Most viewed Wikipedia articles on December 18 , 2021
The Witcher is a Polish-American fantasy drama streaming television series produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
Thomas Stanley Holland is an English actor. A graduate of the BRIT School in London, he began his acting career on stage in the title role of Billy Elliot the Musical in the West End from 2008 to 2010. He gained further recognition for his starring role in the disaster film The Impossible (2012), receiving the London Film Critics Circle Award for Young British Performer of the Year.
Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a child model and backup dancer, before gaining prominence for her role as Rocky Blue on the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up (2010–2013).
Tobias Vincent Maguire is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for his role as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). His other major films include Pleasantville (1998), Ride with the Devil (1999), The Cider House Rules (1999), Wonder Boys (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), The Good German (2006), Brothers (2009), and The Great Gatsby (2013).
Cleopatra VII Philopator was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the second to last Hellenistic state and the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Her native language was Koine Greek, and she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.
Andrew Russell Garfield is an American-British actor. An alumnus of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, and has been nominated for Laurence Laurence Olivier Award, an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three British Academy Film Awards.
The Bible is a collection of religious texts or scriptures sacred to Christians, Jews, Samaritans, Rastafari and others. It appears in the form of an anthology, a compilation of texts of a variety of forms that are all linked by the belief that they are collectively revelations of God. These texts include theologically-focused historical accounts, hymns, prayers, proverbs, parables, didactic letters, erotica, poetry, and prophecies. Believers also generally consider the Bible to be a product of divine inspiration.
The following deaths of notable individuals occurred in 2021. Names are reported under the date of death, in alphabetical order by surname or pseudonym. A typical entry reports information in the following sequence:
- Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent nationality, what subject was noted for, cause of death, and reference.
Giovanni Pernice is an Italian dancer and choreographer, best known as the Italian Open Latin Dance Champion (2012) and the Guinness World Record holder for Jive kicks and flicks, as well as Charleston swivels.
Anya Chalotra is a British actress primarily known for her role as Yennefer of Vengerberg in the Netflix original series The Witcher. Before that she had a role in Wanderlust.
Rose Lucinda Ayling-Ellis is a British actress. She is known for portraying the role of Frankie Lewis on the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She is deaf and a British Sign Language user. She is set to compete in the upcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing; Ayling-Ellis will become the first deaf person to compete in the series.
Freya Allan is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Princess Cirilla of Cintra in the Netflix series The Witcher.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films are a series of American superhero films produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The MCU is the shared universe in which all of the films are set. The films have been in production since 2007, and in that time Marvel Studios has produced and released 23 films, with at least 14 more in various stages of development. It is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over $22.5 billion at the global box office. This includes Avengers: Endgame, which is the highest-grossing film of all time.
The Unforgivable is an upcoming drama film directed by Nora Fingscheidt and written by Peter Craig, Hillary Seitz and Courtenay Miles, based on the 2009 British miniseries Unforgiven written by Sally Wainwright. It stars Sandra Bullock as a woman who attempts to rebuild her life after serving time in prison for committing a violent crime. The film also stars Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Richard Thomas, Linda Emond, Aisling Franciosi, Rob Morgan and Viola Davis.
The Matrix Resurrections is an upcoming American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski. It is the fourth installment in The Matrix film series. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, and Daniel Bernhardt reprise their roles from previous films in the series.
YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service, created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—was bought by Google in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion and now operates as one of the company's subsidiaries. YouTube is the second most-visited website in the world after Google Search, according to Alexa Internet rankings.
The Witcher is a series of fantasy novels and short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the titular "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are beast hunters who develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle wild beasts and monsters. The books have been adapted into a film, two television series, a trilogy of video games, and a graphic novel series. The series of novels is known as the Witcher Saga. The short stories and novels have been translated into numerous languages, including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Spanish and Ukrainian.
The fictional character Spider-Man, a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and featured in Marvel Comics publications, has appeared as a main character in multiple theatrical and made-for-television films.
Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of the Duke of Suffolk in Showtime’s The Tudors, DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe, Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher (2019–present), as well as Sherlock Holmes in the Netflix movie Enola Holmes (2020).
Spider-Man is a fictional superhero created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, as well as in a number of movies, television shows, and video game adaptations set in the Marvel Universe. In the stories, Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues, and accompanied him with many supporting characters, such as J. Jonah Jameson, Harry Osborn, Max Modell, romantic interests Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson, and foes such as Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin and Venom. His origin story has him acquiring spider-related abilities after a bite from a radioactive spider; these include clinging to surfaces, superhuman strength and agility, and detecting danger with his "spider-sense." He then builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webbing of his own design.
Hawkeye is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Jonathan Igla for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. The series takes place after the events of the film Avengers: Endgame (2019), and introduces new superhero Kate Bishop / Hawkeye. Hawkeye is produced by Marvel Studios, with Igla serving as head writer.
Elon Reeve Musk is a business magnate, industrial designer and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and ranked 25th on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People, and was ranked joint-first on the Forbes list of the Most Innovative Leaders of 2019. A centi-billionaire, Musk became the richest person in the world in January 2021, surpassing Jeff Bezos.
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in Youngblood (1986). He had his breakthrough role in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and he later reprised his role in its sequels. He gained praise for playing a hustler in the independent drama My Own Private Idaho (1991), and established himself as an action hero with leading roles in Point Break (1991) and Speed (1994).
Snowdrop is an upcoming South Korean television series starring Jung Hae-in, Jisoo, Yoo In-na, Jang Seung-jo, Kim Hye-yoon, Yoon Se-ah, and Jung Yoo-jin. It is scheduled to premiere on JTBC in December 2021.
Stanley Tucci Jr. is an American actor, writer, producer, film actor, and former fashion model. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's Prizzi's Honor (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in films such as Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997), Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition (2002), and Steven Spielberg's The Terminal (2004). In 1996, he made his directorial debut with the cult comedy Big Night which he also co-wrote and starred in alongside Tony Shalhoub. He also played Stanley Kubrick in the television film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. Tucci is also known for his collaborations with Meryl Streep in films such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Julie & Julia (2009). Tucci gained further acclaim and success with such films as Easy A (2010), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Margin Call (2011), The Hunger Games film series (2012-2015), Spotlight (2015), and Beauty and the Beast (2017).
Isaiah Jamar Thomas is an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. The 5-foot-9-inch (1.75 m) point guard played three years of college basketball for the Washington Huskies and was a three-time all-conference selection in the Pac-10. After electing to forgo his senior year of college, Thomas was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the final pick in the 2011 NBA draft. He spent three seasons with the Kings before joining the Phoenix Suns in 2014. Thomas was traded to the Boston Celtics in February 2015. He was named an NBA All-Star in both 2016 and 2017, and received All-NBA Team honors for the 2016-17 season where he led the Celtics to the #1 seed of the Eastern Conference. He was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in August 2017 before being dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers at mid-season. In July 2018, Thomas joined the Denver Nuggets. He later signed with the Washington Wizards in July 2019, before again being traded mid-season, this time to the Los Angeles Clippers where he was waived shortly after.
The Wheel of Time is an upcoming American epic fantasy television series set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video. The series is based on Robert Jordan's novel series of the same name and is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios, with Rafe Judkins serving as showrunner.
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term for an office suite, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand. On July 10, 2012, Softpedia reported that Office was being used by over a billion people worldwide.
Sukumara Kurup is one of the most wanted-criminals in the Indian state of Kerala. He was accused in the murder of Chacko, in the year 1984, to falsely picturize Chacko's Dead body as him to claim Insurance money.
Ansel Easton Adams was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advocating "pure" photography which favored sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph. He and Fred Archer developed an exacting system of image-making called the Zone System, a method of achieving a desired final print through a deeply technical understanding of how tonal range is recorded and developed in exposure, negative development, and printing. The resulting clarity and depth of such images characterized his photography.
Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr., nicknamed "Prime Time" and “Neon Deion”, is an American athlete, sports commentator, and football coach who is the head football coach at Jackson State University. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons as a member of the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Baltimore Ravens. Sanders was also a baseball outfielder for nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), where he played for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants. He won two Super Bowl titles and made one World Series appearance in 1992, making him the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by David Koepp, it is the first installment in the Spider-Man trilogy, and stars Tobey Maguire as the title character, alongside Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Rosemary Harris. The film centers on outcast teen genius Peter Parker, who develops spider-like superhuman abilities after being bitten by a genetically-altered spider.
Succession is an American black comedy drama television series created by Jesse Armstrong. It premiered on June 3, 2018, on HBO, and has been renewed for a third season. The series centers on the Roy family, the dysfunctional owners of Waystar RoyCo, a global media and hospitality empire, who are fighting for control of the company amid uncertainty about the health of the family's patriarch, Logan Roy.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Doctor Strange. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to Doctor Strange (2016) and the 28th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Sam Raimi from a script written by Jade Bartlett and Michael Waldron, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Xochitl Gomez. In the film, Strange unleashes an unspeakable evil as he faces a new enemy.
Vicky Kaushal is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award, and has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list of 2019.
Kurup is an upcoming Indian Malayalam-language biographical-crime thriller film written by K. S. Aravind, Jithin K. Jose and Daniell Sayooj Nair based on the fugitive Sukumara Kurup and directed by Srinath Rajendran starring Dulquer Salmaan in the title role with Indrajith Sukumaran,Tovino, Sunny Wayne, Shine Tom Chacko, Sobhita Dhulipala and Maya Menon in the supporting roles. The film score and songs are composed by Sushin Shyam.
Jacob Batalon is an American actor, best known for his role as Ned Leeds in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Spider-Man: Far From Home (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Spider-Man: Homecoming (2019).
A nuclear electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation created by a nuclear explosion. The resulting rapidly varying electric and magnetic fields may couple with electrical and electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges. The specific characteristics of a particular nuclear EMP event vary according to a number of factors, the most important of which is the altitude of the detonation.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films, independently produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The franchise includes comic books, short films, television series, and digital series. The shared universe, much like the original Marvel Universe in comic books, was established by crossing over common plot elements, settings, cast, and characters.
The Power of the Dog is an upcoming internationally co-produced drama film written and directed by Jane Campion, based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Savage. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Thomasin McKenzie, Genevieve Lemon, Keith Carradine, and Frances Conroy.
Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the final installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, J. K. Simmons and Matthew Gounder. Set shortly after the events of Spider-Man 2, as Peter Parker prepares for his future with Mary Jane Watson, he faces three more villains: Uncle Ben's true killer, Flint Marko who becomes the Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn, who is now aware of Peter's identity and seeks to avenge his father; and Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who becomes Venom. Peter also faces his greatest challenge when he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote that augments his abilities but brings out his anger and other negative traits.
Christopher David Noth is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Mike Logan on Law & Order (1990–95), Big on Sex and the City (1998–2004), and Peter Florrick on The Good Wife (2009–16). He reprised his role of Mike Logan on Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005–08), and reprised his role of Big in the films, Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010). He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television for Sex and the City in 1999 and for The Good Wife in 2010.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film was directed by Marc Webb and produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. It is the fifth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and the final film in The Amazing Spider-Man series. The studio hired James Vanderbilt to write the screenplay and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to rewrite it. The film stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott, Embeth Davidtz, Colm Feore, Paul Giamatti, and Sally Field. In the film, Peter Parker deals with his relationship with Gwen Stacy as he investigates his parents' murder, while also facing the supervillain Electro, and the return of his childhood friend Harry Osborn, who is dying from a deadly genetic disease that killed his father.
Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet was a French natural philosopher and mathematician during the early 1730s until her untimely death due to childbirth complications in 1749. Her most recognized achievement is her translation of and commentary on Isaac Newton's 1687 book Principia containing basic laws of physics. The translation, published posthumously in 1756, is still considered the standard French translation today. Her commentary includes a profound contribution to Newtonian mechanics—the postulate of an additional conservation law for total energy, of which kinetic energy of motion is one element. This led to her conceptualization of energy as such, and to derive its quantitative relationships to the mass and velocity of an object.
Katrina Kaif is an English actress who works primarily in Hindi-language films. She has established herself in Bollywood and is one of India's highest-paid actresses.
The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup is scheduled to be the 10th edition of the Arab Cup, the international football tournament contested by men's national teams from the Arab world; it will be the first edition organized by FIFA. It is scheduled to take place between 30 November and 18 December in Qatar, as a prelude to the 2022 FIFA World Cup which will also be held in Qatar.
The 2022 PDC World Darts Championship is the upcoming 29th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event will take place at the Alexandra Palace in London from 15 December 2021 – 3 January 2022.
Jarad Anthony Higgins, known professionally as Juice Wrld, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. His song "Lucid Dreams" has been played on the music streaming platform Spotify over one billion times and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. "Lucid Dreams", along with his earlier hit single "All Girls Are the Same", helped him secure a recording contract with Lil Bibby's Grade A Productions and Interscope Records. He derived his stage name from late rapper Tupac Shakur and his part in the film Juice and that it represents taking over the world.
Wang Leehom, sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music is known for fusing hip-hop and R&B, with traditional Chinese music. Since his 1995 debut, Wang has released 25 albums, that have sold over 60 million copies. He is a four-time winner and 19-time nominee of the Golden Melody Awards, the "Grammys" of Chinese music. His sold-out concert at the 90,000 seat Beijing Bird's Nest on April 14, 2012 was the first solo pop concert to be held at the iconic venue. With over 72 million followers on social media, Wang is one of the most followed celebrities in China. In 2018, CNN dubbed him "King of Chinese Pop" and the LA Times called him "the biggest American star America has never heard of." Wang was listed as one of Goldsea's "The 100 Most Inspiring Asian Americans of All Time".
The Amazing Spider-Man is a 2012 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man and sharing the title of the character's longest-running comic book series of the same name. It is the fourth theatrical Spider-Man film produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, a reboot of the series following Sam Raimi's 2002–2007 Spider-Man trilogy, and the first of the two The Amazing Spider-Man films. The film was directed by Marc Webb and written by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves from a story by Vanderbilt, and stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field. In the film, after Peter Parker is bitten by a genetically altered spider, he gains newfound, spider-like powers and ventures out to save the city from the machinations of a mysterious reptilian foe.
The Matrix is a 1999 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis, and produced by Joel Silver. It stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano and is the first installment in the Matrix franchise. It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, created by intelligent machines to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias "Neo", uncovers the truth, he "is drawn into a rebellion against the machines" along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.
Organisms of many species are specialized into male and female varieties, each known as a sex. Sexual reproduction involves the combining and mixing of genetic traits: specialized cells known as gametes combine to form offspring that inherit traits from each parent. The gametes produced by an organism define its sex: males produce small gametes while females produce large gametes. Individual organisms which produce both male and female gametes are termed hermaphroditic. Gametes can be identical in form and function, but, in many cases, an asymmetry has evolved such that two different types of gametes (heterogametes) exist.
XXX is an American action film series created by Rich Wilkes. It consists of three full-length feature films: XXX (2002), XXX: State of the Union (2005) and XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017), and a short film: The Final Chapter: The Death of Xander Cage. The series has grossed $694 million worldwide.
A non-fungible token (NFT) is a special type of cryptographic token which represents something unique; non-fungible tokens are thus not mutually interchangeable. This is in contrast to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and many network or utility tokens that are fungible in nature.
The Wheel of Time is a series of high fantasy novels written by American author James Oliver Rigney Jr., under his pen name of Robert Jordan. Originally planned as a six-book series, The Wheel of Time spanned fourteen volumes, in addition to a prequel novel and two companion books. Jordan began writing the first volume, The Eye of the World, in 1984, and it was published in January 1990.
Sandra Annette Bullock is an American actress and producer. She was the world's highest-paid actress in 2010 and 2014. In 2015, she was named People's Most Beautiful Woman and was included in Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. She is the recipient of several awards, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
John Whaite is an English baker who won the third series of The Great British Bake Off in 2012. He works as a chef, television presenter, and author. He has had a weekly cooking slot on Lorraine and he was a presenter and judge on the ITV daytime cookery competition show Chopping Block.
Marisa Tomei is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and nominations for a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
William James "Willem" Dafoe is an American-Italian actor. He is known for his distinct gravelly voice, and has received multiple accolades, including nominations for four Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, and Wes Anderson.
Strictly Come Dancing is a British television dance contest in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of judges. The title of the show is a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom. The format has been exported to 60 other countries — under the title Dancing with the Stars — licensed by BBC Worldwide, and led to a modern dance-themed spin-off Strictly Dance Fever. The Guinness World Records has named Strictly to be the world's most successful reality television format. The series is currently presented by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
Betty Marion White Ludden is an American actress and comedian. With a television career spanning over 80 years, White has worked longer in that medium than anyone else in the television industry. Regarded as a pioneer of television, she was one of the first women to exert control in front of and behind the camera and is recognized as the first woman to produce a sitcom, which contributed to her receiving the honorary title Mayor of Hollywood in 1955.
Strictly Come Dancing is expected to return for its nineteenth series with a launch show in September 2021 on BBC One, with the live shows beginning a week later. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will return as hosts, while Rylan Clark-Neal will return to host Strictly: It Takes Two, alongside new presenter Janette Manrara, who replaced Zoe Ball following her departure from the show.
The 2021 BWF World Championships is a badminton tournament which will be held from 12 to 19 December 2021 at Palacio de los Deportes Carolina Marín in Huelva, Spain.
Home Alone is a 1990 American comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin stars as eight-year-old Kevin, who defends his home from burglars Harry and Marv after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their vacation.
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is a British racing driver, activist, fashion designer and musician. He most recently competed in Formula One for Mercedes in 2020, having previously driven for McLaren from 2007 to 2012. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles, while he holds the outright records for the most wins (95), pole positions (98) and podium finishes (165), amongst others.
No Time to Die is a forthcoming spy film and the twenty-fifth instalment in the James Bond film series produced by Eon Productions. It stars Daniel Craig in his fifth outing as the fictional British MI6 agent James Bond; Craig said it will be his final Bond role. The film is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga from a screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Fukunaga, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, and Ralph Fiennes reprise their roles from previous films, with Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, Billy Magnussen, and David Dencik joining the cast as new characters.
Brahmāstra: Part One of Three, also known as Brahmāstra, is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language superhero film written and directed by Ayan Mukerji, and produced by Karan Johar. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna Akkineni in pivotal roles and will serve as the first film in a planned trilogy.
Alfredo "Alfred" Molina is an English-American actor who has appeared in over 200 film, television, and stage productions. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play nomination for his performance in the production of Oklahoma! in 1980. He made his Broadway debut as Yvan in a production of Art from 1998 to 1999. His other Broadway roles include Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof from 2004 to 2005 and Mark Rothko in the play Red from 2009 to 2010.
Jay Johnston is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show and for playing the role of Officer Jay McPherson on The Sarah Silverman Program.
Dame Joan Henrietta Collins, is an English actress, author, and columnist. She made her stage debut at the age of nine, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, entered British films in 1951 and went to Hollywood under contract to 20th Century Fox in 1955. In 1981, she landed the role of Alexis Colby in the soap opera Dynasty, which made her an international superstar and brought her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama in 1982. In 2015, Collins was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to charity.
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of the child vampire Claudia in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also had roles in her youth in Little Women (1994) and the fantasy films Jumanji (1995) and Small Soldiers (1998).
The Surrogate's Courthouse is a historic building at the northwest corner of Chambers and Centre Streets in the Civic Center of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1907, it was designed in the Beaux Arts style. John Rochester Thomas created the original plans while Arthur J. Horgan and Vincent J. Slattery oversaw the building's completion. The building faces City Hall Park and the Tweed Courthouse to the south and the Manhattan Municipal Building to the east.
Burning Mountain, the common name for Mount Wingen, is a hill near Wingen, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 224 km (139 mi) north of Sydney just off the New England Highway. It takes its name from a smouldering coal seam running underground through the sandstone. Burning Mountain is contained within the Burning Mountain Nature Reserve, which is administered by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins and ranks second in men's major championships and also holds numerous golf records. Woods is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers, and one of the most famous athletes of all time. He will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2021.
Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin is an American actor, musician, and podcaster. Regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars" and on E!'s list of the "50 Greatest Child Stars".
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained attention in 2015 when she uploaded the song "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud, which was subsequently released by the Interscope Records subsidiary Darkroom. The song was written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom she collaborates on music and live shows. Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me (2017), became a sleeper hit, reaching the top 15 in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
Patrizia Reggiani Martinelli is the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci. During the 1980s while she was married to Maurizio Gucci, she was a wealthy Italian socialite and high fashion personality. In late 1998 she went through a scandalous trial followed closely by the Italian public for ordering her husband's murder.
The fictional universe of The Witcher saga was created by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski in his series of novels. The following is a list of notable characters from the series of books.
Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu is an Indian model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2021. Sandhu had been previously crowned Miss Diva Universe 2021, and is the third entrant from India to win Miss Universe.
Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the second installment in the Spider-Man trilogy and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002), starring Tobey Maguire alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, and Donna Murphy.
William Nathaniel "Buck" Showalter III is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) manager. He has served as manager of the New York Yankees (1992–1995), Arizona Diamondbacks (1998–2000), Texas Rangers (2003–2006), and Baltimore Orioles (2010–2018). He also is a former professional Minor League Baseball player and television analyst formerly for ESPN and currently for the YES network for Yankees telecasts. A three-time American League (AL) Manager of the Year, Showalter has earned a reputation for building baseball teams into postseason contenders in short periods of time. He helped the Yankees rise from the bottom half of the AL East to first place before a players' strike prematurely ended the 1994 campaign. Under his watch, the Diamondbacks made their first-ever playoff appearance in only the second year of the team's existence. He left both franchises just prior to seasons when they won the World Series.
Gabriel Teodoro Martinelli Silva, known as Gabriel Martinelli, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Arsenal. Martinelli is known for his ability and footballing IQ.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States, or America, is a country primarily located in North America, consisting of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, it is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area. With a population of more than 328 million people, it is the third most populous country in the world. The national capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City.
Jonathan David Larson was an American composer and playwright noted for exploring the social issues of multiculturalism, addiction, and homophobia in his work. Typical examples of his use of these themes are found in his works Rent and Tick, Tick... Boom! He received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the rock musical Rent.
Station Eleven is a 2014 novel by Emily St. John Mandel, her fourth. It takes place in the Great Lakes region before and after a fictional swine flu pandemic, known as the "Georgia Flu", has devastated the world, killing most of the population. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2015.
Station Eleven is a 10-episode science fiction miniseries created by Patrick Somerville based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel that premiered on HBO Max on December 16, 2021.
The Matrix is an American media franchise created by writers-directors the Wachowskis and producer Joel Silver. The series primarily consists of a trilogy of superhero films beginning with The Matrix (1999) and continuing with two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, all written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver. The franchise is owned by Warner Bros., which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures. The latter, along with Silver Pictures, are the two production companies that worked on all three films.
Onatejiro "AJ" Odudu is a British television presenter, best known for co-presenting the Channel 5 reality show spin-off Big Brother's Bit on the Side, alongside Emma Willis and Rylan Clark, in 2013.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Shang-Chi. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the 25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton from a screenplay by David Callaham and stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, alongside Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu, Ronny Chieng, and Michelle Yeoh. In the film, Shang-Chi is forced to confront his past after he is drawn into the Ten Rings organization.
Kunjali Marakkar was the title inherited by the Admiral of the fleet of the Samoothiri / Zamorin, the king of Kozhikode / Calicut, in present-day Kerala, India. There were four Kunjali Marakkars whose war tactics defended against the Portuguese invasion from 1520 to 1600. The Kunjali Marakkars are credited with organizing the first naval defense of the Indian coast.
Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she is regarded as one of the most influential figures in popular culture. Madonna is noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. She is also known for pushing the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music while remaining completely in charge of every aspect of her career. Her works, which incorporate social, political, sexual, and religious themes, have generated both critical acclaim and controversy. Madonna is often cited as an influence by other artists.
Hailee Steinfeld is an American actress, singer and model. She earned many accolades for her breakthrough role as Mattie Ross in the drama western film True Grit (2010), for which she was nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actress as well as Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the ninth youngest nominee in category.
Eternals is an upcoming American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics race of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the 26th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Chloé Zhao and written by Kaz and Ryan Firpo. It stars an ensemble cast including Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Salma Hayek, Lia McHugh, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Gemma Chan, and Barry Keoghan. In the film, the Eternals, who have hidden themselves for thousands of years, must re-unite to protect Earth from their enemies, the Deviants.
Google LLC is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, a search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware. It is considered one of the Big Five technology companies in the U.S. information technology industry, alongside Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft.
And Just Like That... is an upcoming American comedy-drama television series. It is a 10-part revival of Sex and the City and is set to premiere on HBO Max in the fall of 2021.
Sara Elena Ramírez is an award-winning Mexican American actor, singer, and songwriter, and activist. Born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, they moved to the United States at eight years old, eventually graduating with a fine arts degree from the Juilliard School.
Nightmare Alley is an upcoming American psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro with a screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, and David Strathairn. It is the second feature film adaptation of Gresham's novel, following the 1947 version by 20th Century-Fox.