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Athénée Palace
The InterContinental Athénée Palace Bucharest is a historic luxury hotel in Bucharest, Romania, originally opened in 1914. It was arguably Europe's most notorious den of spies in the years leading up to World War II, and only slightly less so during the Cold War.Halpern. Location Located in the heart of Bucharest on Str. Episcopiei at the corner of Calea Victoriei on the former site of the Han Gherasi (''Han'' is Romanian for "inn"), the hotel faces onto the small park in front of the Romanian Athenaeum on Revolution Square. It did not originally face onto a square: at the time the hotel was built, the space that is now a small park was occupied by the Splendid Hotel, destroyed by bombing on August 24, 1944, and there were a considerable number of other buildings on what is now the square.Halpern; "List of Names…". History Early years The Athénée Palace was designed by the French architect Théophile Bradeau. It was built from 1912 to 1914, in the Art Nouveau style and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duiliu Marcu
Duiliu Marcu (25 March 1885 – 9 March 1966) was a Romanian architect, one of the most well known and prolific of the interwar period. With a career spanning from 1912 to 1966, he is said to have designed 150 public and private projects across Romania, his work reflecting the evolution of local architecture in the first half of the 20th century from French Renaissance, though Neo-Romanian to modernism. Though also designing private villas and apartments, he designed some of the major interwar public buildings in the country, including the Timișoara Theatre, the Elisabeth Palace in Bucharest for the royal family, and the Victory Palace, which now houses the office of the Prime Minister. Biography Born in 1885 in Calafat, a small town on the Danube (now on the border with Bulgaria), Marcu came from a modest family. In 1900 he enrolled in the new Carol I High School in Craiova, where he was awarded special prizes in drawing. In 1905, he decided to attend the School of Architectur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, 1st Baronet, Sir Arthur Pearson. Its sister paper, the ''Sunday Express'', was launched in 1918. In June 2022, it had an average daily circulation of 201,608. Under the ownership of Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, the ''Express'' rose to become the newspaper with the largest circulation in the world, going from 2 million in the 1930s to 4 million in the 1940s. It was acquired by Richard Desmond's company Northern & Shell in 2000. Hugh Whittow was the editor from February 2011 until he retired in March 2018. In February 2018 Trinity Mirror acquired the ''Daily Express'', and other publishing assets of Northern & Shell, in a deal worth £126.7 million. To coincide with the purchase ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortunes Of War (TV Series)
''Fortunes of War'' is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels '' Fortunes of War''. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson met filming the TV series and married in real life. Other cast members included Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Philip Madoc and Rupert Graves. Cast * Emma Thompson as Harriet Pringle * Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle * Charles Kay as Dobson * Mark Drewry as Dubedat * Ronald Pickup as Prince Yakimov * Alan Bennett as Lord Pinkrose * Harry Burton as Sasha Drucker * Rupert Graves as Simon Boulderstone * James Villiers as Inchcape * Robert Stephens as Castlebar * Greg Hicks as Aidan Pratt * Ciaran Madden as Angela Hooper * Diana Hardcastle as Edwina Little * Claire Oberman as Mortimer * Esmond Knight as Liversage * Michael Cochrane as Clifford * Richard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortunes Of War (novel Series)
The Fortunes are an English harmony beat group. Formed in Birmingham, the Fortunes first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when " You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US, Canadian, and UK Top 10s. Afterwards, they had a succession of hits including " Here It Comes Again" and " Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again"; continuing into the 1970s with more globally successful releases such as "Storm in a Teacup" and "Freedom Come, Freedom Go". In 1966, their manager, Reginald Calvert, was shot dead in a dispute over pirate radio stations. Biography The Fortunes ( Rod Allen, Glen Dale, Barry Pritchard as vocalists, Chris Capaldi as piano player, Gary Fletcher as drummer and Tony Britnell as saxophone player) were formed in 1961 and were resident at Clifton Hall in Rugby, Warwickshire where many 60s rockstars formed their career. The three vocalists had been the Merrie Men backing Robbie Hood (A.K.A Mike West, previously co-singer with Fred Heath in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olivia Manning
Olivia Mary Manning (2 March 1908 – 23 July 1980) was a British novelist, poet, writer, and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East. She often wrote from her personal experience, though her books also demonstrate strengths in imaginative writing. Her books are widely admired for her artistic eye and vivid descriptions of place. Manning's youth was divided between Portsmouth and Ireland, giving her what she described as "the usual Anglo-Irish sense of belonging nowhere". She attended art school and moved to London, where her first serious novel, ''The Wind Changes,'' was published in 1937. In August 1939 she married R. D. Smith ("Reggie"), a British Council lecturer posted in Bucharest, Romania, and subsequently lived in Greece, Egypt, and British Mandatory Palestine as the Nazis overran Eastern Europe. Her experiences formed the basis for her be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Copos
Gheorghe "George" Copos (; born 27 March 1953, in Tășnad, Satu Mare County) is a Romanian businessman and politician, mostly known for his ownership of the Rapid București football club. Copos was vice-prime-minister between December 2004 and January 2006, and State Minister in charge with coordination of the activities in the field of business environment and small and medium-sized enterprises in the Tăriceanu government. Early life A graduate of the communist cadres' training school Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy, he was in his youth a leader of the Union of Communist Youth. Entrepreneurship Business Copos launched into business in 1990, immediately after the revolution, establishing his first company from the Ana group of companies. It is about Ana Co. confectionery. Over time, the group of companies in the Ana holding diversified: production, import and sale of electronic and household appliances, food industry, hotel industry, tourism, production of micro electric m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Bank For Reconstruction And Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focused on the countries of the former Eastern Bloc it expanded to support development in more than 30 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia. Similar to other multilateral development banks, the EBRD has members from all over the world (North America, Africa, Asia and Australia, see below), with the biggest single shareholder being the United States, but only lends regionally in its countries of operations. Headquartered in London, the EBRD is owned by 75 countries and two European Union institutions, the newest shareholder being Nigeria since February 2025. Despite its public sector shareholders, it invests in private ente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanian Revolution Of 1989
The Romanian revolution () was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country, ultimately culminating in the drumhead trial and execution of longtime Romanian Communist Party (PCR) General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, and the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist–Leninist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of 1989, and the only one that violently overthrew a country's leadership and executed its leader; according to estimates, over one thousand people died and thousands more were injured. Following World War II, Romania found itself inside the Soviet sphere of influence, with Communist rule officially declared in 1947. In April 1964, when Romania p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Securitate
The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MGB. The Securitate was, in proportion to Romania's population, one of the largest secret police forces in the Eastern bloc. The first budget of the Securitate in 1948 stipulated a number of 4,641 positions, of which 3,549 were filled by February 1949: 64% were workers, 4% peasants, 28% clerks, 2% persons of unspecified origin, and 2% intellectuals. By 1951, the Securitate's staff had increased fivefold, while in January 1956, the Securitate had 25,468 employees.Cristian Troncota"Securitatea: Începuturile", Magazin Istoric, 1998 At its height, the Securitate employed some 15,000 agents and almost half a million informants for a country with a population of 23 million by 1989. The Securitate under Nicolae Ceaușescu was one of the most br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communist Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People's Republic (, RPR). The country was an Eastern Bloc state and a member of the Warsaw Pact with a dominant role for the Romanian Communist Party enshrined in :Template:RomanianConstitutions, its constitutions. Geographically, RSR was bordered by the Black Sea to the east, the Soviet Union (via the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian and Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavian SSRs) to the north and east, Hungarian People's Republic, Hungary and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia (via Socialist Republic of Serbia, SR Serbia) to the west, and People's Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgaria to the south. As World War II ended, Kingdom of Romania, Romania, a former Axis powers, Axis membe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a variety of names including ''khan'', ''funduq'' and ''wikala.'' Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, most notably the Silk Road. In the countryside, they were typically built at intervals equivalent to a day's journey along important roads, where they served as a kind of Stage station, staging post. Urban versions of caravanserais were historically common in cities where they could serve as inns, depots, and venues for conducting business. The buildings were most commonly rectangular structures with one protected entrance. Inside, a central courtyard was surrounded by an array of rooms on one or more levels.'''' In additio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Free State of Prussia, Prussia into one organisation. On 20 April 1934, oversight of the Gestapo passed to the head of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS), Heinrich Himmler, who was also appointed Chief of German Police by Hitler in 1936. Instead of being exclusively a Prussian state agency, the Gestapo became a national one as a sub-office of the (SiPo; Security Police). From 27 September 1939, it was administered by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). It became known as (Dept) 4 of the RSHA and was considered a sister organisation to the (SD; Security Service). The Gestapo committed widespread atrocities during its existence. The power of the Gestapo was used to focus upon political opponents, ideological dissenters (clergy and religious org ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
