Christophe

And, BTW, what is his nationality ? Ch.

Jim, Bravo !!! Congrats to be shared with ub6365.. Ch.

When you mean "nationality", you are thinking about one of the USSR Republics (except Russia), correct ? Ch.

Are you sure he is lieutenant-general ? Ch.

I have no clue who our hero is, but seems to be related to Katyn... Ch.

Hi Frank, Mikhail Kalashnikov ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Kalashnikov Cheers. Ch.

Jim, Congrats !!!! You're the winner !!! In fact, the prestigious award he got later is not a nomination for an Oscar, but the US Congress National Medal of Arts he received in 2000. Bravo !!! Your turn, now... Cheers. Ch.

Hi to all, Here is a first clue : "The Postman Always Rings Twice" & "King Kong"... Cheers. Ch.

Hi Jim, totally correct... Cheers. Ch.

OK... Will clarify... Who am I ? : Means I'm still alive. I am not born in Russia, but spent half of my career in Leningrad, and the other half outside in North America. : the past because my career is finished, even if I still have responsibilities. At the age of 26, I have taken the most important decision of my life. This decision changed completely my life. : I'm more than 26, so it is the past... During my career, I have received several honours, but missed an important one. Later, I will be honoured with a very prestigious award... : OK, I should have written "Later, I have been honoured...". Sorry for making all this confusing, but, it is exact that English is not mt first language.... Cheers. Ch.

OK, my turn... Question 55 : Who am I ? I am not born in Russia, but spent half of my career in Leningrad, and the other half outside in North America. At the age of 26, I have taken the most important decision of my life. This decision changed completely my life. During my career, I have received several honours, but missed an important one. Later, I will be honoured with a very prestigious award... Questions : 1. Who am I ? 2. Where am I born ? 3. Which important decision did I take ? 4. Which award did I get, and which one did I miss ? Good hunt and good luck !! Ch.

The complete pic... Ch.

She is Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, the first woman in Space. See Wikipedia : "Valentina vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва; Belarusian: Валянціна Уладзіміраўна Церашко́ва) (born March 6, 1937) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut, and was the first woman in space. She was selected out of more than four hundred applicants, and then out of five finalists, to pilot Vostok 6 on the 16 June, 1963, becoming both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space,[1] as she was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force as a condition on joining the Cosmonaut Corps. During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight."

Congratulations to Harvey !! ) I was mistaken, thinking about Odessa first (the cranes on the pic) and the Caspian or Black seas... And then about this incident that occured in 1988, but the size of the ships was not correct... From Wikipedia : "In February 1988, Caron operating with Yorktown, entered Soviet 12 miles (19 km) territorial waters limit in the Black Sea off the Crimean Peninsula. Under international law, this act could be permissible if the ship was progressing from one point in international waters to another point in international waters via the shortest course possible, but according to the Soviet Union, it was the right of the USSR to authorize or prohibit travel in selected areas within the 12 mile limit. The United States however did not recognize the Soviet's claim in this case. To prevent it from becoming accepted precedent, the US Navy claimed that it had sailed warships through such areas at regular intervals in the past, although no reference was provided. On this occasion, Caron had onboard a Ship's Signal Exploitation Spaces (SSES) system, operated by a crew of 18, supporting the U.S. National Security Agency. This system was capable of recording data on Soviet defense radars and communications. In response, the Soviets deployed a destroyer and a Mirka II class light frigate as well as many other Soviet Navy, Coast Guard, KGB and "civilian" ships to intercept the U.S. ships. Soviet aircraft continuously buzzed the Caron and Yorktown as smaller vessels weaved to and fro in front of the American ships. Several times, Soviet vessels and aircraft obtained radar "lock" on the Caron and Yorktown. Both American ships maintained a constant course and speed throughout the incident. Eventually, the Soviets lightly rammed both ships. No significant damage resulted to any of the ships involved. The Captain of the Caron Lou Harlow, ordered that painters go over the side to paint over the superficial marks created by the "ramming" within minutes of the event. The Soviets depict the outcome of the incident slightly differently. Following is a transcript of a report by Russian officers Nikolay Mikheev and Vladimir Bogdashin: "By the moment they approached our waters, the Americans followed in radio order distanced at 2700-3600 meters from each other. Cruiser was leading and more to seaside, destroyer closer to seashore at the cruiser's angle of 140-150 degrees left board. Coast Guard ship "Honest" ("Bezzavetny"), which was 8 times lighter than its American counterpart, and Coast Guardship "SKR-6" (equally lighter) were following the cruiser and destroyer at their course abgles of left boards 100-110 degrees at the distance of 90-100 meters. Behind that group an additional two USSR coast guardships followed. When we received the order to start push out the US invaders, we run "All sailors man their battlestations", we sealed the bow sections, moved personnel out of bow sections, armed torpedoes, primed the machine guns, fielded the fire-fighting crews, sent "ready to engage" to shock troopers, rest of the sailors manned their stations. Right anchors were moved out the hawseholes. At the bridge of the "Honest" was Mikheev in contact with headquarters and managing the battle group, Bogdashin is helming the ship, translation officer keeps constant radiocontact with US group. Closed in at distance of 40 meters, then closed to 10 meters (SKR-6 does the same with the destroyer). At the US cruiser's deck jolly sailors and officers waving, shouting, taking pictures, making obscene gestures as US sailors normally do. US cruiser's captain walked out to the left open part of the bridge. When we've been confirmed "Act as planned" we started to "shove" the cruiser, simultaneously SKR-6 "shoved" the destroyer. Bogdashin steered the ship in such a way that the first contact was at tangent to the US cruiser's left board. After the impact as a result of the shock, sparkles flew, and American's board paint started to burn. For a moment, the fireball appeared, and then deep clouds of smoke trailed our movements. After the hit, our anchor has torn up the cruiser's board and made a pretty dent in our bow. The aftershock threw our bow away, while our stem went left, and our aft got dangerously close to enemy's board. The US cruiser sounded full alarm, personnel rushed from decks down to holes, cruiser's captain rushed inside from the outer bridge. At that moment Americans obviously were unable to control the ship, so the cruiser turned right, which made it even more dangerous for the "Honest". After that Bogdashin commanded "right on board" increased the speed to 16 knots, which allowed somehow to lean our aft away from the enemy, but at the same time the US cruiser turned left and the most devastating (for Americans) impact occurred - what we wanted as "showing" turned into full ramming. We've hit the cruiser into the helideck - our high and sharp bow, so to speak, "crawled" onto cruiser's helicopter deck, and at angle of 15-20 degrees to the left started to crush everything in its way, gradually sliding down to the cruiser's aft. The "show" tore up the deckhouse, cut down all the rails of helipad deck, destroyed the commander's cutter, further crawled to the aft deck, and also destroyed all guardrails. After that we broke the "Harpoon" launcher—we thought we're going to cut it off completely, but we just cut it in half. Then the anchor tore loose off the chain (by miracle, thank God, it didn't hurt any of US crewmen) it flew within inches from cruiser's firefighters crew and fell into water. Out of four US "Harpoon" launch pads, two were cut in half, the missiles' warheads hanging on the wires. One more "Harpoon" launch pad was bent. Finally, our forecastle fell on water from the cruiser, we've parted with the cruiser and started to follow it at 50-60 meters. We've informed Americans that we will repeat a "show" if they don't leave our territorial waters. Strange activity was observed at the cruiser's decks. Firefighting crews (all of them Afro-Americans) first unrolled the fire hoses, but then disappeared into the holes - the US "Harpoons" didn't catch fires, so all men went into ship's inner spaces." As intelligence reported later, US cruiser developed a fire in "Harpoon" support bunks deep in the hull, and also in "Asrock" anti-submarine missile bunks." Again, Harvey, well done !! Congrats !! Ch.

Same for me... Ch.

Jim, You see one on the pic I have taken this Summer. They are two in fact, with a military vehicle... I don't know what is the precise link between the UkCP and these "guards".. Cheers. Ch.

Thanks Gunner 1, I did not know this story... Cheers. Ch.

Can you tell us more about this story ? Cheers. Ch.

It works !!!! ))

Here is the Communist Party of Ukraine with the Lenin statue in Kiev... There is a mistery... I really can't upload any pic... :(

Harvey is the winner !!!!! For the question #4, it is the Communist Party of Ukraine who is assuming the protection of the statue. Well done Harvey (without the pic... ( ) Your turn, now !!! Ch.

Hi Jim, I sent you the pic... For any reason I can't explain (except I recently moved to IE8...) I can't post pics on the forum, and the reply options are very "poor"... Meanwhile : about your answers : It is neither Kaliningrad nor StP... Cheers. Ch.

Euhhhh... There is a pb... I can't post the pic... :(

So, my turn, for Question 45... I am a Lenin statue, the only one remaining in the city where I was erected. I have been vandalised twice these last years, and am now under good protection. 1. Where am I located (city) ? 2. What happened to me when I was first vandalised, and when ? 3. What happened again to me for the second vandalisation, and when ? 4. Who is now assuming my protection ? Good hunt and good luck !! Cheers. Ch.

Thanks Dan. To be fair again, only one point for me, please, as it is the common rule, whatever simple or complex is the question... I will come back to you as soon as possible with a new challenge. Cheers. Ch.