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 covered pathway with restaurants and shops separates the two main structures.This building, like several of her later buildings, was inspired by natural earth forms; the architect herself referred to it as the "two pebbles". It appears akin to two giant smooth-edged boulders faced with 75,000 panels of polished granite and glass. Edwin Heathcote, writing for the Financial Times, noted <mask>'s concentration on how her design could transform the urban landscape of Guangzhou, as the building rose as the centre of the new business area. He wrote in 2011 that Hadid "produced a building that seems to suck the surrounding landscape into a vortex of movement and swirling space... appears both as alien object in a landscape of incomprehensible vastness (and often overwhelming banality), and as an extrusion of the peculiar nature of this landscape." Nicolai Ourousoff, architecture critic of the New York Times, wrote that "stepping into the main hall is like entering the soft insides of an oyster...The concave ceiling is pierced by thousands of little lights—it looks like you're sitting under the dome of a clear night sky." Ourousoff noted that the finished building had construction problems: many of the granite tiles on the exterior had to be replaced, and the plaster and other interior work was poorly done by the inexperienced workers, but he praised <mask>'s ability "to convey a sense of bodies in motion" and called the building "a Chinese gem that elevates its setting." Major projects  (2011–2012)

Riverside Museum, Glasgow, Scotland  (2004–2011)

The Riverside Museum (2004–2011), on the banks of the River Clyde Glasgow, Scotland, houses the Glasgow Museum of Transport.<mask> described the 10,000-square metre building, with 7,000 square metres of gallery space, as "a wave", "folds in movement", and "a shed in the form of a tunnel, open at the extreme ends, one end toward the city and the other toward the Clyde." Like many of her buildings, the whole form is only perceived when viewed from above. The facades are covered with zinc plates, and the roofline has a series of peaks and angles. The interior galleries caused some controversy; visitors who came to see the collection of historic automobiles found that they are mounted on the walls, high overhead, so it is impossible to look into them. Rowan Moore of  The Guardian of London wrote: "Obviously the space is about movement...Outside it is, typologically, a supermarket, being a big thing in a parking lot that is seeking to attract you in...It has enigma and majesty, but not friendliness." London Olympics Aquatics Centre (2005–2011)
<mask> described her Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as "inspired by the fluid geometry of water in movement". The building covers three swimming pools, and seats 17,500 spectators at the two main pools.The roof, made of steel and aluminium and covered with wood on the inside, rests on just three supports;  it is in the form of a parabolic arch that dips in the centre, with the two pools at either end. The seats are placed in bays beside the curving and outward-leaning walls of glass. At £269 million, the complex cost three times the original estimate, owing principally to the complexity of the roof. This was the subject of much comment when it was constructed, and it was the first 2012 Olympic building begun but the last to be finished. It was praised by architecture critics. Rowan Moore of The Guardian said that the roof "floats and undulates" and called the centre "the Olympics' most majestic space". Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, US (2007–2012)
The Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, Hadid's second project in the United States, has a space of 4,274 square metres, dedicated to contemporary art and modern art and an historical collection.The parallelogram-shaped building leans sharply and seems about to tip over. <mask> wrote that she designed the building so that its sloping pleated stainless steel facades would reflect the surrounding neighbourhood from different angles;  the building continually changes colour depending upon the weather, the time of day and the angle of the sun. As <mask> commented, the building "awakens curiosity without ever truly revealing its contents". Elaine Glusac of The New York Times wrote that the architecture of the new museum "radicalizes the streetscape". The Museum was used in a scene of the 2016 Batman vs. Superman movie. Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, China (2008–2012)
Many of <mask>'s later major works are found in Asia. The Galaxy SOHO in Beijing, China (2008–2012) is a combination of offices and a commercial centre in the heart of Beijing with a total of 332,857 square metres, composed of four different ovoid glass-capped buildings joined together by multiple curving passageways on different levels.<mask> explained, "the interior spaces follow the same coherent formal logic of continual curvilinearity." The complex, like most of her buildings, gives the impression that every part of them is in motion. Last completed major projects  (2013–2016)

Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku Azerbaijan (2007–2013)
The Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan (2007–2013) is a gigantic cultural and conference centre containing three auditoriums, a library and museum, with a total space of 10,801 square metres on a surface of 15,514 square metres, and a height of 74 metres. <mask> wrote that "its fluid form emerges from the folds of the natural topography of the landscape and envelops the different functions of the centre",  though the building when completed was largely surrounded by Soviet-era apartment blocks. Peter Cook in Architectural Review called it "a white vision, outrageously total, arrogantly complete ... a unique object that confounds and contradicts the reasonable ... a wave form sweeping up, almost lunging, into the sky ... here is architecture as the ultimate statement of theatre ... It is the most complete realisation yet of the Iraqi-born architect's vision of sweeping curves and flowing space." Consisting of eight storeys, the centre includes an auditorium with 1000 seats, exhibition space, conference hall, workshop and a museum.No straight line was used in the project of the complex. The shape of the building is wave-like and the overall view is unique and harmonic. Such an architectural structure stands for post-modernist architecture and forms oceanic feeling. The lines of the building symbolise the merging of past and future. While the building itself was widely praised, <mask> was criticized in many circles when she was awarded Britain's most prestigious prize in architecture, the Design Museum "Design of the Year," the first woman to do so. The building was named for the former ruler of Azerbaijan,
Heydar Aliyev, and commissioned by his son, Illham, who became president after his father's death in 2003. Hugh Williamson, director of Human Rights Watch for Europe and the Central Asian division, called Aliyev "an authoritarian leader and so is his son."The former Soviet secret police general ruled for 30 years, first as its Communist leader and then as its president. Amnesty International accused him of human rights abuses, balloting irregularities and intimidating the opposition while in power. Several architecture critics who admired the work itself felt that <mask> should have raised questions about this repressive leader even as she accepted the commission, and other critics questioned the UK granting its most prestigious architecture award to a building which memorialized a vicious Soviet dictator. Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, Korea (2007–2013)
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza (2007–2013) is among the largest buildings in Seoul, South Korea. Its name means "Great Gate of the East", in reference to the old walls of the city. The complex of 86,574 square metres contains exhibition space, a museum of design, conference rooms and other common facilities, as well as the bureaux and a marketplace for designers which is open 24 hours a day. The main building is 280 metres long with seven levels, including three levels underground.The smooth-skinned, giant mushroom-like structure floating atop sloping pylons is made of concrete, aluminium, steel and stone on the exterior, and finished inside with plaster reinforced with synthetic fibre, acoustic tiles, acrylic resin, and stainless steel and polished stone on the interior. <mask> wrote that the principal characteristics of her design were "transparency, porousness, and durability." It also features many ecological features, including a double skin, solar panels, and a system for recycling water. Library and Learning Center, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria (2008–2013)
The Library and Learning Center was designed as the centrepiece of the new University of Economics in Vienna. Containing 28,000 square metres of space, its distinctive Hadid features include walls sloping at 35 degrees and massive black volume cantilevered at an angle over the plaza in front of the building. She described the interior as follows: "The straight lines of the building's exterior separate as they move inward, becoming curvilinear and fluid to generate a free-formed interior canyon that serves as the principal public plaza of the Center, as well as generating corridors and bridges ensuring smooth transitions between different levels." Serpentine Sackler North Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London UK (2009–2013)
The Serpentine Sackler Gallery is a synthesis of two distinct parts – the 19th century classical brick structure named The Magazine (a former gunpowder store), and a 21st century tensile structure.This is the second art space (after the MAXII Museum in Rome) where Zaha Hadid Architects worked on the melding of both old and new elements. Zaha Hadid's Magazine extension on the original Grade II building was aided by the reinstatement of the building to an historic arrangement as a free-standing pavilion within an enclosure, with the former courtyards covered. The North Gallery extension features <mask>'s distinct hallmark of curves, and houses a series of skylights which welcome natural light into the space as well as retractable blinds when less light is needed. <mask> also worked in collaboration with architect and heritage specialist Liam O'Connor, whose reconstructions and conversions of the original space were designed in consultation with English Heritage and Westminster City Council. The extension houses internal exhibition spaces as well as the museum shop and offices for the curatorial team. Innovation Tower, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2007–2014)
The Innovation Tower in Hong Kong (2007–2014) is part of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The building of 15 floors has 15,000 square metres of space, with laboratories, classrooms, studios and other facilities for 1,800 students and their faculty.It was built on the site of the university's former football pitch. The extremely complex forms of the building required computer modelling. Early designs experimented with a facade made of reinforced plastic, textiles or aluminium, but <mask> finally settled upon metal panels with multiple layers. The building seems to lean towards the city. The floors inside are visible from the exterior like geological strata. Wangjing SOHO Tower, Beijing (2009–2014)
Wangjing SOHO tower in Beijing is the second building <mask> designed for the major Chinese property developer, located half-way between the centre of Beijing and the airport. The towers slope and curve; <mask> compared them to Chinese fans, "whose volumes turn one around the other in a complex ballet."The tallest building is 200 metres high, with two levels of shops and 37 levels of offices. A single atrium level three storeys high joins the three buildings at the base. Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre (2012–2015)
The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre are two skyscrapers in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Tower 1 is 314.5 metres (1,032 ft) tall and Tower 2 is 255 metres (837 ft). Construction began in 2012 and ended in 2015. Issam Fares Institute, AUB, Beirut (2014)
The Issam Fares Institute is located in the campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB). It won the Agha Khan Award in 2016, the same year <mask> passed away.It has a 21 meters cantilever in order to preserve the existing landscape. The institute aims to harness, develop and initiate research of the Arab world to enhance and broaden debate on public policy and international relations. Port Authority, Antwerp, Belgium (2016)
Of all her works, <mask> designed only one government building, the Port Authority Building, or Havenhuis, in Antwerp, Belgium, completed in 2016. Most new government buildings attempt to express solidity and seriousness, but Port Authority, a ship-like structure of glass and steel on a white concrete perch, seems to have landed atop the old port building constructed in 1922. The faceted glass structure also resembles a diamond, a symbol of Antwerp's role as the major market of diamonds in Europe. It was one of the last works of <mask>, who died in 2016, the year it opened. The square in front of the building was renamed to Zaha Hadidplein (Zaha Hadidsquare) to honor her death.Death

On 31 March 2016, <mask> died of a heart attack at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, where she was being treated for bronchitis. She was 65 years old. The statement issued by her London-based design studio announcing her death read: "<mask> <mask> was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today". She is buried between her father <mask> and brother Foulath <mask> in Brookwood Cemetery in Brookwood, Surrey, England. In her will she left £67m, and bequeathed various amounts to her business partner and family members. Her international design businesses, which accounted for the bulk of her wealth, were left in trust. Posthumous major projects (2016–present)

Salerno Maritime Terminal in Salerno, Italy (2000–2016)
The first major project to be completed shortly after her death was the Salerno Maritime Terminal in Salerno, Italy, her first major transportation building.She won the competition for the building in 2000, but then the project was delayed due to funding and technical issues. <mask> scouted the site from a police boat in the harbour to visualise how it would appear from the water. The final building covers 50,000 square feet and cost 15 million Euros. Paola Cattarin, the project architect who completed the building after <mask>'s death, said, "We thought of the building as an oyster, with a hard shell top and bottom, and a softer, liquid, more organic interior." At the opening of the new building, posters of Hadid were placed around the city, saying, "Goodbye <mask> <mask>; Genius and Modernity, Inspiration and Transformation, Light That Takes Shape." Scorpion Tower of Miami
The Scorpion Tower of Miami, now known as One Thousand Museum, was started while <mask> was still alive though currently undergoing completion posthumously. It is noted by its curved external columns standing the full length of the building.Its twin Scorpion Tower has also been built in Dubai. Skyscraper re-purposing of 666 Fifth Avenue (2015–incomplete)
On 25 March 2017, Kam Dhillon reported a yet-to-be completed skyscraper design designed by <mask> prior to her death in 2016 in an article titled "Zaha Hadid Architects Unveils Monumental Skyscraper Project for NYC". Grand Théatre de Rabat (2014–incomplete)

A futuristic building, faithful to the imprint of the architect, which should host the biggest cultural events of the Moroccan capital. The works, launched in October 2014, are still in progress. This project consists of a large multipurpose room, which has 1822 seats and can accommodate different types of shows. For each artistic presentation with specific acoustics needs, the theater will be equipped with adjustable systems. The theater also has a small modular room with 127 seats, a restaurant with panoramic views, shops, cafes and a bookstore.Beijing Daxing International Airport, China
The Beijing Daxing International Airport opened in September 2019. Sky Park Residence, Bratislava, Slovakia
The complex of three 31-storey residential towers neighbouring Bratislava city

masks:
Hadid
Hadid
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Hadid
Hadid
Hadid
Dame Zaha
Dame Zaha
Hadid
Hadid
Hadid
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Zaha
Hadid
Mohammed Hadid
Hadid
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 centre is still under construction. Part of the construction area includes a preserved historical waterworks building designed by one of the most influential Slovak architects of early 20th century – Dušan Jurkovič. Teaching
In the 1990s, she held the Sullivan Chair professorship at the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Architecture. At various times, she served as guest professor at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK Hamburg), the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University, the Masters Studio at Columbia University, and was the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture. From 2000, <mask> was a guest professor at the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, in the Zaha Hadid Master Class Vertical-Studio. Interior architecture and product design

<mask> also undertook some high-profile interior work, including the Mind Zone at the Millennium Dome in London as well as creating fluid furniture installations within the Georgian surroundings of Home House private members club in Marylebone, and the Z.CAR hydrogen-powered, three-wheeled automobile.In 2009 she worked with the clothing brand Lacoste to create a new, high fashion, and advanced boot. In the same year, she also collaborated with the brassware manufacturer Triflow Concepts to produce two new designs in her signature parametric architectural style. In 2007, <mask> designed Dune Formations for David Gill Gallery and the Moon System Sofa for leading Italian furniture manufacturer B&B Italia. In 2013, <mask> designed Liquid Glacial for David Gill Gallery which comprises a series of tables resembling ice-formations made from clear and coloured acrylic. Their design embeds surface complexity and refraction within a powerful fluid dynamic. The collection was further extended in 2015–2016. In 2016 the gallery launched Zaha's final collection of furniture entitled UltraStellar

Architectural firm
Hadid established an architectural firm named Zaha Hadid Architects in New York.One of the notable buildings designed by this agency is the boutique pavilion of Il Makiage. Reputation
Following her death in March 2016, Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times wrote: "her soaring structures left a mark on skylines and imaginations and in the process re-shaped architecture for the modern age...Her buildings elevated uncertainty to an art, conveyed in the odd way of one entered and moved through these buildings and in the questions that her structures raised about how they were supported ... <mask> embodied, in its profligacy and promise, the era of so-called starchitects who roamed the planet in pursuit of their own creative genius, offering miracles, occasionally delivering." She is quoted as saying "I don't make nice little buildings". Deyan Sudjic of The Guardian described <mask> as "an architect who first imagined, then proved, that space could work in radical new ways ... Throughout her career, she was a dedicated teacher, enthused by the energy of the young. She was not keen to be characterised as a woman architect, or an Arab architect. She was simply an architect."In an interview published in Icon magazine, she said: "I never use the issue about being a woman architect ... but if it helps younger people to know they can break through the glass ceiling, I don't mind that." However, she admitted that she never really felt a part of the male-dominant architecture "establishment". She once said "As a woman in architect you're always an outsider. It's OK, I like being on the edge.' Sometimes called the "Queen of the curve", <mask> was frequently described in the press as the world's top female architect. although her work also attracted criticism. The Metropolitan Museum in New York cited her "unconventional buildings that seem to defy the logic of construction".Her architectural language was described as "famously extravagant" and she was accused of building "dictator states". Architect Sean Griffiths characterised <mask>'s work as "an empty vessel that sucks in whatever ideology might be in proximity to it". Qatar controversy
As the architect of a stadium to be used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, <mask> was accused in The New York Review of Books of giving an interview in which she allegedly showed no concern for the deaths of migrant workers in Qatar involved in the project. In August 2014, <mask> sued The New York Review of Books for defamation and won. Immediately thereafter, the reviewer and author of the piece in which she was accused of showing no concern issued a retraction in which he said "work did not begin on the site for the Al Wakrah stadium, until two months after Ms <mask> made those comments; and construction is not scheduled to begin until 2015 ... There have been no worker deaths on the Al Wakrah project and Ms <mask>'s comments about Qatar that I quoted in the review had nothing to do with the Al Wakrah site or any of her projects. I regret the error."Style
The architectural style of <mask> is not easily categorised, and she did not describe herself as a follower of any one style or school. Nonetheless, before she had built a single major building, she was categorised by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a major figure in architectural Deconstructivism. Her work was also described as an example of neo-futurism and parametricism. An article profiling <mask> in the New Yorker magazine was titled "The Abstractionist". At the time when technology was integrating into design, Zaha accepted the use of technology but still continued to hand draw her buildings and make models of the designs. This was because she did not want to limit herself and her designs to only to what the computer could do. Through her design style, she paints the conceptual designs of her many projects in fluid and geometrical forms where "<mask> <mask>'s work took shape."These would be large paintings that would aspire towards her design process and "rational nature of her construction, the drawings pulled the parts and pieces apart, exploding its site and programme." When she was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2004, the jury chairman, Lord Rothschild, commented:  "At the same time as her theoretical and academic work, as a practising architect, <mask> <mask> has been unswerving in her commitment to modernism. Always inventive, she's moved away from existing typology, from high tech, and has shifted the geometry of buildings." The Design Museum described her work in 2016 as having "the highly expressive, sweeping fluid forms of multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry that evoke the chaos and flux of modern life". <mask> herself, who often used dense architectural jargon, could also describe the essence of her style very simply: "The idea is not to have any 90-degree angles. In the beginning, there was the diagonal. The diagonal comes from the idea of the explosion which "re-forms" the space.This was an important discovery." Awards and honours
<mask> was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2002 Birthday Honours and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to architecture. <mask> was named an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects. She was on the board of trustees of The Architecture Foundation. In 2002, <mask> won the international design competition to design Singapore's one-north master plan. In 2004, <mask> became the first female recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 2005, her design won the competition for the new city casino of Basel, Switzerland and she was elected as a Royal Academician.In 2006, she was honoured with a retrospective spanning her entire work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York; that year she also received an Honorary Degree from the American University of Beirut. In 2008, she was ranked 69th on the Forbes list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". In 2010, she was named by Time as an influential thinker in the 2010 TIME 100 issue. In September 2010 the New Statesman listed <mask> <mask> at number 42 in its annual survey of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures of 2010". In 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. In 2014, 2015 and 2016, <mask> appeared on Debrett's list of the most influential people in the UK. In January 2015, she was nominated for the Services to Science and Engineering award at the British Muslim Awards.She won the Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious award for architecture, two years running: in 2010, for one of her most celebrated works, the MAXXI in Rome, and in 2011 for the Evelyn Grace Academy, a Z‑shaped school in Brixton, London. She also designed the Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park in Seoul, South Korea, which was the centrepiece of the festivities for the city's designation as World Design Capital 2010. In 2014, the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, designed by her, won the Design Museum Design of the Year Award, making her the first woman to win the top prize in that competition. In 2015, she became the first woman to receive the Royal Gold Medal awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 2016 in Antwerp, Belgium a square was named after her, Zaha <mask>plein, in front of the extension of the Antwerp Harbour House designed by <mask> <mask>. Google celebrated her achievements with a Doodle on 31 May 2017, to commemorate the date (in 2004) on which <mask> became the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize. 1982: Gold Medal Architectural Design, British Architecture for 59 Eaton Place, London
1994: Erich Schelling Architecture Award
2001: Equerre d'argent Prize, special mention
2002: Austrian State Prize for Architecture for Bergiselschanze
2003: European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture for the Strasbourg tramway terminus and car park in Hoenheim, France
2003: Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to architecture
2004: Pritzker Prize
2005: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
2005: German Architecture Prize for the central building of the BMW plant in Leipzig
2005: Designer of the Year Award for Design Miami
2005: RIBA European Award for BMW Central Building
2006: RIBA European Award for Phaeno Science Centre
2007: Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture
2008: RIBA European Award for Nordpark Cable Railway
2009: Praemium Imperiale
2010: RIBA European Award for MAXXI
2012: Jane Drew Prize for her "outstanding contribution to the status of women in architecture"
2012: Jury member for the awarding of the Pritzker Prize to Wang Shu in Los Angeles.2013: 41st Winner of the Veuve Clicquot UK Business Woman Award
2013: Elected international member, American Philosophical Society
She was also on the editorial board of the Encyclopædia Britannica. List of architectural works

Her architectural design firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, employs 400 people and its headquarters are in a Victorian former-school building in Clerkenwell, London. Stirling Prize 2010 winner. Guangzhou Opera House (2010), Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
Sheikh Zayed Bridge (2007–10), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Galaxy SOHO in Beijing, China. London Aquatics Centre (2011), 2012 Summer Olympics, London, United Kingdom
Riverside Museum (2004–11) development of Glasgow Transport Museum, Scotland
Deutsche Guggenheim (2005), Berlin, Germany
CMA CGM Tower (2006–11), Marseilles, France
Ark Evelyn Grace Academy (2006–10) in Brixton, London, UK. Stirling Prize 2011 winner. Capital Hill Residence (2006), in Moscow, Russia.Private home owned by Vladislav Doronin. Urban Nebula (2007), London Design Festival, London, UK
Lilas (2007), Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Roca London Gallery (2009–11) in Chelsea Harbour, London, UK
d'Leedon, Singapore (2007–2011)
Design For Proposed Museum In Vilnius (2007-2011), Vilnius, Lithuania
Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre (2007–12) in Baku, Azerbaijan. Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (2010–12), Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Mandarin Oriental Dellis Cay, Villa D (2012) (private home under construction), Dellis Cay, Turks & Caicos Islands
Library and Learning Center of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Campus (2010–2013)
Salerno Maritime Terminal (2007–13), Salerno, Italy
Napoli Afragola railway station, Italy (2013)
Jockey Club Innovation Tower (2013), Hong Kong
Dongdaemun Design Plaza (2008–14), Seoul, South Korea
Citylife office tower (Storto) and residentials, Milan, Italy (2014)
Investcorp Building, St Antony's College, Oxford (2013–15), UK. King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2010–15)
Nanjing International Youth Cultural Centre, China (2016)
Antwerp Harbour House, Antwerp, Belgium (2016)
Dubai Opera, Dubai, UAE (2016)
The Opus, Dubai, UAE (2007-2018)
Scorpion Tower, One Thousand Museum, Miami, Florida, US (2018)
520 West 28th Street, New York City, United States (2017)
Messner Mountain Museum, Corones, Province of Bozen, South Tyrol, Italy (2015)

Incomplete projects
Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in 2008. In 2010, commissioned by the Iraqi government to design the new building for the Central Bank of Iraq. An agreement to complete the design stages of the new CBI building was finalised on 2 February 2012, at a ceremony in London. This was her first project in her native Iraq.In 2012, <mask> won an international competition to design a new National Olympic Stadium as part of the successful bid by Tokyo to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. As the estimated cost of the construction mounted, however, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe announced in July 2015 that <mask>'s design would be scrapped in favour of a new bidding process to seek a less expensive alternative. <mask> had planned to enter the new competition, but her firm was unable to meet the new requirement of finding a construction company with which to partner. 600 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia
Mercury House Tower, St Julians, Malta
Nuragic and Contemporary art museum (on hold), Cagliari, Italy
Eleftheria square (Freedom Square) in Nicosia, Cyprus
Esfera City Center in Monterrey, Mexico
New Century City Art Center, Chengdu, China
Dominion Tower in Moscow, Russia
Danjiang Bridge in New Taipei, Taiwan
Iraqi Parliament Building in Baghdad
2014 Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup stadium design
2016 Winton (Mathematics) Gallery at the Science Museum, London
2017 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, USA
California Residence, California, USA
Middle East Centre. <mask> <mask> designed the stage set for the Pet Shop Boys' world tour. A Day with <mask> <mask> (2004). A 52-minute documentary where <mask> <mask> discusses her current work while taking the camera through her retrospective exhibition "<mask> <mask> has Arrived".Directed by Michael Blackwood. In October 2008, she guest-edited Wallpaper magazine. On 2 January 2009, she was the guest editor of the BBC's flagship morning radio news programme, Today. See also

Iraqi art
List of Iraqi artists
List of Iraqi women artists

Bibliography

Fontana-Giusti, Gordana and Schumacher, Patrik. (2004). Complete Works of <mask> <mask>, 4 volumes, Thames and Hudson, Rizzoli, published in English, translated into German and Spanish. References

External links

1950 births
2016 deaths
American University of Beirut alumni
Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture
British interior designers
British jewellery designers
British Muslims
British women architects
Burials at Brookwood Cemetery
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architects
Harvard University faculty
Columbia University faculty
Iraqi architects
Iraqi designers
Iraqi emigrants to the United Kingdom
Iraqi Muslims
Iraqi women architects
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
Neo-futurism architecture
People educated at Berkhamsted School
People from Baghdad
Pritzker Architecture Prize winners
Recipients of the Praemium Imperiale
Recipients of the Austrian State Prize
Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
Royal Academicians
Stirling Prize laureates
University of Illinois at Chicago faculty
British

masks: Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Zaha Hadid Zaha Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Zaha Hadid Hadid Hadid Zaha Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Hadid Zaha Hadid Zaha Hadid Zaha Hadid Zaha Hadid Zaha Hadid


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'<mask>' is a Puerto Rican artist. Since 1940: Strategies of Being Author: Fineberg, Jonathan.Prentice Hall</ref>  He was a 1993 recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a 2011 recipient of an Annalee and Barnett Newman Foundation Grant. Extensive documentation can be found on his website rafaelferrerstudio.com

Life
From an early age <mask> traveled between Puerto Rico and the United States, studying in his teens at Staunton Military Academy and then went on to Syracuse University from 1951 to 1953. Since his years at Staunton, he learned to play drums, which began his involvement with Afro-Cuban music. At Syracuse, fellow students introduced him to the world of art through books, causing a failed attempt to register in the Art Department. During his vacations he would travel to New York City, where he would stay with his half-brother, the Academy Award winner actor, <mask>, whom he would accompany to Jazz clubs, meeting many of the musicians who were friends of his brother. He also began to regularly visit the Museum of Modern Art, as well as visiting art galleries.In the fall of 1953 he returned to Puerto Rico and enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, where he spent one year studying with Eugenio Granell, a surrealist painter and writer who was an exile of the Spanish Civil War,. Through this teacher, while on a trip to Europe, he met many of the surrealist group then living in Paris, including its "High Priest"  André Breton. His most important early connection was a friendship with the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam, who gave and dedicated one of his drawings to the young <mask>. In 1955 he moved to New York to work as a musician. He was a professional percussionist until 1960, after which he used it as a means of support while he focused more on his work as an artist in his studio. Since the mid-1960s he has had exhibitions and given lectures and seminars across the US, Europe, and the Caribbean. Ferrer's success began in the late 1960s with installations engaging conceptual and process art.These first involved actions, such as his "3 Leaf Pieces" at the Castelli Warehouse and then developed into installations that became progressively more narrative in tone, which included complicated artifacts assembled and fabricated by the artist which inferred voyages. Many of these artifacts became part of recurring themes or series, including this paper bag faces, kayaks and maps, themes that he returns to up to the present. These installations were done at prominent museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Museums Of Contemporary Art in both Philadelphia and Chicago. In the 1980s he became known for his expressionistic paintings of his native Caribbean, works that dealt with the tropic's under belly, breaking the stereotype of the tourist cliche. These works deal with the marvelous, the rough, the frightful and the beautiful as seen through the eyes of one born of these regions. Painting enabled <mask> to go back to the privacy of working alone in his studio. Aside from his continuing interest in sculptures made in the studio, <mask> has been commissioned to create permanent sculptures, such as "Puerto Rican Sun"  featured on Art in America, March 1980 issue.Fabricated by Lippincott out of steel, it was erected in the South Bronx in 1979. The sculpture depicts the two sides of the Caribbean, light and dark, sun and moon. In 1981 he was commissioned by the Fairmount Park Art Association to make a sculpture for the city of Philadelphia. With the fabricator Bob Giza he created an aluminum crown which sat on an existing building featuring cutouts of acrobats and performers and words which spelled out its title or marquee: "El Gran Teatro de la Luna", (dismantled, restored and reinstalled on a new open arbor-like base by the city in 2012). In 2002 <mask> was commissioned by the Government of Puerto Rico to create a permanent sculpture for the waterfront of La Parguera, a village on the southern coast where boats depart for the Phosphorescent Bay. Installed in 2004 and titled "El Museo Rodante" (the rolling museum). It comprises 5 bronze sculptures, cast from wooden templates which contain imagery from artist's throughout history that <mask> has admired.The five sculptures have since been moved, reinstalled in Old San Juan. The mediums <mask> has worked in include sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, and installation art. <mask> taught at several universities: University of Pennsylvania, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, New York's School of Visual Arts, New York, The San Francisco Art Institute, and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Living and working on the North Fork of Long Island since 1999, <mask> has returned to his earlier influences, the visual world used only to spark the imagination. Along with paintings and a multitude of works on paper, including his ongoing series of paper bag faces, he has developed a new format which enables him to combine his fascination for both images and words: large blackboard installations. He had a major exhibition at El Museo Del Barrio in 2010 titled Retro/Active from June 8 - August 21 and a Survey of Works on Paper at the Lancaster Museum of Art from September 7 - November 11, 2012, both with  comprehensive catalogues. He was included in the Guggenheim Museum's Latin American exhibition "Under the Same Sun" in 2014, for which the museum purchased the 1973 piece ARTFORHUM.He is represented the Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL. A monograph on his work was released in November, 2012 by UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, A Ver Series, distributed by the University of Minnesota Press. Personal Life Twice divorced, <mask> met Francoise Crandall in 1971, whom he married in 1982 to the present. She has worked with him as an assistant and managed most domestic and financial details, leaving Ferrer to focus on this work. They have no children. He has 1 child from each of his first 2 marriages, but has been estranged from both for much of the past 40 years. References

External links
 http://www.adambaumgoldgallery.com/
 https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/arts/design/11ferrer.html?_r=1
 http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/rafael-ferrer6-25-10.asp
 http://dawire.com/2010/06/23/retroactive-the-work-of-rafael-ferrer/
 Kemper Art Museum
 Tandem Press article
"RAFAEL FERRER", The Left Matrix "<mask>rrer", Artnet''
 https://web.archive.org/web/20100714111103/http://ondemand.psu.edu/viewer.php?id=09052007094501

Puerto Rican sculptors
Living people
Pew Fellows in the Arts
Staunton Military Academy alumni
Syracuse University alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)

masks:
Rafael Ferrer
Ferrer
José Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Ferrer
Rafael Fe


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<mask>. (born May 4, 1948) is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as the seventh vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2005 to 2007. He retired in 2007, after 37 years of service. Early life and education
<mask> was born on May 4, 1948 in Canastota, New York. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with leadership distinction in 1970. Naval career

<mask>'s operational assignments included several in which he was responsible for both demanding at-sea operations and the development of new technologies and experimental processes. Early sea assignments included  and the s blue crew. While assigned to USS Puffer, he was a 1973 winner of the Fleet Commander's Junior Officer Submarine Shiphandling Competition.He commanded the NR-1 Deep Submergence Craft, the Navy's only nuclear powered deep diving ocean engineering and research submarine and , where the crew was awarded three consecutive Battle Efficiency "E"s, three Navy Unit Commendations, and two Fleet Commander Silver Anchors for excellence in enlisted retention. Giambastiani also led Submarine Development Squadron Twelve, an operational submarine squadron that also serves as the Navy's Warfare Center of Excellence for submarine doctrine and tactics. Established in 1949, Submarine Development Squadron Twelve is the oldest experimental unit of its kind in the U.S. military. He served as the first director of strategy and concepts at the Naval Doctrine Command, as well as Commander, Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force; Commander, Submarines Allied Command Atlantic; and Commander, Anti-Submarine and Reconnaissance Forces Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia. Giambastiani's other shore and staff assignments include duties as an enlisted program manager at the Navy Recruiting Command Headquarters, Washington, D.C., in the early days of the all volunteer force; Special Assistant to the Deputy Director for Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency; and, a fellowship with the Chief of Naval Operations' Strategic Studies Group. As a flag officer, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments for the Commander, United States Pacific Fleet; Director of Submarine Warfare for the Chief of Naval Operations; Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Resources, Requirements, and Assessments; and as the Senior Military Assistant to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. His previous assignment was as NATO's first Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) and as Combatant Commander of United States Joint Forces Command, where he led the transformation of NATO and U.S. military forces, capabilities and doctrines and the introduction of new technologies, from October 2, 2002 to August 1, 2005.In 2003, in his capacity as Commander, United States Joint Forces Command, Giambastiani published a "lessons learned" report. While generally praising U.S. performance it highlighted numerous incidents of friendly fire. Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

On August 12, 2005, Giambastiani was sworn in as the seventh Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, becoming the third naval officer to hold that position. As Vice Chairman, Giambastiani chaired the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, co-chaired the Defense Acquisition Board, and served as a member of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, the Nuclear Weapons Council and the Missile Defense Executive Board. In addition, he worked with the Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England as Co-Chair of the Deputies Advisory Working Group, which oversees implementation of the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and other high level Departmental business issues. On May 4–6, 2007, Giambastiani visited Tunisia, meeting with high-ranking military and civilian officials, including his Tunisian counterparts and Tunisian Foreign Minister Abdelwaheb Abdallah and Defense Minister Kamel Morjane. He went to the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial on the outskirts of Tunis to pay his respects to fallen U.S. soldiers who had died there during the Tunisia campaign of World War II.On June 1, 2007, Giambastiani announced his retirement from the military to spend more time with his family and pursue other ventures. He retired on July 27, 2007. Post-military career
Giambastiani's personal interests include amateur radio, for which he uses the call sign N4OC. He also currently serves as a guiding coalition member of the Project on National Security Reform. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory and the Board of Trustees of the Mitre Corporation. On October 8, 2009, airplane maker Boeing Co. announced that Giambastiani had been elected to its board of directors, effective immediately. The Seattle Times reported that "In a statement, Boeing chairman and chief executive Jim McNerney indicated that the addition of Giambastiani, who was the second-highest ranking officer in the U.S. military, is intended [...] to boost Boeing's influence with the Pentagon."Dates of rank

Awards and decorations

Medals and ribbons

 Submarine Warfare insignia (Officer)
 Deep Submergence insignia (Officer)
 Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
 Office of the Secretary of Defense Identification Badge

His decorations include numerous personal and unit decorations, medals and ribbons including:

References

External links

|-

|-

1948 births
Atlantic Council
Living people
People from Canastota, New York
United States Naval Academy alumni
United States submarine commanders
Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Recipients of the Legion of Merit
Recipients of the Meritorious Service Decoration
Recipients of the Military Order of the Cross of the Eagle, Class I
Recipients of the NATO Meritorious Service Medal
Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal
United States Navy admirals
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

masks:
Edmund Peter Giambastiani Jr
Giambastiani
Giambastiani


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W. C<mask> is an American author and social scientist who has researched topics in anthropology, criminal justice and criminology, psychology, and sociology in his academic and professional career. He has authored Fathering Behaviors (Plenum, 1985) and The American Father (Plenum, 1996), and co-authored the 2000 book Gender Roles, Traditions and Generations to Come: The Collision of Competing Interests and the Feminist Paradox with Nancy S. Coney for Nova Science Publishing. He has written on the relationship of gender on parental interaction. Early life and family
Born in 1946 in New Jersey, <mask><mask> has developed close attachments to Virginia, Iowa and Texas in his career and private life. He married Bonnie Lee Watson of Norfolk, Virginia in 1969, and they had three children, Shannon, Jennifer and Michael. They divorced in 1995 while residing in Texas. She continues to do cooperative research with him (Mackey and Mackey, 2003; 2009) and is an associate professor of education at the University of Houston–Clear Lake.Education
Dr<mask> earned his B. A.  in Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Virginia in 1967, the M.A. in Psychology from Louisiana State University in 1970, and the  Ph.D. in Anthropology at the University of Virginia in 1976 (Vita – <mask>. Mackey, 2008). Career
One of <mask>'s widely cited criminal justice articles is "Police Violence as a Function of Community Characteristics,"  (with Dr. Richard R. E. Kania) which appeared in Criminology in 1977. He revisited the topic in 2009 with Dr. Vance McLaughlin in an article in Criminal Justice Studies, “Police-Caused Homicides in the U.S. as a Function of Community Characteristics: Revisiting a Set of Relationships from a Previous Generation.”  In both studies he and his colleagues demonstrated strong correlations between police decision-making in deadly-force situations and features of the communities the police served. His article, “Violent Crime and the Loss of Fathers: Beyond the Long Arm,” was included in a collection prepared by anthropologist Myrdene Anderson, The Cultural Shaping of Violence, Purdue University Press, 2004. He has been a frequent contributor to Mankind Quarterly, often co-authoring articles with psychiatrist Dr. Ronald S. Immerman.Together they have explored some of the psychological aspects of human social evolution and cultural development. The common thread to his work has been the proposition that the role of the father in child development is far more important than is usually supposed or credited in contemporary family studies (<mask> and <mask> 2003). Showing empirically that growing up fatherlessness often has negative social consequences for children, he has challenged the social desirability of social policies which sustain and even reward single-parent family arrangements. This has set him at odds with some feminist scholars and his work has been deemed “politically incorrect” in their circles (Kania and <mask> 1983; <mask> and Coney, 2000). He taught for the Department of Criminal Justice at Jacksonville State University of Alabama between 2007 and 2009 before retiring. Since his retirement he has lived in Wilton, Iowa. <mask> also taught for Cy-Fair College in Cypress, Texas; North Harris College in Houston, Texas; Tomball College in Tomball, Texas; the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Arkansas; Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa;  El Paso Community College and the Army’s Sergeant-Major’s Academy in El Paso, Texas; Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt.Pleasant, Iowa; Tarkio College in Tarkio, Missouri;  South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond Virginia; School of Continuing Education of the University of Virginia and the Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Louisiana State University at Eunice, La. ; and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Vita – <mask>. <mask>, 2008). He has been the recipient of three	Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation research grants, in 1977, 1980 and 1989, and was the 1985 Chadwick Distinguished Teacher of the Year at Iowa 	Wesleyan College. In 1974	 he received a National Science Foundation research grant to study adult-child behavior in public places. He has done extensive field research in Iceland in 1977, Ireland in 1980, Mexico in 1975 and Spain in 1974, and directed field research projects on adult-child interaction in Austria (1986), Kenya (1986), France, (1986), Great Britain (1986), Brazil (1977, 1981), Taiwan (1980), Israel (1980), Japan (1977), Hong Kong (1979), Morocco (1977), India (1978), Peru (1976), Sri Lanka (1982), and Ivory Coast (1977, 1981) (Vita – <mask>. <mask>, 2008). Bibliography

 Kania, Richard R. E., and <mask>, <mask>.  (1977)  "Police Violence as a Function of Community Characteristics,"  Criminology, Volume 15, #1. Kania, Richard R. E., and <mask> C. <mask>  (1983)  "A Preliminary Analysis of Feminist Views on the Crime of Rape,"  Southern Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 8, #1.<mask>, Bonnie W., and <mask><mask>  (2009)  “The Presence of the U.S. Father as an Enhancement for His Children's Reading Achievement: Masculine Influence or a Second Parent?”  Reading Improvement, Summer 2009. Accessed on-line at <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6516/is_2_46/ai_n32067949/?tag=content;col1>
 <mask>, <mask>.  (2008)  Vita – <mask>. <mask>. Document on file in the Department of Criminal Justice at Jacksonville State University of Alabama. <mask>, <mask>.  (1996)  The American Father, Plenum. <mask>, <mask>.  (1985)  Fathering Behaviors,  Plenum. <mask>, <mask>.  (2004)  “Violent Crime and the Loss of Fathers: Beyond the Long Arm,” in The Cultural Shaping of Violence, Purdue University Press, edited by Myrdene Anderson. <mask>, <mask>., and Nancy S. Coney  (2000)  Gender Roles, Traditions and Generations to Come: The Collision of Competing Interests and the Feminist Paradox, Nova Science Publishing.<mask>, <mask>., and <mask>, Bonnie W.  (2003)  “The Presence of Fathers in Attenuating Young Male Violence: Dad as Social Palliative,” Marriage and Family Review 35: 63-75. References

American sociologists
University of Virginia alumni
Louisiana State University alumni
Iowa Wesleyan University faculty
Jacksonville State University faculty
Virginia Commonwealth University faculty
University of Arkansas faculty
South Dakota State University faculty
1946 births
Living people
People from Wilton, Iowa

masks:
. Mackey
Wade C
. Mackey
. Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Mackey
Mackey
Mackey
Mackey
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Mackey
Wade C
Wade
Mackey
Mackey
Wade C
. Mackey
Mackey
Wade C
Wade C
Mackey
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey
Wade C
Mackey


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<mask> (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, <mask> found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker later in his career. After making his debut for Arsenal in the 1986–87 season, <mask> went on to play eleven seasons with the North London club. While with the Gunners, <mask> was a key player in the club's success under Scottish manager George Graham, winning the Football League Championship twice, the FA Cup, the Football League Cup, and the European Cup Winners' Cup. In 1997, he joined Middlesbrough, helping the club gain promotion to the Premier League and finish as runner-up in the 1997–98 Football League Cup. After joining Aston Villa in 1998, <mask> went on to become club captain and played for the team in the 2000 FA Cup Final, the last to be held at the original Wembley Stadium. In 2002, he signed for second-tier Portsmouth and captained the club to the First Division Championship title and promotion to the Premier League.A year later, he returned to the West Midlands with Walsall, where he went on to serve as player-manager until he was sacked in February 2006. He later had short spells with non-league clubs Tamworth, Welshpool Town, Caerau and Hanworth Villa. <mask> was capped 21 times for the England national football team and represented the nation at 1992 UEFA European Championship and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Club career

Arsenal
Born on 20 March 1968 in Harlesden, North West London, <mask> started his career at Arsenal, joining the club as an apprentice in 1984. After a loan spell at Brentford, then under manager Frank McLintock, he made his debut for the Gunners on 22 November 1986 against Manchester City, and gradually established himself in George Graham's successful Arsenal side of the late 1980s. By the 1988–89 season he was a regular on the right wing, at the end of which Arsenal secured the First Division title with a stoppage time Michael Thomas goal in the final game of the season against Liverpool at Anfield. <mask> scored ten times that season, made his debut for the England U21 team, and was voted PFA Young Player of the Year.In 1991, <mask> achieved another league championship with Arsenal and had the highest goalscoring season of his career with 13 goals. He also won a double of the FA Cup and League Cup in 1993, scoring in the 1993 Football League Cup Final against Sheffield Wednesday. A year later, he helped Arsenal win its first European trophy in 24 years as the Gunners defeated Parma in Copenhagen to win the 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup. <mask>'s career was put on the line in November 1994 when he admitted to having addictions to alcohol, cocaine and gambling. The Football Association arranged for <mask> to undergo a three-month rehabilitation programme and he returned to the side in February 1995, just before the dismissal of George Graham as manager. Under caretaker manager Stewart Houston, <mask> helped Arsenal reach the Cup Winners' Cup final for the second season in a row, where Arsenal lost to Real Zaragoza at the Parc des Princes in Paris. In 1995–96, <mask> remained a regular first team player under Arsenal's new manager Bruce Rioch and continued to play regularly during the 1996–97 season following the appointment of Arsène Wenger.In a somewhat surprising move, at the end of the 1996–97 Premiership campaign, in which Arsenal finished third, <mask> was sold to relegated Middlesbrough in a £4.5million deal – making him the most expensive player ever signed by a non-Premiership club. Wenger had offered <mask> a new two-year contract, but <mask> elected to join Boro for a longer contract. <mask> played 423 times for Arsenal and scored 99 goals in all competitions. In 2008, <mask> was ranked the 26th greatest Arsenal player of all-time in a fan poll published by the club's official website. Middlesbrough
In the summer of 1997, <mask> left the Gunners to sign for relegated Middlesbrough for a reported fee believed to be £4.5million. <mask> said he was offered a new contract at Arsenal but turned it down for a longer contract and higher wages at Middlesbrough. When telling Arsene Wenger of his decision, <mask> claims Wenger told him he would be paid more at Middlesbrough than Dennis Bergkamp was paid at Arsenal.<mask> made his league debut for Boro in the opening day victory over Charlton Athletic in a 2–1 victory. He played a key role in helping Boro return to the Premier League and was nicknamed by fans as "The Magic Man". <mask>'s form with Boro also won him a place in England's squad for 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. Whilst at Middlesbrough he played in the 1998 Football League Cup Final. During the start of the 1998–99 season <mask> stated he was home sick and wanted a return South. Middlesbrough later agreed to <mask>'s request and he was sold to Aston Villa for £6.75million. Aston Villa
<mask> scored on his Villa debut, converting from his own missed penalty.<mask> said in an interview that playing at Villa was the best part of his career. He scored a 'wonder goal' winner versus Everton away from forty five yards out in November 2000. <mask> played a key creative role in the Villa side, and helped them to the FA Cup Final in 2000, where they lost 1–0 to Chelsea. Portsmouth
<mask> signed for Division 1 club Portsmouth on a two-year contract, and was instrumental in the club's promotion to the Premiership in 2002–03. <mask>, however, felt that he was too old for a return to the Premiership, and wanted to move closer to his home in Sutton Coldfield. Following a possible move to West Brom which was later vetoed by then Manager Gary Megson, he was eventually snapped up by Division One side Walsall in summer 2003. Walsall
In February 2004, <mask> admitted himself to the Sierra Tucson Clinic in Arizona to seek help for his gambling addiction under the advice and financial backing of the PFA, and missed several key games whilst Walsall slipped in the league from mid table mediocrity into the relegation zone.However, a couple of months after his return, <mask> was quickly thrown into the manager's spot at Walsall following Colin Lee's sacking for allegedly having talks with Plymouth Argyle over a vacant manager's position there. <mask> led a gallant bid to retain Division One status, but was hindered by a harsh last minute penalty against Crystal Palace, and eventually relegated after a 3–2 victory against Rotherham United whilst having to rely on Stoke City beating Gillingham on the final day. The following month, despite relegation, <mask> was rewarded with the manager's job on a permanent basis. The 2004–05 season proved to be a difficult season for <mask>, on and off the field. Walsall went out of all cup competitions against lower league teams, and it was reported that <mask> had had a rift with his wife, and had started drinking and gambling again, whilst the press reported on him inviting goalkeeper Mark Bosnich back into the game. Walsall slipped close to a second consecutive relegation. <mask> responded by making several key signings on transfer deadline day; Julian Joachim, Andy Oakes, Anthony Gerrard (cousin of Steven Gerrard), Craig Pead and David Perpetuini.<mask>'s side went undefeated during May 2005, securing League One status for another year. After a difficult first season in management, <mask>'s position at Walsall looked more secure as the club entered the 2005–06 season; however, he was unable to lift Walsall out of the relegation zone, and with the club in 19th place, he was sacked on 6 February 2006 after his Walsall side lost 5–0 to Brentford at Griffin Park. Tamworth
Despite a number of offers from clubs as high as the Championship, <mask> decided to drop down the leagues and play for part-time Conference club Tamworth, which surprised many but enthralled the Tamworth fans. However, the arrangement meant that until the end of the season, the majority of <mask>'s wages were to be paid by the club he used to manage, Walsall. <mask> played just once, in the 2–1 home loss to Halifax Town. He was dropped to the bench for the following game, a 5–0 defeat away to Grays Athletic. <mask> later announced his retirement from professional football as a player on 9 March 2006, less than a month after joining Tamworth.Later career
On 28 March 2012, he made a one-off appearance for Mid Wales Football League side Welshpool Town, playing alongside fellow Sky Sports pundit Chris Kamara against Newbridge-on-Wye. <mask> scored the opening goal in the 4–1 defeat at the Maes y Dre Recreation Ground. On 11 October 2017, <mask> signed for Welsh Football League Division Three team Caerau. Following international clearance, he made his debut on 18 October against Pontyclun. In December 2019, <mask> joined Hanworth Villa in the Combined Counties League Premier Division, making two appearances for the Villains in total. International career

Euro 1992
<mask> first played for the England national team in 1991, being called up by Graham Taylor. He made his debut for the full England side, in a friendly against Germany on 11 September 1991.He participated in the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. He played in the opening 0–0 draw with Denmark. England went out after another 0–0 draw against the French and a 2–1 loss to hosts Sweden. 1994 World Cup qualifying
<mask> also played a part in the failed campaign to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He played in the opening game, a 1–1 home draw with Norway. He next played against the Netherlands as a substitute for <mask> who was injured. England were leading 2–1, but crucially conceded a late penalty for a 2–2 draw.<mask> also played in the 1993 US Cup against Brazil and Germany, nearly scoring in a 2–1 defeat to the later, Bodo Illgner saving from a 20-yard shot. He returned for the critical and controversial 2–0 defeat against the Dutch in Rotterdam. <mask> nearly equalised the opening Dutch goal, and hit the post with an excellent free-kick. England failed to qualify for the World Cup. Taylor's successor, Terry Venables, told <mask> that he would not get into the team owing to his life style of heavy drinking. In his book, How Not to be a Professional Footballer, <mask> refers to an incident in Chicago while on duty with England during the US Cup. After drinking he wandered off into the city on his own.<mask> ended up in a dangerous area and was involved in trying to break up a fight while very drunk himself. When the combatants turned on <mask>, he fled back to the hotel. The next morning the FBI came to the hotel and briefed the players on the dangers in the city. They expressed surprise that <mask> was not injured in the incident. 1998 World Cup
<mask> held the distinction of being the only player in England's 1998 FIFA World Cup squad not to play for a top flight club. In that tournament, he played in England's famous second round match against Argentina, coming off the bench and scoring in the penalty shoot-out, although England eventually lost. Later he said if England had won their penalty shoot-out he believed England would have won the World Cup.1998 marked the end of <mask>'s international career after 21 full caps in seven years, in which he scored three times. Media career
In August 2006, he commenced a column for the official Arsenal FC magazine. He also continues to play for the England Legends, a 16-man squad of former internationals who have played Italy, Germany, Scotland, Ireland, and the rest of the world. <mask>'s main job is on Sky Sports, where he is a match reporter and regular pundit for Gillette Soccer Saturday. <mask> is often the target of good-humoured jabs from Jeff Stelling and other members of the Soccer Saturday panel; for example, in his attempts to pronounce the names of foreign players. However, Stelling himself, in September 2016, attempted to have <mask> agree with him that Ireland international Harry Arter (who had made his debut against England) should get an England call-up in the week Gareth Southgate took over in an emergency capacity following Sam Allardyce's dismissal. <mask> writes a weekly column for the Daily Stars 'Seriously Football' pullout every Saturday and predicts scores for the weeks premier league games called 'Merson Predicts'.From the 2012–2015 season <mask> co-hosted with John Fendley on the Sky Sports TV programme 'Fantasy Football Club'. From the start of the 2015 season Max Rushden took on co presenting after John Fendley returned to Soccer AM as a co-host. Fantasy Football Club is aired weekly on Friday evenings at 6pm. Both co-hosts also co-managed a fantasy team in the Sky Fantasy 'Celebrities' League. Personal life
Born in Harlesden, North West London, <mask> has been married three times (to Lorraine, Louise and now Kate), and has eight children, including one set of twin girls. His first marriage crumbled under his recovery from drug addiction and alcoholism. In October 2011, <mask> was involved in a car crash with a lorry on the M40 near Warwick, UK, and arrested for drink-driving.While appearing on Harry's Heroes: The Full English, a 2019 ITV documentary, <mask> opened up about how substance abuse and gambling have affected his life, and his continued struggles with addictions. He received praise for his candid discussion of the topic. In the second series <mask> confided in former Arsenal team mate, Goalkeeper David Seaman, that he voluntarily attends AA, including English speaking meetings in Paris, during breaks in filming for ITV's Harry's Heroes: Euro...Having a Laugh, football tour S2.Ep1. <mask> participated in the Mental Health Awareness Week. In January 2020, <mask> spoke about how his drink, drug and gambling habits fuelled his struggles with mental health. Honours
Arsenal
Football League First Division: 1988–89, 1990–91
FA Cup: 1992–93
Football League Cup: 1992–93
Football League Centenary Trophy: 1988
FA Charity Shield: 1991
European Cup Winners' Cup: 1993–94

Aston Villa
UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001

Portsmouth
Football League First Division: 2002–03

Individual
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1989
Premier League Player of the Month: February 2000

References

External links

Profile at sporting-heroes.net

1968 births
Living people
People from Harlesden
Footballers from the London Borough of Brent
English footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England B international footballers
England international footballers
Association football wingers
Arsenal F.C. players
Brentford F.C.players
Middlesbrough F.C. players
Aston Villa F.C. players
Portsmouth F.C. players
Walsall F.C. players
Tamworth F.C. players
Welshpool Town F.C. players
English Football League players
Premier League players
National League (English football) players
UEFA Euro 1992 players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
English football managers
Walsall F.C.managers
English Football League managers
English autobiographers
English male non-fiction writers
Hanworth Villa F.C. players
FA Cup Final players

masks:
Paul Charles Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
Merson
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<mask>,  (born 24 January 1958) is a British politician who served as the first directly elected Mayor of Liverpool from 2012 to 2021. A member of the Labour Party until his suspension in November 2020, he served as Leader of Liverpool City Council from 2010 to 2012. <mask> was the leader of Liverpool City Council from the 2010 Council election until the 2012 Mayoral election. He was elected Mayor of Liverpool on 3 May 2012, winning with 57% of the vote. He won a second term in May 2016 with 52.6% of the vote. He was also on the board of directors at Liverpool Vision, an Urban Regeneration Company within the city. He represented Liverpool City Council as a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.In December 2020, <mask> temporarily stood down as Liverpool mayor after being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation. He was also suspended from the Labour Party. Early life
<mask> was born in Liverpool on 24 January 1958. His mother was a cleaner at an office, while his father was in the Merchant Navy. He lived near the city centre during his early life, attending St Vincent Primary School and St Martins Secondary School. He joined the Merchant Navy when he left school and later worked for P&O Ferries, as well being a steward in the National Union of Seamen. He then attended Liverpool John Moores University as a mature student and obtained a postgraduate diploma in social work, allowing him to become a full-time social worker at Chesterfield High School in Crosby.Political career

Early political career (1998–2005)
<mask> was elected as a city councillor in 1998, first representing the Abercromby ward. In 2003, he became the Leader of the Labour group on Liverpool City Council, and in 2010 became the leader of the council, when Labour gained a majority of seats in the city. Previously he was on the board of the Liverpool Culture Company, a group involved in developing a programme of events for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture in 2008. However, he resigned this position in 2007 after stating his concern at the lack of community involvement in planned events, alleging that an elitist attitude was developing among the board. <mask> was, along with Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman, involved with the campaign to free Michael Shields after his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in Bulgaria in 2005. Recent years
In December 2015, <mask> was appointed as Leader of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. This was not a conventional election, but a joint decision by council leaders of neighbouring local authorities.In May 2016, he announced his intention to run for the Labour Party nomination for the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region position. In the selection contest, he finished second to then-Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram, who went on to win the election in May 2017. <mask> continued in his position as the Mayor of Liverpool. In May 2017, <mask> sought selection as a Labour candidate to be the MP for the Liverpool Walton constituency, but lost to then-Unite the Union official Dan Carden. <mask> issued a statement claiming: "Today we were reminded that the Labour Party is not always a meritocracy... after [the General Election] there will be more to say." Controversies

Matters associated with David McElhinney
In opposition, <mask> had been critical of the joint venture between Liverpool City Council and British Telecom (BT), called LDL. However, on becoming Council Leader, one of <mask>'s first moves was to appoint David McElhinney as temporary chief executive of the council for the six-month period while the council was renegotiating its contract with BT.McElhinney was Chief Executive of LDL at the same time. Cherie Booth QC was engaged to provide legal advice regarding the potential for conflict of interest. The LDL contract was extended, although it  was subsequently terminated when it came to light that McElhinney's payments from a second council (Lancashire County Council) were under investigation. McElhinney and others were arrested as part of an investigation into allegations of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and intimidating witnesses. <mask> was interviewed by police under caution in November 2017. Case against Chesterfield High School and spending by council lawyers
In April 2015, <mask> brought legal proceedings against Chesterfield High School, claiming he had been unfairly dismissed from his role as a 'social inclusion mentor', despite not having worked at the school for two years. It transpired that he had continued to receive an annual salary of £4,500 from the school during his working absence.<mask> lost part of his case at the first hearing and Chesterfield High school requested <mask> pay back a portion of the money he had received. The case attracted press attention when it was revealed <mask> had instructed Liverpool City Council lawyers to work on the case, while it was described as a private employment matter. The council had spent over £89,500 from public funds to support <mask> during the employment tribunal, according to information released following a Freedom of Information Act request. The employment tribunal found <mask> had been unfairly dismissed "because proper processes had not been followed" but that the schools' governors were "entitled to terminate his employment because the pupils were not getting any benefit". <mask> appealed that decision to the Employment Appeals Tribunal, however the appeal was dismissed. In summing up, Judge Serota said: “[Mr <mask>] was entitled to receive almost £80,000 per annum from Liverpool for his role as elected mayor, yet also procured a payment (albeit modest) from public funds for which he provided, and was not expected to provide any service. “It was, more likely, considered to be a reverse form for a zero hours contract, whereby the [school] was bound to make payment of salary but [Mr <mask>] was not bound to provide any services.“It is certainly fairly arguable that this arrangement may strike members of the public as constituting a misapplication of public monies. “I asked Mr Morgan (Mr <mask>’s counsel) on several occasions what benefits there might be that accrued to the [school] for the payments and for preserving [Mr <mask>’s] post for an indeterminate period. “The only answer that I received was that it gave ‘kudos’ to the school to be associated with the Mayor of Liverpool.”

Arrest
In December 2020, <mask> was one of five men arrested as part of an investigation into building and development contracts in Liverpool. He was subsequently suspended from the Labour Party. Also arrested was Derek Hatton, a former deputy leader of the council. On 10 December 2020, <mask> announced that he was temporarily stepping aside from his duties, but would not stand down as Mayor of Liverpool. On 31 December 2020, <mask> announced that he would not seek re-election as Mayor of Liverpool in the 2021 election, saying that "it would be in the best interests of the Labour Party to select a new candidate for the mayoral election".Personal life
<mask> is a lifelong Everton F.C. fan, and spoke of his desire to see the club remain in the city, in opposition to the now-defunct Kirkby Project. <mask> was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to local government and the community. <mask> lost his brother to COVID-19 in October 2020. References

External links
Official website

Councillors in Liverpool
Living people
Alumni of Liverpool John Moores University
1958 births
Mayors of Liverpool
British social workers
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Labour Party (UK) people
Labour Party (UK) councillors
Labour Party (UK) mayors
Leaders of local authorities of England
Corruption in England

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<mask>, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp () (30 April 1700 – 18 June 1739) was a Prince of Sweden and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and an important member of European royalty. His dynasty, the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, were a cadet branch of the ancient House of Oldenburg, which at that time was ruling Denmark. His mother was a sister of <mask> of Sweden. <mask> married a daughter of Peter the Great and became the father of the future Peter III of Russia. As such, he is the progenitor of the Russian imperial house of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov and the patrilineal ancestor of all Russian emperors starting with Peter III, except for Catherine II. Early life

<mask> was born in Sweden, the son of Frederick IV of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and his consort, Hedvig Sophia, daughter of King <mask> of Sweden. He became reigning duke in infancy, upon his father's death in 1702 at the Battle of Kliszów, co-ruling, however under guardianship till 1717, with his father's cousin King Frederick IV of Denmark in the Duchy of Holstein, a Holy Roman imperial fief, and the Duchy of Schleswig, a Danish fief, there as a vassal to the Danish king.All his life was a legitimate claimant to the throne of Sweden, as pro forma heir to <mask>, who was his maternal uncle. <mask>'s parents had been offered refuge by maternal uncle, <mask> of Sweden, during the outbreak of the Great Northern War, and they resided in Stockholm. <mask> succeeded to the dukedom at the age of two, upon the death of his father in the Battle of Kliszów. His mother became his regent, and they continued to reside in Stockholm. Actual daily co-rule in the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein was left to administrators. His mother is said to have raised him tenderly but firmly, but she died in 1708, when <mask> was only eight years old. He was then placed in the care of his great-grandmother (his mother's paternal grandmother), Queen Dowager Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, who reportedly spoiled him terribly, resulting in making him passive and indolent.His mother, and later Hedwig Eleonora, both supported and worked for his right to be considered heir of Sweden after his childless uncle. Since his guardians sided with Sweden against Denmark in the Great Northern War, Danish troops ravaged the Gottorp ducal share in the duchies during that war and conquered its northern portions in 1713, including the ancestral ducal seat Gottorp castle near Schleswig city in the homonymous duchy. In 1721 Frederick IV of Denmark, being the liege lord in Danish Schleswig who had enfeoffed <mask> with the ducal title in Schleswig in 1702, officially withdrew this fief. Swedish career

<mask> met his uncle <mask> for the first time in 1716. He was declared of legal majority in 1717, and was then given some military responsibility. <mask> was in a tense relationship to his aunt Ulrika Eleonora, whose followers pointed him out to be too rude and arrogant and in lack of any sense of responsibility to be a suitable heir to the throne. Upon the death in 1718 of his maternal uncle and second cousin, <mask> of Sweden, Duke <mask> was presented as claimant to the throne.However, his aunt Ulrika Eleonora the Younger (1688–1741) managed to wrest the throne for herself, claiming that her elder sister had not "acquired the consent of the Parliamentary Estates" for her marriage to his father, according to laws of succession laid down in Norrköpings arvförening. The duke's party asserted that the absolute monarchy in Sweden, which his grandfather King <mask> had created, made that marriage clause irrelevant. Upon the news of the death of his uncle, he was reportedly too grief-stricken to take any action. Ulrika Eleonora's husband Frederick I, however, who was also present with him in Tistedalen, rushed to assist her in claiming the throne. When <mask> was confronted with Ulrika Eleonora, he was forced by Arvid Horn to greet her as queen. He asked to be granted the title Royal Highness and to be recognised as her heir, but when her husband instead was given the title, he left Sweden in 1719. In 1723, he was granted the title Royal Highness in his absence, but his pro-Russian policy made him impossible as heir to the Swedish throne.<mask> withdrew from Sweden, eventually settling in Russia, where in May 1725 he married Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, elder daughter of Tsar Peter the Great. Meanwhile, the so-called Holstein Party in Sweden continued to advance <mask>'s claims. The party made preparations and awaited the childless Ulrika Eleonora's death, but <mask> died before his aunt and left his claims to his infant son. By this time however, Sweden had enacted new laws of succession which specifically excluded <mask> and his heirs because of their Russian politics, because at that time, Russia and Sweden had a strained relationship. The exclusion of <mask> and his progeny from the Swedish succession avoided the personal union of Sweden and Russia, because <mask>'s only child would become Tsar Peter III of Russia. The question then became who was to become the next king of Sweden after the death of the childless incumbent. The so-called "Hat faction" in Sweden managed to elect <mask>'s first cousin Adolph Frederick, who was his father's younger brother's son and thus belonged to the same Oldenburg dynasty, as Crown Prince of Sweden.Later life

<mask> left for Hamburg, as the Gottorp ducal share in the duchies of German Holstein and Danish Schleswig had been occupied by Denmark since 1713. Having lost the title as duke of Schleswig, succeeded to have the occupation of the ducal share in German Holstein removed by application to his Holstein liege lord, the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1720, Sweden and Denmark-Norway concluded the Treaty of Frederiksborg, in which Sweden pledged to cease its support of the House of [Schleswig-]Holstein-Gottorp. Duke <mask> opposed the treaty, made by a Swedish government which he regarded as rebellious against his own right to the Swedish succession; the treaty also made virtually impossible the regaining of his lost ducal share in the northern duchy of Schleswig. (This was to be a motivation for his son Peter in 1762, upon his Russian accession, to start preparations for the use of Russian troops to reconquer the lost lands from Denmark.) Duke <mask> was married to Anna Petrovna, Tsesarevna of Russia and elder daughter of Tsar Peter I and Marta Skavronskaya (who would later become Empress Catherine I of Russia). As <mask> was the Swedish heir, Peter saw the marriage as politically useful.<mask> was officially engaged to Anna by Tsar Peter. After the death of Peter in 1725, he was given a place in the council, his own court, palace and income by Catherine I of Russia and married to Anna. Anna was not enthusiastic about the marriage, because of his reputation of consorting with prostitutes. <mask>, then commander of the palace guard in St. Petersburg, attempted to secure his wife's succession to the Russian throne upon the death in 1727 of her mother, the Empress Catherine I of Russia. His attempt failed, but his son by Duchess Anna Petrovna, <mask> Ulrich (who - as Duke of Holstein-Gottorp - succeeded in the ducal share of Holstein in 1739), eventually became Russian tsar in 1762, as Peter III. <mask> and Anna left for Gottorp ducal share of Holstein in 1727, taking residence in Kiel Castle, where Anna died following the birth of their son in 1728. <mask> spent the rest of his life in Holstein-Gottorp at Kiel.His prime concern was to secure his son's succession to the Russian throne. He did support his followers in Sweden also, but did not pay much attention to Holstein-Gottorp. Before a member of the family of Holstein-Gottorp was to sit on either the Swedish or the Russian throne, Duke <mask> died in 1739 in the Saxon village of Rolfshagen. His grave is in the Cloister Church at Bordesholm. Ancestors

References

Carl Frederick 1700
Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Friedrich of
Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Friedrich of
Charles Frederick, Duke of Schleswig
Disinherited European royalty
Members of the Supreme Privy Council

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<mask> (born 1964), also known by the alias <mask>H, is an English athlete, public speaker, and author from Stourbridge, England. After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 26, he became the first person with MS to successfully swim a relay of the English Channel in 1997. Despite being unable to use his legs, he later completed a swimming relay of Loch Lomond in Scotland, a relay from Majorca to Menorca in the Balearic Islands, and three team relays from Santa Catalina Island to Santa Monica in California. In each case he raised funds to donate to non-profits such as the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Myelin Research Project. He also founded the MS charity foundation Turning the Tides (TTT). <mask> is a frequent public speaker and has announced that he is releasing his memoir Making a Splash on History Publishing in 2012. Early life
<mask> was born in 1964 to Graham and <mask> of Pedmore, Stourbridge England.He is the youngest of three children, and at an early age had a strong affinity for sports, stating "as a child I drove everyone mad – I was always up to mischief; I lived outdoors, doing sports or riding my motocross bike." As a child he participated in cricket and mountain biked, and in school he played rugby for the Stourbridge Rugby Club and ran for the Midlands. He also hiked and skied. <mask> has also stated he loved water and watersports from a young age, saying "At the age of three, much to the horror of my mother, my uncle threw me in at the local pool and I simply swam to the ladder with a big grin on my face. From that moment I never looked back. I was never trained to swim, it came naturally." He swam competitively in school, later rowed for a Birmingham club, and picked up windsurfing and water skiing.Early career
After obtaining a degree in graphic design at Canterbury, <mask> moved to London to begin his career. While working as a graphic designer for a large London agency he temporarily lost sight in his left eye, and assumed it was stress. At age 26 he was given the opportunity to travel, and purchased a cheap ticket to travel the world, working in multiple countries. He ended up working in a design company in Perth, Australia, before eventually moving back to London to join as a creative director at the multinational company Interbrand. MS diagnosis
While travelling, and a few months after he had temporarily lost his sight in his left eye, <mask> developed a slight limp, and assumed it was an old sporting injury. Upon his return to London he found subways and buses increasingly difficult, and finally went to a sports physiotherapist for treatment in 1993. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 27.Multiple sclerosis (MS) is currently untreatable and leads to physical degeneration. However, <mask> attempted to continue living as normal; he fixed a string to the gear lever of his racing bike so he could continue to use it, bought his first house, and started his own graphic design company, "Spirit Partnership." <mask>'s limp continued to progress to the point that within three months he needed a walking stick. A few years later he needed to use a wheelchair, and has stated "I was at rock bottom. It was like my life was over." Swimming events

English Channel relay
Training
<mask> became determined to regain his fitness, and found that cold water relieved some of the pain and cramps of MS. In 1997, at the age of 32, he had moved to Lavender Garden, Battersea.He also began training at the Tooting Bec Lido, the largest open-air unheated swimming pool in London. However, he stated "I got bored swimming up and down in a pool all the time and decided to stretch myself further," and began a five-month training regime to swim the English Channel. He placed an advertisement on the Tooting Bec Lido notice board for volunteers to join him in a relay, and began training with five other swimmers for the 21-mile swim. The swim
<mask>'s relay swim across the English Channel took place on 11 August 1997. He used a special wet suit shorts to keep his legs afloat, and the team left from Dover and ended in Calais, France. Among <mask>'s fellow relayers were Alistair Park, Hilary Kempton, Margy Sullivan, John Coningham-Rolls and Veronique Dochain, each taking hour-long shifts in the water while the rest paced alongside in a boat. <mask> stated "I was the first to swim in the water and I was terrified.I set off just before 4 am and it was pitch black. I swam for the first hour and then the others, who were on a boat, took it in turns. It took about 13 hours and 42 minutes. When we arrived, we shook the hands of French people, they were lying on the beach and wondering what the hell was going on. We had champagne on the boat. It was the best." <mask> was the first man with diagnosed MS to take part in a swim across the English Channel.He and his fellow swimmers fundraised more than £30,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Myelin Research Project. Loch Lomond relay
In 1998, <mask> took part in a second 22-mile swimming relay across Scotland's Loch Lomond. Mediterranean relay
<mask> and his team continued to train at the Tooting Bec Lido, and in 1998 they undertook a 25-mile swim from Majorca to Menorca in the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean Sea. <mask>, at that point 33 years old, swam two hours in the relay and stated "It was the most incredible and exhausting swim of my life. At the beginning the sea was like a mill pond, but when the wind picked up – swimming through very choppy waters became a real test of fitness. It was like swimming uphill." California relays
On 18 September 1999, <mask> and his relay team swam off the coast of California from Santa Catalina Island to Santa Monica.The relay lasted over 17 and a half hours for 38 miles. <mask> stated "During the swim dolphins accompanied us for most of the way, but there was a shark following us for some of the way." The group again used the event to raise funds for MS research, totalling £15,000 for MS research. At that point in his life <mask> lived in Balham, London. Later iterations
<mask> has organised and participated in the Catalina swim three times. When it took place again on 29 September 2001, there were eight international relay teams participating, each team with one swimmer with MS. Former Olympic medalist Duncan Goodhew swam with <mask> on his team. Proceeds from fund-raising were all donated the Myelin Project.Turning the Tides
<mask> co-founded the international charity foundation "Turning the Tides" (TTT). The organisation's stated goal is to support positive, result-driven MS Research, particularly in the Phase One Trial stage of research in MS Repair, which many major establishments have overlooked for its potential risk. In particular TTT is known for organising fund raising events that have reached global audiences in the millions, and helping fund myelin replacement research by Dr. Timothy Vollmer of Yale University. In 2004 The Charity Commissioners approved a request from <mask> and other TTT trustees to close down TTT as a separate entity and transfer funds to the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Center (MSRC). Public speaking
<mask> has spent much of his career as an MS sufferer, and while he had never done public speaking prior to his diagnosis, he soon became an active public speaker. He has stated he loves it and enjoys the benefits others get from him, saying "Frankly, most people don't have a disability as dramatic as MS. They see themselves as 'not enough' – not thin enough, not creative enough, not smart enough, not educated enough – whatever.And they become obsessed with their 'not enough-ness.' So life just continues to agree with them. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy, isn't it? Life is to be lived and I encourage people to live it." His signature speech is titled The Domain of Opportunity – a Simple Shift of Focus. Memoir
<mask> is currently in the process of writing a book about his experiences. Titled Making a Splash, it is set to be released by History Publishing in 2012.Personal life
<mask> currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Helen, a local Californian whom he met after his third Santa Monica relay. See also
English Channel crossings
List of successful English Channel swimmers

References

External links

Making a Splash Official Website
<mask>'s Blog
<mask> on YouTube
<mask> on Flickr

Living people
1965 births
English Channel swimmers
English male swimmers
Male long-distance swimmers
People with multiple sclerosis
Stourbridge R.F.C. players

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