Geronimo Stilton

Geronimo Stilton is a best-selling children's book series published by Edizioni Piemme of Milan, Italy, since 2000. Scholastic Corporation has published the English version of the series since February 2004. Although the series credits its title character as the author, the idea was originally thought of by Elisabetta Dami. On older novels, the copyright is issued to a pseudonym "Geronimo Stilton"; this was changed on newer books. The books are intended for readers in the 6–12-year-old age range.

Overview

In the series, the title character is a talking mouse who lives in New Mouse City on Mouse Island. A best-selling author, Geronimo Stilton works as a journalist and editor for the fictional newspaper The Rodent's Gazette.

He has a younger sister named Thea Stilton, a cousin named Trap Stilton, and a favorite little nephew, nine-year-old Benjamin Stilton. Geronimo is a nervous, mild-mannered mouse who would like nothing better than to live a quiet life, but he keeps getting involved in far-away adventures with Thea, Trap, and Benjamin, and sometimes Aunt Sweetfur. The books are written as though they are autobiographical adventure stories.

Geronimo

Geronimo (Mescalero-Chiricahua: Goyaałé [kòjàːɬɛ́] "the one who yawns"; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent leader of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. From 1850 to 1886 Geronimo joined with members of three other Chiricahua Apache bands—the Chihenne, the Chokonen and the Nednhi—to carry out numerous raids and commit widespread depredations in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora, and in the southwestern American territories of New Mexico and Arizona. Geronimo's raids and related combat actions were part of the prolonged period of the larger American/Apache conflict that collectively became known as the Apache Wars.

Raiding was an ingrained part of Apache life and culture. Over many centuries, Apaches had raided other neighboring Indian tribes, who raided back. After the Spanish made their entrada into northern Mexico and New Mexico in the late 1500's, the Apache raided their settlements, and the Spanish responded with retaliation attacks that in turn spawned revenge warfare that reverberated back and forth. Apache raids ranged from stealing stock and other plunder to torture and mutilation, and killing or capture of victims. Raids often were brutal business. In the 1800's there were many Apache leaders who were successful in raiding, and the revenge warfare it engendered. Geronimo participated in all forms of raiding and revenge warfare, and in his literally hundreds of raids, he achieved a record of success and brutality that was equal to, if not superior to any of his contemporaries.

Stilton

Coordinates: 52°29′21″N 0°17′33″W / 52.48915°N 0.29238°W / 52.48915; -0.29238

Stilton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Stilton lies approximately 12 miles (19 km) north of Huntingdon. Stilton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England.

History

There is evidence of Neolithic occupation of the parish, and a number of Roman finds have been uncovered in the village; as well as a Roman silver ring and a 2nd-century jug, archaeologists found a potential Roman settlement in the village as well as Roman cheese press.

Coaching inns

The Roman Ermine Street, which later became the Great North Road, was integral to the development of the village, and in late medieval times the village was a popular posting station and coaching stop. At one time there were 14 public houses for a population of around 500.

The main inns of the period were The Bell and The Angel, both of which are still in existence. The Bell Inn has been recorded since 1515 and was rebuilt in 1642. The Angel Inn, dating from the early 17th century was rebuilt as an impressive red brick house in the 18th century ceased to be an inn and was badly burned in 1923. Fires also damaged the village as a whole in 1729, 1798 and 1895.

Benjamin

Benjamin was the last-born of Jacob's thirteen children (12 sons 1 daughter), and the second and last son of Rachel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He was the progenitor of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. In the Biblical account, unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, Benjamin's name appears as "Binyaamem" (Hebrew: בנימין, "Son of my days"). In the Qur'an, Benjamin is referred to as righteous young child, who remained with Jacob when the older brothers plotted against Joseph. Later rabbinic traditions name him as one of four ancient Israelites who died without sin, the other three being Chileab, Jesse and Amram.

Name

According to the Torah, Benjamin's name arose when Jacob deliberately corrupted the name Benoni, the original name of Benjamin, since Benoni was an allusion to Rachel's dying just after she had given birth, as it means son of my pain. Textual scholars regard these two names as fragments of naming narratives coming from different sources - one being the Jahwist and the other being the Elohist.

Meet the Beatles!

Meet the Beatles! is the second Beatles album released in the United States. It was the first US Beatles album to be issued by Capitol Records, on 20 January 1964 in both mono and stereo formats. It topped the popular album chart on 15 February 1964 and remained at number one for eleven weeks before being replaced by The Beatles' Second Album. The cover featured Robert Freeman's portrait used in the United Kingdom for With the Beatles, with a blue tint added to the original stark black-and-white photograph.

Background

After constantly rejecting requests by both Brian Epstein and George Martin to release Beatles records in the United States, in November 1963 EMI label head Sir Joseph Lockwood sent a deputy to Los Angeles ordering Capitol Records to commence releasing and promoting Beatles product in the United States. Despite the "first album" claim on its cover, ten days prior to its release Vee-Jay Records of Chicago beat Capitol to the punch with the release of the Beatles' American debut album Introducing... The Beatles, which had been delayed for release for various reasons since the previous summer. Perhaps as a result of the Vee-Jay release, Liberty Music Shops advertised in the New York Times of 12 January 1964 that Meet the Beatles! was available for purchase, an ad not authorised by Capitol.