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Yellow Magic Orchestra - Firecracker (1978) | 5:00 | YMO Unofficial12.7K subscribers | 892,132 views | September 12, 2015 | Track 2 on 'Yellow Magic Orchestra' (1978) | Written by Martin Denny

On this date in 1554, Tudor nobleman Henry Grey — who for nine days had been the father of the queen — was beheaded at Queen Mary’s command. He was one of the inveterate schemers who grappled to secure his family’s foot upon the throne during the uncertain years when Edward VI succeeded Henry VIII. Frail and underaged, Edward’s foreseeable early death without issue created a situation where the cream of the aristocracy could plausibly dream themselves the namesakes of the next great English dynasty. Heck, the late royal monster was himself just the son of the guy who had...

The true beauty of Lady Jane Grey By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correpondent Last Updated: 1:38am GMT 05/03/2007 The great unsolved mystery of what Lady Jane Grey, England's shortest reigning monarch, looked like may finally have been cracked, thanks to a piece of jewellery, a flower related to the cabbage and the historian David Starkey. Dr Starkey, a Tudor specialist, claimed yesterday that he was "90 per cent certain" that he had succeeded in identifying the first contemporary portrait of Jane Grey, the pious Protestant pawn who was queen for nine days in 1553 before being beheaded at the Tower of...

On this date in 1554, rebel leader Thomas Wyatt the Younger tied on his own blindfold and laid his head on the block, having declared that not “any other now in your durance [i.e., the Tower] was privy to my rising” That remark exculpated the Princess Elizabeth, who just days before had been ominously rowed to the Tower on suspicion of having known of or involved herself in Wyatt‘s abortive revolt. And Wyatt had had to do more than talk the talk to keep the future Queen Elizabeth I out of the executioner’s way. Sore afraid that Wyatt’s rebellion had...

Leicestershire's young Nine-Day Queen showed bravery and humilityShe was Leicestershire’s own monarch – and the very first reigning queen of England. But the tragic story of Lady Jane Grey is often overlooked by historians. Only now does a three-part TV series – the second part is tomorrow at 9pm on BBC4 – shed any new light on Jane. Born in Bradgate in October, 1537, Jane’s life was as short as it was tragic. Beautiful and intelligent, she was reluctantly proclaimed Queen of England in 1553, aged just 15. She reigned for just nine days, before being imprisoned in the Tower...

'The bones of Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, lie mingled with those of her sister, Bloody Mary, in a single tomb at Westminster Abbey. But are they really royal remains — or evidence of the greatest conspiracy in English history?. If that is not the skeleton of Elizabeth Tudor, the past four centuries of British history have been founded on a lie.'

The bones of Elizabeth I, Good Queen Bess, lie mingled with those of her sister, Bloody Mary, in a single tomb at Westminster Abbey. But are they really royal remains — or evidence of the greatest conspiracy in English history? If that is not the skeleton of Elizabeth Tudor, the past four centuries of British history have been founded on a lie. And according to a controversial new book, the lie began on an autumn morning 470 years ago, when panic swept through a little group of courtiers in a manor house in the Cotswold village of Bisley in Gloucestershire.The...

Four hundred fifty eight years ago, on March 21, 1556, a crowd of curious spectators packed University Church in Oxford, England. They were there to witness the public recantation of one of the most well-known English Reformers, a man named Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer had been arrested by Roman Catholic authorities nearly three years earlier. At first, his resolve was strong. But after many months in prison, under daily pressure from his captors and the imminent threat of being burned at the stake, the Reformer’s faith faltered. His enemies eventually coerced him to sign several documents renouncing his Protestant faith. In...

Milwaukee bar starts serving epic Bloody Mary that comes topped with entire fried chicken. MILWAUKEE, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Apparently topping a massive Bloody Mary with a bacon cheeseburger slider just wasn't enough for a Milwaukee bar. After gaining some notoriety for their burger-topped drink, "'The Bloody Masterpiece," Sobelman's has decided to raise the beverage bar once again. The establishment has introduced a new drink, "Chicken Fried Bloody Beast," that features all the same garnishes -- cheese, sausage, pickles, olives, onions, mushrooms, asparagus, scallions, shrimp, lemon, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, celery -- as the Masterpiece. However, the Beast is also topped...

There will be no ‘Mary I and her People’ exhibitions to match that of Elizabeth I currently showing at the National Gallery. While Elizabeth I is regularly voted our most popular ever monarch her Catholic elder half sister remains associated with her late seventeenth century sobriquet, ‘Bloody Mary’. It is assumed she was hated in her lifetime. In fact she was a popular queen, and one from whom Elizabeth learned much. Mary’s accession to the throne in 1553 was not a smooth one. Her half brother, Edward VI, was a passionate Protestant, and when, aged fifteen, he fell gravely ill...

Queen Mary ascended the throne of England in 1553. In subsequent years, she had at least two hundred people put to death (often by fire) for their religious convictions. To history she became known as "Bloody Mary," although, in truth, she killed far fewer people per year than her brutal father. The godliness of many of her victims made them stand out. Mary's father, King Henry VIII had separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic church, but he had not reformed the church's practices or doctrines. On Henry's death, his young son Edward became King. Many of Edward's...

Hung over? Try eggs, fries, cocoa ... Thursday, January 1, 2009 3:24 AM By Kevin Mayhood THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The cup of cures for your pounding head and queasy stomach runneth over. New Year's Day is a little late for a lecture on abstinence or moderation, and we won't go into the scientific intricacies of a hangover. Suffice it to say you're hurtin', so here are a few remedies that folks say work, at least for them. "Hot chocolate," said Laura Yazvac, a bartender at the Surly Girl Saloon in the Short North. "Chocolate milk is good for dehydration." Lactose-intolerant?...

The Virgin Mary and Jesus are the new stars of animated comedy. But many Christians aren't laughing. In the online premiere of Empire Square -- the adult cartoon that debuted on American cable last month -- the lead character receives a burn scar resembling the Blessed Mother. The mark becomes part of a get-rich-quick scheme involving a Christian rock band and masturbation-related stigmata. Another episode of the British cartoon, titled Passion of Richie, dubs Jesus the "gayest superhero ever." "People tend to fall back on these things when they can't think of anything else. They think, 'How can I create...

WASHINGTON — The CIA has fired an employee for leaking classified information to the news media, including details about secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe, officials said today. A federal criminal investigation has also been opened. CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said an officer had been fired for having unauthorized contacts with the media and disclosing classified information to reporters, including details about intelligence operations. "The officer has acknowledged unauthorized discussions with the media and the unauthorized sharing of classified information," Gimigliano said. "That is a violation of the secrecy agreement that everyone signs as a condition of employment with the...

An Auckland priest has failed in his bid to bring blasphemy charges against CanWest, but the fight is not over yet. Father Denzil Meuli complained to police over the Bloody Mary South Park episode, screened on TV channel C4. The episode caused outrage in the Catholic Church, after it showed the Pope and a menstruating statue of the Virgin Mary. But the Solicitor-General has said no to taking a criminal prosecution against the broadcaster. Father Meuli is taking the rejection well and says there are a couple of other initiatives he is looking at pursuing. But he says apart from...

An appeal from the Catholic Church for New Zealanders to boycott an episode of South Park has resulted in a record audience there for the controversial cartoon. The "Bloody Mary" episode of South Park drew more than six times the normal audience, New Zealand broadcaster TV Works announced Thursday...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (NZ Catholic) – The Catholic Church in New Zealand has described the decision to air the controversial “Bloody Mary” episode of South Park Feb. 22 – 11 weeks ahead of schedule – as “arrogant” and “cynical,” and has urged Catholics opposed to the screening to consider boycotting the station and their advertisers, while a group of concerned Catholics chose to pray during its broadcast. The airing of the episode has been strongly opposed by New Zealand’s Catholic bishops and other religious leaders. Officials from CanWest – which operates the South Park broadcaster C4 – had defiantly stated...

...Though Comedy Central did not include the "Bloody Mary" episode in a special year-end marathon of "South Park" episodes in deference to the Holidays, "Bloody Mary" did in fact air in every one of "South Park's" normally scheduled repeat timeslots... ...Despite misleading claims from those who would like to claim victory, we have not permantly shelved the "Bloody Mary" episode from future airings due to outside pressure nor will we exclude it from future DVD releases...