Classic fish

“The book includes 10 famous poems, including The Walrus and the Carpenter. That obviously led in his mind to I Am the Walrus. It is a very early link to that song. It shows how artistic he was. It is so colourful. He’d sit there at his desk and he’d be off daydreaming and writing poems.” The book is not the oldest example of Lennon’s belongings in the sale of rock memorabilia on April 19. Also being auctioned is his engraved silver christening bracelet. A devastating letter from Lennon and fellow Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr to Paul McCartney, which some Beatles experts believe led to the irrevocable split in the band, is another item in the sale. John, George and Ringo wanted the group to be managed by former Rolling Stones manager Alan Klein, but Paul wanted Linda McCartney’s father, Lee Eastman, to be manager. “The others thought that would give Paul too much power within the band,” Ms Cooper said.

Popular singer Cong Fei, who devoted himself to charity work, lost his year-long battle with stomach cancer on Thursday. But even in his death, at the age of 37, he is helping others.The Beijing Times reports that, according to Cong Fei’s last wish, his corneas were collected by the Lions Eye Bank of Shenzhen less than one hour after his death.
Altogether four patients with eyesight problems will become the beneficiaries of Cong’s final donation. One of the recipients, a nine-year-old girl, underwent a successful operation on Friday.Since 1994, Cong Fei had been using nearly all his earnings from commercial performances, more than 375,000 US dollars, to help nearly 200 children in poverty-stricken areas pay their tuition fees.

But his achievements have been less well received by some government officials, who are anxious to counter India’s image as a country that turns a blind eye to child exploitation. Pramila Malik, a minister of state for women and child welfare, accused Mr Das of turning the boy into “a performing monkey”.Mr Das, 39, said that he was making no money out of Budhia and insisted he only had the child’s interests at heart. “I have a doctor check on him every few days and he’s fine,” he said. He has the backing of Budhia’s mother, Sukanti Singh, 35, and her son is likewise unconcerned. “I love running, I never get tired,” he said.Budhia is due to fly to London on May 15 at the behest of British-based Touch Productions, which is making a documentary about him for Five and the Discovery Channel. Touch says that it is paying the expenses of the trip but that no fee is being paid to the boy, his mother or carers.

Alarmed at television footage of him collapsing in the final stages of a record-breaking 43-mile run, Indian health officials ordered police to take him into hospital on Friday for tests to see if the intense exercise was damaging his young body.Results delivered yesterday confirmed those fears – with doctors warning that he will soon be a physical wreck.”Making a child this age run marathons on a regular basis will lead to him being physically burnt out in a few years”, said Dr Manabendra Bhattacharya of the Sports Authority of India, who discovered that Budhia had abnormally high pulse and blood pressure readings. “It’s not desirable to submit such a young body to so much stress and strain. Those who think they’re doing the child a service by promoting him to run such long distances are causing him terrible damage.”Budhia – hailed as the world’s youngest marathon runner, although he has no birth certificate to prove his age – is now the subject of a legal wrangle between the state authorities and his coach, who stands accused of exploiting and maltreating the boy.

The Manifesto has lived a long and illustrious life. While it was hardly noticed amongst the crowded field of pamphlets and treatises published in 1848, it has had a more profound effect on the intellectual and political history of the world than any single work in the past 150 years. It has inspired the communist political systems which ruled nearly half the world’s population at its height and defined the chief ideological conflict of the second half of the twentieth century, altering even those countries which stood firmly against communism, e.g. Western European and American Welfare States. Intellectually, Marx’s work has profoundly influenced nearly every field of study from the humanities to the social sciences to the natural sciences. It is hard to imagine an area of serious human inquiry which Marxism has not touched.

René LACOSTE entered the legend of tennis when he and his team-mates “The Musketeers”, stole the Davis Cup away from the Americans for the first time, in 1927. Not forgetting his 3 French Open victories (1925, 1927 and the ROLAND-GARROS stadium in 1929), his two victories in Great Britain (WIMBLEDON 1925 and 1928) and two U.S. OPEN titles at Forest Hills (1926 and 1927).

René LACOSTE was born in France on 2nd July 1904 and died on 12th October 1996. The true story of the “Crocodile” begins in 1927. René LACOSTE liked to recount how his nickname became an emblem recognized throughout the world.

“I was nicknamed “the Alligator” by the American press, after I made a bet with the Captain of the French Davis Cup Team concerning a suitcase made from alligator skin. He promised to buy it for me if I won a very important match for our team.The public must have been fond of this nickname which conveyed the tenacity I displayed on the tennis courts, never letting go of my prey!”

“So my friend Robert GEORGE drew a ‘crocodile’ which I then had embroidered on the blazer I wore on the courts. An attentive spectator at René LACOSTE’s Davis Cup matches was the winner of the BRITISH Womens golf title, Mademoiselle Simone THION de la CHAUME, who soon became his wife and constant support.

In 1933, René LACOSTE and André GILLIER, the owner and President of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm of that time, set up a company to manufacture the logo-embroidered shirt. The champion had designed this for his own use on the tennis court, as well as a number of other shirts for tennis, golf and sailing – as can be seen in the first catalogue, produced in 1933.

To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that a brand name appeared on the outside of an article of clothing – an idea which has since become extremely successful.

This shirt revolutionized mens sportswear and replaced the woven fabric, long-sleeved, starched classic shirts.The first LACOSTE shirt was white, slightly shorter than its counterparts, had a ribbed collar, short sleeves with ribbed bands and was made of a light knitted fabric called “Jersey petit piqué”.

Today, it continues to offer the same quality, comfort and solidity on which it built its name and which constitute its uniqueness.