Born and raised in County Durham, UK, Dr Brenda Davies – Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, medium, author, broadcaster and spiritual teacher, pharmacist, is a very happy mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She has lived a fascinating life which has taken her around the world many times. As Principal of the Brenda Davies International School of Healing and Spiritual Development, she has taught in England, Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the USA, Turkey, Cyprus, Bali, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and elsewhere. She has loved doing peace and conflict resolution work in many countries that have been ravaged by war. Her great love is Zambia, where she spent many happy and exciting years, however, she is now happily settled in Wales.
Her first attempt at fiction was in her twenties while she was pregnant with her second child. The manuscript still lives in a cupboard at home. Her real writing career began at 55 with the publication of The Rainbow Journey. Several non-fiction books on spirituality and health followed, including Journey of the Soul, which was nominated for the Kindred Spirit Award. At the age of 78, she turned to fiction with her debut novel ‘The Girl behind the Gates,’ which will hopefully be released as a major feature film in the not-too-distant future. At 82, she is happily settled in Wales, where she still works full-time – now mainly online – and writes at every possible spare moment. She loves life and people and nature and is very happy with her lot. She hopes you will enjoy her books and some of which she still has to write. Hopefully, her second novel will be published soon.
Gunter Frank (born 1963 in Buchen (Odenwald)) is a German physician and non-fiction author.
Frank studied medicine in Heidelberg and Chicago. He runs his own general practice in Heidelberg. He is a member of the Heidelberg City Council.
Frank is a lecturer at the Business School St. Gallen,[1] a private provider of executive education seminars, and the author of several books on health and nutrition. He is a public critic of the German healthcare system.[2]
He publishes his theses on the political blog “Achse des Guten” (Axis of Good).[3] At the invitation of the AfD parliamentary group, he said in committee hearings that the COVID vaccinations were a “thalidomide scandal by a factor of ten.”
Werner Bartens (born 11 July 1966 in Göttingen) is a German physician, historian, science journalist and non-fiction author.
Werner Bartens was born the second child of Werner Bartens and his wife Luise, née Marienhagen, in Göttingen and grew up in Niedernjesa. He attended primary school in Reinhausen and then the Hainberg-Gymnasium in Göttingen, where he graduated from high school in 1985. From 1985 to 1993, Bartens studied medicine, history, and German at the universities of Giessen, Freiburg, Montpellier, and Washington D.C. In the fall of 1988, he completed a clinical internship in the emergency department at the Royal Infirmary in Cardiff, Wales. In 1991, he completed clinical internships at the University Hospital of Freiburg, the Urban Hospital in Berlin, and in cardiology at the Bad Krozingen rehabilitation center. In 1992, he received his medical degree and subsequently worked as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
In 1993 he passed the German state examination in medicine at the University of Freiburg and received his doctorate there in the same year under Christoph Wanner with a thesis on lipid metabolism disorders in nephrotic syndrome with special emphasis on lipoprotein(a). In 1995 he also received his master’s degree in history and German studies in Freiburg with a thesis supervised by Gerd Krumeich on racial theories in the 19th and 20th centuries.[1] After working as a doctor at the university hospitals in Freiburg and Würzburg, he held a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology in the research group of Nobel laureate Georges Köhler. From 1997 onwards, Bartens worked as an author, translator, freelance journalist and editor for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, die tageszeitung and the Badische Zeitung. Since 2005 he has been an editor in the science department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and since 2008 he has been editor-in-chief.
In addition to his journalistic work, he has published numerous books with a total circulation of 1 million copies, which have been translated into 14 languages. Some of them, such as “Body Happiness,” “The Doctor Hater Book,” and “The Encyclopedia of Medical Errors,” quickly became bestsellers, some of them remaining on the bestseller lists for months. He has received numerous journalism awards for his publications, including several Science Journalist of the Year awards.
He also became known to a wider public through appearances on talk shows on German and Austrian television.
Juan José Lopera was born in Colombia and qualified as a medical doctor before he began studying singing. For three years he combined this with his work as a doctor before coming to Europe in 1993. He continued his studies at the Opera School of the Bayerische Opera in Munich for two years. He won the international Singing Competition orgarised by the Germany Radio ARD in 1994. In 1995 he became a member of the Innsbruck Opera where he has sung Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera. He has been invited to sing in Dresden, Hannover, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Opernhaus Zürich, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Théâtre de la Monnaie Brussels, Strasbourg, Seville and at the Vienna Staatsoper. His engagements have included Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri and Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola in Seville, Ernesto in Don Pasquale in Brussels, Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto in Dresden and Montpellier. Until 1998 he sang regularly at the Stuttgart Opera as Fenton in Falstaff, Ferrando in Così fan tutte and Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He sings regularly at the Vienna State Opera in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and L’Italiana in Algeri. He made his Italian debut at the San Carlo Naples in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. At the Rome Opera he sang La Cenerentola. Recent engagements also included L’Italiana in Algeri at the Netherlands Opera and Tonio in La Fille du Regiment in St. Gallen. In the season 2000/2001 he made his debut as Henry in Die Schweigsame Frau in a new production at the Châtelet in Paris under Christoph von Dohnanyi and sang the role of Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at Covent Garden, in Palermo Madrid and Tel Aviv. He also made his debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro singing Peleo in Le Nozze di Teti e Peleo. Recent engagements included La Cenerentola at the Bavarian State Opera Munich and in Helsinki, Don Pasquale in Brussels, Die Schweigsame Frau in Marseille, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Vienna, Il Turco in Italia in Oviedo and Così fan tutte in Treviso, Il Re Pastore in Brussels, Il Marito Disperato and La Cenerentola in Napoli, L’Italiana in Algeri in Strassbourg, La Cenerentola in Dresden and Tokyo. Future projects include, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Vienna and Bari, La Cenerentola and Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Munich, Il Socrate Immaginario in Napoli, Il Re Pastore in Brussels, La Cenerentola and Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Helsinki, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Don Giovanni in Strassbourg, Così fan tutte and Don Pasquale in Geneva.
Since ca. 2010 Juan-José is spiritual doctor and yoga teacher in Colombia.
Eckart von Hirschhausen (born 25 August 1967) is a German doctor, talk show host and comedian.
Journalism and television
In 1996, von Hirschhausen started writing, mainly for Focus and Der Tagesspiegel. His first appearance on television is believed to have been as a guest contestant performing magic tricks in Jürgen von der Lippe‘s show Geld oder Liebe (‘Money or Love’).[2] From 1998 to 2003, he hosted the weekly health advisory show Service: Gesundheit (‘Service: Health’) on Hessischer Rundfunk Television. Since 2004 he has been a weekly contributor to Stern: Sprechstunde (“Stern: Consultation Hour”): his column is called Die Etwas Andere Medizinkolumne (“The Somewhat Different Medicine Column”).[3]
Since the mid-1990s, von Hirschhausen has performed as a stand-up comedian, show host and magician in variety. He is also a cabaret artist performing his own, and other, cabaret programmes. He was a guest artist in Berlin, in London and at the Cologne Comedy Festival 1997. Hirschhausen was also a member of the panels of contributors to the Knoff-Hoff-Show on ZDF and 7 Tage, 7 Köpfe (‘7 days, 7 heads’) on RTL. Since 21 January 2004, he has been answering viewers’ questions in his column Dr. von Hirschhausen wills wissen (‘Dr. von Hirschhausen wants to know’) in the scientific television show W wie Wissen (‘K for Knowledge’) on ARD. In Hirschhausens Wissensbisse (‘Hirschhausen’s knowledge-bites’) he also presents strange news and facts from the world of scientific research.[4] Hirschhausen is a regular on the cabaret show Ottis Schlachthof (‘Otti’s Slaughterhouse’) on Bayerisches Fernsehen and Quatsch Comedy Club on Pro Sieben.[5] In 2007, he was a frequent guest on the ARD show ‘Schmidt and Pocher’. He is also a speaker specialising in communication and motivational training. At the end of 2008, he founded a charity foundation ‘Humor hilft heilen – für mehr gesundes Lachen im Krankenhaus’ (‘Humour helps the healing process – for more healthy laughing in hospitals’). Since September 2009, he has co-hosted the successor show of ‘Die Tietjen und Dibaba’ on NDR with Bettina Tietjen.
Von Hirschhausen has developed a cabaret routine similar to that of Ludger Stratmann, also a PhD Medical Doctor and cabaret artist. They both focus on the doctor-patient relationship, while von Hirschhausen specifically points out the inability and unwillingness of professionals in his field to express themselves clearly. He also focuses on the typical routines and rituals which, when separated from the professional environment, appear comical and absurd.
Magician
Since 1995 Hirschhausen is member of Magischer Zirkel von Deutschland. in competitions he won 1st and 2nd prizes and founded a “Think Theatre” with a mixture of comedy and magic.
He ended his stage career in 2023 and is now working to improve the earth´s climate and other constructive things.
2013 moderierte von Hirschhausen drei Folgen von Ist das ein Witz? und die einmalige Comedyshow Hirschhausen hilft!. Gemeinsam mit Bettina Tietjen führte er von September 2009 bis November 2014 einmal im Monat durch die NDR-TalkshowTietjen und Hirschhausen.[26][27] Von 2010 bis 2023 moderierte er in der ARD die Wissensshows Frag doch mal die Maus[28][29] und seit Hirschhausens Quiz des Menschen (bis 2013: Das fantastische Quiz des Menschen).[23] 2017 moderierte er die Sendung Hirschhausens Check-up sowie deren Nachfolgesendung Hirschhausen im…. Seit 2020 moderiert er die Gesundheitsshow Hirschhausens Sprechstunde, zu der seit Herbst 2020 unter anderem der Podcast Hirschhausens Sprechstunde – Der Podcast im WDR 4 gehört. Seit 2021 moderiert Hirschhausen die Sendung Wissen vor acht. 2023 gab er die Wissensshow Frag doch mal die Maus an Esther Sedlaczek ab. Dafür erhielt er eine neue Show beim Ersten Deutschen Fernsehen: Was kann der Mensch? Die Hirschhausen-Show.
Daneben hatte er zahlreiche Gastauftritte in vielen bekannten Talkshows, Quizshows, Kabarett- und Comedy-Formaten bei ARD, ZDF, NDR, WDR etc.
On Saturday 28th October 2023 evening Dr Claude Mashego from Mpumalanga was crowned the first Miss World South Africa at the inaugural pageant that was held at the Pretoria State Theatre.
The 24-year-old will now go on to represent the country at the Miss World pageant in New Delhi, India on December 9, 2023.
Mashego responded: “I believe the Miss Word SA platform is a platform for leadership for young people, and I’m saying this because we see the need of the rising of young leaders in our country.
“We’re going towards the 2024 elections and we always ask the question, where are the young people in Parliament? These young women are standing here to prove themselves as worthy leaders to take this country forward,” she said.
Christine Anna Maria Theiss (néeHennig, born 22 February 1980) is a German former kickboxer. Since 2007, she is the world champion in professional full contact kickboxing in the World Kickboxing Association (WKA). On 7 December 2012, she became the super lightweight world champion in full contact kickboxing of the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) and World Kickboxing and Karate Union (WKU).[1] She lost her WKU championship in a title fight to Olga Stavrova on 7 June 2013, but regained the title on 13 December 2013, by defeating Olga Stavrova in a closely contested 10-round decision in what was announced to be her last fight.
In 1984, Theiss moved with her parents from East Germany to Bayreuth, where she attended elementary school and high school. She then, worked as a medical assistant in the parental practice in Bayreuth. From 2001 to 2007, Theiss studied medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. In November 2007, she completed the study with the state examination. In December 2008, she received her doctorate in medicine (Dr. med.).
Since March 2012, Theiss is a host for the German version of The Biggest Loser Germany on Sat.1. From 2005 to 2012, she was elected as “Munich’s Sportwoman of the Year” by the readers of the evening newspaper Abendzeitung.[2]
Since 2005, Theiss is married to cardiologist Hans Theiss and lives in the Munich district of Schwabing. In 2016, she gave birth to her first child a daughter.
From 1988 to 2000, Theiss learned semi-contact kickboxing in the Karate Dojo Aleksandar eV in Bayreuth. In 1998, she became the German Champion. In 2003, she switched to full-contact kickboxing at the Kampfsportzentrum Steko in Munich. She successively became German champion, European silver medalist, World runner-up and 2005 Amateur World Champion (WKA).
Since early 2006, Theiss fights as a professional kickboxer. She is trained by the former kickboxing world champions Mladen Steko and Pavlica Steko. Mladen Steko is also her manager. Having won 22 world championship fights, Theiss is considered to be one of the most successful professional kickboxers of all times and a celebrity in Germany.
Since January 2011, she has an exclusive contract for the television broadcasts of her bouts with Sat.1 (Steko’s Fight Night).[3] On 7 December 2012, she fought for the first time according to the rules of the ISKA and WKU, winning the world championship title winning the world championship title in the weight class of 62.5 kg.[1][4] On 22 February 2013, she defeated Cathy Le-Mée, the WKA and WKU world champion in the weight class of 65 kg per KO in the fifth round.
On 18 April 2013, she announced that she would end her career at the end of 2013.[5] She lost her fight against Russian kickboxer Olga Stavrova on 7 June 2013, in Munich after ten rounds by split decision. After the fight, she announced her desire to fight a revanche against Olga Stavrova. She won that rematch and regained the title on 13 December 2013, by defeating her in a closely contested 10-round decision. It was announced to be her last fight.
For the edition 2014 she made a shooting for the Playboy magazine.
Theiss has published several books: The Biggest Loser, Besser leben – gesund abnehmen[11] über gesundes Abnehmen; Ich mach dich fit – ohne Geräte, nur mit deinem Körper[12] und „Pimp your running“ – Lauf dich stark mit meinem Power-Workout.
She is married and they have one daughter.
Her career as kickboxer lasted from 7th December 2012 through the end of 13th December 2013.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hodyz84gOhE
her before-last fight she lost against Olga Stawrowa but she headed to get back to this and in 13th December 2013 she won against her and then stepped back from professional sports.
Already during her medical studies Deborah Lambie worked as a model and trained to become a good speaker. Thus she won three elections as MISS, in 2015 she became Miss New Zealand.
Most remarcable her New Zealand HAKA during this competition!
Later she changed profession and became investment banker.
Lambie’s slightly more glamorous life had started in a dairy, when the owner of a modelling agency invited her to come to see her.
“I was in the last year of high school. I never thought that modelling would be something I would be able to do. I finally went along a few months later and the owner had completely forgotten me – but said she might be able to use me in a few things.”
Lambie began modelling in Dunedin fashion shows and things grew rapidly from there. “Beauty pageants were the obvious next step because they were not just about walking down a runway, but involved interviews and public speaking.
“In my first competition I was really nervous because I had done no public speaking, so I joined Toastmasters in Dunedin. Developing those skills has been hugely valuable. Public speaking is such an important life skill.
“If the only gain that I ever got out of beauty pageants had been joining Toastmasters it would have been worth it. The organisation helped me turn my weakness into a strength.”
In 2012 Lambie was second runner up for Miss Otago, which she won in 2015. “I had no expectations. If someone had told me I would win Miss New Zealand and go to Miss World I would not have believed them.”
Lambies most remaarcable HAKA!
Lambie had to juggle her extra-curricular activities with her studies. “I worked really hard and the University supported me doing these things. Whenever I went to them with a request, their attitude was ‘how can we make this work?’ which I really appreciated.”
Beauty contests have changed with the times, says Lambie, who is a strong supporter of rights and equality for women.
“My generation does not have the same negative associations with beauty contests that my parents’ and grandparents’ generations may have had.
Contestants are encouraged to do charity work and the Miss World competition has raised more than half a billion dollars for charity over the last 30 years, says Lambie.
She has not only worked with several existing charities, but has started one of her own.
After her Bachelor of Medical Sciences, with first class honours in bioethics, she completed a Master of Entrepreneurship. With fellow student and now fiancé Dave Cameron, she founded LearnCoach to provide free online tutorials for NCEA students.
“The master’s challenged my thinking in lots of ways. Now it’s awesome to be working with a team of people who believe in sharing the gift of education.
“Over the last three years we have delivered millions of tutorials to thousands of students.
“This year we plan to broaden the content on the website and make LearnCoach accessible to all young New Zealanders by incorporating New Zealand Sign Language and Te Reo Māori.”
Not everything went smoothly in Lambie’s expanding world. Although short-listed for a Rhodes Scholarship, she didn’t get it. “I was disappointed to miss out on what would have been a life-changing opportunity, but just making it to the final seven was amazing.”
Competition at Miss World was tough too.
“We were such a diverse group – doctors, lawyers, models, professional athletes, singers – the talent was incredible. It was a huge team effort to prepare for Miss World and so many people came forward to support me. On the final night I was delighted to come 15tth out of the 120 contestants.”
Lambie found herself rooming with another Otago student, law undergraduate Latafale Auva’a, who was representing Samoa. “She’s so talented, good at study, sport and music, but such a lovely, kind, down-to-earth person. I hope to stay in touch with her for a long time.”
Lambie caused a mini media storm when she performed a haka in the cultural section of the contest.
“I really didn’t see that coming. I worked for months with expert Kereama Te Ua, who lectures in Māori performing arts. I’d performed the haka at marae and had feedback from different people. I could not have made a more genuine effort to perform it in the correct way.
“Then there was a lot of negative comment saying I should not have done it at all – but on the flip side I received an equal number of lovely messages of support, which really meant a lot.”
Lambie also learned some New Zealand sign language for the talent section of the competiton.
“Learning that haka and some New Zealand sign language were my first real connections with people from those communities. They helped me understand things from a new perspective and could, quite possibly, change the direction of my career and what I end up doing.”
Now Lambie has hung up her tiara. “My run is over. I’ve loved the opportunities that pageants have brought, but now it’s time to concentrate on medicine and the future.”
It came out that she became an investment banker in Australia.
Sheila Malek, born in 1981, began acting already as child. Her Persian family has created many actors. Nevertheless she studied medicine and becomes asthetic surgeon.
Walking along the street in Munich / Bavaria the director Klaus Lemke (see picture) talked to her and offered her a first part in a film “Schmutziger Süden”. Later came TV performances and engagements as moderator and model.
“Schmutziger Süden”: Regisseur Klaus Lemke zusammen mit den beiden Hauptdarstellerinnen, Sheila Malek (l.) und Indira Madison (r.). (Foto: Klaus Lemke)
She has also had a professional dancing education and acting.
Her ability of discipline and responsability which is essential in medicine assisted her in her acting career.
In 2001 she spontaneously participated in a competition and became:
Strauss became engaged to D’Niel Strauss (no relation) in December 2014. They were later married on 6 February 2016, at the Laurent Wedding venue in Somerset West.[5][6] Their first child, a son, was born in January 2017.[7] In February 2020, she gave birth to her second son. Rolene Strauss is a devout Christian
