Emmanuel Petit

Petit (centre) in 2000
Personal information
Full name	Emmanuel Laurent Petit
Date of birth	(1970-09-22) 22 September 1970 (age 41)
Place of birth	Dieppe, France
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
	Arques-la-Bataille
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1988–1997	Monaco	222	(4)
1997–2000	Arsenal	85	(9)
2000–2001	Barcelona	23	(1)
2001–2004	Chelsea	55	(2)
Total		385	(16)
National team
1990–2003	France	63	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Emmanuel Laurent "Manu" Petit (born 22 September 1970) is a French retired footballer, who played club football for Monaco, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Chelsea. He represented France at international level, and scored the third goal in France's 3–0 victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final.

Club career[link]

Petit was born in Dieppe, Seine-Maritime. He began his career at minor club ES Arques-la-Bataille,^[1] before being signed by Arsène Wenger's AS Monaco at the age of 18. He made his debut soon after and played in the 1989 French Cup final. Petit became a regular at Monaco, at left back or centre back; in 1991 he won the Cup with Monaco, and also played in the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup final (which Monaco lost to Werder Bremen). In 1996–97, his final season at Monaco he captained his side to the Ligue 1 title.

Despite interest from Rangers^{[citation needed]}, Petit joined Arsenal in June 1997 £2.5m,^[1] where he was reunited with his former Monaco manager, Arsène Wenger. Wenger switched Petit from centre-back to defensive midfielder, and partnered him with fellow Frenchman Patrick Vieira. The French duo formed a midfield partnership which brought instant success, as Petit won the Double with Arsenal in his very first season, clinching both the Premier League title and the FA Cup. Altogether, in the three seasons in his Arsenal career, Petit made 118 appearances and scored 11 goals, including a stunning drive from outside the area against Derby County (which was also the winning goal), during the 1997–98 season.

Petit moved to FC Barcelona (together with Arsenal team-mate Marc Overmars) in the summer of 2000 for £7m (€14m). At Barcelona he was moved back into defence, and suffered a rash of niggling injuries; as a result, he failed to settle and could not hold down a regular place. In his biography published in 2008, the midfielder gave his time at Barcelona a special chapter, in which he exposed that coach Llorenç Serra Ferrer didn't even know what position he played when he joined the team.

After his 1st season in Camp Nou, he was linked with moves back to England with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. He moved back to England to sign for Chelsea in 2001 for £7,500,000. He initially was a first-team regular for the Blues in a largely disappointing debut season and played in the 2002 FA Cup Final which Chelsea lost to his old club, Arsenal. He scored his first goal for Chelsea in a 2–1 win over Derby County on 30 March 2002.^[2] His second season saw a significant improvement, as he formed an impressive midfield partnership with Frank Lampard as Chelsea impressed in the winner-takes-all final game of the season against Liverpool as Chelsea secured the 4th UEFA Champions League berth. He also scored twice throughout the season: against Everton in the League Cup^[3] and former club Arsenal in the league.^[4] However, after a series of knee injuries, he spent much of his final season of his career on the sidelines, and he was released on a free transfer in the summer of 2004, his final appearance for the club coming against Blackburn Rovers on 1 February 2004.^[5] When Chelsea released him Arsenal were going to resign him but they decided not to after having a closer look at his fitness. After spending six months looking for a new club, including a training stint with Bolton Wanderers, Petit announced his retirement on 20 January 2005, when he found out he required a knee operation and would probably never regain full fitness.

International career[link]

Playing for the France national team, Petit earned 63 caps and scored 6 international goals in his career and won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the Euro 2000. He scored twice in the 1998 World Cup, the first came from a powerful shot from just outside the box against Denmark, which turned out to be the match winner, and a second in the final against Brazil. The goal he scored in the final was particularly memorable, as he had embarked on an optimistic run across field before calmly slotting in the goal in the final minute of regular time. That same goal happened to be the 1,000th goal in the history of the Fédération Française de Football, and the last World Cup goal of the Twentieth Century. France won the match 3–0. An earlier Petit corner kick had set up Zinedine Zidane's header for France's first goal. Petit was also part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup squad, which failed to advance past the group stages and failed to score a single goal in three matches during their defence of the trophy.

Personal life[link]

Petit married French actress Agathe de La Fontaine,^[6] in 2000, but later divorced her in 2002 after having one child, Zoe. He now shares a life with Maria Servello, with whom he had another child, Violet, in 2007. He has also been a football analyst in France.

His brother Olivier was an amateur footballer when Petit was a teenager. While playing for his club Arques, Olivier collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead due to a blood clot of the brain.^[7]

In July 1998 Petit won £17,000 worth of francs on a fruit machine in a Monte Carlo hotel. He gave it all to charity.^[8]

Petit's squad number at all his clubs was 17.

In June 2011, Petit shaved his hair for charity, raising £34,000, he also shaved his beard

Career statistics[link]

Club[link]

^[9]

International[link]

^[10]

Honours[link]

Club[link]

Monaco

• Ligue 1 (1): 1996–97
• Coupe de France (1): 1990-91

Arsenal

• FA Premier League (1): 1997–98
• FA Cup (1): 1997–98
• FA Charity Shield (2): 1998, 1999

International[link]

France

• FIFA World Cup (1): 1998
• UEFA European Football Championship (1): 2000

Individual[link]

• Premier League Player of the Month (1): April 1998
• PFA Premier League Team of the Year (1): 1998-99

Orders and special awards

• Légion d'honneur: 1998^[11][12]

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} http://soccernet.espn.go.com/archive/england/players/petitemmanuel.html
2. ^ "Chelsea defeat battling Derby". BBC. 30 March 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1899918.stm. Retrieved 2 November 2009. 
3. ^ "Awesome Chelsea thrash Everton". BBC. 4 December 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/2524439.stm. Retrieved 2 November 2009. 
4. ^ "Arsenal edge past Chelsea". BBC. 1 January 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/2606695.stm. Retrieved 2 November 2009. 
5. ^ "Blackburn 2–3 Chelsea". BBC. 1 February 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3417893.stm. Retrieved 12 March 2010. 
6. ^ http://www.purepeople.com/people/emmanuel-petit_p996
7. ^ www.telegraph.co.uk – "Moment of quiet reflection for Arsenal's flexible friend
8. ^ Fordyce, Tom (17 January 2003). "How to lose £50,000 the football way". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/low/football/2665965.stm. Retrieved 2 May 2010. 
9. ^ Emmanuel Petit career stats at Soccerbase
10. ^ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/petit-intl.html
11. ^ "France honors World Cup winners – Government gives Legion of Honor to players, coaches". CNN/SI. 1 September 1998. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/world/news/1998/09/01/france_legionhonor. Retrieved 20 July 2006. 
12. ^ "Décret du 24 juillet 1998 portant nomination à titre exceptionnel". JORF 1998 (170): 11376. 25 July 1998. PREX9801916D. http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/WAspad/UnTexteDeJorf?numjo=PREX9801916D. Retrieved 10 March 2009. 

External links[link]

• Emmanuel Petit – FIFA competition record

France Squad v t e France squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Martini 2 Amoros (c) 3 Silvestre 4 Petit 5 Blanc 6 Casoni 7 Deschamps 8 Sauzée 9 Papin 10 Fernández 11 Perez 12 Cocard 13 Boli 14 Durand 15 Divert 16 Vahirua 17 Garde 18 Cantona 19 Rousset 20 Angloma Coach: Platini v t e France squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Lama 2 Candela 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Blanc 6 Djorkaeff 7 Deschamps (c) 8 Desailly 9 Guivarc'h 10 Zidane 11 Pirès 12 Henry 13 Diomède 14 Boghossian 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Petit 18 Leboeuf 19 Karembeu 20 Trezeguet 21 Dugarry 22 Charbonnier Coach: Jacquet v t e France squad – UEFA Euro 2000 Winners (2nd Title) 1 Lama 2 Candela 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Blanc 6 Djorkaeff 7 Deschamps (c) 8 Desailly 9 Anelka 10 Zidane 11 Pirès 12 Henry 13 Wiltord 14 Micoud 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Petit 18 Leboeuf 19 Karembeu 20 Trezeguet 21 Dugarry 22 Ramé Coach: Lemerre v t e France squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Ramé 2 Candela 3 Lizarazu 4 Vieira 5 Christanval 6 Djorkaeff 7 Makélélé 8 Desailly (c) 9 Cissé 10 Zidane 11 Wiltord 12 Henry 13 Silvestre 14 Boghossian 15 Thuram 16 Barthez 17 Petit 18 Leboeuf 19 Sagnol 20 Trezeguet 21 Dugarry 22 Micoud 23 Coupet Coach: Lemerre

Ruby Wax
At the 2007 BAFTA awards
Birth name	Ruby Wachs[1]
Born	(1953-04-19) 19 April 1953 (age 59)[2] Evanston, Illinois, USA
Nationality	American
Years active	1970s-present
Genres	Alternative comedy
Spouse	Ed Bye

Ruby Wax (born 19 April 1953) is an American comedian who made a career in the United Kingdom as part of the alternative comedy scene in the 1980s.

Early life[link]

Wax was born Ruby Wachs, the daughter of Jewish parents who left Austria in 1939 because of the Nazi threat.^[3] Her father became wealthy as a sausage manufacturer^[4] and her mother qualified as an accountant. Wax was raised in Evanston, Illinois in the 1950s and 60s. Wax elected to major in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Early career[link]

Wax came to the UK and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She began her acting career as a straight actress at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, where she began a long-standing writing and directing partnership with Alan Rickman, who later was to direct most of her stage comedy shows.^[5] In 1978, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, working alongside Juliet Stevenson in Measure for Measure, as Jaquenetta opposite Michael Hordern in Love's Labours Lost, replacing Zoë Wanamaker as Jane in The Way of the World^[5] and appearing in the Howard Brenton three-hander Sore Throats.^[6] While at the RSC, Wax also met and befriended Ian Charleson, and later contributed a chapter to the 1990 book, For Ian Charleson: A Tribute.^[7]

Wax made a one-off appearance in a 1980 episode of The Professionals, Bloodsports, playing Lonnie, an American student. In 1981, she appeared in the follow up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, called Shock Treatment. In the film, Wax portrays Betty Hapschatt, who got married to Ralph Hapschatt in the first film. Wax also appeared briefly as a secretary in Omen III: The Final Conflict.

Comedic Work[link]

Her popularity in terms of comedy came from her interviewing technique: she was always forthright, brash and loud, conforming to the British stereotype of an American. Her physical appearance matched this image, with red hair and blood-red lipstick. She cemented this trademark image in 1985, when she starred as loud-mouthed American actress Shelley DuPont on the British sitcom Girls On Top. According to a BBC Arena documentary narrated by Dawn French it was Wax's role as backstage interviewer at Amnesty International's 1987 benefit show The Secret Policeman's Third Ball that eventually boosted her career to a higher level.^{[citation needed]}

Many of her early television shows involved her being put into a situation where she simply met and interviewed people, mostly extraordinary members of the public (including a memorable visit to pre-breakup Soviet Russia). In 1987, Wax was given her own comedy chat show Don't Miss Wax, on Channel 4. She was also hired as a radio presenter by The Superstation, an overnight sustaining service for commercial radio in the UK.^[8]

In December 1989, she appeared in the Red Dwarf episode "Timeslides" as an American reporter.

Wax began work with the BBC in 1991 in a variety of television documentaries and interview programs, similar in tone to her 1980s work on the UK's Channel 4. Programs on alternative health and primetime interviews culminated in the mid 1990s with Wax's 1996 series Ruby Wax Meets, for the BBC in which she interviewed public figures such as Imelda Marcos and Pamela Anderson.^[9] Wax was nominated in 1996 for a BAFTA award for her interview with Sarah, Duchess of York, an interview which attracted an audience of over 14 million viewers.^[10]

She also made several guest appearances in Absolutely Fabulous, a programme on which she served as script editor throughout the run of the series.^[11]

From November 2001 to June 2002 Wax presented a TV quiz show broadcast on BBC1 called The Waiting Game.^[9] Her final BBC interview series aired in 2003.

Writing, Academia, Corporate Training and Returns to Television and Stage[link]

In 2002 Wax authored her memoir, How Do You Want Me? which became a bestseller according to The Sunday Times bestseller list.

In March 2003, Wax was one of the celebrity contestants on Comic Relief does Fame Academy, which was a spin-off from the BBC's Fame Academy with all proceeds donated to Comic Relief. Although not a singer, Wax made it to the final, taking runner-up position to Will Mellor.^[12]

Wax appeared in a supporting role opposite Olivia Williams and Andie MacDowell in the 2005 film Tara Road. In September and October 2005, she appeared as a celebrity contestant in Ant & Dec's Gameshow Marathon, progressing through to Sale of the Century before getting knocked out. In summer 2006, she was a celebrity showjumper in the BBC's Sport Relief event Only Fools On Horses. She presented Cirque de Celebrité on Sky One in 2006. Wax also appeared in an episode of Jackass where she was participating in the Gumball 3000. While the race was stopped at the Latvian border she was wrestled by Jackass Personality Chris Pontius.

In March 2009, Wax returned to Comic Relief to take part in Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. Wax appeared in the 2010 Comic Relief in Comic Relief Does Master Chef in which Wax prepared an appetizer for the Prime Minister, David Cameron.

On April 1, 2009, Ruby Wax Goes Dutch premiered on Dutch television network Net5.

Wax's 2010 standup show Losing It deals with her experience of depression.^[13][14] The show played in London at The Duchess Theater in 2011. Wax founded a mental health website in 2011 in response to the audience reaction from her theater show.^[15]

In addition, Wax teaches business communication in both the public and private sector, clients include Deutsche Bank, the UK Home Office and Skype^[16] .

Currently, Wax is attending Kellogg College at Oxford University to obtain a Master's Degree in mindfulness based cognitive therapy, having previously obtained a postgraduate certificate in psychotherapy and counselling from Regents College in London.^[17]

Controversies[link]

Popetown[link]

In 2004, the BBC planned to show a cartoon series called Popetown, which poked fun at the Roman Catholic Church. In it, Wax portrayed the Pope as a spoiled child. After protests, the BBC chose not to show the series.^[18]

Slander case[link]

In February 2004, Irish broadcaster Patricia Danaher reached an out-of-court settlement with Wax, who had initially claimed that Danaher had made racist remarks about her Jewish origins in an interview for Ulster TV. Wax's legal team apologised and announced that there had been a financial settlement.^[19]

Opposition to disabled-access ramp[link]

In November 2005, Wax was criticised by the Daily Mail columnist Richard Kay for opposing a proposed disabled-access ramp for the nearby Couper Collection charitable art gallery. The UK Sunday newspaper The Observer also reported the controversy,^[20] as did the act "I, Ludicrous" in "The Ruby Wax Song", from their Dirty Washing 2008 EP.

Personal life[link]

Wax is married to television producer and director Ed Bye, who produces some of the series of her long-time friends and working partners, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Wax and Bye have three children together: one son, Max (b. 1988), and two daughters, Madeleine (b. 1990) and Marina (b. 1993).^[21]

Interview Programs & Documentaries[link]

• Don't Miss Wax, Channel 4, 1987-1988
• Miami Memoirs, Channel 4, 1988
• East Meets Wax, Channel 4, 1988
• Class of '69, Channel 4 1989
• Wax on Wheels, Channel 4, 1988-1989
• Ruby Takes a Trip, BBC, 1991
• The Full Wax, BBC, 1991–1993
• Ruby Wax Meets..., BBC, 1994–1998
• Ruby's American Pie, BBC, 1999
• Ruby Gets Streetwise, BBC, 2000
• Ruby, BBC 1997-2002
• Ruby Wax With..., BBC, 2003

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile from her agent's page
• Ruby Wax at the Internet Movie Database
• Wax in the RSC performance database
• Ruby's Room, Ruby Wax's web show on BBC Headroom, where she regularly interviewed people with different mental health conditions.
• Ruby Wax discussion her choice of a great life on the BBC Radio 4 program Great Lives, first broadcast on 1 May 2009.