Ayn Rand

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.

Alisa Rosenbaum was born on February 3, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alisa, later changing her name to Ayn Rand ( pronounced "I-an" ), would become one the best selling authors of all time. Her book, "Atlas Shrugged", in 1991 was named the second most influential book for Americans, following the Bible.

"I decides to be a writer at the age of 9...it was a specific, conscious decision...I remember the day and the hour."

Ayn's father, Zinovy Zacharovich Rosenbaum was a successful pharmacist in St. Petersburg. Ayn greatly admired her father as an honorable and principled man. Her mother, Anna considered herself an intellectual and attended many lectures and theatrical productions. She often commented to Ayn that raising children was a "hateful duty", but was concerned and attentive to her family's needs.

She seemed to be closer to her father. She felt that intellectually they were more compatible. Although it was her mother who made arrangements for Ayn to leave Russia in 1926

Ayn unlike her sisters, Natasha and Nora, had little interest in children's stories and preferred reading a young boy's magazine filled with tales of heroes and adventure. Her mother, Anna, took her to see her first movie. She quickly fell in love with the movies, becoming excited about writing film scripts.

In 1917 the Russian Revolution broke out and Bolsheviks seized her fathers business. This was the beginning of her hatred of Communism. Collectivism vs Individualism would be her life-long theme running through all her writings. She was introduced to the books of Victor Hugo at this time and reflected later, by saying:

"Victor Hugo is my favorite writer in all world literature, not for the content of his ideas, but for his literary method, and he is the only writer who had some influence on my style of writing."

The family moved from St. Petersburg in 1918 to escape the communist regime and settled on the Crimean Peninsula where her father opened another business. With the communist following on their heels, the shop was nationalized and they moved back to St. Petersburg (now called Petrograd).

Ayn graduated from highschool in 1921 and enter the University of Leningrad at 16. With her studies in philosophy, her beliefs were strongly affected by Aristotle.

"...that there is only one reality, the one that man perceives...and that his mind is his only tool of knowledge."

With the Communists in power hunger and disease ran ramped throughout Russia, and speaking against the government could mean "Siberia" for you and your family.

Graduating from college in 1924, Ayn enrolled at a school for screenwriters, the "Cinema Institute", and in 1925 took a job as a museum guide. During this time Ayn developed a passion for the world of stage and film, bringing with it scenes of bright lights and foreign cities...

"It was the World into which I had to grow up some day, the World I had to reach"

In 1925 Ayn's mother wrote to relatives in Chicago and asked if her daughter could visit them in the States. By early 1926 she had a passport, and a first class ticket on a steamer to America provided by her mother. Ayn left Russia on January 26...celebrating her 21st birthday in Berlin, and arrived in New York City on February 10th. This would be the "turning-point" of her life.

Upon arriving in New York City in the early
evening hours February 10 1926, Ayn Rand
described her excitement...

"...and seeing the first lighted skyscrapers...it was snowing, very faintly, and I think I began to cry
because I remember the snowflakes and the tears
sort of together..."

She spent a few days in NY with relatives and went to see her first movie in America. Ayn then departed for Chicago to spend the next 6 months living with relatives there. One in particular, owned a movie theater which she visited almost daily. To improve her English language skills she began to write movie scripts.

With a letter of recommendation to the DeMille Studios from a film distributor in hand, and a loan of $100 from relatives, she boarded a train in August bound for Hollywood.

Ayn rented a room at the Studio Club apartments, a residence for young women who hoped to make careers in the film industry...such as Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak to name a few.

On September 4th she visited the DeMille Studios for an interview but was told there were no jobs available. On a chance meeting while walking across the studio lot, Cecil B. DeMille took notice of this young dark eyed woman and struck up a conversation. He invited Ayn onto the set of "The King of Kings" and arranged for her to become an extra in several scenes. DeMille later hired her as a junior screenwriter.

At this time she met a bit player in "The King of Kings" by the name of Frank O'Conner and described him as having the "ideal" face. For Ayn it was "love at first sight". Later she was tempted to put him on the cover of one of her novels saying...

"...All my heros will always be reflections of Frank..."

Frank and Ayn dated for the next few years and married on April 15, 1929, before the final extension to her visa expired...becoming the wife of an American. She became a naturalized citizen in 1931.

"You fall in love with a person because you regard him or her as a value and because they contribute to your personal happiness."

DeMille was forced to close his studio in 1929 and Ayn was hired as a filing clerk in RKO's wardrobe department, and became head of the department a year later. Frank was working steadily and so the O'Conners bought their first automobile, and Ayn her first portable typewriter.

She worked on several screen plays and short stories in her spare time and began her first major novel "We the Living" (originally named "Airtight") and sold a story "The Red Pawn" to Universal Studios for $1,500 enabling her to quit her job at RKO and write full time. During this time she wrote a play which was produced as "Woman on Trial" at the Hollywood Playhouse in 1934. Later it would play on Broadway for 7 months as "Night of January 16th" with good reviews. The interesting thing about this play was that members of the audience served as jurors so the play had two different endings depending on the jurors verdict.

Ayn and Frank move to New York in 1934 where she works on the script for Night of January 16th. We the Living was published in 1936, its theme was...

"...the right of the individual to the pursuit of his own happiness. It portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives."

Ayn tried unsuccessfully to bring her family to America. They even started to learn English in preparation for the trip. But it became virtually impossible for people to get out of Russia under Stalin's rule. Many years later her sister Nora did come to America, but returned to Russia after a short visit.

"Anthem" written in 1937, was published in England in 1938, and later in America in 1945.

"...a story of courage and rebellion against totalitarian collectivism...a fearful society that one man dares to defy"

Ayn began one of her most popular novels "The Fountainhead" (originally named Second-hand Lives) in 1938, a story of an architect of unbending principal, which was published in 1943. She returned to Hollywood to write the screen adaptation of the book. But it would not be until after the War in 1948 before the movie, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, would be released. The book was dedicated to her husband Frank O'Conner...

"He is my best proof that people such as I write about can and do exist in real life."

Ayn made attempts to contact Frank Lloyd Wright while writing The Fountainhead but got no response. It was only after publication the she got a very positive response from Frank Lloyd Wright after he read the book. Ayn responded by saying...

"I felt that The Fountainhead had not quite completed its destiny until I had heard from you about it, Now it is completed."

We the Living was filmed in Italy by an Italian film company in 1943 without Ayn's approval or knowledge. Mussolini banned the film as being anti-fascist. She would only learn of it in 1946. Legal action against the company would not be settled until 1961, and then out of court. Ayn eventually approved the film for showing in America, and it is available now on videotape (subtitled).

Ayn began writing her major novel "Atlas Shrugged" on September 3, 1946.

Rand testified in front of the "House Committee on Un-American Activities" in Washington in 1947 as a "friendly witness" to the investigation of communist infiltration in the movies. She had written the pamphlet "Screen Guide for Americans"...mainly for filmmakers to monitor communist propaganda in their movies, a subject she felt very strongly about.

Ayn and Frank would return to New York City's Manhattan Island for good in October 1951.

On October 17, 1951 Ayn and Frank moved to New York City permanently to live in one of the skyscrapers that Ayn loved so dearly.

"I love New York. It is a city, and I suppose that I am one of those decadent products of civilization that do not feel at home outside of a big city."

In late 1950 Ayn received a fan letter from a young psychologist, Nathaniel Branden. He first visited Ayn and Frank in 1951 at their home in New York. Being much impressed by Branden, Ayn supported his efforts in creating the Nathaniel Branden Institute that taught Ms Rand's "Objectivism" philosophy.

It is reported that she and Nathaniel had a long term affair that both spouses, Frank O'Conner and Barbara Branden, where aware of. In 1968 Ayn dropped her support of Branden accusing him of personal and professional indiscretions.

Ayn worked full time on "Atlas Shrugged" (originally named The Strike) before finishing it in 1957. Ayn visited numerous steel plants and major railroads during her research. She was especially enthralled with riding in the engine compartment of a train to Albany.

She felt that Atlas Shrugged encompassed her entire philosophy of Objectivism. It took her over 2 years to write John Galt's radio speech to the world, from July 29, 1953 to October 13, 1955. It was 57 pages of the almost 1100 page novel.

"It is a mystery story , not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder...and rebirth...of a man's spirit"

During a television interview in 1961 Ayn stated that...

"I don't know whether I will ever write fiction again. The difficulty is that Atlas Shrugged was the climax and completion of the goal I had set for myself at the age of nine...I can never surpass Galt."

In 1961 she published the book "For the New Intellectual", and started a monthly publication"The Objectivist Newsletter" in 1962. Her popular, but controversial book, "The Virtue of Selfishness" was published in 1964.

Ayn Rand spoke yearly for the next 12 years at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston to full houses. She made her first television appearance with Mike Wallace in 1959....and was later interviewed by Tom Snyder on the Tomorrow Show, and Phil Donahue Show in 1979, to name a few.

Mike Wallace commented..."...and she would take any questions. She was perfectly open and you could see the mind at work, and she liked the joust of tough questions and direct answers".

In 1978 Ayn's husband Frank began showing signs of arterial sclerosis with some memory loss and disorientation. Earlier, Ayn had a cancerous lesion from her lung removed that forced her to stop smoking.

Ayn and Frank had always been very close, despite the difficult time during her affair with Nathaniel Branden. They would often be seen holding hands, and using pet names for each other...Frank called Ayn "kitten fluff" and Ayn's name for Frank was "cubbyhole".

Frank O'Conner died in November 1979 at the age of 82. The loss of Frank devastated Ayn and she sunk into a deep depression. She would eventually snap out of it and resume her work by writing a television script for a TV miniseries of Atlas Shrugged (yet to be produced). Her last lecture would be in New Orleans in late 1981.

Ayn Rand died at her home in New York from heart failure on March 6, 1982, at the age of 78.

"One feels certain that somewhere in one's surroundings or within one's reach...a proper, human way of life is possible to human beings, and justice matters."

Tim Berners Lee

Tim Berners Lee has ensured that all of us are going to be in touch with each other whether we like it or not. He has changed the course of the world when he made the Internet accessible to everyone. Maybe due recognition will come many years from now when the true potential of the Internet is realized.

Tim Berners Lee has invented something that is becoming as ubiquitous as man himself. It affects us all; it is used by millions of people all over the world. Tim Berners Lee has invented the World Wide Web.

He was born June 8, 1955 in London, England. His parents were the quintessential computer geeks. As a matter of fact they met when they were working on the first computer to be commercially sold. It was natural that they encouraged him to think and work innovatively as he grew up. Tim Berners Lee was raised in London and studied at the Queen's College at Oxford University.

Tim had inherited his parent’s interest in computer technology. In 1976 he set about building his own computer. He used tools and paraphernalia that could be found in the house. Tim took up employment with Plessey Telecommunications Ltd, a major UK Telecom equipment manufacturer. Working on bar code technology and message systems helped further whet his appetite for computer systems.

One of the most common sights would be to find Tim immersed in his work oblivious to the world. Tim Berners Lee once famously said that, "Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch." Tim Berners Lee’s internet adventure started in the Swiss Alps. He was completing a six-month course as a software engineer at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, in Geneva. In 1980, he came up with a language called HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language). This has been adopted as the official language for the Internet.

The world got its first glimpse at the World Wide Web when Tim put up the first web site called info.cern.ch. It explained the working of the World Wide Web and all about servers and browsers. It also had a facility to compile a database of other web sites. It was a website cum directory cum primitive search engine. People started putting up all kinds of information on the Internet. The possibilities that it threw up were enormous. The number of Internet users was growing at an exponential speed. They were doubling in less than two months time.

The entire concept of the Internet grew out of a program that Tim Berners Lee had written called "Enquire Within Upon Everything." All the components were already there before Tim Berners Lee had arrived but it is to his credit that he brought it all together. One man has ensured that the rest of mankind will be forever connected to each other. Tim’s greatness lies in the fact that he does not seem to be perturbed about the fact that he has not commercially gained from his idea. He never even thought of applying for a patent. In 1994 he founded World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science in Cambridge, Massachusetts. All technology standards from this institute are based on royalty free technology. According to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Novell, "If this were a traditional science, Berners-Lee would win a Nobel Prize."

Most of Tim Berners Lee’s admirers lie in academic circles. There are not many people who have even heard of him outside the world of technology. He has won a number of national and international awards. In 1995, Tim Berners-Lee received the Kilby Foundation's "Young Innovator of the Year" Award; other awards that he has received include the Charles Babbage award, PC Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award in Technical Excellence, Albert Medal of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Art, Manufactures and Commerce. International accolades include George R Stibitz Computer Pioneer award at the American Computer Museum, Japan Prize from the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan and Finland's Millennium Technology Prize.

The British Government has honored him by conferring upon him, Knighthood. In 2004 he was given the rank of Knight Commander (the second-highest rank in the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II. On January 27, 2005 he was named Greatest Briton of 2004 for his achievements as well as displaying the key British characteristics of "diffidence, determination, a sharp sense of humor and adaptability."

Tim’s greatest achievement is however the fact that he almost seems to resent the attention that is occasionally showered upon him. He seems happiest when he is left to himself, doing his research. Tim is married to Nancy Carlson. They have two children.

Mohammed Yunus

Dr. Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: মুহাম্মদ ইউনুস, pronounced Muhammôd Iunūs) (born June 28, 1940), is a Bangladeshi banker and economist. He is the developer of the concept of microcredit, (founded by Pakistani Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan ), the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Yunus is also the founder of Grameen Bank. In 2006, Yunus and the bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." Yunus himself has received several other international honors, including the ITU World Information Society Award, Ramon Magsaysay Award, the World Food Prize and the Sydney Peace Prize. He is the author of Banker to the Poor and a founding board member of Grameen Foundation.

In 1976, Yunus founded the Grameen Bank (Grameen means "of rural area", "of village") to make loans to poor Bangladeshis. The Grameen Bank has issued more than US$ 5.1 billion to 5.3 million borrowers. To ensure repayment, the bank uses a system of "solidarity groups". These small informal groups apply together for loans and its members act as co-guarantors of repayment and support one another's efforts at economic self-advancement. As it has grown, the Grameen Bank has also developed other systems of alternate credit that serve the poor. In addition to microcredit, it offers education loans and housing loans as well as financing for fisheries and irrigation projects, venture capital, textiles, and other activities, along with other banking services such as savings.

The success of the Grameen model has inspired similar efforts throughout the developing world and even in industrialized nations, including the United States. The Grameen model of micro financing has been emulated in 23 countries. Many, but not all, microcredit projects also retain its emphasis on lending specifically to women. More than 96% of Grameen loans have gone to women, who suffer disproportionately from poverty and who are more likely than men to devote their earnings to their families.
Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for "their efforts to create economic and social development from below."He is the first and so far only Bangladeshi to win the prestigious award. The award also marked a shift away from the conventions by awarding it to someone who worked to promote peace indirectly through economic upliftment of the masses.

The announcement read:

“
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.

”

Yunus advocated that by fixing poverty, you are also attacking a root cause of terrorism.

“
We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time, I believe putting resources into improving the lives of poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns.

”

He made this comment at the official prize-giving ceremony held in Oslo, Norway on the 10th of December,2006 .


The 65-year-old economist said he would use part of his share of the $1.4 million award to create a company to make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor. The rest would go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh, he said. The food company, to be known as Social Business Enterprise, will sell food for a nominal price.

Nelson Mandela

Mandela's words, "The struggle is my life," are not to be taken lightly.

Nelson Mandela personifies struggle. He is still leading the fight against apartheid with extraordinary vigour and resilience after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.

Mandela has held numerous positions in the ANC: ANCYL secretary (1948); ANCYL president (1950); ANC Transvaal president (1952); deputy national president (1952) and ANC president (1991).

He was born at Qunu, near Umtata on 18 July 1918.

His father, Henry Mgadla Mandela, was chief councillor to Thembuland's acting paramount chief David Dalindyebo. When his father died, Mandela became the chief's ward and was groomed for the chieftainship.

Mandela matriculated at Healdtown Methodist Boarding School and then started a BA degree at Fort Hare. As an SRC member he participated in a student strike and was expelled, along with the late Oliver Tambo, in 1940. He completed his degree by correspondence from Johannesburg, did articles of clerkship and enrolled for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand.

In 1944 he helped found the ANC Youth League, whose Programme of Action was adopted by the ANC in 1949.

Mandela was elected national volunteer-in-chief of the 1952 Defiance Campaign. He travelled the country organising resistance to discriminatory legislation.

He was given a suspended sentence for his part in the campaign. Shortly afterwards a banning order confined him to Johannesburg for six months. During this period he formulated the "M Plan", in terms of which ANC branches were broken down into underground cells.

By 1952 Mandela and Tambo had opened the first black legal firm in the country, and Mandela was both Transvaal president of the ANC and deputy national president.

A petition by the Transvaal Law Society to strike Mandela off the roll of attorneys was refused by the Supreme Court.

In the 'fifties, after being forced through constant bannings to resign officially from the ANC, Mandela analysed the Bantustan policy as a political swindle. He predicted mass removals, political persecutions and police terror.

For the second half of the 'fifties, he was one of the accused in the Treason Trial. With Duma Nokwe, he conducted the defence.

When the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he was detained until 1961 when he went underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was born the same year. Under his leadership it launched a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations.

In 1962 Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK members.

On his return he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his own defence. He was convicted and jailed for five years in November 1962. While serving his sentence, he was charged, in the Rivonia trial, with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.

A decade before being imprisoned, Mandela had spoken out against the introduction of Bantu Education, recommending that community activists "make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning".

Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, became a centre for learning, and Mandela was a central figure in the organised political education classes.

In prison Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.

During the 'seventies he refused the offer of a remission of sentence if he recognised Transkei and settled there.

In the 'eighties he again rejected PW Botha's offer of freedom if he renounced violence.

It is significant that shortly after his release on Sunday 11 February 1990, Mandela and his delegation agreed to the suspension of armed struggle.

Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities and is chancellor of the University of the North.

He was inaugurated as State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Politician, president of Iran. Born in 1956 in Garmsar, Iran. The son of a blacksmith, Ahmadinejad rose from near obscurity to become one of the world's most controversial leaders. He entered the Science and Technology University (STU) in Tehran in 1975 and studied civil engineering. Ahmadinejad continued at the university and became a member of the civil engineering faculty there in 1989. He later earned a PhD in transportation engineering and planning from STU in 1997.

While at the university, Ahmadinejad became politically active. After the Islamic Revolution in January 1979, he helped found the Islamic Association of Students in the Science and Technology University and became a member of the Revolutionary Guard. It is unclear whether he had a hand in the taking of hostages at the U.S. Embassy in November 1979. Some of the hostages have identified Ahmadinejad as one of the men involved, but he had denied it. And several of the known hostage takers, now political opponents of Ahmadinejad, have also said that he was not there. It is known, however, that Ahmadinejad served in the war with Iraq and there are even some reports that indicate he may have been involved in some covert operations during this conflict.

Since the war, Ahmadinejad has held a number of government posts, including serving as governor of Maku and of Khoy. A religious and political conservative, he became mayor of Tehran in 2003 and quickly began repealing reforms put in place before by the earlier, more moderate local government.

Only two years later, with strong support from conservative leaders, Ahmadinejad ran for president. He promised to resolve issues of poverty, social injustice, corruption, and economics. Positioning himself as a man of the people, he won in a run-off election on June 24, 2005. After taking office, Ahmadinejad has made some interesting political moves. In line with his conservative views, he banned western music. But he has also lobbied to allow women to attend sporting events, which seems more of a moderate position. He also has encountered some challenges from within the government. Several of his candidates for oil minister withdrew or were rejected because the Majilis, the Iranian parliament, did not approve of Ahmadinejad's selections.

Diminutive in stature, Ahmadinejad has become an imposing figure in international politics. His hard-line stance on his country's right to develop nuclear weapons has heightened tensions with the United States—already tenuous since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979—and other western nations. He wrote a letter to President George W. Bush in May 2006, which was the first direct communication between leaders of these two countries since the hostage situation. In the letter, Ahmadinejad offered his solutions to U.S.-Iran conflicts. The United States, however, dismissed the letter with officials stating the letter contained no proposals to resolving the nuclear issue.

Ahmadinejad has drawn fire for making inflammatory remarks, including those against the state of Israel and about the Holocaust, which have brought him condemnation from many world leaders. During a 2006 speech made at the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ahmadinejad again criticized Israel, this time for its military action in Lebanon. He also lobbied for a seat on the UN Security Council for a representative of the Non-Aligned Movement, an association of more than 100 countries, including Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela.

For all of his rhetoric there is some question as to how much power Ahmadinejad wields in his own country. With the control of the government largely in the hands of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, it remains uncertain whether Ahmadinejad will make a long-term impact on Iran.

Often wearing a plain tan jacket, Ahmadinejad is said to live a simple life outside of politics. He is married and has three children.

Richard Branson

Richard Branson was born in 1950 and at age 17, while at Stowe - the famous English public school - started a student advisory service. Three years later, he founded the Virgin mail order record company and shortly afterwards opened a shop on Oxford Street, London's main shopping thoroughfare. In 1972 a studio was built in Oxfordshire, the very one that Mike Oldfield recorded his five millions selling album “Tubular Bells.”
This was to provide the catalyst for Virgin Records that went on to sign major names such as The Rolling Stones,
Culture Club, Janet Jackson, Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds and The Human League - all contributing to the continued success story.
By the early 1980s, Virgin Records was one of the top six record companies in the world. Then, in 1984, Branson got a phone call out of the blue suggesting a jumbo jet passenger service between London and New York. Branson liked the idea, much to the horror of his fellow directors who thought him crazy. Undeterred, he announced to the world that Virgin Atlantic Airways would begin operating within three months! At which point a
lot of other people agreed -- he was crazy!
But, an aircraft was found, staff were hired, licences granted and, thanks in no small part to Branson's infectious enthusiasm, on June, 22 1984, an aircraft packed with friends, celebs and the media set off for Newark, New Jersey -- and a phenomenon was born!
Since then, Virgin Atlantic has become the second largest long-haul international airline operating services out of London's Heathrow and Gatwick Airports to 21 destinations all over the world - from Shanghai to the Caribbean and, of course, the US. In 1992 Branson sold Virgin Music to Thorn EMI and ploughed the profits back into Virgin Atlantic, improving an already great service even further.

However, he still has a big role in the entertainment industry through the international Megastores, the V2 record label and interests in night-clubs, book and software publishing, film and video editing and hotels.
In December 1999, Branson signed an agreement to sell a 49% stake of Virgin Atlantic to Singapore Airlines to form a unique global partnership. It turned out that 1999 was an eventful year for Branson, topped off by his being awarded a knighthood for his services to entrepreneurship.

As you might imagine, Branson never stops (which can be exhausting for the people around him!) and sets himself just as steep challenges in his personal life as in his business life. Just for fun, he has been involved in round-the- world balloon attempts as well as rekindling the spirit of the Blue Riband when he crossed the Atlantic in his Virgin Atlantic Challenger II boat in the fastest ever recorded time.

Steve Jobs

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." -Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs regularly makes most rosters of the rich and powerful. It is surprising for a guy who takes home an annual salary of U.S. $1. The reasons why he is on all power lists are; Apple, Next, iPod and Pixar. Jobs is also known as the one man who could have upstaged Bill Gates. But Jobs was as excited about innovation as Bill Gates was interested in making money.

Steve Jobs was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin to Joanne Simpson and an Egyptian Arab father. Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California then adopted him. The writer Mona Simpson is Jobs’ biological sister. In 1972, Jobs graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. One semester later he had dropped out. But instead of going back home he hung around college and took up the study of philosophy and foreign cultures.

Steve Jobs had a deep-seated interest in technology so he took up a job at Atari Inc. which was a leading manufacturer of video games. He struck a friendship with fellow designer Steve Wozniak and attended meetings of the "Homebrew Computer Club" with him. Wozniak and Jobs developed a system with a toy whistle available in the Cap'n Crunch cereal box to make it possible to make free long distance telephone calls. They called off the amateur venture after someone told them of the possible legal consequences.

After saving up some money Steve Jobs took of for India in the search of enlightenment with his friend Dan Kottke. Once he returned he convinced Wozniak to quit his job at Hewlett Packard and join him in his venture that concerned personal computers. They sold items like a scientific calculator to raise the seed capital. There is controversy as to where did the name Apple originate. According to one belief Apple originates from a pleasant summer Jobs had spent as an orchard worker in Oregon. There is another school of thought that says that the symbol of rainbow colored apple that has been bitten into is a tribute to Alan Turing who was a homosexual and had died after biting a cyanide laced apple.

In 1976, Jobs, then 21, and Wozniak, 26, founded Apple Computer Co. in the Jobs family garage. The first personal computer was sold for $666.66. By 1980, Apple had already released three improved versions of the personal computer. It had a wildly successful IPO, which made both founders millionaires many times over. Steve Jobs had managed to rope in John Scully of Pepsi to head the marketing function in Apple.

A tiff with the Apple board and John Scully led to the resignation of Steve Jobs. As soon as he resigned he immersed himself in his brand new venture. Steve Jobs decided that he wanted to change the hardware industry. The company was called NeXTStep and the new machine was called NeXT Computer. He ploughed in more than U.S. $250 million into the company. The machine was a commercial washout but it did help in object-oriented programming, PostScript, and magneto-optical devices. Tim Berners-Lee developed the original World Wide Web system at CERN on a NeXT machine. Bitterly disappointed with NeXTStep, Jobs accepted the offer that Apple made him.

Steve Jobs also started Pixar Inc., which has gone on to produce animated movies such as Toy Story (1995); A Bug's Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (1999); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); and The Incredibles (2004). This venture has made him one of the most sought after men in Hollywood.

Post Pixar, Steve Jobs wanted another round of revolutionizing to do. This time it was the music industry. He introduced the iPod in 2003. Later he came up with iTunes, which was a digital jukebox. A million and a half iPods later, the music industry still does not know whether this invention will save it or destroy it. Apple has a great advertising track record and its ‘Rip, Mix, Burn’ campaign was another feather in its cap. Now the industry uses a Mac to make the music and an iPod to store it.

Steve Jobs lives with his wife, Laurene Powell and their three children in Silicon Valley. He also has a daughter, Lisa Jobs from a previous relationship. In 2004, there was a cancerous tumor in his pancreas, which was successfully operated upon.

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was the leader of Nirvana, the multi-platinum grunge band that redefined the sound of the nineties.

Cobain was born on the 20th of February 1967 in Hoquaim, a small town 140 kilometres south-west of Seattle. His mother was a cocktail waitress and his father was an auto mechanic. Cobain soon moved to nearby Aberdeen, a depressed and dying logging town.

Cobain was for most his childhood a sickly bronchitic child. Matters were made worse when Cobain's parent's divorced when he was seven and by his own account Cobain said he never felt loved or secure again. He became increasingly difficult, anti-social and withdrawn after his parent's divorce. Cobain also said that his parent's traumatic split fueled a lot of the anguish in Nirvana's music. Kurt and Baby
After his parent's divorce Cobain found himself shuttled back and forth between various relatives and at one stage homeless living under a bridge.

When Cobain was eleven he heard and was captivated by the Britain's Sex Pistols and after their self-destruction Cobain and friend Krist Novoselic continued to listen to the wave of British bands including Joy Division the nihilistic post-punk band that some say Nirvana are directly descended from in form of mood, melody and lyrical quality.

Cobain's artistry and iconoclastic attitude didn't win many friends in high school and sometimes earned him beatings from "jocks" Cobain got even by spray painting "QUEER" on their pick-up trucks. By 1985 Aberdeen was dead and Cobain's next stop was Olympia. Cobain formed and reformed a series of bands before Nirvana came to be in 1986. Nirvana was an uneasy alliance between Cobain, bassist Krist Novoselic and eventually drummer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Grohl

By 1988 Nirvana were doing shows and had demo tapes going around. In 1989 Nirvana recorded their rough-edged first album Bleach Bleach - CD-Albumfor local Seattle independent label Sub-Pop

In Britain Nirvana received a lot of recognition and in 1991 their contract was bought out by Geffen, they signed to the mega-label, the first non-mainstream band to do so. Two and a half years after Nirvana's first C.D. Bleach was released they released Nevermind, Nevermind - Japan - Vinyl-Album Nevermind - CD-Album Nevermind - Vinyl-Albuma series of different, crunching, screaming songs that along with it's first single Smells Like Teen Spirit Smells Like Teen Spirit - CD-Singlewould propel Nirvana to mainstream stardom.

Smells Like Teen Spirit became Nirvana's most highly acclaimed and instantly recognizable song. Not many people can decipher it's exact lyrics but Cobain used a seductive hookline to hook the listener. Nevermind went on to sell ten million copies and make a reported $550 million (US) leaving Nirvana overnight millionaires. Cobain was shocked at the reception of his highly personal and passionate music repeatedly telling reporters that none of the band ever, ever expected anything like this. It quickly became obvious that the obsessively sickly and sensitive 24yr old was not going to cope well with the rock'n roll lifestyle. "If there was a rock star 101 course, I'd really have like to take it," Cobain once observed. Cobain fell into heroin in the early 90's, he said he used it as a shield against the rigorous demands of touring and to stop the pain of stomach ulcers or an irritated bowel. Through the touring and pressure Cobain continued to write his very personal acutely focused lyrics.

Cobain was distressed to find out that what he wrote and how it was interpreted could quite often be miles apart. He was appalled when he found out that Polly a heavily ironic anti-rape song had been used as background music in a real gang-rape. He later appealed to fans on the Incesticide liner Incesticide - Japan - Vinyl-Album Incesticide - CD-Albumnotes "If any of you don't like gays or women or blacks, please leave us the fuck alone." It was to no avail, Cobain found that as an overnight millionaire musician control was something he had very little of. Cobain also worried that his band had sold-out, that it was attracting the wrong kind of fans (i.e the type that used to beat him up.)

In February 1992 Cobain skipped off to Hawaii to marry the already pregnant Courtney Love. Later in the year Nirvana released Incesticide and in August Cobain had hospital treatment for heroin abuse. Shortly after Frances Bean Cobain was born. In early 1993 In Utero In Utero - Vinyl-Album In Utero - CD-Albumwas released into the top spot on the music charts. In Utero was widely acclaimed by the music press and it contains some of Cobain's most passionate work. In Utero was a lot more open than Nirvana's previous albums. Songs like All Apologies All Apologies - CD-Singleand Heart Shaped Box detailed aspects of Cobain's sometimes shaky marriage, other songs like Scentless Apprentice detailed the agonies and struggles of Cobain's experiences.

Nirvana embarked on a support tour and recorded and filmed an "unplugged" (acoustic) performance for MTV in November of 1993. Nirvana's choice to honour bands and people that had influenced them and Cobain's passionate and intense vocals especially on "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"silenced many of their who had labeled Cobain talentless. Rumors circulated that the MTV Unplugged compilation would be Nirvana's last album and the band were splitting up.

Cobain was a gun fanatic and always had several in his possession or in various forms of confiscation. In the northern winter of 1993-94 Nirvana embarked on an extensive European tour. Twenty concerts into the tour Cobain developed throat problems and their schedule was interrupted while he recovered. While recovering Cobain flew to Rome to join his wife who was also preparing to tour with her own band.

On March the 4th Cobain was rushed to hospital in a coma after an unsuccessful suicide bid in which he washed down about fifty prescription painkillers with champagne. The suicide bid was officially called an accident and was not even made known to close friends and associates. Several days later he returned to Seattle. Cobain's wife, friends and managers convinced Cobain, who was still in deep distress to enter a detox program in L.A. According to a missing person's report filed by his mother Cobain fled after only a few days of the program.

Cobain was cited in the Seattle area with a shotgun. Days later on the 5th of April he barricaded himself into the granny flat behind his mansion, put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. On Thursday April the 7th ~ two days after a medical examiner says Cobain shot himself and the day before his body was found police say Courtney Love herself was taken to hospital in L.A. for a drug overdose. Released on bail, Love checked herself into a rehab center but left soon after a friend called her the next day with news of Cobain's death.

Cobain's body was found when an electrician visiting the house to install a security system went round the back of the house when no one answered the front door and peered through windows. He thought he saw a mannequin sprawled on the floor until he noticed a splotch of blood by Cobain's ear. When police broke down the door they found Cobain dead on the floor, a shotgun still pointed at his chin and on a nearby counter a suicide note written in red ink addressed to Love and the couples then 19 month old daughter Frances Bean.

The suicide note ended with the words "I love you, I love you." Two days after Kurt Cobain's body was found about 5,000 people gathered in Seattle for a candlelight vigil. the distraught crowd filled the air with profane chants, burnt their flannel shirts and fought with police. They also listened to a tape made by Cobain's wife in which she read from his suicide note. Several distressed teenagers in the U.S. and Australia killed themselves. The mainstream media was lambasted for it's lack of respect and understanding of youth culture.

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