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His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The 14th Dalai Lama (religious name: Tenzin Gyatso, shortened from Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Dondrub, 6 July 1935) is the 14th and current Dalai Lama, as well as the longest lived incumbent. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and is also well known for his lifelong advocacy for Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. Tibetans traditionally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors and a manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
The Dalai Lama was born in Taktser, Qinghai (also known to Tibetans as Amdo), and was selected as the rebirth of the 13th Dalai Lama two years later, although he was only formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama on 17 November 1950, at the age of 15. He inherited control over a government controlling an area roughly corresponding to the Tibet Autonomous Region just as the nascent People's Republic of China wished to assert central control over it. There is a dispute over whether the respective governments reached an agreement for a joint Chinese-Tibetan administration.
During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, which China regards as an uprising of feudal landlords, the Dalai Lama, who regards the uprising as an expression of widespread discontent, fled to India, where he denounced the People's Republic and established a Tibetan government in exile. A charismatic speaker, he has since traveled the world, advocating for the welfare of Tibetans, teaching Tibetan Buddhism and talking about the importance of compassion as the source of a happy life. Around the world, institutions face pressure from China not to accept him. He has spoken about such topics as abortion, economics, firearms, and sexuality, and has been the subject of controversy for his alleged treatment of Dorje Shugden followers and his office's receipt of support from the CIA in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Ilie Nastase

Ilie Năstase (born July 19, 1946, in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian former professional tennis player, one of the world's top players of the 1970s. Năstase was the World No. 1 tennis player between 1973 (August 23) and 1974 (June 2). He is one of the five players in history to win more than 100 ATP professional titles (57 singles and 45 in doubles). He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. Năstase won seven Grand Slam titles: two in singles, three in men's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. He also won four Masters Grand Prix year end championship titles and seven Championship Series titles (1970–73) the precursors to the current Masters 1000. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked him as the 28th-best player of the preceding forty years. He is the second male player to win a Grand Slam without dropping a set and the first one to achieve this feat at French Open (1973).
At the beginning of his career in 1966 Năstase travelled around the world competing with his good friend Ion Ţiriac. Together, they represented Romania in the Davis Cup competition, being three times runners up: in 1969, 1971 and 1972.
In singles, Năstase won his first tournament at Cannes on April 16, 1967. His first victories at top players happened in 1969 in Stockholm, where he defeated Tony Roche and Stan Smith.
Năstase became one of the best players in 1970, with many experts ranking him as the sixth best player in the world at that time after the Australians Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, and Roche and the American Ashe. Năstase's high ranking resulted from his success at the Italian Open in Rome and at the U.S. Indoor Open in Salisbury, Maryland. With Tiriac, Năstase won the men's doubles title at the French Open.
In 1971, Năstase was the runner-up at the French Open. where he lost the final in four sets to Jan Kodeš. In December, Năstase won his first Masters Grand Prix title.
In 1972, he became the second ranked player in the world, owing to his winning of the US Open in a five-set final over Arthur Ashe. This tournament was the only event of the year in which all the best players participated. Two months before at Wimbledon, Năstase narrowly lost to Stan Smith in an epic five sets final, one of the most exciting championship matches there. Although Smith took the title, public sympathy lay with the volatile Romanian. In the Davis Cup, Năstase was undefeated in singles until losing to Stan Smith in the final played on clay in his native Bucharest. In December at the year end tour finals, Năstase took revenge against Smith winning his second consecutive Masters Grand Prix title.
In 1973 he was in sensational form. By winning 17 tournaments, including the French Open, a doubles title at Wimbledon, a third Masters title, Năstase was the undisputed World No.1 that year. In the Davis Cup, he won 7 of 8 singles rubbers, including a victory over Tom Okker, the "Flying Dutchman." In matches against the other top players, Năstase was 1–0 against Newcombe and 1–1 against Smith. The Romanian won the French Open without dropping a set (a feat repeated by Björn Borg in 1978 and 1980 and by Rafael Nadal in 2008 and 2010), and he won the French Open (clay), Rome (clay) and Queen's Club (grass) in succession, a feat never repeated in the open era, though Borg won Rome, the French Open, and Wimbledon in succession in 1978, and Nadal won the French Open, Queen's Club, and Wimbledon in succession in 2008.
In 1974 he was the only player to qualify for both the WCT Finals and the Masters Grand Prix finals (also Newcombe played both events, although he played the Masters at Kooyong Stadium as an invitee instead of a qualifier). As usual, Năstase played well in the Masters, in particular against Newcombe in the semifinals. (Năstase finished his career with a 4–1 record versus Newcombe, losing only their first match in 1969.) The Romanian, however, lost the final to Guillermo Vilas in five sets.
For the fifth consecutive year, Năstase reached the Masters Grand Prix Final in 1975, where he defeated Björn Borg: 6–2, 6–2, 6–1.
During the first half of 1976, Năstase won four tournaments (Atlanta WCT, Avis Challenge Cup WCT, US Open Indoor, and La Costa), and head-to-head, he led Connors 2–1, Vilas 1–0, Ashe 1–0, and Borg 2–0. Năstase did not enter the Australian Open, which was again avoided by most of the top players. Năstase was prevented from entering the French Open because he participated in World Team Tennis. In the second half of the year, Nastase lost to Borg in the men's singles final of Wimbledon and in the semifinals of the US Open. Năstase won three other tournaments during the second half of the year, the Pepsi Grand Slam, South Orange, and the 4-man tournament of Caracas, Venezuela, in October (not to be confused with the Caracas WCT tournament in March), making seven tournament championships for the year. Năstase was the World No. 3, behind Connors and Borg.
In 1977 Năstase finished ninth in the ATP rankings. He was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and the French Open and participated in the WCT Finals. Năstase was still one of the 20 best players in 1978. At Wimbledon, he again reached the quarterfinals, losing to Okker after defeating Roscoe Tanner. During the remainder of his career, Năstase steadily declined and only occasionally defeated a good player, such as Johan Kriek in the third round of the 1982 US Open. Năstase retired from the tour in October 1985 at the age of 39 after playing in the tournament in Toulouse, although he did play the challenger tournament at Dijon in June 1988.
Maxim magazine has placed Năstase at number 6 on its top ten "Living Sex Legends" list, as he is reputed to have slept with over 2500 women. Năstase's own guess, which was at 8–900 women, was too low for the writer of his biography who wanted a larger number, to improve his reputation, as it evidently did. After hearing this, his third wife, Amalia, said that she was happy to have conquered such a man. Năstase met Amalia at a Sting concert and married her in a Greek Orthodox ceremony on June 5, 2004 followed by a Civil ceremony in July of the same year. They divorced in February 2010, after six years of marriage.

Mansour Bahrami


Mansour Bahrami (born April 26, 1956) is a professional tennis player. He has held dual French and Iranian nationality since 1989.
From an early age he worked as a ball boy within a sports complex in Tehran, Iran. He observed many of the best Iranian tennis players in action but he was never allowed to play. Eventually he snuck onto one of the courts but his first racquet was destroyed by an outraged armed guard who kicked him out. He resorted to learning the game through the use of his hands or frying pans or broom handles. Bahrami has often commented that his outrageous shotmaking ability resulted from mastering tennis using such unusual implements.
The time came when the Iranian team was short of players and Bahrami was finally permitted to play the game on a tennis court. His talent was obvious and he reached the Davis Cup team (and helped the team to victory at the age of just sixteen) but in the late 1970s the Islamic Revolution within Iran led to tennis being viewed as a capitalist and elitist sport. He spent the next three years playing backgammon as all tennis courts were closed down. In desperation he fled to France with his life savings, which he gambled in a casino and lost. A number of friends supported him financially as he began to play a few tournaments within France.
While his best days were behind him and he never maximized his potential in singles, he became a successful doubles player who even reached the French Open doubles final in 1989 in partnership with Eric Winogradsky. His weakness and indeed his strength was an inescapable thirst for providing a crowd with a show. He often lost in the early rounds of singles tournaments due to his tendency to play trick shots from the off or when he was bored with winning too easily. He was able to play more seriously in doubles where he felt that he could not be seen to be letting his partner down.
Bahrami did not become a household name during his days on the main ATP Tour but enough of his fellow players had seen his talent at first hand to be impressed. He was perhaps the only player in history to be paid a guarantee just to enter the qualifying tournament for ATP tournaments. However, when the Champions Tour was set up for players aged over 35 in 1993, he had found his niche. Over time, the matches that he played with the likes of Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg and John McEnroe ensured that he achieved star status in his own right. Bahrami also formed a memorable doubles partnership with former French Open finalist and Davis Cup winner Henri Leconte as well as former French Open champion Yannick Noah. His best achievement in the senior tour so far was winning the ATP Champions Tour event in Doha, Qatar.
Bahrami had always been an entertainer but his attitude fit perfectly with the aims of the Outback Champions Tour where giving the public a show was essential. He continues to travel for 40 weeks of the year playing exhibition tournaments in which his range of unusual and breathtaking shots are played. His specialty shots include the power shot through the legs, the lob through the legs and the drop shot which bounces back over the net due to excessive backspin. His sense of humour shines through all of his matches and the crowd is never sure of his next move, be it serving while holding six balls (although he is known to hold 21), an under arm serve, catching the ball in his pocket, deliberately missing a smash or playing an imaginary, slow-motion point.
Fame came to Bahrami over time to the extent that he has now played within all of the major tennis venues throughout the world, something he could not do early in his career while on the regular tour, including the show courts at Wimbledon and the French Open. He is married to Frederique and they have two children. His autobiography, Le court des miracles was published in 2006, accompanying a DVD entitled The Man Behind the Moustache chronicling his life and the highlights of his career. His autobiography has been translated into English as The Court Jester and was released in late 2009.

Thomas Anders

Thomas Anders (born Bernd Weidung, 1 March 1963) is a German singer, composer and record producer. Anders was the lead singer of Germany's popular pop-duo Modern Talking in 1984–1987 and in 1998–2003.
Anders was born in Koblenz, West Germany. He began showing interest in music as a child, he did his first stage-performance at age of 7. Anders first studied music at Koblenz Eichendorff-Gymnasium, and then he studied musicology for five semesters at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. After having performed at several clubs and discothèques, in 1979, he participated in a music contest organized by the radio station Radio Luxembourg which he walked away from without earning enough points. Two days after the contest, Anders was offered a record contract by the same jury members of the radio contest.
It was then that his career officially began when in 1980, at age of 17, he released his debut single "Judy". Anders released several other singles produced by Daniel David including "Du weinst um ihn", which he performed on Michael Schanze's TV show Hätten sie heut' zeit für uns. In 1983, he met Dieter Bohlen who produced "Was macht das schon", the German cover version of F. R. David's "Pick Up the Phone" and also "Heißkalter Engel", the German cover version of Real Life's "Send Me an Angel". From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including "Wovon träumst du denn", "Endstation Sehnsucht" and "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht". The success, however, came when in late 1984, Anders and Bohlen formed the successful duo Modern Talking, which they started things off by a worldwide hit single "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".
In late 1987, Anders and Bohlen decided to terminate Modern Talking and go their separate ways due to constant quarrel between the two. Shortly after which Anders went on a long tour performing before as many as 85,000 fans, the tour involved cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Viña del Mar and Moscow. This drove Anders to leave Germany for the United States, where in 1989, Anders released his first solo album Different with more pop style rather than dance, which he produced together with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon and a-ha's producer Alan Tarney. The first single "Love of My Own" released in the same year is considered the biggest success of his solo career at that time. The second album Whispers was released in 1991, three singles were released off Anders' second solo album "The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" written by Roxette member Per Gessle, "I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" and "True Love". In 1992, Anders released his third album Down on Sunset, the singles "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Standing Alone" (Duet with Glenn Medeiros) found some success both in Germany and Austria. Anders released his fourth solo album When Will I See You Again in 1993. The first single "When Will I See You Again" featured the original singers of the song, The Three Degrees. Also, in 1993, Anders experienced something new as he got a part in a Swedish movie Stockholm Marathon. He also wrote the title-song for that film "Marathon of Life", which is one of the tracks in his 1993's album When Will I See You Again. In 1994, he came back with an album Barcos de Cristal, which he released in Spanish only for U.S., South America and Argentina, this album contained songs from albums of 1992 and 1993, all redone in Spanish. Anders released one more album in 1995 called Souled, which he produced together with Peter Wolf, this album contained a duet featuring The Pointer Sisters "Feel for the Physical". Things for him then were quiet until March 1998 when Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen announced the reunion of Modern Talking. The duo released six studio albums between 1998 and 2003 and split again in 2003.
In 2001, Anders produced the song, " My Heart It Feels Like (Dub Dub ...)" together with Gerd Count Bernadotte for the pop girl duo It-Girl. In late 2003 Anders signed a contract with BMG international as a solo artist after their final album of Modern Talking. The first single, "Independent Girl" released in November 2003 reached No.17 on the German single chart and No.5 in Russia. His album, This Time released in 2004 entered the top-20 as well. The second single "King of Love" reached the top-40 in Germany. At this point, Anders was working with his new producer Peter Ries, who previously had worked with such artists as Sandra and No Angels.
Thomas Anders received an offer from NDR to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, 11 million viewers who already knew Anders as a singer watched him announce the German voting points. Also, in 2004, Anders was asked to record the ballad "Just Dream" which was to be the official anthem for the ballet Holiday on Ice which reached No.64 in Germany. The song can be heard during the international three-year Holiday on Ice tour.
In the following year, Anders was involved in a legal battle which he had brought against his Modern Talking partner, Dieter Bohlen. Anders claimed that Bohlen had slandered about him in his autobiographical book. In the Spring of 2005, the court rejected to have Bohlen pay the one million Euros which Anders had sued Bohlen for.
In March 2006, Anders got involved in Eurovision Song Contest again; however, he was one of the three contestants to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 alongside with the Greek-born Vicky Leandros (Eurovision Song Contest 1972 winner) and country band Texas Lightning featuring comedian Olli Dittrich. However, the spectators chose the latter.
Also in the same year, Anders left BMG and joined Edel Records and released his swing-album Songs Forever which was commercially unsuccessful peaking only at No.43. In April 2006, his The DVD-Collection arrived in stores, which contained 20 videos of his solo career as well as some hits taken from Modern Talking period. In July 2008, Anders was featured on two of download singles by Sound-Chateau, "Ibiza Baba Baya" and "For You".
Anders announced the German Eurovision voting results once again in 2009. In the Spring of 2009, Anders was featured on the song called "The Night Is Still Young for which he collaborated with Sandra, the single peaked at No.46. Anders released his next solo single, "Why Do You Cry" in 2010 which peaked at No. 21 on Russian Airplay Chart. In the Spring of 2010, Anders released his next studio album, Strong for Russian market only. The album reached the platinum status in Russia for sales of 10,000 units. In 2011, Anders came back collaborating with Uwe Fahrenkrog, German musician and songwriter. The duo's first single together called "Gigolo" was released on May 27, 2011 in Germany which peaked at No.40 there. Their second single "No More Tears On The Dancefloor" failed to enter the charts. Their album, Two was released on June 10, 2011 which debuted at No.11 on the German album chart. The single "Gigolo" is written and produced by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen Thomas Troelsen. The duo appears under the name Anders | Fahrenkrog.