Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 June 25, 2009) was an American singersongwriter, dancer,businessman and philanthropist.

. Often referred to as the "King of Pop", or by his [3] initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became the dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It," "Billie Jean," and "Thriller," were credited with breaking down racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then relatively new television channel MTV to fame. With videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" he continued to innovate the medium throughout the 1990s, as well as forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot, and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop, and rock artists. Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall(1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first and only dancer from pop and rock music. Some of his other achievementsinclude multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Legend Award and theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 26 American Music Awards, more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s"; 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era; and the [4][5][6][Note 1] estimated sale of over 400 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which [7] made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music. In what would have been Jackson's 52nd birthday on August 29, 2010, he became the most downloaded artist of all [8][9] time. Jackson constantly traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism and the [10] 2000 Guinness Book of Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities. Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In the mid-1990s, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case [11] was settled out of court for about $25 million and $2 million and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series titled This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepineintoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of [12] grief and a live broadcast of the public memorial service viewed around the world.

[1][2]

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930 ) known professionally as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award). Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six Eon Productions films and the non-Eon Thunderball remake, Never Say Never [3] Again). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The Name of the Rose, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express,Dragonheart, and The Rock. He was knighted in July [4][5] [6] 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living [ National Treasure".

[2]

Joanne "Jo" Rowling /rol/, OBE FRSL

[3]

(born 31 July 1965 ), pen name J. K. Rowling, is

[4]

[5]

a Britishnovelist, best known as the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. The Potter books have [6] gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. They have [7] become the best-selling book series in history, and been the basis for a series of films which has [8] [9] become the highest-grossing film series in history. Rowling had overall approval on the scripts as well [10] as maintaining creative control by serving as a producer on the final instalment. Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series on a delayed train from Manchester [11] to London in 1990. The seven-year period that followed entailed the death of her mother, divorce from her first husband and poverty until Rowling finished the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone(1997). Rowling subsequently published 6 sequels the last, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)as well as 3 supplements to the series. In 2012, Rowling parted with her agency and resumed writing in the form of a tragicomedy novel aimed at adult readership, entitled The Casual Vacancy. Rowling has said she is currently working on two books one aimed for adults, the other for children younger than the Harry Potter audience, and she expects the latter to be published first. Rowling has led a "rags to riches" life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to multimillionaire status within five years. She is the United Kingdom's best-selling author since records began, [12] with sales in excess of 238m. The 2008 Sunday Times Rich List estimated Rowling's fortune at 560 million ($798 million), ranking her as the twelfth richest woman in the United [13] Kingdom. Forbes ranked Rowling as the forty-eighth most powerful celebrity of [14] 2007, and TIME magazine named her as a runner-up for its 2007Person of the Year, noting the social, [15] moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans. In October 2010, Rowling was named the "Most [16] Influential Woman in Britain" by leading magazine editors. She has become a notable philanthropist, supporting such charities as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Lumos (formerly the Children's High Level Group).

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American pop singer, dancer, actress, and occasional author. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she performed acting roles in stage productions and television shows as a child before signing with Jive Records in

1997. During her first decade in the music industry, she became a prominent figure in mainstream popular music and popular culture, followed by a much-publicized personal life. Spears's first and second studio albums ...Baby One More Time (1999) andOops!... I Did It Again (2000) became international [1] successes, with the former becoming the best-selling album by a teenage solo artist. Title tracks "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her third album Britney and played the starring role in the film Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth album In the Zone (2003), which yielded the worldwide success "Toxic". After the release of two compilation albums, Spears's personal struggles sent her career into hiatus. Her fifth album Blackout (2007) spawned hits "Gimme More" and "Piece of Me". Spears's erratic behavior and hospitalizations caused her to be placed under a conservatorship in 2008. Her sixth album Circus was released later that year, which included global chart-topping lead single "Womanizer". Its supporting [2] tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears was the highest-grossing global concert tour in 2009. Later that October, "3" became Spears's third single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Her seventh album Femme Fatale (2011) became her first to yield three top ten singles in the United States: "Hold It Against Me", "Till the World Ends" and "I Wanna Go". In 2012, Spears was featured on will.i.am's single "Scream & Shout", which topped charts in over 24 countries. She also served as a judge during the second season of the American version of The X Factor. Spears was established as a pop icon and credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late [3] 1990s. She became the 'best-selling teenaged artist of all time' before she turned 20, garnering her [4] honorific titles such as "Princess of Pop". Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award, six MTV Video Music Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award, nine Billboard Music Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2009, Billboard ranked her as [5] the 8th overall Artist of the Decade, and also recognized her as the best-selling female artist of the first [6] decade of the 21st century, as well as the fifth overall. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) named Spears as the eighthtop-selling female artist in the United States, with [7] 34 million certified albums. Nielsen SoundScan ranked her the tenth best-selling digital artist of the [8] country, with more than 28.6 million digital singles as of January 2012. She has sold over 100 million [9] albums worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Rolling Stone recognized [10] her instant success as one of the Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments of all time, while VH1 ranked her [11] eleventh on their "100 Greatest Women in Music" list in 2012, and Billboard named her the sexiest [12] woman in music. Forbes reported that Spears was the highest paid female musician of 2012, with [13] earnings of $58 million, having last topped the list in 2002.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool, in 1960. They became the most [1] commercially successful and critically acclaimed act in the history of music. Their best-known lineup consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later utilized several genres, ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classicaland other elements in innovative ways. In the early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania", but as their songwriting grew in sophistication, they came to be perceived by many fans and cultural observers as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era's sociocultural revolutions. The band built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act and producer George Martin enhanced their musical potential. They gained popularity in the United Kingdom after their first modest hit, "Love Me Do", in late 1962. They acquired the nickname the "Fab Four" as Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following year, and by early 1964 they had become international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the United States pop market. From 1965 on, the Beatles produced what many critics consider their finest material, including the innovative and widely influential albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967),The Beatles (1968), and Abbey Road (1969). After their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active. The Beatles have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. According to the RIAA, they are the best-selling band in the United States, with 177 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful "Hot 100" artists. As of 2013, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with 20. They have received 7 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and 15 Ivor Novello Awards. Collectively included inTime magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most influential people, the Beatles are the best-selling band in history, with EMI Records estimating sales of over one billion units.

John Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 November 4, 2008) was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted into films. In 1994 Crichton became the only creative artist ever to have works simultaneously charting at [2] No. 1 in television, film, and book sales (with ER, Jurassic Park, and Disclosure, respectively). His literary works are usually based on the action genre and heavily feature technology. His novels epitomize thetechno-thriller genre of literature, often exploring technology and failures of human interaction with it, especially resulting in catastrophes with biotechnology. Many of his future history novels have medical or scientificunderpinnings, reflecting his medical training and science background. He was the author of, among others, The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Congo, Travels, Sphere, Rising Sun, Disclosure, The Lost World, Airframe,Timeline, Prey, State of Fear, Next (the final book published before his death), Pirate Latitudes (published November 24, 2009), [3 and a final unfinished techno-thriller, Micro, which was published in November 2011.