On 3 March 1887 Anne arrived at the house in Tuscumbia and for the first time met Helen Keller. Anne immediately started teaching Helen to finger spell. Spelling out the word “Doll” to signify a present she had brought with her for Helen. Although Helen could repeat these finger movements she could not quite understand what they meant. Through all the time Anne tried to help Helen, she also needed to control her out of her bad behaviour.
Over the coming weeks, however, Helen’s behavior did begin to improve as a bond grew between the two. Then, after a month of Anne’s teaching, what the people of the time called a “miracle” occurred. Helen had until now not yet fully understood the meaning of words. When Anne led her to the water pump on 5 April 1887, all that was about to change, As Anne pumped the water over Helen’s hand, Anne spelled out the word water in the girl’s free hand. Something about this explained the meaning of words within. Helen and Anne could immediately see in her face that she finally understood.
Helen and Anne filled the following years with lecture tours, speaking of her experiences and beliefs to enthralled crowds. Her talks were interpreted sentence by sentence by Anne Sullivan, and were followed by question and answer sessions. “Helen Keller has conquered again, and the Monday afternoon audience at the Palace, one of the most critical and cynical in the World, was hers.”
Pelé:
Talking of football legends there is one that will always be remembered: Edson Arantes do Nascimento better known as Pelé, The greatest football legend ever.
He dominated this great game for 2 decades by scoring an average of one goal in every international game he played. Between 1956 and 1974, Pelé scored a total of 1,220 goals.
While he played, Brazil won the World Cup 3 times in 12 years, which is 3 consecutive years. He scored five goals in a game six times, four goals 30 times and three goals 90 times. He was born in the town of Tres Coracoas. He was nicknamed by his family Dico, his football friends called him Pelé, a word whose origins escape him. Dico shined shoes until he was discovered at the age of 11 by one of the countries premier players. Waldemar De Brito. De Brito brought him to Sao Paulo and declared to the directors of the professional team in Santos “this boy will be the greatest football player in the world”. He quickly became a legend. As The Times of London later said, "How do you spell Pelé? G-O-D." He has even been known to stop war: both sides in Nigeria's civil war called a 48-hour cease-fire in 1967 so Pelé could play an exhibition match in the capital of Lagos.
Abraham Lincoln:
Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809 in Kentucky. He was one of three children born to Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and was named after his paternal grandfather. Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation which separated from another church due to opposition to slavery. When Abraham turned 7, he moved to southern Indiana with his family. Abraham went to school briefly in Kentucky and did so again in Indiana. He attended the schools with his older sister, Sarah (his younger brother, Thomas, died in infancy). In 1818 his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, died from milk sickness, a disease obtained from drinking the milk of cows which grazed on poisonous white snakeroot. His father Thomas Lincoln remarried the next year. Abraham loved his new stepmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln. She brought 3 children of her own into the household. Abraham loved to learn more than working the fields, which upset his father. He was constantly borrowing books from neighbours. In 1828, Abraham's older sister, who married Aaron Grigsby in 1826, died during childbirth. He made an unsuccessful run for the Illinois legislature in 1832. He decided to run again in 1834, 1836, 1838, and 1840, and managed to win all 4 times. Additionally, he studied law in his spare time and became a lawyer in 1836. In 1839 Lincoln met Mary Todd in Springfield. Three years later they got married and had 4 children over the next 11 years. Lincoln became a successful attorney, and the family bought a home at the corner of Eighth and Jackson in 1844. In 1846 Lincoln ran for the United States House of Representatives and won. While in Washington Lincoln became known for his opposition to the Mexican War and to slavery. He returned home after his term and resumed his law practice more seriously than ever before. Early in 1851 Lincoln's father died. Lincoln's declining interest in politics was renewed by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. He made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate but received some support for the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination in 1856. Although William Seward was the pre-convention favorite for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1860, Lincoln won on the 3rd ballot. With Hannibal Hamlin as his running mate, Lincoln was elected the 16th President on November 6, 1860, defeating Douglas, John Bell, and John C. Breckinridge. In February, 1861 the Lincoln family left for Washington D.C., The President-elect was now wearing a beard at the suggestion of an 11 year old girl. Lincoln was sworn in on March 4. Following Lincoln’s election a selection of southern states seceded fearing governmental control. This lead to the start of the civil war. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. This was Lincoln's declaration of freedom for all slaves in the areas of the Confederacy not under Union control. On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, the Lincoln family attended a play titled “Our American Cousin” at Ford's Theatre. During the performance John Wilks Booth arrived at the theatre, entered the State Box from the rear, and shot the President in the back of his head at roughly 10:15 P.M. Lincoln was carried across the street to the Petersen House where he passed away the next day at 7:22 A.M. This was the first Presidential assassination in the whole of American history, and the nation deeply mourned its leader. Lincoln's body was taken to Springfield, and he was buried in the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery on May 4, 1865. Because of his assassination, Reconstruction took place without Lincoln's guidance and leadership.
Al Pacino
Alfredo Pacino, better known as Al Pacino, the greatest actor of all time. He was born on 25, April 1940 an only child to Salvatore and Rose Pacino, who divorced when Al was 2 years old. He went to the Prestigious High School of the Performing Arts, known for its immortalization in the musical “Fame”, and finally dropped out at 17, after failing everything besides English. He drifted through a variety of odd jobs but saved his money and eventually had enough to enroll at the Herbert Berghof Studio. There he trained under legendary acting genius Charles Laughton. Pacino's mother died a premature death in 1962. He was terribly hurt by this and buried his sorrow in hard work to improve his acting skills. Sometimes hard work pays off, and in this case, it did. Al Pacino established himself during one of film's greatest decades, the 70s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of movies. Pacino landed a spot in the prestigious Actors Studio in 1966. His work earned him the Off-Broadway community's Obie for Best Actor for the '67-'68 season.1969 was the breakthrough year for Al Pacino, he finally appeared on Broadway, winning a Tony award for his role as a psychotic junkie in "Does The Tiger Wear A Necktie?". He then felt ready to start a film career. In 1969 he played a junkie in his first film “Me, Natalie” and again in 1971’s the “panic in needle park.” At that point pacino was able to take his career to the next level. His appearance in the latter film brought him to the attention of Francis Ford Coppola who cast him as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” (1972) now known as one of the greatest films ever! This wasn’t a popular choice, as most of the production team wanted Jack Nicholson to play that part. At first he wasn’t comfortable and thought he was going to be fired. But he was so good that in fact he was nominated for best supporting actor. He later went on to reprise his role as Corleone in “The Godfather II” (1974). The film won four academy awards. Pacino once again was nominated best actor but lost out to Art Carney. He then took on another vicious gangster role and cemented his legendary status in the ultra-violent Scarface (1983). Making another return to the Corleones, he made the Godfather III (1990). In 1997 he was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Pacino is one of the greatest emotional athletes of all time, but this hard process has influenced his private life. He has never married, although he lives with actress Beverly D'Angelo, with whom he has two kids. He has had shorter affairs with Penolpe Ann Miller and Diane Keaton. Pacino demands approximately $10 million per picture.
