Jacques Amyot

Jacques Amyot (French: [amjo]; 30 October 1513 – 6 February 1593), French Renaissance writer and translator, was born of poor parents, at Melun.

He found his way to the University of Paris, where he supported himself by serving some of the richer students. He was nineteen when he became M.A. at Paris, and later he graduated doctor of civil law at Bourges. Through Jacques Colure (or Colin), abbot of St. Ambrose in Bourges, he obtained a tutorship in the family of a secretary of state. By the secretary he was recommended to Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry, and through her influence was made professor of Greek and Latin at Bourges. Here he translated the Æthiopica of Heliodorus (1547), for which he was rewarded by Francis I with the abbey of Bellozane.

He was thus enabled to go to Italy to study the Vatican text of Plutarch, on the translation of whose Lives (1559–1565) he had been some time engaged. On the way he turned aside on a mission to the Council of Trent. Returning home, he was appointed tutor to the sons of Henry II, by one of whom (Charles IX) he was afterwards made grand almoner (1561) and by the other (Henry III) was appointed, in spite of his plebeian origin, commander of the Order of the Holy Spirit.

Manu Chao

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Manu Chao (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmanu ˈtʃao]; born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao; June 21, 1961) is a French-born musician of Spanish origin. He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his musical career in Paris, busking and playing with groups such as Hot Pants and Los Carayos, which combined a variety of languages and musical styles. With friends and his brother Antoine Chao, he founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe. He became a solo artist after its breakup in 1995, and since then tours regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba.

Early life

Chao's mother, Felisa Ortega, is from Bilbao, Basque Country, and his father, writer and journalist Ramón Chao, is from Vilalba, Galicia. They emigrated to Paris to avoid Francisco Franco's dictatorship—Manu's grandfather had been sentenced to death. Shortly after Manu's birth, the Chao family moved to the outskirts of Paris, and Manu spent most of his childhood in Boulogne-Billancourt and Sèvres. As he grew up he was surrounded by many artists and intellectuals, most of whom were acquaintances of his father. Chao cites much of his childhood experience as inspiration for some songs. As a child, he was a big fan of Cuban singer-pianist Bola de Nieve.