Cazwell

Cazwell born 27 June 1972

Cazwell is an American rapper, from Worcester, Massachusetts.

A former member of the duo Morplay, he is best known for his explicit lyrics and his association with trans-superstar Amanda Lepore. His work focuses on gay and bisexual situations, and his music is heavily played on LOGO, an American television station that targets the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, though some of his music has been considered too explicit for this channel. His music and videos are rude, sexy and witty, with a kind of queer 80s take on hip-hip and electro.

He released an album in 2006, named Get Into It, with the lead single All Over Your Face, which was banned from LOGO due to the sexual imagery portrayed in the video and explicit lyrics.

Cazwell is known for hosting and spinning at parties, often at BoysRoom in New York City.

During the summer of 2007 Cazwell was a part of the multi-artist LOGO-sponsored True Colors Tour, which travelled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada. Hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper, the tour also included Debbie Harry, The Gossip, Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, Rosie O'Donnell, Indigo Girls, The Cliks, and other special guests. Profits from the tour helped to benefit the Human Rights Campaign as well as PFLAG and The Matthew Shepard Foundation.

One aspect sets Cazwell apart from many of his peers: his sexuality and his openness about it. 'I want to make gay people cool again. Yeah, we have Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, but not all gay men want to makeover your house. Growing up gay, you have to think outside the box your whole life. I want to show what the gay mind can do for hip-hop, for electronic music, and how interesting that take can be.'

Cazwell - Official Website
Cazwell MySpace

Gustaf V of Sweden

King Gustaf V born 16 June 1858 (d. 1950)

Gustaf V (Oscar Gustaf Adolf) was King of Sweden from 1907 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway and Sophia of Nassau.

Gustaf V was born in Drottningholm Palace and at birth was created Duke of Värmland. On December 8, 1907 he succeeded his father on the Swedish throne, which had been separated from the Norwegian throne two years earlier.

Gustaf V was the last Swedish king to intervene directly in the politics of the country, in 1914 on the disputes over defence budgets. He was a conservative man, who did not approve of the democratic movement and the demands for workers' rights. Gustaf V was also the last Swedish king to be Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish Armed Forces (between 1907 and 1939).

Gustaf V was considered to have German sympathies during World War I. His political stance during WWI was highly influenced by his domineering wife, who felt a strong connection to her German homeland. On the 18th December 1914 he sponsored a meeting with the other two kings of Scandinavia to demonstrate unity within and between the Scandinavian countries. Another of Gustaf V's objectives with this, three-king conference was to dispell suspicions that he wanted to bring Sweden into the war on Germany´s side.

Both the king and his grandson Prince Gustaf Adolf, had socialised with certain Nazis leaders before World War II, though arguably for diplomatic purposes. Gustaf V attempted to convince Hitler during a visit to Berlin to soften his persecution of the Jews, according to historian Jörgen Weibull. He was also noted for appealing to the leader of Hungary to save its Jews "in the name of humanity." At the behest of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gustaf V appealed to Hitler for peace negotiations in 1938, "in the interest of peace".

Gustaf V was also a devoted tennis player, appearing under the pseudonym Mr G. As a player and promotor of the sport, Gustaf was elected in to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980. Gustaf learned the sport during a visit in Britain in 1876 and founded Sweden's first tennis club on his return home. In 1936 he founded the King's Club. During his reign, Gustaf was often seen playing on the Riviera. During a visit in Berlin, Gustaf went straight from a meeting with Hitler to a tennis match with the Jewish player Daniel Prenn.

All very interesting but what is he doing here? The answer to that is the Haijby Affair...

The Haijby affair was a political scandal in Sweden in the 1950s, involving the conviction and imprisonment of Kurt Haijby, a petty criminal who had been blackmailing the royal court.

Haijby was born in 1897 as Kurt Johansson. In 1912 he and another boy scout were granted an audience with King Gustaf V. When Johansson grew older he lived a life in crime and was convicted several times for theft and fraud. While trying to escape prison he shot a police officer dead. After being released he changed his name and tried to open a restaurant. As he was a convicted criminal he could not get a licence to sell liquor. He then applied to the king and was granted a second audience in 1932 to put forward his case. This did not help. Instead Haijby started blackmailing the royal court, claiming that he had been seduced by the king in 1912 and that they had resumed a sexual relationship in 1932.

Haijby claimed that he had been a lover of the king in the years between 1936 and 1947. The court paid Haijby 170.000 Swedish kronor for his silence. However, in 1938 Haijby was arrested for pedophilia and put in custody at the asylum of Beckomberga. The royal court then approached him and offered 400 kronor a month if he left the country and kept quiet about his accusations. Haijby accepted the deal.

Breaching the agreement, Haijby returned to Sweden in 1940 and in 1947 published a roman à clef. The entire first printing was then bought by the court and destroyed. But the cover-up effort proved to be in vain. The novel was reprinted and distributed twice, in 1952 and 1979.

Haijby was pronounced insane and sent to an asylum.

In the meantime, another scandal, the Kejne affair, had broken in the press where Vilhelm Moberg was busy writing lengthy articles about homosexual conspiracies among the Swedish officials.

Haijby reported his forced detention in the asylum at Beckomberga to the Attorney General of Sweden. These papers were smuggled out of the Attorney General's office by Vilhelm Moberg, and the whole affair thus came to public attention. The actions of officials to suppress the claims caused acrimonious debate in parliament and the media. As a consequence, the court was forced to charge Haijby for acts of blackmail.

In 1952 Haijby was sentenced to eight years hard labour for blackmail, which in 1953 was lowered to six years by a court of appeals. Haijby committed suicide in 1965.

Haijby had reported the treatment he had received to the Swedish Chancellor of Justice. The results of the investigations, the bulk of which were classified until 1981, acquitted to Royalty. It did state that it was not impossible for the incident to have taken place, but that it could not have occurred in the way described by Haijby — at none of the two audiences was Haijby ever alone with the king, and the other boy scout stated that nothing strange happened at the audience in 1912.

However, the fact that the Swedish court was prepared to pay Haijby such large sums to suppress his accusations has by some been taken as evidence that they were either fundamentally true, or if not, that they were suppressed so as not to expose rumours of Gustaf V's homosexuality.

Paul O'Grady

Paul O'Grady born 14 June 1955

Paul James O'Grady, MBE, is an English comedian and television personality. He is the creator of comic drag character Lily Savage, and is noted for his strong Scouse accent.

Born in Birkenhead, Wirral Peninsula, O'Grady was brought up in an Irish Catholic household in Tranmere, Merseyside. He attended Blessed Edward Campion School, Birkenhead. When he was 19, he worked as a clerk in a magistrate's court and met a woman ten years his senior, with whom he had a daughter, Sharyn. Three years after his daughter was born, Paul wed a Portuguese lesbian waitress called Teresa Fernandes in a marriage of convenience.

His jobs have included civil servant, barman for Yates Wine Lodge, office work in an abattoir and a woodsman. He has also worked in a children's home in Kirkby and spent some years as a peripatetic care officer for Camden council. In 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2006 he was listed in The Guardian as one of the most powerful men in media.

In 1977, Paul went to Manila where he worked as a waiter in Gussy's Bar (also a brothel). It was here he got the idea for Lily Savage, his now famous drag alter-ego. He returned to London in the early 1980s and subsequently achieved fame with his creation of Lily, initially playing to gay clubs and pubs up and down the country. Lily was best known at the time for her eight year residency at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London He was in numerous double and treble acts such as 'High Society' with Adrella, 'L.S.D.' with David Dale and Sandra Hush, The Playgirls, again with Hunter and The Glamazons with Paul Banks. He toured Europe with some of these acts, appearing at and various night clubs and theatres in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Holland, France and Israel.

After appearing at The Edinburgh Festival, for which he was nominated for a Perrier Award, he became more mainstream. Lily first became popular on television, making appearances on ITV daytime programme This Morning, and as the 'On the Bed Presenter' on The Big Breakfast. Lily was given several shows, by both BBC and ITV. For a few years Lily hosted the game show Blankety Blank for the BBC and later for ITV, as well as her own comedy show Lily Live! with ITV in 2000. Lily Savage also co-hosted the 1996 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party with Ant & Dec.

As well as numerous national tours, O'Grady has appeared on stage in Prisoner Cell Block H - The Musical, the musical Annie as Miss Hannigan, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as the Childcatcher and in the panto Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as the Wicked Queen. He has been quoted as saying 'I seem to be making a living frightening children'.

In 2000 he appeared in a travelogue show as himself, entitled Paul O'Grady's Orient, which was followed in 2001 by Paul O'Grady's America. These were amongst his first major television appearances out of drag. From 2002 onwards, he appeared less as Lily and more often as himself. In 2002 he presented Outtake TV, a bloopers show, and in 2003 starred as the lead character in the BBC sitcom Eyes Down for two series, as the vicious yet hilarious manager of a northern Bingo hall. He also appeared in Celebrity Driving School for the BBC.

Since then, he has had success as the presenter of his own early evening talk show, The Paul O'Grady Show, on ITV. He won the position after he stood in for Des O'Connor on the now defunct lunchtime chat show Today with Des and Mel. The Paul O'Grady Show somewhat controversially ran head to head with Richard and Judy, who are close friends of Paul, and gave him one of his first TV breaks on This Morning, on rival station Channel 4. He has guested on LivingTV's paranormal show, Most Haunted Live, after presenter Yvette Fielding was a guest on his show and invited him on. He holds many awards, and in December 2005 he won the Best TV Comedy Entertainment Personality category of the British Comedy Awards. In 2004, he won a BAFTA and is also the recipient of two Royal Television Awards and three National Television Awards.

On 10 January 2006, in a shock decision, O'Grady decided to defect from ITV and take his daytime chat show ( The New Paul O'Grady Show) to Channel 4 after the production company, Granada, apparently 'forgot' to renew his contract. It was said that he had wanted to produce the series with his own company and had wanted to from the start but Granada always refused.

O'Grady is openly gay. He is now very close to his daughter, who has married and produced O'Grady's first grandchild, a boy - Abel. His long term lover and business partner of 20 years was Irishman Brendan Murphy, who died of cancer on 9th June 2005, five days before Paul's fiftieth birthday. After the first show of series three of The Paul O'Grady Show there was a tribute to him.

O'Grady owns a 200-acre farm near Ashford, Kent. The farm is stocked with 28 animals, including a flock of geese which O'Grady refers to as the 'Geese-stapo'. O'Grady has a grey Shih Tzu dog called Buster, who usually appears on his TV show with him, or occasionally will be replaced by Paul's other dog, Olga. He also has another dog called Louie, who only appeared a few times in the first ITV series, before he adopted Olga live on air. O'Grady is a frequent traveller on the Orient Express, likes to dress well and has numerous hobbies.

In April 2002, O'Grady suffered a heart attack after weeks of complaining that he felt unwell. After an emergency operation and weeks of rest, Paul's health recovered and he gave up smoking for two years.

O'Grady went back to his 40-a-day habit after his boyfriend and business partner Brendan Murphy died in 2005. He had continued to work on the show at the same time as nursing his beloved partner. As a result, he suffered a second heart attack in June 2006. Again he was taken into intensive care. He was then given an angioplasty operation, before being moved to a cardiac unit. He again promised to give up smoking.

He has reportedly turned down an offer to return to ITV to replace Parkinson and has signed a long-term contract with Channel 4 to his continue teatime show.

Paul O'Grady was awarded the MBE in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours, announced on his birthday. "I'm the last person, I'd have thought, who would be given an MBE," he said. "What have I done to deserve it?"

Spencer Livermore

Spencer Livermore born 12 June 1975

Spencer Livermore used to work for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, as Director of Political Strategy. He has since left Number 10, the first senior figure to do so since Gordon Brown became the Prime Minister, heading for the world of advertising before joining Blue Rubicon as Head of Planning and Strategy

Livermore grew up in Wickford, Essex, attending Beauchamps Comprehensive School and Basildon College, before reading Government at the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 1996.

After graduating, Livermore worked for the Labour Party's Economic Secretariat during the 1997 General Election campaign in which the Labour Party under the leadership of Tony Blair returned to power following 18 years in opposition to the Conservative Party.

After the campaign he progressed quickly, and in 1998 was appointed a Special Adviser in the Treasury, working as a key political aide to Gordon Brown, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the run-up to the 2001 General Election, at the request of the Chancellor, who was Chair of Strategy for the election campaign, Livermore left the Treasury to work alongside the General Election co-ordinator Douglas Alexander, Member of Parliament, at the Labour Party’s Millbank Tower headquarters as Head of Attack.

When he returned to the Treasury after the 2001 General Election, Livermore was appointed as Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. After the 2005 General Election he was appointed as the most senior Adviser to the Chancellor as Chief Political and Strategy Adviser.

Following Tony Blair’s resignation as Prime Minister on June 27, 2007, Gordon Brown, as the new Leader of the Labour Party, became Prime Minister. Gordon Brown appointed Livermore to 10 Downing Street as Director of Political Strategy, attending Cabinet meetings and becoming a key figure in the Prime Minister’s strategy for the next General Election.

In May 2007 Livermore was listed as the seventh most powerful gay man in Britain. In November 2007 Gay Times described him as the most powerful gay man in Britain and PinkNews.co.uk echoed the same view in December 2007

He lives with his partner, Seb Dance, who is also a government special adviser - to Northern Ireland Secretary, Shaun Woodward, in London.