Al Ain (Arabic: العين‎, al-ʿayn, literally The Spring), also known as the Garden City due to its greenery, is the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the fourth largest city in the United Arab Emirates. With a population of 374,000 (2009), it is located approximately 160 km east of the capital Abu Dhabi and about 120 km south of Dubai. Al Ain is the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the United Arab Emirates, and it has the country's highest number of Emirati nationals.

Al Ain is located in Abu Dhabi, inland on the border with Oman. The freeways connecting Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai form a geographic triangle in the center of the country, each city being roughly 130 kilometers from the other two.

Historically known as Tawam or al Buraimi Oasis, Al Ain, which means "the water spring", became a distinct location following independence in 1971. Al Ain has been inhabited for over 4,000 years, with archaeological sites showing human settlement at Al Hili and Jabel Hafeet. These early cultures built "beehive" tombs for their dead and engaged in hunting and gathering in the area. The oasis provided water for early farms until the modern age. The forts currently in Al Ain were built in the late 19th or early 20th century to solidify Abu Dhabi's control over the oasis.

Ain (French pronunciation: [ɛ̃]; Arpitan: En) is a department named after the Ain River on the eastern edge of France. Being part of the region Rhône-Alpes and bordered by the rivers Saône and Rhône, the department of Ain enjoys a privileged geographic situation. It has an excellent transport network (TGV, highways) and benefits from the proximity to the international airports of Lyon and Geneva.

Ain is composed of four geographically different areas (Bresse, Dombes, Bugey and Pays de Gex) which – each with its own characteristics – contribute to the diversity and the dynamic economic development of the department. In the Bresse agriculture and agro-industry are dominated by the cultivation of cereals, cattle breeding, milk and cheese production as well as poultry farming. In the Dombes, pisciculture assumes greater importance as does viticulture in the Bugey. The high diversification of the department's industry is accompanied by a strong presence of the plastics sector in and around Oyonnax (so-called "Plastics Valley").

Alain de Botton, FRSL (born Zurich, 20 December 1969) is a Swiss writer, philosopher, television presenter and entrepreneur, resident in the United Kingdom. His books and television programmes discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. At 23, he published Essays In Love (1993), which went on to sell two million copies. Other bestsellers include How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997), Status Anxiety (2004) and The Architecture Of Happiness (2006). In August 2008, he was a founding member of a new educational establishment in central London called The School of Life. In May 2009, he was a founding member of a new architectural organization called "Living Architecture". In October that year, de Botton was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, in recognition of his services to architecture. In 2011, de Botton was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

Born in Zurich, de Botton comes from a Sephardic Jewish family, originating from a small Castilian town of Boton (now vanished) on the Iberian peninsula. His ancestors include Abraham de Boton. His paternal grandmother was Yolande Harmer. His father, Gilbert de Botton, was the co-founder of Global Asset Management. His wealth was estimated by one source to be £234 million in 1999. He has one sister Miel and they received a secular upbringing. De Botton spent the first twelve years of his life in Switzerland where he was brought up to speak French and German.

Alain Soral (born October 2, 1958) is a French essayist, and film maker, as well as being the author of several polemical essays. He is the brother of the actress Agnès Soral. Soral lives in the French Basque Country. Since June 2004, he has been a boxing coach. Alain Soral considers himself to be in the political "avant garde" of French society, claiming that his remarks and comments are always at first condemned and later widely accepted by the mainstream French public.

Soral was born in Aix-les-Bains, Savoie and grew up in the suburbs of Annemasse (department of Haute-Savoie), where he attended a local primary school. When Soral was about 12, his family moved to Meudon so that he could go to a reputable private Catholic high school, the Collège Stanislas de Paris. Soral spent two years doing small jobs before being accepted into the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts at 20, where he studied for two years. Soral was then taken in by a family of academics, who encouraged him to enrol at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, where he attended lectures given by Cornelius Castoriadis.

Alain Souchon (born Alain Kienast on May 27, 1944) is a French singer, songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films.

Six months after Souchon was born his family returned to France. When he was 15 his father died in an accident. His mother sent him to a French college in England, but due to problems registering he decided to stay in London and work. Upon returning to France he took up guitar, influenced by English and American music. In 1970, he married and had his first son continuing to play in the cabarets and bars in the Rive Gauche of Paris.

Souchon signed his first contract in 1971 with the Pathe-Marconi label but had no success. Bob Socquet, the artistic director of RCA encouraged him to perform his song "L'amour 1930" at the Rose D'Or of Antibes contest. Souchon then began to collaborate with composer/arranger Laurent Voulzy (b. 1948); they would write together, but each released albums under his own name. Souchon's first hit was "J'ai 10 ans" (1974), from the album of the same name. He continued releasing albums and in 1978 wrote the theme for François Truffaut's 1979 film Love on the Run (L'amour en fuite). At this time his second son was born. In 1980, he was invited to perform at l'Olympia. He also began his acting career, most notably starring in the 1983 film L'été Meurtrier. Following the album 'On avance', he left RCA and signed with Virgin Records at 40 years old. In 1989 "La beauté de Ava Gardner" was voted best title of the year by the Victoires de la Musique.