Chris Bradford

Chris Bradford is an author, professional musician and black belt martial artist, best known for his children's fictional series, Young Samurai.

The first Young Samurai book, The Way of the Warrior, was published by Puffin Books in 2008. Disney bought the rights in the same year and are due to publish early 2009. Bradford has also written a number of books on the music business, including the critically acclaimed Heart & Soul: Revealing the Craft of Songwriting (Sanctuary, 2005), Crash Course Songwriting (Omnibus, 2007) and the three-part illustrated series of music business books for teenagers, Record Deals OutLoud, Music Publishing OutLoud and Artist Management OutLoud (Music Sales, 2006).

Before becoming a full-time author, Bradford was a professional songwriter, who worked with many successful musicians including Dave Calhoqoun (Ian Brown 'F.E.A.R.'); Ivor Novello winner Iain Archer (Snow Patrol); and the legendary Graham Gouldman (10cc). As an artist himself, Bradford performed with James Blunt, at the Notting Hill Carnival and for Queen Elizabeth II.

Chris Bradford (rock musician)

Chris Bradford (born Christopher Michael Bradford in Liverpool) is a British musician and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and songwriter in the British rock band The Heroes, and member of the singer songwriting trio, Bardot.

Early years

Bradford and Mark Hankins formed the band Palomino in the early 1970s, playing the pub rock scene and university gigs supporting such acts as Osibisa and Vinegar Joe (with Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer). The band also supported Neil Sedaka at the Albert Hall in 1972. A first airing of Bradford's early songs. Hankins' next band, country rock outfit Randy, recorded Chris's song Crazy Love on their debut album Lady Luck.

Bardot 1977–1978

Bradford hooked up with Laurie Andrew (aka Laurie Forsey) and Ray McRiner to form Bardot in 1977. Each member a strong singer/songwriter, their sound, heavy on melody and complex harmonies was sometimes compared to Crosby, Stills & Nash.
The band were signed to RCA Records in 1977, and released three singles between 1977 and 1978, the debut Witchfire hitting number 14 in the Dutch charts. During 1977 Bardot supported Bonnie Tyler and her band in concert, and on 2 August performed Eagle Road and Rockin in Rhythm on The Elaine Simmons TV Show in Scotland. RCA released their album Rockin in Rhythm in 1978 – a collection of polished folk rock songs.
1978 also saw Bardot working at Ringo Starr's Startling Studios providing all the backing vocals for Graham Bonnet's album No Bad Habits. The album was produced by Pip Williams who collaborated extensively with Bardot and with Bradford on his later projects.

Bradford

Coordinates: 53°48′00″N 1°45′07″W / 53.8000°N 1.75206°W / 53.8000; -1.75206

Bradford ⁱ/ˈbrædfərd/ is in the Metropolitan Borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, in the foothills of the Pennines 8.6 miles (14 km) west of Leeds, and 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897. Following local government reform in 1974, city status was bestowed upon the wider metropolitan borough.

Bradford forms part of the West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation which in 2001 had a population of 1.5 million and is the fourth largest urban area in the United Kingdom with the Bradford subdivision of the aforementioned urban area having a population of 528,155.

Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Bradford rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture, particularly wool. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and amongst the earliest industrialised settlements, rapidly becoming the "wool capital of the world". The area's access to a supply of coal, iron ore and soft water facilitated the growth of Bradford's manufacturing base, which, as textile manufacture grew, led to an explosion in population and was a stimulus to civic investment; Bradford has a large amount of listed Victorian architecture including the grand Italianate City Hall.

Martini (cocktail)

The Martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist. Over the years, the Martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken called the Martini "the only American invention as perfect as the sonnet" and E. B. White called it "the elixir of quietude".

Preparation

By 1922 the Martini reached its most recognizable form in which London dry gin and dry vermouth are combined at a ratio of 2:1, stirred in a mixing glass with ice cubes, with the optional addition of orange or aromatic bitters, then strained into a chilled cocktail glass. Over time the generally expected garnish became the drinker's choice of a green olive or a twist of lemon peel.

A dry Martini is made with dry, white vermouth. By the Roaring Twenties, it became common to ask for them. Over the course of the century, the amount of vermouth steadily dropped. During the 1930s the ratio was 3:1, and during the 1940s the ratio was 4:1. During the latter part of the 20th century, 6:1, 8:1, 12:1, or even 50:1 or 100:1 Martinis became considered the norm.

Bradford, Pennsylvania

Bradford is a city in McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States, close to the border with New York State and approximately 78 miles (126 km) south of Buffalo, New York. Bradford is the principal city in the Bradford, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Settled in 1823, Bradford was chartered as a city in 1879 and emerged as a wild oil boomtown in the Pennsylvania oil rush in the late 19th century. The area's Pennsylvania Grade crude oil has superior qualities and is free of asphaltic constituents, contains only trace amounts of sulfur and nitrogen, and has excellent characteristics for refining into lubricants. The Bradford & Foster Brook Railway was built in 1876 as one of, if not the first, monorails in America, when Bradford was a booming oil town. World-famous Kendall racing oils were produced in Bradford.

The population peaked at 19,306 in 1930, but at the 2010 census had dropped to 8,770. Two adjoining townships, home to approximately 9,000 people, make the population of Greater Bradford about 18,000. Famous Bradfordians include the opera singer Marilyn Horne, the Hall of Fame baseball player Rube Waddell and the five-time All-Star football player Stew Barber. A famous perpetual motion machine hoax was created in Bradford in 1897 by J.M. Aldrich; it was exposed in the July 1, 1899, issue of the Scientific American magazine, leading to a four-month prison sentence in the county jail.