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Vampires are mythical creatures who survive by eating the blood of their victims. Legends of vampires began in Eastern Europe hundreds of years ago. Many people were very scared of vampires back in the 1700s and they thought that vampires might come and get them. Vampires can apparently look like regular people or even look as ugly as rotting corpses. Vampires are thought to have no reflection in a mirror and they do not cast a shadow.
Long ago some people thought that leaving a pile of sand or rice beside the grave of a dead vampire was a good idea. They thought that a vampire would need to count every grain and that would take a long time. This was said to keep the vampire busy at night time.
In the old days, people used to worry about vampires coming out of their graves at night. Sometimes graves were even dug up to see if there was a vampire inside. People reported that some of the dead bodies had blood on their mouths from biting their victim.
In these times, it was said that any person who died with an un-clean soul could turn into a vampire. This could mean anyone who died in bad way (if they were murdered or something). The corpses of these un-clean souls would need to drink the blood of the living to stay alive.
It is said that certain things would keep vampires away. Garlic is meant to scare away vampires and the wearing of a cross was also meant to keep vampires away. It is thought that vampires can not enter a church or get across running water. So this can keep you safe from them. In many cultures people would drive a stake through the heart of a vampire to kill it. People in these times were very superstitious and were very scared that vampires might be real.
People have often associated vampires with bats. Apparently some vampires can turn into a bat to suck the blood of their victims. Since bats do drink the blood of animals and they do come out at night, it is easy to see why people might think they are vampires.
In London in 1970 rumours began to spread about a vampire living at the Highgate Cemetery in London. Many dead foxes were found there that had been bleeding from the throat. A grey figure was seen walking the grave site that people thought to be a supernatural being of some sort. Some people sneaked into the cemetery after dark and they even dug up some graves to find the vampire. One man was sent to jail for interfering with the graves.
There are many stories and films about vampires. Probably the most famous is the story of Dracula (written in 1897). These days there are lots of tv shows and films about vampires like True Blood, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries.
Taylor Swift
Early Life - Taylor Swift
She grew up in Pennsylvania USA and lived on a little farm as a child. Her family owned a Shetland Pony which allowed Taylor Swift to get really into horse riding. As she got older she became fond of musical theatre and she began to have singing and acting lessons.
She would spend many of her weekends performing at fairs, karaoke clubs and coffee houses as she loved to perform so much. This meant that she began to lose touch with her friends from school. One day she even won a local talent contest and this made her very proud.
When she was 14 she really wanted to be a country music singer. She went with her mother to a place in America called Nashville which is where a lot of country music singers go to. Once she got there no one would really listen to her as there were so many other people trying to get famous as well. Taylor Swift decided she needed to be a bit different from everyone else so she could better stand out. This lead to her becoming a songwriter as well as a singer.
Achievements as a Leader
Taylor Swift is famous for writing songs about her experiences as a teenager and a young adult. People can really relate to her songs and this is why her songs have become so famous.
In 2006, her song called ‘Our Song’ saw Taylor Swift become the youngest person to ever write and perform a number one song on the country music charts.
Her 2nd album called ‘Fearless’ became the best selling album of 2009 and Taylor Swift won 4 Grammy music awards that year too. She has received many awards for her songwriting and performances.
Her songs ‘We are never ever getting back together’ and ‘I knew you were trouble’ have become worldwide smash hits. She has now sold over 75 million songs on itunes and she is worth $220 million.
Taylor Swift has used her acting skills and starred in a movie called ‘Valentines Day’ and also worked in the film ‘The Lorax’.
She has become a fashion leader since her success. Taylor Swift said she used to try to straighten her curly hair when she was younger to try to look like everybody else. Now that she is famous her fans often try to copy her wavy haired look. She finds that kind of funny! She even has her own sundress range at Wal-Mart stores in America. These dresses are just like the dresses Taylor Swift used to wear on stage before she became a big pop star. Many of her young fans like to wear them to look like Taylor Swift.
She has dated many famous boys like Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer and Harry Styles from 1D.
Taylor Swift very generously gives a lot of her money to charities to help them out. She is a big supporter of the arts education and she has given about $5 million to support centres that work with music and the arts. She is also a supporter of children’s literacy and she has given lots of money to support children learning to better read and write. Taylor Swift has also supported a lot of charities who have raised money to support people after natural disasters. She has helped raise money after several floods and tornadoes caused a lot of damage in America.
Qualities that made her a Strong Leader.
Taylor Swift is very determined and she let nothing stand in the way of her wanting to become successful. She was willing to make sacrifices too. When her friends were relaxing and going to parties on the weekend she was spending her time performing and promoting her music.
She was not afraid to adapt to make herself have a better chance of becoming successful. She began as a singer but was finding it too hard to get noticed. So she became a singer / songwriter.
She is generous and gives a lot of her time and money towards supporting people and charities.
She is a strong role model to young girls in America. She is confident in what she is doing and promotes her music proudly to the world.
Bear Grylls
About Bear Grylls - Early Life
He was born in Northern Ireland and his family moved to England when he was 4 years old. His real name is Edward Grylls but he got his nickname ‘Bear’ from his older sister when he was just a one week old baby.
When he was 8 years old he became a cub scout and he has continued as a scout ever since. As a child he got really into the outdoors when his father taught him how to sail yachts and to climb mountains. When he was a teenager he learned to skydive and he became a black belt in Shotokan Karate. Bear Grylls is very clever and he can speak 3 languages (English, Spanish and French).
Bear Grylls is married now and he has 3 sons with some interesting names. Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry.
Achievements as a Leader
His leadership started at a young age. When he was a teenager he was really into mountain climbing but there was no mountain climbing opportunities at his high school. So he started a mountaineering club and organised trips to the mountains with other students who liked the outdoors.
In 1996 he had a parachuting accident that made him have to fight to get better again. His parachute did not open properly and he landed very heavily on the ground. He badly hurt his back and his doctor said that he nearly became paralysed which meant he may not have walked again. He spent a year being in an out of hospital trying to get better so he could achieve his dream of climbing Mount Everest. He did manage to climb the mountain a year and a half later.
Bear Grylls has lead many adventuring groups to do some amazing things. In 2000 he lead a team of people to jet ski right around the UK. This took 30 days and helped raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
He also lead a group of 5 people to row across the North Atlantic Ocean in an open inflatable boat. They sailed all the way from Canada to Scotland. Sometimes the waves were so big they crashed over the boat and they even sailed through icebergs.
Bear Grylls lead a team of people to paramotor (parachute with a propeller behind it) off Angel Falls which is a very high waterfall in Venezuela. He has lead climbing trips in Antarctica and sailing trips through the remote Northwest Passage and both were to raise money for a children’s charity.
Notch - Creater of Minecraft.
About Notch. Early Life.
His real name is Marcus Perrson and he was born in Sweden in 1979. As a child he was really into programming on his Commodore 128 computer. He started by programming simple games and he eventually even made a text based adventure game.
When he got older he started a video game company called Mojang. Then he started to work on games that lots of people could play.
Achievements As a Leader.
He invented a game called Wurm which is a little bit like minecraft. Then he created minecraft. Minecraft has become a very popular game worldwide. It has sold over 3 million copies. Minecraft can now even be played on smart phones and on xbox 360 and this had made Notch a lot of money.
He has created a number of other games as well as minecraft. Some of these games are called Scrolls, Metagun, Breaking the Tower and Prelude of the Chambered.
Notch has won many awards for the games he has created and he has created some excellent deals with some of the major gaming corporations.
He has donated lots of his money to charities as he likes to help other people.
He even creates electronica music and goes under the stage name of ‘Marcus Alexei’.
Qualities the Made Him a Leader.
Notch is a very creative person. He has been able to come up with some great video games by himself. He has a great imagination and comes up with some very interesting characters in the game minecraft.
He is very clever at knowing what sort of games people really like to play. Minecraft is a very fun game that kids and even adults like to play and it is all thanks to Notch.
He is good at teaching himself how to do stuff. He taught himself how to programme games when he was little. And now he is using that skill for his job.
Notch is very good at marketing himself. He has become a recognisable figure with his black hat, black coat and beard. People don’t just recognise his games, they recognise him too.
He works very well with people. This has allowed him to set up some excellent deals with major international gaming companies.
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