well as hosting her own main stage set with numerous female guest singers, she also performed cameos on other stages, including singing "Downtown" with composer Tony Hatch and an orchestra in the cabaret tent.

On Boxing Day 2010, she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.

She was Jools Holland's special guest on his 2011 Tour.^[13] On New Year's Eve in 2011 Shaw performed on BBC Two's Hootenanny backed by Jools Holland's Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.

Personal life[link]

On 6 March 1968, Shaw married fashion designer Jeff Banks at the Greenwich Register Office in London.^[14] Their daughter Gracie was born in February 1971.^[15] Her marriage to Banks ended in 1978.

In 1982, she married Nik Powell, co-founder of the Virgin Group and chairman of the European Film Academy. They had two children together. She is currently married to her third husband, Tony Bedford.^[16] In August 2007, Shaw revealed that she had had 'corrective' surgery on her iconic feet, which she described as "ugly": the surgery left her unable to walk until October 2007.^[17]

In April 2012 Shaw joined an Amnesty International campaign to end Human Rights abuses in Azerbaijan, host country of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, after the journalist Khadija Ismayilova was blackmailed and sex taped. Shaw stated: "That anyone would stoop so low in an attempt to silence an independent journalist is sickening. The people behind this appalling blackmail and smear campaign must be brought to justice. And the persecution of independent journalists in Azerbaijan must stop."^[18]

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

Catalogue numbers, dates of release, and A-side/B-side configurations all refer to initial UK releases only. Information may vary for releases in other territories.

^[21]

UK EPs[link]

• (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me (1964)
• Long Live Love (1965)
• Talk About Love (1965)
• Message Understood (1966)
• Tomorrow (1966)
• Nothing Comes Easy (1966)
• Run With Sandie (1966)
• Sandie Shaw In French (1967)
• Sandie Shaw In Italian (1967)
• Tell The Boys (1967)

^{[22] [21]}

UK studio albums[link]

• Sandie (UK No. 3, 1965, U.S. #100)
• Me (1965)
• Love Me, Please Love Me (1967)
• The Sandie Shaw Supplement (1968)
• Reviewing the Situation (1969)
• Choose Life (1983)
• Hello Angel (1988)

^{[1] [23] [24] [21]}

UK compilation albums[link]

• The Golden Hits of Sandie Shaw (1966)
• Puppet on a String (1967)
• Nothing Less Than Brilliant (UK No. 64, 1994)
• Pourvu Que Ça Dure - Chante En Français (2003)
• La Cantante Scalza - Canta In Italiano (2003)
• Wiedehopf Im Mai - Sandie Shaw Singt Auf Deutsch (2004)
• Marionetas En La Cuerda - Sandie Shaw Canta En Español (2004)
• Nothing Comes Easy (4CD box set) (2004)
• The Very Best of Sandie Shaw (UK No. 60, 2005)
• The Collection (2007)

^{[1] [25] [21]}

Note: It would be nearly impossible to list all the albums ever released containing Shaw's material (many major and minor labels have released compilations of her work since the 1960s), so only original albums and 'main' compilations are listed, along with the EMI releases which have been issued since Shaw licenced her catalogue to them.

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of Peel sessions
• List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
• List of performers on Top of the Pops

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Biography at Allmusic.com

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Udo Jürgens with "Merci, Chérie"	Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1967	Succeeded by Massiel with "La, la, la"
Preceded by Kenneth McKellar with "A Man Without Love"	United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967	Succeeded by Cliff Richard with "Congratulations"