David Ben

David Ben is a Canadian stage magician, sleight of hand artist, illusionist, author, publisher, keynote speaker, magic historian, magic consultant, magic collector and former tax lawyer.

He has been a professional magician, performer, entertainer and keynote speaker since 1990. Ben is known for his sleight-of-hand technique, his knowledge of magic history and his collection of magic.

He is one of the founders of Magicana—a performing arts organization dedicated to the study, exploration and advancement of magic as a performing art—and currently serves its Artistic Director. He is the publisher and editor of Magicol, a quarterly journal of magic history and collectibles. He is the sole protégé of a fellow Canadian, twentieth century sleight-of-hand artist, Ross Bertram, and biographer (and representative of the Estate) of celebrated magician, Dai Vernon.

Early life and education

Ben was born March 5, 1961 and raised in Toronto, Canada. His interest in magic began after receiving the book, The Stein and Day Handbook of Magic by Marvin Kaye from his father in 1973. Ben's childhood interest turned into a lifelong passion after he watched the television special 'Doug Henning's World of Magic (1975). Ben became a frequent visitor to the Arcade Magic and Novelty Company in Toronto, and then Morrissey Magic Ltd. While in high school, Ben worked part-time at Morrissey Magic, learning the craft from store founder and Canadian magician, Herb Morrissey.

Brother Beyond

Brother Beyond were a British boy band/pop group who had mainstream success in the late 1980s.

Biography

The group's first four singles, "I Should Have Lied", "How Many Times", "Chain-Gang Smile" (produced by Don Was from Was Not Was), and an early version of "Can You Keep a Secret?" (which was later remixed and hit the charts), were all written by band members Eg White (then substituted by live session drummer Steve Alexander), or David Ben White in collaboration with Carl Fysh, and performed together by the band, ideally led by vocalist Nathan Moore (though he never took part in the composition process on any of the songs, nor played any of the instruments). None of these early singles, released between 1986 and 1988, ever troubled the UK Top 50, but they were instead minor chart entries, in the UK Top 75 Singles Chart.

When the songwriters and producers Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known as Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), auctioned off their services to charity, Brother Beyond and label EMI won the auction. The first song to be released from this session was "The Harder I Try", a number 2 hit, that was only kept off the top by the million-seller "A Groovy Kind of Love" by Phil Collins in July 1988. "The Harder I Try" samples the drum intro of The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine", and indeed the song as a whole has a distinct Motown feel, as does its successor "He Ain't No Competition", getting to number 6. The 12" version of the latter topped the Hi-NRG charts in October 1988, where it stayed until it was knocked off by the Samantha Fox cover of "I Only Wanna Be with You", again produced by SAW. The following releases from the Get Even album failed to make the UK Top Ten: "Be My Twin", which got to number 14, and "Can You Keep a Secret?", hitting number 22. All these singles were taken from the two different editions of their first album Get Even.

Benjamin White

Benjamin White is the name of:

Ben White (environmentalist)

Ben White (Benjamin Lewis White, Jr., Sept. 3, 1951 - July 30, 2005) was an arborist, environmentalist, animal rights and Native American rights activist. A 1997 PBS Frontline documentary described him as "a guerrilla warrior against animal exploitation." He was known for the sea turtle costumes used in the 1999 Seattle WTO protests and for documenting illegal whaling in Russia.

White worked with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, In Defense of Animals, and the Animal Welfare Institute. He co-founded the Cetacean Freedom Network.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the organization In Defense of Animals.

References

David of Bulgaria

David (Bulgarian: Давид) (died 976) was a Bulgarian noble, brother of Emperor Samuel and eldest son of komes Nicholas. After the disastrous invasion of Rus' armies and the fall of North-eastern Bulgaria under Byzantine occupation in 971, he and his three younger brothers took the lead of the defence of the country. They executed their power together and each of them governed and defended a separate region. He ruled the southern-most parts of the realm from Prespa and Kastoria and was responsible for the defence the dangerous borders with Thessalonica and Thessaly. In 976 he participated in the major assault against the Byzantine Empire but was killed by vagrant Vlachs between Prespa and Kostur.

Family tree

Another theory

However, there's also another version about David’s origin. David gains the title "comes" during his service in the Byzantine army which recruited many Armenians from the Eastern region of the empire. The 11th-century historian Stepanos Asoghik wrote that Samuel had one brother, and they were Armenians from the district Derjan. This version is supported by the historians Nicholas Adontz, Jordan Ivanov, and Samuil's Inscription where it’s said that Samuel’s brother is David. Also, the historians Yahya and Al Makin clearly distinguish the race of Samuel and David (the Comitopouli) from the one of Moses and Aaron (the royal race):

David, Chiriquí

David (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið]) officially San José de David is a city and corregimiento located in the west of Panama. It is the capital of the province of Chiriquí and has an estimated population of 144,858 inhabitants as confirmed in 2013. It is a relatively affluent city with a firmly established, dominant middle class and a very low unemployment and poverty index. The Pan-American Highway is a popular route to David.

The development of the banking sector, public construction works such as the expansion of the airport and the David-Boquete highway alongside the growth of commercial activity in the city have increased its prominence as one of the fastest growing regions in the country. The city is currently the economic center of the Chiriqui province and produces more than half the gross domestic product of the province, which totals 2.1 billion. It is known for being the third-largest city in the country both in population and by GDP and for being the largest city in Western Panama.

David (Bernini)

David is a life-size marble sculpture by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sculpture was one of many commissions to decorate the villa of Bernini's patron Cardinal Scipione Borghese – where it still resides today, as part of the Galleria Borghese It was completed in the course of seven months from 1623 to 1624.

The subject of the work is the biblical David, about to throw the stone that will bring down Goliath, which will allow David to behead him. Compared to earlier works on the same theme (notably the David of Michelangelo), the sculpture broke new ground in its implied movement and its psychological intensity.

Background

Between 1618 and 1625 Bernini was commissioned to undertake various sculptural work for the villa of one of his patrons, Cardinal Scipione Borghese. In 1623 – only yet 24 years old – he was working on the sculpture of Apollo and Daphne, when, for unknown reasons, he abandoned this project to start work on the David. According to records of payment, Bernini had started on the sculpture by mid–1623, and his contemporary biographer, Filippo Baldinucci, states that he finished it in seven months.