Duff Cooper

Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich GCMG DSO PC (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician, diplomat and author. He wrote six books, including an autobiography, Old Men Forget, and a biography of the French diplomat Talleyrand. He wrote one novel, Operation Heartbreak (1950), which has been republished by Persephone Books.

Background and education

The only son of fashionable society doctor Sir Alfred Cooper and Lady Agnes Duff, daughter of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife, Duff Cooper was the youngest of their four children. He had royal connections: his maternal uncle, the first Duke of Fife, was married to Louise, Princess Royal, the daughter of King Edward VII, while his mother's maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Hay, Countess of Erroll, an illegitimate daughter of King William IV and his mistress Dorothy Jordan. Cooper enjoyed a typical gentleman's upbringing of country estates, London society, Wixenford School,Eton College and New College, Oxford.

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States and is the United States' 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. The state has a maritime border in the Atlantic Ocean with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the west and north. The state of New York, with an estimated 19.8 million residents in 2015, is often referred to as New York State to distinguish it from New York City, the state's most populous city and its economic hub.

With an estimated population of nearly 8.5 million in 2014, New York City is the most populous city in the United States and the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States. The New York City Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City is a global city, exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term New York minute. The home of the United Nations Headquarters, New York City is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State. Two-thirds of the state's population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% live on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th century Duke of York, future King James II of England. The next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Julius Robert Oppenheimer (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. As the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, Oppenheimer is among those who are called the "father of the atomic bomb" for their role in the Manhattan Project, the World War II project that developed the first nuclear weapons that ended the war with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first atomic bomb was detonated on July 16, 1945, in the Trinity test in New Mexico; Oppenheimer remarked later that it brought to mind words from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

After the war Oppenheimer became chairman of the influential General Advisory Committee of the newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission, and used that position to lobby for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. After provoking the ire of many politicians with his outspoken opinions during the Second Red Scare, he had his security clearance revoked in a much-publicized hearing in 1954, and was effectively stripped of his direct political influence; he continued to lecture, write and work in physics. Nine years later President John F. Kennedy awarded (and Lyndon B. Johnson presented) him with the Enrico Fermi Award as a gesture of political rehabilitation.

Edmund de Waal

Edmund Arthur Lowndes de Waal, OBE (born 10 September 1964) is a British artist, and author of The Hare with Amber Eyes, published in 2010, and The White Road, published in 2015. He is most well known for his large scale installations of porcelain vessels and has received several awards and honours for his work.

Early life

De Waal was born in Nottingham, England, the son of Esther Aline (née Lowndes-Moir) and Rev. Dr Victor de Waal, who became the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral. His grandfather was Hendrik de Waal, a Dutch businessman who moved to England. His grandmother Elisabeth was a member of the Ephrussi family, whose history he chronicled in The Hare with Amber Eyes.. Elisabeth de Waal's first novel, The Exiles Return was published by Persephone Books in 2013. De Waal's siblings include barrister John de Waal, Alex de Waal who is director of the World Peace Foundation, and Caucasus expert Thomas de Waal.

De Waal's interest in pottery began at the age of five when he took an ceramics evening class at the Lincoln School of Art. He was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, where he was taught pottery by the potter Geoffrey Whiting, a student of Bernard Leach.

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and producer. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, three for acting and one for producing, and one Tony Award. He was named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine in 2011.

Cooper has a B.A. in English from Georgetown University (1997) and an MFA in acting from Actors Studio Drama School at The New School (2000). He first gained recognition in the spy-action television show Alias and the television drama Jack & Bobby. He later appeared in supporting roles in the romantic comedies Wedding Crashers (2005), Yes Man (2008), and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). His breakthrough role came with the comedy franchise The Hangover trilogy (2009–13). Other notable films include the action-comedy The A-Team (2010), the thriller Limitless (2011), the crime drama The Place Beyond the Pines (2013), and the superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), in which he voiced Rocket Raccoon.

Cooper garnered consecutive Oscar nominations from 2013 to 2015 for his roles in the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook (2012), the comedy-drama American Hustle (2013), and the biographical war drama American Sniper (2014). For producing American Sniper, Cooper also received an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination. For starring in the 2014 Broadway revival of the play The Elephant Man, Cooper garnered a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination.