John Arden (26 October 1930 – 28 March 2012) was an English playwright whose works tended to expose social issues of personal concern. At his death, he was laded as "one of the most significant British playwrights of the late 1950s and early 60s [...] one of the very few 20th-century dramatists you could mention in the same breath as Shakespeare, Molière and Brecht without the parallels sounding too far-fetched."^[1]

Born in Barnsley (which at the time was in the West Riding of Yorkshire), he was was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, King's College, Cambridge and the Edinburgh College of Art, where he studied architecture. He first gained critical attention for the radio play The Life of Man in 1956 shortly after finishing his studies.

Arden was initially associated with the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre in London. His 1959 play, Serjeant Musgrave's Dance, dealing with the realities of war and protesters against it, is considered his best. His work bore the heavy influence of Bertolt Brecht and the Epic Theatre. Other plays include Live Like Pigs, The Workhouse Donkey and Armstrong's Last Goodnight, the last of which was performed at the National Theatre, starring Albert Finney, after the Royal Court had rejected it.^[1] His 1978 radio play Pearl was considered in a Guardian survey^[2] to be one of the best plays for that medium.

He also wrote several novels, including Silence Among the Weapons, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1982,^[3] and Books of Bale, about the Protestant apologist John Bale. He was a member of the Royal Society of Literature.

During his career he came into conflict with the theatre establishment—with his wife and co-writer Margaretta D'Arcy, he picketed the RSC premiere of his Arthurian play The Island of the Mighty; and together they wrote several plays highly critical of British presence in Ireland, where he and D'Arcy lived from 1971,^[1] and the Military-Industrial Complex.

He had a long history of being associated with radical left-wing politics in the UK and Ireland. In 1961 he was a founder member of the anti-nuclear Committee of 100, and he also chaired the pacifist weekly Peace News. In Ireland, he was for a while a member of Sinn Féin. He was also a supporter of civil liberties and was critical of government anti-terror legislation, as demonstrated in his 2007 radio play The Scam.

He was elected to Aosdána in 2011 before dying in Galway in 2012.^[4][5] He was waked in a wicker casket.^[6]

Awards[link]

• Evening Standard Award, 1960
• John Whiting Award, 1973
• V. S. Pritchett Award, 2003
• Booker Prize shortlist, 1982
• Giles Cooper Award, 1982

Works[link]

(Selected)

Books[link]

• D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1988) Awkward corners: essays, papers, fragments London: Methuen ISBN 978-0-413-40340-7 http://books.google.com/books?id=b8CxAAAAIAAJ 
• D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1991) Plays: 1: The Business of Good Government, The Royal Pardon, The Little Gray Home in the West, Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Friday's Hiding, Vandaleur's Folly, and Immediate Rough Theatre Methuen Publishing Limited ISBN 978-0-413-65150-1 http://books.google.com/books?id=uaoXQwAACAAJ 
• D'Arcy, Margaretta; Arden, John (1996) Galways Pirate Women, a Global Trawl Women's Pirate Press ISBN 978-0-9528206-0-4 http://books.google.com/books?id=0RixAAAACAAJ 

Plays[link]

Plays written in collaboration with Margaretta D'Arcy include:

• The Business of Good Government
• The Happy Haven
• Ars Longa Vita Brevis
• The Royal Pardon
• The Hero Rises Up
• The Ballygombeen Bequest
• The Non-Stop Connolly Show
• Keep the People Moving (BBC Radio);
• Portrait of a Rebel (RTÉ Television);
• The Manchester Enthusiasts (BBC 1984 and RTÉ 1984 under the title The Ralahine Experiment);
• Whose is the Kingdom? (9 part radio play, BBC 1987).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Britain's Brecht - Guardian Article
• List of plays
• Survey of Arden's Radio plays
• John Arden entry at the Audio Drama Wiki
• doollee.com - The Playwright's Database
• IMDB Profile

Billy Montana (born September 28, 1959 in Voorheesville, New York) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1987 and 1995, Montana released one studio album and charted six singles on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. As a songwriter, Montana's songs have been recorded by Garth Brooks, Sara Evans, Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Sister Hazel and Kenny Rogers, among others.^[1]

Career[link]

Singer[link]

In the late 1980s, Montana and his brother, Kyle, formed a country music group with Bobby Kendall, Dave Flint and Doug Bernhard.^[2] Billy Montana & the Long Shots signed with Warner Bros. Records and charted three singles on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart before disbanding without releasing an album. Their highest charting single, "Baby I Was Leaving Anyhow," peaked at #40 in 1987. After the group disbanded, Montana moved to Nashville in 1989 to pursue his dream of songwriting.^[1]

In 1994, Magnatone Records signed Montana to a solo record deal.^[3] His debut album, No Yesterday, was released in April 1995.^[4] Three singles were released from the project and charted on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks, the highest of which peaked at #55. One of the album's tracks, "A Clean Mind and Dirty Hands," was named Song of the Year by Farm Journal in 1996 as the song best depicting genuine farm life.^[1][3]

Songwriter[link]

Montana was signed to a songwriting deal with Moraine Music in 1994. He was picked up by Curb Publishing in a joint venture in 2000.^[1] The following year, Jo Dee Messina released Montana's "Bring On the Rain" as a single.^[2] The song topped Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks in March 2002 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.^[1] Montana has since written #1 songs for Sara Evans ("Suds in the Bucket") and Garth Brooks ("More Than a Memory").^[1] "More Than a Memory" debuted at #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart in September 2007, becoming the first song in the chart's entire history to accomplish that feat.^[5]

Family[link]

Billy Montana's son, Randy Montana, signed to Mercury Nashville in 2010. The younger Montana has reached Top 40 on the country music charts with "Ain't Much Left of Lovin' You" and "1,000 Faces".

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

• ^ACredited to Billy Montana & the Long Shots.

Music videos[link]

References[link]

John Bickerton
Personal information
Full name	John Edward Bickerton
Born	(1969-12-23) 23 December 1969 (age 42) Redditch, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Nationality	England
Residence	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Children	George Edward Bickerton
Career
Turned professional	1991
Current tour(s)	European Tour
Professional wins	4
Number of wins by tour
European Tour	3
Challenge Tour	2
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament	DNP
U.S. Open	DNP
The Open Championship	T48: 2006
PGA Championship	CUT: 2006

John Edward Bickerton (born on 23 December 1969) is an English golfer.

Bickerton was born in Redditch, England. He turned professional in 1991.

Bickerton joined the Challenge Tour, Europe's second tier professional golf tour, in 1993. He won the 1994 Gore-Tex Challenge on his way to 6th on the season ending money list, which gave him automatic promotion to the European Tour for 1995. He initially struggled to establish himself at Europe's top level, returning to the Challenge Tour in 1997. In 1998, he again finished 6th in the rankings to gain his European Tour card, which he has kept ever since.

Bickerton's best finish on the European Order of Merit is 20th in both 1999 and 2006. After 287 events and five second place finishes, he won on the European Tour for the first time at the Abama Open de Canarias in October 2005. Nine months later he claimed his second tour title at one of the European Tour's richest events, the Open de France.

Bickerton was a member of the Great Britain & Ireland team at the 2000 Seve Trophy.

Professional wins (4)[link]

European Tour wins (3)[link]

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner(s)-up
1	9 Oct 2005	Abama Open de Canarias (co-sanctioned with the Challenge Tour)	-10 (69-68-69-68=274)	5 strokes	Michael Kirk, Stuart Little
2	2 Jul 2006	Open de France ALSTOM	-11 (63-70-71-69=273)	1 stroke	Pádraig Harrington
3	9 Dec 2007 (2008 season)	Alfred Dunhill Championship (co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour)	-13 (70-69-68-68=275)	1 stroke	Ernie Els, Lee Slattery

Challenge Tour wins (2)[link]

• 1994 Gore-Tex Challenge
• 2005 Abama Open de Canarias (co-sanctioned with the European Tour)

Results in major championships[link]

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Team appearances[link]

Professional

• Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 2000

External links[link]

• John Bickerton at the European Tour official site
• John Bickerton at the Official World Golf Ranking official site

John Colby (December 9, 1787 – November 28, 1817) was an evangelist and itinerant preacher in the early Free Will Baptist movement in New England and various other American states.

Born to Thomas and Elizabeth Colby in Sandwich, New Hampshire, he became popular as a gifted preacher in his youth. Colby's preaching was instrumental in the conversions of hundreds of new believers and the formation of many new Free Will Baptist churches in Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. He was known as a self-sacrificing, humble man who travelled tirelessly from town to town throughout the United States in search of "lost souls". Colby developed consumption and died at the house of William M. Fauquier, Deacon of the Baptist church in Norfolk, Virginia at the age of 29.^[1][2]

References[link]

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John Travolta
John Travolta in 2007
Born	John Joseph Travolta (1954-02-18) February 18, 1954 (age 58) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Residence	Jumbolair subdivision; Ocala, Florida
Occupation	Actor, singer, dancer, producer, writer
Years active	1969–present
Religion	Roman Catholic (until 1975) Scientologist (1975-present)
Spouse	Kelly Preston (1991–present)
Children	Jett Travolta (1992–2009) Ella Bleu Travolta (b. 2000) Benjamin Travolta (b. 2010)
Website
http://www.travolta.com

John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor, dancer, and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Travolta's acting career declined in the early 1980s and continued to deteriorate for the rest of the decade. His career enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in Pulp Fiction, and he has since continued starring in Hollywood films, including Face/Off, Ladder 49, and Wild Hogs. Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty.

Early life[link]

Travolta, the youngest of six children,^[1] was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of New York City. His father, Salvatore Travolta (November 1912 – May 1995),^[2] was a semi-professional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company.^[3] His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke, January 1912 – December 1978),^[2] was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher.^[4] His siblings, Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam Travolta, have all acted.^[4] His father was a second-generation Italian American and his mother was Irish American;^[5][6] he grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture.^[7][8] He was raised Roman Catholic, but converted to Scientology in 1975.^[6][9]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

After attending Dwight Morrow High School,^[10] Travolta moved across the Hudson River to New York City and landed a role in the touring company of the musical Grease and on Broadway in Over Here!, singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'".^[11][12] He then moved to Los Angeles to further his career in show business.

Travolta's first California-filmed television role was as a fall victim in, Emergency! (S2E2), in September 1972,^[13] but his first significant movie role was as Billy Nolan, a bully who was goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek's character in the horror film, Carrie (1976).^[14] Around the same time, he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).^[15] The show aired on ABC.

1970s stardom[link]

Travolta in 1983

Around this time, Travolta had a hit single entitled "Let Her In", peaking at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[16][17] In the next few years, he appeared in two of his most noted screen roles: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and as Danny Zuko in Grease (1978).^[4] The films were among the most commercially successful pictures of the decade and catapulted Travolta to international stardom.^[18] Saturday Night Fever earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.^[19] At age 24, Travolta became one of the youngest performers ever nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.^[20] His mother and his sister Ann appeared as extras in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen appeared as a waitress in Grease. Travolta performed several of the songs on the Grease soundtrack album.^[21] In 1980, Travolta inspired a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film, Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger.^[22]

Downturn[link]

After Urban Cowboy, Travolta starred in a series of financial and critical failures that sidelined his acting career. These included Perfect, co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis, and Two of a Kind, a romantic comedy reteaming him with Olivia Newton-John. During that time he was offered, but turned down, lead roles in what would become box office hits, including American Gigolo^[23] and An Officer and a Gentleman, both of which went to Richard Gere.^[24]

Resurgence[link]

In 1989, Travolta starred in Look Who's Talking, which grossed $297,000,000, making it his most successful film since Grease. Travolta continued to the two sequels Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993). But it was not until he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career revived.^[25][26][4] The movie shifted him back onto the A-list, and he was inundated with offers. Notable roles following Pulp Fiction include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), an FBI agent and terrorist in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998), a Bill Clinton-esque presidential candidate in Primary Colors (1998),^[4] and a military detective in The General's Daughter (1999).

2000–present[link]

Travolta also starred in Battlefield Earth (2000) based on a work of science fiction by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did very poorly at the box office.^[27] Travolta played Mrs. Edna Turnblad in the remake of Hairspray, his first musical since Grease.^[28]

Personal life[link]

Travolta dancing with Princess Diana at the White House, November 9, 1985

Travolta was in a relationship with actress Diana Hyland, whom he met while filming The Boy in the Plastic Bubble; Hyland died of breast cancer in 1977.^[29]

Travolta married actress Kelly Preston in 1991. The couple had a son, Jett (1992–2009).^[30] Their daughter, Ella Bleu, was born in 2000. On May 18, 2010, Travolta and Preston announced that she was pregnant with the couple's third child,^[31] later confirmed to be a boy.^[32] Their son, Benjamin, was born on November 23, 2010 in Florida.^[33]

Travolta and Preston have regularly attended marriage counseling; Travolta has stated that therapy has helped the marriage.^[34]

Travolta is a certified private pilot and owns five aircraft, including an ex-Qantas Boeing 707–138 airliner. The plane bears the name Jett Clipper Ella in honor of his children.^[35] Pan American World Airways was a large operator of the Boeing 707 and used Clipper in its names. The 707 aircraft bears the marks of Qantas, as Travolta acts as an official goodwill ambassador for the airline wherever he flies. His $4.9 million estate in the Jumbolair subdivision in Ocala, Florida, is situated on Greystone Airport with its own runway and taxiway right to his front door.^[36]

On November 24, 1992, Travolta was piloting his Gulfstream N728T at night above a solid undercast, when he experienced a total electrical system failure, while flying under instrument flight rules into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. During the emergency landing he almost had a mid-air collision with a USAir Boeing 727, an event attributed to a risky decision by an air traffic controller.^[37]

On September 13, 2010, during the first episode of the final season of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey announced that she would be taking her entire studio audience on an 8-day expenses-paid trip to Australia, with Travolta serving as pilot for the trip. He had helped Winfrey plan the trip for over a year.^[38]

Travolta has been a practitioner of Scientology since 1975 when he was given the book Dianetics while filming the movie The Devil's Rain in Durango, Mexico.^[39] After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, joining other celebrities in helping with the relief efforts, Travolta flew his 707 full of supplies, doctors, and Scientologist Volunteer Ministers into the disaster area.^[40]

In May 2012, an anonymous masseur filed a lawsuit against Travolta citing claims of sexual assault and battery. A lawyer for Travolta said that the allegations were "complete fiction and fabrication" and someone wanting their 15 minutes of fame. Travolta's counsel also stated that his client would be able to prove that he was not in California on the day in question and asserted that Travolta would "sue the attorney and Plaintiff for malicious prosecution" after getting the case thrown out.^[41] A second masseur later joined the lawsuit making similar claims.^[42][43]

Son's death[link]

On January 2, 2009, Travolta and Preston's son, Jett, died while on their vacation in The Bahamas.^[44][45] A Bahamian death certificate was issued, attributing the cause of death to a seizure.^[46] Jett, who had a history of seizures,^[47] reportedly suffered from Kawasaki disease as an infant.^[48] On September 24, 2009,^[49] Travolta and Preston confirmed speculation that their son had autism and suffered regular seizures.^[50] They made their statements while giving testimony after a multi-million dollar extortion plot against them regarding the circumstances of their son's death. After a mistrial,^[51] Travolta dropped the charges.^[52] Travolta has credited his family and faith in helping him survive the tragic death of his son, and in moving forward with his film career.^[53]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

• "Dream Drummin'" (1974)
• "Easy Evil" (1975)
• "Can't Let You Go" (1975)
• "You Set My Dreams To Music" (1976)
• "Goodnight Mr. Moon" (1976)
• "Rainbows" (1976)
• "Settle Down" (1976)
• "Moonlight Lady" (1976)
• "Right Time Of The Night" (1976)
• "Big Trouble" (1976)
• "What Would They Say" (1976)
• "Back Doors Crying" (1976)
• "Let Her In" (1976) – #10
• "Whenever I'm Away From You" (1976) – #38
• "Slow Dancin'" (1976)
• "It Had To Be You" (1976)
• "I Don't Know What I Like About You Baby" (1976)
• "All Strung Out On You" (1977) – #34
• "Baby, I Could Be So Good At Lovin' You" (1977)
• "Razzamatazz" (1977)
• "You're the One That I Want" – #1 (1978) (w/ Olivia Newton-John)
• "Sandy" (1978)
• "Greased Lightnin" (1978) – #47
• "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (1980)
• "Take A Chance" (1983) (w/ Olivia Newton-John)
• "Two Sleepy People" (1997) (w/ Carly Simon)
• "I Thought I Lost You" (2008) (w/ Miley Cyrus)

See also[link]

Scientology portal

• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees – Youngest Nominees for Best Actor

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Tast, Brigitte (ed.) John Travolta. (Hildesheim/Germany 1978) ISBN 3-88842-103-9.

External links[link]

	Wikinews has news on this topic:
Court revelation by John Travolta of son's disease sparks autism debate Testimony by John Travolta that son was autistic raises Scientology questions John Travolta's 16-year-old son dies

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Travolta

• Official website
• John Travolta at the Internet Movie Database
• John Travolta at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Travolta at the Open Directory Project
• John Travolta at Rotten Tomatoes
• John Travolta: A Passionate Ambassador of Aviation