The Deutschland Tour (English: Tour of Germany and sometimes Deutschland-Rundfahrt in German) was the most important multi-stage road bicycle race in Germany. Initially the race was held in May/June. Since 2005 it was part of the UCI ProTour and has been moved to August. On October 16, 2008 organizers have announced that the 2009 edition would be cancelled, following the doping cases that were revealed. Marketing chiefs said they were unable to finance the nine-day race due to a lack of interested sponsors after the latest revelations of cyclists testing positive for the blood-booster CERA. The race has not been held since.

Already in 1911 a "national" cycling race of over 1,500 km was held in Germany (which was then composed of several territories and kingdoms). Until 1931 several real—more-or-less—Tours were held, but always under very different conditions and organisations. In 1931 the first Deutschlandtour was held, and it is generally agreed upon that the race was exciting and well organised between 1937 and 1939, the start of World War II.

Blind Guardian is a German power metal band formed in the mid-1980s in Krefeld, West Germany. They are often credited as one of the seminal and most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Blind Guardian is a part of the German heavy metal scene that emerged in the mid-1980s.

The band's lyrics, written by vocalist Hansi Kürsch, are inspired by the fiction of fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin as well as traditional legends and epics. Over the years, a running theme has developed personifying the band members as travelling bards, leading some fans to refer to the band affectionately as "The Bards".

Blind Guardian was formed in 1984 in Krefeld, Germany, by Hansi Kürsch (vocals, bass) and Andre Olbrich (guitar) under the name Lucifer's Heritage. The band first released two demos in 1985 and 1986, despite undergoing chaotic lineup changes: Markus Dörk (guitar) and Thomen Stauch (drums) were replaced by Christof Theißen and Hans-Peter Frey, respectively. Finally, in 1987, Marcus Siepen joined and Thomen came back to form the lineup which would stay consistent for the next 18 years.

Vira Viktorivna Halushka (Ukrainian: Віра Вікторівна Галушка, Russian: Вера Викторовна Галушка, born 3 February 1982), better known by her stage name Vera Brezhneva (Russian: Вера Брежнева, Ukrainian: Віра Брежнєва), is a Ukrainian pop-singer and television presenter.

Vera was born on February 3, 1982 in Dniprodzerzhynsk, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. She was raised in an ordinary family. Her mother, Tamara, is Russian, and her father, Viktor is mixed of Ukrainian and Russian descent. Her father worked in a chemical factory located by the Dnieper River. Her mother, who had graduated from medical school, worked in the same place. Vera has three sisters - one older (Halyna) and two younger (Nastya and Vika, twins). She bought a flat for her parents in Boryspil, nearby Kiev. The father of Vera's daughter (Sonia) is Vitaliy Voychenko, to whom Vira was married for a few years (after a civil wedding). She graduated from the Rail Engineering Institute of Dnipropetrovsk as an economist.

Marvin Earl "Monty" Roberts (born May 14, 1935) is an American horse trainer who promotes his techniques of natural horsemanship through his Join-Up International organization, named after the core concept of his training method. Roberts believes that horses use a non-verbal language, which he terms "Equus," and that humans can use this language to communicate with horses. In order to promulgate his methods, Roberts has authored a number of books including his original best-seller, The Man Who Listens to Horses, and regularly tours with a live demonstration. He runs an Equestrian Academy in Solvang, California and an "online university" to promote his ideas.

Monty Roberts was born in Salinas, California and is the son of horse trainer Marvin E Roberts, who authored his own self-published book on called "Horse and Horseman Training" in 1957. Roberts strongly disagrees with his father's training methods, which he describes as "almost torturing the animals into submission". However, the senior Roberts' book, on page 55, also describes some training methods similar to the "Join-up" technique,and blogger John Dolan has noted other parallels between the training methods of father and son. Roberts claims that his father also beat him as a child, although other family members, including his younger brother Larry, dispute this version of events, with his aunt and cousin, Joyce Renebome and Debra Ristau, specifically refuting the allegation in the book Horse Whispers & Lies.