Reza Khan was born in the village of Alasht in the region of Savad Kouh in the province of Mazandaran. Alasht was an isolated village and at the turn of the century its population was about 1,000. Abbas Ali, father of Reza Shah was a member of the Savad Kouh provincial army regiment and probably reached the rank equivalent to major, married his second wife, Noush Afrin, around 1877. She was a girl of Persian-speaking stock whose father had come to Iran from Erivan. The following year 1878, a son, Reza, was born. Abbas Ali died some three to six months after Reza's birth. Noush Afarin did not had a good relationship with Abbas Ali's other wife and children and shortly after Ali's death, at the urging of her youngest brother, decided to leave Alasht and settle in Tehran.
At about the age of fifteen, Reza joined the Cossack Brigade in 1893-94. And about 1903 Reza Khan married Tajmah, a girl from Hamadan, from whom a daughter, Fatemeh, later known as Hamdam al Saltaneh, was born. He divorced Tajmah soon after the birth of Fatemeh.
In 1911, serving under the overall command of Abol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarmaian or called Farmanfarma (The prime minister of the time) Reza Khan took part in battles against Salar al-Doleh who was attempting to topple the Government in Tehran and reinstate his brother Mohammad Ali on the throne. Reza gave a good account of himself in that campaign and was promoted to First Lieutenant. His proficiency in handling machine guns elevated him to the rank equivalent to Captain in 1912.
By 1915 he had come to be regarded as a brave and fearless soldier and was handpicked by his successive senior commanders to accompany them on military expeditions. Reza Khan's military reputation, his native intelligence and professionalism served him well and he soon became well known by some prominent Iranians in Tehran and other provinces. By 1915 he was promoted to the rank of colonel.
Hayedeh or Haydeh born Ma'soumeh Dadehbala (April 10, 1942 – January 20, 1990) was a Persian classical and pop singer. She was one of the few Persian female vocalists with a contralto voice.
On August 29, 1978 shortly before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Hayedeh emigrated to the United Kingdom. She stayed there for three years and moved to the USA in 1982 to continue her career and live close to her sister Mahasti.
Hayedeh lived in Los Angeles from 1982 until the end of her life. The growth of the Persian community in Southern California due to the increasing number of people leaving Iran after the revolution bolstered Hayedeh's career in the 1980s.
Heyedeh released many albums during this time and many songs of hers were bootlegged in Iran. Hayedeh's political and nostalgic songs such as "Rouza-ye Roshan Khodahafez" and Faryad became very popular with the Persian (Iranian) exile community. Some of her other hits were "Shabeh Eshgh" (Night of Love), "Ravi" (Story Teller), "Ye Eshareh" (One Sign), "Ghesseyeh Man" (My Story), "Zendegi" (Life) and "Narges-e Shiraz" (Narcissus of Shiraz).
Hayedeh's songwriters in the USA were mostly Farid Zoland, Sadegh Nojouki, Mohammad Heydari and Andranik. Lyricists she worked with were Ardalan Sarfaraz', Homa Mir-Afshar, Iraj Razmjou but the lyricist who wrote most of Hayedeh's songs and hits was her best friend Leila Kasra (a.k.a. Hadieh). She was featured in two of her albums reading her songs. Kasra died in 1989 a few months prior to Hayedeh's death, after a long struggle with breast cancer.
During the 1980s Hayedeh played in sold-out venues in the United States, Canada, Europe, and other places in the world such as Royal Albert Hall in London.
Hayedeh also regularly appeared on the Los Angeles-based Persian TV channels such as Jaam-E-Jam TV, IR TV and Jonbesh TV.[1] In some of her TV programs Hayedeh criticized Iran's fundamental regime and was a supporter of the Persian monarchy of Mohammad Reza Shah.
Elnaz Shekrdoost carrying live poultry in streets of Tehran.
Just back from a wonderful trip to Iran where I had been in April, also once many years ago during the time of the Shah when I worked for Sotheby’s who then had an office there. While walking through the Tajrish bazaar last April, I was struck by the abundance of seasonal produce, some of which I was seeing for the first time. This time I went up to Rasht in Gilan province where they have a fabulous, bustling bazaar with an amazing live poultry section where you can buy your chickens, roosters and/or ducks live to take home and fatten up or you can have them killed and plucked there there and then before taking them home to cook. In the clip above, you can see how meticulous the lady is about choosing her chickens. She reminded me of the Chinese housekeeper of a friend who lived in Singapore. When I went to the market with her, I watched her turn over each and every vegetable and fruit before buying it to make sure it was perfect.
But whereas the Chinese housekeeper was vociferous in how she made her choice, I could hardly hear what the Iranian lady was saying. They have a wonderful gentle culture in Iran and almost everyone speaks in whispers. My kind of place!
In this second clip, you see how the vendor stuffs the poor, chosen live birds into a plastic bag and to keep them from dying an unnatural and early death, he pokes two holes in the bag for them to be able to breathe on the way home.
While in the third clip above, you can see two men busy plucking a small and a large duck which were going to be used in fesenjan (an intriguing sweet and sour stew where the poultry is cooked in a walnuts and pomegranate syrup sauce). I was so taken by these birds that I used one of the pictures as my 2010 season’s greetings card. Here it is for those of you who didn’t get it by digital post! Wishing you all very Happy Holidays.
Soccer fan in Brazil holding Iranian Flag

Well, it had to happen some time. But at least it was a long time in coming. Thirteen games into the 2014 World Cup there was finally a match that was not very good. Not that it quietened this arena: there was noise in Curitiba, and lots of it, there was just not much else. For a moment this felt as if it was going to be enjoyable, the momentum with Nigeria, but that moment was brief; the opening seven minutes were exciting; the remaining 83 were not. And so Brazil has its first draw as well and a 0-0 draw at that.


There had been 41 goals in 12 games before this match, at an average of 3.4 per match. There were not much more than 3.4 shots in this game – not on target anyway. Apart from one superb save from Vincent Enyeama, neither goalkeeper made a significant stop and, but for Ogenyi Onazi’s very early effort, no striker came agonisingly close. At times this was painful, though.

Perhaps this should not have been a huge surprise. Nigeria had not won in their last eight World Cup matches, since beating Bulgaria in 1998. Iran’s famous victory against USA at the same tournament is their only win in nine. Their preparation had been far from perfect as well, with resources as limited as institutional enthusiasm and international cooperation. Kit shrunk, games were cancelled and clubs refused to release players.
I can't beleive I found this old photo online. That's me and my father when French president visited Iran in 1976.



Official Visit Of President Valery Giscard D'estaing In Iran. Téhéran - octobre 1976 - Sur le tarmac de l'aéroport, en compagnie de personnes non identifiées, le shah Mohammad Reza PAHLAVI, vêtu d'un costume bleu à rayures et portant des lunettes de vue, salue en levant la main, aux côtés de son épouse l'impératrice Farah DIBA bouchant ses oreilles, vêtue d'une robe à rayures, d'un foulard sur la tête et portant des lunettes de soleil et un sac à main, lors de la visite officielle du président Valéry GISCARD D'ESTAING en Iran.



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