Richard Meade OBE is a British three-day event horseman. He was born in 1938. He was a member of Britain's gold-medal winning team at the 1968 MexicoOlympic Games and won the 1970 Badminton championship riding 'The Poacher', and later in 1970 was a member of the British winning team at the world championships. At the 1972 MunichOlympic Games he won a gold medal in both the individual and team events riding 'Laurieston'. Research Richard Meade
Vera Caslavska is a Czech gymnast. She was born in 1942 at Prague. Originally a promising ice skater, when she was fifteen she was invited to take part in trials to find gymnastic talent and trained with Bosakova, going on to win 22 titles in Olympic, World and European championships including the gold medal at the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games for the combined exercises, at the 1964 Olympic Games she also won the gold medal for the beam and the vault. She was famed also for her floor routine known as the 'Mexican Hat Dance', which was greeted with rapturous applause by audiences. Research Vera Caslavska
The Special Air service (SAS) began life in the desert. It was founded by David Stirling, a lieutenant in the Scots Guards, who had fought with No.8 Commando in the Mediterranean. Injured during parachute training, he drew up plans for a new type of long-range commando organisation while hospitalised in Cairo. He presented them through General Neil Ritchie to the perceptive commander of British Forces in the Middle East, General Auckinleck, and was rewarded with promotion and command of the 'L' detachment,
Special Air Service Brigade. The unit designation was a fiction intended to deceive but the SAS had been born. Stirling planned the SAS as a strategic force, attacking targets deep in the enemy heartland where they thought they were safe. From air bases in North Africa to the valleys of southern France, the SAS inflicted constant damage and tied down thousands of enemy soldiers guarding installation and sweeping the countryside for these elusive raiders. The SAS was disbanded after the war, but resurrected within two years. A territorial regiment, 21 SAS, was created and some members volunteered for a new organisation, the Malaya Scouts (SAS). The latter were formed for counter-guerrilla operations against the communist rebels in Malaya. In 1952, this unit was redesignated 22 SAS and spearheaded the jungle war. Stirling's original belief that a small elite force could achieve results out of all proportion to its size was proved correct a second time. As the British Empire disintegrated, the SAS were involved in guerrilla wars from Asian
jungles to the Middle East. From 1969 the regiment was committed to action much closer to home, as handfuls of men were detached to Northern Ireland. SAS involvement was on a small scale until Prime Minister Harold Wilson publicly announced in January 1976, that he was sending in the SAS. This was without reference to the regiment, which had very few men available at the time. A counter-terrorist role was developed in response to the massacre of Israeli athletes in Munich during the 1972 Olympic Games. In 1980 the world saw the SAS in action for the first time when they were unknowingly filmed storming the Iranian Embassy in London, releasing the hostages and executing all but one of the terrorists. Later the SAS were again at the centre of controversy for the assassination of civilians suspected of being members of the IRA in Gibraltar, a move which had the full backing of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, though not the British press, most notably ThamesTelevision which produced a documentary entitled 'Death on the Rock',
a program many believe led to Thames losing their broadcast license shortly afterwards. Research Special Air Service
The Olympic Games originated at Olympia, in Elis, Peloponnesus and were said to have been originated by Hercules in honour of the Olympian Zeus, and to have been revived by Iphitus in 776 BC. Thereafter they were held every 4 years without a break until 393. Today the Olympic Games are still held every 4 years and are a general sporting contest held between supposedly amateur athletes of all countries. In recent years the amateur status of many athletes from larger and more industrial countries has become very dubious casting a shadow over the spirit of the games. Research Olympic Games More information about Olympic Games
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