Alfonso Thomas

Personal information
Full name	Alfonso Clive Thomas
Born	(1977-02-09) 9 February 1977 (age 35) Cape Town, South Africa
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	Bowler
International information
National side	South Africa
Only T20I (cap 26)	2 February 2007 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2012	Titans
2011–2012	Adelaide Strikers
2011–present	Pune Warriors
2011	Lions
2008–present	Somerset (squad no. 8)
2007–2010	Dolphins
2007	Warwickshire
2005	Staffordshire
2004–2007	Titans
2003–2006	Northerns
2000–2003	North West
Career statistics
Competition	T20I	FC	LA	T20
Matches	1	121	143	138
Runs scored	–	3,509	550	268
Batting average	–	25.80	14.86	12.76
100s/50s	–	2/12	0/0	0/0
Top score	–	119*	28*	30*
Balls bowled	24	21,791	6,088	2,763
Wickets	3	389	185	159
Bowling average	8.33	27.21	27.94	20.87
5 wickets in innings	0	18	0	0
10 wickets in match	n/a	2	n/a	n/a
Best bowling	3/25	7/54	4/18	4/27
Catches/stumpings	0/–	33/–	30/–	42/–
Source: CricketArchive, 24 May 2012

Alfonso Clive Thomas (born 9 February 1977, Cape Town, South Africa) is a South African cricketer who has represented his country in one Twenty20 International. He is a right arm fast-medium bowler and a big hitting lower-order batsman. He currently plays domestic cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club where he is often referred to as 'The Great Alfonso' due to his high skill of bowling at the end of an innings giving away very few runs. He also plays for Pune Warriors India in their debut season as part of the IPL.

Career[link]

South African domestic -career[link]

Thomas made his first-class debut playing for Western Province B in Newlands, Cape Town in the 1998/99 season.^[1] In three first-class matches for Western Province B, he took two wickets,^[2] and did not play another first-class match until the 2000/01 season after a move to North West.^[3] His North West and SuperSport Series debut came against Gauteng, where he finished with match figures of 6/120.^[4] Thomas scored his maiden century only two games later, hitting 106 not out while batting at number ten,^[5] setting a record tenth wicket partnership for North West of 174 with Garth Roe as he did so.^[6] Four months later, Thomas was involved in another record breaking partnership for North West.^[6] With the team at 87/7 against Western Province, Thomas joined Morne Strydom at the crease. 492 balls later when Strydom was caught by Neil Johnson, the pair had added 204 to the score; Thomas eventually going on to score 95 not out.^[7] The following match, Thomas achieved his first five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, as he took the wickets of Easterns top five batsmen during a ten wicket victory; finishing the innings with 6/26.^[8]

Thomas started the 2001/02 season on top form, claiming five-wickets in an innings on three occasions in the first five games, against Boland,^[9] Western Province,^[10] and Griqualand West.^[11] He represented South Africa in the Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes in November 2001, having a stand-out performance in a Pool One match against Hong Kong as he took 2/4 in his over.^[12] He finished the 2001/02 season as North West's leading wicket-taker, with 35 wickets at an average of 22.14.^[13] His form saw him picked for South African Board President's XI and South Africa A to play the touring India A side.^[3] In a shortened 2002/03 South African domestic season due to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, Thomas only appeared in three first-class^[3] and five one-day matches for North West,^[14] although he did once more represent South Africa in the Hong Kong International Cricket Sixes.^[15] He made his second career century against Northerns, making 119*.^[16]

He moved to Northerns for the start of the 2003/04 season and had immediate success with 36 wickets in his eight SuperSport Series matches.^[17] His debut for the club, in which he took three wickets and three catches during Western Province's first innings to help restrict them to 173, was overshadowed by future Somerset team-mate Charl Willoughby, who took 7/56 & 4/56 to earn himself man of the match.^[18] In the Standard Bank Cup, Thomas' 17 wickets^[19] helped the club finish third in the league, which saw them qualify for the semi-finals.^[20] The 2003/04 season also saw the introduction of Twenty20 cricket in South Africa in the form of the Standard Bank Pro20 Series. Thomas represented Titans, a re-branded team merging Northerns and Easterns. He finished the Pro20 season with five wickets from six matches, including three vital dismissals in the group match against Eagles, when he claimed the wickets of Eagles' top three batsmen in his first two overs, helping to lead his team to a 90 run victory.^[21]

Since then he has constantly represented South Africa A and was part of the Test tour to India, standing in for an injured André Nel.

He has represented South Africa in a Twenty20 International, taking 3/25

English county career[link]

In August 2007, Thomas signed as Warwickshire's fourth overseas player of the season,^[22] playing nine matches for them through August and September. The following summer, he signed for Somerset under the Kolpak ruling.^[23]

2009 Champions League Twenty20[link]

In their first match of the 2009 Champions League Twenty20, Thomas played a good lower-middle order innings to guide Somerset to a victory over Deccan Chargers. When Thomas came in, Somerset required 55 runs off the remaining 37 balls of the match. A record eighth wicket partnership for the club^[24] meant that when James Hildreth lost his wicket from the first ball of the final over, Somerset needed five runs off as many balls. The following ball resulted in no score, and then the wicket of number ten Max Waller. This wicket allowed Thomas on strike, and he struck a boundary off the fourth ball of the over, and then after a near run out involving number eleven Charl Willoughby, Thomas hit another four from the final ball to grant Somerset the win.^[25]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Player profile: Alfonso Thomas from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Alfonso Thomas from CricketArchive

Moana Pozzi
Born	Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi (1961-04-27)27 April 1961 Genoa, Italy
Died	15 September 1994(1994-09-15) (aged 33) Lyon, France
Other names	Moana, Linda Heveret, Margaux Jobert, Anna Maria Pozzi, Anna Moana Pozzi, Moanna, Moanna Pozzi
Ethnicity	Italian
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Spouse	Antonio Di Ciesco (m. 1991–1994, Moana's death)
No. of adult films	88

Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi (27 April 1961 – 15 September 1994), best known as Moana Pozzi and Moana, was an Italian pornographic actress, actress, television personality, model, politician and writer.

Early years[link]

Pozzi was born Anna Moana Rosa Pozzi in Genoa, Liguria. Her parents chose her name from a geographic map of Hawaii: it means "where the sea is deepest". Her father Alfredo Pozzi was a nuclear engineer and he moved around the world with his family for work, and her mother Giovannina Alloisio was a housewife. As a teen, Moana lived with her family in Canada, then in Brazil. At 13 years old, in 1974, Moana moved back to Italy with her family, where she finished high school. When the family had to move again to Lyon, France, she decided to start living independently in Rome around 1980, when she was 19 years old.

In Rome, Pozzi started working as a model and studied acting. Sometimes she performed in TV commercials or as a walk-on in comedy movies. She was very ambitious, and in Rome she became the lover of many famous people. Her most famous secret lover was Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy from 1983 to 1987. Through his intervention, she got a job at Rai Television on a children's entertainment program. The same year (1981) she performed her first hardcore movie, Valentina, ragazza in calore (Valentina, Girl in Heat), credited as Linda Heveret. A minor scandal ensued since, at the same time the movie was in theatres, she was still working on children's TV. She denied being the same person, but she was suspended from TV anyway. This gave her her first popularity in newspapers and magazines. In 1985 Federico Fellini wanted her to perform in his movie Ginger and Fred.

Career[link]

In 1986, Pozzi met Riccardo Schicchi, manager of Diva Futura, the agency of the most famous porn stars like Cicciolina. Her first A-movie in hard core was Fantastica Moana, where she used her real name for the first time. She also took part in the famous Curve Deliziose (Delicious Curves) next to Cicciolina others, the first live show in Italy where naked models would masturbate onstage. This caused scandal and accusations of outrageous obscenity. She became huge in the hardcore business and soon eclipsed the popularity of Cicciolina in Italy. (At the same time Cicciolina stopped doing porn to pursue a political career in Italian Parliament.) Pozzi's appearances on TV also caused scandal. In the show Matrjoska by Antonio Ricci, she used to appear on stage completely naked or just wrapped in a transparent plastic veil. Magazines and newspapers were more and more interested in her and she was often featured on covers. She was also appreciated for her distinctive intelligence, defying the cliché of the brainless pinup. She cultivated intellectuals, writers, and artists such as Mario Schifano or Dario Bellezza. This was the first time a porn-star became so popular in everyday life.

Early 1990s[link]

Pozzi was conscious of her role in show business. In interviews she always spoke of what she wanted to be for public opinion: sexy, sophisticated, intelligent, open-minded, worldly.

In 1991, Pozzi published her first book Moana's Philosophy where she listed, with marks from 4 to 9.5, twenty famous celebrities who had been her lovers. The list included actors like Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi, soccer players like Paulo Roberto Falcão and Marco Tardelli, writers like Luciano De Crescenzo. The name of the most famous one, the actual prime minister Bettino Craxi, who was her lover in 1981, was hidden as "the politician".

In 1992, Pozzi co-founded, with Hungarian Cicciolina Ilona Staller, the Love Party of Italy, whose political program included legalization of brothels, better sex education and the creation of "love parks". No one was elected, but her popularity reached its pinnacle and the best Italian TV anchors wanted to interview her. Stylist Karl Lagerfeld wanted her on the catwalk in 1993. Moana Pozzi became so popular that she was a protagonist for an animated cartoon created by the famous Italian cartoonist Mario Verger, with herself co-directing. This film, entitled Moanaland (1994), aired frequently on Italian television in Blob, and in telecasts dedicated to the actress. Again Verger, by himself, dedicated to Moana Pozzi another cartoon, I Remember Moana, 1995, that gained praise by film critics Marco Giusti and Enrico Ghezzi, and was transmitted in Fuori Orario. It also won a Special Mention at the Erotic Film Festival in the USA.

Her sister Maria Tamiko "Mima" Pozzi became a porn actress, as well, with the stage name of Baby Pozzi.

Death[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)

In the summer of 1994, Pozzi was ill, unable to eat without vomiting, and losing weight. She took time off and traveled to India with her husband Antonio Di Ciesco and then entered a clinic in Lyon, France. She died on 15 September 1994, at the age of 33. Most reports say that she died of liver cancer.^{[citation needed]}

On the 10th anniversary of her death (2004), new rumors resurfaced and the court of justice of Rome opened a new file to investigate.^{[citation needed]} In December 2005, the Italian TV show Chi l'ha visto? presented for the first time the official death certificate of a Lyon cemetery, recording the exact day of the actress's death. Interviews with the family finally confirmed the circumstances. Her husband Antonio di Ciesco was also interviewed for the first time in 1995. Also shown was the unmarked grave in the "Pozzi" burial plot in Lerma, near Alessandria in Piedmont, northern Italy.

Her brother Simone revealed in February 2006, on the same TV programme, that he was actually her son. Moana's mother confirmed this some time ago. He wrote a book telling his story, which was published in 2006. The book discusses Moana's personality, her differing relations with the other members of her family (especially with her sister Mima), and the course of her illness and death.^{[citation needed]}

On 2 April 2007, Pozzi's husband Antonio Di Ciesco told the newspaper "Il Messaggero" that during her final days, Moana had asked him to speed her death. He claims that he euthanized her by letting air enter her IV, causing an air embolism.^[1][2]

Success[link]

Moana Pozzi performed in about 100 porn movies, mostly in Italy, but also some in Los Angeles with Gerard Damiano as director. She sold about 1 million videotapes. She was on the covers of 50 major magazines, not including pictorials in porn magazines. She was reportedly worth more than 50 billion 1990 Italian liras, about 40 million Euros. Some of her profits were donated posthumously to funding medical research on tumors.^[3]

The Italian movie Guardami ("Watch me") is based on her life.^{[citation needed]}

Notes[link]

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2009)

• Moana Pozzi, La filosofia di Moana, Moana's Club Edizioni, Roma, 1991 (autoprodotto).
• Moana Pozzi, Il sesso secondo Moana, Edizioni Moana's Club Edizioni, Roma, 1992 (autoprodotto).
• Noa Bonetti, Un'amica di nome Moana. Confidenze a cuore aperto di un’indimenticabile star a luci rosse, Sperling & Kupfer Editori, Milano, 1994, ISBN 88-200-2061-0.
• Brunetto Fantauzzi, La pornoViva, il terribile segreto di Moana, Flash Edizioni, Roma 1995.
• Patrizia D'Agostino – Antoni Tentori – Alda Teodorani, Pornodive, Castelvecchi Editore, Roma, 1995.
• Andrea Di Quarto – Michele Giordano, Moana e le altre. Vent'anni di cinema porno in Italia, Gremese Editore, 1997, ISBN 88-7742-067-7.
• Tommaso Trini, Moana. Ultimo mito, Prearo Editore, Roma, 2003, ISBN 88-7348-032-2.
• Ermanno Krumm, Mimmo Rotella – Moana ultimo mito, Prearo Editore, Roma, 2003.
• Marco Giusti, Moana, Mondadori Editore, Milano, 2004, ISBN 88-04-53306-4.
• Brunetto Fantauzzi, E... viva Moana, giallo politico! Chi ha ucciso la pornodiva del potere, 2005.
• Francesca Parravicini, Moana, tutta la verità, Aliberti Editore, Reggio Emilia, 2006, ISBN 88-7424-134-8.
• Brunetto Fantauzzi, Moana. La spia nel letto del potere, Edizioni Nuove Srl, 2006.
• Brunetto Fantauzzi, Moana. Mistero per sempre, Edizioni Nuove Srl, 2007.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Moana Pozzi

• The original death register shown in a TV programme (Italian)
• Moana Pozzi Online Warning: contains explicit pornographic content
• Moana Pozzi at the Internet Movie Database
• Moana Pozzi at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Moana Pozzi at the Adult Film Database

Lino Banfi
Born	(1936-07-11) 11 July 1936 (age 75) Puglia, Italy
Other names	Pasquale Zagaria
Occupation	Actor, Presenter, Screenwriter
Years active	1960 - present

Lino Banfi (born Pasquale Zagaria 11 July 1936) is an Italian film actor and presenter. He has appeared in over 100 films since 1960.

Biography[link]

He was born in the Apulian city of Andria and at the age of 3, moved to Canosa di Puglia. Lino Banfi became one of the most well-known actors in Italian "sexy comedies" in the 1970s. In the 1980s he reached the peak of his fame by appearing in movies such as L'allenatore nel pallone, Vieni avanti cretino, Il commissario Lo Gatto and Occhio, malocchio, prezzemolo e finocchio; he recently portrayed Grandpa Libero in Italian TV series Un medico in famiglia.

During his career nearly all of Lino Banfi's characters spoke with the distinctive pronunciation of the Bari dialect.

Lino and his wife Lucia have been married since 1962 and have two sons, Walter and Rosanna; Rosanna is also an actress.

In 2000, Lino Banfi became a Goodwill Ambassador for the Italian National Committee for UNICEF.^[1]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

TV[link]

• Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca (1964)
• Il triangolo rosso (1969)
• Arrivano i mostri (1977)
• Il superspia (1977)
• Se Parigi... (1982)
• Il vigile urbano (1989, Rai 1)
• Aspettando Sanremo (1990, Rai 1)
• Un inviato molto speciale (1992, Rai 2)
• Nuda proprietà vendesi (1997, Rai 1)
• Vola Sciusciù (2000, Rai 1 - subject also)
• Piovuto dal cielo (2000, Rai 1)
• Angelo il custode (2001, Rai 1)
• Un difetto di famiglia (2002, Rai 1)
• Il destino ha 4 zampe (2002, Rai 1)
• Un posto tranquillo (2003, Rai 1)
• Raccontami una storia (2004, Rai 1)
• Un posto tranquillo 2 (2005, Rai 1)
• Il mio amico Babbo Natale (2005, Canale 5)
• Il padre delle spose (2006, Rai 1)
• Il mio amico Babbo Natale 2 (2006, Canale 5)
• Scusate il disturbo (2009, Rai 1)
• Un medico in famiglia (1998–2009, Rai 1)
• Tutti i padri di Maria (2010, Rai 1)
• Il commissario Zagaria (2011, Canale 5)

Books written by Lino Banfi[link]

• Alla grande! (1991)
• Una parola è troppa... Nonno Libero racconta (2004)
• C'era una volta Nonno Libero (2004)
• Ti racconto una storia. Ricordi di vita e di scena (2006)
• Il chèlcio^[2] secondo Oronzo Canà (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lino Banfi

• Lino Banfi at the Internet Movie Database
• Lino Banfi at AllRovi
• Lino Banfi testimonial Cure2Children Birthday Solidarity (In italian)
• Biography at Italica.rai.it