Sylvia Eileen Hermon, Lady Hermon (née Paisley; born 11 August 1955) is a Northern Irish politician. Since 2001, she has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of North Down, first elected for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), but now an independent. She is the widow of Sir Jack Hermon, former Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

On 25 March 2010, Lady Hermon announced that she was quitting the Ulster Unionist Party, and would fight the next general election as an Independent candidate. Her decision was triggered by the UUP's alliance with the Conservative Party. She successfully retained her seat at the May 2010 election with a large gain in her share of the vote, increasing her majority.

Born Sylvia Eileen Paisley in Galbally, Dungannon, County Tyrone. Her father was Robert Paisley, a farmer, and she had three sisters. The family saw tragedy when Sylvia's mother accidentally drowned when Sylvia was four. She went to Dungannon High School before studying Law at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, obtaining a First and the highest mark in her year.

Peter Lindsay Weir, AM (born 21 August 1944) is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office hits—including the Academy Award nominees Witness, Dead Poets Society, Green Card, The Truman Show and Master and Commander.

Weir was born in Sydney, the son of Peggy (née Barnsley) and Lindsay Weir, a real estate agent. Weir attended The Scots College and Vaucluse Boys' High School before studying art and law at the University of Sydney. His interest in film was sparked by his meeting with fellow students, including Phillip Noyce and the future members of the Sydney filmmaking collective Ubu Films.

After leaving university in the mid-1960s he joined Sydney television station ATN-7, where he worked as a production assistant on the groundbreaking satirical comedy program The Mavis Bramston Show. During this period, using station facilities, he made his first two experimental short films, Count Vim's Last Exercise and The Life and Flight of Reverend Buckshotte.

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC (born 6 April 1926) is a politician and former church minister from Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007. Paisley retired from religious ministry on 27 January 2012.

In addition to co-founding the DUP and leading it from 1971 to 2008, he is a founding member and was Moderator for 57 years of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. In 2005, Paisley's political party became the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, displacing his long-term rivals, the Ulster Unionists (UUP), who had dominated unionist politics in Northern Ireland since before the partition of Ireland.

On 4 March 2008 Paisley announced that he would step down as First Minister and leader of the DUP after the US-Northern Ireland Investment Conference in May 2008.Peter Robinson took over as DUP leader on 31 May 2008, and replaced Paisley as First Minister on 5 June 2008. Paisley was made a life peer in the Dissolution Honours List of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, ennobled on 18 June 2010 as Baron Bannside, of North Antrim in the County of Antrim.

Simon Hamilton MLA is a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland. He was elected in 2007 to the Northern Ireland Assembly as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member for Strangford.

Hamilton was educated at Regent House School and Queen's University, Belfast holding degrees in history/politics and law. He served as Chairman of the Queen's Unionist Association and as a member of Queen's University Senate.

He began his career as an auditor with an accountancy firm in Belfast and was employed as the DUP's Press Officer from 2003 until his election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007.

He was elected to Ards Borough Council in 2005 but did not stand at the 2011 Election.

Hamilton is Secretary of Strangford DUP Association and Vice-Chairman of Newtownards DUP Branch. He is also Deputy Master of Price’s True Blues LOL 550 and the Rising Sons of Saintfield RBP 73.

Outside of politics Mr Hamilton has a keen interest in the welfare of donkeys and spent every summer during his teenage years volunteering at a Donkey sanctuary in Dorset. He has carried that passion on into his politics and is one of the United Kingdom's foremost campaigner on donkey related issues. He has mixed this passion with topiary, resulting in several donkey shaped bushes in the front garden of his house.

Arthur Maia (born April 9, 1962) is a Brazilian composer and musician. Considered one of the best bass players in the world, by professional critics, Maia have played with many famous artists, such as Djavan, Gilberto Gil, Marisa Monte, Lulu Santos and Ney Matogrosso. His compositions usually presents a fusion of jazz, funk, swing music and reggae.

Arthur Maia started his musical studies playing drums, when he was still a child. When he was 15 years old, he received a bass as a gift and, influenced by his uncle Luizão Maia, a Brazilian bass player, began to practice it. Then, years later, in 1976, he became a professional bass player, playing with many famous Brazilian artists, such as Ivan Lins, Luiz Melodia and Márcio Montarroyos.

In 1985, he joined the band Cama de Gato, a Brazilian jazz group formed by Rique Pantoja (piano), Pascoal Meirelles (drums), Mário Senise (saxophone) and Maia (bass). With it, he recorded five albums. Although Maia is not a member of this band anymore, he was a special guest in Cama de Gato's sixth album. He also joined many other instrumental music bands, such as Pulsar, Banda Black Rio and Egotrip; their songs were much played on Brazilian radio in the 1980s. In 1986, Maia also recorded an album dedicated to Tom Jobim and Heitor Villa-Lobos with Gilson Peranzzetta: Tom & Villa.