Samanta was a title and position used by the Indian nobility. The institution of Samanta finds mention for the first time in epigraphs of northern India dating to the 6th century.^[1] The institution is considered to belong properly to the Gupta Empire^[2] and is closely associated with the origin and growth of feudalism in India.

However, the institution is known to have existed prior to the Gupta period, though details on them are vague. A Pallava inscription dating to the time of Santivarman (AD 455 - 470) uses the term Samanta-Chudamanayah (best feudatories).^[3] The Samanta in South-India was used to mean a vassal to an emperor. In North-India, the earliest use of the term in a similar sense was in Bengal in the Barabar Hill Cave Inscription of the Maukhari Chief, Anantavarman (dating 6th century AD) in which his father is described as the Samanta-Chudamanih (best among feudatories) of the imperial Guptas.^[4][5]

The Samanta vassal provided military support to the Monarch and governed over a portion of a territory. In South-India, the Samantas originated from different clans and took the title Raju.

Early development[link]

The term 'Samanta' originally meant a 'neighbour' and in the Mauryan period, the term referred to the independent ruler of an adjoining territory as is evident from its use in the Arthashastra and Ashokan edicts. The 'border-kings' (pratyan-tanripati) mentioned by Samudragupta in his Allahabad prashasti were such Samantas in the original use of the term.^[6]

However, the term underwent a change, and came to mean a 'vassal' by the end of the Gupta period and in the post-Gupta period. In fact the institution of the Samanta was the main innovation that distinguished the post-Gupta period from the periods of ancient India. By the end of the Gupta period and by the 6th century the term Samanta came to be universally accepted as the Prince of a subjugated but reinstated tributary region.^[7]

Early kingdoms of Medieval India would surround themselves with a "Samanta-Chakra", that is, a 'circle of tributary chiefs'.^[8] By the time of King Harshavardhana, the institution of the Samanta had become well-developed and the Samantas came to be considered powerful figures.^[9] In order to integrate them into the hierarchy of the realm they were often given high positions in the court.^[10] One such example is the king of Vallabhi who was defeated by King Harsha and became a Maha-Samanta. This Vallabhi King then rose under Emperor Harsha to the position of a Maha-Pratihara (guardian of the royal gateway or the royal door-keeper) and went on to become a Maha-Danda-Nayaka (Royal Field Marshal).^[11] In effect, the institution of the Samanta brought rulers of fragmented or tribalistic, small independent regions under subjugation to serve the king or emperor as vassals.

The office of the Samanta represented a semantic change in state formation from an independent neighbour to a tributary chief and finally to a high ranking court official.

Types of Samantas[link]

The poet Banabhatta describes several types of Samantas in his work, Harsha Charita. Bana's Harshacharitra is the only work from which we know of various categories of Samantas.^[12] Bana mentions a large number of conquered enemy Maha-Samantas in the royal camp who were probably waiting to be assigned their new duties.^[13]

Some types of Samantas mentioned by Banabhatta are:
1) Samanta: which signified the lowest and ordinary type of vassal.^[14]
2) Mahasamantha (Maha-Samanta): a step higher than a Samanta.^[15]
3) Shatrumahasamanta (Shatru-Maha-Samanta): a conquered enemy chief.^[16]
4) Aptasamanta (Apta-Samanta): those who willingly accepted vassalage and the emperor as their overlord.^[17]
5) Pradhanamahasamanta (Pradhana-Maha-Samanta): who were most trusted hands of the emperor and never disregarded their advice.^[18][19]
6) Pratisamanta (Prati-Saamanta): who were opposed to the king and meant a hostile vassal.^[20][21] Though hostile, all Samantas had military obligations. If they did not fulfill their obligations, the King could seize their territory and appoint a new Samanta. Despite that, some Samantas however, would keep trying to throw off their allegiance to the King and assert their own independent rule.

Banabhatta uses the term Anuraktamahasamanta (Anurakta-Mahasamanta) only once and it possibly meant those especially attached to their overlord.^[22]

Obligations of the Samanta[link]

From the Harshacharitra, we understand that the Samanta had 5 duties. They are^[23]:
1) Paying yearly tributes to the emperor.
2) Paying homage to the emperor in person.
3) Defeated Samantas had to offer their sons and minor princes to the Emperor so that they are groomed in the imperial traditions and grow to be loyal to the emperor.
4) Render military aid to the emperor.
5) Perform administrative and judicial functions in times of peace.

In the nature of rendering military aid, paying tributes and performing administrative and judicial functions, the office of the Samanta is comparable to the office of the Nayaka which was followed by the Vijayanagar Empire.

The Samanta system was followed by several kingdoms across north and south India.

In South India[link]

Some examples of Samantas in South India are:

• In the Hoysala empire, samantas were feudal chiefs paying vassalitic homage to the Maharaja and served the King as heredity governors. Some examples or names of the Hoysala heredity governors are Samanta Chattaya ruling Huliyara, Samanta Goyideva ruling Magare and Samanta Bankeya ruling Senavagere. Some such as Samanta Gandaraditya ruled over a larger territory of Arakere, Kaligunda, Kunduru, Belugere, etc. put together.^[24]
• In the Chalukya empire, the Banas under Vikramaditya Bali Indra Banaraja, the son of Balikula Tilaka Banaraja accepted the overlordship of the Chalukyas and proclaimed themselves as "Taruna Vasantham" and "Samanta Kesari".^[25]
• In the Kakatiya dynasty some examples are of Gonka I who rose to become a viceroy and Beta I (AD 1000 - 1050). Beta I emerged from a status of the Samanta Vishti Vamsa, a feudatory family from among the Karma or Kamma Buddhist peasants and went on to become a feudatory prince within the Chalukya empire. Beta's son, Prola I, rose to become a Mahamandalesvara under the Chalukya King Someshvara. Further, the son of Prola I named Beta II (aka, Betha Raju) and his grandson named Prola II assumed princely status in the Kakatiya dynasty.^[26]
• The office of the Samanta was also passed on as a matrilineal inheritance. An example is the Paduva Panamburu inscription of AD 1542 which refers to one Kinnika Samanta being succeeded by his Aliya (elder sister's son), Dugganna Samant, a Jain Chieftain of Mulki.^[27] The Chiefs of Mulki served as Samantas and patronized Jainism.^[28]

In North India[link]

• The Samanta feudatories of Sagakula were called 'Sahi' and their overlord was called 'Sahanu Sahi' (King of Kings).^[29] The location of Sagakula is unknown. The Jaina saint Kalaka describes in his "Kalakacarya Kathanaka", that a group of Saka kings called Sahi kings were induced to come to India from 'Sagakula'. And, after crossing the Indus, they captured Kathiawar and Ujjayini and installed their own Sahi as the "King of Kings" and began a dynasty.^[30][31] The Sagakula were probably Saka-Kula Western Satraps who had been expelled from Seistan by Mitradates-II of Parthia.^[32]
• It is suggested that Adisura ruled over a small portion of northern Bengal and Bihar as a Samanta king during the Pala rule.^[33]
• A samanta king (sub-ordinate ruler) named Sarangadeva or Kesari of the Somavamsi family is said to have probably ruled Sarang-Garh in Orissa.^[34]
• Bardhamman was ruled by a Samanta king, Ichai Ghosh or Iswani Ghosh of the Sadagope community, which his desdendents held as a zamindari.^[35]

In Nepal[link]

In the Nepali realm of the Maharaja of Licchavi, samantas held feudal domains and played a major part at court. Samantas played a role in other Nepali Kingdoms as well.

DR Regmi writes that in Nepal the Samanatas adopted high sounding titles such as Maharaja and Maharajadhiraja at a time when they were just Samantas (vassals). An example is an inscription in which a Samanta of Changu area, named Amsu-Varma, adopted the title of Maharajadhiraja. They were not seen giving up the title of Samanta even after adopting a higher sounding title. One such example is Mahasamanta Maharaja Sri Karmalilah.^[36]

Regmi compares this situation with the Indian side, where the title of Maharaja was used by both, the King as well as his feudatories, such as the feudatory of Sasnaka in Midnapore, Sri Samanta Maharaja Samadatta, who ruled Dandabhukti of Utkala.^[37]

The position of a Samanta was also acquired by marrying into the ruling family. An example is Baliraja of Chaughan Rajasthanakot of Jumla who was made a Samanta Raja of the state after he married the daughter of Medinivarma who was the heiress of Semja. After marriage, Baliraja was virtually the head of all feudatory chiefs of the kingdom. This was elucidated in a copper-plate inscription of 1404 AD.^[38]

Samanta Raju[link]

This compound Indian title refers to a territorial vassal or governor (a person who provides military support and governs a territory) under a king or monarch in exchange for certain guarantees) in South India. This should not be confused with the titles given in the colonial British India.

Sources and references[link]

• OurKarnataka.com

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011)

Naga Chaitanya is an Indian film actor who stars in Telugu films. He made his debut in the 2009 college film, Josh. His second film was, Gautham Menon's Ye Maaya Chesave with his portrayal of a love-torn film director winning him critical acclaim.

Early Life and Family[link]

Naga Chaitanya was born on 23 November 1986 to actor Akkineni Nagarjuna and his first wife, Lakshmi Daggubati. Naga Chaitanya's paternal grandfather, Akkineni Nageswara Rao is one of the stalwarts of Telugu cinema. His maternal grandfather, Daggubati Ramanaidu, is a producer in the film industry whilst his maternal uncle, Daggubati Venkatesh is also one of Tollywood's lead actors. Naga Chaitanya's cousins, Rana Daggubati, Sumanth Yarlagadda, and Sushanth are also film actors.^[1] His step-mother is actress Amala Akkineni and his half-brother is child actor Akhil Akkineni.

Naga Chaitanya was born in Hyderabad, but moved to Chennai with his mother after his parents split. He received schooling at the PSBB School in Chennai, during which he often visited his father in Hyderabad. He played the guitar and drums occasionally for the PSBB school band. He was then sent to an acting school in Mumbai, and subsequently to Hollywood Studios in California (USA) to learn dance and fights before he made his debut.^[1]

Career[link]

Following in his family's footsteps, Naga Chaitanya's debut was widely anticipated. After several rumours regarding his debut, during the audio launch of his father's King, Chaitanya was introduced to the film world where his debut film was launched. Josh, directed by newcomer Vasu Varma and produced by Dil Raju, featured him alongside fellow debutant Karthika Nair, daughter of Radha, with his role drawing comparison with his father's character from Shiva. However upon release, the film fared averagely at the box office and received negative reviews from film critics, although Naga Chaitanya's performance secured him the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for South Indian films.^[1]

Prior to the release of his first film, he signed his second film with Indira Productions, which was to be directed by Gautham Menon and featured music by A. R. Rahman.^[2] Ye Maaya Chesave released in February 2010 to unanimous positive reviews with the film being dubbed as a "classic" by reviewers, with comparisons drawn to his father's romantic film, Mani Ratnam's Geethanjali.^[3] Critics also praised his on-screen chemistry with debutant actress Samantha, as the film went on to become a commercial success at the box-office.^[4] This was the Telugu version of the Tamil film, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya. He also made a cameo appearance in the Tamil version.

His next movie was Sukumar's 100% Love with Tamannaah Bhatia has gained success in the box office. His next movie Dhada with Kajal Aggarwal directed Ajay Bhuyan released in August with huge expectations was a colossal failure. His next movie is Bejawada produced by Ram Gopal Varma. This movie released on Dec 1st 2011 and received negative feed back and remained as a one of the disaster in his career. Naga Chaitanya is currently working with the Director Deva Katta' for the movie Autonagar Surya.^[5] This movie stars Samantha who has already worked with Naga Chaitanya in Ye Maaya Chesave. Naga Chaitanya is often referred to as the youngest male actor in Telugu. ^[6]

Now he accepts Linguswami's recent directorial tamil film titled Vettai, to remake in telugu, which features Sunil as his elder brother.^[7]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (July 2011)

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for music. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (April 2011)

Festim Arifi (born January 28, 1984) better known by his stage name Lyrical Son, is an ethnic Albanian Kosovar rapper from the capital city of Pristina. He is one of the most successful Hip hop artists in Kosovo^[a] and Albania^[1][2]

Notes and references[link]

Notes: The best favorite team to him is A.C. Milan. And favorite player is Alexander Pato

References:

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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. (November 2011)

Samantha Fox
Fox live in Rescaldina, Italy in 2009
Background information
Birth name	Samantha Karen Fox
Also known as	Sam Fox
Born	(1966-04-15) 15 April 1966 (age 46) Mile End, London, England
Origin	London
Genres	Pop, dance-pop, freestyle, Eurobeat
Occupations	Singer, Former glamour model, Actress, TV personality
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1983–1987 (model) 1986–present (singer)
Labels	Lamborgini Records (1983) Jive Records (1986–1998) Ichiban Records (1998)
Associated acts	Stock Aitken Waterman, Full Force, Hawkwind, Günther, Sabrina Salerno
Website	www.samfox.com

Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her topless modelling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl. In 1986, she launched her pop music career with her debut single "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", which became a Number 1 hit in 17 countries. She has since sold over 30 million albums worldwide.^[1] Fox has also appeared in a number of films and reality television shows, and has occasionally worked as a television presenter.^{[citation needed]}

Background[link]

The eldest daughter of the late John Patrick Fox and Carole Ann Wilken, Samantha Karen Fox comes from a family of market traders from Chapel Market, Islington, London. She has a sister, Vanessa, who is six years younger, a half-sister, Frederica, and a half brother, Frankie, from her father's second marriage.^{[citation needed]}

Fox attended St Thomas More RC School, Haringey and took an interest in the theatre from an early age. She first appeared on a theatre stage at the age of three, and was enrolled in the Anna Scher Theatre School from the age of 5. Her first television appearance came in 1976, at the age of 10, in a BBC play entitled No Way Out.^{[citation needed]} Following on from this, she started at the Mountview Theatre School, near her home in Haringey, at the age of 11.^{[citation needed]}

At the age of 14, Fox formed her first band, with Richard Smart on guitar, David Juggins on Trombone, Edward Gallagher on triangle and Bob Day on tambourine.^{[citation needed]} Her first record deal came a year later, with Lamborghini Records. However, both her theatre and music careers went on hold when her modelling career took off.^{[citation needed]} Samantha's band was called S.F.X and in 1983 they released their first record 'Rockin' With My Radio/My Old Man'.^{[citation needed]} In 1984, S.F.X released a second record 'Aim To Win/17 and Holding'.^{[citation needed]} Both singles were released by Lamborghini Records on 7 and 12 inch formats. The songs were later re-issued in 1986 by Genie Records.^{[citation needed]}

Modelling career[link]

In early 1983, Carole Fox photographed her 16-year-old daughter Samantha in lingerie, submitting several pictures to The Sunday People newspaper's "Face and Shape of 1983" amateur modelling contest. Fox came second out of 20,000 girls who had entered the contest, had her pictures published, and soon after was invited for a test shoot for The Sun newspaper's Page Three feature.^{[citation needed]} Her parents gave their consent for their daughter to pose topless, and on Tuesday, 22 February 1983, Fox's first Page Three photograph was published under the headline "Sam, 16, Quits A-Levels for Ooh-Levels".^{[citation needed]} She was the youngest ever Page 3 Girl and the only one ever given an exclusive 4-year contract.^{[citation needed]}

After insuring her breasts for a quarter of a million pounds, Fox won The Sun's Page Three Girl of the Year award for three consecutive years between 1984 and 1986. She also posed nude for several British men's magazines and was a UK Penthouse Pet, but very few full-frontal shots were ever published.^{[citation needed]}

Fox retired from Page Three modelling in 1986, at the age of 20, and recorded 'Touch Me'. In 1995, aged 29, she made a one-off appearance in The Sun to promote Page Three's 25th anniversary week. After receiving an overwhelmingly positive reader response, she appeared in the slot every day during the anniversary week, with Friday's final topless picture given away as an A3-sized poster. In 1996, aged 30, she appeared in the October issue of Playboy magazine.^[2]

In September 2008, readers of The Daily Star tabloid newspaper voted Fox as the top Page 3 pin-up girl of all time. At the age of 42, she posed topless for the tabloid.^{[citation needed]}

Music career[link]

In the late-1980s, Fox began a singing career on Jive Records, producing five albums in six years (1986–1992), and working with notable music producers such as Stock Aitken Waterman and Full Force.^{[citation needed]}

1980s[link]

Fox released her debut single, "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)", in March 1986. The single made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic (#3 in the UK; #4 in the US). It also topped the charts in 17 countries, including Canada, South Africa and Australia. Her debut live performance came at Peter Stringfellow's club Hippodrome. Her second single "Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)" also made #10 in the UK though fared less well in the US. The third release from the album, "Hold On Tight", managed to secure a top 30, placing in the UK singles chart (#26) while the final single, "I'm All You Need", just narrowly missed the UK Top 40 (#41).^{[citation needed]}

Within a year, Fox had released her second album, Samantha Fox (1987), again on Jive Records. The first single released from the album, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", enabled her to achieve her third (and final) top ten hit in the UK (#8), although it only managed to peak at #80 on the US Billboard charts. The track was produced by the production team Stock/Aitken/Waterman. The second single release, "I Surrender (To the Spirit of the Night)", failed to match the success of its predecessor in the UK and peaked at #23 in the UK. The next two releases, "I Promise You (Get Ready)" and "True Devotion", both failed altogether to make the UK Top 40 singles chart. The fifth and final single, "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)", turned the fortunes of the album around and managed to secure a top ten placing on the US Billboard charts (#3), becoming her biggest hit to date in the US and scoring Fox another Top 40 hit on the UK singles chart (#31). The track was a different sound for Fox, being produced by the US hip-hop producers Full Force. They would continue to work with Samantha on subsequent albums and achieve similar success with her stateside, whereas her changed sound did not fare as well for her with European listeners, who preferred the Euro-pop sound of her earlier music.^{[citation needed]}

The following year, Fox released her third album, I Wanna Have Some Fun (1988), also on Jive Records. The album was produced by various producers covering the Euro-pop sound. Two tracks, "Next to Me" and the title track, reunited her for Full Force, where another reunion with Stock/Aitken/Waterman saw her record a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You", and the SAW original "You Started Something". The first UK single released from the album was "Love House". The second single released in the UK, "I Only Wanna Be with You", managed to secure her biggest hit in over a year, peaking in the Top 20 at #16. The first single release in the US fared even better. The title selection, "I Wanna Have Some Fun", produced by Full Force, managed to peak in the US Top Ten at #8 (although when released as the third single in the UK it only managed a #63 placing). The American release, as the follow-up, of "I Only Wanna Be with You" peaked inside the US Billboard Top 40 at #31. No further singles were released from the album.^{[citation needed]}

1990s[link]

In 1991, Fox released her fourth album, Just One Night, again on Jive Records. The first single lifted from the album, "(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" was another Full Force production. However, the lead single failed to make an impression in either the UK or US charts. Second single, "Another Woman", originally produced by Ralf-Rene Maue, was remixed by PWL stable-mate Phil Harding for release and performed moderately on some European charts. A third single, the album's title track, was also released. A bonus track, "Now I Lay Me Down" (again a Full Force production), was featured in the film A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and on the accompanying soundtrack.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Jive released Samantha's first official compilation, Greatest Hits, which featured three new tracks. Fox co-wrote and performed the track "Go for the Heart" for UK submission in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995. It was performed as Sox featuring Cris Bonacci and Lorraine McIntosh. The song placed 4th in preliminary public voting and was therefore not selected as the representative track. "Go for the Heart" was a modest hit in some European territories.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, Fox released a new album, 21st Century Fox. It performed moderately throughout Europe and Scandinavia. Without a worldwide distribution deal the album suffered from little promotion and a staggered release schedule. Singles "The Reason Is You", "Deeper", "Let Me Be Free" and "Perhaps" made little chart impression (although "Let Me Be Free" was a Top 20 hit in The Netherlands) despite Fox making numerous television appearances to promote the album.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, Fox released a single together with DJ Milano, "Santa Maria", which charted at #31 in the UK chart and was a Top 10 hit in Austria, Scandinavia and the Czech Republic. In 1999, Fox was cast in her first stage musical, Tayla Goodman's Virus, but she had to withdraw when the backer pulled his money.^{[citation needed]}

2000s[link]

Fox performing in 2005 in Quebec

Fox co-wrote the song "Dreams" for girl group All Saints's 2000 album, Saints & Sinners, but was credited as "Karen Wilkin" because the group refused to record the song if Fox's real name was used.^[3]

In 2004, Fox teamed up with Mats Söderlund (alias Günther) in order to do a remake of "Touch Me", which charted #1 in Sweden and Top 10 in other Scandinavian countries. In November 2005, Fox released the album, Angel with an Attitude produced by Joe Barrucco, in Canada. It was reissued in Australia to coincide with the Countdown Tour and included a new version of "Touch Me". 2008 saw the release of "Midnight Lover", a Euro-dance collaboration with Greek production team Zante Dilemma. In the summer of the same year, Samantha Fox performed at Sopot Festival in Poland, during a concert dedicated to the music of the 1980s, alongside Sandra, Sabrina Salerno and Thomas Anders (ex-Modern Talking).^{[citation needed]}

In October 2009 Fox's first three albums were reissued in the US with bonus tracks. In December 2009, her latest compilation was issued, Greatest Hits, both in single CD and double CD formats.^[4]

2010s[link]

In 2010, Fox teamed up with trance superstar 4 Strings to release a new single, "Forever". Summer 2010 saw the release of a duet with Italian singer Sabrina Salerno in which they performed a cover version of Blondie's hit "Call Me". Released in Italy on 15 June 2010, the single peaked at #4 in the Italian Dance Singles Sales Chart on the first week of July.^[5]

On 10 August 2010, The Beatles Complete On Ukulele released her reimagining of The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" featuring ukulele.^[6]

Fox is touring France from February-May 2012 with dates on her official website she has written the title theme for a movie 'The Beautiful Outsiders' to be released soon^[when?].^{[citation needed]} She is also^[when?] working on her seventh studio album with American producers as confirmed in an interview in OK magazine as well as working on her autobiography.^{[citation needed]}

Film and television[link]

Fox was invited to star in a Bollywood film Rock Dancer.^[7]

In the late 1980s, Fox appeared in television adverts for Leicestershire-based car dealership network with the slogan "Follow the Fox to Swithland Motors".^[8]

In 1989, Fox co-presented the BRIT Awards with Mick Fleetwood, which became notorious for turning into a shambles; Fox has asserted in interviews since that the autocue did not work properly that night. She spent a year in New York presenting pop promo videos for MTV, and she made other attempts at TV presenting, including an interview with Rolf Harris, which was ill-fated even before it started as Fox referred to her interviewee as "Ralph" on several occasions, although he got his own back by resting his beard against her neck and tickling her with it.^{[citation needed]}

Fox appeared on the sitcom Charles in Charge in 1990 where she played the role of Samantha Steele, a fictional rock star whose agent pushes her to romance Charles (Scott Baio) in order to get the paparazzi to print it in the tabloids. Fox featured in the ITV programme An Audience with... Ken Dodd (1994). Fox also featured in the movie It's Been Real, written and directed by Steve Varnom and starring John Altman, and The Match, written and directed by Mick Davis and starring Pierce Brosnan, Ian Holm, Tom Sizemore, Neil Morrissey, David Hayman and Ilar Blair. In 2003, she appeared in a reality television show The Club, competing against Richard Blackwood and Dean Gaffney by trying to run the most successful bar in The Club, which was full of celebrity guests such as Katie "Jordan" Price.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Fox and her partner, Myra, took part in Celebrity Wife Swap, exchanging with Freddie Starr and his wife Donna. In November 2009, she took part in ITV's I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. She was voted out on the 16th day. In July 2010, Fox took part in a celebrity episode of Come Dine With Me, appearing with Calum Best, Janice Dickinson & Jeff Brazier. In early 2011, Fox presented her 50 favourite hits of the 1980s on VH-1 in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Fox (left) and her partner Myra Stratton at the 2010 Fate Awards in Belfast

Fox's father Patrick, a former carpenter, managed her career until 1991, when Fox hired accountants to trace over £1 million that she believed he had embezzled from her accounts. She then sued her father, who by then had divorced and remarried, and in May 1995 she was awarded a £363,000 court settlement.^[9] Patrick Fox died in 2000, at which time he and Fox had not spoken for almost a decade.^[10]

In 1994, it was reported that Fox had become a born-again Christian.^[11] That year, she played at the Christian arts festival Greenbelt.^[12]

In the late 1980s Fox became romantically linked with Australian con man Peter Foster. They began dating but she turned down his marriage proposal.^[13] Rumours regarding Fox's sexual orientation began to surface in 1999 when she judged a lesbian beauty pageant, and rumours started to circulate that the woman she resided with – Cris Bonacci, the Australian former guitarist for the rock band Girlschool – was in fact her lover. However though the two women did reside together, neither has stated publicly that they were lovers. Prior to Bonacci, Fox shared her home with Debbie Connor, but again it has not been stated by Fox that she and Connor were romantically linked, and they have said they were "best mates". ^[14]

In February 2003, she made a statement about her personal life:^[15][16] "I have slept with other women but I've not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I'm gay... I don't know what I am. All I know is that I'm in love with Myra [Stratton, her manager]. I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her."

Fox said that part of her reluctance to come out was due to fears of how some of her fans might react to her being in relationship with a woman, as she had already had to deal with obsessed fans and stalkers.^[17] In August 2009, Samantha Fox announced her plans to have a civil partnership with Stratton.^[18]

Charitable activity[link]

Samantha Fox donated her favourite bra to a charity auction which allowed fans to buy a piece of celebrity clothing.^[19] Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association's Strip It Off three-day auction which began on 4 March 2008 saw members of the public bidding for stars' garments in order to raise money for the deaf blind charity.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2011, she appeared as part of a campaign for LGBT charity the The Albert Kennedy Trust.^[20]

Discography[link]

• 1986: Touch Me
• 1987: Samantha Fox
• 1988: I Wanna Have Some Fun
• 1991: Just One Night
• 1992: Greatest Hits
• 1998: 21st Century Fox
• 2002: Watching You, Watching Me
• 2005: Angel with an Attitude
• 2009: Greatest Hits

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Samantha Fox

• Official Website
• Samantha Fox at the Internet Movie Database