Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was an American conglomerate.

Gulf and Western's prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan Plating & Stamping as its "founding" for the purpose of later anniversaries.

Under Bluhdorn the company diversified widely, leaving behind things like stamping metal bumpers not only for communications properties like Paramount Pictures (acquired in 1966) but also:

and

With the Paramount acquisition, G+W became parent company of the Dot Records label, and the Famous Music publishing company. After Stax was acquired, that label became a subsidiary of Dot, though Dot was not at all mentioned on the actual label (rather, Dot and Stax were noted as subsidiaries of Paramount). Later on, the record operation was moved under Famous Music and renamed the Famous Music Group.

The company also purchased Desilu Productions from Lucille Ball in 1967, which included most of Ball's television product, as well as such properties as Star Trek and Mission: Impossible (it and its successor companies would make millions on both series over the following decades with such projects as Star Trek's various hit follow-up TV projects and films, beginning in the late 1970s). Desilu was renamed to Paramount Television.

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O. Disney, he was co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company and had an annual revenue of approximately US$36 billion in the 2010 financial year.

Disney is particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice. During his lifetime he received four honorary Academy Awards and won 22 Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history. Disney also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the U.S., as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland.

James Courtney (born 29 June 1980 in Penrith, New South Wales) is an Australian racing driver who competes in the V8 Supercar Championship. He won the 2010 Australian Touring Car Championship driving for the Dick Johnson Racing Ford team. Courtney has driven for the Holden Racing Team since the 2011 season.

Courtney has raced and was successful in several other categories, most of which are regarded as the stepping stones to Formula 1. He was World Junior Karting Champion in 1995 and world Formula A Champion in 1997. He was British Formula Ford champion in 2000 and broke the record for winning the most Formula Ford races in one season. He drove for the Jaguar Junior Formula Three team in 2001, impressively winning his first F3 race on his F3 debut. He was also a test driver for Jaguar's Formula One team. Injuries from a high-speed test crash at Monza in 2002, due to failure of the rear wing on the Jaguar F1 car, led to him missing some races in that year's British Formula Three Championship so he could not win the title - although he was easily leading it at that stage. In 2003, he was All-Japan Formula Three champion for the TOM'S team. In 2004 and 2005 he raced in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship for Toyota.

Raymond Morris Hadley OAM (born 27 September 1954) is an Australian talkback radio broadcaster. He presents 2GB Sydney's morning show, and leads the Continuous Call Team, a rugby league-based talkback radio panel program.

Hadley was born in Paddington and grew in up in Dundas Valley in the western suburbs of Sydney but spent a great deal of time with his grandparents in a small village called Eungai Rail on the mid north coast of New South Wales.

He decided at a young age to become a sports broadcaster, but reports being questioned by his family and friends whenever his ambitions were brought up. After sitting his Higher School Certificate at Macquarie Boys High School in 1971, he tried unsuccessfully to gain a job in sports broadcasting. He soon found work in auctioneering, and after getting his auctioneer's licence, was an auctioneer for ten years.

He quit auctioneering to become a taxi driver, so that he could spend his weekends getting casual work as a race broadcaster. By 1980, he was calling the greyhound races at Appin, Bulli and Nowra.