Anne Rice

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien; October 4, 1941) is an American author of gothic fiction, Christian literature, and erotica. She is perhaps best known for her popular and influential series of novels, The Vampire Chronicles, revolving around the central character of Lestat. Books from The Vampire Chronicles were the subject of two film adaptations, Interview with the Vampire in 1994, and Queen of the Damned in 2002.

Born in New Orleans, Rice spent much of her early life there before moving to Texas, and later to San Francisco. She was raised in an observant Catholic family, but became an agnostic as a young adult. She began her professional writing career with the publication of Interview with the Vampire in 1976, while living in California, and began writing sequels to the novel in the 1980s. In the mid-2000s, following a publicized return to Catholicism, Rice published the novels Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, fictionalized accounts of certain incidents in the life of Jesus. Several years later she distanced herself from organized Christianity, citing disagreement with the Church's stances on social issues but pledging that faith in God remained "central to [her] life." However, she now considers herself a secular humanist.

Mayfair

Coordinates: 51°30′32″N 0°08′51″W / 51.508755°N 0.14743°W / 51.508755; -0.14743

Mayfair is an exclusive area of West London, by the east edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster. The district is now mainly commercial, with many former homes converted into offices for major corporate headquarters, embassies, and also hedge funds and real estate businesses. There remains a substantial quantity of residential property as well as some upmarket shops and restaurants, as well as London's largest concentration of five star hotels. Rents are among the highest in London and the world.

Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that, from 1686 to 1764, took place on the site that is now Shepherd Market.

History

Mayfair was mainly open fields until development started in the Shepherd Market area around 1686 to accommodate the May Fair that had moved from Haymarket in St James's. There were some buildings prior to 1686 – a cottage in Stanhope Row, dating from 1618, was destroyed in the Blitz in late 1940, though there is no evidence of meaningful habitation or building prior to 1686. There has been speculation that the Romans settled in the area before establishing Londinium. A theory has been proposed since the 1950s that Aulus Plautius set up a fort near the junction of Park Street and Oxford Street during the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43 while waiting for Claudius; the theory was more fully developed in 1993, with a proposal that around the fort a Roman town formed, which was later abandoned as being too far from the Thames. The proposal has been disputed due to lack of archaeological evidence. If there was a fort, it is believed the perimeter would have been where the modern roads Green Street, North Audley Street, Upper Grosvenor Street and Park Lane now are, and that Park Street would have been the main road through the centre.

Mayfair (festival)

Mayfair Festival of the Arts is a multidisciplinary arts festival (visual arts, performing arts, culinary arts, garden arts, children's art center, art education) produced by Mayfair Inc, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The Festival is held annually at in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It has been held Memorial Day weekend since 1986.

Approximately 50,000 people attend Mayfair Festival of the Arts every year to buy art, enjoy food, listen to music, and take their children to KidSpace for hands-on children's art activities.

The organization, Mayfair, Inc., produces the Festival in order to build community by showcasing artists and performers, and bringing new arts into the region.

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Coordinates: 40°36′00″N 75°30′01″W / 40.60010°N 75.50032°W / 40.60010; -75.50032

Mayfair (Jenkinsville, South Carolina)

Mayfair is a historic home located near Jenkinsville, Fairfield County, South Carolina. It was built about 1824, and is a two-story, weatherboarded Federal style frame residence with a hipped roof. The front façade features a central, two-story, polygonal pedimented portico. According to local tradition, Mayfair was the home of Burrell B. Cook, a moderately wealthy planter, who served in the Twenty-eighth General Assembly of South Carolina from 1828-1829.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

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