John Weaver (21 July 1673 – 24 September 1760) was an English dancer and choreographer, and is often regarded as the father of English pantomime^[who?].

Weaver was born in Shrewsbury. His father, a dance teacher, suggested he go to London and become a ballet master. Weaver soon became a specialist in comic roles and created the first pantomime ballet, the burlesque Tavern Bilkers (1702). His more serious work, The Loves of Mars and Venus dealt with themes from classical literature and required a significant amount of gestures due to the story not being expressed in any spoken form. Because Weaver attempted to use plot and emotion in replacement of more sophisticated technical and speech methods, he is considered a major influence on subsequent choreographers, including Jean-Georges Noverre and Gasparo Angiolini.^{[citation needed]}

His books include a translation of Raoul Auger Feuillet's Orchesography, and two original works titled A Small Treatise of Time and Cadence in Dancing' (1706) and A collection of ball-dances performed at court (1706).

Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 – October 29, 1877) was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years. He served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret vigilante organization which launched a reign of terrorism against African-Americans, Northerners that had moved to the postwar South, Southerners who supported the Union, and Republicans during the Reconstruction era in the Southern United States.

A cavalry and military commander in the war, Forrest is one of the war's most unusual figures. Less educated than many of his fellow officers, Forrest had amassed a fortune prior to the war as a planter, real estate investor, and slave trader. He was one of the few officers in either army to enlist as a private and be promoted to general officer and division commander by the end of the war. Although Forrest lacked formal military education, he had a gift for strategy and tactics. He created and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname The Wizard of the Saddle.

Jefferson Finis Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history. Davis was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane (Cook) Davis. After attending Transylvania University, Davis graduated from West Point and fought in the Mexican–American War as a colonel of a volunteer regiment. He served as the United States Secretary of War under Democratic President Franklin Pierce. Both before and after his time in the Pierce administration, he served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing the State of Mississippi. As a senator, he argued against secession, but did agree that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union.

Felix Hell is a world renowned organist born on September 14, 1985 in Frankenthal/Pfalz, Germany. He was a child prodigy, performing his first organ recital in Russia at the age of nine, and presenting concerts on the organ in many countries around the world before his 11th birthday.

Beginning piano lessons at the age of seven, inspired by Bach's C-Major Prelude, his remarkable ability was quickly apparent. It was only eight months later he decided to undertake organ lessons.

On Easter, during the year he was eight years old, he was on duty in his first service as a liturgical organist, playing the organ at a Roman Catholic High Mass. At the age of nine, he presented his first organ recital, in Russia. He has concertized extensively ever since.

"Jugend musiziert" (Federal German competition for young musicians)

"Jugend musiziert"

"Jugend musiziert"

"Jugend musiziert"

From the very beginning, Hell's piano teacher has been Prof. Siegbert Panzer, German State Academy of Music, Mannheim. Felix has been formally educated by Eckard Mayer, at the Evangelical University of Church Music in Heidelberg, Germany, with Johannes Michel focusing in organ literature, and Prof. Christiane Michel focusing on improvisation. In this period of his education, he received additional training courses from Professors Martin Lücker, Frankfurt; Pieter van Dijk, Amsterdam; Oleg Yantchenko, Moscow; Wolfgang Rübsam, Chicago; Leo Krämer, Speyer; Franz Lehrndorfer, Munich; Robert Griffith, Delaware/Ohio.