Charlie Chaplin

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England, on April 16th 1889. His father was a versatile vocalist and actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an attractive actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field.




Beginning of his career

                     When he was about fourteen, he got his first chance to act in a legitimate stage show, and appeared as "Billy" the page boy, in support of William Gillette in "Sherlock Holmes". At the close of this engagement, Charlie started a career as a comedian in vaudeville, which eventually took him to the United States in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company.

He scored an immediate hit with American audiences, particularly with his characterization in a sketch entitled "A Night in an English Music Hall". When the Fred Karno troupe returned to the United States in the fall of 1912 for a repeat tour, Chaplin was offered a motion picture contract.

He finally agreed to appear before the cameras at the expiration of his vaudeville commitments in November 1913; and his entrance in the cinema world took place that month when he joined Mack Sennett and the Keystone Film Company. His initial salary was $150 a week, but his overnight success on the screen spurred other producers to start negotiations for his services.

At the completion of his Sennett contract, Chaplin moved on to the Essanay Company (1915) at a large increase. Sydney Chaplin had then arrived from England, and took his brother’s place with Keystone as their leading comedian.

• When his contract with Mutual expired in 1917, Chaplin decided to become an independent producer in a desire for more freedom and greater leisure in making his movies.
• Early in 1918, Chaplin entered into an agreement with First National Exhibitors’ Circuit,
• His first film under this new deal was "A Dog’s Life"
• This he followed with "Sunnyside" and "A Day’s Pleasure", both released in 1919.
• In April of that year, Chaplin joined with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to found the United Artists Corporation
• "Smile", "Eternally", "You are My Song", as well as the soundtracks for all his filmsCharles Chaplin was one of the rare comedians who not only financed and produced all his films (with the exception of "A Countess from Hong Kong"), but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well

He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his short marriage to Lita Grey.

Source: http://www.charliechaplin.com/biography/articles/21-Overview-of-His-Life

A.R.Rahman

Allah Rakha Rahman was born A.S. Dileep Kumar on January 6, 1966, in Chennai,India, to a musically affluent family. Dileep started learning the piano at the age of 4, and at the age of 9, his father passed away. Since the pressure of supporting his family fell on him, he joined Ilayaraja's troupe as a keyboard player at the age of 11. He dropped out of school as a result of this and traveled all around the world with various orchestras.

He accompanied the great tabla maestro Zakir Hussain on a few world tours and also won a scholarship at the Trinity College of Music at Oxford University, where he studied Western classical music and obtained a degree in music. Due to some personal crisis, Dileep Kumar embraced Islam and came to be known as A.R. Rahman. In 1987, he moved to advertising, where he composed more than 300 jingles over 5 years. In 1989, he started a small studio called Panchathan Record Inn, which later developed into one of the most well-equipped and advanced sound recording studios in India.

At an advertising awards function, Rahman met one of India's most famous directors, Mani Ratnam. Rahman played him a few of his music samples. Mani loved them so much that he asked Rahman to compose the music for his next film, Roja (1992). The rest, as they say, is history. He went on to compose several great hits for Tamil-language films before composing the score and songs for his first Hindi-language film, Rangeela (1995). The enormous success of his first Hindi venture was followed by the chart-topping soundtrack albums of films such as Bumbai (1995) , Dil Se.. (1998), Taal (1999), Zubeidaa (2001), and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), which was nominated for best foreign-language film at the 2002 Academy Awards.

The honorary awards received by him are listed as follows.

1995 - Kalaimamani Award, Maurititous National Award, Malaysian Award.
2000 - Padmashri Award.
2004 - National Lata Mangeshkar Award
2005 - Mahavir-Mahatma Award
2006 - Swaralaya Yesudas Award , Honorary Award from Stanford University.
2008 - Rotary Club of Madras LifeTime Acheivement Award.
2009 - Honorary Doctorate from Anna University, Aligarh University and Middlesex University.
2010 - Padma Bhushan.

International Awards Received by him are listed as follows.

Academy Awards (Oscars) (United States)
Golden Globe Awards (United States)
British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) (United Kingdom)
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (United States)
Black Reel AwardsLos Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (United States)
New York Film Critics Online Awards (United States)
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards (United States)
Satellite Awards (United States)

Sachin the Master !

ODI

• Highlights of Tendulkar's ODI career include:
  
  
  Game appearances:
• Matches Played: 451 ( Most )
• Consecutive ODI Appearances: 185
• Most Stadium Appearances: 90 different Grounds
• Inning appearances: 431 ( Most ). First to appear in 400 innings in ODI matches.
• On his debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the second youngest debutant. Only Aaqib Javed debuted in ODI matches younger than Sachin Tendulkar. Since then, there has been 4 players who were younger than Sachin on their ODI debut: Hasan Raza (Pakistan) - the current youngest debutant, Mohammad Sharif (Bangladesh), Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) and Ramveer Rai (UAE)

Runs scored:

• Most runs in an ODI Innings: Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for maximum number of runs scored in one ODI innings. He is the only batsman to score 200 runs (147ball 25x4 3x6) in an ODI against South Africa.
• Most runs: 18111 Runs at the rate of 45.15 runs for every time he has gotten out (as of 05 October 2010). He is the leading run scorer in the ODI format of the game and the only player ever to cross the 14,000-15,000-16,000,17000 and 18,000 run marks.
• First player to reach 10,000-11,000-12,000-13,000-14,000-15,000, 16,000,17000 and 18,000 ODI runs.
• Holds the record for scoring 1,000 ODI runs in a calendar year. He has done it seven times - 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2007
• Tendulkar has scored over 1000 ODI runs against all major Cricketing nations.
• Tendulkar is the only batsman to score over 3000 runs against any opponent (Australia). Tendulkar is also the only batsman to achieve the feat runs against two opponents - Sri Lanka is the other team.
• After Sachin crossed the 10,000-run mark in ODIs, only seven other players have managed to cross the milestone: (Sanath Jayasuriya, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Inzamam ul Haq, and Jacques Kallis). Sachin was the fastest to reach 10,000 runs taking 259 innings and has the highest batting average among batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs
• Tendulkar has scored 1833 runs in finals; Tendulkar also ranks very high in terms of all-time averages in finals: among those who've scored at least 1000 runs in finals, only three have a higher average. One of them is India's current coach, Gary Kirsten - in 20 innings, he scored 1019 runs at an excellent average of 69.73. Tendulkar's stats are very similar to those of Viv Richards, who averaged 55.73 at a strike rate of 84.78 in 17 finals.
• Tendulkar holds the record for the highest individual score in a one day international when he scored 200 not out breaking the previous record of 194 in the India v. South Africa ODI on 24 February 2010. This also saw him become the first male cricketer in the planet to score a double century in a One Day International. Earlier Belinda Clark has scored 229* in women cricket.
• Tendulkar holds the record for the most fours ( boundaries ) in an innings. He hit 25 fours in the innings against South Africa on on 24 February 2010 when he scored double century.
• Only player to score 5, 150+ (186*, 152, 163*, 175 and 200*)scores in ODI cricket, followed by Sanath Jayasuriya of Srilanka with 4, 150+ scores in ODI
  
  
  Centuries and Fifties record:
• Most centuries: 49
• Only cricketer to ever score a double hundred in the ODI format - against South Africa at Gwalior, India.
• Most centuries against an opponent - 9 vs. Australia.
• Most centuries vs. Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Pakistan.
• Most centuries in Final Matches 6 & India Win All Matches
• Most centuries against One Team - Australia 20 (11 test+9 ODI)
• Most Fifties: 95.
• Highest number of 50+ scores in ODIs - 143 (48 Centuries and 95 Fifties).
• Only player to have over 100 innings of 50+ runs along with Ricky Ponting
• Most Fifties in World Cup Matches(21)
  
  
  ODI awards:
• Most Man of the Match Awards: 62 Man of the Match Awards
• Most Man of the Series Awards: 15 Man of the Series Awards
  
  
  Calendar Year record:
• Most ODI runs in a calendar year: 1,894 ODI runs in 1998.
• Most Centuries in a calendar year: 9 ODI centuries in 1998
  
  
  Partnership Records:
• Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly hold the world record for the maximum number of runs scored by the opening partnership. They have put together 6,609 runs in 136 matches that includes 21 century partnerships and 23 fifty run partnerships. The 20 century partnerships for opening pair is also a world record.
• Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid hold the world record for the highest partnership in ODI matches when they scored 331 runs against New Zealand in 1999 at the LBS, Hyderabad.
• Sachin Tendulkar has been involved in six 200 run partnerships in ODI matches - a record that he shares with Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.
• Most runs (2278 at an average of 56.95 as on 03 April 2011) in World Cup Cricket History including 6 centuries & 15 fifties with a best score of 152* against Namibia in 2003 world cup
• 673 runs in 2003 Cricket World Cup, highest by any player in a single Cricket World Cup
• Player Of The World Cup Tournament in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
• 523 runs in the 1996 Cricket World Cup at an average of 87.16, making him the highest run scorer in the 1996 World Cup and setting the then record for the highest runs by any player in a single Cricket World Cup - subsequently bettered by himself in the 2003 World Cup.

World Cup Records

• Most Runs. (2273 Runs)
• Most Fifties. (15 Fifties)
• Most Hundreds. (6 Hundreds)
• Most runs in a series. (673 runs in 2003 World Cup)
• Highest Partnership runs for 3rd wicket. (237 Runs with Rahul Dravid).

Game Appearances:

Test

• Tendulkar has played the most number of Test Matches (177).
• On his Test debut, Sachin Tendulkar was the third youngest debutant (16y 205d). Mushtaq Mohammad (15y 124d) and Aaqib Javed (16y 189d) debuted in Test matches younger to Tendulkar. Since then, there have been 2 players who were younger than Sachin on their Test Cricket debut: Hasan Raza - Pakistan (14y 227d), the current youngest debutant, and Mohammad Sharif - Bangladesh (15y 128d).
• 
  
  Runs Scored:
• Highest run scorer in the history of Test cricket with 14692 Test runs.
• Career Average (1989–2010, 171 Tests, 14,692 runs) at 56.94
• Became the first Indian to surpass the 11,000 Test run mark and the third International player behind Allan Border and Brian Lara. Lara took 213 innings, Sachin 223 and Border 259.
• Second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar to make over 10,000 runs in Test matches.
• Tendulkar and Brian Lara are the fastest to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket history. Both of them achieved this in 195 innings.
• Sachin Tendulkar (8145) world record of runs scored in Tests away from home.
• Sachin Tendulkar (29) world record of Centuries in Tests away from home.
• First player to reach 12,000-13,000-14,000 Test runs.
• Holds the record for scoring most 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year. He has done it Six times - 2010 (1562), 2008 (1063), 2002 (1392 runs), 1999 (1088 runs), 2001 (1003 runs) and 1997 (1000 runs).
  
  
  Centuries:
  Highest number of Test centuries(51), overtaking Sunil Gavaskar's record (34). On October 10, 2010 in Bengaluru (Bangalore) against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar trophy's second and final test match Sachin Tendulkar reached a milestone. With a single to third man, Tendulkar reached his 6th double century and his 49th test century.
• Highest number of 150+ score in Test Cricket (20)
• When Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990, he was the second youngest to score a century. Only Mushtaq Mohammad had scored a century at a younger age by 1990. Tendulkar's record was bettered by Mohammad Ashraful in 2001/02 season. The record for previous youngest Indian centurion was held by Kapil Dev.
• Tendulkar's record of five centuries before he turned 20 is a current world record.
• Tendulkar holds the current record (217 against NZ in 1999/00 Season) for the highest score in Test cricket by an Indian when captaining the side. Gavaskar held the previous record (205 against West Indies in Bombay - 1978/79 season)
• Tendulkar has scored centuries against all Test playing nations. He was the third batman to achieve the distinction after Steve Waugh and Gary Kirsten. The current list also includes Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Adam Gilchrist and Marvan Atapattu.
• Tendulkar's 37th century against Bangladesh during the 2nd Test , made history as the 1st time the top four batsmen of any team had all scored centuries in a single innings. Dinesh Karthik (129), Wasim Jaffer (138) and Rahul Dravid (129) were the other centurions in the innings.

Combined (ODI & Test) records

• First batsman in history to score over 90 centuries in international cricket. He now has 99 Centuries(51 in Tests and 48 in ODIs), which is still the record for the highest number of centuries in international cricket.
• First batsman in history to complete the 32000 runs in (ODIs+Tests). He now has 32813 (ODI(18111)+Test(14692)).
• Record of getting out the maximum number of times in the 90s in international matches. He has been dismissed 26 times (18 in ODIs and 8 in Tests) on scores of 90-99. The 18 nineties in ODIs are an ODI record too.

Source : http://sachintendulkar.cricket-records.com/links/Records.htm