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The world in 500

Year 500 (D) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Patricius and Hypatius (or, less frequently, year 1253 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 500 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Events[link]

By place[link]

Europe[link]

• Possible date for the Battle of Mons Badonicus: Romano-British and Celts defeat an Anglo-Saxon army that may have been led by the bretwalda Aelle of Sussex or possibly Cerdic of Wessex (approximate date; suggested dates range from 490 to 517). This battle may have influenced the legend of King Arthur.
• Possible date at which Fergus Mór begins his reign – the historicity of Mór is doubtful.
• Approximate beginning of the Heptarchy period in the history of England.
• Approximate year of the founding of the Kingdom of Essex.
• The Frankish Kingdom is formed.
• The monument of Ale's Stones is built in Sweden (approximate date).
• Burial in catacombs ends (approximate date).

Asia[link]

• Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei China becomes sovereign of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

America[link]

• Uxmal is founded (approximate date).

Africa[link]

• Traders from southern Arabia settle in northern Ethiopia.

Births[link]

• Erzhu Shilong
• Procopius, historian (approximate date)
• Theodebert I, king of Austrasia (approximate date, could also have been 495)
• Theodora, empress of Byzantium
• Tribonian, jurist in the Roman Empire (approximate date)
• Bhavaviveka, Indian Madhyamaka Scholar
• Xie He, Chinese artist (d. c. 535) (approximate date)

Deaths[link]

• Zu Chongzhi, Chinese mathematician

References[link]

The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers on stage April 2010.
Background information
Born	(1962-03-05) 5 March 1962 (age 50) (both) Leith, Scotland
Origin	Auchtermuchty, Fife, Scotland
Genres	Folk rock, New Wave, power pop
Instruments	Vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Chrysalis
Website	Proclaimers.co.uk
Members
Charlie Reid Craig Reid

The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid. They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents. They have released nine studio albums from 1987 until the present, as well as two compilation albums and a DVD.

In 2011, the band scored history in Scotland when two of their tracks, "Sunshine on Leith" and "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" were featured on Scotland's Greatest Album (2011).

History[link]

Career[link]

The band playing live in 2008

Craig Reid and Charlie Reid were born in Leith in 1962, and grew up in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty. When they stayed in Auchtermuchty they attended Bell Baxter High School. After several punk rock bands at school they formed The Proclaimers in 1983.

The pair came to public attention when an Inverness based fan sent their demo to the British band The Housemartins, who were impressed enough to invite The Proclaimers on their 1986 UK tour. The exposure of the tour won them a January 1987 appearance on the British pop music television programme The Tube on Channel Four;^[1] "Letter from America" peaked at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart,^[2] whilst the album This is the Story went gold. The follow-up album Sunshine on Leith featured "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and "I'm On My Way".^[2] They had a hit with their EP King of the Road, which reached number 9 in UK in 1990.

In March 2007 they recorded a new version of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" with television comedy characters Andy Pipkin (played by Matt Lucas) and Brian Potter (Peter Kay) for the Comic Relief charity. A long list of celebrities were featured in the music video for this new version, including David Bellamy, Rod, Jane and Freddy, Paul O'Grady, David Tennant, Frank Sidebottom and many more. This new version of the song reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart.^[2]

The band was one of The B-52s' touring partners on their Funplex tour in Australia and New Zealand in November 2009, alongside Mental as Anything.

In addition, they featured in VH1's 100 greatest one hit wonders ("I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" having been their only US hit single).^[3]

Influence[link]

The brothers are fans of Hibernian Football Club, and "Sunshine on Leith" has become a club anthem, being played at home matches for important fixtures, such as the Edinburgh derby versus Heart of Midlothian FC, the club's city rivals. Charlie and Craig Reid appeared at their Easter Road stadium for the 'Hands Off Hibs' campaign in 1990 when Wallace Mercer, a wealthly Edinburgh businessman with direct connections to Hearts FC, attempted a takeover of the club but was defeated by fan pressure.

They are also well-known supporters of Scottish independence and have at various stages of their lives been activists for the Scottish National Party, expressing such views during their promotional tour of Britain in March 2007.^[4] However in April 2007 Charlie Reid announced that he had switched his allegiance to the Scottish Socialist Party in protest at the Scottish National Party's receipt of funding from big business.^[5] Many of their songs reflect their political views, such as "Letter from America" and "Cap in Hand".

On 16 May 2006 the twins announced their participation in a campaign to free a fellow Scot, Kenny Richey, from his death row sentence in Ohio, including an appearance at a charity concert.^[6] Also, in 2010 they participated with Billy Bragg in a show supporting Reprieve, charity that fights the death penalty. The Proclaimers also support other charities such as The Lighthouse Foundation (addiction victims), AICR (cancer research), Drake Music Scotland (help disabled people through music) or 500 miles (amputees or disabled people in Africa).

Discography[link]

EPs[link]

1. King of the Road (1990)
2. 17 (Acoustic EP) (2009)

Studio albums[link]

Compilation and Remastered albums[link]

Soundtracks[link]

1. The Crossing (1990) (song, "King of the Road")
2. Benny and Joon (1993) (song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)")
3. Dumb and Dumber (1994) (song, "Get Ready")
4. Bye Bye Love (1995) (song, "Bye Bye Love")
5. Bottle Rocket (1996) (song, "Over And Done With")
6. Slab Boys (1997) (songs, "Maybe Baby" and "No Particular Place to Go")
7. Shrek (2001) (song, "I'm on My Way")
8. How I Met Your Mother (2007, 2009 – episodes Arrivederci, Fiero; Duel Citizenship) (song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)")
9. Mama's Boy (2008) (song, "Then I Met You")
10. Burke and Hare (2010) (song, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)")

DVD[link]

1. The Best of the Proclaimers 1987–2002
   (2002)
   

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official UK website
• Official North American website
• Comprehensive Discography
• The Proclaimers Exclusive Interview
• The Proclaimers on Twitter
• The Proclaimers on Facebook
• The Proclaimers on MySpace

James May
James May in 2006
Born	James Daniel May (1963-01-16) 16 January 1963 (age 49)[1] Bristol, England
Residence	Hammersmith, West London, England
Nationality	British
Other names	Captain Slow
Education	Caerleon Endowed Junior School Oakwood Comprehensive School
Alma mater	Pendle College, Lancaster University
Occupation	Broadcaster, journalist, author, pianist, media personality
Years active	1998 (1998)–present (present)
Employer	BBC, The Daily Telegraph, (prev. Channel 4, ITV & Sky)
Known for	Presenting: Driven, Top Gear, Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, Oz and James Drink to Britain, James May's Top Toys, James May's Toy Stories, James May's 20th Century, James May's Big Ideas, James May's Man Lab
Home town	Bristol, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Partner	Sarah Frater (2000–present)
Website
http://www.topgear.com/uk/james-may

This article may contain too much repetition or redundant language. Please help improve it by merging similar text or removing repeated statements. (May 2011)

James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring program Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson , and Richard Hammond.

On Top Gear, May has the nickname "Captain Slow" for his careful driving style, a love of small underpowered cars and habit of getting lost and distracted while driving. However, in a July 2010 episode of Top Gear he drove a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, reaching a speed of 417.6 kilometres per hour (259.5 mph).^[2] After his attempt the Bugatti test driver Pierre-Henri Raphanel took the car to 430 kilometers per hour (267.5 mph).

May has presented a variety of other programs on themes including science and technology, toys, cars, wine culture, and the plight of manliness in modern times. In addition he has released a variety of DVDs and books with similar themes, and wrote a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph's motoring section.

Early life[link]

James May was born in Bristol, one of four children; he has two sisters and a brother.^[3] May attended Caerleon Endowed Junior School in Newport, then in Monmouthshire. He spent his teenage years in South Yorkshire where he attended Oakwood Comprehensive School in Rotherham and was a choirboy at Whiston Parish Church.^[4] He was also at school with Life On Mars and Ashes to Ashes star Dean Andrews.^[5] A keen flautist and pianist, he later studied music at Pendle College, Lancaster University. After graduating, May briefly worked at a hospital in Chelsea as a records officer, and had a short stint in Her Majesty's Civil Service.^[6]

Personal life[link]

May lives in Hammersmith, London with dance critic Sarah Frater, whom he has dated since 2000.^[7][8]

May has owned a number of cars: Bentley T2, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Triumph 2000, Rover P6, Alfa Romeo 164, 1971 Rolls-Royce Corniche, Jaguar XJS, Range Rover, Fiat Panda, Datsun 120Y, Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1, Ferrari F430, 1984 Porsche 911,^[9] 2005 Porsche Boxster S (which he claims is the first car he has ever purchased new),^[10] Mini Cooper, Citroën Ami, Mazda MX-5 and several classic motorcycles including a Yamaha XJR1300, Moto Guzzi V11 Sport, a Triumph Daytona 675R and a 1978 Guzzi California. He has a penchant for prestige cars like Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, simple and basic cars such as the Fiat Panda, and motorcycles. He often uses a Brompton folding bicycle for commuting.^[11] He passed his driving test on his second attempt and justified this by saying "All the best people pass the second time".^[12]

May obtained a light aircraft pilot's licence in October 2006 having trained at White Waltham Airfield. He has owned a Luscombe 8A 'Silvaire' and an American Champion 8KCAB Super Decathlon.

May received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Lancaster University on 15 July 2010. ^[13]

Journalism[link]

During the early 1980s, May worked as a sub-editor for The Engineer and later Autocar magazine, from which he was dismissed. He has since written for several publications, including a regular column called England Made Me in Car Magazine, articles for Top Gear magazine, and a weekly column in The Daily Telegraph.

He has written a book titled May On Motors, which is a collection of his published articles, and co-authored Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, based on the TV series of the same name.

He has also written the afterword to Long Lane with Turnings, published in September 2006, the final book by motoring writer L. J. K. Setright. In the same month he co-presented a tribute to Raymond Baxter. His book, Notes From The Hard Shoulder, was published on 26 April 2007. James May's 20th Century, a book to accompany the television series of the same name, was published on 6 September 2007.

[edit] Dismissal from Autocar

In an interview with Richard Allinson on BBC Radio 2,^[14] May confessed that he was fired in 1992 from Autocar magazine after putting together a hidden message or acrostic in one issue. At the end of the year, the magazine's "Road Test Year Book" supplement was published. Each spread featured four reviews and each review started with a large red letter (known in typography as an initial). May's role was to put the entire supplement together, which "was extremely boring and took several months". He went on to say:

So I had this idea that if I re-edited the beginnings of all the little texts, I could make these red letters spell out a message through the magazine, which I thought was brilliant. I can't remember exactly what it said, but it was to the effect that "You might think this is a really great thing, but if you were sitting here making it up you'd realise it's a real pain in the arse". It took me about two months to do it and on the day that it came out I'd actually forgotten that I'd done it because there's a bit of a gap between it being "put to bed" and coming out on the shelves. When I arrived at work that morning everybody was looking at their shoes and I was summoned to the managing director of the company's office. The thing had come out and nobody at work had spotted what I'd done because I'd made the words work around the pages so you never saw a whole word. But all the readers had seen it and they'd written in thinking they'd won a prize or a car or something.

May's original message, punctuated appropriately, reads: "So you think it's really good, yeah? You should try making the bloody thing up; it's a real pain in the arse."^[15]

This was referenced by Jeremy Clarkson during episode 2 of series 17 (in the course of the "hot hatch"-challenge in Italy) when May was noting Autocar's opinion on the Renault Clio Cup he had chosen for the challenge, to which Clarkson replied "Autocar.... The magazine that sacked you...?"

Radio and television[link]

His past television credits include presenting Driven on Channel 4 in 1998-99, narrating an eight-part BBC One series called Road Rage School,^[16] and co-hosting the ITV1 coverage of the 2006 London Boat Show.^[17] He also wrote and presented a Christmas special called James May's Top Toys (for BBC One) exploring the toys of his childhood.^[18] This list was followed up the next year by a sequel of sorts, broadcast on BBC Two, entitled James May: My Sister's Top Toys, this time attempting to investigate the gender divide of toy appeal.^[19] In series 3, episode 3^[20] of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word, May managed to beat Ramsay in eating animal penises and rotten shark (which Ramsay himself couldn't keep down)^[21] and with his fish pie recipe.^[22][23]

[edit] Top Gear

May first co-presented Top Gear in 1999, before it was axed by the BBC because of poor viewing figures. He rejoined the show in the second series of the present Top Gear format in 2003, where he earned the nickname "Captain Slow" owing to his careful driving style. Despite this sobriquet, he has done some especially high-speed driving, including in Top Gear Series 9, taking a Bugatti Veyron to its top speed of 253 mph (407 km/h) which is nearly one-third of the speed of sound at sea level and later on taking a Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport edition to 260 mph (417 km/h). In an earlier episode he also tested the original version of the Bugatti Veyron against the new Pagani Zonda F. On the show he claimed that it was 'a piece of cake' driving those cars, but seconds later Jeremy Clarkson played a tape showing him spinning wildly over the test track in the Zonda. Originally he did not want to do this test, but Clarkson had hurt his neck in the previous episode while driving a truck through a brick wall and Richard Hammond claimed that he was busy selling fish at Morrisons. He is often mocked for a poor sense of direction, shown getting lost many times throughout the course of the series, including race tracks and even being mocked once by Jeremy and Hammond for mistaking a normal Range Rover as the camera crew. He also flew in a Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon at a speed of around 1320 mph for his television programme, James May's 20th Century. He also became one of the first people – with co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson and an Icelandic support crew – to travel by car to the magnetic North Pole, using a modified Toyota Hilux. He claims to be the first person on the north pole who didn't want to go there. He was also one of the first people to drive across the Makgadikgadi salt plains in Botswana.^[24] He has driven a 1.3 litre Suzuki SJ413 through the Bolivian jungle and along Death Road and over the Andes to the Pacific Ocean in Chile. He also drove a modified Toyota Hilux (also used as a crew car during the North Pole expedition) up the side of the erupting volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.

Science[link]

May has also presented a documentary for Sky about sharks called Inside Killer Sharks and a series looking at inventions and discoveries during the twentieth century, entitled James May's 20th Century.^[25] In late 2008, the BBC broadcast James May's Big Ideas, a three-part series in which May travelled around the globe in search of implementations for concepts widely considered science fiction.^[26]

[edit] James May on the Moon

In June 2009 May presented a documentary on BBC Two called James May on the Moon commemorating 40 years since man first landed on the moon.^[27] This was followed by another documentary on BBC Four called James May at the Edge of Space, where May was flown to the edge of space (70,000 ft) in a U.S. Air Force Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Highlights of the footage from the training for the flight, and the flight itself was used in James May on the Moon, but was shown fully in this programme.^[28] This made him one of the highest flying persons, along with the pilot, at that time, after the crew of the International Space Station.^[28]

[edit] James May's Toy Stories

Beginning in October 2009, May presented a 6-part TV series showing favourite toys of the past era and whether they can be applied in the modern day. The toys featured were Airfix, Plasticine, Meccano, Scalextric, Lego and Hornby. In each show, May attempts to take each toy to its limits, also fulfilling several of his boyhood dreams in the process. For example, in August 2009, May built a full-sized house out of Lego at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey.^[29] Plans for Legoland to move it to their theme park fell through in September 2009 because costs to deconstruct, move and then rebuild were too high^[30] and despite a final Facebook appeal for someone to take it, it was demolished on 22 September, with the plastic bricks planned to be donated to charity.^[31] Also for the series, he recreated the banked track at Brooklands using Scalextric track,^[32] and an attempt at the world's longest working model railway along the Tarka Trail between Barnstaple and Bideford in North Devon, although the attempt was foiled due to stolen batteries and vandals placing coins on the track, causing a short circuit.^[33]

Drink[link]

In late 2006, the BBC broadcast Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, a series in which May, a committed bitter drinker, travelled around France with wine expert Oz Clarke.^[34] A second series was broadcast in late 2007, this time with May and Clarke in the Californian wine country,^[35] and was followed by a third series in 2009 called Oz and James Drink to Britain.

Career[link]

Television[link]

DVD[link]

Books[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Telegraph Motoring - James May's weekly column
• James May at the Internet Movie Database
• James May on Top Gear
• Daily Mail article on May

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

Catrinel Menghia (born October 1, 1985)^[1] is a Romanian model.

She was discovered at the age of 16 on the street by a local agent who took her to Bucharest to meet Liviu Ionescu of the MRA Agency. Six months later, Menghia's parents allowed her to move to Bucharest and start her modeling career.

She participated in the Ford Supermodel of the World Romania contest in November 2001, where she won the second runner-up prize.

Menghia now lives in Milan. She has done campaigns for major fashion houses and is the face of Giorgio Armani worldwide. She was also one of the new faces in the 2006 South African Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and has appeared in FHM and Maxim. She is featured in North American advertisements for the Fiat 500 Abarth coupe in 2012 speaking Italian.^[2]

She has been the face of the French lingerie brand Lise Charmel since 2005.

She married to the Italian ex-footballer Massimo Brambati in 2005^[3], but reportedly filed for divorce in late 2011.^[4] Her sister, Lorena, is a high jumper, currently competing in the U.S. college system.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website