Time off: Plays master of the house at his stately 19th- century Grand Hotel Quellenhof in the Rhine Valley.

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The twice-yearly ceremony is unique among the harvest rituals of Asia in that the master of the house invites the deity of the rice field into his home, behaving as though the invisible spirit were really present.

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Building work has been going on in the 19th Century wing of the Master's House since last year.

BBC: The Master's House. Photo: Herefordshire Council

Building work in the Victorian wing of the Master's House started last year.

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Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, a little-known House member who is a master of political detail.

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There the backdrop is older still: the Queen's House of 1617-37 by Renaissance master architect Inigo Jones.

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Named after a Luxembourg-based clearing-house, it has all the ingredients of a political thriller: a master spy, anonymous denunciations, defence kickbacks, a smear campaign and fratricidal rivalry.

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Depending on the time of year, tours range from charcuterie master classes at The Star Inn in the small village of Harome to deer stalking in the grounds of Baroque manor house Duncombe Park.

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Just as Britain's affable Tony Blair took care to keep a foul-mouthed master of dark arts, Alastair Campbell, at his side, so is it the calling of Mr Emanuel to bludgeon underlings at the White House and former colleagues in Congress into obeying his master's commandments.

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But last month, The Barking Deer, located in the South Mumbai creative hub of Lower Parel, started serving beers crafted in-house by brew master Benjamin Johnson, originally from North Dakota.

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