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Reilly, Ace Of Spies
''Reilly, Ace of Spies'' is a 1983 British television programme dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian-born adventurer who became one of the greatest spies ever to work for the United Kingdom and the British Empire. Among his exploits, in the early 20th century, were the infiltration of the German General Staff in 1917 and a near-overthrow of the Bolsheviks in 1918. His reputation with women was as legendary as his genius for espionage. The series was written by Troy Kennedy Martin, and based on the 1967 book ''Ace of Spies'' by Robin Bruce Lockhart, whose father R. H. Bruce Lockhart was one of Reilly's fellow spies. Sam Neill stars as the eponymous character. The theme music is the romance movement from Dmitri Shostakovich's '' The Gadfly Suite,'' though Shostakovich is not actually credited ( Harry Rabinowitz is credited with the music). Episodes There are 12 episodes, each approximately 50 minutes in length, except Episode 1, which is approximately 80 minutes) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Neill
Sir Nigel John Dermot "Sam" Neill (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand actor. His career has included leading roles in both dramas and blockbusters. Considered an "international leading man", he is regarded as one of the most versatile actors of his generation. Born in Northern Ireland to an English mother and New Zealand father, Neill moved to Christchurch with his family in 1954. He first achieved recognition with his appearance in the film ''Sleeping Dogs (1977 film), Sleeping Dogs'' (1977), which he followed with leading roles in ''My Brilliant Career (film), My Brilliant Career'' (1979), ''Omen III: The Final Conflict'', ''Possession (1981 film), Possession'' (both 1981), ''Evil Angels (film), Evil Angels'' (also known as ''A Cry in the Dark'') (1988), ''Dead Calm (film), Dead Calm'' (1989), ''The Hunt for Red October (film), The Hunt For Red October'' (1990), ''The Piano'' (1993), and ''In the Mouth of Madness'' (1994). He came to international prominence as Alan Grant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Reilly
Sidney George Reilly (; – 5 November 1925), known as the "Ace of Spies", was a Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by Scotland Yard's Special Branch and later by the Foreign Section of the British Secret Service Bureau, the precursor to the modern British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6/SIS). He is alleged to have spied for at least four different great powers, and documentary evidence indicates that he was involved in espionage activities in 1890s London among Russian émigré circles, in Manchuria on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), and in an abortive 1918 ''coup d'état'' against Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik government in Moscow. Reilly disappeared in Soviet Russia in the mid-1920s, lured by the Cheka's Operation Trust. British diplomat and journalist R. H. Bruce Lockhart publicised his and Reilly's 1918 exploits to overthrow the Bolshevik regime in Lockhart's 1932 book ''Memoirs of a British Agent.'' This became an international best-seller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatoly Stessel
Anatoly Mikhaylovich Stessel (; ; –) was a Russian Empire, Russian baron of Germans, German descent, military leader, and general. Biography Anatoly Stessel, born in 1848 as the son of Lieutenant General Ivan Matveevich Stessel, graduated from the Pavel Military School in 1866. Stessel participated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). He subsequently commanded the 16th Ladoga Infantry Regiment in 1897, and then from 1897 to 1899 the 44th Kamchatka Infantry Regiment. He was appointed to head the 3rd East Siberian Brigade (1899–1903), and distinguished himself for his role in the suppression of the Boxer Movement of 1899–1901 in Qing China, being wounded in combat during the Battle of Tientsin in July 1900. He was subsequently awarded the Order of St. George (4th degree).Kowner, '' Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War'', p. 359-360. From 12 August 1903 Stessel commanded the Russian garrison of Lüshunkou District, Port Arthur in Manchuria – a total of o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Shenyang, Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan. Russia had pursued an expansionist policy in Siberia and the Russian Far East, Far East since the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century. At the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 had ceded the Liaodong Peninsula and Lüshun Port, Port Arthur to Japan before the Triple Intervention, in which Russia, Germany, and France forced Japan to relinquish its claim. Japan feared that Russia would impede its plans to establish a sphere of influence in mainland Asia, especially as Russia built the Trans-Siberian Railway, Trans-Siberian Railroad, began making inroads in K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Pacific Fleet
The Pacific Fleet () is the Russian Navy fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1731 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy, the fleet was known as the Okhotsk Military Flotilla (1731–1856) and Siberian Military Flotilla (1856–1918), formed to defend Russian interests in the Russian Far East region along the Pacific coast. In 1918 the fleet was inherited by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, then the Soviet Union in 1922 as part of the Soviet Navy, being reformed several times before being disbanded in 1926. In 1932 it was re-established as the Pacific Fleet, and was known as the Red Banner Pacific Fleet () after World War II as it had earned the Order of the Red Banner. In the Soviet years, the fleet was also responsible for the Soviet Navy's operations in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Red Banner Pacific Fleet was inherited by the Russian Federation as part of the Russian Navy and its current name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Empire
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to 1945, it included the Japanese archipelago, the Kurils, Karafuto, Korea, and Taiwan. The South Seas Mandate and concessions such as the Kwantung Leased Territory were ''de jure'' not internal parts of the empire but dependent territories. In the closing stages of World War II, with Japan defeated alongside the rest of the Axis powers, the formalized surrender was issued on September 2, 1945, in compliance with the Potsdam Declaration of the Allies, and the empire's territory subsequently shrunk to cover only the Japanese archipelago resembling modern Japan. Under the slogans of "Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Armed Forces" and "Promote Industry" which followed the Boshin War and the restoration of power to the emperor from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Arthur, China
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as star (as, for example, in ''the A* search algorithm'' or ''C*-algebra''). An asterisk is usually five- or six-pointed in print and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten, though more complex forms exist. Its most common use is to call out a footnote. It is also often used to censor offensive words. In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a wildcard character, or to denote pointers, repetition, or multiplication. History The asterisk was already in use as a symbol in ice age cave paintings. There is also a two-thousand-year-old character used by Aristarchus of Samothrace called the , , which he used when proofreading Homeric poetry to mark lines that were duplicated. Origen is known to have also used the asteriskos t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mansfield Smith-Cumming
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming (1 April 1859 – 14 June 1923) was a British naval officer who served as the first Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). Origins He was a great-great-grandson of the prominent merchant John Smith, a director of both the South Sea Company and the East India Company, the second son of Abel Smith (1717–1788), Abel Smith (d. 1756), the Nottingham banker who founded a banking dynasty and whose business much later became National Westminster Bank, now one of the largest banks in the United Kingdom.J. Leighton Boyce, ''Smith's the Bankers 1658–1958'' (1958). His father was Colonel John Thomas Smith of the Madras Royal Engineers who became Master of the Madras and India Government Mint, Kolkata, Calcutta Mints and designed a machine for minting coins that was displayed at the Great Exhibition in 1851.A. Judd, ''The Quest for C'' (1999). Early naval career Smith join ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil Zaharoff
Sir Basil Zaharoff (born Zacharias Basileios Zacharoff; 6 October 1849 – 27 November 1936) was a Greek arms dealer and industrialist. One of the richest men in the world during his lifetime, Zaharoff was described as both a "merchant of death" and a "mystery man of Europe". His success was forged through his cunning, often aggressive and sharp, business tactics. These included the sale of arms to opposing sides in conflicts, sometimes delivering fake or faulty machinery and skilfully using the press to attack business rivals. Zaharoff maintained close contacts with many powerful political leaders, including British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Early life Zacharias was the only son and eldest of four children of Basilius Zacharoff (d. 1878) of Constantinople, a Greek notary, commodity dealer and importer of attar of roses and his (reportedly blind) wife, Helena Antonides (d. 1879). Zacharias w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region and are home to Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe at above sea level. The Caucasus Mountains include the Greater Caucasus in the north and the Lesser Caucasus in the south. The Greater Caucasus runs west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Western Caucasus on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea to close to Baku on the Caspian Sea, in Azerbaijan. The Lesser Caucasus runs parallel to the Greater about south. The Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges are connected by the Likhi Range, and to the west and east of the Likhi Range lie the Colchis Plain and the Kur-Araz Lowland respectively. The Meskheti Range is a part of the Lesser Caucasus system. In the southeast, the Aras River separates the Lesser Caucasus from the Tal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the list of largest empires, third-largest empire in history, behind only the British Empire, British and Mongol Empire, Mongol empires. It also Russian colonization of North America, colonized Alaska between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as the boyars, above whom was the tsar, an absolute monarch. The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III (), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state, and secured inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baku
Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital cities by elevation, lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world below sea level. Baku lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, on the Bay of Baku. Baku's urban population was estimated at two million people as of 2009. Baku is the primate city of Azerbaijan—it is the sole metropolis in the country, and about 25% of all inhabitants of the country live in Baku's metropolitan area. Baku is divided into #Administrative divisions, twelve administrative raions and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, as well as the industrial settlement of Neft Daşları built on oil rigs away from Baku city in the Caspian Sea. The Old City (Baku), Old City, conta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
