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Sam Vimes
His Grace, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's '' Discworld'' series. Vimes is depicted in the novels as somewhere between an Inspector Morse-type 'old-school' British policeman, and a film noir-esque grizzled detective. His appearances throughout the Discworld sequence show him slowly and grudgingly rising through the ranks of both police force and society. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is stated as being "''His Grace, His Excellency, The 1st Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes''". When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as "''His Excellency''", and is also nicknamed "''Blackboard Monitor Vimes''", "Vimes the Butcher" and "'' Vetinari's Terrier''" (or his ''hammer'', depending upon the occasion). According to his wife, Sybil, Vimes is recognised by many as Lord Vetinari's right-hand man. He first appeared in the novel '' Guards! Guards!''. While no d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discworld
''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat planet balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle. The series began in 1983 with '' The Colour of Magic'' and continued until the final novel ''The Shepherd's Crown'', which was published in 2015, following Pratchett's death. The books frequently parody or take inspiration from classic works, usually fantasy or science fiction, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, and often use them for satirical parallels with cultural, political and scientific issues. Forty-one ''Discworld'' novels were published. Apart from the first novel in the series, ''The Colour of Magic'', the original British editions of the first 26 novels, up to '' Thief of Time'' (2001), had cover art by Josh Kirby. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commander
Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries, this naval rank is termed as a frigate captain. Commander is also a generic term for an officer commanding any armed forces unit, such as "platoon leader, platoon commander", "brigade commander" and "Squadron (army), squadron commander". In the police, terms such as "borough commander" and "incident commander" are used. Commander as a naval and air force rank Commander is a rank used primarily in Navy, navies, and is very rarely used as a rank in army, armies. In most armies, the term "commander" is used as a job title. For example, in the US Army, an officer with the rank of captain (armed forces), captain (Ranks and insignia of NATO, NATO rank code OF-2) may hold the title of "company (military unit), company commander (United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions (e.g., precedence), and vary by country and by era. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically hereditary and patrilineal. Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are often a variety of ranks within the noble class. Legal recognition of nobility has been much more common in monarchies, but nobility also existed in such regimes as the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), the Republic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aristocracy
Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and social influence. In Western Christian countries, the aristocracy was mostly equal with magnates, also known as the titled or higher nobility, however the members of the more numerous social class, the untitled lower nobility (petty nobility or gentry) were not part of the aristocracy. Classical aristocracy In ancient Greece, the Greeks conceived aristocracy as rule by the best-qualified citizens—and often contrasted it favorably with monarchy, rule by an individual. The term was first used by such ancient Greeks as Aristotle and Plato, who used it to describe a system where only the best of the citizens, chosen through a careful process of selection, would become rulers, and hereditary monarchy, hereditary rule would actually have been f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discworld (world)
The Discworld is the fictional world where English writer Sir Terry Pratchett's '' Discworld'' fantasy novels take place. It consists of an interstellar planet-sized disc, which sits on the backs of four huge elephants, themselves standing on the back of a world turtle, named Great A'Tuin, as it slowly swims through space. The ''Disc'' is the setting for all forty-one Discworld novels; it was influenced by world religions which feature human worlds resting on turtles, as a setting to reflect situations on Earth, in a humorous way. The Discworld is peopled mostly by the three main races of men, dwarfs and trolls. As the novels progress, other lesser known races are included, such as dragons, elves, goblins and pixies. Pratchett first explored the idea of a disc-shaped world in the novel ''Strata'' (1981). Great A'Tuin Great A'Tuin is the Giant Star Turtle (of the fictional species ''Chelys galactica'') who travels through the Discworld universe's space, carrying four giant el ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's ''Dollars Trilogy'' of spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Dirty Harry (character), Harry Callahan in the five ''Dirty Harry (film series), Dirty Harry'' films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Eastwood's greatest commercial successes are the adventure comedy ''Every Which Way but Loose'' (1978) and its action comedy sequel ''Any Which Way You Can'' (1980). Other popular Eastwood films include the Westerns ''Hang 'Em High'' (1968), ''The Outlaw Josey Wales'' (1976) and ''Pale Rider'' (1985), the action-wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William Postlethwaite (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After various stage and minor television appearances, Postlethwaite's first major success arose through the film '' Distant Voices, Still Lives'' (1988), directed by Terence Davies. He had a breakthrough in Hollywood when he portrayed David in ''Alien 3'' (1992), and his international reputation was further solidified when he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Giuseppe Conlon, father of Gerry Conlon, in '' In the Name of the Father'' (1993). Following this role, he portrayed the mysterious lawyer Mr. Kobayashi in ''The Usual Suspects'' and went on to appear in a wide variety of films, including ''Dragonheart'', ''Romeo + Juliet'', '' Brassed Off'', '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', '' Amistad'', ''Animal Farm'', '' James and the Giant Peach'', and '' Inception''. On television, Postlethwaite played Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill on '' Shar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Art Of Discworld
''The Art of Discworld'' is a descriptive book of the world of the Discworld as portrayed in Terry Pratchett's '' Discworld'' series. It showcases the art of Paul Kidby with descriptions of characters and locations by Pratchett and some details of the development of the art by Kidby himself. The book details most major lead characters from the ''Discworld'' books and gives them background information, including how Pratchett visualises them and the inspiration behind them. The cover shows the ''Mona Ogg'', a fictional famous painting by the character Leonard of Quirm, which is a parody of the ''Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, ...'' based on Nanny Ogg. External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Art of Discworld, The Discworld books 2004 books ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Sybil
''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is also a formal title in the United Kingdom. "Lady" is used before the family name or peerage of a woman with a title of nobility or honorary title ''suo jure'' (in her own right), such as female members of the Order of the Garter and Order of the Thistle, or the wife of a lord, a baronet, Scottish feudal baron, laird, or a knight, and also before the first name of the daughter of a duke, marquess, or earl. Etymology The word comes from Old English '; the first part of the word is a mutated form of ', "loaf, bread", also seen in the corresponding ', "lord". The second part is usually taken to be from the root ''dig-'', "to knead", seen also in dough; the sense development from bread-kneader, or bread-maker, or bread-shaper, to the ordinary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Vetinari
Lord Havelock Vetinari (, ), Lord Patrician (Primus inter pares) of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. Vetinari has written an unpublished manuscript known as ''The Servant'', the Discworld version of ''The Prince'' by the Italian statesman and diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli. Fictional biography Early years Lord Vetinari was born into the extremely powerful Vetinari family (a pun on the real-life family of the Medici and on the word "veterinary") and raised by his aunt, Lady Roberta Meserole. As a youth, he enrolled in the Assassins' Guild which, apart from teaching its students how to kill other people for money, also gives them an excellent academic education. Lord Vetinari was particularly interested in the classical arts and, in flagrant defiance of the Guild's conventions of style, camouflage, though he failed his stealth examination (due to the examiner's belief that he had never attended any of his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monstrous Regiment (novel)
''Monstrous Regiment'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 31st novel in his ''Discworld'' series. It takes its name from a 16th-century tract by John Knox opposing female rule, titled '' The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women''. The cover illustration of the British edition, by Paul Kidby, is a parody of Joe Rosenthal's photograph ''Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima''. ''Monstrous Regiment'' was nominated for a Locus Award in 2004. Plot summary The small, belligerent country of Borogravia is a highly conservative nation, whose people live according to the increasingly strange decrees of its deity, Nuggan. The main feature of his religion is the Abominations; a long, often-updated list of banned things. These things include garlic, cats, the smell of beets, people with ginger hair, shirts with six buttons, anyone shorter than three feet (namely dwarves, children and babies), sneezing, jigsaw puzzles, chocolate (which was once ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fifth Elephant
''The Fifth Elephant'' is a 1999 fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, the 24th book in the ''Discworld'' series. It introduces the clacks, a long-distance semaphore system. Plot summary The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is expanding; there is now a Traffic department, and the clacks is replacing homing pigeons for communications between officers. The Watch is investigating the theft of the replica Scone of Stone (a parody of the real-life Stone of Scone) from the Ankh-Morpork Dwarf Bread Museum and the murder of Wallace Sonky, the inventor of preventatives. Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch and Duke of Ankh, is sent to the remote region of Überwald as an ambassador to take advantage of the coronation of the Low King of the Dwarves to negotiate for increased imports of fat. Underground fat deposits are abundant in Überwald as a fifth Discworld-supporting elephant impacted there in prehistoric times, according to legend. Überwald is the traditi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
