Giovanni Boccaccio is considered as one of the famous Italian writer and also a humanist,and he is also considered as one of the great authors of all time in the history.

He was born in Paris and he is a son of a Florentine merchant and a French noblewoman.In 1323 he was sent to Naples for his studies, i.e., accounting.But He quit accounting for canon law and he further gave up canon law as he was interested in classical and scientific studies.

He also had opportunity to take part in life of the court of Robert d’Anjou,who was the king of Naples.Inspired by the great deal of work by Giovanni Boccaccio, the kings daughter Maria de Conti d’Aquino married him.

In 1340 he returned to France and he also performed various diplomatic services for the city government,the turning point in his life came in 1350, when he met the famous poet and humanist Petrarch,and he developed a close friendship until the death of Petrarch in 1374.

A friend of Naples invited Boccaccio to Naples in 1362,and he also promised him the patronage of Queen Joanna of that city. A cold reception was given at the court of the queen which made him to seek about the hospitality of Petrarch

He also rejected Petrarch’s offer of a home and after that he returned to his estate in Certaldo, which is near Florence.

During his last years he started to become religious meditation.In 1372 he was appointment lecturer on Dante.

He also gave series of lectures inspite of his illness,which interrupted him often and eventually he died the next year in 1735.

The most important work of Boccaccio is Il Decamerone, which is called as the Ten Days’ Work, and it was begun in 1348 and completed after 9 years in 1353 and it was translated into English,in 1620 as The Decameron.

This work is nothing but a  collection of 100 witty, high-spirited stories which is  within a framework.In this work
Boccaccio explains that a group of friends,which consists of 3 men and 7 women had escaped from the city due an outbreak of the plague and they go to a country called villa outside Florence as refuge.

In that country they begin to entertain one another for over 10 days and they entertain with a series of stories told said by each member of the party and hence the name of his work is described as Ten Days’ Work.

During these 10 days, everyday the story telling usually ends with a canzone which represents some of Boccaccio’s most exquisite lyric poetry.And finally at the conclusion of the 100th tale,they returned to their home when the plague outbreak was over.

This work "The Decameron" is considered as the finest prose masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance and it is famous for the richness and variety of the tales, that includes both humor and sorrow and this also known for brilliance of the craftsmanship, and also for its penetrating character analysis.

Boccaccio gathered many material from many sources to complete this work and these includes

i)The French fabliau

ii)Greek and Latin classics

iii)Folklore and

iv)Observations of contemporary Italian life.

Apart from this historic work other work of Boccaccio includes

i)Romance Il filocolo, called as circa in 1336

ii)L’amorosa Fiammetta, called as Amorous Fiammetta in 1343-44

iii)Il corbaccio, called as The Old Crow, in 1354

The first two stories mentioned above are the stories of rejected lovers.

It would be difficult to imagine a greater contradiction than was summed up in the life and work of Alfred Nobel, the insignificant-looking Swede who yearned for world peace and became a multi-millionaire by selling the weapon of death to each and every country which would pay his price for it. Alfred Nobel died working to invent a force of total destruction and yet, ironically, his last will and testament laid down the terms of an imaginative effort to end all wars - the Nobel Prize.

Alfred Bernhard Nobel was the scientist who established the Nobel Prize Foundation. Born in 1833 in Stockholm, he became a scientist like his father, Immanuel Nobel. He led a bachelor's life and produced Dynamite. It was invented accidentally.

One day, he observed a little nitro-glycerine which had been dropped from a flask at his laboratory. That liquid fell on fine soil powder kept in a box. It did not explode. Instead, it became a paste. He made a ball of that paste and exploded it outside effectively. Nobel, who devised a method to contain nitro-glycerine safely, called it 'Dynamite'. He soon became very rich after inventing it. He excuted a will in 1890 that the interest on 90,00,000 dollars should be presented every year to persons who serve humanity in the field of science literature and piece. Earlier, Nobel Prize was being presented for physics, chemistry, medicine, physiology, literature and world peace only. In 1969, the Swedish Government announced that an Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize for economics will also be presented.

The Nobel Prize is the largest of its kind in the world. Today, its reputation rests, not on his inventive genius, but on the international awards which bear his name. The story of Alfred Nobel is a story of a man 'from rags to riches'.

On 10, December, 1896, his butler who was alone in the house with him, found his millionaire master dead at his desk. Inside the desk, beneath a pile of designs for a new war weapon, lay his last will and testament of peace.

The will directed that his capital should become a fund, the annual interest on which was to be split into five equal parts and used to award prizes to the persons adjudged to have made the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, the person who had produced the outstanding work of literature, 'idealistic in character' and to the person who has done the most or best work for the brotherhood of nations, the abolition of standing armies as well as the formation or popularization of peace congress.

However, now that scientists have really found out a more destructive nuclear bomb, the world hopes that his aim to make the war impossible, will now be realised, because the nuclear bomb has become a deterrent weapon and while many have it, every nation is afraid of it!

Isak Dinesen,was a famous Danish writer who was born in Rungsted.She has a pseudonym of Baroness Karen Christence Blixen-Finecke, nee Dinesen. She was born on 17th april,1885 in Rungsted, Zealand, Denmark .

Even from her early life she started studied painting in different European cities. She married her cousin, Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke,in the year  1914  and afer that went to live in Kenya , which was that time called as British East Africa, on a coffee plantation.The image below is her museum in Kenya.

She got divorced with her husband in the year 1921, but this doesnt stop her from staying in Africa as she remained in Africa till 1931.In 1931 sfe left Africa and returned to Denmark after 17 years.The image belows shows the house of Isak Dinesen, wher eshe lived in Africa

She was a very good writer and her first book of stories was "Seven Gothic Tales" which was published in the year 1934.This book mainly dealt in highly polished and subtle prose with the world of the supernatural and most of her later novels were also based on supernatural based.The image below shows the front cover of her book "Seven Gothic Tales"

In 1937 she finished another famous work called "Out of Africa",and it was very popular to an extent that it was made into a movie and got  released in 1985.This film out of Africa was based on her experiences on the plantation, during her visit to Africa.This film evenyually won 7 Oscar awards.The image below on the left shows the Novel "Out of Africa" and the image on the films is the film released in 1985.

The only novel which was published under the name Pierre Andrezel is "The Angelic Avengers" which was published in the year 1944, which was later translated in English in 1947.In this novel she describes in allegorical terms the plight of Denmark during the German occupation in World War II.The image belows shows the front cover of her novel "The Angelic Avengers"

Apart from these works the later work Dinesen includes

i)Winter's Tales in 1943

ii)Last Tales in 1957

These two works are the collection of stories, which was based on the supernatural theme

She live in Africa for about 17 years and another novel whic sketches the life of Africa is the "Shadows on the Grass" which was pubilse in the year 1960.Yhe image below shows the fron cover of this novel.

The most important part of her work is that whic earned her lot of fans is that she wrote both the Danish version and the English version of  all her works Isak Dinesen died on 7th September 1962 at Rungstedlund,Denmark in her family's estate, at the age of 77, and reports says she died of malnutrition.The image below is her grave in Rungstedlund, Denmark.

Jay Leno,is an american comedian and also a famous television talk-show host.He is noted mainly for his gently satirizing the mores and products of United States consumer culture. Apart from this Leno is also famous, for his passion for performing before live audiences.

He was born in 1950(April 18) as James Douglas Muir Leno in New Rochelle, New York.He was raised in Andover, Massachusetts.Jay Leno finished his studies at Emerson College.It was in mid 1970's,after finishing his studies Jay started his career in entertainment field as a stand-up comedian.He performed his routines as many as 300 times in a year in the nightclubs and also in the shopping malls.

As this got a great exposure for him, Leno soon began working in the television industry.He started his Television industry as a writer for American actor Jimmie Walker, who was then featured in the opular situation comedy called “Good Times.” I

t was in 1977, Leno first performed on the “Tonight Show,” a National Broadcasting Company (NBC) talk show which was then hosted by American entertainer Johnny Carson.The important turing point for Leno, which made him a national celebrity was the Talk Show called as “Late Night with David Letterman”.

Carson named Leno as one of several permanent guest hosts on the “Tonight Show"in the year 1986.1986 was a very good year for him as he produced and starred in special programs for NBC and the cable television network Showtime, during that year.

Apart from these activities he also performed more than 200 shows in comedy clubs and Las Vegas casinos, and he had a sold-out engagement at New York City's prestigious Carnegie Hall."Tonight Show" is the show which made Leno so popular and he wasnamed the exclusive guest host in 1987.In 1992, he became the permanent host when Carson retired.The picture below shows Jay Leno with American President Barrack Obama in Tonight Show

Apart from the TV shows, Leno also appeared in the motion pictures.Some of the motion pictures includes

1)Fun with Dick and Jane (1977)

2)American Hot Wax (1978)

3)The Silver Bears (1978)

4)Americathon (1979)

5)Collision Course (1988)

6)Dave (1993).

He also compiled four editions of Headlines between 1989 and 1992, from a popular recurring segment on the “Tonight Show,” as well as Police Blotter in 1994, all best-selling books which contains the collections of humorous newspaper headlines and articles.