John Richard Briley (b. 25 August 1925) is an American writer best known for screenplays of biopics. He won the Academy Award For Best Original Screenplay at the 1982 Oscars for Gandhi. As well as film scripts, he has written for television and theatre, and published several novels.

Briley was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and served in the United States Air Force, 1943–46, reaching the rank of captain. At the University of Michigan, he gained a BA in 1950 and an MA in English 1951. He married Dorothy Louise Reichart in 1950, and they had four children. He worked in public relations for General Motors before rejoining the air force in 1955. He was posted to RAF Northolt airbase at South Ruislip near London, where he was director of orientation activities and started writing.

In 1960, he earned a PhD in Elizabethan drama from the University of Birmingham, left the air force and became a staff writer with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood. He left MGM in 1964. He also had an uncredited part in the 1965 comedy Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious.

C. David Briley (born January 8, 1964) was a council member of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. He served from 1999 to 2007. David Briley was the Vice-Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and held seats on the Personnel, Public Information, Human Relations and Housing Committee, the Traffic and Parking Committee and the Greenways Committee. He was past Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Solid Waste and the Water Rate Oversight Committee. He is a Board Member of the Community Resource Center. He was born in 1964 in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a member of the Briley Law Group.

In 2005, David Briley proposed city-wide wireless internet access for Nashville. Received coolly by the administration, Briley's proposal nonetheless contributed to the development of free wireless access at Davidson County's public libraries as well as many public parks, including Centennial Park. A task force, led by Briley and including council members and representatives from technology and infrastructure providers, ultimately supported this narrower public access. In 2006, Briley was one of a small number of vocal opponents to proposed development which would move the city's AAA baseball team, the Nashville Sounds, into downtown Nashville

John Clayton Mayer ( /ˈmeɪ.ər/ MAY-ər; (born October 16, 1977) is an American pop and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his skills and gained a following, and he now lives in New York City. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares and Heavier Things, did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland."

Mayer began his career performing mainly acoustic rock, but gradually began a transition towards the blues genre in 2005 by collaborating with renowned blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton, and by forming the John Mayer Trio. The blues influence can be heard throughout his 2005 live album Try! with the John Mayer Trio and his third studio album Continuum, released in September 2006. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007 Mayer won Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". He released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, in November 2009. His fifth album, Born and Raised, was released on May 22, 2012. He has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million albums worldwide.

John Mark is a character in the New Testament. According to William Lane, an "unbroken tradition" identifies him with Mark the Evangelist. John Mark is mentioned several times in the Acts of the Apostles. The first mention is in Acts 12:12, when Peter is coming to his mother's house:

When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

John Mark himself appears a bit later in the same chapter, in Acts 12:25, as the travel companion of Saul (Apostle Paul) and Barnabas:

When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

John Mark is mentioned soon after the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15:37-41. Paul (Saul) does not have a too flattering impression of his former associate, arguing over him with Barnabas in Antioch:

Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.