The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jube) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron. The rood screen would originally have been surmounted by a rood loft carrying the Great Rood, a sculptural representation of the Crucifixion. In English, Scots, and Welsh cathedral, monastic, and collegiate churches, there were commonly two transverse screens, with a rood screen or rood beam located one bay west of the pulpitum screen, but this double arrangement nowhere survives complete, and accordingly the preserved pulpitum in such churches is sometimes referred to as a 'rood screen'. At Wells Cathedral the medieval arrangement was restored in the 20th century, with the medieval strainer arch supporting a rood, placed in front of the pulpitum and organ.

Rood screens can be found in churches in many parts of Europe: the German word for one is Lettner; the French jubé; the Italian tramezzo; and the Dutch doksaal. However, in Catholic countries they were generally removed during the Counter-reformation, when the retention of any visual barrier between the laity and the high altar was widely seen as inconsistent with the decrees of the Council of Trent. Accordingly rood screens now survive in much greater numbers in Anglican and Lutheran churches; with the greatest number of survivals complete with screen and rood figures in Scandinavia. The iconostasis in Eastern Christian churches is a visually similar barrier, but is now generally considered to have a different origin, deriving from the ancient altar screen or templon.^{[citation needed]}

Alys Fowler (born c.1978) was a presenter for a short period on the long-running British TV programme Gardeners' World and lives in Birmingham, England.

Fowler was born in Silchester, and had a rural childhood.  Her father was a doctor, and her mother ran various cottage industry businesses – she had 200 chickens and sold their eggs, trained gun dogs, and would dog-sit for wealthy Londoners.  After completing her education in 2002, Alys Fowler began working as a journalist for Horticulture Week, and Landscape Review. In 2005, Fowler worked for BBC Gardeners' World and Parks as a horticultural researcher. In 2006, Fowler became Head Gardener of the BBC garden at Berryfields in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and created features at the Gardeners' World Live shows. 2007 saw the publication of Fowler's first book, The Thrifty Gardener: How to Create a Stylish Garden for Next to Nothing. In 2008, after appearing occasionally in her Berryfields role, Fowler became a regular presenter on Gardeners' World, and continues to write a monthly blog on the programme's website. She was dropped by the BBC for the 2011 series, at the same time that Toby Buckland's contract as main presenter was not renewed.

Carlo Curley (b. 24 August 1952,North Carolina, USA) is a flamboyant and popular classical concert organist. Self-dubbed "the Pavarotti of the Organ", he is one of only a few concert organists worldwide who support themselves exclusively by giving recitals, concerts and master classes, without any supplement from teaching or church position. Curley is cosmopolitan, and refers to three places as ‘home’: England, Scandinavia and North Carolina (USA).

He was born into a musical family and attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. He subsequently enjoyed advanced tuition with Virgil Fox, Robert Elmore, George Thalben-Ball and coached privately with Arthur Poister. He also was influenced greatly by long-time friend and confidant, Robert Noehren, for whom he often played. Noehren was full of praise for Curley’s talent and once wrote to a colleague in the early 1980s that “Curley could easily become the new Anton Heiller”. Curley’s basic approach to performing, while very much his own, pays homage primarily to that of Virgil Fox, aiming to make classical organ music popular to a wider audience, often including pieces from other classical genres arranged and transcribed by himself.

John the Baptist (Hebrew: יוחנן המטביל, Yoḥanan ha-mmaṭbil, Arabic: يحيى بن زكريا‎ Yahya ibn Zakariya, Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ Yoḥanan, Greek: Ὁ Ἅγιος/Τίμιος Ἐνδοξος Προφήτης, Πρόδρομος καὶ Βαπτιστής Ἰωάννης Ho Hágios/Tímios Endoxos, Profḗtēs, Pródromos, kaì Baptistḗs Ioánnes) (c. 6 BC – c. AD 30-36) was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels and the Qur'an. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River. Some scholars maintain that he was influenced by the Essenes, who were semi-ascetic, expected an apocalypse, and practiced rituals corresponding strongly with baptism, although there is no direct evidence to substantiate this. John is regarded as a prophet in Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, and Mandaeism.

Most biblical scholars agree that John baptized Jesus at "Bethany beyond the Jordan," by wading into the water with Jesus from the eastern bank. John the Baptist is also mentioned by Jewish historian Josephus, in Aramaic Matthew, in Pseudo-Clementine, and in the Qur'an. Accounts of John in the New Testament appear compatible with the account in Josephus. There are no other historical accounts of John the Baptist from around the period of his lifetime.