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La Main
''The Man on the Bench in the Barn'' is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The original French version ''La Main'' ("The Hand") appeared in 1968. The novel is among his ''romans durs'', a term roughly translated as hard, or harrowing, novels; it was used by Simenon for what he regarded as his serious literary works.Carter, David. ''The Pocket Essential Georges Simenon''. The Pocket Essentials, 2003. In 2016, this novel was reissued in English under the title ''The Hand'', newly translated by Linda Coverdale (). The novel is set in Connecticut, USA. Simenon lived in America from 1945 to 1955; from 1950 he lived at Shadow Rock Farm in Lakeville, Connecticut. Unlike his other novels set in America, it was written many years after his return to Europe. In the novel, a man's life is changed when, instead of looking for his friend lost in a blizzard, he sits on a bench in a barn next to his house and smokes cigarettes; later, he has an affair with his friend's widow, al ...
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Moura Budberg
Maria Ignatievna von Budberg-Bönninghausen (russian: Мария (Мура) Игнатьевна Закревская-Бенкендорф-Будберг, ''Maria (Moura) Ignatievna Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg'', née Zakrevskaya; February 1892 – 1 November 1974) — also known as Countess von Benckendorff and Baroness von Budberg — was a Russian adventuress and suspected double agent of the Joint State Political Directorate, Soviet Union secret police (OGPU) and British Intelligence Service. According to British journalist Robin Bruce Lockhart, who knew her personally, "she was, perhaps, the Soviet Union's most effective agent-of-influence ever to appear on London's political and intellectual stage". Biography Early life Born in Poltava, in central Ukraine, Moura was the daughter of Ignaty Platonovich Zakrevsky (1839–1906), a member of the Russian nobility and diplomat. In 1911, she married Count Johann (Ivan) Alexandrovich von Benckendorff (1882–1919), a member ...
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Sutton Place, Manhattan
York Avenue and Sutton Place are the names of a relatively short north-south thoroughfare in the Yorkville, Lenox Hill, and Sutton Place neighborhoods of the East Side of Manhattan, in New York City. York Avenue runs from 59th to 92nd Streets through eastern Lenox Hill and Yorkville on the Upper East Side. Sutton Place and its southern extension runs through their namesake neighborhood along the East River and south of the Queensboro Bridge, with Sutton Place South running from 53rd to 57th Streets and Sutton Place from 57th to 59th Streets. The street is considered among the city's most affluent, and both portions are known for upscale apartments, much like the rest of the Upper East Side. Addresses on York Avenue are continuous with that of Avenue A in the Alphabet City neighborhood, starting in the 1100 series and rising to the 1700 series. Addresses on Sutton Place vary. The greater Sutton Place neighborhood, which sits north of the neighborhood of Turtle Bay, runs fr ...
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Novels By Georges Simenon
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the la, novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ''novellus'', diminutive of ''novus'', meaning "new". Some novelists, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Ann Radcliffe, John Cowper Powys, preferred the term "romance" to describe their novels. According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian renaissance novella.Margaret Anne Doody''The True Story of the Novel'' New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, rept. 1997, p. 1. Retrieved 25 April 2014. The ancient romance form was revived by Romanticism, especially the historica ...
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1968 Novels
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * January 10 – John Gorton is sworn in as 19th Prime Minister of Australia, taking over from John McEwen after being elected leader of the Liberal Party the previous day, following the disappearance of Harold Holt. Gorton becomes the only Senator to become Prime Minister, though he immediately transfers to the House of Representatives through the 1968 Higgins by-election in Holt's vacant seat. * January 15 – The 1968 Belice earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000. * January 21 ** Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8. ** 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash: A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs. * January 23 ...
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Elizabeth Debicki
Elizabeth Debicki (born 24 August 1990) is an Australian actress. After studying drama at the Victorian College of the Arts, she made her film debut with a brief role in the Australian comedy ''A Few Best Men'' (2011). Debicki's role in Baz Luhrmann's ''The Great Gatsby'' (2013) won her the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Ayesha in the Marvel film ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' (2017), and gained critical attention for her performance in Steve McQueen's heist thriller ''Widows'' (2018). The following year, she received the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard. She then co-starred in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller '' Tenet'' (2020). On television, Debicki appeared in the Australian series '' Rake'' (2014), starred in the BBC limited series ''The Night Manager'' (2016), for which she received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination, and the HBO television film ''The Tale'' (2018). In 2022, she portrayed Diana, Princess of Wales in ...
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Hope Davis
Hope Davis is an American actress. She is known for her performances on stage and screen earning various awards and nominations including a Tony Award nomination, as well two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Award nominations. She made her film debut in Joel Schumacher's ''Flatliners'' in 1990. She then starred in the critically acclaimed films ''The Daytrippers'' (1996), ''About Schmidt'' (2002), and ''Infamous'' (2006). She received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture nomination for her role in ''American Splendor'' (2003). She received an Independent Spirit Award and a Gotham Independent Film Award with the cast of '' Synecdoche, New York'' (2008). In 2016, she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe portraying Tony Stark's mother Maria Stark in '' Captain America: Civil War''. In 1992, she made her Broadway theatre debut in ''Two Shakespearean Actors''. In 1997 she starred as Sasha in '' Ivanov'' opposite Kevin Kline and Marian Se ...
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Mark Strong
Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963), is a British actor, best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in '' Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in ''RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (2009), Frank D'Amico in '' Kick-Ass'' (2010), Jim Prideaux in ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' (2011), Sinestro in ''Green Lantern'' (2011), George in ''Zero Dark Thirty'' (2012), Major General Stewart Menzies in ''The Imitation Game'' (2014), Merlin in ''Kingsman: The Secret Service'' (2014) and ''Kingsman: The Golden Circle'' (2017), Doctor Sivana, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana in ''Shazam! (film), Shazam!'' (2019), and John in ''Cruella (film), Cruella'' (2021). Early life Strong was born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia in the Islington district of London on 5 August 1963, the son of an Austrian mother and an Italian father. His father left the family soon after Strong's birth, and Strong was brought up by his mother while she worked as an au pair. He later ...
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Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain. Founded by Laurence Olivier in 1963, many well-known actors have performed at the National Theatre. Until 1976, the company was based at The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London. In addition to performances at the National Theatre building, the National Theatre tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom. The theatre has transferred numerous productions to Broadway and toured some as far as China, Australia and New Zealand. However, touring productions to European cities was suspended in February 2021 over concerns about uncertainty over work permits, additional costs and ...
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Robert Icke
Robert Icke (; born 29 November 1986) is an English writer and theatre director. He has been referred to as the "great hope of British theatre." He is best known for his play ''The Doctor'', and his modern adaptations of classic texts, including versions of ''Oresteia, Mary Stuart'', and ''1984'', devised with Duncan Macmillan. Biography Early career Born in Stockton-on-Tees to a non-theatrical family, he was taken to see a production of ''Richard III'' starring Kenneth Branagh as a teenager, which inspired him to take up writing and directing. He then founded a theatre company, Arden Theatre, and directed a series of shows at Arc Theatre over a five-year period between 2003 and 2008. He studied at Ian Ramsey Church of England School, Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and then studied English at King's College, Cambridge, where he was taught by Anne Barton. Mentored by Michael Grandage through his early career, he worked as an Assistant and associate director to Thea S ...
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David Hare (playwright)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Best known for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing ''The Hours'''' ''in 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and ''The Reader'''' ''in 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink. In the West End, he had his greatest success with the plays'' Plenty'' (1978), which he adapted into a 1985 film starring Meryl Streep, ''Racing Demon'' (1990), ''Skylight'' (1997), and ''Amy's View'' (1998). The four plays ran on Broadway in 1982–83, 1996, 1998 and 1999 respectively, earning Hare three Tony Award nominations for Best Play for the first three and two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Play. Other notable projects on stage include ''A Map of the World'', ''Pravda'' (starring Anthony Hopkins at the National Theatre in London), ''Murmu ...
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Madison Avenue
Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Street. In doing so, it passes through Midtown, the Upper East Side (including Carnegie Hill), East Harlem, and Harlem. It is named after and arises from Madison Square, which is itself named after James Madison, the fourth President of the United States. Madison Avenue was not part of the original Manhattan street grid established in the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, and was carved between Park Avenue (formerly Fourth) and Fifth Avenue in 1836, due to the effort of lawyer and real estate developer Samuel B. Ruggles, who had previously purchased and developed New York's Gramercy Park in 1831, and convinced the authorities to create Lexington Avenue and Irving Place between Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South) and Third Avenue in order to s ...
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Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education Simenon was born at 26 (now number 24) to Désiré Simenon and his wife Henriette Brüll. Désiré Simenon worked in an accounting office at an insurance company and had married Henriette in April 1902. Although Simenon was born on Friday 13 February 1903, superstition resulted in his birth being registered as having been on the 12th. This story of his birth is recounted at the beginning of his novel '' Pedigree''. The Simenon family traces its origins back to Belgian Limburg. Simenon could trace his line back to peasants living in the area since as early as 1580. His mother had origins from Limburg, the Netherlands and Germany while his father was of Walloon origin.Becker, Lucille Frackman. "Georges Simenon (1903-1989)." In: Amoia, Al ...
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