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Cornelius Mahoney "Neil" Sheehan (born October 27, 1936) is an American journalist. As a reporter for The New York Times in 1971, Sheehan obtained the classified Pentagon Papers from Daniel Ellsberg. His series of articles revealed a secret U.S. Department of Defense history of the Vietnam War and led to a U.S. Supreme Court case when the United States government attempted to halt publication.^{[citation needed]}

He received a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for his 1989 book A Bright Shining Lie, about the life of Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann and the United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

Life and career[link]

Born on a farm in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Sheehan graduated from Mount Hermon School (later Northfield Mount Hermon) and Harvard University with a B.A. in 1958. He served in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1962, when he was assigned to Korea, and then transferred to Tokyo, where he did work moonlighting in the Tokyo bureau of United Press International (UPI). After his stint in the army he spent two years covering the war in Vietnam as UPI's Saigon bureau chief.

Like many US journalists covering Vietnam, Sheehan relied heavily for information on Pham Xuan An, who was later revealed to be a North Vietnamese agent. In 1963, during the Buddhist crisis, he and David Halberstam debunked the claim by the Ngo Dinh Diem regime that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam regular forces had perpetrated the Xa Loi Pagoda raids, which American authorities initially accepted. They showed instead that the raiders were Special Forces loyal to Diem's brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, motivated to frame the army generals. In 1964 he joined The New York Times and worked the city desk for a while before returning to the Far East, first to Indonesia and then to spend another year in Vietnam.

In the fall of 1966 he became the newspaper's Pentagon correspondent and in 1968 began reporting on the White House. He was a correspondent on political, diplomatic and military affairs. In 1971 he obtained the Pentagon Papers for the Times.^{[citation needed]} The U.S. government tried to halt publication.^{[clarification needed]} The resulting case, New York Times Co. v. United States (403 U.S. 713), saw the Supreme Court reject the government's position, and became a landmark First Amendment decision. This exposé would earn The New York Times a Pulitzer Prize.

In 1970 Sheehan reviewed Conversations With Americans by Mark Lane in the New York Times Book Review (December 27). He called the work a collection of Vietnam War crime stories with some obvious flaws which the author had not verified. Sheehan called for a more thorough and scholarly work to be done on the war crimes being committed in Vietnam.^[1]

Almost twenty years later he completed his own contribution, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (1988, published by Random House and edited by Robert Loomis). It won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction^[2] and the National Book Award for Nonfiction.^[3]

Family[link]

His wife Susan Sheehan won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in 1983 for Is There No Place On Earth For Me?^[2]

Books[link]

• The Pentagon Papers as published by the New York Times (1971)
• The Arnheiter Affair (1972) — about Marcus Aurelius Arnheiter, a U.S. Navy officer relieved of command in 1966
• A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (New York: Random House, 1988)
• After the War Was Over (1992)
• A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Conversation with Neil Sheehan
• Neil Sheehan Papers at the Library of Congress
• Neil Sheehan at the Internet Movie Database
• David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan & The Vietnam War Writers at C-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History
• C-SPAN Q&A interview with Sheehan, September 20, 2009
• Critical review of Sheehan and other Vietnam War historians and journalists

Robert Sheehan
Robert Sheehan at the Minghella Film Festival, March 2011
Born	Robert Michael Sheehan (1988-01-07) 7 January 1988 (age 24) Portlaoise, Ireland
Alma mater	Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2003–present

Robert Michael Sheehan (Irish: Roibeárd Míċeál Ó Siodhacháin, born January 7, 1988) is an Irish actor. He is best known for television roles as Nathan Young in Misfits and Darren in Love/Hate, as well as the 2009 film Cherrybomb alongside Rupert Grint. He has also co-starred in the film Killing Bono, alongside Ben Barnes, as Ivan McCormick. He recently starred in John Crowley's production of J. M. Synge's comic play The Playboy of the Western World at the Old Vic Theatre, London, which finished in November, 2011.

He has three IFTA nominations and one BAFTA nomination. He also shared a BAFTA award with the cast of Misfits.

Early life[link]

Originally from County Laois, Robert grew up the youngest of three children with his older brother Brendan, and the family dog Rambo. His father Joe, was a garda. He played the banjo, the bodhrán, and the spoons at school, joking that he was like "Footloose with spoons", and participated in Fleadh Ceoils while at school. He first became interested in acting in primary school, in St. Paul's in Portlaoise, when he played Oliver in "Oliver with a Twist". Robert first considered acting when his mother Maria took him to an audition for Song for a Raggy Boy when he was fourteen. He was chosen for the film, which was shot for three months in West Cork. He stated that he still keeps in touch with some of the boys from the film, and described filming as an adventure. When he was sixteen, he played the crippled boy in Cripple of Innishmaan with Open Door productions, and said afterwards that there is nothing like good theatre.^[1]

He studied for a year at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology at the age of 17, but left his course of Film and TV studies after a year as he failed and did not return for the repeats, deciding that life behind the camera was not for him. Despite no professional training, apart from local drama groups, and first-hand experience, he was then offered a number of minor roles He has been quoted as saying, "I'm not sure if I want to be an actor. I want to go to college but not to study acting. But I'd like to do it to see where it takes me, so I'll keep at it. I never really made any plans of any sort. As long as I can keep getting a few jobs, I will be grateful. It is great fun and wonderfully rewarding for a young fella. I will continue as long as I keep getting work."

He said his parents were wonderfully supportive, and that his mother was virtually his manager in the early days of career, as well as his chauffeur, driving him to and from auditions and film sets.

Career[link]

Since then he has appeared in a number of feature films including A Dublin Story, Ghostwood, An Créatúr, Summer of the Flying Saucer and Season of the Witch. On television, he appeared in 15 episodes of Foreign Exchange (Magma Film/9 Newtwork Australia) as Cormac MacNamara and in all 13 episodes of Young Blades (Insight/PAX TV) as Louis XIV of France. More recently, Robert has appeared in The Clinic (Parallel Films/RTÉ), Bel's Boys (ITV) and in Season 2 of The Tudors (Showtime/BBC).

In March and April 2008, he appeared in the leading role of Addison Teller in the short-lived series Rock Rivals produced by Shed Productions for ITV.

In July 2008, he appeared in the role of Liam in Bitter Sweet, a two-part RTÉ comedy drama directed by Declan Eames.

In March 2009, he appeared in the role of BJ in the dark Channel 4 trilogy, Red Riding. The TV adaptation of David Peace's cult noir novels was set in Yorkshire during the 1970s and 1980s; he appeared in all three episodes alongside Sean Bean, David Morrissey, Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Maxine Peake and Paddy Considine.

He starred as one of the lead characters in the UK drama film Cherrybomb (released in 2009), set in Belfast along with Rupert Grint. The film depicts the events of a weekend during which two best friends, Malachy (Grint) and Luke (Sheehan) go to extreme and dangerous lengths in the battle for a girl's affections.

From 2009 to 2010, he starred as a young offender named Nathan Young in the first two series of the E4 drama Misfits which follows the tales of five young adults on community service for petty crimes who find that they have superpowers after a powerful lightning storm strikes them.^[2]

Sheehan at the premiere of Killing Bono in March 2011

In 2010, he was nominated for an IFTA award in the Rising Star category.^[3] He was chosen to redo the voice of Ray in A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures, originally voiced by Anthony Anderson.

In October 2010, he was offered the part of Darren, a member of gangland Dublin in the four-part drama Love/Hate on RTÉ One (Irish national television). Sheehan received a call from his agent, Rose Parkinson, who told him he'd been offered the part in a TV drama directed by David Caffrey. The Portlaoise actor said he would do it, and didn't care what it was about, delighted to be involved in a drama which is directed by David Caffrey, someone he greatly admired. He stated he was "chuffed he had heard of [him] and had seen [him] in the Red Riding Trilogy."

Sheehan is set for the lead role in the British-Italian natural thriller film Bleak Sea.^[4]

Sheehan played Kay in the 2011 US fantasy thriller, Season of the Witch.^[5]

In April 2011 it was announced that Robert Sheehan would not be returning to Misfits for season three.^[2]

In May 2011 he was nominated for a BAFTA in the "Male Supporting Actor" category for his role in Misfits as Nathan Young. In June 2011 it was announced Robert would star in John Crowley's production of J. M. Synge's comic The Playboy of the Western World. The performance ran from 17 September to 26 November 2011 at the Old Vic Theatre. It also starred Ruth Negga and Niamh Cusack.

In October 2011, Sheehan starred in Arjun Rose's Demons Never Die.

Sheehan is to appear in the second season of the BBC crime drama series Accused.^[6]

In 2011, he was involved in a trailer for Bleak Sea, a movie trailer made specifically for a trailer competition, which is not set to be expanded into a feature length film. Robert is expected to star in the film, but his involvement is not confirmed.

He is rumored to star in upcoming feature In Between The Waves, alongside Tom Felton, and is set to appear in Wayfaring Strangers, alongside Cillian Murphy.

He also has a part in Romeo and Brittney written and directed by comedian David Baddiel. The film is a comical parody of Romeo and Juliet. Sheehan is set to play Romeo, alongside Karen Gillan, and the film is set to be completed in the summer.^[1]

He stressed the importance of taking on a number of versatile roles in the future, as well as ensuring quality output, and said his ambition is to work with as many talented actors as he can, and be involved in quality casts.

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Sheehan

• Robert Sheehan at the Internet Movie Database
• Curriculum
• Interview with Robert Sheehan on the Irish Film and Television Network, 7 October 2010

Bill Kovach (Albanian: Bill Kovaçi) is a US journalist, former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, former editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and co-author of the popular book, The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and The Public Should Expect.

Biography[link]

Born in 1932 in East Tennessee of Albanian parents, Kovach planned after college to go to graduate school in marine biology. After four years in the U.S. Navy, a summer job at the Johnson City Press Chronicle in Johnson City, Tennessee persuaded him to go into journalism.

Kovach covered the civil rights movement, politics and Appalachian poverty for the Nashville Tennessean from 1960 to 1967. In 1965, he was involved in a fight for public access to the legislature, when he refused to leave a committee hearing following a call for executive session. The state senate passed a resolution revoking his floor privileges. The Tennessean and editor John Seigenthaler, Sr. led a successful fight to open the legislative chambers.

After Kovach spent a year at Stanford University on a journalism fellowship, Scotty Reston of The New York Times Washington bureau hired Kovach in 1968, and Kovach spent 18 years there, including serving as its Washington bureau chief.

After a tempestuous two-year tenure as editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, when his staff won two Pulitzer Prizes and were finalists for several others, Kovach moved on to Harvard University in 1989 as a fellow, then curator, of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

He retired from Harvard in 2001 and returned to Washington, where he is senior counselor to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

He also serves on the faculty of the Missouri School of Journalism.

Awards[link]

In 2000, Kovach received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from Boston University.

He founded the Committee of Concerned Journalists, which works to increase the quality of journalism.

Besides The Elements of Journalism, Kovach is a co-author of Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media and Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload, all with Tom Rosenstiel.

In 2002, when it was discovered that USA Today reporter Jack Kelley had fabricated some of his stories, USA Today turned to Kovach, along with veteran editors Bill Hilliard and John Seigenthaler Sr., to monitor the investigation.^[1]

Quote[link]

“Journalism is the closest thing I have to a religion, because I believe deeply in the role and responsibility the journalists have to the people of a self-governing community.”

References[link]

1. ^ Associated Press, "'USA Today' Probe Finds Kelley Faked Stories", Editor & Publisher, 19 March 2004

External links[link]

• Paula Devlin (2001). Profile of a Journalist
• Tracy Thompson. A Newsroom Hero - journalist Bill Kovach. Washington Monthly, May, 2000.
• Biography from Boston University
• Baccalaureate address by Bill Kovach at Boston University, 2007.
• A film clip "The Open Mind - American Journalism: A Critique, Part I (September 27, 2007)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• A film clip "The Open Mind - American Journalism: A Critique, Part II (September 27, 2007)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]

Nicholas David Hammond (born 7 September 1967 in Hornchurch, England) is an English former football goalkeeper, and currently Director of Football at Reading Football Club.

Playing career[link]

Hammond was an Arsenal apprentice, making his league début whilst on loan at Bristol Rovers in 1986, followed by further loan spells at Peterborough United and Aberdeen.

Hammond joined Swindon Town on a free transfer in July 1987, and while there he broke his leg twice which resulted in him taking the number 23 shirt for the 1993–94 Premier League campaign, rather than the unlucky number 13.

A short spell at Plymouth Argyle culminated in a loan to Reading in December 1995, with the move being made permanent for £40,000 a month later. A highly regarded goalkeeping coach, Hammond was handed a coaching role by Alan Pardew and he subsequently retired from playing after suffering a recurrent back injury.

Management career[link]

In October 2000, Hammond took over from John Stephenson to become Reading's Youth Academy Director, and was appointed the Club's first-ever Director of Football in September 2003.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nick Hammond career stats at Soccerbase
• Nick Hammond management career stats at Soccerbase

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2008)

Billy Sheehan
Background information
Birth name	William Sheehan
Born	(1953-03-19) March 19, 1953 (age 59) Buffalo, New York, USA
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion, instrumental rock, progressive rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Bass, guitar, vocals, harmonica,
Years active	1970–present
Associated acts	UFO, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Richie Kotzen, Marty Friedman, Tim "Ripper" Owens, Talas, B'z, Steve Vai, G3, Niacin
Website	Billy Sheehan on Myspace

William "Billy" Sheehan (born on March 19, 1953, in Buffalo, New York) is an American bassist known for his work with Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, and Niacin. Sheehan has won the "Best Rock Bass Player" readers' poll from Guitar Player Magazine five times for his "lead bass" playing style.^[1] Sheehan's repertoire includes the use of chording, two-handed tapping, right-hand "three-finger picking" technique and controlled feedback.

Career[link]

Early years[link]

Billy Sheehan's first electric bass was a Hagström FB, which was soon sistered^{[clarification needed]} by a Precision bass similar to Tim Bogert's. After acquiring the Precision bass, he removed the frets from the Hagström. Over the years, he heavily modified the Precision bass as well, adding a neck pickup and additional support for the bolt-on neck, which Sheehan considers its greatest weakness. The neck pickup was added for what Sheehan referred to as "super deep low end" modelled after Paul Samwell-Smith of the Yardbirds. The Gibson EB-0 type pickup in the neck and the original split Precision bass pickup each have their own separate output jacks on the bass itself, allowing for control of the tone via the bass. Sheehan also uses two amps to achieve his signature tone (as do Chris Squire of Yes and Doug Pinnick of King's X), one with full distortion and notch filtering to sound more guitar-like for solos, and one super-clean for the low end of the neck pickup. This bass has been retired, but he affectionately refers to it as "The Wife"."Gear article". Billysheehan.com. http://billysheehan.com/gear/instruments_34.html. Retrieved 2011-08-09.  Sheehan's signature Yamaha bass is based on this Bass.

Sheehan's first full-time band was Talas, a power trio with Dave Constantino on guitar and Paul Varga on drums. The band played a mixture of cover songs and original material, and all three instrumentalists alternated on lead vocals.

Talas was one of Buffalo's most popular local bands for over a decade, arguably attaining cult status which spread into the northeast US and into Canada. In 1978, Talas released their eponymous debut album, which generated the regional hit single, "See Saw". It was during this time that Sheehan wrote some of his most famous songs, namely "Shy Boy" (later re-recorded with David Lee Roth), and the complex and frenetic "Addicted to that Rush" (later re-recorded with Mr Big).

In the late 1970s, Sheehan also played in a band called Light Years with drummer Ron Rocco who had earlier played in a band called Black Sheep with Foreigner singer Lou Gramm in Rochester, NY. After Sheehan returned to Talas they opened a show for UFO in Buffalo. This led Sheehan to an association with guitarist Michael Schenker and also helped land him the job touring with UFO in 1983.

Talas' first national exposure happened in 1980, when they opened thirty shows for Van Halen. However, success was elusive, and even as their brand of what came to be known as "glam metal" gained popularity over the next few years, Talas remained an unsigned act, due largely to poor management. They independently released their debut eponymous "Talas" LP on Evenfall Records (reissued by Metal Blade) and then "Sink Your Teeth Into That" on Relativity Records.

Seeking to take Talas further than just regional success, Sheehan reformed Talas with another drummer (Mark Miller), guitarist (Mitch Perry, also later of Heaven), and a dedicated vocalist, Phil Naro, with whom in the late 1970s Sheehan had previously worked in his side project (the Billy Sheehan Band). Talas would release only one more album, Live Speed on Ice. After Mitch Perry left the band, he was replaced by Johnny Angel, who played guitar with them for their 1985/86 US tour opening for Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force. There was a fourth Talas record, tentatively titled "Lights, Camera, Action" to be issued on Gold Mountain/A&M, but it never got past the demo stage due to Sheehan leaving to join David Lee Roth's solo band. Talas did briefly continue on under Phil Naro sans Sheehan, enlisting Jimmy Degrasso on drums, Al Pitrelli on guitar and Bruno Ravel on bass, but by this time Talas was dead Ravel joining Danger Danger.

In the early 1980s, Sheehan became involved with the proto-thrash metal band Thrasher, during this time he shared the stage with future Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz. His involvement with Thrasher did not last long but he did play on 2 songs from the self titled LP, which has not been released on cd to date.

2000-present[link]

In January 2009 Billy Sheehan reunited with his old Mr Big band members: Eric Martin, Paul Gilbert and Pat Torpey for a reunion tour in Japan. In April 2009 Sheehan's third solo album, Holy Cow!, produced by Simone Sello, was released by Mascot Records. The album features guest appearances from Paul Gilbert, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and King's X bassist Doug Pinnick. Gilbert has stated in an interview that his amicable collaboration with Billy on Holy Cow!, recorded prior to January, was likely a factor in the decision to reunite Mr Big.^[2] Mr. Big is still together and their new album What If... produced by Kevin Shirley^[3] was released December 15, 2010 in Japan, and January 21, 2011 in Europe. It was released February 8, 2011 in the U.S.

Personal life[link]

Sheehan has been an active member of the Church of Scientology since 1971^[4] and appeared on the street offering to defend it during Project Chanology.^[5]

Partial discography[link]

With Talas[link]

• 1979: Talas
• 1982: Sink Your Teeth Into That
• 1983: High Speed On Ice
• 1990: Talas Years
• 1998: If We Only Knew Then What We Know Now
• 1998: Live In Buffalo

With Thrasher[link]

• 1985: Burning at the Speed of Light

Tony MacAlpine[link]

• 1986: Edge of Insanity

David Lee Roth[link]

• 1986: Eat 'Em and Smile
• 1988: Skyscraper

Mr. Big[link]

• 1989: Mr. Big
• 1991: Lean Into It
• 1993: Bump Ahead
• 1996: Hey Man
• 2000: Get Over It
• 2001: Actual Size
• 2011: What If...

Niacin[link]

• 1996: Niacin
• 1997: Live
• 1998: High Bias
• 2000: Live! Blood, Sweat & Beers
• 2000: Deep
• 2001: Time Crunch
• 2005: Organik

With Explorer's Club[link]

• 1998: Age of Impact

Solo[link]

• 2001: Compression
• 2005: Cosmic Troubadour'
• 2006: Prime Cuts
• 2009: Holy Cow

Terry Bozzio and Billy Sheehan[link]

• 2002: Nine Short Films