Sverre Walter Rostoft

Sverre Walter Rostoft was a Norwegian businessperson and politician for the Conservative Party.

He was born on December 12, 1912 in Glemmen as a son of ship captain Georg Walter Andersen (1887–1952) and housewife Marta Walgjerta Hansen. He took commerce school in 1930 and the examen artium in 1935. He studied philology from 1935 to 1937, then worked as a secretary at Nylands Verksted until 1944. In 1947 he graduated with the cand.jur. degree.

He was hired as an office manager in Kristiansands Mekaniske Verksted in 1944. Already in 1945 he became chief executive officer, serving until 1979. He became a board member of the Federation of Norwegian Manufacturing Industries in 1949 and the Federation of Norwegian Industries in 1957. He served as president from 1962 to 1965.

Rostoft chaired the local Rotary club from 1949 to 1950. He was elected to Oddernes municipal council and served from 1951 to 1955. Other public posts in this period include board memberships of Kristiansand Port Authority from 1952 and Vest-Agder Elektrisitetsverk from 1954 (chair).

He was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Vest-Agder in 1953, lost his seat in 1957 but was later re-elected in 1965. Following the 1965 election, however, he was appointed Minister of Industry in the centre-right Borten's Cabinet. He held the position until Borten's Cabinet fell in 1971, and thus his seat in parliament was taken by Kolbjørn Stordrange the entire term (until 1969). Rostoft was also a central board member of the Conservative Party from 1954 to 1970.

He held a wide range of other positions. In education and culture he was a council member of NTNF from 1963 to 1965 and Agder District College and board member of the Norwegian Church Academies. He chaired the companies Oil Industry Services, Norske Folk, UNI Forsikring, Siemens Norge and Christianssands Bryggeri. He was a board member of Kristiansand Jernstøperi (1947–c.1965), Forsikringsselskapet Norrøna (1953–1972), Morgenbladet (1954–), Hunsfos Fabrikker (1961–1971), Norske Shell (1972–1982) and Strømmen Staal. He chaired the supervisory council of Hunsfos Fabrikker (1971–1972), was vice chair in Sagapart (1973–1979) and supervisory council member of Den norske Creditbank (1963–1965), Forsikringsselskapet Viking, Hypotekforeningen for næringslivet, and Storebrand.

He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1965, Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1973 and received the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1987. 

Rostoft died on April 26, 2001. 

Lewis Strauss

Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss was an American businessman, philanthropist, and naval officer who served two terms on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the second as its chairman. He was a major figure in the development of nuclear weapons, the nuclear energy policy of the United States, and nuclear power in the United States.

Strauss was born on January 31, 1896 and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Strauss became an assistant to Herbert Hoover as part of relief efforts during and after World War I. Strauss then worked as an investment banker at Kuhn, Loeb & Co. during the 1920s and 1930s, where he amassed considerable wealth. As a member of the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee and several other Jewish organizations in the 1930s, Strauss made several attempts to change U.S. policy in order to accept more refugees from Nazi Germany but was unsuccessful. During World War II Strauss served as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve and rose to the rank of rear admiral due to his work in the Bureau of Ordnance in managing and rewarding plants engaged in production of munitions.

As a founding commissioner with the AEC during the early years of the Cold War, Strauss emphasized the need to protect U.S. atomic secrets and to monitor and stay ahead of atomic developments within the Soviet Union. As such Strauss was a strong proponent of developing the hydrogen bomb. During his stint as chairman of the AEC, Strauss urged the development of peaceful uses of atomic energy, including making an ill-advised prediction that atomic power would make electricity "too cheap to meter". At the same time he minimized the possible health effects of radioactive fallout such as those experienced by Pacific Islanders following the Castle Bravo thermonuclear test.

Strauss was the driving force in the controversial hearings, held in April 1954 before an AEC Personnel Security Board, in which physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked. As a result, Strauss has often been regarded as a villain in American history. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's nomination of Strauss to become U.S. Secretary of Commerce resulted in a prolonged, nationally visible political battle during 1959 and Strauss was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Strauss died on January 21, 1974.

Evert Endt

Evert Endt was a French designer.

Evert Endt was born in Zaandam, the Netherlands, in 1933. He grew up in Switzerland and studied in Zurich at the Kunstgewerbeschule.

In 1958, Endt started his career in the Compagnie de L'Esthétique Industrielle (CEI) by Raymond Loewy, a design agency based in Paris. He later became the Artistic Director and in 1968 the Director of the CEI, which is responsible for numerous programs of global design such as BP (British Petroleum), Royal Dutch Shell, Coop, and Elna Lotus (Permanent Collection of the Museum of Modern Art New York) and Rivella, Motta.

In 1974, he received French nationality. The following year, he set up Endt+Fulton Partners with American designer James F. Fulton. Since 1992 the agency participated in social programs focused on the environment. He works for various cultural and industrial bodies, under the Ministries of Health, Culture and French Justice.

He created exhibitions for the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie de la Villette. His permanent and temporary thematic exhibitions include "Living in Space", "Energies", and "New Materials".

In 1992, Evert Endt was appointed as director of Ensci/Les Ateliers - Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Creation Industrielle - in Paris. The following year, he became director for the postgraduate program in research and management of new technologies in the Samsung Laboratory for Innovative Design.

Endt died on March 21, 2025, at the age of 91.

Aleksandr Shirvindt

Aleksandr Anatolyevich Shirvindt was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, screenwriter and voice actor. People's Artist of the RSFSR (1989). Since 2000 he has been a theatre director of Moscow Satire Theatre.

Aleksandr Shirvindt was born on July 19, 1934 in Moscow in a family of a violinist and music teacher Anatoly Gustavovich Shirvindt (1896–1962) and Raisa Samoilovna Shirvindt (1898–1985) of Moscow Philharmonic Society. Grandfather, Gustav (Gedaliah) Moiseyevich Shirvindt (a graduate of Vilnius 1st Gymnasium in 1881), was a doctor.

In 1956 Shirvindt graduated from Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute. The same year he made his cinema debut in She Loves You! (1956).

Shirvindt appeared in more than 40 films, including Grandads-Robbers (1971), The Irony of Fate (1975), The Twelve Chairs (1976), Three Men in a Boat (1979), Station for Two (1982), The Irony of Fate 2 (2007). He voiced Aramis in Dog in Boots film.

Shirvindt died on March 15, 2024, at the age of 89.

Books on Pipe Smoking

While in college I developed a fascination with literature and would spend hours reading in our campus library. As an enthusiast of literature I find reading and smoking a pipe very relaxing.  I have in my personal library many great works by some of the most prolific authors but there is something about my books on pipe smoking that has always intrigued me.  Below I have compiled a list of books from my personal library that I have enjoyed reading over and over again. Most of these books are not in print anymore but can be found online at many different used book stores, Amazon, and eBay.

The Ultimate Pipe Book: By Richard Carleton Hacker

Pipe Smoking a 21st Century Guide: By Richard Carleton Hacker

Rare Smoke The Ultimate Guide to Pipe Smoking: By Richard Carleton Hacker

Weber's Guide to Pipes and Pipe Smoking: By Carl Weber

The Perfect Pipe: By H. Paul Jeffers

The Pipe A Functional Work of Art: By Justin Hummerston and Morten Ehrhorn

The Book of Pipes and Tobacco: By Carl Ehwa Jr.

All About Tobacco: By Milton M. Sherman 

The Tobacconist Handbook An Essential Guide to Cigars and Pipes: By Jorge Armenteros

There are still more books that I have on my list to read but have not read yet that may be of interest. 

• The Pipe Book: By Alfred Dunhill
• In Search of Pipe Dreams: By Rick Newcombe
• Still Searching for Pipe Dreams: By Rick Newcombe
• Christian Pipe Smoking An Introduction to Holy Incense: Uri Brito and Joffre Swait
• The Perfect Smoke Gourmet Pipe Smoking for Relaxation and Reflection: By Fred Hanna

If there are any books that you think should be included in this list please don't hesitate to contact me and let me know. 

Elimelekh Rimalt

Rabbi Dr Elimelekh-Shimon Rimalt was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. He served as Minister of Postal Services between December 1969 and August 1970.

Rimalt was born on November 1, 1907 in Bochnia in the Galicia area of Austria-Hungary, Rimalt studied at a heder and yeshiva, as well as a Hebrew high school in Kraków. While living in Poland he was one of the founders of the Akiva Hebrew Youth Organisation. He went on to study at a rabbinical seminary in Vienna, and gained a PhD in philosophy from the University of Vienna, where he was chairman of the Zionist Students Group.

In 1939, he made aliyah to Mandatory Palestine, and worked as headmaster of a school in Ramat Gan. In 1943, he was appointed director of the city's department of education, serving until 1952.

In 1951, he was elected to the Knesset on the General Zionists list, and was also a member of Ramat Gan city council, serving as deputy mayor responsible for education between 1955 and 1959. In 1952 he became chairman of the General Zionist Labour Federation, a role he held until 1965. By that time the General Zionists had merged into the Liberal Party, which had become a faction within the Gahal alliance (later Likud); Rimalt was appointed chairman of the Liberal Party's directorate in 1965, having won re-election to the Knesset in 1955, 1959, 1961 and 1965.

Following the formation of a national unity government after the 1969 elections, Rimalt was appointed Minister of Postal Services. However, he left the cabinet in 1970 when Gahal withdrew from the coalition. The following year he became chairman of the Liberal Party, a role he held until 1975. He chose not to run for re-election in the 1977 elections, having been an MK for just under 26 years.

Rimalt died on November 5, 1987 four days after his 80th birthday. 

Eduard Volodarsky

Eduard Yakovlevich Volodarsky was a Soviet and Russian screenwriter, writer and playwright. He was named Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 1987, awarded the Order of Honour in 2002 and 4th class Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" in 2011 for his contribution to the development of national cinema.

Eduard Volodarsky was born on February 3, 1941 in Kharkov (today's Kharkiv, Ukraine) to a Russian mother and a Jewish father who had recently graduated from a technical university. His mother Maria Yakovlevna Brigova came from peasants of the Oryol Governorate. With the start of the Great Patriotic War they were evacuated to Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR. Eduard never knew his father, Yakov Isaakovich Volodarsky, who was killed at front. His mother served as an NKVD investigator and married an NKVD officer. In 1947 the family moved to Moscow. Eduard didn't get along with the stepfather and spent all free time at streets with hooligans. That's when he met Vladimir Vysotsky, his best friend since.

Volodarsky was baptized at the age of six under the Fyodor name and remained in the Russian Orthodox Church for the rest of his life. He started writing stories and poetry at school. Upon graduation he tried to enter the MSU Faculty of Geology, but failed and joined a geological expedition. He spent some years working as a driller at the Russian North. At one point he sent his stories to the contest organized by the VGIK Screenwriting Faculty and received an invitation. In 1962 he returned to Moscow and passed the entering exams, but was expelled in 1.5 years for a restaurant fight. Volodarsky was later restored and in 1968 finished Yevgeny Gabrilovich's course. He quickly turned into one of the most prolific Soviet screenwriters, often producing 3–5 screenplays per year (over 80 screenplays in total).

In 1971 Aleksei German directed Trial of the Road adapted from Volodarsky's screenplay which was, in turn, based on Yuri German's novel. The story touched a controversial theme of a Nazi collaborator who wanted to join Soviet partisans and was put to the test. The role had been written with Vysotsky in mind, but German rejected him. Despite getting approval from influential people like Konstantin Simonov, it was labelled as "anti-Soviet" by Mikhail Suslov. Described as "deforming the image of the heroic time, of Soviet people who stood up to fight German fascists on the occupied territories", it was banned for 15 years and released only in 1986. The film crew was awarded the USSR State Prize for it in 1988. Same happened to My Friend Ivan Lapshin which was shelved for three years and then awarded the Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR.

In 1974 Nikita Mikhalkov made his directorial debut with At Home Among Strangers, a Red Western about a group of friends – former Red Army soldiers, now Chekists – who investigated a train robbery, resulting in a heist reminiscent of the Great Train Robbery. It was based on the Red Gold novel by Mikhalkov and Volodarsky. Full of symbolism and innovative filming techniques, it quickly turned into a cult classic, bolstering the career of the young director.

Volodarsky also experienced a successful theatre career after rewriting his early unfilmed screenplay into the Our Debts play. Staged by Oleg Yefremov at the Moscow Art Theatre, it drew a full house for 10 years straight and was eventually adapted into a movie. According to Volodarsky, at the time his plays were staged all over the USSR and he earned 4000 rubles monthly, which was five times more than a minister's salary, yet he and Vysotsky spent all money on booze. During late 1980s he began writing historical and biographical novels; some of them were also made into TV series. He was among the few Soviet screenwriters still in great demand after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Eduard Volodarsky died on October 8, 2012 in his Moscow flat aged 71.

Laurence Gilliam

Laurence Duval Gilliam was a BBC radio producer.

Gilliam worked with the Gramophone Company, before transferred to the BBC drama department in 1933, where he was responsible for features. At the end of World War II he was appointed OBE for his outstanding programs.

Laurence Duval Gilliam was born on March 4, 1907 in Fulham, London, the younger son of Ernest William Gilliam (d. 1943), a businessman, and his wife, Beatrice Bishop (d. 1946). He was educated at the City of London School (1918–25) and Peterhouse, Cambridge (1925–28).

Laurence Gilliam worked first with the Gramophone Company in various capacities, and later as a freelance journalist, actor, and producer, before joining the editorial staff of the Radio Times in 1932.

Gilliam transferred to the BBC drama department in 1933, where he worked on the development of special feature programmes which wove sound, words, and music together to create an aural picture. From 1933 until the end of his life he was responsible for the world-wide Christmas Day programmes that preceded the monarch's address. These programmes were the BBC's technically most complicated assignment, linking the Commonwealth outposts with Broadcasting House in London via elaborate world-wide link-ups. Another notable example of Gilliam's early technical ambition was ′Opping 'Oliday—a "sound picture" of hop picking in Kent—which he produced in 1934 using the newly established mobile recording van. Val Gielgud, head of drama, transferred responsibility for features to Gilliam in May 1936, though features really came into their own during the Second World War.[2]

In 1940 Gilliam married Marianne Helweg (1914–1976), a Dane whose father, Jacob Helweg, had immigrated to Britain in the 1920s to take up a lecturing position at the University of London. The couple met at the BBC, where Marianne had been a plays reader. She and Laurence had three sons and one daughter. They lived in Highgate, Middlesex, until the marriage was dissolved in 1952, when Marianne moved in with the Northern Irish poet Bertie (W. R.) Rodgers, who worked for Gilliam.

Gilliam saw the possibilities for the medium of radio to reflect the reality of war. In his major topical series The Shadow of the Swastika, which documented the rise of Nazism, Gilliam demonstrated the power of the factual documentary for propaganda purposes and offered the first challenging piece of work from the BBC since the outbreak of war. Gilliam had a natural sympathy for the journalistic approach to broadcasting, and his war work reflected these instincts. As one of the two editors (with Donald Boyd) of War Report, he helped to create a revolutionary technique on which all news reporting has since been based, taking the microphone to the fighting line to report back to the people at home nightly, in record time. In recognition of this outstanding war record, features became a separate department at the end of the war in 1945, with Laurence Gilliam as its head, and Gilliam himself was appointed OBE.

Throughout the post-war period—the ‘golden age of radio’—Gilliam did more than anyone in the BBC to recruit and encourage poets and writers to contribute work for the BBC features department. He showed a gift for leadership which inspired devoted loyalty in a group of the most talented writers and producers in radio history, including Louis MacNeice, Douglas Cleverdon, Leonard Cottrell, Jennifer Wayne, Christopher Sykes, W. R. Rodgers, Francis Dillon, Nesta Pain, Wynford Vaughan Thomas, Alan Burgess, and D. G. Bridson.

He maintained strongly that the feature was the one unique form that radio had achieved in its short history; and it was largely due to him that features came to stand for so much that was vital, contemporary, experimental, and above all ‘pure radio’. In his book BBC Features, edited by Gilliam, published by Evans Brothers in 1950, Gilliam described a Feature Programme as "in broadcasting, the term has come to signify a wide range of programme items, usually factual and documentary, presented by a variety of techniques, but mostly making use of edited actuality. The essential quality of the feature programme is that it should be the expression of one mind, whatever technique it uses."

Laurence Gilliam died of cancer of the kidneys on November 15, 1964 in St Andrew's Hospital, Dollis Hill, Middlesex.

W. R. Rodgers

William Robert Rodgers a poet, but was also a prose essayist, a book reviewer, a radio broadcaster and script writer, a lecturer and, latterly, a teacher, and a former Presbyterian minister.

Rodgers was born in Belfast and grew up in Mountpottinger. He showed a talent for writing and went on to read English at Queen's University Belfast where he won a number of prizes for literary essays, graduating in 1931. On completion of his degree, he entered Presbyterian Theological College and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1935. He was first appointed to Loughgall Presbyterian Church, Loughgall, County Armagh, where he was minister for 12 years. In 1936 he married Marie Harden Waddell, a medical doctor who set up practice in the village. Awake! and Other Poems (1941) was given glowing reviews in Britain and America, although the first edition was almost totally lost when the publisher's warehouse was destroyed in the London Blitz. His wife became ill  and left Loughgall temporarily in 1943. He returned to Loughgall after a year but resigned from his ministry in 1946 to take up post at the BBC in London as a scriptwriter for the newly established BBC Third Programme after being approached by Louis MacNeice and offered a post. He involved himself in the Regionalist movement among Ulster writers in the 1940s and 1950s and contributed to a number journals which were used as a vehicle for the regionalist movement such as Lagan, The Bell and Rann. 

Rodgers stayed at the BBC as a full-time producer and scriptwriter until 1953. He produced a highly innovative series of radio broadcasts on Irish literary figures: Irish literary portraits. He was elected a life member of the Irish Academy of Letters in 1951 to fill the vacancy due to the death of George Bernard Shaw and was a member of the Literature and Poetry Panel of the Arts Council of Great Britain and a board member of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. His wife died in 1953, following a period of illness. In the same year he married Marianne Gilliam (née Helweg), the ex-wife of his immediate boss in the BBC, Lawrence Gilliam. They lived in England until 1966 when Rodgers secured a post as writer in residence at Pitzer College in Claremont, California and later a lecturing post at California State Polytechnic University. In 1968 he was awarded a life annuity of £100 by the Arts Council of Ireland as an acknowledgement of his distinction in letters and of the honor which his literary work had reflected on Ireland.

 He died in 1969 in Los Angeles and was buried at Loughgall, County Armagh.