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Nigel John Taylor (born 20 June 1960) is a British musician who is best known as the bass guitarist for new wave band Duran Duran, of which he was a founding member. Duran Duran was one of the most popular bands in the world during the 1980s due in part to their music videos which played in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV. Taylor played with Duran Duran from its founding in 1978 until 1997, when he left to pursue a solo recording and film career. He recorded a dozen solo releases (albums, EPs, and video projects) through his private record label B5 Records over the next four years, had a lead role in the movie ''Sugar Town'', and made appearances in a half dozen other film projects. He rejoined Duran Duran for a reunion of the original five members in 2001 and has remained with the group since. Taylor was also a member of two supergroups: the Power Station and Neurotic Outsiders. Early life Born in Solihull, which was then in Warwickshire, John Taylor grew up in nea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The O2 Arena
The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, behind Co-op Live and Manchester Arena, and in 2008 was the world's busiest music arena. As of 2022, it is the List of largest buildings#Largest usable volume, ninth-largest building in the world by volume with a diameter of 365 metres (399 yards) and a height of 52 metres (57 yards). The arena was built under the Millennium Dome (renamed The O2), a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium; as the structure still stands over the arena, ''The Dome'' remains a name in common usage for the venue. The arena, as well as the overall complex, is named after its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2 (UK), O2, a subsidiar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supergroup (music)
A supergroup is a musical group formed of members who are already successful as solo artists or as members of other successful groups. The term became popular in the late 1960s when members of already successful rock groups Collaborative_album, recorded albums together, after which they normally disbanded. Charity supergroups, in which prominent musicians perform or record together in support of a particular cause, have been common since the 1980s. The term is most common in the context of Rock music, rock and pop music, but it has occasionally been applied to other musical genres. For example, opera stars the Three Tenors (José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti) and Hip-hop, hip hop duos Kids See Ghosts (Kanye West and Kid Cudi) and Bad Meets Evil (Eminem and Royce da 5′9″, Royce da 5'9") all have been called supergroups. A supergroup sometimes forms as a side project for a single recording project or other ''ad hoc'' purposes, with no intention that the grou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ugly Duckling
"The Ugly Duckling" () is a Danish literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). It was first published on 11 November 1843 in ''New Fairy Tales. First Volume#New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection, New Fairy Tales. First Volume. First Collection'', with three other tales by Andersen in Copenhagen to great critical acclaim. The tale has been adapted to various media, including opera, musical, and animated film. The tale is an original story by Andersen. Plot After a mother duck's eggs hatch, one of the ducklings is perceived by the other animals as an ugly little creature and suffers much verbal and physical abuse. He wanders from the barnyard and lives with wild ducks and geese until hunters slaughter the flocks. He finds a home with an old woman, but her cat and Chicken, hen tease and taunt him mercilessly, and once again he sets off alone. The duckling sees a flock of migrating wild swans. He is delighted and excited but can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham City University
Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 and gained university status in 1992. The university has two main campuses serving four faculties, and offers courses in art and design, business, the built environment, computing, education, engineering, English, healthcare, law, the performing arts, social sciences, and technology. A £125 million extension to its Birmingham City University City Centre Campus, campus in the city centre of Birmingham, part of the Eastside, Birmingham, Eastside development of a new technology and learning quarter, is opening in two stages, with the first phase having opened in 2013. It is the second largest of five universities in the city, the other four being the University of Birmingham (which is the largest), Aston University, University College Bi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy (born 30 May 1960 in Alum Rock, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England) is an English musician, singer and songwriter of Irish ancestry. He was a founding member, vocalist, bassist, and then drummer of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his elder brother Nick. He has also co-written with Robbie Williams and Steven Page. Career Duran Duran and other early work While attending the School of Foundation Studies & Experimental Workshop at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University), Duffy met John Taylor. Together, along with Taylor's childhood friend Nick Rhodes, they formed the group Duran Duran. While Taylor was the guitarist (later switching to bass) and Rhodes played the synthesizer, Duffy was the band's vocalist/lyricist and bassist. When bass player Simon Colley joined, Duffy moved to drums. He left both the school and the band in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates; 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member and the keyboardist of the band Duran Duran. He has also been the only constant member of the group since their 1978 inception. Rhodes has been involved in several side projects outside of, but related to, Duran Duran: he released an album with Arcadia (band), Arcadia in 1985 (featuring Duran Duran members Le Bon and Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer), Roger Taylor), and recorded and performed as the Devils (band), the Devils in 2002 with Stephen Duffy, longtime musical friend and the original lead singer of Duran Duran. In March 2013, he released the TV Mania side project with former Duran Duran guitarist, Warren Cuccurullo. Early history Nicholas James Bates is the only child of affluent parents who were the owners of a Birmingham toy shop. He attended Woodrush High School in Wythall, north Worcestershire. Bates left school in 1978 at the age of sixt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxy Music
Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first album in 1972, Ferry and Simpson were joined by Andy Mackay (saxophone/oboe), Phil Manzanera (guitar), Paul Thompson (musician), Paul Thompson (drums) and Brian Eno (synthesizer). Other members during the band's history include Eddie Jobson (synthesizer/keyboards/violin) and John Gustafson (musician), John Gustafson (bass). Beginning with their first album, Roxy Music became a successful act in Europe and Australia during the 1970s. The band pioneered more musically sophisticated elements of glam rock, significantly influencing early English punk rock, punk music, and provided a model for many New wave music, new wave acts while innovating elements of electronic music, electronic composition. The group also conveyed their distinctive brand of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wargaming
A normal wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to study the nature of potential conflicts. Many wargames re-create specific historic battles, and can cover either whole wars, or any campaigns, battles, or lower-level engagements within them. Many simulate land combat, but there are wargames for naval, air combat, and cyber conflicts, as well as many that combine various domains. There is ambiguity as to whether or not activities where participants physically perform mock combat actions (e.g. friendly warships firing dummy rounds at each other) are considered wargames. It is common terminology for a military's field training exercises to be referred to as "live wargames", but certain institutions such as the US Navy do not accept this.''War Gamer's Handbook'' (US Naval War College), p. 4 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood (writer), Christopher Wood, John Gardner (British writer), John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd (writer), William Boyd, Anthony Horowitz and Charlie Higson. The latest novel is ''On His Majesty's Secret Service'' by Charlie Higson, published in May 2023. Additionally, Charlie Higson wrote a series on Young Bond, a young James Bond, and Samantha Weinberg, Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the The Moneypenny Diaries, diaries of a recurring series character, Miss Moneypenny, Moneypenny. The character—also known by the code nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dioptre
A dioptre ( British spelling) or (American spelling), symbol dpt or D, is a unit of measurement with dimension of reciprocal length, equivalent to one reciprocal metre, . It is normally used to express the optical power of a lens or curved mirror, which is a physical quantity equal to the reciprocal of the focal length, expressed in metres. For example, a 3-dioptre lens brings parallel rays of light to focus at metre. A flat window has an optical power of zero dioptres, as it does not cause light to converge or diverge. Dioptres are also sometimes used for other reciprocals of distance, particularly radii of curvature and the vergence of optical beams. The main benefit of using optical power rather than focal length is that the thin lens formula has the object distance, image distance, and focal length all as reciprocals. Additionally, when relatively thin lenses are placed close together their powers approximately add. Thus, a thin 2.0-dioptre lens placed close to a th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myopia
Myopia, also known as near-sightedness and short-sightedness, is an eye condition where light from distant objects focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry, while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include headaches and eye strain. Severe myopia is associated with an increased risk of macular degeneration, retinal detachment, cataracts, and glaucoma. Myopia results from the length of the eyeball growing too long or less commonly the lens being too strong. It is a type of refractive error. Diagnosis is by the use of cycloplegics during eye examination. Tentative evidence indicates that the risk of myopia can be decreased by having young children spend more time outside. This decrease in risk may be related to natural light exposure. Myopia can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or by refractive surgery. Eyeglasses are the simplest and safest method of correction. Contact lenses can provide a rela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Redditch
Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of 81,637 and the district had a population of 87,037. In the 1800s, it became a centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry; by the end of the century, 90% of the world's needles were manufactured in the town and its surrounding areas. In the 1960s, it became part of the new town planning movement which included it expanding into neighbouring villages and hamlets surrounding the town. It is the second largest settlement in Worcestershire, after Worcester. History The first recorded mention of Redditch (''La Rededich'', thought to be a reference to the red clay of the nearby River Arrow) is in 1348, the year of the outbreak of the Black Death. During the Middle Ages, it became a centre of needle-making and later prominent industr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
