Stephen Wade

Stephen Graham Wade (born 28 March 1960) is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the South Australian Legislative Council after an appointment in May 2006, representing the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Wade was a ministerial adviser to former state minister Dr Michael Armitage before working in the water industry. Having decided to make a move into politics himself, he nominated for the party's Legislative Council ticket for the 2006 state election with the support of the party's moderate faction. It had been predicted that as a moderate he would only receive the distinctly unwinnable seventh position, but in an upset result, he instead took the theoretically winnable fifth position. However, the party suffered a particularly bad defeat at the election, and the party was only able to win three seats.

Wade received a second chance soon after the election, however, when the Liberal Party opened nominations for a casual vacancy that had occurred prior to the election when former shadow minister Angus Redford resigned in order to make an unsuccessful bid to shift to the House of Assembly to contest the electoral district of Bright after Wayne Matthew resigned prior to the 2006 election. He emerged as the leading moderate contender for the position, challenging conservative Tim Keynes, who had occupied the fourth position on the ticket at the election and Joe Scalzi, a defeated Member of the House of Assembly. Keynes was widely seen as the favourite, particularly after the victory of conservative Cory Bernardi in a vote to fill a Senate vacancy in March, but in an upset result, Wade won 112-84-32 respectively in the first round of balloting, and 134-96 in the second. He was subsequently appointed to the vacancy on 2 May, the first sitting day of the new parliament, and served out the remaining four years of Redford's term.

Stephen Wade (musician)

Stephen Wade (born 1953) is an American folk musician, writer, and researcher.

Biography

Growing up in Chicago in the 1950s and ‘60s, Stephen Wade was exposed to a number of vernacular musicians who had moved north to the city from the Mississippi Delta and the Southern Appalachians.

Wade started playing blues guitar at age eleven and eventually switched to the banjo. In 1972, he began studying with Fleming Brown at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. By the mid-‘70s, Brown passed his classes over to Wade to teach. In 1972, Wade also began an association with Brown’s teacher, old-time, Kentucky-born radio singer Doc Hopkins. Under the tutelage of these two mentors, Wade immersed himself in the banjo, traditional music, and American folklore. Later, he traveled across the United States to research American humor and folk tales and meet with folk musicians in the field.

By the late ‘70s, he had developed a theatrical performance combining storytelling, traditional music, and percussive dance, entitled Banjo Dancing. The show opened in Chicago in May 1979 where it ran for thirteen months, including a Labor Day performance at the White House. In January 1981, Wade brought Banjo Dancing to Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. Although he was initially booked for three weeks, his engagement there ran ten years.

Stephen Wade (executioner)

Stephen Wade (14 December 1887 – 22 December 1956) was one of England's executioners from 1940 until 1955. He assisted Tom and Albert Pierrepoint on 31 occasions and also carried out 28 executions as principal executioner.

His first assignment was on 31 October 1942, assisting Albert Pierrepoint at the execution of Antonio Mancini at HMP Pentonville. After the Second World War he worked for a time at a coach dealership in his home town of Doncaster. His first execution as principal executioner was the hanging of Arthur Charles at HMP Durham on 26 March 1946. Following this, he was usually selected by the Sheriff of Yorkshire for executions at HMP Armley from 1947 onwards. The execution of Walter Sharpe (aged 20) took place at the prison on 30 March 1950, when he was assisted by Harry Allen.

His final assignment was the execution of Alec Wilkinson (aged 22), whom he hanged at Leeds on 12 August 1955. Wade's assistant at this execution was Robert Leslie Stewart. Wilkinson had been convicted of murdering Clara Farrell, his mother-in-law.